Which part of Columbia is best?

[Thruway]

But it's TWICE the distance to DC as it is to Baltimore.

[emsgoof]

So?
I lived there for quite a few years, and my parents still live there (and I visit them frequently). Everyone I have ever known considered it a DC suburb.
Look at it this way... would you want to be considered to live in a suburb of the Nation's Capital, or in a suburb of a small blue-collar port city?
And twice the distance? I can make it from Columbia to either the DC or the Baltimore beltways in almost the same amount of time. Time-wise, that makes it 1/2 way for me.

[jdougal]

Columbia area gets news from both areas. Infact you get both ABCs, NBC, CBS, and FOX. You'll get the DC version and the Baltimore version, its kind of nice really.

[kaos60]

your 500K will buy a brand new house as you mentioned but never in Dorsey Search, Kings Contrivance, Hickory Ridge.thats the difference.the same amount will get you into a less private older house.As a realtor my reccomendation would be Dorsey Search, Kings Contrivance, Hickory Ridge.

[j5284]

I am wondering which elementray schools would you consider to be the best and worst in Columbia? Test scores, safety, teacher and principal support?
How is it decided which schools a child attends.

[ML09]

Originally Posted by j5284

I am wondering which elementray schools would you consider to be the best and worst in Columbia? Test scores, safety, teacher and principal support?
How is it decided which schools a child attends.

All schools having zoning areas. Certain areas, and addresses, fall under certain schools. Most commonly, the school you are closest to will be the school you'll go to.

One of the top elementary schools in Columbia is Clemens Crossing. The Principal is very good and the parents are very involved. That is in the village of Hickory Ridge.

Bryant Woods is one to avoid.

[ML09]

Here is a tool you may find useful.

If you're want to find out what school you would be zoned for, put in the address information of a house and it will tell you the zoning for elementary, middle, and high.

Hope this helps.

http://public.hcpss.org/sl/

[happypatience]

I used this forum to do my research before moving to Columbia, and it helped me quite a bit. This is the first time I have ever contributed myself, so I hope to help those looking to move to Columbia.

After a lot of research, we narrowed down homes to the Thunder Hill area of Oakland Mills and the area by Clemens Crossing Elementary School by Atholton High School. Our budget was $400,000, and we were looking for a 4 bed, 2.5 bath single family home. We decided on those two areas because of the great schools, the location and the budget.

I must say that we FAR prefer to live on the east side of 29 because it is a lot easier to get around to the amenities. Everything is in a 5-minute perimeter. All of the big box stores are along Snowden River Parkway and 175. The Supreme gym is off Snowden River closer to 32. Whenever family and friends come to visit, they can't get over how everything is only 5 minutes away. There is no need to deal with 95.

We have 2 kids getting ready to head into kindergarten so the school systems were very important to us. I stopped at the library in Owen Brown and asked the librarian which neighborhoods were the best for kids. She said it would be best to look somewhere other than Owen Brown. Wow. So, I did some more research and discovered a lot of bullying and other issues going on in the Owen Brown schools.

Initially, I did not want to live in Thunder Hill because the homes along Thunder Hill Rd were just so incredibly ugly. Think 1970s construction in ugly dark colors. However, it really did have the best location on the map. It is very easy to get onto 100 to head into Baltimore, and the 175 is easy for my husband to head south into D.C. If you need to get to Fort Meade or NSA, just head south on 29 and then east onto 32. The airport is 15 minutes away, and the Dorsey Metro station is about 10 minutes away. My neighbor just drives to the park and ride and then takes the big bus down to D.C. for his govt job.

After exploring Thunder Hill a little more, I discovered the beautiful neighborhood of colonials off Lightning View road by the elementary school. We bought a home there and it backs to open space. Now, I cannot say enough about the open space. It lends a real sense of community; all the neighborhood kids gather there to play soccer or volleyball and just have a great time. We have a great mix of ethnicities and religions on our street. All the parents get out the bonfire pits and bbqs, and it's a real Norman Rockwell moment.

Now, I know this is likely to get me some hate mail out there, but it is true. Thunder Hill is incredibly desirable because it is the only community in Columbia that does not have townhomes. That means there isn't any Section 8 in Thunder Hill. It is all single family homes. If you check the school web site, you will see that there are very few students there who have free or reduced lunches. As a disclosure, I grew up a poor kid with a free lunch. There is nothing wrong with that. But I really think having kids of the same economic status helps them on an equal basis. The elementary school has a 10 out of 10 rating. All of Thunder Hill has a great community feeling because there aren't as many people living there. The traffic is much less than in other areas of Columbia, and it is a lot easier to get to know your neighbors.

As far as amenities goes, Columbia is centered on families. If you're a single person looking for the nightlife, Columbia is not the place for you. I have never seen so many parks and pools in one place. It is fantastic. There are 23 pools, 88 miles of walking trails, 2 water parks, endless tot lots, skating rink, ice rink, skate park, athletic complexes, 2 libraries, and a huge 2-story mall with play space and carousel. It is 20 minutes to Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Fort Meade, and 30 minutes to an hour to D.C. depending on traffic and where you're heading.

After 2 years of research into towns all throughout the Baltimore/D.C. area, I am continually thankfully that we found Columbia. It is a beautiful place to live, like a city made to look like the country.

[L3XX]

I'LL TELL U WHERE YOU DON'T WANNA LIVE

HARPERS CHOICE RIGHT NEAR SAFEWAY anything past safeway 1/2 a mile down is okay
OAKLAND MILLS
WILDE LAKE
OR LONG REACH

Anyplace else is fine. A lot of the city ppl from baltimore got dropped into those spots just in the last 10 -12 years.

BEST SPOTS ARE...

DOWNTOWN ANYTHING NEAR OR AROUND THE MALL OR LAKE
COLUMBIA ROAD NEAR GOLFCOURSE
FREETOWN ROAD REAL QUIET OVER THERE NEAR ATHOLTON H.S
ANYTHING IN EAST COLUMBIA OWEN BROWN TO SNOWDEN RIVER PARKWAY AREA

WEST SIDE IS WHERE YOU'LL FIND MOST OF THE PPL WHO CAME IN FROM BALTIMORE CITY. IF YOU MOVE WEST SIDE JUST STICK TO THE SPOTS I PUT UP.

Most of the action is around the mall on the west side nothing at all goes on east or south. Past oaklandmills, long reach or king contrivance. But if you want real quiet move to those spots. All of columbia is pretty quiet afer hours but those spots are secluded.

[SmokeyLisa]

There are very nice neighborhoods in all of the villages and most of the villages are quiet. More crime is near all village centers and less crime happens away from village centers. Most people migrate towards the village center for food and shopping and become easier targets. If you looked at per capita crime rates by the villages then I'm pretty comfortable that town center would have the highest rate because it has more crime and fewer people. Town center's numbers are very skewed because that is where the mall is. Personally, I really like Town center but if you want objective numbers it is probably the most unsafe based off of data and not subjective feel for the area.