Single family home neighborhood with reasonable commute to Beltsville (Baltimore: apartment complexes, house)

[TMM459]

Hello,

Our family will be moving to MD in July. My husband will be working in Beltsville.

We are looking for an area to live that has a great balance of schools (5th grade and up), community (community activities, rec areas, sports) and of course - commute. It is proving a bit difficult to search via internet and get a feel of the towns so specifics along with the names would be appreciated.

We have lived in a big city atmosphere for the last few years but really miss the small town charm of Mystic, Ct and southern RI which is where we were prior. We are avid cyclists - road and mountain, and love all types of outdoor activity.

It seems a lot of areas are planned communities - what do these include for amenities? Are there any areas that are predominately single family homes?

I know I would gather a lot of this information from a realtor, but we will have one assigned to us from the company (still waiting...). I am also told that by law they are not allowed to advocate for one school system over another.

Any help offered from this forum would be greatly appreciated. We will not be able to make a visit prior to the move due to the distance involved. Thank you in advance!

[cmacf1]

I think that a lot of people on here would advocate for Howard County, but I'll advocate for my home town of Catonsville, which is in far southwest Baltimore County. I like this place because, though it's a suburb of Baltimore, it has a real community feel to it and there are primarily single family homes (though, as in most communities, there are areas where there are apartment complexes.) It seems more like a town than a suburb of a city. Because it's a suburb of Baltimore, prices should be less than suburbs outside of DC. As far as commute, when my husband drives down to the Greenbelt metro, it takes him about 25 minutes (during rush hour.) Our local elementary school is supposed to be great, as are the middle and high schools.

You mention biking. One of the best parks for mountain biking is right on the edge of Catonsville: Patapsco State Park. When DC was trying to be the city chosen for the Summer Olympics in 2012, Patapsco State Park was where the mountain biking would have taken place. We hike there regularly and go birdwatching there. It's a gorgeous park. Another reason to like this area . We can walk to that park from our house and we do often.

Best of luck with your decision!

[cmacf1]

Here's a website that will tell you more about mountain biking in Patapsco Valley State Park (I had the name slightly wrong in my post above):

Patapsco Valley State Park (Avalon Area) Mountain Bike Trail in Ellicot City, Maryland || SINGLETRACKS.COM

I'm not a mountain biker, but it seems like veteran mountain bikers love it . It says it's in Ellicott City -- parts of the park are, but parts are in Catonsville.

[jessy0780]

I think that parts of Columbia/Ellicott City/ parts of Elkridge would fit what you're looking for. I don't know much about Catonsville, excpet that the area near Patapsco Valley state park is very nice, like cmacf1 said.

[lscalder]

Try Upper Marlboro or Bowie both are close to Beltsville and have nice communities.

[jessy0780]

I also think there are some nicer parts of Laurel you could look at, though I'd stear clear of anything too close to Rte 1, or 197. I wanna say there's some nice neighborhoods off rte 32.

[manofsteel084]

Laurel IS nice, as is Columbia/Ellicot city/Elkridge area. That area can be expensive, however.

I always seem to forget about Catonsville, and there are very nice affordable homes there.

I would not, however, advocate, Upper Marlboro, especially if you have school-aged children. I have many friends who live there and would move out of county if they still had kids going to school.

Bowie is nice, but it seems to be one big sub-division now. People everywhere and traffic isn't good.

[Ben Key]

Why not live in Beltsville? There are also lots of nice towns nearby. I live in University Park, just outside of DC. It is about 8 miles from Beltsville. Also, check Hyattsville (new Arts District underway) and College Park.

[TMM459]

thank you for all your suggestions. I will start looking through most of them today.
Question - it seems there are a lot of colleagues that live in these two areas - Severna Park and Eldersburg. Does anyone have information or opinions? I know Eldersburg is about a one hour commute, but that all I know. How are the schools? Community life/spirit?

Thanks for sharing!

[manofsteel084]

I don't know a lot about Eldersburg, but I do about Severna Park.

The commute to Beltsville would be about 45 mintues. Up rte 32, over to rte 1 into Beltsville.

Severna Park is close to Annapolis/Eastern Shore for the weekends and close enough to DC and Baltimore. There is another thread on the board recently started about Severna Park, check it out!!!