A place to start? (Columbia, Ellicott City: mortgage, house, construction)

[Etc8984]

Hello everyone. What a great forum; glad I came across it.

My family and I (me (41), husband (43), son (19), daughter (16)) currently live in Suffolk County on Long Island. My husband and I grew up here and love it but costs - in particular taxes - are outrageous and I cannot forsee a time when my husband and I won't both have to work full-time+ to just provide the basics (with the occasional dinner out and maybe a 5 day vacation every other year).

We have been talking about moving off LI a year after our daughter graduates high school (2012). We've talked about the Carolinas of course but Maryland came up in conversation. I would like to start researching and ultimately visiting some areas, but I really don't know where to start.

Guidelines would be:

- Lower taxes (anything $5,500/year or under would be half or less of what we're paying now).

- Would love a cute town. Right now we are on the eastern end of LI just before the forks. Sort of rural-suburban I guess. Everything is at least a 10 minute drive away and no "town" of our own to speak of. Some shops, local pub(s), cafe-type places would be nice.

- House approx. 2000 sf. 3 bedrooms, 2-2 1/2 bath with combined living area (no need for a separate dining room/living room/family room - so much wasted space right now).

- Great community - we currently live in a development where we are very friendly with our neighbors - block parties, holiday get-togethers, etc., and would like to have that again.

-Would love to keep the cost around $300,000 - trying to do this with very low mortgage. Newer construction would be great.

Don't have to worry about school districts and kids won't be coming with us (at least living with us, anyway).

Also, how is the weather in MD compared to LI? My perfect location has warmer winters so my gas bill isn't $500/month with the token snowfall (on Christmas Eve of course!).

Am I dreaming? I know I am, but does anyplace come close?

Thanks!

[mamaecho]

What would you and your husband be doing for work? Do you need a big city? etc? That would help us so you could know where to live..

I think you would like New Market.. it has a nice little (very little) historic area.. also Mt Airy might be somewhere to look at.. Brunswick.. all my favorite places lol

[Etc8984]

Good question. We're hoping that, if we can keep the mortgage low, that we can get jobs that we enjoy rather than have the money be the primary factor. Currently, I'm a production manager/editor for a regional magazine but not sure that I would want to go that route. I would love to work for an animal rescue fund or something like that. My husband works p/t at UPS in the morning and owns a home improvement company which he does after UPS and on the weekends. He's talked about doing p/t UPS again for the benefits, so in that instance I suppose we would need to be within a 1/2 hour or so of a UPS center, and then he would do something to augment the pay like work on a golf course maybe. He could always continue his home improvement work if need be but hopefully wouldn't have to work as much.

Thanks for your help!

[kjg1963]

There is a large UPS facility in Laurel. You could look at Laurel, Columbia, Ellicott City, Savage, Elkridge, Burtonsville, Scaggsville, Fulton etc., etc.

[clintsullivan]

I DM'd you some info about Shepherdstown WV. There is also one of the major UPS facilities located in Hagerstown MD, about 20 minutes from Shepherdstown.

[Etc8984]

Thank you, kjg; I'll check out those towns. I've been doing a good amount of research in the last 24 hours - I'm ready to pack up and leave today to check out some of these places!

Clint - thank you for the DM. Your house is lovely and the property is fantastic! The description of your town sounds like a place we would definitely consider. I don't even think I've ever driven through WV - we'll put that on the list.

Thanks for all the input!

[Kimmers333]

There is a UPS plant in Salisbury MD. Surrounding areas like Ocean Pines, Willards, Parsonsburg might be a good option too