Martinsburg (Charleston, Charles Town, Wayne: car registration, insurance, crime)

[JSchweigart]

Hi! I am from Texas & my husband is thinking about taking a job in Frederick MD. I was wondering what the commute is like from Martinsburg to Frederick.

Thanks!

Jennifer

[Janipoo]

It would probably be around 30 minutes. You can also check out Falling Waters WV, it is right over the line and equally located between Martinsburg and Hagerstown MD.

Do you have kids?

[JSchweigart]

We don't have kiddos. We have a menagerie of pets though! May have to give away our turtle-not sure he would do well in cold weather. Thank you so much for the info! We are such newbies to the East Coast, but we are looking forward to a change in pace. The company also suggested Hagerstown. Any info on that town? I will definitely check out Falling Waters.

[Georgia]

If your working in Frederick, a few nice areas to check.
Keep in mind you will have tax differences and zoning items

Maryland: Though listed as the "FREE STATE" nothing is free as it is listed as one of the top 10 most taxed states in the nation. You have a 4.5% flat income tax, plus a county piggyback that can be as high as 70% of your state or equalling a 7-9% total income tax bite. Utilities are also taxed and rated higher than VA, PA, and WV. Maryland does have the best social services, roadways, and park systems though. Though the taxes are high you do see the difference in sight alone in comparison to the other states.

Towns outside of Frederick and all within 30 minutes with Hagerstown being the furthest.
To the North: Thurmont, Emmitsburg, Libertytown
To the West: Hagerstown, Braddock Heights.
To the South: Jefferson, Brunswick, and Sharpsburg
Property is higher also in Maryland.

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania will provide the lowest in income tax with a flat 3%. Property tax will be less than Maryland but higher than WV. PA also offers no tax shopping on clothing and food. All other is 6%.
PA to the north will provide Gettysburg (expensive due to the Civil War historical properties) Greencastle and Waynesboro. PA will provide an additional travel time of up to 45 minutes to Greencastle and Waynesboro to Frederick. Gettysburg is not a bad trip but during season can be rather touch and go.

West By God Virginia: You can always tell a native by that term
West Virginia ranks #13 in overall taxation due to the 6.5% income tax, and many hidden taxes such as your annual car tax etc. The only thing is you wonder what the heck they do with the money Simple, WV is a central government state, it all goes to Charleston to be spread out.
Zoning is your issue here as well. Berkeley County / Martinsburg does not have zoning. It has been voted down time again. In short you can have housing developments piled on land with a two lane tar and chip road getting there. You can have a 400,000 home next to a trailer park. etc., In short, you need to check your development regulations very carefully.
Jefferson has zoning since 2005 and you will see the difference in Charles Town and beautiful Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown. I remember those towns from years ago. yuck! But now? Darn nice.
Martinsburg itself has issues. You can go to Hedgesville or Falling Waters and be ok, again as long as you double check your development ordinance and GET YOUR HOME INSPECTED. Stay away from downtown. Go there, you will understand. It's a darn shame. So much potential, so much history.

If you go to look, stay at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg off Viking Way. Very nice hotel. There is also a couple of nice hotel areas off Exit 5 in Halfway Maryland like the Summerfield Suites.

Of all the places I have listed, as long as you stay out of downtown Martinsburg plus Hagersbush (Hagerstown) is having some issues downtown too, you will be ok and safe. Overall compared to many areas of the nation (Atlanta for example) crime in all areas listed is rather nil.

Good Luck, feel free to ask if you have any further questions.

[JSchweigart]

Oh my gosh . THANK YOU so much! All of that info is sooooooo helpful! I can't wait to share this with my husband-he will be thrilled that someone took the time to help us out . I really & truly appreciate it & if anything pops up for us, I will definitely contact you. Wow is what I have to say! Thank you thank you thank you!!

[Janipoo]

PA has high property taxes, MD property taxes are higher than WV, just take a look at houses on website and notice the taxes. House in PA tend to be the least expensive out of the 3 but the property taxes takes up the difference.

We moved from MD to WV and found that our home insurance was cut by half (even though we have a bigger house), our car insurance went up. A lot of the other expenses were a lot less also like it cost $10 to get our license and I believe the car registration is $30, we were paying almost $100 a year in MD. You do pay personal property tax in WV on your cars, boats, motorcycles..etc. I haven't had to pay that yet so I am not sure what it runs.

[Threerun]

It's more like 45 minutes from Martinsburg to Frederick. Sometimes longer depending on the traffic.

If you take Rt. 81 to Hagerstown and then Rt.70 to Frederick, traffic can get fugly but it moves.

If you take Rt. 9 to Charles Town and then Rt. 340 to Frederick, you stand the chance of getting backed up by one stinking traffic light between the bridges of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. You have to travel through a tiny bit of Virginia between the bridges, and in their infinite wisdom they put up a traffic light right there. That is sometimes murderous. On several occasions there have been wrecks either on the bridges or between them, and that can tie up traffic for a long time too. Pretty rare but they do happen.

Housing prices in the Martinsburg area are rapidly drooooping. I talked to my friend today who's a long time realtor (30+years) and WV native in Martinsburg and he said he seeing houses he once listed for $350K+ on the market for $225K and less now. Not a bad time to get over there if you have a good job.

[JSchweigart]

Great info! When my husband gets home from work, he will probably have more questions. We'll definitely be online either later this evening or sometime tomorrow. Please keep all of your posts coming! This is helping us in making our decision to take the big jump! Jen

[zentropa]

You might want to consider Charles Town, Harper's Ferry and other communities along Rt 9 in WV. It is a short hop to Rt 340 which takes you straight to Frederick, avoiding 81 and 70

[RD35]

As mentioned above, housing has dropped drastically and is now a bargain in this area. The Martinsburg area has the most reasonably priced housing around Frederick. Don't count Martinsburg out, I would recommend checking out the new 'West End' and take a look at 'The Gallery' or 'Martinsburg Station' developments. It is 45 minutes to Frederick. It is off I81 Exit 13 and then onto Delmar Orchard Rd. These developments are in the newly annexed part of town and it does have zoning since it is the City of Martinsburg. This area is also near the new 400,000+ sq ft shopping center under construction called 'The Commons' with Target, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, TJ Maxx, etc.

If you are looking at 'The Gallery' in Martinsburg you will find a 3000sq ft 4BR house previously priced at 400k, now around 200-220k. If a townhouse is your thing you can find one throughout Berkeley County in the low 100k range.