Where to live between Baltimore and Calvert County? (Bowie, Annapolis: rent, loft)

[Cutea]

Hello!
Here's our situation: my husband works in Baltimore, on the JHU campus and I work in Calvert County, MD (Huntingtown, MD). We live in the "middle" right now- in Bowie. We currently rent a 1-bedroom condo here with a loft for $1,200.. We chose Bowie because it seemed safe, it was super affordable, and it's a decent commute for both of us.

However... We have lived here for 8 months, and we've found it incredibly boring and homogenous. My husband is 31 and I'm 29, so we are fairly young. In fact, I haven't seen anyone else our age here yet... everything closes at 8 pm, and there's NO nightlife whatsoever. Luckily, we are fairly close to DC, but it's still somewhat of a pain to get into DC. Bowie is just very "strip-mally".. every restaurant here is a chain. It's actually been quite terrible for us. We are looking into buying a house in the next 2-3 years, and we don't know where to settle...We both love our jobs and plan on keeping them for many years. Bowie is more affordable than other areas in terms of housing prices, so we are torn...

Does any one have suggestions about where we can live? We were looking into Annapolis, but how much more fun is it than Bowie? Annapolis would increase my commute from 30 mins to 1 hour.. would it be worth it? Crofton is also really boring, and would be just like living in Bowie. We are out of ideas.

Thanks!

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Cutea

my husband works in Baltimore... and I work in Calvert County, MD

Long story short...
Get a new husband or one of you needs to get a new job.

[Cutea]

Not going to happen. This is my first year in this job, and I need to stay at least 3 years to get tenured. My husband has only been in his job for 2 years.. Getting new jobs isn't possible right now. We are looking for input from people who are from or have lived in Maryland. We are both from out of town.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Cutea

Not going to happen.

Perhaps... but you gotta admit it would fix the issues. Right?

This is my first year in this job, and I need to stay at least 3 years to get tenured.
My husband has only been in his job for 2 years.

Then you're doing about as well as you can.

The only alternative I see is to live VERY near to one job or the other.
That way only one of you has a miserable daily commute...
and the other gets to do all (ALL!!) of the shopping and housekeeping stuff.

If you can afford to live near JHU you'll have more/better social opportunities than in SMIBville.

[emma.chris.gale]

What is the best thing about Baltimore ??? i have an opportunity too move there..any suggestion

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by emma.chris.gale

What is the best thing about Baltimore ??? i have an opportunity too move there..any suggestion

You should ask this in the separate "BALTIMORE" forum. And give more details about your family situation, age, leisure interests, housing preferences, your job description and its exact location, and where do you presently live.

[boreatwork]

How do you not find any body 29/30 in Bowie? It might be boring but how do you not see anyone your age?

[bus man]

Originally Posted by Cutea

Hello!
Does any one have suggestions about where we can live? We were looking into Annapolis, but how much more fun is it than Bowie? Annapolis would increase my commute from 30 mins to 1 hour.. would it be worth it? Crofton is also really boring, and would be just like living in Bowie. We are out of ideas.

Pick somewhere on the west side of Annapolis, in the vicinity of Parole Town Center. From there, you have easy access to Route 2, which will take you to Huntingtown in about 35 minutes or so -- NOT 1 hour. (Most of it is only 2 lanes, but since you'd be going against the main flow of traffic, it moves quickly.) And your husband can easily got to I-97 up towards Baltimore.

If you're looking for a bigger house, go a little south to Edgewater. It will probably seem boring to you, but it'll still be close to Annapolis.

[Cutea]

Thank you bus man..you're the first person to actually give feasible advice aside from "quit your job" or "move to Baltimore." We were definitely considering Annapolis, we just weren't sure if that would be an improvement over Bowie, but most likely it would. Do you know what housing prices are like there? We'd be fine with a smaller house/townhouse, etc.

[bus man]

Originally Posted by Cutea

Thank you bus man..you're the first person to actually give feasible advice aside from "quit your job" or "move to Baltimore." We were definitely considering Annapolis, we just weren't sure if that would be an improvement over Bowie, but most likely it would. Do you know what housing prices are like there? We'd be fine with a smaller house/townhouse, etc.

Sorry, I'm not familiar enough with Annapolis to tell about home prices. I do know that there is a wide range of housing stock there, so it seems likely that some of the areas would be at least comparable to Bowie, price-wise.

If you're looking for "young, hip" neighborhoods in which to live, you'd probably want to focus on the downtown area, which is on the eastern side of the city near the Naval Academy. (I'm afraid I can't help you with specifics about this aspect of your request, as I am neither young nor hip.) However, your commute would be better if you were starting out from the western side, closer to Route 2. I guess you would need to decide which is more important: (slightly) longer commute but living in the thick of the "action" or a (slightly) shorter commute but having to drive (a short distance) to where the exciting restaurants and night life are.