Lower cost of living in maryland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you not heard of Frederick County? Though that budget is actually high for the area. Not many million dollar homes in FredCo.

Some of you just say anything.

Plenty of million dollar homes in Urbana, Linganore, Frederick city, Middletown, etc.

OP, Frederick county fits the bill.

These are huge and maintenance costs probably chip away at any savings OP would have from moving.

[Anonymous]

OP- can you give us your example?

What is the assessed value of your home, and what is the property tax? Was it just reassessed?

[Anonymous]

Also MoCo property taxes are going up about another 5% based on the budget the Council passed recently.

Just about every county in MoCo has good schools, though it may be just one or two school pyramids in that county. Also, private schools are cheaper outside MoCo.

What do you want? Mountains? Flatlands? Near beaches? Near the Bay? MD has all those options.

I'd suggest a place like Boonsboro, which is in Washington County but quite close to Frederick and less than an hour drive to MoCo should you need to come there.

[Anonymous]

Your money will go far in Cumberland OP.

Enjoy

[Anonymous]

OP Here. I think you all are missing the "without a large church community" point. As in, I don't want a republican area. Frederick and Allegheny don't fit those criteria, although Frederick has maybe changed to become more liberal.

Where is HoCo is a good place to look? I have young kids and my husband doesn't want to lift them up from their current house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Severna park

This- Anne Arundel’s property taxes are much lower than Moco or HoCo. Severna Park is a good public school

Interesting, I live in Severna Park (moved here from DC) and had no idea about taxes relative to MoCo. Our taxes are higher than in DC but I guess manageable. $900k will get you a house over 4k square feet and a great school district; our area has houses $650k-$1M in in areas with top schools, pool clubs, etc. Maybe $1.5M and up for waterfront. Deep suburbia, but in all the best ways for kids - walk and bike to school, grow up with boats everywhere, great sports leagues, amazing schools. Good proximity to Annapolis, Baltimore and DC. I have lots of neighbors who work in DC although most of them don't commute more than a couple days a week; there are good jobs in Annapolis and Baltimore as well.

[Anonymous]

How much are you really going to save once you factor in the costs for selling your current house, buying the new one, moving, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. I think you all are missing the "without a large church community" point. As in, I don't want a republican area. Frederick and Allegheny don't fit those criteria, although Frederick has maybe changed to become more liberal.

Where is HoCo is a good place to look? I have young kids and my husband doesn't want to lift them up from their current house.

Hmm - I responded about Severna Park. It's "light blue" here - lots of Republicans but the area is becoming gradually bluer mainly because of people moving here from cities. SP is not diverse though that is also very slowly changing...like schools are 90% white when they used to be 98% white, sigh. Annapolis is more strongly Dem, but the schools aren't as highly rated, but that's because the schools are more economically diverse...still great schools though and any strong student will do well. In terms of churchiness, yes, there are churches here and people go to them but it doesn't dominate people's lives. We don't go to church and can hardly remember any neighbors talking about it...I'd guess up to half my neighbors don't go either and/or don't belong to one.

[Anonymous]

Op, your spouse doesn't want to move. It's reasonable that you don't move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. I think you all are missing the "without a large church community" point. As in, I don't want a republican area. Frederick and Allegheny don't fit those criteria, although Frederick has maybe changed to become more liberal.

Where is HoCo is a good place to look? I have young kids and my husband doesn't want to lift them up from their current house.

Hmm - I responded about Severna Park. It's "light blue" here - lots of Republicans but the area is becoming gradually bluer mainly because of people moving here from cities. SP is not diverse though that is also very slowly changing...like schools are 90% white when they used to be 98% white, sigh. Annapolis is more strongly Dem, but the schools aren't as highly rated, but that's because the schools are more economically diverse...still great schools though and any strong student will do well. In terms of churchiness, yes, there are churches here and people go to them but it doesn't dominate people's lives. We don't go to church and can hardly remember any neighbors talking about it...I'd guess up to half my neighbors don't go either and/or don't belong to one.

Agree it does not feel churchy here in Severna Park. They do provide good and more reasonably priced pre school options though which is nice. It is a nice community and proximity to Baltimore, Annapolis, Crofton, and relatively close to DC is huge for us and we always have something to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. I think you all are missing the "without a large church community" point. As in, I don't want a republican area. Frederick and Allegheny don't fit those criteria, although Frederick has maybe changed to become more liberal.

Where is HoCo is a good place to look? I have young kids and my husband doesn't want to lift them up from their current house.

Hmm - I responded about Severna Park. It's "light blue" here - lots of Republicans but the area is becoming gradually bluer mainly because of people moving here from cities. SP is not diverse though that is also very slowly changing...like schools are 90% white when they used to be 98% white, sigh. Annapolis is more strongly Dem, but the schools aren't as highly rated, but that's because the schools are more economically diverse...still great schools though and any strong student will do well. In terms of churchiness, yes, there are churches here and people go to them but it doesn't dominate people's lives. We don't go to church and can hardly remember any neighbors talking about it...I'd guess up to half my neighbors don't go either and/or don't belong to one.

Agree it does not feel churchy here in Severna Park. They do provide good and more reasonably priced pre school options though which is nice. It is a nice community and proximity to Baltimore, Annapolis, Crofton, and relatively close to DC is huge for us and we always have something to do.

PP here. I did look in HoCo too but thought the houses seemed not as nice and possible redistricting put me off (not for classist reasons but more so the uncertainty of kids having to move schools). I also appreciate having greater water access here too for activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. I think you all are missing the "without a large church community" point. As in, I don't want a republican area. Frederick and Allegheny don't fit those criteria, although Frederick has maybe changed to become more liberal.

Where is HoCo is a good place to look? I have young kids and my husband doesn't want to lift them up from their current house.

Hmm - I responded about Severna Park. It's "light blue" here - lots of Republicans but the area is becoming gradually bluer mainly because of people moving here from cities. SP is not diverse though that is also very slowly changing...like schools are 90% white when they used to be 98% white, sigh. Annapolis is more strongly Dem, but the schools aren't as highly rated, but that's because the schools are more economically diverse...still great schools though and any strong student will do well. In terms of churchiness, yes, there are churches here and people go to them but it doesn't dominate people's lives. We don't go to church and can hardly remember any neighbors talking about it...I'd guess up to half my neighbors don't go either and/or don't belong to one.

Agree it does not feel churchy here in Severna Park. They do provide good and more reasonably priced pre school options though which is nice. It is a nice community and proximity to Baltimore, Annapolis, Crofton, and relatively close to DC is huge for us and we always have something to do.

Anne Arundel county is trying to ban pride flags in schools. That would be too Republican for me, but I'm not OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you not heard of Frederick County? Though that budget is actually high for the area. Not many million dollar homes in FredCo.

1 million is right on the mark for the Southern part of the county, in the Urbana/Monrovia/Ijamsville area

[Anonymous]

Your problem is not going to be the churches, it’s just going to be isolation and lack of cultural resources.

To live happily in rural areas, you need something that can create a sense of community and engagement. It could be church, it could be farming, it could be horses or crazy right wing politics or it could be raising show chickens or being those parents for travel softball or something. If you don’t do any of those things and you’re just out there with a bigger house and yard and now without the restaurants and the yoga studio and whatever you do now, your spouse is DEFINITELY going to hate it and you will probably hate it too.

[Anonymous]

Actually OP, it sounds like MoCo is probably your best fit, especially with the not wanting a large "church community." Most lower cost / lower tax areas come with that.

I don't find the property taxe rate in MoCo to be that bad, it's just the cost of the houses that is too high.