<p>D (graduating in May) has a very promising job opportunity ( ) at a firm located in Germantown, Maryland . She is (well, we are) starting to investigate practical stuff like housing, etc. She has it in her head that itâs really close to DC, although looking at the map, it looks like (practically) itâs pretty far out. Sheâs got some buddies that will be living in DC (no roommate chances though) so I think sheâd like to FEEL connected, and be close enough to pop in.</p>
<p>Any advice as we start investigating? Somewhere where she could feel close to DC, but could still benefit from the lower costs of living/working farther out? Thinking about safety, parking, commute time, cost, all that good stuff.</p>
<p>Germantown isnât that far out. It is close enough to pop in. Zillions of people commute from there to DC everyday. Hence the traffic on 270. It is a busy suburb. She may want to go closer in like Gaithersburg a little down the road, and if she can afford it the Bethesday area. The reverse commute would be easier. She would by no means feel like she was in the sticks if she moved close to the job.</p>
<p>Is she coming from a high traffic area? It may be a big surprise to someone not used to the congestion.</p>
<p>Son works in DC and lives in Chinatown. I looked at the map and Germantown is very close to the DC Metro Red Line (Shady Grove and Rockville stops are very near Germantown). Living in DC is very expensive and most kids right out of school need roommates to cover costs. If she lived nearer where she worked in the Germantown/Gaithersburg area, she could probably save lots of money and would have an easy commute. She could always jump on the metro on the weekends to see her friends in DC. Good luck . Hope the job opportunity works out for her! DC seems like a great place to live for young folks.</p>
<p>For the most part, that benefit starts even farther out than Germantown.</p>
<p>Germantown isnât the same as being in the Districtâno two ways about it. It feels like a big olâ suburbâbecause it is one. It looks far from the District on a map. In traffic, it can be even farther than it looks. The greatest difficulty is, traffic in Montgomery County, Maryland, can be unpredictably brutal, as well as brutally unpredictable. I moved almost 8 years ago from Rockville, which is outside the Beltway, but closer in than Germantown; my neighborhood was not far at all from I-270, the highway that runs from the Beltway up toward Germantown. More than once, I left my house on a weekday afternoon to go via a main artery to the grocery store a little more than a mile from my house, but had to abort the trip. On one memorable occasion, Iâd been able to get almost half a mile in 40 minutes. I was running out of time on the babysitter clock, so I turned around to head home. Round trip in an hour and ten minutes; no groceries.</p>
<p>Will she have a car? If she needs to drive to work and park in the District, she is looking at a potential of high fees for a parking space, unless she lives in an area with zoned street parking.</p>
<p>My daughter has a friend that lives in Arlington, VA near the Ballston Metro; it takes her 45 minutes I believe, on a good day, to her job in Rockville, MD. Rockville is closer that Germantown, so I have no idea how long the commute would be. Is your daughter willing to spend all that time commuting? Tell her to save her money and live outside the District and go visit friends on the weekends.</p>
<p>Germantown (exit 15) is roughly 6-7 miles north of the Shady Grove Metro station (exit 8-9). The closer you get to DC, the higher the rent. There are buses from SG to Germantown, but they are not necessarily convenient to where your D wants to go. (S2 had a summer job in Germantown that was impossible to get to via public transit.) It is very much a bedroom community, and not really a haven for young college students. Bethesda, which is more of a happening place, is a LOT more expensive â even with roommates. </p>
<p>You can expect Germantown to Bethesda/Friendship Heights to take about 25 minutes by car in NON rush hour. In rush hour â close to an hour. Driving to the SG Metro and taking the train to Bethesda/Friendship Heights (non-rush hour) will run ~35-40 min., esp. since there is regular track work on weekends for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>A compromise may be to look at apartments near the Grosvenor or Rockville Metro stations. Will likely be a little more expensive than Germantown, but a younger demographic and it kind of splits the difference between wanting to be relatively close to work and friends in DC. </p>
<p>Assume $1000/mo. minimum for a one bedroom anywhere within 30 miles of DC. </p>
<p>I live near the SG Metro and work in Bethesda (19 miles door-to-door) and it is a 45 minute drive minimum during rush hour. Rockville city center to Germantown (cross-rush hour) would be about 20 minutes, depending how close one lives to I-270.</p>
<p>Germantown would require a car. No getting around that.</p>
<p>All that traffic woes aside, part of living in the DC area is dealing with traffic and public transit. We all kvetch about it and spend far too much time enduring it. OTOH, there are some terrific opportunities here.</p>
<p>We live in Germantown. Until last October we were in Rockville (14 years there). Germantown isnât incorporated, so what is classified as Germatown is a fairly big area. Housing is definitely more affordable up here than in Rockville, which beats Bethesda, which beats DC. Public transportation is good/bad/indifferent depending on the part of Germantown that you live in and/or work in. It will probably be best if she has a car. It is very tricky to get from even the Shady Grove Metro stops to many parts of Germantown by public transportation.</p>
<p>Germantown is suburbs, no doubt about it, but there is a very new large branch of the public library and an arts center in âdowntown Germantownâ and if she starts out living in that neighborhood there are walking distance supermarkets, coffee shops, etc. Not remotely as lively as Bethesda (or DC) but OK for week day life.</p>
<p>As she gets closer to her move date, feel free to send me a PM.</p>
