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Old 03-04-2013, 12:24 PM
 
8 posts, read 18,740 times
Reputation: 10

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I live out in Sterling and have a potential job offer up at Ft Meade. I would be compensated for relocation costs. I'm not all that thrilled with the prospect of relocating to MD but the job is a really good opportunity and I will get a slight bump in pay (about $5k extra per year). I can commute if I was put on shift work during off-peak traffic times (but we all know any time of the day is bad traffic). It's about a 54 mile commute to and from my house, based on Google maps.

With the recent passage of the new taxes in Virginia, especially hitting those in northern VA, is VA still the lesser of two evils for taxes compared to MD? My current job is ok, I will get eventually the same $5k raise in another year, year and a half but I commute from Sterling to southeast DC for work.

I don't own my own house so I don't have to worry about selling a house. Another option would be to relocate to southern PA and commute in if I really wanted to avoid living in MD. I just wanted some feedback for those that are recent transplants from MD and your perspective on the taxes.
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Old 03-04-2013, 02:24 PM
 
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,684 posts, read 41,565,182 times
Reputation: 41302
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckshlappi View Post
I live out in Sterling and have a potential job offer up at Ft Meade. I would be compensated for relocation costs. I'm not all that thrilled with the prospect of relocating to MD but the job is a really good opportunity and I will get a slight bump in pay (about $5k extra per year). I can commute if I was put on shift work during off-peak traffic times (but we all know any time of the day is bad traffic). It's about a 54 mile commute to and from my house, based on Google maps.

With the recent passage of the new taxes in Virginia, especially hitting those in northern VA, is VA still the lesser of two evils for taxes compared to MD? My current job is ok, I will get eventually the same $5k raise in another year, year and a half but I commute from Sterling to southeast DC for work.

I don't own my own house so I don't have to worry about selling a house. Another option would be to relocate to southern PA and commute in if I really wanted to avoid living in MD. I just wanted some feedback for those that are recent transplants from MD and your perspective on the taxes.
I think any money you'll save on taxes will come right back out with commuting, especially with gas nearing $4 a gallon. If the job is a good opportunity, especially with relocation PAID, I'd be outta Virginia tomorrow.
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Old 03-04-2013, 02:53 PM
 
28 posts, read 50,667 times
Reputation: 10
This sounds bad, but after having worked mostly in MD, and lived in MD temporarily. i find it so hard to leave clean and beautiful Virginia. Good luck! An enjoyable and rewarding job is most important thought... sad, but I left my job in VA with a 5 minute commute to take a job i love in montgomery county with a 35 minutes commute
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Old 03-04-2013, 05:41 PM
 
Location: DMV
10,125 posts, read 13,931,075 times
Reputation: 3222
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckshlappi View Post
I live out in Sterling and have a potential job offer up at Ft Meade. I would be compensated for relocation costs. I'm not all that thrilled with the prospect of relocating to MD but the job is a really good opportunity and I will get a slight bump in pay (about $5k extra per year). I can commute if I was put on shift work during off-peak traffic times (but we all know any time of the day is bad traffic). It's about a 54 mile commute to and from my house, based on Google maps.

With the recent passage of the new taxes in Virginia, especially hitting those in northern VA, is VA still the lesser of two evils for taxes compared to MD? My current job is ok, I will get eventually the same $5k raise in another year, year and a half but I commute from Sterling to southeast DC for work.

I don't own my own house so I don't have to worry about selling a house. Another option would be to relocate to southern PA and commute in if I really wanted to avoid living in MD. I just wanted some feedback for those that are recent transplants from MD and your perspective on the taxes.
I am a recent transplant to VA. I will say that I receive more money in my paycheck and my insurance is lower. Of course I still have to pay the personal property tax on my SUV, but other than those things, that is the only thing that would change. I think traffic is bad everywhere in this area. Any opportunity to live closer to your job I think is a plus. My question is how would you deal with the quality of life difference? If you have a family, in my personal opinion Loudoun County schools (even though there are some sketchy schools in Sterling) are better than Anne Arundel. However Howard County Schools are excellent and the county overall is very, very similar to Fairfax, and it's not far from Ft. Meade. It is really a tough decision I'm sure, good luck with your decision.
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Old 03-04-2013, 05:42 PM
 
Location: Metro Washington DC
15,399 posts, read 25,669,091 times
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It's worth it. MD isn't as bad as you've been told. It makes no sense to commute 54 miles to work everyday, especially in the DC area.
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Old 03-04-2013, 06:06 PM
 
8 posts, read 18,740 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks for all the feedback.

it's just me and my fiancee, we have no kids and have no plans for kids so I'm not worried about the school systems in MD vice noVA. She owns her house but we split the mortgage. She wants to at least break even if she was to sell her house and right now, we are hoping in 2 years (when she is ready to leave noVA, hence my thinking about commuting for at least a year or a year and a half).

I was just curious about the taxes, personal income and other taxes/costs (e.g. gas tax, car insurance costs) , if I would come out on top by moving to MD vice staying in noVA, especially with the new tax legislation passed in VA.
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Old 03-04-2013, 08:24 PM
 
Location: among the clustered spires
2,380 posts, read 4,499,239 times
Reputation: 891
Hmm. is renting out her place an option? Where is her work?
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Old 03-08-2013, 06:59 AM
 
8 posts, read 18,740 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by stpickrell View Post
Hmm. is renting out her place an option? Where is her work?
We don't want to deal with the headache of renting out her place. She works two jobs in the Great Falls and Mclean area but in about a year and a half, she will soon be looking for another line of work (one job). Another option would be to relocate to the Alexandria area, with Google Maps putting the commute at around 45 minutes (on a "good" day I assume ). As of today, she would take a loss on her house if she decided to sell though (her value is slowly starting to creep back up), so I would need to rent an apartment for the interim until she could get at least break even selling her townhouse and then I would be the one buying a house in the Alexandria area.

I'm also looking at relocating to southern PA and making the commute to Ft. Meade as well. I just need to find out what the traffic is like on the I-83 and I-695. If I choose to do shift work during off-peak hours, then it may not be so bad.
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