Southern Maryland... (Frederick, Lexington Park, Prince Frederick: for sale, real estate, insurance)

[Alexis03]

I am relocating to Calvery county, Prince Frederick area. I have a house already but I am looking for work....where do most people get jobs? How do they get them?? I have looked in the Independant and other local newspapers...but nothing really promising...Where do others work?? I have mostly experience in clerical and I have a degree in Marketing....I am looking for something semi-local. Calvert, St Marys..etc....

Anyone have any ideas??

[PenguinSix]

Take a look here:

Southern Maryland Online™ - Your on-line community for Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's Counties.™

Classifieds and Forum about Southern Md.

Jobs are sparse down here. Most people commute north to DC or south to PAX River NAS.

[sodaking663rd]

i agree with penguin - pretty much everyone that lives in calvert and st. mary's commute to d.c. or work at the Naval Station. It's a pretty area but a very limited job market in the two counties.

[CurlyLocks]

hope you will be making a LARGE salary cuz you are gonna need it! the income required to purchase a home in st mary's county is $80,000 and most jobs pay @ 30,000 per year... the cost of living has gone thru the roof here... a lot of people who have lived here all their lives are leaving. the property taxes are unreal, and the average electric bill runs @ 160.00 per month

[Alexis03]

thanks guys....my BF lives there and he owns his home...needless to say he makes WAY more than i ever will... LOL the sad thing is he's got 2 kids and if something happens I need to make it home fairly fast. thanks for the link...I will look into it...

[TeamBenya]

Curly, I think that's an unfair assessment of St. Mary's County. I have helped several people in the past year purchase single family homes on their own in Southern MD who earn considerably less than $80k/yr. It comes down to credit score, down payment, tax rate, etc., but it is very possible and in regards to electric, I have a 3br/2ba. single family home with detached 4 car garage/shop and my monthly power bill comes in under $100 with SMECO.

[CurlyLocks]

According to a report for real estate sales in St. Mary's county for the month of July 2007 the average sales price for a home here was $373,350.

using a mortgae calculator that determines the income necessary to purchase the "average" home price for S.t Mary's county including property tax and insurance the required income to purchase the "average " home would be:

at 6% interest, using a "modest" $1,000 for property tax and 200.00 for insurance
at 30 years

required income= $104,907.00 with a montly payment of $2447.82

Now granted that does not include a downpayment..

[TeamBenya]

You're absolutely right, but as I'm looking now there are 423 homes in the county priced BELOW 370k, and 439 homes priced ABOVE 370k. I think there's a lot of ways to look at it, but I feel that it is still possible to purchase a nice home for less that 80k/yr. income. Calvert also has a slightly lower cost of living than St. Mary's County, so there might be a possibility for aditional savings there. That being said, it is CONSIDERABLY more difficult to live in the region on a tighter income for a couple of reasons. One is just as you mentioned, DC Commuters have caused people with high paying jobs to move into the area, and the region is more popular recently for these people. Second, prices in Charles/Prince Georges are pushing people further out, and indeed causing long time residents to re-evaluate the situation and, in some cases, move. Third, military housing is a big factor in the region and the higher subsidies that the military sees in the Washington, DC area creates a more expensive market. I was not disagreeing with you Curly about the fact that the cost of living is high, and perhaps excessively so, but I wanted to point out that there is another side to the coin, so to speak. Given that I am out looking at these available homes on a consistent basis, the properties I see for sale excess of $300,000 are typically homes that for myself would be wasted space and an unnecessary expense. Part of that is because I am married and have no kids, and anything larger than a 3BR/2.5BA Rambler means more upkeep for me. It's about personal preference, and I don't mean to claim that your numbers are off in regards to income, but just that a 350k plus home doesn't make sense for everyone.

[CurlyLocks]

I love St. Marys I have lived here all my life, however the 30,000 dollar salary I earn working for the state will probably never allow me to own a home of my own.. yes I too have seen listings for houses at or just below 120,000, however I have no desire to live in Lexington Park or on Pegg's road..

Ive looked at vacant lots for sale and looked into purchasing a modular manufactured home ... but the Land use office would not allow that..

I think you would have to agree that there are not many options in St. Marys for those making moderate incomes (30,000)

[TeamBenya]

You're absolutely right that on a 30k income home ownership in this region has become nearly impossible. Because of the nature of the region it has become diffficult for single income households to actually own, and the "sticker shock" for people relocation from out of state is very painful. Even to build you own home, you can easily look at 30k just to make the land feasible once you pay for the perk, the well, the septic, etc. and that's not even covering the cost of the land! It's a far cry from what the market was like 4-5 years ago when a buildable lot was available for 30-50k. Right now the cheapest lot you can find in charles county is 20k, and would need work in order to be buildable. Most people who are able to afford to that 370k+ range are working in other counties or DC and many of them are also living in multiple income households.

~Jonathan Benya- Team Benya
Century 21 New Millennium