Moving to MD and looking for family friendly place (Baltimore: apartments, rentals)

[Jmandl]

We're moving to MD from NJ at the end of the school year. We are totally confused on where we want to live. My husband will be commuting to Woodlawn. We have a few things on our list that we are looking for. We want a family friendly community with community activities (ie pool). We want good schools, safe neighborhoods. Plus, we are Jewish and I don't want my children to be the only jews in their school. Being near a temple would be a plus. Our price range is not high (375,000) or we can rent (2000).

Please send some ideas. We looked at Columbia, but there are too many neighborhoods that I don't know and I would not want to end up in a bad one. Sykesville - too rural. I live in the suburbs of NJ right outside NY. I love the availability of stores and recreation both in my neighborhood. It gets conjested and there's lots of traffic, but I am used to that. I just like the fact that I can get anything that I need because there are at least 4 big malls in the area (within 15 minutes) and lots of other stores.

The town that we live in is not big and having community activities lets me connect with my neighbors. It has a town pool and a rec center for kids.

It would be nice to find that in MD.

This sounds strange, but I don't want acres of land. I want up to a max of 1/2 an acre. That is all that we are able to take care of.

I am trying to write as much as possible to give an idea of what we need so sorry if I am rambling....

[jclausen71]

You really should check out Pikesville and Reisterstown. It is a very easy commute to Woodlawn and the Social Security Administration there. Also there are several temples on Slade Avenue and Park Heights Avenue. You can find great rentals and your price range should get you a great home in that area. There are plenty of communities that have the swimming pools, after school activities, sports as well as hiking/biking trails like the one you are looking for.

[Jmandl]

We considered Pikesville and Reisterstown but they don't have a good school system and I am not sure re neighborhood.

[jclausen71]

You could try Catonsville, It is a quick commute to Woodlawn and the SouthWest area has terrific schools like Westchester. Columbia has wonderful communities, not all of them are very conjested, in fact I think you would be surprised how set back some communites are. They are close to major routes- but set far enough back that the traffic is away from your home. Try the neighborhoods off 108 like Grey Rock. You might want to try the Village Kings Contrivance, or the Village of Longreach, and Long Fellow. Those are some communities that have the comminity involvement that you seem to be looking for. There are also homes in Longridge Knolls that do not have the community pool, but great homes.

[oneworld25]

Take a look at some of the apartments in the Pikesville area . The subway goes by Pikesville and can take you straight to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Get an apartment in the Fort Garrison, Summit Park, or maybe even Woodholme Elementary School zones.

[jallison27]

I travel past Woodlawn to the Owings Mills area (exta 15 min down the road) everyday from Pasadena. I would recommend it to you. It would be about 25 min drive. It has the community amenities, parks, most of the communities are water privlaged (if you like to boat). The schools are much better in comparisons to the areas that were mentioned before.

[oneworld25]

The Jewish community in the Baltimore area is heavily concentrated around the Pikesville, Owings Mills, Reisterstown areas. There may also be a small Jewish community in Columbia (though I'm not positive about it). However, as someone who is Jewish, I must emphasize that other than the areas I have just mentioned there are very few Jews anywhere else in the Baltimore region. As for schools, I urge you to take another look at Pikesville. Some of the schools (such as Milbrook Elementary) are not very good, but others such as Fort Garrison and Summit Park are among the best elementary schools in the area. Pikesville High has also been rated as one the best high schools in the country by either Newsweek or U.S. World and News Report (I forget which one rates the high schools). I live in Pikesville and if you have any questions about neighborhoods or Jewish life in Baltimore, feel free to ask on these boards or Message me. I will give you an honest answer.

[jallison27]

Numbers don't lie.

They have a 35% passing rate for Algebra test.....Pikesville High ranks 133rd of 207 Maryland public high schools.


You can lookup schools (elementary, middle, and high).
Maryland State High Schools - MD School Rankings

[oneworld25]

Originally Posted by jallison27

Numbers don't lie.

They have a 35% passing rate for Algebra test.....Pikesville High ranks 133rd of 207 Maryland public high schools.


You can lookup schools (elementary, middle, and high).
Maryland State High Schools - MD School Rankings

But numbers can be misleading. If you closely at the link I posted below for white students the number who do well on standardized tests is very high. But for black students it is much lower. So while there may be some major social stratification issues at Pikesville High, these data are quite misleading. Like I said before if you want your kids to grow up around other Jewish students the Pikesville, Reisterstown, Owings Mills (northwest baltimore county) area are the places to be. However, even if you don't like Pikesville you could also move to Reisterstown and send your kids to Franklin High or get them into Carver, which is a Magnet School.
http://www.mdreportcard.org/data/hsa_reports/2008HSA_030371_gr11.pdf (broken link)


You should also check out this website put out by the local Jewish Federation to help newcomers in the community.

Shalom Baltimore Home (http://www.shalombaltimore.org/index.php - broken link)

[Jmandl]

Thanks for all the info. i did look into Pikesville because I have relatives in that area. But, I did not like the numbers of the schools.

I am currently leaning towards Howard or Carroll county. Any info on these neighborhoods? I love the last link to jews in baltimore. I wonder if there is anything like that in those other counties.