Moving to Baltimore Area, Need Suggestions Outside the City. (Ellicott City: apartments, rental)
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Moving to Baltimore Area, Need Suggestions Outside the City.
Hey guys,
I am moving to the Baltimore area in September and have been looking at apartments. I have looked downtown in some of the areas recommended to me (Fells Point, Federal Hill, Canton), but have found these areas to be a bit pricey for me the first year without a roommate. Hence I have begun looking at the towns to the north (Towson, Pikesville, Owings Mills). I was wondering if anyone on here had any advice about these areas, and where would be a good place to look. Here are the details:
-I am a recently graduated college student so I am not looking for anywhere too suburban. I want to be able to meet some people and go out on the weekends without too much trouble.
-I would love to be near some public transportation to get downtown, although I hear that is few and far between.
-I am looking to spend at most $1000 a month on rent, which from what I have looked at should be ok in these areas.
-I may be working downtown some days so I don't want a crazy horrible commute. I do realize thats almost impossible but I'm sure you get what I mean.
-It would be great to live in an area where I could walk some places instead of having to drive everywhere, maybe near a downtown.
Again, I have no idea about the area (I am from Indiana) so any help you guys can offer would be great. Any recommendations are welcome, if you think I am looking in the wrong area just let me know.
Towson might be good for you. It has a small, walkable downtown and is close to the city. Public transport there isn't great, but it is served by a couple of bus lines and the light rail is relatively close, although you'd probably have to drive or take a bus to get to a station. You could definitely find a 1-BR or studio under your price limit, but you should be careful if you don't want to live next door to a bunch of college students.
There are other nice neighborhoods in the city where the rent probably wouldn't be as expensive as the areas closer to the harbor that you mentioned. You might want to take a look at places like Charles Village, Hampden, or Mt. Vernon if you haven't already.
Agree with others. I live between Pikesville and Owings Mills. You are not going to find nice apartments that are well maintained under $1000.00 monthly in Owings Mills. And if you are looking for a single social life, you don't want to be that far out. Look in older established neighborhoods in the city like Charles Village, Hampden, Beverly Hills, or around Patterson Park. You can still find deals on renovated apartments and be close to downtown social network. Good luck
Thanks for your input, unfortunately due to some recent information I am pretty much ruling out living downtown because of my job locations. It would be a bit of a hassle to commute out of the city everyday I imagine. I have looked in Towson and found a place called Hampton Plaza that's right downtown. Anyone know about this place?
Also if anyone has a recommendations south of the city I would also be open to that due to proximity to the airport. Thanks again everyone, you're all a big help on here.
If you need quick access to the airport, Towson would not be a good choice.
Any city neighborhood south of the Inner Harbor would be great, as it's a 10 minute drive down 295 to get to the airport. Pigtown, South Baltimore, Locust Point are all convenient. These neighborhoods are less expensive than Federal Hill.
For suburbs, take a look at Ellicott City, Catonsville, or Linthicum.
Thanks for your input, unfortunately due to some recent information I am pretty much ruling out living downtown because of my job locations. It would be a bit of a hassle to commute out of the city everyday I imagine. I have looked in Towson and found a place called Hampton Plaza that's right downtown. Anyone know about this place?
Also if anyone has a recommendations south of the city I would also be open to that due to proximity to the airport. Thanks again everyone, you're all a big help on here.
It's a high rise that's semi-attached to the Towson Town Center mall. A good location, although I think it attracts an older demographic (i.e., mall walkers). Probably a nice place if you're traveling a lot. However, I agree that Towson might not be the best location if you have to frequent the airport. You'd either have to drive all the way around the beltway (a lot of miles and potential traffic jams) or cut through the city (a lot of stoplights).
I would recommend living in Baltimore. Any of the areas in the center of the city are less-expensive than Canton and just as safe. You can check out crime statistics on the Baltimore Sun’s website. That’s Bolton Hill, Mount Vernon, the area around Penn Station, Charles Village, Downtown etc. If you’re single and want to meet people you will have more fun in the city.
I live in the burbs near Towson, but I’m married! I used to live in Mount Vernon--which is if nobody has told you yet is the Gayborhood in Baltimore. It’s a fantastic and fun place to live especially for singles. The architecture is BEAUTIFUL. I think it’s better than Paris. It’s cheaper and just as lovely. Take a trip and see for yourself before you make a decision. It’s breathtaking.
Other positives are the young people scene. The hangouts with attractive, fun and educated singles are the Brewer’s Art, the 13th floor in the Belvedere (they have a different activity every night it’s safe and FUN), the Depot, the Red Maple OMG I am getting nostalgic. The kind of crowd in these areas is multicultural as in different colored people from different countries. Most people are professionals or students, but not the type of “frat boy drunkard” vibe that’s in Federal Hill. More “older” young people from a variety of nationalities and backgrounds, many are post doctoral students or fellows. A great place to date!
