housing prices (Baltimore, Frederick, Thurmont: real estate, property taxes, rent)

[togoornot]

I am currently considering moving to MD , I have been offered an engineering position in Frederick.
I currently live in Western,NY (outside of Buffalo) with my wife and we have a child on the way.
I am in my mid 30's and feel I make a fair salary. At least I FELT I made a fair salary until I went down to MD a few weekends ago and found that I may not be able to afford a home!
We currently own a 4 bdroom colonial in NY and would not be able to afford almost the same exact home there in MD?

I am not educated in the Real Estate and am having a hard time understanding why such a huge difference in the housing prices?
I have been having conversations with friends who live in Buffalo,Rochester and they are not believing me when I tell them the housing prices and our parents are both not understanding either.

If there is someone who is educated in Real Estate for MD and could explain why this difference, I would be interested to know.

The salary I have been offered is much more than my current one, however, I am still not sure it makes up for the cost of housing.
Everyone here in Western NY complains about property taxes, I still don't think it even comes close.
A starter home in MD seems to be no lower than $300,000 ? can that be right?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[liliblu]

As someone who works in real estate in Maryland, I suggest that you find a realtor in the area you would like to buy. Try to find one with a few years under their belt. Give that realtor a list of your must haves and what your flexible about. Over the last few months it has become more of a buyer's market. There are a large number of houses on the market right now. But home prices are still sky high in many areas. A four bedroom colonial for under $300,000 is going to be very hard to find. Unless you're willing to look at older homes with less square footage.

RE/MAX | residential and commercial real estate
You can search for homes or for an agent on this site.

I'm not real familiar with these areas in terms of schools, crime, and shopping but you may want to look in Brunswick, Frederick City, and Emmitsburg. The Knoxville, Woodsboro, and Jefferson areas may also be a place to look. The homes will be older and smaller. I assume you're looking for homes in Frederick County.

[Zippy7fo]

Originally Posted by togoornot

I am currently considering moving to MD , I have been offered an engineering position in Frederick.
I currently live in Western,NY (outside of Buffalo) with my wife and we have a child on the way.
I am in my mid 30's and feel I make a fair salary. At least I FELT I made a fair salary until I went down to MD a few weekends ago and found that I may not be able to afford a home!
We currently own a 4 bdroom colonial in NY and would not be able to afford almost the same exact home there in MD?

I am not educated in the Real Estate and am having a hard time understanding why such a huge difference in the housing prices?
I have been having conversations with friends who live in Buffalo,Rochester and they are not believing me when I tell them the housing prices and our parents are both not understanding either.

If there is someone who is educated in Real Estate for MD and could explain why this difference, I would be interested to know.

The salary I have been offered is much more than my current one, however, I am still not sure it makes up for the cost of housing.
Everyone here in Western NY complains about property taxes, I still don't think it even comes close.
A starter home in MD seems to be no lower than $300,000 ? can that be right?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

1. During the 90's-2000's the DC/Baltimore/Nova economy's exploded, mostly from Federal Gov't spending, technology-IT/Software?Internet related companies, Biotech Industry and DC has the largest collection of Lawyers in the U.S.. Great news but they brought high salaries.
2. The DC region is one of the top most educated regions in the country only behind San Fran I believe. Alot of people have college degree's. You don't ask people if they graduated from college, you ask where they went to school. Tons of Graduates and PHD professionals and certification types.
3. Housing prices climbed also because of greedy developers, real estate agents, investors, and city gov'ts/mayors. It was unreal for while, homes increasing double digits in months. Just ungodly unheard of things within the market. You had the developers and real estate agents trying to get more expensive homes and get more commission. You had real estate flippers/investors doing 10 grand worth of upgrade reselling the property for 100 grand more and dumb people paying the price. Then you had greedy mayors encouraging it because it was more property tax revenue for the city coffers which they could brag about to voters and keep undesirable people out (uneducated/poor) who suck up resources... Its all one big game..

My advice to you is to renegotiate your current salary with what it should be for the region. Don't give up your comfort. Employers will try that game, offer you something a little higher than what your making all the while knowing its not gonna be enough to comfortably exist. Otherwise I wouldn't make the move or look at places in B-more which is on par with the national avg for housing prices....

