Frederick: Homes at Market Square (Hagerstown, Ballenger Creek: renters, crime, townhomes)

[carolina_guy]

These are the intersection of Market and South St. Isn't this in the middle of downtown Frederick? Pretty safe right? All comments are appreciated!
What about Ballenger Creek? Any comments are appreciated.

[trying2moveup]

Market and South is indeed downtown. This area is sort of on the fringe of the "good area" of town - it was really undergoing revitalization before the housing market tanked. Still a decent area of town but until market upswings in force I think the remaining revitalization will be on hold. But this would be a good time to get in there on the "ground floor." Prices are not cheap - 400K and up for those city townhomes but you will be able to walk to EVERYTHING downtown. NICE!
Ballenger Creek is on the southwest side of the city. Residential area sprinkled with a lot of commercial areas. Right near the interchange of Rt. 70 and Rt. 270/15 - big interchange area. Dont want to be too close to the highways so watch that. Also, you will find yourself - depending on what community - near alot of industrial building out on Ballenger Creek Pike. Prices will be lower because of that. Ballenger Creek is an older, established neighborhood.

[histmaj]

yea the places downtown are iffy. The places are gorgeous and are close to plenty of things to do. They are fairly safe, but 2-5 blocks any direction on South St can be shady. Mainly the crime is drug related(possession, distribution), and not assault or homicide. But as trying2moveup said "but you will be able to walk to EVERYTHING downtown. NICE!"

[blawson]

I used to live in Ballenger Creek and enjoyed living there, but I moved three years ago, as it was starting to become more "transitional" - lots of renters in the townhome units, the feel of the place was beginning to change from when I first moved in...it was previously mostly young families who owned them. It's not a bad area at all, and I have noticed that the HOAs are good about making sure everyone keeps up with maintenance. It's also still close to downtown.

Have you checked out any other surrounding areas?

[carolina_guy]

Originally Posted by blawson

I used to live in Ballenger Creek and enjoyed living there, but I moved three years ago, as it was starting to become more "transitional" - lots of renters in the townhome units, the feel of the place was beginning to change from when I first moved in...it was previously mostly young families who owned them. It's not a bad area at all, and I have noticed that the HOAs are good about making sure everyone keeps up with maintenance. It's also still close to downtown.

Have you checked out any other surrounding areas?

Thanks for the info.

We're coming up next weekend to look at homes. We'll be looking at Urbana, Wormans Mill, downtown Frederick, Ballenger Creek, and Hagerstown.