Moving to Frederick/Fort Detrick from Japan - HELP! (Germantown: relocating, housing)

[2Beans&1Peanut]

Hi Everyone,

I have never posted here, so I apologize if I "miss" something .....
My husband and I, along with our 4yr old, are relocating to Frederick in the next couple of months. My husband will be assigned to Fort Detrick. I would LOVE some advice on areas to search for housing & just the area in general - I am trying to gather as much info as possible, but we currently live in Japan, so what I can do from here is a little limited.

We need a safe, family oriented neighborhood. My husband would like a decent commute (up to 30 minutes would be fine) as well. We are looking to lease for our entire stay (4 years) and need to stay at about $1800/mo, but would like a 4 bdrm home/townhome if possible..... Is that even realistic? We don't need alot of nightlife - need activities for my daughter though (parks, dance classes, swimming, etc.). "Quiet, small town" living is fine with us! We want to be able to take day trips to DC and the like, but don't want to live in the middle of it.

Also, does anyone know how strict the guidelines are for early entry to kindergarten????? My daughter misses the Sept. 1 cut -off by 9 days, and we would REALLY like to try and get her enrolled for the '08/09 school year. Private schools (including preschools) look really expensive!

If we can't get her into kindergarten we might consider a longer commute and try living in VA ..... Would that commute be a HUGE nightmare? What areas in VA could anybody recommend (maybe Leesburg???) I have heard you can have a commute of 40-45min living in VA & working at Ft Dterick.

ANY advice on the area & schools would be FABULOUS - THANKS!!!

[mariecug]

Frederick itself is a fine place to live, good for families, and you should be totally fine with 1800/month. Hey, I might even consider buying as the market is good right now. The areas of Frederick that I think aren't that great are off of Route 40 and downtown near All Saints Street.

Outside of Frederick, Urbana is very nice but expensive. Rockville is a fine place to live but a little bit far of a commute to Frederick. Walkersville and Middletown have good school districts but are more rural. Gaithersburg and Germantown are a little overpriced in my opinion, nothing spectacular.

Commuting from VA is NOT a great option, or an option at all, in my opinion. One of the huge negatives of the MD/VA/DC area is traffic. Look up combinations of towns on maps.google.com and it will estimate the commute time. From Northern VA (Fairfax), I would say it would take 1 hour w/ no traffic and 1.5 -2 hours with traffic.

I'm sure Leesburg would be better but I have no idea how it is during rush hour.

[Tim Rankin]

2Beans - The bad news is traffic in this region can be kind of tough. The good news is there is really no reason to live outside Frederick, especially if you work there. It's a great town, with plenty to do, and nice areas. I would start by reading through this previous thread, on exactly the same topic:

Transferring to Ft. Detrick/ Relo Help Please :)

Here's a short thread about commuting to Frederick:

Commuting to Frederick

Good luck on your move and if you have any questions, pls feel free to DM me.

[Acts16chick]

Stay in Frederick otherwise your husbands commute will suck. There are plenty of new townhomes that you could rent. Check out the local Frederick News Post classifieds.

[christc]

I live in Carroll Valley, PA and used to commute to Fort Detrick. The commute was about 30-35 minutes with no traffic problems/backups. Housing will most likely be cheaper in PA compared to MD and Carroll Valley is a nice and small mountain town with a ski resort (Ski Liberty) in the middle of it. It isn't very populated and there isn't too much to do besides skiing/snowboarding in the winter or without traveling more than a half hour. If that doesn't sound too appealing, you might also want to try Thurmont, MD, Taneytown, MD areas as they are slightly closer to Frederick and slightly more populated.

[FrankLaw]

Re: schools and the age cut-off, Frederick is in Montgomery County, so I'm pretty sure my experiences will be applicable to you.

My son's birthday is in mid-Oct., so he missed the age cut off by a few weeks. But he seemed completely unchallenged by his pre-K program, so we tried to get him in early. There's a process you have to go through (MCPS: Age and Attendance Requirements, click on the "Early Childhood Site" link in the middle of the page and download the MCPS form 271-6, which is linked just underneath), but what happens is if you're just outside the age cut off, you can request an evaluation of your child by MCPS. The evaluation is no big dea. You take your kid in and they're told a story (our son was read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar") and asked questions about it. And there's some really basic numbers work, too, I think. Anyway, it's really basic stuff, and if your kid is deemed ready for kindergarten work, they'll allow you to enroll him/her early.

Incidentally, they say they'll consider kids who miss the age cut-off up to six weeks after Sept. 1, but I think they might be a little loose with that standard, because our kid is outside of the six week limit by a couple of days.

[Doorway]

Originally Posted by FrankLaw

Re: schools and the age cut-off, Frederick is in Montgomery County, so I'm pretty sure my experiences will be applicable to you.

My son's birthday is in mid-Oct., so he missed the age cut off by a few weeks. But he seemed completely unchallenged by his pre-K program, so we tried to get him in early. There's a process you have to go through (MCPS: Age and Attendance Requirements, click on the "Early Childhood Site" link in the middle of the page and download the MCPS form 271-6, which is linked just underneath), but what happens is if you're just outside the age cut off, you can request an evaluation of your child by MCPS. The evaluation is no big dea. You take your kid in and they're told a story (our son was read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar") and asked questions about it. And there's some really basic numbers work, too, I think. Anyway, it's really basic stuff, and if your kid is deemed ready for kindergarten work, they'll allow you to enroll him/her early.

Incidentally, they say they'll consider kids who miss the age cut-off up to six weeks after Sept. 1, but I think they might be a little loose with that standard, because our kid is outside of the six week limit by a couple of days.

Frederick is in Frederick County, not Montgomery County. Completely different school systems. (Montgomery Co stops just north of Clarksville)

[trying2moveup]

Check your direct mail account for more specific information than can be posted here on Ft. Detrick

[karyshannah]

A lot of places around frederick are also awesome to live. don't limit yourself. frederick county itself goes for miles. Mount Airy is a really good place to live if you have a family. The Linganore community (new market) is also really good.

[endersshadow]

Wherever you end up, don't live in Montgomery County (MC). MC has a great school system and community college but it's expensive to live in the area. There's a reason people live in Frederick, Hagerstown, or even parts of PA and commute down to southern MC or DC rather than just living in MC (which is next to DC).