Is Baltimore Move Realistic? (Glen Burnie, Arbutus: 2010, health insurance, crime)

[Jules1967]

Hi,

This is my first post on this website. My husband and I (40-ish, fur kids only, cat/dog) will be visiting Baltimore in a couple of weeks to see if we like it as a possible place to live.

I don't work due to some health issues and he is a high school math teacher. I doubt we'll plan to move this year, even for math teachers the economic climate nowadays is too insecure, so hopefully in 2010? He would probably apply to the county not the city for a job.

I think the salary would be about $47/48,000, not definite though. Presumably the county is a lot more expensive to live in compared to the city (apart from the posh city neighborhoods)? We like doing city stuff sometimes (he's from Cleveland originally and I'm from London, UK), but we've lived in some smaller cities since then and like them okay but now we're getting bored with the lack of culture and lack of decent health insurance. The insurance offered by Baltimore schools is wonderful compared to our deal now.

So, we live modestly, would like a small house in a safe area, near to parks or trails for the dog. I guess, at the risk of sounding dull, perhaps in a suburban type setting, we don't mind not being in the thick of things. Is this possible on one salary like this? Or shall we just get real and re-think our options and visit as tourists instead, ha, ha!? We've been living in Roanoke, VA which is pretty cheap, pleasant and v. safe, but not so exciting and too redneck/conservative....

Thanks for any info.

[kinkytoes]

Hmm. Well, Maryland in general is an expensive state. I can't think of anyplace that's cheap, safe and not red-necky. If I could find it, I would live there. There has been a disturbing trend lately of anything fairly decent even remotely near a highway costing over 300K. No matter what condition it's in. To me that's awful. But having said that... well I'm not sure what to say. MD has got to be one of the most expensive states in the country, so I'm not sure you'll like the life you can afford here on a teacher's salary. Maybe you'd be better off staying in Va...

[htillberg]

Taxes are a lot in MD, this is true. The only point of confusion for me from the OP is that if you like the serene suburban setting, why you would want to move to an urban-ish area?

I had the opposite issue...I was living in a serene, rednecky area, and did not enjoy it, and so I found myself here in Baltimore. Yes, there are safety concerns with urban living and there are equally valid safety concerns with rural/suburban living. For example, all that ridiculous driving that goes on. That and the meth labs. (I kid)

It all comes down to what you want from the place you live. I find Baltimore to be accessible, to have just enough excitement for the day-to-day, and be close enough to DC and Philly for access to larger cities. The taxes are high and there are a lot of things that need to be fixed (access to public transportation, the education system etc).

It is possible (maybe not pleasant, but possible) to live almost anywhere on one salary. It's hard to know what to advise in that regard without specifics about the amount of that salary that one has available to spend on housing, food, medical, etc. The trick in a metro region is to work backwards from what you can afford and then check out areas where you might be able to afford to live. Then you can truly know if it will work for you.

Baltimore might be a city that takes a little bit longer to get to know, and it has a kind of gritty exterior, but there are a lot of cool resources here at a pace that isn't quite so breakneck as the DC area.

[PopsGifts]

Look into the Landsdowne area; 20 minutes from downtown in B'more county, at the No edge of Anne Arundle county.
The Eastern half of Landsdowne comprises about 60 very nice 3-5 BR homes in the 100-250 range, with a nice, large park for the dog(s).
We lived on Georgia Ave (same neighborhood) in a nice older 5BR house, and paid 99K about 12yrs ago...The park is at the end of Georgia, as is the lightrail stop.

Should hubby take a B'more county job, Glen Burnie is chock-full of nice little neighborhoods in the 150-400k range.

...As for all the Maryland-slamming in prior posts...Safety is an illusion.
Nowhere is truly "Safe"...Crime is everywhere. Criminals have cars...perverts roam every neighborhood, not just their own...and every state is littered with drug problems.

Every state has good points and bad points...Maryland is no different.

[kinkytoes]

That's true, but I'm still annoyed at the amount I pay in taxes. Grrr. Actually I just had a thought, what about Arbutus? Check that place out. It's a tad red-necky, but the people are pretty friendly. It's close to a MARC train station if you want to have fun in DC or NY and it's also close to Patapsco state park for hiking and biking! I think it may be a little more sophisticated than Glen Burnie, since there is a university nearby.