[balto charlie]

It's all about Eco 101, supply and demand. The recent boom has seen a lot of new people move into the area. There is also a surge of military folks moving down due to the closing of many military bases. Apparently there is no let up in sight. Things have slowed but I recently read that the Balto-DC-NOVA regions will grow by 1-2 million people in the next 10 years I don't know where they are going to put these folks. The roads are almost parking lots. They are as bad as S. Cal. I've live there as well so I am familiar w/ traffic. I'm on this site looking to leave as I near retirement. It's been a good ride while it lasted but it's just toooo friggin' crowded anymore.
On the plus side: Spring and fall are hard to beat, winter is relatively mild(I prefer snow however) but the summers tend to be too humid. I often leave for the month of August to escape the heat. You are close to mountains, nice beaches, the wonderful Chesapeake bay, enjoyable city nightlife, DC's museums
Charlie

[hokiejane]

Maryland has the fourth highest per capita income in the U.S. according to the 2000 census. (Fifth highest if you count non-state D.C. which is far and away the highest.) Couple that with the smallness of the state and our beautiful Chesapeake Bay having the nerve to impede real estate development to the east of DC and Baltimore, and you have a perfect storm. High salaries, ample jobs and limited land are going to yield high housing prices. Like the other poster said, supply and demand.

The good news is that if you're going to be working in Frederick, you're going to have a lot more options open to you than the poor souls working in DC, Baltimore and the I-270 corridor. Try looking north and northwest of Frederick. Of course the problem being if you move that far out and your job doesn't work out for some reason, you could be stuck with a hideous commute if you have to travel into DC or B'more for another job. (Hence the reason people want to live closer to the ample jobs.)

If you have confidence in the job you're taking, buying a home further out might not be such a worry and could work out very well for you. Do you have a feel for that?

For what it's worth, I took that risk and it worked out very well for me.

[westsideboy]

Everything posted above is true. Welcome to the commuter state! People that work in Frederick often live in Washington County, MD, Adams County, PA, or Jefferson County, WV and commute to work each day. You may also want to try the Northern part of Frederick County around Thurmont and Emmittsburg.

[togoornot]

Thank you everyone for your replies....
Any other help, info is always welcome!

We always complain here in Western,NY about our housing prices but obviously it is much worse in other areas, including NYC as we already know.
Just didn't realize MD was such a "hot spot" for jobs,etc...
Otherwise it looks like a great place to live!

I hope that some of the naysayers here in Western NY read this and think twice about the fact that we can get some really nice homes here for not alot of money when compared to other areas.

Thanks again-keep the info coming!

[TuborgP]

Everything said is accurate except for comments about greed. Remember the words location, location, location and in Maryland location has education as a subset. You are talking about some of the best school sytems in the country with some of the best teachers etc etc etc. Well educated people want good schools and will pay to live where they are.

[sue tanner]

From Frederick you could live further out,
what you say is basically true
but they are some much more reasonable areas within
commuting distance.

Originally Posted by togoornot

I am currently considering moving to MD , I have been offered an engineering position in Frederick.
I currently live in Western,NY (outside of Buffalo) with my wife and we have a child on the way.
I am in my mid 30's and feel I make a fair salary. At least I FELT I made a fair salary until I went down to MD a few weekends ago and found that I may not be able to afford a home!
We currently own a 4 bdroom colonial in NY and would not be able to afford almost the same exact home there in MD?

I am not educated in the Real Estate and am having a hard time understanding why such a huge difference in the housing prices?
I have been having conversations with friends who live in Buffalo,Rochester and they are not believing me when I tell them the housing prices and our parents are both not understanding either.

If there is someone who is educated in Real Estate for MD and could explain why this difference, I would be interested to know.

The salary I have been offered is much more than my current one, however, I am still not sure it makes up for the cost of housing.
Everyone here in Western NY complains about property taxes, I still don't think it even comes close.
A starter home in MD seems to be no lower than $300,000 ? can that be right?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[ChosenGSR]

It's a sad reality my friend. Now imagine how things are for those of us in early/mid 20s getting out of school. Home ownership (without roomates) is a pipe dream unless you make 50s at the very least.