From Florida to Baltimore! (Columbia, Ellicott City: apartments, rentals, condo)

[mc_0217]

Hello all,



I'm planning on moving to Baltimore from Florida for a job opportunity in Downtown Baltimore; a dream job. I graduated not so long ago so my income is of an entry-level with huge school loans. On top of that, I'm a woman in my late 20's, with a Hispanic background. I'll be moving solo to the city - with my dog. I'm terrified of making this big move because of crime and racism.




When I applied to the job, I thought that crime wasn't THAT bad. But the more I research, the worst it gets. I was thinking of living in Washington instead and commuting to Downtown Baltimore, but apparently traffic is terrible and it will take me more than 1 hour.



I don't want to leave a dream job, the reason I worked so hard in school for crime. I'm just starting my career, and I thought that this would be a great experience for me, but it feels now more of a nightmare. All I read online is negative comments - the tax is too high, the crime is too high, the towns are dull, everyone wants to leave, traffic is terrible. I mean...




Any advice?

Thank you,

Michelle.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by mc_0217

......All I read online is negative comments - the tax is too high, the crime is too high, the towns are dull, everyone wants to leave, traffic is terrible. I mean...
......

Please take the online comments with a grain of salt. There are a number of very negative people posting here. I used to live and work in Baltimore County, and my husband worked in downtown Baltimore, so I have good knowledge. It is not necessary to go all the way to DC to live.

My advice is to look for a rental in one of the safer suburbs such as Columbia or Towson. Both have good public transportation into the city, eg, Columbia has express commuter buses, and Towson has light rail. Because you are bringing a dog, you will probably find more dog-friendly rentals in the suburbs. Here's a link to commuter buses: https://www.mta.maryland.gov/schedule?type=commuter-bus

There are a number of good firms in downtown Baltimore which will give a great start to your career. Don't give up!

[Joakim3]

Originally Posted by mc_0217

Hello all,

Welcome!!

Originally Posted by mc_0217

I'm planning on moving to Baltimore from Florida for a job opportunity in Downtown Baltimore; a dream job. I graduated not so long ago so my income is of an entry-level with huge school loans. On top of that, I'm a woman in my late 20's, with a Hispanic background. I'll be moving solo to the city - with my dog. I'm terrified of making this big move because of crime and racism.

Congrats on the new job!

While Baltimore is not as ethnically diverse as international cities like Miami, SF, DC, Toronto, NYC or LA it's by no means a "racist" or monotone in its demographic, especially once you are in the vicinity of downtown. The Baltimore-DC area is arguable the most diverse in the country and big cities are usually very relaxed in that sense.

That being said if it's your first time being in the NE, its going to feel completely different from anything in Florida. Wether it's how the people act, the physically environment or local culture. It's a big, built up and dense 290 year old city. It's not a negative or positive thing, just something you have to be mindful of so there will be some culture shock involved.

Regarding crime, general rule of thumb is the closer you are two the Harbor, the safer that area of the city is. I'd be lying to saying that there aren't parts of the city even a local like myself would go out of my way to avoid, but 9/10 no one has any business being in those places in the first place and those issues aren't unique to Baltimore.

Originally Posted by mc_0217

When I applied to the job, I thought that crime wasn't THAT bad. But the more I research, the worst it gets. I was thinking of living in Washington instead and commuting to Downtown Baltimore, but apparently traffic is terrible and it will take me more than 1 hour.

Take the comments on this forum with a large gain of salt. Yes the city does have an ongoing crime issues (Chicago, St. Louis are the other poster boys for this) and all tend to have their crime sensationalized by the media. The vast majority serious crime is relegated to the West Side (anything west of MLK boulevard) or the NE quadrant of the city (north of Johns Hopkins). In regards to the city murder rate, 99.5% of murders are unfortunately black on black crime over drugs/gangs so "normal" civilians being target is very much a rarity. I know plenty of single women your age who get a long just fine living in the city... just use good judgment/common sense and theres a high probability you won't have any issues.

The Inner Harbor, Federal Hill, Canton, Harbor/East, Riverside, Pigtown, Brewers Hill, Locust Point, Mt. Vernon, Guilford, Homeland, Woodberry are just as safe as any equivalent in DC in case people try to tell you "nothing" is safe in Baltimore. "Segwaying" into DC yes, the DC traffic is bad... like LA lvl bad, trust me when I say you want no part of it.

Seeing you have a dog, Columbia (has it's own downtown), Ellicott City, Towson (full on college town with it's own downtown as well), Odenton, Hunt Valley are all very safe (alight suburban) locations that are a <20 minutes drives from the city proper and probably would fit your housing needs better while still giving you access to the city.

Originally Posted by mc_0217

I don't want to leave a dream job, the reason I worked so hard in school for crime. I'm just starting my career, and I thought that this would be a great experience for me, but it feels now more of a nightmare. All I read online is negative comments - the tax is too high, the crime is too high, the towns are dull, everyone wants to leave, traffic is terrible. I mean...

