Moving To Maryland because of BRAC (Baltimore, Perry Hall: rentals, crime, how much)

[Joe1977]

Hello All,

I will be moving to Maryland with my wife and two kids within the next two years because of Fort Monmouth being BRAC'ed. We will be buying a house when we go down there and I have a few questions if anyone can answer I would appreciate it.

We are going to start looking this summer for a area that we want to move to. There are 5 potential areas, please comment on schools and how are the people in the area and if the area is farmland or a city type. Also feel free to comment on anything that we may need to know. Thank You..

1.Bel Air
2.Havre De Grace
3.Perry Hall
4.WhiteMarsh
5.Nottingham

[WannaComeHome]

You're not being sent to Ft Meade? If so, that's a bit of a commute.

I don't really know too much of the towns around there, but White Marsh is always in the news for bad traffic. YOu do have the White Marsh Mall up there, and the Ikea, which is pretty big.

[Joe1977]

No I am not going to Fort Meade, I am going to Abderdeen. Need info on the 5 towns that I posted on would help.

[WannaComeHome]

ah! just thought of that this morning.
don't know too much of those areas, but I'd try to avoid anythign where a commute would take you near White Marsh. I'm telling ya, the traffic around there is constantly in the news for being bad.

[OneWayStreet]

Originally Posted by Joe1977

1.Bel Air
2.Havre De Grace
3.Perry Hall
4.WhiteMarsh
5.Nottingham

First, hope all goes well with your move. Take time to visit these areas with your family. All are great areas, depending on what you are looking for. None of them are farmland, but none are "city type". They are basically urban areas.

I live in Bel Air. Traffic in town can get overwhelming, especially around lunch time during the week. I live outside the limits where traffic is not hateful. The 2 main feeder highways are Rt 24 and 924, both can be very congested during peak commuter times. 24 links I-95 to Bel Air. 924 splits off 24 about a mile above the I-95 exit. FYI, exit 77 (Rt 24) is undergoing a major, multi-year overhaul.

If you will be working at Aberdeen, there are a number of surface roads to use as an alternative to Rt24/I-95, such as Rt 22 (also gets congested), Rt 7 and Rt 40. If you like to look at farmland, try Forest Hill, Fallston, Jarrettsville, Street, Whitehall, just to name a few. If you like to be near conveniences, Bel Air, Churchville, Abingdon deserve a look. Schools in Bel Air are top notch!

Havre De Grace is near the Susquehanna, very picturesque with many historical buildings. Not my favorite place to live, but that's my opinion.

I grew up in Perry Hall. Perry Hall and White Marsh are right next to each other and are not very different. Lots of traffic, lots of growth, lots of conveniences and not much farm land. Generally speaking, not a bad area to live. Traffic there can be bad on I-95, White Marsh Blvd, Honeygo Blvd.

Nottingham is next to Whitemarsh. Not much I can say about Nottingham, I'll let someone else chime in.

Hope this helps.

[WannaComeHome]

If you haven't decided yet, I was talking with a client of mine this morning - who lives in Joppa. Her take on the general area is that Bel Air has some nice areas, Havre de Grace has some quaint old areas that are nice, but Edgewood has a lot more bad areas - she suggested to stay away from Edgewood.

She also pointed out that the traffic trouble around White Marsh is because the highway is too narrow.. and they are working on adding a couple of lanes. She thinks it will be better in a year or two.

[Kate0825]

Bel Air is a great family town.

[NJ2MDdude]

Look in the Bel Air area. Forest Hill, Fallston, Jarrettsville, Churchville, and Abingdon are also good locations. Perry Hall is not bad but further south from Aberdeen.

[DDJJ]

Hi there,
I live 7 minutes from APG (Aberdeen Proving Ground). Have lived here 10 years.
To answer your questions:

1. Bel Air: is generally nice, every kind of housing you can think of. Old and new, townhouses, rentals, single family, pricy or less pricy. It has Harford Mall and just about every store there is. It can be 15 or 40 minutes to APG, depending on traffic and area. No direct highway, just county roads allthough they are working on roads right now. They are also expanding the school.
2. Havre de Grace: it is on the water, we go there for weekend walks with the kids. It has a boardwalk and different kinds of housing. There are new developments as well as old/historic. Some nice, some run-down parts. Direct way to APG on Rt 40. Should be maybe 10 to 15 minutes. Don't know about schools.
3. Perry Hall: I would NOT recommend the commute, not because of the highway but because of how much it can take to get to it. Also in Baltimore County property taxes are higher(!), you generally get less house for your money also. Personally would not want to live there. That's just me. It took me almost one hour to get there on a Wednesday last month at 10am. Should take 25.
4. White Marsh: more built up, more appartments, bigger mall than Bel Air, Baltimore County taxes. Closer to Baltimore, close to I95. You'll be going against traffic in the moring same exit as Perry Hall would take, just closer to it. Has nice neighborhoods if you can afford them.
5. Nottingham: (Baltimore County) used to live there for a year. Chose to move to Harford County even though we worked in Baltimore.

Harford County will be closer to APG obviously and I would never move back to Baltimore County. For one, we put our kids in public school up here, had them in private down there. We do go to White Marsh to the Mall every once in a while, the Avenue Mall is nice. Harford County has all the stores you can have, 2 Targets, 2 Walmarts (1Supercenter), Lowes, several Home Depots, Pier1, several PayLess, Kohl's, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, Panera Bread, every main brand restaurat, you name it... many more. Property taxes are lower, crime is lower and you get more house for your money.
Again, this is my personal opinion and experience. Hope that helps.

[Sandee1213]

I would consider Cecil County and Delaware. We are with the Brac too and moved to Newark De. It takes exactly 35 min to APG. I am hearing great things about North East too. It was not built up enough for us though and schools were not as good, but it seems like such a cute little town.