Moving to bmore (Baltimore, Towson, Pikesville: mortgage, environment, real estate)

[bimori]

Hi everyone, i've been reading on this forum for a while. looks like i'll be accepting a job in baltimore area, and i just wanted to get some take on the best suburb to live in. i've been looking at suburbs north of baltimore: Bel air, aberdeen, owings mill etc. I really dont know much about the area, but i'm looking for some help here. i keep hearing bmore is expensive but how expensive. i'll be making in excess of 83K. Is that good enough?. my wife would also be making as much if not more when she moves here. right now, we think $350K should be enough for both of us for a starter home since its only two of us for now (no kids yet). we are not into condos or townhomes. we'll prefer a single family house. we would go above $350K for the right house. Does any one know about Havre De Grace??. is it a good area??. Thanks for your help.

-Alex

[oneworld25]

I think $350,000 will be more than enough to get you decent house and you and your wife will be making plenty of money to enjoy a very comfortable standard of living. Owings Mills is a fairly decent area (though some parts are nicer than others), however, I'm not sure about how nice the schools are. You may also want to look at Towson, Glyndon, Reisterstown, Timonium, Lutherville, and parts of Pikesville. These areas are all north of Baltimore though some are closer to the city than other areas, but they are all viewed as nice places to live.

[chippeebobippee]

Hey and welcome to Baltimore! This is an expensive place to live. Since it is just you and your wife, for now, have you considered renting short-term before buying? There are a lot of good areas and you may want to consider proximity to work and ease of commute time since 695, 95 and 83 are beasts during rush hour. It sounds like between the two of you, there will be a decent income to live well here. Like everyone these days, just make sound financial decisions about savings and your dispsable income and you should be fine.

[barante]

I second chibbeebobippee. Rent, do not buy. My reason. This real estate mess is serious enough at this point to warrant extreme caution. Many neighborhoods are forests of FOR SALE signs. What happens to those neighborhoods, if those properties are foreclosed/boarded up? Will they remain vacant or find buyers. And if they are auctioned off at a pittance what kinds of neighbors?
If you know Baltimore, this is a great time to scout for good deals. But you have to know the area rather than rely on a real estate agent.
Having said that, here are a couple of my thoughts. If I were buying, I would not consider Owings Mills. I can't tell you why. But when I look at the cookie-cutter developments I see nightmares about boarded houses.
Pikesville, however, I would recommend. It has cohesion that many other areas don't: Orthodox Jewish. Because they have to walk to the shul on sabbath and holidays, they will not be moving anywhere.
We live in Cheswolde, on the city side of Pikesville, and in all kinds of ways this is the best neighborhood we have lived in. We have half an acre in the city. We see rabbits and foxes on our property and have seen deer twice in eight years. The area is totally quiet and extra quiet on Sabbath when all the frummies walk.
Our Cheswolde real estate market is not very much affected by national economy. What drives our market are Orthodox Jews from New Jersey and New York who regard Baltimore as a splendid place to raise a family. Religious institutions are strong and yeshivas of high academic quality. You see For Sale signs but houses don't stay on the market long. The same applies to certain sections of Pikesville, which is experiencing a generational turnover (Summit Park), with younger Orthodox families succeeding families that may have been secular.
We are not Jewish and ended up here after selling our Union Square Victorian townhouse in four days on our own in 2000. The owner's wife was pregnant; they wanted to move in as quickly as possible. So we were under the gun.
We wanted our next home to be a rancher and Cheswolde/Pikesville is rancher country. We saw six ranchers, all dogs. My wife felt that the Orthodox were looking at her "as if I had three eyes" and said we should look elsewhere. I said that there was a seventh house that I wanted to show and after that we would look elsewhere.
The moment we walked in, we realized that it was our house. The seller ws the only owner of the house, built in 1960. She was every real estate agent's nightmare: She took over, showing everything and telling us how old and in what condition everything. She told us about the neighborhood and what the neighbors were like (these descriptions proved both accurate and useful) and what problems she had had with them. She was Jewish but not Orthodox and said she often felt that she was looked at as if she had three heads!
The house had languished on the market for quite a while (because it was overpriced), but the price had been lowered considerably and she sweetened the offer by taking care of closing costs. While this was going on, the real estate agent nudged me aside. "I'll be in my office at 7.30 a.m. tomorrow," he said, sensing what was happening.
For a 1960 home, this ain't bad. Highest grade building materials, central music system, a light in every closet.
Good luck, whatever you end up doing.

[krakenten]

I'm not a big booster of Baltimore, but I do love the place with all her faults.

I lived in that area for 17 years-it's a good place to make a home, safe and quiet.

You could be happy there.

[oneworld25]

Unlike most of the other posters in this forum, I've never bought a house before. However, it would seem to me that if ever there was a time to buy it would be now because house prices are so low.

[barante]

If you read my previous post, you will see my discussion of pitfalls. But plummeting housing prices and low mortgage rates make for a splending opportunity to buy. Mortgage rates are bound to go up.
But you have to know what you are doing; otherwise you may end up in a neighborhood whose stability is threatened by foreclosures and vacancies.
We live in very unpredictable times. Also do remember that real estate is property that may not be always easy to liquidate at the price of your preference.

[rudy_d]

I wouldn't say prices are low by any means. Sales have dropped off dramatically, but prices are actually up in Baltimore city; only the highest-priced and farthest-away suburbs have dropped, and not by that much considering by how far they they rose over the last few few years. Price-to-rent and price-to-income ratios are still very high by historical standards.

I own a house and don't want to see prices drop, but I honestly don't see anything positive about the housing market in the near term. I concur with Chippee--renting and getting to know the area and seeing how the housing bust plays out sounds like good advice to me in the current environment. There may be bargains out there, but I see a lot of risk.

[Shadozer]

actually the areas you are talking about (havre de grace, aberdeen) are VERY reasonable price wise. 350 should be more than enough to buy a really nice home there. but commuting to baltimore everyday might be a pain as it will probly take atleast an hour to get there. towson is a nice area and short drive but may cost you a little more for a single family home. i live in essex which is pretty cheap and very close to the city. however i agree with the other posters, rent first, you may find that baltimore is not for you. good luck!