Affordable area Arlington - Annapolis (Bowie, Crofton: townhouse, to buy, closing)

[elsvee]

My husband is going to be working in Annapolis and I have a job in Arlington, VA. Any recommendations on where to look to buy a house that is less than $400,00 that would be within commuting distance for both of us?

Thanks

[Alanboy395]

two terrible commutes. ugh. i would try bowie and lanham both are close to rt. 50 and has a central location between annapolis and arlington.

[gumby111]

Yeah, that's a tough one. Bowie might be your best bet, but your commute to Arlington will be rough. However, if your work is walkable to Metro, you can drive to New Carrollton or Landover and take the train. It's a long ride, but not a bad way to go.

Commuting from Bowie to Annapolis, on the other hand, is great.

You could get closer to Arlington by going closer in to DC within P.G. County, but it's simply hard to recommend any of those areas. Cheverly is a possibility.

If you're looking a Bowie, you might as well take a gander at Crofton--it's just a few minutes further than Bowie and you might like it better. It might be hard to find a nice single family home in Crofton for under $400,000 though--a townhouse should be doable.

Good luck.

[elsvee]

Thanks for the suggestions. In looking at a map it seemed as if Bowie might be the way to go. Any comments, good or bad, about the Bowie area? We'd prefer to at least have the illusion of being outside of town with a bit of space around us. Any suggestions?

Thanks again

[2MCHPSI]

My wife works in Arlington and we live in Bowie. She takes rt 50 to 395 cutting through DC. The commute is not that bad. About 45 minutes going in , and an hour going home. Fridays are worse and you can look at 1 1/2 hours just because for some reason Fridays are a nightmare anywhere on the beltway in the DC area. From Bowie, the commute to Annapolis is around 15-20 minutes.

You can easily buy a single family house here for under 400k. Levitt built many of the houses in Bowie that were made in the 60's. Not bad houses actually. There are 4 different models to choose from. Also Bowie has newer townhomes that will also be under 400k.


I have seen some fixer upper single family homes going for 315k. A lot of people are also offering things liek seller will pay closing costs etc.

Crims is not bad for PG county, but was rising recently. Bowie is starting their own police force now and this should bring Bowie back to how it was a few years ago.

I should mention I grew up in Bowie and it has several parks, a bike path that is several miles long, tons of places to eat etc. For PG county, this is one of the better areas for sure.

[hairmetal4ever]

Originally Posted by elsvee

Thanks for the suggestions. In looking at a map it seemed as if Bowie might be the way to go. Any comments, good or bad, about the Bowie area? We'd prefer to at least have the illusion of being outside of town with a bit of space around us. Any suggestions?

Thanks again

Anything going thorough DC is tough - several reasons:

1-you have to cross the river - there are only so many places to cross
2-no highways go THROUGH the city, you either take surface roads, or go all the way around the Beltway, which rarely moves at 50 MPH during rush hour
3-traffic sucks anyway