Want to move back to York County or Adams county (Chambersburg: short sale, apartment)

[leedspaddy]

Hi Folks, my family and I left Stewartstown on the PA/MD line 3.5 years ago in what turned out to be a disasterous move to Vermont. We should never have left. I took a great contract job up here on the premise after 2 years I would get a permanent position..........and I stupidly bought a house.

Anyway to cut a long story short, the job didn't turn permanent and we couldn't sell our house. We have now managed to get a "short sale" contract on our house and we close in around 5 weeks. To make matters worse, since our move to VT, my wife's bleeding disorder, has taken such a horrendous turn that she had to quit her job and go on federal disability last year. We did make one last final mistake, we listened to her doctors. Back in January, we told her hematologist that we had to leave VT because the winters were too severe for my wife and there were no jobs for me and she explicitly recommended the Research Triangle in North Carolina for my wife to get the best treatment for her rare condition. So here I go and I get a job down there almost immediately which was great but it was extremely hard to leave my wife and kids and still is.

Anyway, I come home this weekend to do some packing and she announces to me that she wants to return to PA instead of going to North Carolina!!!!!!!!!!!! It is only by chance that I hadn't started looking for a rental for my family down there yet...........but if truth be known, I have not enjoyed my time down in Durham at all and so I was actually very happy she wants to go back to PA.

So I have to get my skates on to find accomodation asap but with the added difficulty of now having damaged credit due to our health and job problems in VT and having to find a new job in Maryland / DC......and still keep my job in NC until I can get something temporary in MD.

Now my question to you is............we are quite willing to live in a trailer or something like that for a year so we can get ourselves re-established, save some money and give our credit time to recover.......but I done searches online and you just don't see any trailers for rent.......I would much rather rent a small townhouse in york or the surrounding areas but I don't know where to look. I plan on driving around York and Adams county next weekend when I am in the area looking for rental places.

Lastly, is there anyone out there who lives in PA and commutes to southern MD or even DC? If I had a choice I would much rather work down there than in Baltimore.

Thanks for any advice or opinions you can give.

[jfeagin]

What business are you in? I live in Carroll Valley and I would recommend G'burg or here if you want to work in DC as US15 turns into I270 to DC or keep on US15 and your in NoVa. I work in NoVa and there are a lot of IT government jobs that require clearance. Also you have Germantown and Rockville on 15. York seems more suited to a commute to B'more due to I81. It would be a better commute for B'more, Columbia, Ft. Meade etc. So with all of my jabbering I would say, G'burg and Carroll Valley for DC and NoVA, York for B'More and MD.

Now the commute is not, shall we say, a fun one. It takes me 1.5 hours and is 68 miles away each way for me. I leave at 5:15AM to get that. Leave at 7 or 8... well...... Don't know about the commutes to B'more.

And with Gas... I am paying about $320 a month and I get 38 Mpg on my Corolla. Add to that all of the ridiculous PA taxes, the PA tax burden is about the same a MD. Also wear and tear on the car and yourself and 3 hours of your life that you will never get back... If you do get the commute... Get XM or Sirius or download something for an Ipod.. It keeps you from going insane and you will actually kind of enjoy the commute... Also look at Thurmont of Frederick to rent it might be more $$$ that you pay on rent but less money to give to OPEC...

In all depending on your business... (I am in IT) PA jobs that pay anything remotely to DC are scarce. I would move to Adams... Non-traditional or Flex hours can help with the commute and if you can telecommute that is great.
I will say that there are IT jobs coming to Chambersburg which favors Adams county.

Rent... You can get a apartment in G'burg for your family (no kids?) for about $800 or less.

John

[leedspaddy]

Originally Posted by jfeagin

What business are you in? I live in Carroll Valley and I would recommend G'burg or here if you want to work in DC as US15 turns into I270 to DC or keep on US15 and your in NoVa. I work in NoVa and there are a lot of IT government jobs that require clearance. Also you have Germantown and Rockville on 15. York seems more suited to a commute to B'more due to I81. It would be a better commute for B'more, Columbia, Ft. Meade etc. So with all of my jabbering I would say, G'burg and Carroll Valley for DC and NoVA, York for B'More and MD.

Now the commute is not, shall we say, a fun one. It takes me 1.5 hours and is 68 miles away each way for me. I leave at 5:15AM to get that. Leave at 7 or 8... well...... Don't know about the commutes to B'more.

And with Gas... I am paying about $320 a month and I get 38 Mpg on my Corolla. Add to that all of the ridiculous PA taxes, the PA tax burden is about the same a MD. Also wear and tear on the car and yourself and 3 hours of your life that you will never get back... If you do get the commute... Get XM or Sirius or download something for an Ipod.. It keeps you from going insane and you will actually kind of enjoy the commute... Also look at Thurmont of Frederick to rent it might be more $$$ that you pay on rent but less money to give to OPEC...

In all depending on your business... (I am in IT) PA jobs that pay anything remotely to DC are scarce. I would move to Adams... Non-traditional or Flex hours can help with the commute and if you can telecommute that is great.
I will say that there are IT jobs coming to Chambersburg which favors Adams county.

Rent... You can get a apartment in G'burg for your family (no kids?) for about $800 or less.

John

Thanks for the advice. I would love to get a government job if possible but from all accounts it is a long and drawn out process and time is something I don't have. My background is varied with experience in both IT and finance but the type of job I would love to land is a Data Analyst position and preferably in DC as I love the city.

Now I considered areas around Gettysburg and commuting down to DC. However I was curious to know if it would be worth my time and money driving to Frederick and getting the train down to DC. I'm sure a lot of people do that but just curious if people from PA do it.

As for finding somewhere to live, I have two eight year old twins and a wife to think about when it comes to finding housing. This is why I thought that a trailer may work for the short term until we can find something more permanent.

[jfeagin]

Originally Posted by leedspaddy

Thanks for the advice. I would love to get a government job if possible but from all accounts it is a long and drawn out process and time is something I don't have. My background is varied with experience in both IT and finance but the type of job I would love to land is a Data Analyst position and preferably in DC as I love the city.

Now I considered areas around Gettysburg and commuting down to DC. However I was curious to know if it would be worth my time and money driving to Frederick and getting the train down to DC. I'm sure a lot of people do that but just curious if people from PA do it.

As for finding somewhere to live, I have two eight year old twins and a wife to think about when it comes to finding housing. This is why I thought that a trailer may work for the short term until we can find something more permanent.

I work for a contractor and I know what you mean about getting a fed job. Don't know much about the train as I work in NoVa.