severna park/arnold/annapolis? need help (Crofton, Cape St. Claire: rent, houses, neighborhoods)

[george12345]

hi, we'll be moving to the area soon and we're deciding which area would be best for our family. we are looking for a home under 500,000 in an area with:

great schools
young families
something that is not known to flood
something with good resale value

can anyone recommend neighborhoods or give us areas to avoid?

we narrowed down to severna park, arnold or annapolis (the part on the east side of the severn river with the better schools)

george

[george12345]

also. do these areas have full day kindergarten? it seems every area of AA county is different.

george

[asincero]

I grew up in Annapolis. Technically I still live in the city (my zip code is Annapolis), but it's really Arnold (i.e. I can literally walk a block away and I'd be in Arnold).

My vote is for Arnold. The problem with Annapolis is that no matter where you live, you're never too far from the ghetto. I once read an article in the local paper which stated that Annapolis has the highest amount of public housing per capita than anywhere in the nation. And the last I heard, my old high school (Annapolis Senior High) wasn't doing too well with respect to academic performance. From what I hear, the schools in my current area are some of the best in the county (I live a little more than a block away from Broadneck High School). Basically, I live close enough to the innards of Annapolis to enjoy what it has to offer without actually being in the innards of Annapolis. The only downside to my arrangement is the awful traffic I gotta put up with; especially during the Naval Academy graduation season. It is truly horrendous during that time.

Being located right between Severna Park and Annapolis, if you live in Arnold you can choose to drive to SP or Annapolis to get any shopping done. Not that Arnold lacks any place to buy things; we have the basics but I think we only have one grocery store now. The Safeway that's been there forever recently closed, so now we only have a Super Fresh. But thats ok ... everything I need to get to in Annapolis or SP is within a 10 minute drive from my spot.

Overall, it doesn't seem to be as expensive as Severna Park or Annapolis, but the area is just as good as SP but not as crappy as Annapolis.

[george12345]

Thank you.

So how is Cape St. Claire and Atlantis areas? Is it ghetto-ish mixed in there too?


George

[Leanne23]

Wondering about Cape Saint Claire/Atlantis areas. Are there bad areas mixed in over there? How are the schools?

[notdancingqueen]

I live in Severna Park - we love it. Been here 9 years. The schools are considered quite good but like most desirable communities, you pay for it. It's more expensive than other surrounding towns which can be just as nice as SP. If you choose SP, it's certainly a buyers market at the moment. And you can save a lot of money on a house - some people say $20-40k - by not living in a water rights community. *IF* you are choosing SP for the schools, make sure you are careful about where you buy - there is a redistricting fight going on so if schools are your top reason for moving here, make sure you find out which district you would fall in...

[1dad]

I live in Annapolis and have many friends in Cape St Clair. It's a very nice area in terms of schools. As to flooding, anything 30 ft above sea level should be safe. It's amazing how many places aren't, I think all of east port in Annapolis (just across the spa river bridge) is at 10 ft or below.

In terms of housing value, it's a buyers market, but people are still trying to figure out that the escalation in prices these past 8 years was due to bank liberalized lending practices and creating a wage push inflation for houses. Moody's, Smart Money, Money magazine etc. forecast that prices will be heading down 20-40%. Translated that can be another 100k drop from selling prices today. If it were me, I would liquidate, rent a house in a nice location (you will find them a wonderful deal as people can't sell their houses and can't rent them at a price that will pay for their mortgage) and wait this one out in the location of your choice, severna park, cape st clair, etc. Lot's of people are going to find out the darker side of leveraged assets.

[fabirt]

I would check out Crofton...it was number 72 on the list of top 100 places to live. The schools are excellent...we live on what is called the crofton parkway which is a 3 mile loop of houses that surrounds a golf course. There are allot of new families coming in due to the BRAC and the local military bases getting new workers. We are moving closer to one of the bases and will be selling our house on the parkway in Jan 08, it backs to the golf course and is 500k....