living in PA while working in Baltimore? (York, Franklin: townhouse, neighborhood)

[onelilredrose]

My husband is being offered a job in Baltimore and we are looking to move from Albuquerque, NM to take the job.
When my husband spoke with the recruiter, it was mentioned that most of the emlployees actually LIVE in PA and commute to Baltimore.
Is there anyone on this board that does that? What is the commute time like? Is the cost of living and quailty of life really that much better from one state to the other?
Any other advice or opinions? We will have two teenage boys and a preschooler, so maybe schools were a motivater in the conversation with the recruiter.
Thanks,
Rose

[BPP1999]

My guess is that many of the people live in Southcentral PA (York area, etc.) and commute to Baltimore. COL is lower in Southcentral PA. Quality of life is more objective, in my opinion, but Southcentral PA is more rural (it's suburbanizing, though).

There's an entire PA thread on Southcentral PA and population projections.

[onelilredrose]

Thanks for the "point in the right direction"!
Being new to that area I have no idea what areas people are discussing or what keywords to even look for.

[North Beach Person]

PA:lower income taxes but has some "nuisance taxes" that are a pain. PA: generally higher property taxes in relation to the property's value. PA: better school systems generally.
PA: more house for the money
Commute will be a pain some days
MD: generally better public services
MD: climate a bit milder
MD: jobs
MD: taxes pensions, PA does not

[firefightermom]

Housing is much cheaper in PA than MD--that's why we moved out of MD earlier this year. The commute might be hard...we are in Franklin county and lots of the neighbors who worked in Baltimore moved back to MD b/c they couldn't handle the drive.

[Awesomo.2000]

I love that PA gives away all of its land to urban sprawl of the people who drive 2 hours to work and back every day. When will this mentallity die out? I sadly don't think it ever will.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

I love that PA gives away all of its land to urban sprawl of the people who drive 2 hours to work and back every day. When will this mentallity die out? I sadly don't think it ever will.

So Harrisbug is responsible to come up with a rule saying that landowners can't sell to developers, and developers can only sell homes to people who work within 15 miles of the home they buy? Exactly how do you control this?

I agree that we should be building "smartly," but I'm not sure how you legislate this without severely reducing the value of peoples' land. The minute you are the farmer looking to retire, you're going to want to be able to sell your land.

[BackToTheCityMouse]

New Jersey faced the issue of selling excellent farming land to developers in the early 1980s. Some communities opted for zoning land permanently agricultural and making $$$$ incentives available for buyers wanting to take over the land for farming.

I think development and more housing is a good thing, but it should be done with some kind of planning.

And, yes, people will keep moving to south central PA to get a bigger house for less $$$ until the utility costs for that size house reduce demand for McMansions. AND the length of the communte time (to work and back together) starts to approach the length of the working day. I did this kind of commute in the 1980s: 90 mins to drive 42 miles to work and as much as 3 hours (!) for the return trip during the summer. For a 7 1/2 hour work day. We had a 3800 sq ft home with a 4 car garage. Even with utility costs comparatively low by today's standards and a very small mortgage, we were out of our minds

[firefightermom]

Originally Posted by Awesomo.2000

I love that PA gives away all of its land to urban sprawl of the people who drive 2 hours to work and back every day. When will this mentallity die out? I sadly don't think it ever will.

People are free to buy wherever they can afford to...I guess you feel everyone should stay where they were born and never do anything or go anywhere. This isn't the 1800's, if you don't like where you live anymore, you also have the choice to move! It's a free country. I'm from Ohio, do you want me and everyone else to go away?

[firefightermom]

Sorry about the above rant. I just wanted to add that we moved here from MD and I don't commute back for work...but my husband does, to MoCo, (maybe an hour commute tops for him as he leaves so early) b/c the career firefighting jobs in PA either don't exist or don't pay near as well. His shifts are 24 hours on, 48 off, so he only drives 9 days a month. If he had a conventional schedule, we never would have considered PA. Even Hagerstown would have been to much.

You have to think about your quality of life and what is most important to you. If you have kids, do you really want them in before care and after care every day? Or if one parent stays home, do you really want that parent to never have a break b/c you leave so early and get home so late? Do you want to get home at 7 or 8pm or even later, and never see your family or enjoy your home? Is it worth missing out on everything? Long commutes are hard--tiring, stressful, expensive gas, etc. You have to decide what is most important and go with what you feel is best, not what an employer or friend or family member says. My husband's whole family in MD was against our move and was in denial until we got a contract on the MD townhouse and put a contract on a house in PA.

We did not buy a huge mansion...we couldn't afford one and wouldn't want one anyway. We bought an existing home in a 5 year old neighborhood and were lucky to get it. We had a tiny townhouse in MD that we outgrew as soon as we had kids. A postage stamp size yard, no storage, no garage. Our house in PA is great--we will live here until we retire or can't do steps anymore! I shop at all the local stores, big box and family owned, so I am supporting the PA economy. We have been accepted by the community and love it here...so if a couple people don't like us b/c we moved from out of state, oh well!