Looking to move to southwest York county (Hanover, Manheim: rent, crime)

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My family and I are thinking about making the jump to southwest York county, preferably as close as possible to where 94 becomes 30 at the MD line.

We would be much better off financially, compared to buying something in the Hampstead\Manchester area of Carroll county where the rest of my family lives, but I have a couple concerns.

The Drive-
I drive 50 miles one way now, and it would increase 15 or so more. If anyone here drives from this part of the county over to and down RT29 into Montgomery CO MD, or anywhere close, I'd really appreciate some info on your drive\experience..... I would be leaving the house around 5 am.

Cost of Living-
Spending more in gas is a given, but what other things might I need to consider moving from Maryland to York County?

Communities-
What are the folks like in the little communities across the line into York County? Lots of kids? Lots of retired folks?


Schools-
We have a little one and one more on the way we hope. What will the schools be like when they are of age?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

CM

[P&P]

I live 4 miles over the MD/PA line in south Hanover and have been here for 3 years (a former Marylander). Lots of kids and all Maryland relocators in my neighborhood. Southwestern school district is the best in the area, but we pay through the teeth in property school taxes. Our property taxes tripled when we moved up here , but we were able to get a bigger house for our money here. There are also some personal taxes you will learn about when you move here, depending on which township you are in . We are in West Manheim township and pay 1 percent (of your annual salary no matter where you work) tax to the town of Hanover. Water bill are alot here too, we pay on average $250-$300 every 3 months for water here. If you move here with a vehicle that is less than 3 years old, you will have to pay taxes on it to register it w/ PA tags. Cars must be inspected every year here it runs about $60(similar to Md emissions).The area is growing (seriously) and it is getting more congested with traffic, but still a much slower pace than where we moved from. Our friends commute from here to Rockville every day and it's about 1 & 1/2 hour drive each way for them leaving about 5 am. Wouldn't do that drive personally, but to each his own! Crime it next to nothing here- I feel very safe and walk at night in my neighborhood with no fears whatsoever. I like that we are still pretty close to Baltimore and other shopping in MD since there still isn't a nice big indoor mall here. I do love it here, except for 2 things.... the cold winters (which are no worse than MD) and the lack of an outdoor pool in our community. None of the large, new developments here have community pools for some reason ,and it drives me crazy in the summer since my kids love to swim. Can you tell I want to move south... But seriously, York county is a nice place to raise a family.

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Originally Posted by P&P

I live 4 miles over the MD/PA line in south Hanover and have been here for 3 years (a former Marylander). Lots of kids and all Maryland relocators in my neighborhood. Southwestern school district is the best in the area, but we pay through the teeth in property school taxes. Our property taxes tripled when we moved up here , but we were able to get a bigger house for our money here. There are also some personal taxes you will learn about when you move here, depending on which township you are in . We are in West Manheim township and pay 1 percent (of your annual salary no matter where you work) tax to the town of Hanover. Water bill are alot here too, we pay on average $250-$300 every 3 months for water here. If you move here with a vehicle that is less than 3 years old, you will have to pay taxes on it to register it w/ PA tags. Cars must be inspected every year here it runs about $60(similar to Md emissions).The area is growing (seriously) and it is getting more congested with traffic, but still a much slower pace than where we moved from. Our friends commute from here to Rockville every day and it's about 1 & 1/2 hour drive each way for them leaving about 5 am. Wouldn't do that drive personally, but to each his own! Crime it next to nothing here- I feel very safe and walk at night in my neighborhood with no fears whatsoever. I like that we are still pretty close to Baltimore and other shopping in MD since there still isn't a nice big indoor mall here. I do love it here, except for 2 things.... the cold winters (which are no worse than MD) and the lack of an outdoor pool in our community. None of the large, new developments here have community pools for some reason ,and it drives me crazy in the summer since my kids love to swim. Can you tell I want to move south... But seriously, York county is a nice place to raise a family.

Glad to hear the schools are good, even though the property\school taxes have tripled. The car inspections seem extreme too, but I'd guess the registration and title fees in PA are alot less than MD. Seems I need to look more into the exact differences in costs between the states before I make the jump though.

Thank you very much for giving me a starting point.

