Howard County/ MD Confusion (Baltimore, Columbia: buying a house, neighborhoods, buying)

[SmokeyLisa]

I'm confused about Howard County and perhaps about Maryland in general. In New Jersey your county does not matter that much, mainly your town matters. Your town dictates your school, services and amenities. For the most part if I lived in West Windsor NJ, I went to West Windsor NJ schools for the most part there was no chance of me going to another nearby schools outside of my town. Some towns include garbage removal others do not. In Howard County it seems if most things are based off of the county rather than the town. If you live in Columbia, it seems like you could go to a school with people from Ellicott City, North Laurel, .... not sure which others. There doesn't really seem to be town boundaries, services and amenities associated with town. Am I understanding how Howard County works, does all of Maryland work this way? It seems that if I want to send my kids to a particular school (s) then I should concentrate on getting into school districts rather than towns because the town does not really dictate the school. The proposed redistricting, which I have not looked at, seems to make it impossible to choose an area that will guarantee us the best schools. Plus, I would assume that your property value could be impacted by being redistricted from a good school to a bad one or vice or versa.

Also, what are the benefits of a particular town?

Sorry to be so long winded but from what I have read in other posts, is that Howard County has excellent schools but that they are not all equal and you could end up in an underperforming school.

I also posted this in the Baltimore Forum.
Thanks.

[DDJJ]

Yes, I believe this is how it is in MD. If you want your kids in a certain school, you need to be in its district. In Harford County for example you could be in one town and half of it goes to one school and the other half or a third go to another school.
When looking at buying a house, ask what school they belong to. That's your best bet.

[scrapper105]

In Maryland, there are towns, cities, and unincorporated areas of counties. So for example, some people may live within the political boundaries of Columbia. Other people may live outside of the city of Columbia in unincorporated Howard County, but their address is in Columbia because that's the post office that processes their mail. Basically, somebody's mailing address does not actually indicate what town, city, or unincorporated part of the county they line in - mailing address merely indicates the closest assigned post office.

School systems are particular to a county. School districts are based on the number of children within a given area and while may be centered around a small town, one school may draw children from several different towns, cities, and people who live in a development (or on a rural road) that isn't in a city or town.

If you are basing a home buying decision based on a school, make sure you buy smack dab in the middle of that school's district. Re-districting could change the school boundaries.

Some towns and cities provide their own services and police protection. Others provide garbage collection but use county police. Others don't provide garbage collection but have their own police force. It varies.

[SmokeyLisa]

Thanks DDJJ,

I guess it is only strange to me. NJ schools within the same town were usually fairly equal therefore you could buy anywhere within that town. This does not necessarily hold true for major cities where there are good and bad neighborhoods but usually holds true for the burbs. It seems like in Maryland schools are split up by county, oppose to town so you can have a large performance disparity within a town.

[SmokeyLisa]

Thanks Scrapper 105,

Does each city have a website so that I can find out what services are or not provided? As we evaluate different cities I would like to know what additional services I may have to pay for, such as garbage.

[Jmandl]

Hi Lisa,

I had the same confusion. We are also moving from Jersey and it took a long time for me to figure out how it works here in MD. We have finally found a town that I think reminds me a little of the NJ town that we are moving from. We are moving at the end of the month.

If you need more help and have other questions. you can send me a direct message.

We were also looking at Columbia, but decided to go east to AA county: Severna Park.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by SmokeyLisa

Thanks Scrapper 105,

Does each city have a website so that I can find out what services are or not provided? As we evaluate different cities I would like to know what additional services I may have to pay for, such as garbage.

Maryland Municipal League - The Association of Cities and Towns
A listing with links to all the incorporated municipalities in MD. There are 157 or so.