Stepdad, mom, sister may be transferred to D.C.

[azbobbybooshay10]

My stepdad is in Communications in the Air Force, and his 20 years are coming up soon. He wants to continue his term rather than retire, since he's only 38 and wants to pay off his property in Georgia. He has received word that he may be transferred to D.C.

What I'm wondering is:

What parts of the D.C. area (incl. suburbs) are relatively inexpensive, but still decend areas?

Same question, but about school quality. My sister will be in 10th Grade this coming fall.

Basically, what parts are good, and which ones are areas to stay away from?

Thanks for any advice I can get from you guys, I want to pass it on to them so they can live in a decent area, someplace I feel comfortable visiting and it be OK to park my car without getting broken into.

[tnkgurl]

Well, Bob, expensive is relative. Your stepfather will probably get an adjusted cost of living to help be able to help with living in this area. If they are looking for on base housing, they can look at either Andrews Air Force Base or Bolling Air Force base. Either way, living in MD is going to be their best bet. Decent schools, nice standard of living, nice neighborhoods, etc. I would advise staying away from Bolling as it's in Southeast DC and your sister would have to either attend DC public schools (not recommended) or go to private school in Northern VA (I speak from experience...my parents lived on Bolling for awhile and my brother went to private school).

Either way the onus is on your stepdad to find out what he can from his detailer. Chances are, people he's stationed with have friends who have been stationed in DC or have themselves been stationed in DC.

And, I really wouldn't worry too much about the safety of your car until you actually have one. ;)

[skater]

Places like Waldorf, MD are relatively inexpensive. It's about 20 miles from the beltway though (I used to live in Waldorf and I still go there about once a week). DC housing prices are insane, though, so the operative word is "relatively".

[Spade]

You can always get relatively cheap housing in downtown DC. Look into a nice little section of town called Anacostia.

[skater]

Suitland is also nice. I recommend the bulletproof glass option. ;)

[GnuLoCo]

I honestly it depends on where you are going and what you are doing every day. We were going to move out towards springfield or further to save a few hundred bucks, but then my commute into DC would be hourS yes HOURS. So I think we are going to get this place in the south building penthouse floor.

2 bed 2 bath 1350sf - 1600.00/month. Which is actually pretty reasonable around here. We'll see what happens. The lease is up and we have to move soon.

[GnuLoCo]

[Andyb119]

Coming from Atlanta everything is going to look expensive. The only way to get reasonable is to move out from the city or live in a battle zone. The big question is where your folks are going to work. You can live quite a ways out from the city to the north south and west and still get public transportation that will make the commute bearable. If going to Maryland, I would stay away from Prince Georges county as the schools still haven't figured out the right formula for a first class education that is doubly true for the District. The northern VA counties have good schools and amenities but traffic is a bear and they do little planning to address development issues. Charles or Calvert counties in Maryland are reasonable but public transportation is limited. It is important to remember that the DC area is big and made bigger by the rush hour traffic. You don't want to work on one side of town and live on another if you can avoid it.

[rbls4ever]

i live in northern va and i hate it. fairfax is the suck lately and more and more nasty people move here with 8 familys and buy houses. the traffic sucks really bad around 530-930 am and from 3-7 pm. oh and on fridays dont even think about leaving your house. youll be in gridlock from 130 to about 9 pm......it is the suck. id go with md if i were u but theres alot of ethnics.... witch isnt bad but it could be for school. just speaking from experience not racism.... oh and fairfax schools r really good just dont go to t.c. or annandale or anything else in nothern inside beltway fairfax. robinson and the private schools r really really good. and woodson is good also

[tnkgurl]

Whereabouts in Funfax are you? I'm right across from Fair Oaks mall.

[Topik]

Just stay away from us bobby

[rbls4ever]

i be right off braddock rd. so u live on rt 50 or west ox road?

[tnkgurl]

Well, technically, you can take both to get to my house. I live in Penderbrook!

[rbls4ever]

oh shiznitty. i use that as a cut through sometimes.....lol. i do alot of my own work on my cars in the driveway. so if u ever need anything pm me and we could meet up and work on the coogs. i live in north springfield. its right off 495. its called queensberry.

[tnkgurl]

Man, and with your mechanical skillz....... :beer:

[Spade]

I've got a couple friends that live right over there! Plus, I work right down the street from Kelly!

This thread has officially been hijacked.

[tnkgurl]

Originally posted by: Spade

This thread has officially been hijacked.

Thank God! Though, in all fairness, perhaps we should start a new one.

[rbls4ever]

lol prolly. but yeah i do EVERYTHING to my car myself and i will never bring it to a shop. i dont have a lift but i got jack stands and a jack. and i got some airtools and a compressor. alot of hand tools. a dremel and a drill press. good stuff. im in the process of installing my nice nice kvr cross drilled rotors and kvr carbon fibre pads. and i am installing a remote mounted autometer oil pressure guage. its in the proper location and i am making a how to which will be done tomarow. i started today and basically ran out of day light. i got the sender remote mounted and doesnt leak a bit. oh and all this WITH the a/c installed. dont wanna loose that ice chiller ;)