Buy a house in Maryland, DC or Virginia? (Fort Washington: rent, condo)

[Jadedea Jade]

Im in the pre pre pre stages of buying a house.

essentially im gathering my data for a brainstorm to study, do some labs, and then homework for buying a house if that makes sense.

first thing is first. which area is less expensive, or maybe even less annoying to deal with to own property?? i heard va taxes you for the air you breath and maryland has insane property taxes, while dc doesnt provide alot of acreage unless your rich, and then you still dont own the land as its federal. can someone go across some pros and cons for buying a house in those three areas??

i have a dream list contingent on the home. if i get my dream home id be happy with half an acre. if not, at least an acre to build a better home. it has to be a detached single family home and near a metro or no more than a 20 min trip to the metro.

thanks for all input.

[MarylandMan]

What sort of price range are you looking at? a half acre or more within 20 minutes of a metro can get pretty pricey really quickly.

[Jadedea Jade]

hmm id say no more than 500k.

[Jadedea Jade]

so anyone have a preference or just overall good experience in buying a house in dc, md or va?

[jayman1981]

First are you familiar with this area. I'm not trying to be funny, I just want to know if you have really travelled around DC, Maryland and northern Virginia. 500K while it will get a house, often times it won't be on a lot of land. For the most part 500K is going to get you a condo in D.C. Northern Va you have options, but you will have a car tax. Unless you got luxury cars, I wouldn't worry too much about that. For 500K In maryland you will have options as well. The property taxes aren't too bad. Where it's really bad is in Prince George's County where it's not uncommon to pay in excess of 8,000+ that is for the good areas. However the homes prices are lower than most of the closer counties.

At this point it's not about what we think it's about what you want. Each jursidiction has it's negatives, If you ask me there all over priced, You don't really get a bang for your buck in the D.C. area unless your willing to commute some 20+ miles away from the city. Honestly I would rule out D.C. because of the land requirement. That is going to cost you more than your budget can provide. I will tell you my experience I purchased in Maryland in 07. I have a lovely 1300sq ft townhouse for about $260,000 I pay about 1800 in taxes. Sounds real good doesn't The problem is I live about 20 miles away from D.C. With traffic this place can take about hour to get to work. Hopefully that helps if you have any more question I will gladly assist you in your conquest.

Originally Posted by Jadedea Jade

so anyone have a preference or just overall good experience in buying a house in dc, md or va?

[BigCityDreamer]

What size home are you looking for - number of bedrooms and square footage?

[Jadedea Jade]

jay thanks for the info. ive been asking around work as well alot of my coworkers though rent like me. i heard va taxes you having a vehicle. is there any other taxes?? can you list all the taxes youd pay being a resident of va if possible????

so maryland has high property taxes but low house prices but va would have high house prices and low taxes. so does that mean i should try and shoot for a house in va since property taxes is a reoccurring thing?
ive been around certain areas but just for a few hours for business.
what about montgomery county?

big- around 2000 square feet, at least 3 floors (finished basement or at least a basement). jay just ruled out dc. i dont want a cape cod cottage or a house with just 1 bath.

[Jadedea Jade]

is fort washington a good area??

[GoPhils]

lol at Maryland having low house prices

[Steelers10]

Originally Posted by Jadedea Jade

is fort washington a good area??

You could certainly by a pretty large, modern home with a fairly large lot in Fort Washington for under $500K but not too far under. Fort Washington is overwhelmingly African-American and the schools are nearly 100% black. Despite the high incomes of the blacks that live here apparently no other ethnicites come to live in this area. If this situation is bothersome I wouldn't advise Fort Washington. Despite popular belief, a couple of the high schools in the area are actually nationally-ranked on the Newsweek list of best public high schools. They aren't ranked exceedingly high in comparison to public schools in Montgomery County but often times on these forums you will see that all Prince George's County high schools are under performing and it simply just isn't true.

However, Fort Washington is adjacent to the inner beltway and suffers from a comparatively high rate of property crime nearby. Many high income residents of Fort Washington actually have moved down into neighboring Charles County. Fort Washington is a pretty good area but many people are put off by high crime rates and low performing schools in areas within close proximity.