Does anyone know anything about the Baltimore, Maryland area? Hubby has had a " job opportunity" open up to him/us and we are entertaining the thought of a possible move north. WAY north for us. We are both born and raised in South Florida and we have never been further north than Tennessee. IF we are going to make a move of this magnitude, you all know I don't want to move to another city. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any rural areas outside of Baltimore, to where my husband wouldn't have to drive too too far every day, but to where we wouldn't have to live in the heart of the city either. Something to consider is that I have one child still in high school and one child still in elementary school. Any information would be greatly appreciated. You may email me directly should you choose to do so. Thank you in advance for your help.

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), September 17, 2001

Answers

Since you're on AOL, why not do a member search through them for Baltimore and limit it to people online at the time. You can IM and ask that way. I'd also suggest getting in contact with a mortgage broker there and asking them which realtors there seem to handle a lot of deals involving property like you want. While they may not advertise it, realtors tend to specialize like everyone else. Additionally, check out Money magazine's Cost of Living Comparator online. You can punch in your current local and salary and then Baltimore and it'll tell you how many 'Baltimore dollars' it takes to roughly equal your current income. It's a really handy bit of info to have, believe me. Major cities are far more expensive. Hubby's 'job opportunity' may actually involve an effective pay cut even though it's more dollars coming in.

Making $100,000 in Fort Wayne, IN and wanting a 10% raise to take a job in Chicago would actually require an offer of $200,000 there. An offer of $175,000 would effectively be a pay cut because of the higher cost of living there. Admittedly, it's pretty inexpensive to live here and Chicago is very expensive, but you get the idea.

Here's to it all working out for the best for you. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), September 17, 2001.

Do you have horses??? chickens?? or what? maureen

-- maureen (onemaur@yahoo.com), September 17, 2001.

Greenthumbelina,

We lived in the Baltimore area for eight years, having left three years ago. My husband worked first in downtown Baltimore and later in the Sparrows Point area which is south of Baltimore. When working in the downtown area it was 34 miles from where we lived and took about 45 mintues to get there and a little over 40 miles to Sparrows Point which took about an hour.

We lived in a rural area at the edge of Baltimore county - NW of the city. Any rural property anywhere within driving distance of Baltimore is very expensive. Carroll county is probably not any less expensive but has a better school system. We were not worried about that as we homeschooled.

We had a "small, small" house that was over a hundred years old and not fancy at all that sat on almost 4 acres and we sold it three years ago for $149,000, and could have gotten more than that if we had not needed to sell quickly. Most older homes there use fuel oil for heating which I hear is very expensive now. We were never able to find a place where neighbors were not in view. It is very crowded there. Baltimore county is a very fast paced area - Carroll county a little slower and people seem friendlier there. However, within the farm communtity you are always considered a newcomer as some of these families are several generation land owners.

When the plant closed where my husband worked we were more than glad to leave because of the cost of living there being so high. The areas we live in now, in Ohio, is much more family friendly.

It is beautiful country there with nice weather. There is a lot to do and see within driving distance but "everything" costs. We were expecting it to be like Chicago where the Museum of Science and Industry were free and most other attractions had a free day once a week but not so in Baltimore and it cost a lot to park also. Gettysburg is not too far from the area we lived in and we spent many a Sunday afternoon there. All reinactments charged a fee - not just the Gettysburg area - weren't use to that either. On a positive note, when we left the sales tax was 5% and no tax on food or pharmacy. Over the line in PA there is not tax on clothing or material either. That helps some. Maryland has roads that are in better condition than we have seen anywhere else.

If there are any other specific questions you might have, please feel free to e-mail me. It's such a large area that I might be of some help in narrowing it down for you. Also, I hate to sound so negative about it but you really do need to have some money to live in a rural area there and be live beyond just surviving.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.

If you look within a 45 mile radius out towards Fredrick,MD you will find more rural type property in a reasonable price range, also check the eastern panhandle area of WV in the same mileage radius, would be even cheaper in WV. Avoid Virginia at all costs, the property there is way overpriced, and the local state and county governments are terribly oppressive and have definite socialist tendencies.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), September 17, 2001.

Hi, Greenthumbelina, Hubby and I are born and raised Balto City. In fact we just got out of the zip-code we were born in (12 years ago). We are now in Parkville. It's part of Baltimore County and about 12 miles from where hubby works. It takes him at least 40 minutes due to city traffic to get there. One of the responses mentioned Carroll County. It will require about an hour to travel to downtown from there, IF there are no traffic problems. In this area, a modest home that has a lot 150 x 50 feet will cost over 100,000. The schools are much more crowded than when our kids started there. If my youngest had not graduated last year, I would have put her in private school. I called my county zoning department to ask if I could have 2 or 3 ducks. Since I don't own at least 3 acres I can't even have 1 duck. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me, hubby and I have 90 years combined experience in city living.

-- ann k (ann1956ann@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.

Grew up in Washington DC and spent a lot of time on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake. DEF! higher proices and crowding. Consider the cost of a 4 season wardrobe also- higher food proces, gasoline, etc. Many people I knew were moving to the WV and PA areas and commuting back to Wash/Balt back in the 70's-it was "only " an hours drive back then, most likely 2 or more now with increased congestion, etc. Living in South FL and loving it-except for the humidity!

-- Mitzi Giles (Egiles2@prodigy.net), September 17, 2001.