West vs East Side of Bethesda (cul-de-sac, condos, townhouses)
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My husband and I are trying to figure out which area of Bethesda to buy a house in. We're in our mid-to-late 30's, are coming from CA and have 3 small children. We can't agree over the east or west sides of town. Does anyone have any opinions about the general differences between the two sides of town? Specifically the Glen Mar Park area versus the Alta Vista area. One of us will work from home and the other will commute into Union Station. We're moving across country and have very little time to check out the areas. And, unfortunately, at this point we can't agree.
Bethesda is considered one of the very nicest (and upscale) suburbs in the entire DC area (and it is expensive too, though coming from a place like San Diego the sticker shock shouldn't be too bad). I think pretty much the entire area near the Metro station is nice. However, I'm new to the DC area myself, so others can probably give more accurate and detailed information.
Both are very nice areas to reside in. Alta Vista has smaller homes and tear-downs and is closer to downtown Bethesda and the Metro. This might be better to commute to Union Station.
Glen Mar Park has some larger homes and closer to the Potomac River. You could commute from Massachusetts Ave to Union Station or use the Metro in Friendship Heights or Tenleytown.
The only other difference is the schools in the area. I believe Alta Vista attends the Bethesda-Chevy Cluster while Glen Mar attends ones in the Walt Whitman Cluster. Both are excellent schools, but I believe Whitman is more prestigious.
Whitman has better SAT scores, and almost all of the kids there take the SAT.
But, just for comparison, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase SAT scores and the % of kids taking the test blows away the numbers for the very hoity-toity best high school here in Charlotte, NC that everyone pays through the nose to get their kids into (Myers Park H.S.), and it also compares well to a lot of the best high schools in Northern Virginia, so comparing the different school clusters in Bethesda is really splitting hairs.
I'm looking to move to Bethesda too, and my main search criterion is that I want to be as close to the restaurants/Metro/etc. as I can get within a reasonable walk. I'm pretty satisfied that any of the schools around there are fine for my daughters.
I also don't mind buying a tiny house in bad shape, which is helping with the search. You might have different preferences though. If you are willing to look at condos and townhouses without any yard, I think you'll have some better-quality options available to you. I don't want to get rid of my dogs, though, so want a yard.
Just wondering, what are you and your husband disagreeing about? What are your impressions of the different parts of Bethesda?
We had to make a quick decision and we went with the east side of town (Alta Vista area). We finally concluded that the differences between the schools in the two sides of town were not significant (as the last poster pointed out).
I tended to like the neighborhoods in the west side of town better than the east. I guess I just saw some streets that I really liked. But we ended up on a street in Alta Vista that is very pretty.
I also liked the idea of being closer to DC which the Glen Mar Park area is. However, now we are very close to the Metro.
Finally, it seemed to me like the houses on the west side were more expensive, so I thought maybe that meant it was a better area and that the houses might hold their value more.
Our decision was between a smaller place on the west side of town or a bigger place on the east side on a cul-de-sac. We went with the bigger place on the cul-de-sac and I think we'll be happier with that in the long run (I hope!).
Good luck with your house search! Bethesda is a beautiful city.
We're looking to be within walking distance of the Metro and the commercial strip, so I think we are probably going to end up somewhere between Wisconsin and Connecticut Aves. south of the Naval Med Center in a teeny tiny place, which is OK with us for now. My husband says he's seen some strollers and play sets in that part of the neighborhood, which is a plus for us, though I wouldn't be surprised if most of the families are a few blocks farther out, like where you're going to be. But still, if we can settle on a house, we won't be too far from Alta Vista. We'll practically be neighbors! Hi neighbor.
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