Running Brook Neighborhood- Columbia, Md (Ellicott City: short sales, apartments, foreclosures)

[yumyum90]

We've been looking at homes in the area of Running Brook across the street from Centennial Park. Can anyone give your opinions on the neighborhood itself. Crime, schools, community, etc.

[cjmeck]

Originally Posted by yumyum90

We've been looking at homes in the area of Running Brook across the street from Centennial Park. Can anyone give your opinions on the neighborhood itself. Crime, schools, community, etc.

Are you familiar with www.spotcrime.org? It is a good way to judge crime in an area. Be sure to put your current address in there as well. I also like to look at the Howard Co police dept. Facebook page; they have a blotter where they list arrests, crimes, ect a few times a week.
As far as schools go, GreatSchools: School Ratings and Reviews for Public and Private Schools is a decent resource. Howard Co public schools is set to redistrict for the 2018-19 school year so just be aware of that change coming.

This forum has very few Howard Co people on it so your best bet will likely be to go walk the neighborhood. Talk to the neighbors. I think school bus pickup/drop off is the best time to catch parents outside. Go visit the schools while you still can also. And finally, your agent can pull up how many foreclosures/short sales or rentals are happening in that neighborhood in a given time period. Might be helpful.

Best of luck to you!

[HoCoMom]

Cjmeck gave you excellent information. I would really look at the area schools on the county school website- HCPSS.org. You can see test scores, demos, etc. Running Brook , like many schools in Columbia has apartments in the neighborhood and that means more transient students which often leads to lower test and achievement scores for the school as a whole.

If you are considering a house on either of the 2 main streets in the neighborhood - go look during rush hour and see if the amount of traffic at time bothers you. I have been using one street as a cut through for 30 years and so do many others.

Good luck in your home search.

[K-Luv]

Well, that would be in Ellicot City, no? As far as I can tell, the area around Centennial Lake is one of the safer areas but the southern side of Centennial Lake is adjacent to one of the worst areas of Columbia.

And by "worst" I mean by Columbia standards, which is below the national average.

By the way, I live in Columbia. So, one of the few HoCo residents here.

[HoCoMom]

I use W. Running Brook Road as a cut through from the mall to Rt 108 and then to Centennial Lane. Friends of mine lived in Running Brook for several years. They moved to Ellicott City because of the schools.

[pokeable]

Originally Posted by yumyum90

We've been looking at homes in the area of Running Brook across the street from Centennial Park. Can anyone give your opinions on the neighborhood itself. Crime, schools, community, etc.

Community is a nice residential community. Right across the (busy, route 108) road from Centennial Park. Howard County has standardized curriculum for every school (so same availability of honors classes, labs, etc), but reputation and academic success varies wildly per school. Also, Ten Mills Road can be very busy during rush hour (people use it to go north/south instead of 29).

https://schoollocator.hcpss.org/SchoolLocator/

The above link from the school system will give you an idea as to which school catch area a home is located. Sadly, most of the Running Brook homes goto the poorer-performing schools of the county.

GL!