Carroll County for young Asian family with kids.?!?! (Baltimore, Silver Spring: real estate market, buying a home)

[goodlife2018]

Hi everyone, we are a young Asian family with 3 kids 9,5,& 3 years old. my husbnd and i came to the US about 20 years ago (we’re 28 & 33 now) and we always been living in silver spring and gaithersburg area. Lately, we has been so tired of the area getting too overly crowded & Montgomery county being too damn expensive, and with the opportunity of a new job in downtown Westminster, we are thinking of buying a home there or somewhere nearby. our budget is uo to 300k
too of our list are 1.Eldersburg
2.westminster
3.mt.airy
could i have any reviews, comments of how lives are in those area?
i am mostly concerned about being the Minorities.. my husband and i are the type who we would stay in our home and not bother anyone but we would smile and talk to you as we see you outside. i work during the day and my husband works over night. we love taking the kids outside, to the parks .. we are just very worried about not being welcomed into a neighborhood because of being (different) i wouldnt want my children to be bullied or isolated because of that either...
and also i’ve heard things about Westminster high.. especially their drugs problem. 1 of my friend even refered to it as (Heroine High).,

sorry for the long post and the many questions., we are just very young family trying to get the bests for our children
Thank you for your helps!!!!!

[bus man]

I have an Asian friend who lives in Sykesville (or maybe it's Eldersburg, I'm not sure exactly) and she seems to not be having any trouble, as far as I know. I also have another friend who is raising an adopted Asian child in Mt. Airy, and he has not told me about any racial issues there.



That said, you will have to be comfortable with being in the minority, because there are very few Asians in Carroll County. Asians make up 3% of the population in Eldersburg and 3.5% in Westminster. The overwhelming majority of Carroll's population is white. (Silver Spring is 8.1% Asian and Gaithersburg is 15.3% Asian, but there are far more black and Hispanic people in these places than there are in Carroll.) I know that my own anecdotal experiences regarding my friends is very, very limited; so hopefully someone else will chime in with a more complete answer.


FWIW, a certain other site lists Westminster High School (3% Asian) as an 8 out of 10. Century High School in Eldersburg (also 3% Asian) is ranked 10 out of 10. I'm not familiar with either place so I can't comment on drugs and such. Keep in mind that Mt. Airy straddles four different counties (Montgomery, Howard, Frederick, and Carroll), so you'd want to look at the different neighborhoods very carefully to make sure you were in the district you wanted to be in.



If being in the minority is a major concern for you, you'd do much better in Howard County. (The county as a whole is 18% Asian; in Ellicott City it's 28.4%.) However, there's the commute to consider. If you do want to consider Howard County, I would look somewhere close to either Route 32 or Route 97, in places such as West Friendship or Clarksville or Cooksville or Glenwood. It's a relatively long commute up to Westminster, but you're going against the flow of traffic, so it moves pretty well in the direction you'd be heading. Between I-70 and Route 26, Route 32 is faster than Route 97; but from there up to Westminster, Route 97 is faster.



I'm sorry, I'm not familiar enough with the real estate market up there to give an opinion on your housing budget. I do know that in Howard County, a ceiling of $300k would limit your choices.


Good luck to you!

[lemon_tree]

I am an Asian living in Eldersburg.

I have lived here for about three years now, and overall I feel comfortable living here as a minority. Sometimes I feel like some people do not want to even talk to me, but I think it is more of them being unfamiliar with minority people than they are unfriendly or being racists. As you can see from statistics, this area has more than 90% white. We have a 9 yr old boy and he is the only asian in his class, but he has not been bullied or anything for being the only asian. So you will certainly feel that you are really a minority everywhere you go around here, but you will be just fine.

Eldersburg area is a bit more expensive than Westminster or other more rural area of Carroll county. For a budget of $300K, you will be able to get a relatively old or/and small single family home or will have to settle for a townhouse. You will be able to find more options (larger or newer SFH) between $300K ~ $400K. Housing price here has been going up steadily in recent years. Check Zillow or Redfin.

I am not familiar with Westminster High. We live in Liberty High district, and I heard nothing particularly worrisome about Liberty or Century High.

We moved here from Howard county mostly because of the housing affordability, and I have never regretted it. If your job is in Westminster, I highly recommend Eldersburg area!

Good luck!

[goodlife2018]

thanks Busman and Lemontree for such detailed answers! you guys made us feel so much better about relocating to Carroll County.
i started working in downtown Westminster and everyone who comes in the store is so nice and friendly. Though most ppl are not really native but indeed moved to Carroll County from different places such as Baltimore, Frederick.. i feel pretty comfortable and in search for a house right now.
Lemontree is right about my budget being 300k wont buy us much house in Eldersburg, maybe we will end up getting a townhouse near the Walmart. or if i can get more infos about Westminster High we might look for a sigle family home around there. i saw some going for $270k decent lot and codition.
Again, thanks so much for your helps!!!

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by goodlife2018

thanks Busman and Lemontree for such detailed answers! you guys made us feel so much better about relocating to Carroll County.
i started working in downtown Westminster and everyone who comes in the store is so nice and friendly. Though most ppl are not really native but indeed moved to Carroll County from different places such as Baltimore, Frederick.. i feel pretty comfortable and in search for a house right now.
Lemontree is right about my budget being 300k wont buy us much house in Eldersburg, maybe we will end up getting a townhouse near the Walmart. or if i can get more infos about Westminster High we might look for a sigle family home around there. i saw some going for $270k decent lot and codition.
Again, thanks so much for your helps!!!

Well, I can chime in about Westminster High. It has had the "heroin" school reputation since I went to Western Maryland College (now McDaniel) in the late 90s. It was true then based on what my townie friends told me. I can't imagine it is much better now. How that compares to other high schools in the county/state, I can't really say.