I'm confused about MD (Baltimore, Aberdeen: transplants, condos, crime)

[Chrissyliz]

Hello. My husband has a chance at two possible jobs in MD. One near APG and one in Baltimore area. He can't choose which one because so far he hasn't been offered a job yet. Here's my confusion on MD in general. I've been reading these forums for quite some time now. I see so much negativity about MD. To me it seems unless you have a lot of money and can live in the upscale neighborhoods that you are doomed. I get a sick/scared feeling in my stomache about possibly relocating there.

Are there no good neighborhoods for your everyday hard working family? The job we may get starts out at a lower pay but each year for two years we would get a large increase in our pay. But at the early stages of this job we would not have a ton of money.

I get depressed reading these forums as there are hardly any positive posts. Surley those of us who are not rich can have a good life somewhere there too? Or am I wrong.

Sorry but this is what I've been gleaning from these posts. I'm almost hoping he doesn't get these jobs as I'm scared out of my mind. We also have two school age kids (12 and 17). Everything you all say about the schools is negative. We can't afford private schools.

So are we doomed or what? Thanks for your input.

Oh and we are also a mixed race family. Both my husband and I are white and our adopted children are black and biracial. Another factor. Here in AZ the AA population is only about 3-4%. Not high enough for me. I want to see more diversity!!! Thanks again.

[dorado0359]

The are a number of nice, affordable and diverse communities with good schools. One very nice community in particular that I would recommend (based upon the makeup of your family and limited housing budget) is Riverside, it is only 10 minutes from APG. This community is truly a very family oriented planned community with mix of single family townhomes, and condos. There is also plenty there for the kids to do. It has a community swimming pool with swimming leagues for kids, tennis courts, baseball and basketball leagues and more.

Other affordable and diverse communities around APG are Aberdeen, Havre de Grace and Joppatown.

Good Luck

[Stormcrow73]

The thing is, MD is for the most the part a very wonderful place to live. You have so much variety very close by from city to country, mountains to beach. You will find a direct trade between affordability and safe yet diverse area. IMO, your best bet is if he gets something closer to APG so you can live further from Baltimore and yet still have a diverse but somewhat reasonably affordable and safe community.

[RoadTripGurl]

Harford county, close to APG has some of the most affordable homes in MD and a better quality of life. It is close to baltimore, mountains, beaches, Philly, NYC, you name it.

[Chrissyliz]

Thanks everyone for the various choices. This makes me feel much better. Now to see if he gets the job. I will check into the suggested areas. Again thank you once again.

[westsideboy]

Most of the negative people fall into a two catagories.

1. Folks raised here that hate the changes that they have seen in their communties.

2. Outsiders that move in and expect something other than what they find.

[dickens]

If you have deep pockets and a high tolerance for crime you'll be fine!

[Tom Lennox 70]

Yeah Harford County is a nice area that's being heavily developed. When people say Maryland is overly expensive, they mean Montgomery and Howard counties. Personally I'm more of a suburban person so I don't have much positive things to say about Baltimore or DC or any major city.

Arizona is actually one of the states I'm considering moving to, also Nevada and a number of states in the South. The Baltimore area, people are a lot nicer than around DC< with the exception of RIver HIll near Bmore which is more snobby. ARound DC there are a lot of transplants from up north, mostly NJ and NY, and they bring a lot of problems, especially with their attitudes.

[vermont08]

Originally Posted by ChrissyR

Hello. My husband has a chance at two possible jobs in MD. One near APG and one in Baltimore area. He can't choose which one because so far he hasn't been offered a job yet. Here's my confusion on MD in general. I've been reading these forums for quite some time now. I see so much negativity about MD. To me it seems unless you have a lot of money and can live in the upscale neighborhoods that you are doomed. I get a sick/scared feeling in my stomache about possibly relocating there.

Are there no good neighborhoods for your everyday hard working family? The job we may get starts out at a lower pay but each year for two years we would get a large increase in our pay. But at the early stages of this job we would not have a ton of money.

I get depressed reading these forums as there are hardly any positive posts. Surley those of us who are not rich can have a good life somewhere there too? Or am I wrong.

Sorry but this is what I've been gleaning from these posts. I'm almost hoping he doesn't get these jobs as I'm scared out of my mind. We also have two school age kids (12 and 17). Everything you all say about the schools is negative. We can't afford private schools.

So are we doomed or what? Thanks for your input.

Oh and we are also a mixed race family. Both my husband and I are white and our adopted children are black and biracial. Another factor. Here in AZ the AA population is only about 3-4%. Not high enough for me. I want to see more diversity!!! Thanks again.

There is a long running post on the Maryland forum about these issues. I just posted myself today. I have to say if you have children DO NOT move her unless your husband will make a great deal of money. My family and I are leaving/moving to VT, my brother and his 4 kids already moved to TX, my brother and sister in law are moving next month to NC.....

//www.city-data.com/forum/maryl...aryland-3.html

[expgc]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Most of the negative people fall into a two catagories.

1. Folks raised here that hate the changes that they have seen in their communties.

2. Outsiders that move in and expect something other than what they find.

Westsideboy has this so correct. The people who were born and raised in Maryland, including myself, hate what has happened to the Maryland and PG county we knew. Nothing can be done about it but it still doesn't stop people from feeling negative. The solution for me once I recognized that things were turning unbearable was to relocate somewhere outside the state.

For new people coming into Maryland their experiences from other areas of the country or world and their tolerances of what is going on in Maryland will dictate whether they will be negative.

It does seem that the Maryland board has alot more negativity then many of the other state boards I have been on.