<p>Iâm a native of DC and Germantown was farmland in the 80s. I canât imagine a young, single person living there and having any sort of life. Rockville is probably the nearest âcityâ that has any sort of singles scene, although Bethesda is clearly the place to be in Montgomery County. Thereâs a huge condo/apartment complex at Grovesnor that would be worth looking into. (I lifeguarded there when I was in HS!)</p>
<p>Traffic in the DC area is brutal - 270 is a nightmare both ways during rush hour.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone - appreciate the perspective. She does have a car, thatâs not an issue. We are from a rural Connecticut town, not much traffic here, itâll definitely be a bit of a shock!! :eek:</p>
<p>What Iâm understanding: For a young professionalâŠGermantown may be boring (suburban), Rockville is less boring, Bethesda even less so. And rents will probably reflect that. </p>
<p>Any places to stay away from? Itâs hard to get a sense from looking online. I mean, I know the cities & towns around here in CT well enough to say, âOh, thatâs a white collar/blue collar/rural/etc placeâ âŠ</p>
<p>Iâve sent her the link to this thread, so Iâm sure sheâs following along⊠Hi JustaD! ;)</p>
<p>Most of Bethesda/Rockville is perfectly fine. Bits of Gaithersburg are iffy. I donât know about iffiness for Germantown. My neighborhood is OK - but as a nest of townhomes, probably wouldnât be very interesting for a recent college grad!</p>
<p>There is a lot of new high-rise apartment construction on Rte. 355 (Rockville Pike/Frederick Ave.) in the Grosvenor/White Flint area as some of the old strip malls and smaller, older buildings are torn down for redevelopment. Heck, White Flint Mall is being torn down! Bloomies is having a closing sale.</p>
<p>There are also a lot of apartments at King Farm, which is near the SG Metro. Free shuttle to Metro, close to 370/270 and a quick drive to Germantown. When we moved here, it was stillâŠa farm.</p>
<p>And if she has to work in Germantown, she isnât going to want to stray too far from the I-270 corridor, I think. I donât frequent that area enough to know whether the new Inter-County Connector makes commuting east-to-west more feasible than it used to be. But I do know the rush-hour tolls on the ICC are expensive!</p>
<p>The ICC is fast, but at $4 each way during rush hourâŠexpensive. There are not any apartment complexes along the exits on the ICC at this stage. It cuts through largely residential and parkland areas. Not even any gas stations in view!</p>
<p>I used to marvel that somebody had said, âLetâs see, we got a county here with 900,000 residents in it. I figure two roads that go east-west ought to be enough.â</p>
<p>Now, I guess I can marvel that people said, âWell, we could build a third road, as long as we make sure to price it so that nobody can afford to use it.â</p>
<p>Living inside the beltway like I do, I concur that Rockville is likely the best option for the OPâs D. It is lively, and a younger scene than Germantown, although it involves mainly a long series of retail activity along one road (355 Rockville Pike/Frederick Road/Wisconsin Avenue - depending on where you are) and shouldnât leave her with a too long commute. </p>
<p>The Red Line will be her Metro, if she takes it, and beware of maintenance slowing things down drastically on the weekends (almost every weekend!), trains that stop running BEFORE the bars close, and ever-shrinking bus service from Shady Grove out to Germantown. Sheâll probably just plug into her iphone and chill for the ride. Make sure that iphone doesnât get stolen on metro, since that happens, and is their most common crime. </p>
<p>Sheâll want to go hang out with the lively scene in DC at Penn Quarter (on the red line), Adams Morgan (a chilly few blocks from the red line), the U street corridor (on the green line), and Georgetown (take a cab from somewhere). </p>
<p>There are plenty of places to hang out a bit closer in Rockville, Bethesda, and Silver Spring. Arlington is far, but great, Alexandria may as well be on the moon. Save that for a Sunday outing. Traffic can be bad on weekends too, since everyone is out shopping. </p>
<p>Germantown, like most of the county is quite diverse even though it is considered an outer suburb. They have problems with Salvadorean gangs in the high school. They also have an Amish farm market. There is an excellent new library and a large park with many recreational activities. The county fairgrounds are not far away and there is a great pick-your-own farm with acres of blueberries. One of the major campuses of our excellent CC is also in Germantown.</p>
<p>LOL! But it does seem to have pulled some traffic off of Norbeck, so that road is a bit less crazy-making.</p>
<p>I hate commuting, which means that Iâd rent close to work, and stash a change of clothes at my palâs place in DC for those times when I didnât feel like dragging myself home late at night.</p>
<p>We used to commute on Norbeck Rd. every day, as the guysâ preschool was off of Bauer Dr. Between Norbeck and Muncaster Mill Rd. pre-ICCâŠshudder!</p>
<p>greenwitch, we are regulars at the PYOs up that wayâŠand OP, your D will not be terribly far from Jimmy Cone in Damascus, which is the best soft serve custard on earth. Going there after picking a family tradition. Been doing it since 1991, with babies on my back!</p>
<p>If your D is a sports fan, one can get to all the major teams via Metro.</p>
<p>The Metro runs til 3 am on weekends these days, unlike Boston, as my guys complain to me.</p>
<p>In addition to Kings Farm (which is a very good idea), you might want to Google Fallsgrove. Itâs not as close to the Metro but itâs close to I-270, and it has a shopping center with a supermarket and an array of fast-casual restaurants. </p>
<p>Both Kings Farm and Fallsgrove are large, new housing developments in which most of the housing is the kind you buy rather than rent â and much of it is rather pricey. But mixed in, there are a few rental apartment buildings. So youâre living in a fairly upscale area without having to be upscale yourself, which is a good situation. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, in either of these places, youâre going to pay at least $1500 for a one-bedroom. Itâs much cheaper to rent a two-bedroom with a roommate. Does your daughter know anyone else who will be working in the area?</p>
Going there after picking a family tradition. Been doing it since 1991, with babies on my back!</p>