Thinking about buying in Halethorpe / zip 21227 area, need feedback (Baltimore: houses, asbestos)

[pnello]

Wanted to get some feedback on Halethorpe, looked at some houses there , some good deals to had <200K. Seems to be a middle class blue collar industrial area. Middle Aged Single Gay Dad with one college aged kid here how are the locals with diversity ? Also I hear this could become the next Catonsville , any feedback would be appreciated ! Thanks !

[mrboltonman]

I lived there for awhile when I was in college. It was ok and is a middle class blue collar industrial area. I never had a problem and my girlfriend didn't either but I'm a white male and my girlfriend is half Korean and German. I remember a lot of white people there with a few urban cowboys.

I found it strange how it's in an suburban/urban area but has a rural small town feel.

[Woodlands]

Boltonman... what is an urban cowboy? Is that code word for northern redneck or a city goat living in the suburbs? Just curious....

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

Boltonman... what is an urban cowboy? Is that code word for northern redneck or a city goat living in the suburbs? Just curious....

I think city goat is the accurate synonym.

[AlicynD]

I have four different sets of Buyers that have bought homes in Halethorpe, through me, and they love it.

[mrboltonman]

I made up urban cowboy but it's a northern redneck.

[Woodlands]

That whole side of town in quite interesting.. you have Halethorpe and Arbutus that are kissing cousins while Catonsville seems more like the cousin that is a little financially better off.. Then you have Lansdowne.. which is more diverse with a few African Americans and Latinos.. but just over the City Line you have Morrell Park which is the City version of sections of Halethorpe though Lauraville is more similiar in terms of housing stock. I could go on and on adding in Brooklyn and Baltimore Highlands as well.. Its just interesting how communities develop, change and often times remain the same.

When I was looking for a waterfront home.. I went over into Essex and some folks had campers,boats, or trucks that were bigger than their cottage homes parked in the driveways.. It was kind of an interesting city scape

[Mike from back east]

I've lived in Arbutus, Relay, Halethorpe and Lansdowne.

A key thing about all four is their relative proximity to I-95 and B-W Parkway for access to jobs in DC, where prices are so high it'll take your breath away. All 4 have easy access to both of MARC's rail lines; Camden Line with a stop in Relay/St Denis and the huge Penn line stop over on SW Blvd in Halethorpe.

When they tore down the old B.Greene grocery warehouse on Washington Blvd in Lansdowne and built a Wal-Mart it seemed they blew a great chance to build a mid or high-rise housing area with it's own Camden Line stop. They could've put the WalMart most anywhere, but that spot by the rail line would've been a no brainer for commuters to DC and should've sold like crazy for people trying to find affordable digs and a smart way to get into DC.

IMO, I rank desirability as Relay, Halethorpe, Arbutus, with Lansdowne last since it has a lot of really old so-so homes and was always a bit of tough area, which gets worse up in Riverview and over in Baltimore Highlands.

Relay is almost like one of those best kept secrets, a place that time forgot, and should not be overlooked since it provides peace and quiet and if you live on the right streets, a DC worker can walk to the Marc stop. Note that Google Maps won't even show Relay, MD, so you have to search for St Denis, MD. One of my happiest years of school was in 1959-60 at the 4-room school house that is now a school admin building at the 3-way intersection of S. Rolling Rd, Arlington Ave and Cedar Ave. Great 6th grade memories. A hundred years ago Relay was a place of "summer homes" for the wealthier folks in the city who wanted to get away from the city of Baltimore with it's the heat, dirty air, and streets filled with horse manure and flies.

A lot of the big old homes in Relay and Halethorpe remind me of the big old homes in Catonsville. I had pals back in the 1960's who were modernizing some of those big old Halethorpe homes even then, as they were barns to heat and had old plumbing, some with lead pipes for waste water. Some had 9-foot ceilings and some had low basements. Old houses need a lot of scrutiny by inspectors, as tons of stuff was put in long before current codes...fuse boxes (not circuit breakers), black galvanized pipe (not copper), no insulation, single-pane wood-frame windows (not the Low-E types), yucky old oil burner heat, no a/c, and many other things that could haunt a young buyer. Depends on the home. Some have glorious wood work, pocket doors and other nice touches. One of the homes I lived in there had push-button light switches, very few electrical outlets, and plaster walls (not wallboard). Beware of old homes with asbestos, and/or lead paint, etc.