Woodleaf Apartments in White Oak (Baltimore, Columbia: apartment complexes, crime, house)

[roastedredpepper]

I am looking for a new apartment and my budget is roughly 1200 plus utilities. I have done the roommate thing and really would like my own space so any shared housing is out. I visited Woodleaf Apartments in White Oak which has great reviews online and the property itself is clean and well maintained. I was also really impressed with the apartments themselves (washer and dryer in the apt is great).

HOWEVER, I did get a sense of Woodleaf being something of an oasis in the neighborhood. My question is, how bad is this area? I'm a single female and would like to live somewhere that I don't feel like I will be robbed or assaulted at any moment. I've lived in Baltimore (city) and PG county and the area did not seem nearly as bad as some of the sketchy areas in PG and even though Columbia Heights is the "happening" area right now, the area seemed safer than some apartment complexes I've seen in Columbia Heights.

I keep reading threads where people are saying the White Oak shopping area is the nexxus of DOOM and that no one should live on Lockwood. So my question is, is this area the equivalent of Greenmount in B'more or as bad as NE or SE DC? Or is this a case of it being not as perfectly suburban as some of the more affluent areas of Montgomery County? Is this a safe area for a single woman?

[btsilver]

I lived in Woodleaf Apartments for about 2 years. The area is completely fine. Its is no where near being like Greenmont or SE DC. And its not upscale like Potomac. You will be safer living there than living in Columbia Heights. You have to understand these people on the boards blow everything out of proportion. The shopping center is not bad, but if you want something fancier there are other shopping centers right around the corner. That said, I think Woodleaf apts is the nice complex in that area.

[Bigbluelandrover]

The Woodleaf is not a terrible complex. I live maybe 5 minutes north of there by car and I have been to the shopping complex lately and noticed more police patrolling the area. I think many changes are coming to that side of MOCO and some of the trouble spots will get cleaned up. However, be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to your instincts. Maybe "some" people exaggerate on here but the people I bought my house from had a business in the shopping center and they left because the area changed and there were constant break-ins. I go there to that plaza at least 1x a week and you can go on the crime reports website to see what activity is prevalent there. Its mostly thieft--which can occur anyplace.