Working parents on Baltimore (Hopkins) -DC commute: minimizing the pain (Columbia: sales, real estate)

[revheck]

My wife has a good job offer from Johns Hopkins (Homewood) and I will probably work in DC, near Farragut North Metro.

We generally hate suburbia and have lived in several livable cities. But we have 2 small children and are concerned about schools.

We are considering

(a) living in Baltimore. This would mean paying for private school for kids. Don't know yet if we can afford it, but part of the the move means our income goes up.

(b) living in Columbia, Ellicott City or some other suburb. We have read how wonderful they are, but very suspicious of a planned suburb with a Mall at its center and no good public transportation.

Finally, I'm worried about the commute to DC: just how bad is the commute to DC. from either of these places?

Any other advice/ suggestions to consider?

[emsgoof]

a) Your income may go up, but depending on where you're coming from, your income / expense ratio may get all screwed up. Maryland is expensive (and you don't get much for it). Just be aware of this.

b) I'm not sure what you would be suspicious of. Have you actually seen Columbia? It can be compared to a bunch of small communities with a centralized commercial area, much like any well-designed major city. There is actually a rather extensive bus route through Howard County (focused of course mainly on Columbia / Ellicott City, as that's where the majority of the population is) but it's poorly marketed and everyone has a car, so not too many people use it. Welcome - Howard Transit In addition, there's the MTA Commuter bus service that stops in several places in Columbia with service to Baltimore or DC, and a MARC commuter rail station off of Rt. 100 (in Howard County). So where's the no good public transportation coming from?

c) Commute to DC. From Howard County, anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on location, traffic, time, etc. Commute from Baltimore to DC, add an hour to the above times. If you take MARC train service, it's about 1 hour from Baltimore to DC (as long as you take the Penn Line, the Camden Line is notoriously late because the rail line is run by CSX - a freight company - rather than Amtrak)

[emsgoof]

Just an FYI about $$$ in Maryland. The governor and state representatives are looking to try to pass on the $1.5 BILLION deficit in the state budget directly to the taxpayers in the form of higher taxes rather than fix the problems that got them into the situation in the first place.

[balto charlie]

Hi If you are Catholic there are many inexpensive elementary schools in Baltimore. Catholic high schools are expensive. Poly high school has an excellent reputation as "THE" city public high school. Scores favorably against the best private schools. If you want a nice alternative check out Catonsville or Relay. Small 'burb in the SW part of Balto county. Good schools in most of their neighborhoods. It's on the Camden MARC line to DC. I ride this line daily to Greenbelt. It has worked out most of the late issues w/CSX and has a real friendly atmosphere.

[Faust]

There is NO VIABLE OPTION to drive into downtown DC from Baltimore city if you work along the red line metro. Your drive in will average 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, but your average drive home will top around 2 - 2 1/2 hours on an average day, with some nightmare days getting you 3-4 hours to get home.

The MARC line is a viable option if you live in Baltimore city and can handle a consistent 1 - 1 1/2 hour commute (each way).

Take the Penn line from West Baltimore Marc station - free parking and will average you to Union Station in just under an hour each way. Add metro time.

I work on Capitol Hill (across the street from Union Station) and by "playing" every second for all it's worth, have got my door-to-door average down to about 58 minutes.

About costs and Baltimore City - there are three things that are absolutely critical to factor into any cost analysis when you are considering purchasing a home in the city. Get accurate numbers for Auto Insurance, for Real Estate Taxes, and for Real Estate Sales Taxes (Stamp Taxes).

Be prepared. You will likely be shocked.

For auto insurance, get a firm quote before you move in. For two (average) cars, full coverage, no accidents, Balto city zip code, my wife and I paid just under $4,000 annually. We paid off our cars and now carry liability only for $1,800 a year.

For RE taxes it will be harder - your agent will almost certainly try to avoid answering the question or will say "it varies". DO NOT look at the current RE taxes and assume that your will be even close to the same. Baltimore RE taxes will be charged at 2.268% of your sales price, per year, beginning at the time of sale, unless you have some form of tax favored status. That means, you will pay $2,268 dollars annually for every $100k of the sales price. Assume that that is what it will be unless you get a GUARANTEE - IN WRITING that it will be lower. For our $500k house, our annual tax bill is $11,340.

Finally, when you buy a house in Baltimore, you will have to pay transfer taxes (so called "Stamp Taxes") up front. This is another tax that your real estate agent knows all about but will likely downplay, not mention, or feign ignorance. They don;t want to lose the sale. The total City Transfer tax is 2% of the sales price. Or $2,000 per $100k of sales value, or $10,000 for my property. that was an unexpected cash drain that I did not find out until a week before we went to close.

Add these (genuinely unexpected) things together ... and we ended up paying out about $25,000 during our first year of living here for expenses that our best estimates had coming in at closer to $6 or $7,000.

Faust

[carolott]

Faust is right about the commute -- when we first moved to Baltimore, I drove to DC (where I worked) a few days and finally gave up. The traffic wasn't a problem until I got to the DC suburbs and it suddenly ground to a halt (at the 495 split)...and it stayed halted. I hated it, and found that I spent more time in the car than at home.

The MARC train was better, the Acela even better...or business-class Amtrak. Luckily I didn't commute every day, just a few days a week, so I could afford to splurge on the train. I did like the MARC, though -- the Penn Line was pretty reliable.

I live in the 21230 zip code in Baltimore City, and we were paying $1200 a year on a 2006 V6 VW Jetta through Nationwide...and I think it's a little less now through Geico. This is with full coverage.