Live in Maryland, Commute to Pentagon (Baltimore, Silver Spring: real estate, rental, crime)

[padillab74]

Our family is moving to NCR spring of 2018. My wife will work at the Pentagon and I will be at Fort Meade. Any suggestions on where to live that has good schools and recommended transportation options to Pentagon?

[Turnerbro]

That could be dicey although Silver Spring might work.

[bufflove]

There's no good answer, considering how far apart they are. There's also no good answer since you didn't give us any info, e.g. what your budget is or how much room you need. If you're talking about $2M+ budget for a 3+ br house then I'd say Bethesda/Chevy Chase. If you're talking about $300K for a 3+ br house then I'd suggest rethinking the entire plan.

[ersatz]

Originally Posted by djplourd

There are plenty of options for commuting to the Pentagon
Not so many for commuting to Fort Meade. If you don't want to drive the best option is probably a van pool.

The MARC train from DC to Baltimore (Penn Line) stops in Odenton. There's a shuttle from the Odenton MARC station to Ft. Meade that stops several places on base. See Welcome to Meade Ride | MeadeRide for different Ft. Meade commuting options.

Although we are a NoVA forum, I recommend you and your wife consider living in Maryland to split up the commuting time required. (I see you also posted in the MD forum.) The Pentagon can be reached by the Metro Blue Line. The MARC train originates from Union Station downtown and stops in New Carrolton (inside the I-495 beltway) as well as Seabrook (outside the beltway). Housing prices are likely to be somewhat cheaper though your taxes will be higher. There are many decent places to live east of the beltway though you will need to research the neighborhoods carefully as some areas can be sketchier.

I usually recommend using Zillow to screen buys and rental real estate. If you don’t know the area, use Trulia. Trulia’s Local Scoop feature will provide you with a color coded overview of the area to see real estate price trends, crime etc. As far as schools go, many people use https://www.greatschools.org/ to screen schools. Don’t take that as gospel, it’s a starting point.

When you find a property you may be interested in, CD’s main site provides statistics from state to city down to the microneighborhood area. Then, you can ask specific questions in the appropriate CD subforum.

Welcome to the DC metro area.

[ersatz]

Note: I posted a previous answer (I just pasted it in again) which stayed up for a few minutes and then disappeared entirely, along with previous poster djplourd's answer. Weird ......

[North Beach Person]

I know a few people down here in Calvert where one goes to the Pentagon and one to Annapolis. The second certainly isn't Meade but it's most of the way there. So it is doable.

[padillab74]

I apologize for leaving out some important details. We plan to rent as we will most likely only live there 2-3 years. Our budget is between $3-4K a month. Looking for at least 3br/2ba and 2 car garage. We have a middle school aged child so good schools are important to us. I am more familiar with NOVA areas but no very little about Maryland. My initial thoughts are to live in NOVA so my wife has a shorter commute to the Pentagon and I will make the long drive to Ft. Meade. I appreciate all the feedback you can provide.