Middle class suburbs in commuting distance to Arlington, VA and Greenbelt, MD (Silver Spring: low income, condo)

[FromBOS]

I recently received a job offer in Arlington and my wife will be able to transfer her current job to Greenbelt. We'll be moving from Boston and know almost nothing about the DC metro area. We also recently had our first child and are hoping to move out of our current downtown condo and into a suburban single family home with a yard and off street parking for two cars.

I'm hoping that the forum would be kind enough to offer up some suggestions for good, safe suburbs in commuting distance to both Arlington and Greenbelt. Proximity to Arlington is more important as I work much longer hours than my wife, but ideally neither of us would have more than a 45 minute commute. Bonus points if one of us can commute via public transit. We have a budget of about $500 to $600K and would hope to buy something with 3 bedrooms, a yard, and hopefully a garage (or at least a private driveway). Open to townhouses too, but private outdoor space is a must. Also, no issues with a diverse neighborhood (just putting that out there because even in this day and age some are still not open to the idea), but would strongly prefer that it be a primarily professional, upper middle income area (we've had issues living near students and with break ins by residents of nearby low income housing).

If anyone is familiar with the Boston area we are looking for neighborhoods like Milton, Sharon, or Needham, MA.

Thanks in advance.

[dkf747]

Where in Arlington? That would help to figure out public transport.

[FromBOS]

Nearest metro stop would be Ballston, off of the orange line.

[stateofnature]

This is the forum for DC proper. There are separate forums for the DC suburbs: the Northern Virginia forum and the Maryland suburbs of DC forum. You will get better responses if you post your question in those forums.

[dkf747]

If you can Metro to work then the main concern is your wife driving to Greenbelt. A place along the red line in Silver Spring (not thinking downtown, but north of the Beltway) would be good. If you want to drive to both then somewhere in the Bethesda/N Bethesda area would work. This is just my opinion. Others may have good ideas as well.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by dkf747

If you want to drive to both then somewhere in the Bethesda/N Bethesda area would work. This is just my opinion. Others may have good ideas as well.

Or Rockville. In Chevy Chase you might find a townhouse or older SFH for your bodget.

[rdflk]

This is the forum for DC proper. There are separate forums for the DC suburbs: the Northern Virginia forum and the Maryland suburbs of DC forum. You will get better responses if you post your question in those forums.

No...THIS IS the forum for the MD suburbs of DC.

To the OP do some more research if you have time (WHEN is this move supposed to happen, how quickly, I mean)
Find out which job -- and housing neighborhoods have a Metro(subway) stop closest. You can use the Metro system map for that.

I agree with others the Betheda/N. Bethesda/Kensington/Chevy Chase area would be worth checking out.

[stateofnature]

Originally Posted by rdflk

No...THIS IS the forum for the MD suburbs of DC.

To the OP do some more research if you have time (WHEN is this move supposed to happen, how quickly, I mean)
Find out which job -- and housing neighborhoods have a Metro(subway) stop closest. You can use the Metro system map for that.

I agree with others the Betheda/N. Bethesda/Kensington/Chevy Chase area would be worth checking out.

This thread was MOVED to this forum AFTER I posted my reply. When I wrote my reply it was in the Washington DC forum.

[TCR25]

The City of Hyattsville is quite close to Greenbelt, easy Metro access (it'd be about 45 minutes to Ballston, so not necessarily ideal, but only about 5 minutes longer than the Metro trip from Bethesda). It's a very family-friendly town with a diverse range of single-family houses (one section is old Victorians and there are a lot of Craftsman bungalows in the section of town that was built up between the wars; there are also sections with construction typical of the post WWII period and the '60s/'70s).

[rdflk]

We have a budget of about $500 to $600K

No offense to Hyattsville, but if my budget is 500-600K... Hyattsville wouldn't be my pick..