From any of the areas in Central Baltimore you can walk to Penn Station and take the train to the airport! You can also take a taxi and the area always has tons of taxis driving around, especially along Charles and Saint Paul Streets. I used to travel frequently for work and I used to take the train to and from the airport. It’s cheap and great especially for short trips where you only have one or two bags.
Towson is Okay but I think it’s more for married couples and people who like to drive and visit shopping malls. One positive is that you may be safer from petty crime than in Baltimore. Anywhere you live in Baltimore you will encounter more crime than you find in the suburbs or in the countryside (where my family is from, so don’t take offense). You have to take precautions and be slightly less friendly to strangers. You can refer to this article from USC: Simple precautions can help avoid crime - Opinions (http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2006/08/16/Opinions/Simple.Precautions.Can.Help.Avoid.Crime-2220722.shtml - broken link)
Other than that it’s pretty easy to meet people. When I was single, I liked intellectual guys so I would go to book readings for scientific books. They have interesting talks every month at the Enoch Pratt Central library that can be fun if that’s your type of thing. Also a great way to meet people. You can also join any of the local gyms. I loved the DAC, but that may not work for you if you’re a homophobe. On the positive side, the Ravens Cheerleader girls do work out there and occasionally celebrities attend the gym when they’re filming a movie. I totally MISSED John Travolta when they were filming Hairspray!
Also, I have to add that in my suburb, there was a rape, a kid killed his family in Cockeysville, and two break-ins that I know of. Baltimore has a bad reputation for violent crime, but that’s mostly in poor (sorry to offend anyone) neighborhoods where drug gangs are apparently having a 30’s style turf war. The crime in the nice areas of northern, central and south Baltimore is comparable to any other location in the state.
Live in Da Burbs
If you must live in the suburbs, you will have to give up some things. First, you will have to drive. The public transportation in our area is terrible. There ARE some public buses, but I would not recommend taking them unless you have to. Too many people on the public buses are undesirable. Driving will be terrible from Northern Baltimore County because I-83 will be jam-packed every day. You may want to come and drive during rush hour to see if you can handle this on a daily basis. Gas is also over $4.00 per gallon everywhere here.
You will pay a lot for an apartment. I like the suburban apartments because many of them have balconies. This is nice if you have plants or you like to barbecue. In addition to 800 – 1000 for a 1BR, you will have to pay for utilities. At my complex we even have to pay for water now, which is awful. That can add up to $300 dollars to your bill each month. But rental prices are just as high or HIGHER in Baltimore.
You will have to try hard to meet chicks. If you like white high-school girls, you can have lots of luck meeting girls at the mall in Towson. LOL Boy I will probably increase the population of pervs by saying that. Other than them, I am not sure if there’s a singles scene if you want a life partner.
But it is possible to live happily as a single. You will just have to drive a little more. I have a friend who is single and lives in Towson who manages to join the intramural sports teams (another way to meet people) for adults that are available in South Baltimore and go out many nights a week and somehow still drive home.
One positive about the burbs is that food in grocery stores costs less than in Baltimore. There is no whole foods out here, to my knowledge, but we have a Trader Joes in Towson and it’s cheap. In fact, for some reason all of the supermarkets seem to be less expensive. That may help you save $$.
Areas you can consider are Towson, Timonium, Cockeysville etc.
There are a few good online resources you should checkout to help in your decision. Visit the Maryland MTA website (public transportation) that should give you a PDF map of all bus routes and rail stops along with the schedules. Also, the Baltimore City Police Department website has an interactive crime map online.
Looking at other posts, some of the recommendations are good ones, Towson is a great little college town and Mt. Washington is a nice somewhat quiet community with access to MTA Light Rail that can take you to Penn Station and BWI.
First off Kinkytoes let me say, thank you for the awesome response, its going to take me a while to digest all that info but I am sure it will be helpful.
Second, As far as the downtown v. suburb argument is concerned here is my thing. In the line of work I will entering we have to travel to our client sites the huge majority of the time (90%) instead of being in the office, which is down by the inner harbor. These clients are located from north of Baltimore all the way down to DC with a small percentage actually being located within the city of Baltimore. This is why I am looking into the suburb thing.
Since I will be out of the city most work days I figure even living downtown I will have to drive every day to work. If I was to live downtown I would want to be near the inner harbor to be close to our office, which obviously is more expensive. I understand the problem with meeting people and such if I live outside the city, which believe is a big concern for me, but luckily I will be working with a lot of younger people so I am hoping I will be ok with that, at least for the first year.
My plan is to move after my first year to somewhere within the city. This way I have a year to get comfortable with the area and can see where people I know are living and how they like the areas. In addition, after the first year I am hoping to get enough of a raise to afford somewhere closer to my office. Also, I currently live in a small little college town so I figure to transition to a Towson would be very easy.
Thanks again to everyone, you've given me a lot to think about, not only now but in a year or so when I'm looking in the city.
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