What neighborhoods should we consider? (Baltimore, Chester: houses, living, restaurants)

[lanhvtnymd]

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

Just an opinion, FWIW: my spouse and I moved to Columbia from a neighborhood in Chicago and didn't find it met our needs at all, and we were looking for many similarities you stated in your original post. It may be urban by Howard County standards, but if you truly want urban walkability, Columbia falls drastically short. The city center might be okay (although keep in mind that a mall is the city center), but my spouse couldn't even walk to the commuter bus parking lot without crossing a busy highway.

A plus to Columbia: lovely trails and connected green space.

You should definitely check it out just to see, but we were unhappy living in that area.

Agree. Lived in Columbia Town Center for two years and it is fake urban. They are trying, but it is a suburb at its core. And the mentality of the population there matches it.

Granted I could walk to Whole Foods in 12 minutes (leisurely pace), the mall in like 6 or less, and the library in 12. It was kind of nice to walk to Merriweather Post Pavilion for shows and other events there. But owning an actual single family home or townhome for 200k or less...good luck. Even the apartments I lived in they were asking for 1800 a month when I left. Which is ridiculous to be living among suburbanites that despise you for not owning a home.

If you must live in Columbia, Columbia Town Center is your best bet for any kind of walkable density. But I was glad to leave to return to Baltimore.

[lanhvtnymd]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

Columbia is overrated. Howard County is nice but as you have found out pretty much completely not walkable.
Unless you are trying to be closer to work North Central Baltimore County. But nothing will be 200K. Maybe 240K for a Townhouse.

OMG...totally agree. Columbia is highly overrated. Hell, all of Howard County is overrated.

[bus man]

Originally Posted by lanhvtnymd

OMG...totally agree. Columbia is highly overrated. Hell, all of Howard County is overrated.

To each their own. Personally, I prefer living in Howard County over anywhere else in the entire state of Maryland. But then again, I'm a suburbanite, through and through. The OP may well not like it at all. I just figured I'd toss it out there as an option for him to consider.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by bus man

I just figured I'd toss it out there as an option for him to consider.

Very true. It's also not a bad place to get one's footing. Baltimore can be so block-to-block that it requires exploration to find what works best for each individual or family.

[lanhvtnymd]

Originally Posted by bus man

To each their own. Personally, I prefer living in Howard County over anywhere else in the entire state of Maryland. But then again, I'm a suburbanite, through and through. The OP may well not like it at all. I just figured I'd toss it out there as an option for him to consider.

It's not a horrible place to live at all, especially if you have a car and enjoy driving. If I had to choose a suburb between Baltimore and DC, it would likely be an easy choice. One thing that Howard County, particularly Columbia has that is cool, is the trails. They were fun to run. And the waterfronts along Kittamaqundi and Elkhorn were cool. Big perks for a location that has short of 300,000 people with very, very high per capita incomes compared to most other areas of Maryland. Another thing: The commuter buses that take people to Hopkins and DC and Laurel were also a convenient walk from my building. Dorsey Station with free parking, which is technically Anne Arundel County, also made MARC travel to DC convenient during the work week. Also, I liked how matter-of-factly racial and ethnic diversity was treated in Columbia, at least in my neighborhood.

My main annoyances were getting the community association letters with continual complaints about the noise at Merriweather and the traffic around the mall/nearby apartments and Merriweather. And I also did an admittedly dumb thing and joined Next Door for my neighborhood to see all the lovely comments about how people hate the apartment dwellers around the mall, even though the average incomes of people living in those apartments was out the butt and high as a friggin kite. I had someone tell me to my face (life long Columbia resident I used to run with, moved to Baltimore when she married her husband) that the apartment building I lived in was built for poor people with section 8 who can't afford to live in Kings Contrivance. Just rude and not to mention false. She and the Next Door people definitely cannot be generalized to the entire population of Columbia, but they were a loud enough cohort that I just did not feel welcome to stay longer than the 2 years I was there. All I could think of with Merriweather and Mall traffic was additional income for the county. The noise from Merriweather was not horrible and my building was very close. And there are so many routes around that mall that allow you to avoid traffic horrors I didn't get the traffic complaints (unless you were a pedestrian...I'll admit getting close to mowed down by people in a rush to get to Cheesecake Factory or whatever was not cool). But they finally installed a four way stop at one key intersection and the red arrow at Broken Land and Little Patuxent Parkway. Someone in my building was elected to the neighborhood association right before I left, so maybe that will help moderate some of the hyper-negative feedback from that source. I just quit Next Door and that silenced those folks. Top annoyance was my rent was so very high for a relatively small apartment (barely over 600 sq ft). The rent was approaching a Montgomery County-near-a-terminal-metro-stop rate (Shady Grove, Twinbrook, White Oak).

I also hated using 70, 29, 32, 108, and 100. It was nice to return to only having to use those on an occasional basis instead of a regular basis.


TL; DR: Howard County is a lovely, ultra suburban, relatively low density place, and is ideal for people who like that lifestyle.

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by bus man

To each their own. Personally, I prefer living in Howard County over anywhere else in the entire state of Maryland. But then again, I'm a suburbanite, through and through. The OP may well not like it at all. I just figured I'd toss it out there as an option for him to consider.

I can walk to anything. Live in a Townhouse, Bust stop is right across the street. I am always in my local Target. It's a 4 minute bike ride.
What happened in Howard County was 30 years ago you could buy land cheaper there than in Baltimore County, and more of it was available. So that's what people did, bought, and built there. Oddly even building your home there was often cheaper.
Funny, I am a suburbanite through and through, and look at Howard County as being mostly rural. And it's become more pricey than up here.
As usual everything on this site is so between Baltimore and DC Centric.

[lanhvtnymd]

You're right about the rurality. Maybe it's more appropriate to call Howard County exurban than suburban.

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by lanhvtnymd

You're right about the rurality. Maybe it's more appropriate to call Howard County exurban than suburban.

Yep. I just don't get the fascination with the between Baltimore, and DC area on here. You either want to be remote, or near DC, or Baltimore in choice suburbs if you can afford it. I know many can't, and brother I don't have any mason jars buried in the back yard.

[edhern]

Thanks so much for your opinions everyone, i really appreciate it!

I'm curious about Fells Point and Canton, they haven't been mentioned much as options, but looking at the homicide tracker that was provided they seem pretty safe in terms of homicide at least? Is it other crime that would keep them off? Or a property prices?

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by edhern

Thanks so much for your opinions everyone, i really appreciate it!

I'm curious about Fells Point and Canton, they haven't been mentioned much as options, but looking at the homicide tracker that was provided they seem pretty safe in terms of homicide at least? Is it other crime that would keep them off? Or a property prices?

Rent, or buy? Taxes are high in the city. You will have a Target in Canton, and a Whole Foods in Harbor East. And a few mom and pop shops in between.
That's my problem with down there. Taxes are high, where is everything, and the crime element.
Just wonder a couple blocks North of Aliceanna.