Calvert County? (Bethesda, Rockville, Deale: real estate, condos, low crime)

[prc7020]

Does someone know what Calvert County is like? Is is safe? Does it have good schools? low crime? Affordable homes? What are some of the better areas in Calvert County? Is is commutable to Rockville, MD? We heard possitive things about North Beach but I am not sure how reliable ours sources were. My family would like to move to Maryland next year and we are trying to decide where we want to end up. Thanks in advance for any help you can all give!

[Ex-Ithacan]

My wife and I moved to Calvert county about 15 years ago. Best move we ever made. We had been in a high crime area of PG, and our daughter was a toddler. We found an affordable home in the northern part of Calvert with some land and acres of woods behind us. The quick answer to your questions are that Calvert has a fairly low crime rate (though there are some shady areas). The school system is very good (my daughter will be graduating from HS this year. Homes aren't as affordable these days as they were even 10 years ago, but I think you would run into that in most areas of the DC metro. A nice 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath with some land in a decent location can go for about $400,000. You mentioned North Beach, which is just a couple of miles from where I live. The turn-around that town is experiencing is amazing. NB had been a blue collar, rough around the edges town for most of its recent history. That is now changing. Antique shops, a 1/2 mile long boardwalk (the center of much of the community activity), new condos/townhouses going up each year. NB also borders on Chesapeake Beach, another beach town which is going a bit upscale. I think you should take a nice saturday and visit the Twin Beach area to get a better feel. The one negative comment I would say is that commuting to the beltway can be troublesome. I actually travel to downtown DC, but so early in the morning I miss most of the traffic. I guess traffic is bad in the whole metro, almost inescapable. Give the place a look and pick up a free real estate guide in one of the local super markets. Good luck.

[prc7020]

Thank you for the information. You provided the most feedback then anyone I spoke to about the area. I appreciate the time you took to respond in such detail.

[Ex-Ithacan]

You're welcome, glad it helped

[pkoons]

I can echo Ex-Ithacan's comments, he hit the nail on the head... As far as the commute, there are a few options:

1) Driving - expect an hour and a half each way, sometimes more, during rush hour. I have a similar commute (Crownsville, AA County) to Bethesda.

2) Metro - drive to the New Carrolton or Suitland station and Metro into DC, change lines, and ride to Rockville. Total time will again be about 1 1/2 hours each way, but you can sleep or read on the train if that is helpful to you.

3) Bus - there is a commuter bus route that you can catch in Deale or Owings that will take you to the Farragut North and Union Station Metro lines, both on the Red line that will take you right into Rockville. This might be slightly faster, but then you use 3 modes of transportation to get to work - not too effiicient

Good luck!