Buying Home in Baltimore Suburbs? (Columbia, Ellicott City: real estate, lease, mortgage)

[kwarden13]

Hi Everyone-

I am looking to buy a house in the next 6-8 months and had a couple questions. I have been narrowing my selection based on good school districts. I do not have kids right now, but will most likely in the next 5 years.

In addition, my fiance will commute into the city. We make roughly $210k, however, do not have much saved ($10k right now). What is eating our cash right now is I make $1500 a month towards student loans, however, if I budget more tightly I can save another $8k-10k by next May-June. I have a previous house where when I sell I will get roughly $65k. We are looking to buy something no more then $400k as I want to do a 15 year mortgage to pay it down quicker.

1) What areas do you recommend? I was looking at Middle River at the new construction, but worried we may go over $400k.

2) Should I put down 20% even if that is all our savings? Mind you we have credit cards with no balances so could use them in emergencies. Not ideal, but after we buy we could start saving again in our emergency fund.

3) Should we wait to buy? Our lease is up in May 2017 and looking to close around there. If we wait, I am worried the prices will go up.

Thank you in advance for your answers!

[james777]

Originally Posted by kwarden13

Hi Everyone-

I am looking to buy a house in the next 6-8 months and had a couple questions. I have been narrowing my selection based on good school districts. I do not have kids right now, but will most likely in the next 5 years.

In addition, my fiance will commute into the city. We make roughly $210k, however, do not have much saved ($10k right now). What is eating our cash right now is I make $1500 a month towards student loans, however, if I budget more tightly I can save another $8k-10k by next May-June. I have a previous house where when I sell I will get roughly $65k. We are looking to buy something no more then $400k as I want to do a 15 year mortgage to pay it down quicker.

1) What areas do you recommend? I was looking at Middle River at the new construction, but worried we may go over $400k.

2) Should I put down 20% even if that is all our savings? Mind you we have credit cards with no balances so could use them in emergencies. Not ideal, but after we buy we could start saving again in our emergency fund.

3) Should we wait to buy? Our lease is up in May 2017 and looking to close around there. If we wait, I am worried the prices will go up.

Thank you in advance for your answers!

If you are narrowing your selection based on good schools, it is beyond me why you are looking in Middle River. The website below should help you to decide where to look and will be better than the recommendations on these forums as the site is pretty much the bible when it comes to determining where to locate based on desirable schools.

Baltimore County Public Schools in Baltimore, MD | GreatSchools

For the rest of your questions, I would post them on either the Real Estate Forum or the Personal Finance Forum where mortgage and finance pros will post helpful responses.

[kwarden13]

I thought Middle River had decent schools. Maybe I am wrong. Also, considering price, so I cannot go out to Sparks and not many options in Towson for a more updated home.

Thank you-
Kelly

[james777]

There are plenty of options on the York Road corridor from the city line north to Sparks for under $400,000. The houses may be older construction, but have been updated or can be updated for a total cost within your budget. Also a good selection in the same price range in the Belair Road corridor from the city line to Perry Hall.

[cjmeck]

I think speaking with a financial planner or an excellent loan officer would be helpful. There are TONS of super creative lending choices that can work to help lower your monthly costs, buy sooner if you chose and avoid 20% down. I know the traditional thought is you want 20% to avoid PMI but there are some loan officers that have other products and can run various scenarios to see what might work best for your individual situation.

As to what areas to move to; just depends on what you're looking for (town house, single family?). I'm familiar with the southern, eastern and western suburbs. New construction will be difficult at that price point. Max commute time? Just some quick thoughts off the top of my head: Catonsville is an affordable area, some highly rated schools (according to GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community) and Howard County (Columbia, Ellicott City, Elkridge) is well known for their schools (prices are all over the place).

Best of luck to you.

[susannah14]

Bel Air schools are good (stay away from Edgewood schools though, just south). Patterson Mill Middle-High just got highly rated. There's some new construction on Laurel Bush road, might be over your budget though and I'm actually not sure if it's Patterson Mill or Edgewood schools but I think PM.

[davecj]

Pretty much sounds like you're looking at Lutherville/ Cockeysville/ Perry Hall. You tend to get more bang for your buck house-wise in Perry Hall.

[kwarden13]

Just to let everyone know after extensive research we decided to move to Edgewood near Joppa where the new Ryan homes are being built. The house was $100k less then others in middle river, white marsh area and ultimately we don't have kids yet. We will see how it goes but hopeful the area could continue growing in the right direction.

If anyone knows the community, we bought in Rodgers Addition. Also my fiancé has to commute to Baltimore City so couldn't go too much further since it's already going to 40 minutes to her job.


Thanks for all the input!!