- Crime sucks (relatively) in every big east coast city compared to Florida, just the nature of how the cities are built, your more exposed to it because you live in substantially closer to your "neighbors"

- Taxes are definitely not cheap but Baltimore is by far the most affordable of the big 5 NE cities, you'd easily pay 2-3x as much for the equivalent apartment/home/condo in DC.

- Regarding the towns being "dull" Towson is a full on college, Baltimore has a huge nightlife scene, granted it's has substantially more bars than clubs (several big clubs and a Top Golf are coming next year) and theres two casino's in the area if thats you're being in your 20's and all.

- Statistically the biggest influx of people right now are single young post graduates who are priced out of DC. The people leaving sadly tend to be poor African American families where crime is rampant in their neighborhoods.

- Traffic can be bad, but on whole it's no where even close to it's big sister 35 miles south.

Originally Posted by mc_0217

Any advice?

Thank you,

Michelle.

What I'd personally recommend, find a family or friend who is a local and tour the city for a weekend (Fri-Sunday) and see for yourself. I've learned that when I just go off of word of mouth, I've miss great opportunities just because someone else had the unfortunate luck of a bad day and ruined my perception.

Hope that answered some of your questions!

[DubyaM]

Towson doesn't have light rail. You don't want to live in D.C. Too expensive.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by mc_0217

moving to Baltimore from Florida for a job opportunity in Downtown Baltimore; a dream job.
I'm a woman in my late 20's... moving solo to the city - with my dog. Any advice?

99% of the advice you need applies to anyone moving away to any distant city:
Plan to live as close to the job as practical and at as low a cost as you can manage to find...
and which is convenient to one of the dog parks LINK

Plan to SHARE a home or apartment for the first 6-12 months to do all that.
Ask the HR people at the prospective dream job if anyone THERE needs a roomie.

[Maintainschaos]

You have to take a lot of posts in the Baltimore forum with a large grain of salt, as there are a few regular trolls with obvious agendas constantly posting the same crap all the time.

Like any place, you should visit before you move to help get an idea of where you want to live.

There are several neighborhoods from south Baltimore to the harbor and around it that are very nice and make for an easy commute. I live in one of those neighborhoods, and my spouse walks or takes the bus to work everyday to his job downtown. If you think that the city isn't for you, you could look into Baltimore county (Elkridge, Towson, Arbutus, Catonsville), which are all relatively easy commutes into the city. If you want to go out a bit further into Columbia, that's also doable.

I wouldn't be looking to D.C., personally. The COL coupled with the commute will eat you alive after a while. Many of the smaller towns and cities in Maryland are actually very nice, and I personally like Baltimore for the most part. As far as growth, the DC-Baltimore region as a whole is growing at a pretty big clip--it's more populated than anything in Florida, and there's a lot of variety in this region.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by DubyaM

Towson doesn't have light rail...

OK, the closest stop is Falls Road in Baltimore. However, I still suggest that Towson and places (Lutherviille, etc) along the light rail line are safe and have enough young people to be interesting. The link is here: https://www.mta.maryland.gov/schedule/lightrail

[pappjohn]

I'm planning on moving to Baltimore from Florida for a job opportunity in Downtown Baltimore; a dream job

You are kidding right? Disregard the trolls trying to paint a pretty picture of Baltimore as it's not pretty.


Baltimore is the pits compared to most any town or county in Florida or most of the US for that matter.
I speak from experience.



Commuting from DC to Baltimore would be a a bad experience every time you do it.
Just as easy to commute from Florida almost. But living in Baltimore would be a nightmare!

[Joakim3]

Originally Posted by pappjohn

You are kidding right? Disregard the trolls trying to paint a pretty picture of Baltimore as it's not pretty.


Baltimore is the pits compared to most any town or county in Florida or most of the US for that matter.
I speak from experience.



Commuting from DC to Baltimore would be a a bad experience every time you do it.
Just as easy to commute from Florida almost. But living in Baltimore would be a nightmare!

Do you honestly hear yourself when you talk?

[mc_0217]

I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone for taking the time to respond to my post. Everyone's response has been super helpful!

Unfortunately, I don't have friends/family in Baltimore to guide me or give me advice.
Baltimore will be a BIG cultural change for me - from the urban fabric to the organization of the city, to the way I have to maneuver myself around for safety. (Been living in Miami for 15 years and I feel very safe. I walk my dog at 11pm and I feel completely safe - not sure I can do that in Baltimore).

I visited Baltimore last month for the interview, and the downtown was completely empty at 1pm - so different from Miami. I didn't get the chance to spend the night to experience anything else.

I have continued with my research for apartments close to work, with a security on site of some sort to make my transition easier, but the most affordable rent is $1400 a month, not to mention the additional monthly $50 for pet rent and the $200 for parking. Who can afford that? Definitely, not a woman who's paying bills on her own.
And I thought Miami and NYC were expensive? how naive I have been all these years! No wonder Baltimore a top violent city in the US; RENT IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!

I'm just looking for safety, a place where I can sleep at night in peace and walk my dog outside not feeling that something might happen. I guess I'll take everyone's advice and keep looking for something in the neighboring areas like Towson, Columbia, etc.. and just deal with the 1-hour daily commute to work.

Thanks again and any additional advice is welcomed!