Moving from Indiana to Maryland -- where is the best, safest, family-friendly place to buy a house (on a budget)?

[Merc63]

Or you could buy where I'm at. 4 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath house, 2 car garage, large fenced yard on a triple building lot. A block from the metro to downtown Baltimore, a couple blocks from the beltway and I70 to get to 29 down to DC (go there quite a bit). Great schools (the elementary is great, the middle magnet school one of the best in the state, and the high school listed in the top 100 in the nation... All for about $350k. (click on my profile to get an idea)

Oh, and the neighborhoods nice enough that in the 8 years I've lived here, I've never had to lock the cars in the driveway. (only a block from a major county police substation and the state patrol forensics lab, too)

[ChewyCarmel]

Originally Posted by mamaecho

WELCOME!!! I'm also from Indiana.. hubby graduated from Butler and I'm from Southeastern (near Cincinnati).. so welcome

What about Frederick County? For 320k you can get a very nice house in a nice neighborhood, with a commute of around 30-45 minutes to Montgomery County, MD. Plus if you can you could ride the MARC train into DC if you are working there for the day.

If you have any questions about the area, please feel free to ask. I know how it is moving from Indiana to Maryland, it may be a bit of a culture shock really but you should enjoy it.

MamaEcho -
Thank you, I'm glad to see there are others from the Midwest that have survived moving to the D.C. area. I've been checking the listings in Frederick County and it looks like we may be able to get what we're looking for. Do you have any specific areas/neighborhoods within Frederick County that you would, or would not, recommend?

[ChewyCarmel]

Originally Posted by rubytue

Although not convienent to VA, Harford County, MD (just north of Baltimore) is within 75 miles of DC and meets your price range. I have a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home on 3/4 acre that won't sell for much over $300k. Its a straight shot down 95 to get to DC/VA.

Thank you RubyTue... I'm tempted (that area looks great), but I can't justify living North of Baltimore when most of my time will be spent in the D.C. metro area... it would just be too inconvenient to be driving through and around Baltimore all of the time. I'm sorry.

[ChewyCarmel]

Originally Posted by jkyj1976

Another option is Kent island (Stevensville, Chester). It is about 50 min drive to DC, and there is actually bus service to DC, which is very convenient. Added to that, Stevensville is not bustling surburb... it is close to the bay, it is quiet, and has pretty good schools (Queen Anne's county). Plus it is only 10 min from Annapolis for all the shopping needs. 4 Bed/ 2.5bath 1/2 acre should run any where between $ 300k -$ 365K

JKYJ 1976 -
Wow, I hadn't thought about living out there. It sounds nice, I will definitely check it out. Since I'll be working from home, I get a little nervous about some of the more rural areas because I need to have high-speed internet at home. Do you live there? If so, can you comment on 1) high-speed internet access, and 2) what traffic is like on the bridge?

[ChewyCarmel]

Originally Posted by trickymost

I live in Baltimore metro and have been commuting to DC, Reston, Falls Church, and Arlington the past few years. Do you have an idea of how much time you'll be in MD/VA/DC? And where in VA/MD your territory covers?

Depending on the answer, there may be options or you may be SOL. Some of the previous posters' responses may be valid or may not make any sense depending on where you need to go.

Personally, I would not want to be anywhere along I-95 north of Baltimore (Perry Hall, Harford County) because if you had to drive to Reston or Herndon or Arlington or Sterling, you are looking at an easy 2-3 hours each way. God help you if you need to do that trip daily for even a few weeks.

Also, there are many major road projects underway in Maryland which will cause more traffic in the near term (1-4 years) like the outer beltway/I-370 in MD or the paid toll lanes in and out of Baltimore on I-95.

If I were in your shoes, I would most definitely rent for a short while once you get here, even if it means the hassle of having to move twice. You'll find your choices will probably be either convenient but expensive, or inconvenient but better quality of life for the rest of your family. If you can stomach renting, you'll be able to find a good realtor and have them stay on top of listings to find something that suits your family. Likewise, there is no upward price pressure so you're unlikely to risk being priced out of the market.

I would check out Catonsville in Baltimore county...you are very close to 95 south of Baltimore and convenient enough to most places in Maryland, and the pain of driving to VA will be negligible since it pretty much blows anywhere in Maryland. The schools are good there and people are generally friendly.
Homes will probably be a bit smaller and a bit older, but unless you're out in WVA, the eastern shore in MD, or halfway to Richmond, probably going to be true of any place in your price range.

TrickyMost -
Thank you for your frank response. I will most likely spend half my time on the North side of D.C. (Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, etc.) and the other half will be divided among NOVA and the rest of the cities throughout Virginia. I will not be commuting, just travelling to various meetings and appointments. Thank you for the recommendation on Catonsville -- I'll check it out. Since you're familiar with the Baltimore metro area, what do you think of the Jacobsville / Pasadena area?

[jkyj1976]

Originally Posted by ChewyCarmel

JKYJ 1976 -
Wow, I hadn't thought about living out there. It sounds nice, I will definitely check it out. Since I'll be working from home, I get a little nervous about some of the more rural areas because I need to have high-speed internet at home. Do you live there? If so, can you comment on 1) high-speed internet access, and 2) what traffic is like on the bridge?

Hi ChewyCamel, Yes, I currently reside in kent Island, and it's been great so far!
1) Yes. high speed internet is available via Atlantic broadband(Cheaper than Comcast). Unfortunately, FIOs is currently not available.
2) Traffic actually not too bad. I used to commute to DC from Ashburn, VA and it took a good 1 hour for 28 mi commute. Right now, I commute to Alexandria, VA (60 mi) in about an hour.
2a) During summer, on fridays, expect heavy traffic over the bridge. Luckily for me, I work from home on fridays, so I was spared the nightmare...

[trickymost]

Originally Posted by ChewyCarmel

TrickyMost -
Thank you for your frank response. I will most likely spend half my time on the North side of D.C. (Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, etc.) and the other half will be divided among NOVA and the rest of the cities throughout Virginia. I will not be commuting, just travelling to various meetings and appointments. Thank you for the recommendation on Catonsville -- I'll check it out. Since you're familiar with the Baltimore metro area, what do you think of the Jacobsville / Pasadena area?

Take this with a grain of salt...

For Pasadena/Jacobsville/Glen Burnie, people are nice, the area is solidly working class/lower middle class. Crime is a bit higher than average, schools are mediocre, but it's definitely affordable.

I think the look of Pasadena/Jacobsville is very similar to Catonsville, FWIW.

The eastern part of baltimore county from Glen Burnie up through Dundalk are working class, and the butt of many jokes about Baltimore/where all the stereotypes of Baltimore come from.

If you're looking in Pasadena/Jacobsville, I would look a bit further south in Severna Park. Severna Park is a great place with good schools and is more solidly middle class. If you can find a home which feeds into the Severna Park area schools, but is geographically closer to Pasadena that may be the best of both worlds.