What are the best spots in the Northern suburbs for a family (Baltimore: house)

[moving 2014]

Hi All,

My family and I are relocating to Baltimore next month. Our situation is a bit unique because my husband will actually be working in Hershey, PA. He got a great job offer there, but I just couldn't bring myself to move the family to such a tiny town (we live in Columbus, Ohio now and we are used to having a decent sized city with all the conveniences).

We want an area that is safe, has great schools and a relatively short commute for my husband (we aren't really looking at the Southern suburbs because we are worried about his drive time being longer).

Our house budget would be roughly $400-$600k.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sara

[james777]

Do you realize that it is 75 miles from Hunt Valley, MD (Baltimore's northern most suburb) to Hershey, PA? I shudder to think what that commute would be like when the weather gets bad or traffic backs up. Have you considered relocating to Harrisburg, PA, a small capital city just down the road from Hershey?

There are literally hundreds of neighborhoods and communities north of downtown Baltimore that you would enjoy living in. Specifically, you might want to check out the Timonium area as it is pretty far north, is within your price range, and has good access to I-83.

[oneworld25]

Like the above poster said, your husband's commute will be absolutely terrible. According to Google Maps, the commute from the northern suburb of Hunt Valley to Hershey, PA will be about 1 h 14 minutes, and that's with no traffic!

Harrisburg may not be the biggest city in the world but it is the state capital, the center of a metropolitan area with over 500,000 people and it's only 14 miles from Hershey, PA. You might want to check it out.

[Tallybalt]

Commuting would be a nightmare. We once knew a family who was offered a great position at the Hershey medical center and they packed up and moved to Hershey. As it turned out, they enjoyed living in the area. It isn't quite in the middle of nowhere and the whole region is fairly settled with charming small towns and several larger towns and beautiful, scenic countryside. It's a historic, quaint and very livable part of the United States with a pretty high quality of life.

In addition to Harrisburg, there's also Lancaster, which is a lovely and prosperous college town with many amenities, including museums, restaurants, art galleries, the fabulous Lancaster Central Market and the ever present Pennsylvania Amish community. The town itself has about 60,000 residents and the greater region is around 500,000 people. A train connects Lancaster to Philadelphia, making day trips feasible.

If I were working at Hershey I would probably prefer to live in Lancaster over Harrisburg.

[mapmd]

There really is no "best" for everyone. That's for you and your family to make.

I would personally live closer to work, but if you're splitting between Hershey and Baltimore then somewhere around Shrewsbury would be a decent choice. Hershey is a Loooooong drive from points in Maryland.

Fortunately you have tons of housing options under 600k. But, if your husband will be the only one working and you will not be, then I don't see what the problem is.

What "conveniences" do you think there will there be in Baltimore that will not be in Harrisburg or Reading or Allentown, or in York or Lancaster?

The grocery stores are the same everywhere you go, and you have the same fast food options, the same gas stations and the same cookie-cutter shopping experience. Just live in Pennsylvania. Plenty of awesome small, medium and large towns as well as small and medium sized cities up there to choose from.