Germantown, MD ? (Frederick, Gaithersburg, Rockville: apartments, renters, condos)

[andyj13]

I have a job interview in Germantown, MD next week. I currently live in a Michigan. Can someone give me some background infomration on Germantown. I am in my mid 20s and would be coming with my girlfriend as well. She is a LPN, so I think she would be able to find a job pretty quickly. How much does rent go for? What areas would be good to live in? What areas to avoid? Enterainment things to do, etc. Any other information would be great.

[andyj13]

Any info would help. I just want to know a ballpark range of what my cost to salary would look like. Thanks!

[goldenage1]

I checked apartmentguide.com and there are 1 bedroom apts as low as $1089 in Germantown. Typical range $1100-1300 for 1 bedroom. There are lower priced apartments in Gaithersburg in the $800 range, but those are probably the ones to avoid. Germantown itself is a nice suburb, and no really bad areas. It is family-oriented, so don't expect a great night-life. The highest utility costs might be for air-conditioning in the summer. Search the forum on "utilities" for that, as others have asked recently.

Your girl-friend might check with the Shady Grove Hospital system, as they are huge in the area.

[brettwasbtd]

I have lived in Germantown for about a year now. It is nice and diverse area. Its one of the further out suburbs that is home to people who work in the district, silver spring MD and rockville. As far as actually living in Germantown that is definitely up to you and your girlfriend. The further away from D.C. that you go the cheaper your housing options will be, but your commute could increase. Also could depend where your GF gets a job. If you are looking for more of a night life scene I would not recommend living in germantown itself. Look at Frederick (commute to Germantown 20 min no traffic probably 45 min with)or D.C (Reverse commute to germantown about 30-40 min drive). for that. My wife and I are pretty low key and don't go out often so we chose the suburbs where you are closer to some of the more rural areas of MD.

What size place would you be looking to rent, any requirements? Apartments in germantown are around 1400-1600 for a 2 bedroom. There are private renters where you can find condos or townhomes for that range or a little more. This area is pretty pricey given the outskirts of D.C. metro area and has quite a few commuter options (MARC train)

If you could provide more info we could give you more specific answers

[John13]

I lived in Germantown for 7 years. Five of those years was at The Gables at Waters Landing and I was very happy there.
It's been 4 years since I lived there but any apartment there or similar will run about $1200.00 per month

The other 2 years I (then we) rented at The Hamptons. What I didn't like about that place was the air conditioning system. It's not central air. They have portable units like a hotel. I did not like that but overall it wasn't bad living there. They are at the very low end for rent in Germantown.

I'd stay away from Century Blvd. (to live) but I do go to the library and the Safeway sometimes without problems. The movie theatre is very close by and attracts some undesirables at night. But at the same time I would not be afraid to attend a movie there.

As far as entertainment in the area there's not much. But the subway is about a 15 minute drive south on Route 270 and the train will take you to DC where there is lots of stuff going on. The Metro system is open until 3 AM on Friday and Saturday nights and midnight the rest of the week.

Fell free to PM me if you want as I have lived in Montgomery County for 20 years. I currently live in Montgomery Village which is about 5 miles south of Germantown and 4.5 miles from the Metro system (Shady Grove station). Despite it's well documented problems it's a great system for getting around.

[andyj13]

What other towns would be options to live, without a commute over 20-30 minutes? I would perfer to have a 2 bedroom apartment unless the costs are really high. What salary would I need to make to live comfortablly? By that I mean not having my check go into my rent and utilities with little left over or nothing to spare. I don't eat out a lot and or spend a lot of money at bars.

Thanks for th

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by andyj13

What other towns would be options to live, without a commute over 20-30 minutes? I would perfer to have a 2 bedroom apartment unless the costs are really high. What salary would I need to make to live comfortablly? By that I mean not having my check go into my rent and utilities with little left over or nothing to spare.

The costs are calculations you can do yourself easily. If you spend $1800 on rent plus utilities, and that is 25% of your income, then you need to make $86,400. If you spend 33% of your income on rent and utilities, then you need to make $64,800. I am figuring $1600 for rent and 200 for utilities. The 25 to 33% figures are conservative of what estimates of what you should spend on housing. Correspondingly, if you spend $1500 on housing, you would need to make $54,000-$72000. You should also count on paying 22-25% on state and federal taxes. See this thread for comparison: //www.city-data.com/forum/maryl...-maryland.html.

Whether an employer will pay that much is dependent on what your skills in the market are worth, not what it would cost you to live here.

As far as other towns, people have already mentioned them, specifically Frederick and Gaithersburg. The area is really just one big suburb, and costs are similar elsewhere, unless you go way out into the country.

[John13]

Unless you like traffic I'd stay away from Frederick. Plus, it's too far from the Metro.

Since you may be working in Germantown that's where I would live.

Other areas to consider are Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, or Rockville. The latter will cost the most.

[ay jayy]

It's hard to recommend where to live if we dont have an idea on your budget, or what kind of area you want to live in(urban, suburban, rural).

[sean_steiner]

I currently live in Germantown, and it's a great area! Also, since you'll be working in germantown you won't have to experience the brunt of the awful DC traffic. It's a very diverse, mixed income community. The town center is lacking for such a populated area in my opinion, but you don't have to drive far to find something to do. The DC area as a whole has very high housing costs compared to the rest of the country, and for the most part the recession didn't seem to hit the DC area. houses and businesses were still being built, jobs were still being created, and unemployment so far as I know really didn't change. In germantown a house of similiar size say to one in bethesda or rockville could 1/3 or even 1/4 of the cost, yet it will probably still be higher than a house elsewhere in the U.S. With this however, usually comes higher paychecks if you are working in the same field as you were before.