Around Frederick (Baltimore, Germantown, Gaithersburg: house, neighborhoods, top schools)

[outofCT]

I am looking to relocate from CT to around Frederick area. Looking for top schools being I have 2 in primary and 1 in pre-school. Also an are for the kids. My wife likes cute towns [box stores are fine if place in a corner], one with established down town areas and not strip malls, box stores and auto dealerships. We are in the $ range of $575,000-$650,000. Would we get over 3,250sq ft for this on about 1/2+ acre? I will be working at home as a CPA so commute not an issue however I don't want to be in the woods where the hardware store is 15 minutes away. I have that hear in coastal CT. I would appreciate your help. Anybody needs questions on New Haven, Fairfield CT counties or Westchester County NY I would help out. Grew up and lived in all 3.

[cutgarden]

Check out places around Walkersville and Woodsboro, also. I don't know much about them, but they're minutes from Frederick.

[Tim Rankin]

In that price range you should be able to find what you're looking for. Here are a couple websites to check out:

HomesDatabase

GreatSchools.net

In the 21701 area code, there are some beautiful neighborhoods near Baker Pk, walking distance to downtown. Check out the areas west of W. College Terr, south of Rosemont/Dill, east of Dulaney and north of Baker Pk.

[outofCT]

Originally Posted by Tim Rankin

In that price range you should be able to find what you're looking for. Here are a couple websites to check out:

HomesDatabase

GreatSchools.net

In the 21701 area code, there are some beautiful neighborhoods near Baker Pk, walking distance to downtown. Check out the areas west of W. College Terr, south of Rosemont/Dill, east of Dulaney and north of Baker Pk.

Do you know about the schools in that area?

[KineticContent]

Originally Posted by outofCT

Do you know about the schools in that area?

The Baker Park area (and much of the historic District's West Side) is mostly zoned for Parkway Elementary, which has an excellent reputation.

Welcome to Parkway ES

Frederick County's schools are, generally speaking, excellent. Every single one of the County's High Schools made Newsweek's list of America's top 1300 high schools (Maryland, overall, is well represented).

America's Top Public High Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools - MSNBC.com

[outofCT]

I will check out. Also any immediate areas right outside Frederick?
What are the home prices like?
How are the people; normal or ghetto riche'( You know have debt up the ying yang but drive 80,000 BMW's or Volvos and live in a shot gun shack. We are stocked with them in CT)

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by outofCT

I will check out. Also any immediate areas right outside Frederick?
What are the home prices like?
How are the people; normal or ghetto riche'( You know have debt up the ying yang but drive 80,000 BMW's or Volvos and live in a shot gun shack. We are stocked with them in CT)

The neighborhood I mentioned above does not have "shotgun shacks." It's a very upscale neighborhood. You can find other nice neighborhoods like that in Frederick, but which are less expensive. I would say the people in Frederick are pretty "normal." I have had very little exposure to the type of people you mention above.

For the price breaks you mention, you can basically live anywhere in Frederick. Although it has a reputation as being snobbish, you may also want to check out Middletown, slightly further away from downtown. Good schools. If you want to live east of Frederick, you could check out Germantown, but homes get expensive really fast as you head east.

[Debi18]

Check out New Market and Mt Airy, both offer a charming downtown atmosphere, good schools, new high school being built as we speak. People are friendly and normal and both are within a 20 min drive or less to Frederick, the "big city" of Frederick County. You can most definitely find a nice house in your price range, exiting or new.

[outofCT]

How far is it to DC or Balt on non rush hour?

[Debi18]

I'm in Mt Airy, lived in this area for the last 27 years. From here you can be in either Baltimore or DC in under an hour in non rush hour traffic. New Market is about 10 miles sw of Mt Airy and pretty much the same travel times to either city. Also from Mt Airy or New Market, it's a 20-25 min drive to Frederick where you can pick up the Marc train to the DC area and about a 25-30 drive to Gaithersburg where you can pick up the Redline Metro to the DC area. Mt Airy is a little bigger than New Market as far as shopping goes but no where near the size of Frederick. In addition to its old town downtown atmosphere it also has several grocery stores, restaurants, a walmart, that hardware store you might want, and plenty more. New Market is smaller, more quaint, known for its downtown antique shops. There you have one grocery store, a Mcdonalds and a few misc shops on the outskirts, a PO, a few restaurants in the downtown area in addition to the antique shops. To get to that hardware store from New Market I'm pretty sure you'd have to drive about 10 min to Mt Airy or 20 min to Frederick.