Moving to Hagerstown (Baltimore, Columbia, Frederick: for sale, real estate market, crime)

[mburgess23]

Hello,

My family and I are moving to Hagerstown soon. Can anyone please let me know about Hagerstown, and where the nice areas to live. I also wanted to know what areas had great schools, and sports programs for 10 year olds. It looks like a wonderful town, and can't wait to move up there.

Thanks,
Mike

[hagrad]

I'm new to this but I'll try to help. Mike, I think your in for a rude awakening.
Hag. is NOT the place the web sites for the city and county make it out to be. The schools are horribly overcrowded, taxes going thru the roof, and developers scarfing up every square inch of green space. I'm no green freak,but the roads and bridges are falling apart, Interstates are jammed packed and they have no money to fix it for twenty years!@!@!@. Housing prices have tripled in the past 6 years, and now there are 1300 houses for sale right now. They can't pay the taxes,light, water, sewer bills. Our electric
bills will be increasing by 42% July 1. It's not pretty here in this county right now. We are being overrun by welfare and the homeless vagrants. What city and state are you coming from??
I don't want to scare you, but this is not the place to raise a family.
Awaiting your thoughts.

[mburgess23]

Well I got into a class with CSX, and thought Hagerstown would be a good place to live! I was up in Cumberland a while back and it was a nice lil town! So is there any nice towns close to Hagerstown to live? I only have to live 30 min or miles from Hagerstown! I appreciate the truth!!!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by mburgess23

Well I got into a class with CSX, and thought Hagerstown would be a good place to live! I was up in Cumberland a while back and it was a nice town! So is there any nice towns close to Hagerstown to live? I only have to live 30 min or miles from Hagerstown! I appreciate the truth!!!

Mike, hello from a railfan and member of the B&ORR Historical Society. I've been to Cumberland many times and have ridden the WM Scenic RR and interviewed some of the old B&O engineers that still live there.

Hagerstown is now an overflow for the DC area and prices on homes have been going wacky in the past few years. Yes, Balto Gas & Elec, as part of some Florida-based utility outfit, is trying to raise rates 72% but it is in the state legislature now as that is ridiculous. Not sure if BG&E serves that area.

Parts of old downtown Hagerstown are very old and I suspect such housing is substandard as far as electric, plumbing, etc. The outlying areas may be worth a look, but HAGRAD's cautions need to be kept in mind....I only see the area from driving through it.

I lived in that region for many years, only leaving a year ago for Colorado. I was in Hagerstown just last week on a family visit to the region and the traffic is indeed very heavy on the I-system.

The closer you get to Frederick, i.e., the closer to DC, the worse the prices and traffic.

I'd recommend moving up the line ten miles into Greencastle, PA, a neat little town with the old N&W still running through it. Not sure how near you are to retirement, but there is no state income tax in PA on most retirements, a little-known but very important fact.

As we were planning for retirement, we looked at houses around Greencastle and there was much to pick from. If you are now in Cumberland, you can be there in an hour. Make it a point to eat dinner at Mrs. Gibbles for really good food; just google up her website to check days/hours and menu. My favorite is fried chicken livers, one of her specialties. She's part of the potato chip family of the same name, and also runs a chocolate shop next door. Cool place.

There are tons of small towns up in PA that have great quality of life and are within the 30 minute/mile range of Hagerstown. MD is a bit of a high tax state and parts of PA can be, you gotta check carefully with the realtor. I'm not a realtor, nor associated in any way with the industry, but realtors cost you nothing and can do a great job finding exactly what you need, on price and on schools and sports for the youngsters. You also can get a feel for the area by using the realtor site to drill down on the map of an area to see what's for sale and at what prices. Armchair shopping at it's best. The real estate market has softened a lot in past 8-10 months, a lot of inventory is for sale and moving slowly, so you should be able to drive a harder bargain these days than a year ago, when the market was red hot.

Best of luck to you.
s/Mike from back east

[pkoons]

Hagerstown is definitely not as awful as Hagrad made it sound, nor is it a picture perfect town. It's definitely a blue collar area, with an increasing number of DC refugees who are escaping the high prices and crime in the city. To be fair, Hagerstown does have its share of crime, but compared to a lot of the DC & Baltimore surrounding areas, it's pretty minimal, especially in terms of homicides and assaults. There is good shopping (prime outlets + big box retailers) and you can still find a new construction house for under $300K, which is unheard of where I live (Annapolis area). The interstate roads are very scenic and there are some great views from I-70 coming into the city. I would say that it reminds me of a mid-sized town in Ohio or Indiana, which makes sense geographically and demographically. I've never had any problems there...

That said, I probably wouldn't want to LIVE there Hagerstown is definitely not as nice as neighboring Boonsboro, which is all single family homes on mostly large lots - very nice. Or, try going southwest to Brunswick or Point of Rocks if you have a little more to spend on a home. Traffic still hasn't destroyed this part of Frederick County and you'll be close to the Potomac River.

Good luck!

[chinacatsnflwr]

There are definitely someplaces in Hagerstown I wouldn't want to live, but the North and Eastern sides of the town aren't as bad. There are some close small towns nearby that are also nice (Funkstown, Boonesboro and Sharpsburg to name few).

[jcandbear]

I'm relocating from AZ and was also looking at Hagerstown. What can anyone tell me about a development called Summerland Manor. I am retired and houses look OK on the internet. What about safety of area, etc.
Thanks and regards.

[Needs To Move. But where?]

As I have lived in H-town, I will give my insight. It's definitely blue collar but less than it was, say 15 yrs ago. It's becoming pale blue collar. And shopping now is good, thanks to the aforementioned outlet stores and big box retailers, all accessible within 20-30 min. H-Town is a very historic town, alot of landmarks, City Park, Hager House, Maryland Theater (scenes from the movie Guarding Tess with Nicholas Cage and Shirley Maclaine, were shot there) and various historic civil war era sites. So yes, it's an OLD town. That being said, Anteitem Battefield is in Sharpsburg, not far from H-Town, great place to spend the 4th of July with fireworks and the Maryland Symphony Orchstra. Housing is going up in H-Town and in Wash County but compare it with Annapolis, Rockville, Columbia etc, it's still a county where you can get alot of house for less money than you think. That won't last long. I share the same disappointment with one of the other posters, the vast green farm/open land is going quickly to developers who are looking for a fast buck to cram underpaid-overworked-hates-the-DC-congestion-and-can't-afford-the-housing-in-the-immediate-area-DC refugees. In closing, look at other towns in Wash county as well...Sharpsburg, Boonsboro, Williamsport.. there's more.. just need further research.

[relocating2]

I am relocating from Illinois. I was considering Hagerstown or Frederick. My main concerns are the schools and jobs. I was interested in working in D.C but would the commute be awful from some of the cities mentioned, Boonsboro, Hagerstown etc.? I was wanting to use the Marc as transportation to the city. Is that possible?

[Mike from back east]

MARC runs from Frederick, MD. Also Martinsburg, WV. That's called the Brunswick line. No rail service from Hagerstown or Boonsboro.

Commuting by car from any of those sites is dreadful.

Use the forum Search Tool for alread posted info on schools, etc.

s/mike