Considering moving out of WV (to live, places, directions)

[The Village Idiot]

I've been encouraging my wife that if we stay in WV that we should look into settling in Putnam County or Jackson County and commute to Charleston.

I was going to suggest that you might want to move a little farther west to Putnam County. I used to think Charleston traffic was bad until I moved away and experienced traffic in places like DC and NYC. The Hampton Roads area of Virginia (Norfolk/Va. Beach) has suprisingly bad traffic, too. Now I laugh at myself when I drive through Charleston and see the "bad" traffic.

My wife's family lives in the Baltimore suburbs, so I've become familiar with them. If you don't mind the traffic and the higher cost of living, you can find a nice area to live. Her parents live in Columbia, which is sort of between DC and Baltimore. It's a planned community that consists of several "villages," each with its own shopping area. It has some nice walking trails and amenities, but residents have to pay an annual fee to cover the maintenance of the city's facilities. Columbia also has an overabundance of regulations, IMO. For instance, if you have a doghouse it has to be the same color as your house.

There are other quaint little historic towns like Ellicott City and Sykesville scattered around the area, so you can probably find somewhere that suits you, although your choices may be limited depending on your budget.

[Silkdashocker]

Actually, my wife is visiting the suburb of Columbia, Md. It's close to 100,000 in population, however, it's still unincorporated.

[GottaHerdOn]

Some of my family moved to Elkins from Baltimore in the mid 1950's. We still have a lot of family in Maryland in fact. They are always telling us these horrible stories, such as this 16 year old boy who stepped off a school bus, (in a good neighborhood) and was shot and killed. I'm not a moron, and for criticizing where I'm attending school is like fighting for peace. Its pointless and I think you need to grow up. THERE IS LESS CRIME IN CHARLESTON, and less crimes based on each metro areas population. Well on a second thought, maybe you should go ahead and make the move, keep your doors unlocked too

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by Silkdashocker

Actually, my wife is visiting the suburb of Columbia, Md. It's close to 100,000 in population, however, it's still unincorporated.

Columbia is a very nice area and as you said it is indeed quite large, over 100,000 residents and it's just a suburb. However Columbia is just one of a wide variety of nice communities in the DC/Baltimore megalopolis.

If you indeed end up moving to the area and are concerned about crime (not saying Columbia is bad at all) I would recommend Frederick MD. Frederick is a fast growing city 45-50 miles from both DC and Baltimore, and has about 60,000 residents. The community has very new areas but also quite a few historic parts, especially it's downtown. Everything you need is in Frederick in terms of big box shopping, restaurants, bars, but if you feel a need for more stimulating shopping, culture or nightlife head on down to DC or Baltimore.The living costs are also cheaper there, you could probably spend about $30-50K less than a similar home in closer in burbs.

I'm not familiar with the commute from Frederick to Baltimore but I've seen I-270 traffic bumper to bumper from the DC Beltway to Frederick before which is about 40 miles so the commute will definitely be an issue. I can imagine it probably isn't quite as bad to Baltimore and definitely not to Columbia.

Personally it would be a no brainer for me if I had to chose between staying in the Charleston area or heading up to Maryland, but thats just me. Good luck!

[Georgia]

Originally Posted by Silkdashocker

Actually, my wife is visiting the suburb of Columbia, Md. It's close to 100,000 in population, however, it's still unincorporated.

Now Columbia is very nice, even better is Ellicott City right next door to the North. As I stated before (I still spend many a day in Baltimore on business thanks to Hilton Garden at BWI) you will spend high coin to live in the area.
Columbia has a nice mall for shopping also.
Howard County, Maryland is NOT Baltimore that is for sure.

PS:
If you want some great Crab Cakes or Shrimp Salad let me know. Don't waste your time at the Inner Harbor tourist locations. Gunnings, Jilly's, G&M's and Timbukto are the best!

[AliceT]

Look before you leap.

The information from everyone has been pretty much on point. If you are trying to escape crime anywhere in WV by moving to Baltimore, there is something seriously wrong with your thought processes. Seriously.

Here's what I suggest you do:
* Fill your car's tank with gas
* Fill a cooler halfway with ice.
* Make some sandwiches and home made iced tea. Add these to the cooler.
* Make sure your camera has good batteries and put a few extras in the camera bag. Put this under the driver's seat.
* Fill a thermos with coffee, tea or hot chocolate and have a couple extra thermal cups in the car.
* Have a pen and pad of paper handy to the person sitting in the passenger seat
* Make sure your cell phone has a full charge and have a charger in the car
* Set out on a "Sunday drive."

A Sunday Drive is where you set out on a road trip to nowhere. Do not have a specific destination in mind. It does not involve any interstate travel - just state or rural routes. Just drive.

The purpose of this outing is to see parts of the state you've never seen. Go down roads you've never been on, much less know where they go or turn off. Use a map only if you get lost - not to pick out the next area to see. You may want to turn off the rural route and drive around various small towns for a bit, see the residential areas for those towns and have a bite to eat in a park along the way. Stop and chat with the locals at a garage sale. If you see a store that looks interesting, stop in for a spell and look around. Pick up a newspaper if it's different from the ones you already knew about and look through it while you have your park-side picnic.

The pad of paper is to make notes of houses for rent or sale and jot down the phone numbers to call as well as the street address of the houses you like. One of you can call the number and see about taking a look right then and there. Mark down on that pad of paper the number of "now hiring" signs you see, and make a note of how many vacant commerical properties there are or aren't in the town area. Too many empty storefronts is not a good thing.

This is how you rediscover your state and new places. The places that are affordable usually are not advertised nor listed with a real estate agency nor handled by a broker. You find them by just coming across them. You would also do well to go into grocery stores in new areas as many smaller grocery stores have a bulletin board with housing and sometimes employment opportunities tacked on the board. Never walk right past the flyers attached to the outside of a small town store or gas station. You'll be surprised at what you find, really!

And if you don't find what you are looking for with this trip, plan another one going in another direction on another weekend. If you have your heart set on Baltimore, do the same thing there. That's how you will find the real bargains.

[Silkdashocker]

Thanks for the advice AliceT. I love taking Sunday drives out rural roads, so i'll definately consider this.

[Silkdashocker]

Oh, and to make myself clear, it's not that we are going to Baltimore on a whim, there's an excellent job offer in the mix too for my wife.

[Threerun]

I could be making $60,000 more p/yr if I worked 'inside' either Beltway.

For me it ain't worth it. My wife and I bolted a long time ago and never looked back.

[NOVAmtneer82]

Some people simply don't like living in a major metropolitan area which is why they can move to a place like WV. As silk points out though his wife is being offered a very nice job, one probably not comparable to anything she could find in the Charleston area, if one could even be found at all.