[WJH]

P&P I disagree with you on one thing that you stated in your reply. The vehicle doesnt have to be more than 3 years old to avoid being taxed on it again. The actual time is 6 months. I bought a new vehicle when I lived in Maryland in April 2004, and moved here in the end of March 2005. I did not have to pay taxes on it here.
I also like it here. I am a single guy who relocated from Carroll County because I couldn't affored a house down there that was in move-in condition. I got a house here on over 1/2 acre for 1/2 the price it would've been in MD. My neighbors mostly are 15 year + residents and they all seem like decent people. The main thing that annoys me here is that the roads are very neglected. When they get dug up to work on the sewer or water lines, they are not patched very well. The only other thing is that there aren't too many Township services. We pay for trash collection, there is no township leaf collection, or anything like that. Sometimes the snow removal is slow. Other than that, I will probably live here for a few years.
I drive to Baltimore Metro area every day for work. It takes me a little over an hour to Glen Burnie when I leave at around 530 am.

[gcambeis]

Great post, thanks...I could use the help. I am also looking into Manheim as well as I would need to commute into Baltimore. I am currently in NJ w/ 3 young children, and this would be a job transfer for me which I have been waiting for ( couldn't take NJ $ any longer ) - can anyone help w/ property taxes? Seems like a great place for a family. I would most-likely rent for a year or so before I purchased anything. Thanks!

[Bullet192]

Do not move to west mahiem theyll tax you right outta your house

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I have lived in Codorus Twp. Near Glenville, PA since 2002 and work in a variety of places in the DC and Virginia suburbs. I have an extremely flexible schedule and can leave anywhere from 4 am to 9 am or later and can leave from work from 1pm to as late as 7 or 8 pm.

First the area. I lived in Maryland (Laurel, Sykesville, Woodlawn then Hampstead) in that order from 1985 till 2002. I decided I wanted to live above Lineboro, MD for the ability to be able to go down either I83 (90% of the time) or MD30 / I-795 (10% of the time) Having options like this are good as traffic is really bad but more on that.

Property – We did a great deal of research and ended up buying a small farm that we placed into conservation resource preserve (CREP) This did a couple of things for us. First we went into clean & green, and since its zoned agricultural we really reduced our taxes. We have an amazing house but pay less taxes than many people on 1 acre lots. Also, CREP pays us not to farm in a 15 year contract so it saves on taxes and you can deprecate equipment and such. An excellent deal. Living in Codorus Twp is good as it has limited to no change and low taxes. Our total twp. tax is $150 a year. It used to be $50 but the twp. built a park (dumb as most people have large yards and had no need for a park) but that’s the way it is so our taxes went up by $100. Another good thing is to have a well and your own septic as around here some people are paying $$$ for the mistakes made in building sewage plants.. We don’t have FORCED trash pickup here as we recycle cans / plastic here for free and compost and burn everything else so we save a couple of hundred a year with that. Yes, we are allowed to burn rather large fires here. Having a large private piece of property is great as you can do things to your property here without involvement of the tax collectors (permit process) which is great… I have lived in places in MD if you take in a few 2x4’s and a sheet of drywall you are in trouble. Its very gun friendly here too… And that enhances the security situation in my opinion. Couple things I did too was live near the state highways as they usually have DSL or cable internet options and the snow is removed faster from the main roads vs. the back dirt twp. roads.

Taxes – PA state tax is much less than MD. They take it out of your pay. Booze we buy in MD as its cheaper. Gas in MD is cheaper but in the winter I get better mileage out of PA gas. Never figured that out. YATB (York Area Tax Bureau) is the local county tax. Looking back, I think I would have never even told them that I work in MD and live in PA as I don’t think they could have figured it out. They send you quarterly slips and we ignore it. Once they said we needed to send it in every quarter (my employer does not take it out for them) and we said no… And they essentially told us they could do nothing to make us pay so we just do it at the end of the year. When we officially retire we are not paying them anymore…

Schools – No kids so not involved with that.

Commute – Well, I have been doing a 65+ mile one way drive for 15 years and I must say it’s the most stressful part of my life. You really have to realize what you are getting yourself into. I have less than 2 years till I retire and I am counting the days / miles. I have 3 GPS’s in my car using different traffic services and I still get trapped in messes on the Baltimore beltway and connecting roads. Again am lucky with the ability to stay home when it rains and I never go when it snows but it’s still a mess. Yes, I go in early but that’s when you have to deal with the aggressive drivers as on roads like I-83 at 5 am most people are running 85+ even in the rain… Sure, I can drive like a nut too but I want to live to my retirement. Just saying that really think of the life / commute balance with a 40+ mile commute… It will really wear on you. Generally I find the home ride to be worse. It was great when gas was around $4 but regret that it won’t be like that again anytime soon.

I wish you well on you property search.