Baltimore County, MD transplants (Denver, Aurora: houses, neighborhood, new construction)

[poppunk]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I'm from Charm City, been here ten years. I miss the crabcakes. I don't miss Lansdowne.

IMO the western suburbs of Denver metro area are what you'd like, though prices here are far higher than Baltimore.

Best advice we can give you will depend on where work is located; commuting sucks in Denver and you don't want a long cross region drive twice a day. Can you give us cross streets so we can advise you?

You're gonna love the dry air, lack of bugs, and lots of things to do here.

I just moved from Anne Arundel a few months ago. Houses here are more expensive than my rowhouse in Baltimore (lived there for 5 years before AA), but my crappy Glen Burnie house in a bad school district just sold for $315,000 a month ago. To me, both rents and housing are noticeably cheaper here than they are there, especially when you account for things like schools. I'm renting a place that's "nice Howard County" setup in Westminster/Broomfield, and it's probably about 30% cheaper than what it would be there.


OP, what part of BC are you at? Your perception of costs will completely depend on where you're at now. We're not going to bother to look for a house not because of prices, but because of insane bidding wars and "buy it now or have no chance" games that are going on - I'm not going to buy a house unless I have to decide if it's right and I can make sure something's not completely screwed up with it.


And on crime - I tried to find a neighborhood in Denver where I felt uncomfortable and I just couldn't. They just don't have a Cherry Hill or westside here. The worst I can seem to find is Highlandtown. There are still bad things here if someone's looking for trouble, but it's not like Baltimore.


On racism, it's insane in the Baltimore metro area and I hope moving here helps you avoid it. It is certainly about as white as you can get out in the NW suburbs where I am, but I don't know the real situation with racism here. I haven't had someone say anything really racist to me yet (since I'm white, other racist white people assumed that I liked hearing those things back east).


I will say people are far more pleasant here in general, and when I go to patronize businesses it's not a coin flip on whether or not I'll get good service. There are a few people that drive like nutjobs here, but most people drive cooperatively instead of like they're in combat.

[sandsthree]

We moved from bmore this past fall also because we wanted to as opposed to for a job. We ended up in Castle Rock and comment almost daily about how kind, respectful, and accepting everyone is around us. Having come from an extremely diverse area, the lack of diversity here is something we notice, but I think it's more of a CR thing as opposed to a CO thing. That being said, four diverse families recently moved in near us. We've become good friends with a biracial family who shared that they completely feel accepted (they've been in CR for many years in a different neighborhood prior to moving to ours). If racism exists, I haven't witnessed it at all!

CR wasn't our top choice, but with a budget similar to yours, we realized we could get a lot more house in a wonderful neighborhood for a lot less money than the areas west of the city where we originally thought we wanted to be. We lived in the city (Roland Park & Hampden) for the past 20 yrs so moving from that to the suburbs has been a bit different, but it's not that far away and we've only ventured into the city a few times (traffic SUCKS!). CR is a growing area and there are MANY dentist offices nearby, so I wouldn't think you'd have trouble finding a job. With all of the construction in our area, I'd imagine it would be rather easy for an electrician to find work too.

I'm not sure where you were in Balt Co, but my one complaint with CR and Douglas County, has been the school system. Our son was in a private school in Baltimore, so we knew there would be a bit of an adjustment, but our neighborhood school was not a good fit for him at all! Many other families rave about this particular school, but we are moving our son to a new charter school for next year and are hopeful it's a better fit. There are options with the many charter schools and CO is a choice state so you don't have to go to your assigned neighborhood school provided there is space in the school you'd like to go to (and you can provide transportation). There's a lot of info here and in other places about the school system if you're interested, but the direction of this current board is a bit frightening.

If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask or even send me a PM and I'll be happy to answer them. Overall, we are really happy where we ended up; it's safe, the people are wonderful, and the scenery and weather can't be beat! We loved Baltimore, but were so happy to be in CO given all the riots etc.- very sad and scary! Good luck!

[Aurora17]

Lol @poppunk, the combat drivers and coin flip for service bits had me laughing. So true! And we live in EastTowson, very close to both the Parkville and Belvedere Square areas. @sandsthree, thank you! It's good to hear that even though there isn't as much diversity as we are used to, I don't have to worry about my family feeling outcast.

[Pocopsonite]

Aurora --
This is a sticky on the Philadelphia Forum. I didn't realize until now that it isn't a feature on every city forum. But it might be helpful for you to copy, then fill in the answers and post.

>>
To help the members of the forum guide you more quickly towards a compatible neighborhood and lifestyle, here are "just a few" starter questions to choose from.

When are you moving?
Where are you coming from?
Why are you moving?
Where will you be working?
Have you been here yet?

Will you buy or rent?
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend?
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend?
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Are you married or single? Do you have children?
Do you prefer public or private schools?
Do you have pets?
Do you want or need a yard?
Are you keeping a car?
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet?

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Shopping
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Nightlife
Train or subway stations

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood?

Coke or Pepsi?

[Aurora17]

Thank you Pocopsonite!

When are you moving? About 1 year from now
Where are you coming from? Baltimore, MD
Why are you moving? To get away from the East Coast rudeness and climate.
Where will you be working? In the dental industry and commercial electrical industry
Have you been here yet? Nope! Planning our trip for a few months from now

Will you buy or rent? Likely buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? House; $400,000ish

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married with 1 preschooler
Do you prefer public or private schools? Doesn't matter as long as it's quality
Do you have pets? 3 cats
Do you want or need a yard? Need
Are you keeping a car? Yup
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? Calm and quiet

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood?
We don't care about any of that. What we do care about is the fact that we're white and our daughter is biracial. So we need to live somewhere that she'll feel welcomed and not outcast.

[Fergs]

My family moved to Denver from Baltimore four years ago. Honestly I think the world of the people of Baltimore and had a much harder time making friends in Denver. Perhaps it's because of ithe city's transient nature, but Denverites remind me a lot of DC dwellers -- standoffish and not particularly warm. Also, Denver is not very diverse at all (at least not in comparison to Baltimore).

All this said, we have never regretted moving here and love Colorado. But we no longer live in Denver and do miss a lot of things about Baltimore.

[Aurora17]

Fergs if you don't mind me asking, where in Colorado did you go after leaving Denver?

[Fergs]

We live in rural Douglas County, near Elizabeth and Franktown.

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by Fergs

We live in rural Douglas County, near Elizabeth and Franktown.

Which is very diverse.
Only 95% white.

[poppunk]

Originally Posted by Fergs

My family moved to Denver from Baltimore four years ago. Honestly I think the world of the people of Baltimore and had a much harder time making friends in Denver. Perhaps it's because of ithe city's transient nature, but Denverites remind me a lot of DC dwellers -- standoffish and not particularly warm. Also, Denver is not very diverse at all (at least not in comparison to Baltimore).

All this said, we have never regretted moving here and love Colorado. But we no longer live in Denver and do miss a lot of things about Baltimore.

What neighborhood did you live in in Baltimore?