Thinking about moving to Howard County. Where should I live since I work in downtown DC?

[Anonymous]

If you're not handy or willing to "live a bit off the land," well and septic is not for you.

Oh please. You don't need to be handy or live off the land with well and septic. Good portions of Potomac and most of Darnestown are on multiple acre its with well and septic. Trust me no one is living off the land.

The well and septic basically runs itself.

1. For septic, you simply have a service company service it every year. I have never heard of anyone doing this themselves.
2. Have a good inspection done to make sure the well is in working order and the water table is good.
3. For a generator you need to have a well transfer switch installed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you're not handy or willing to "live a bit off the land," well and septic is not for you.

Oh please. You don't need to be handy or live off the land with well and septic. Good portions of Potomac and most of Darnestown are on multiple acre its with well and septic. Trust me no one is living off the land.

The well and septic basically runs itself.

1. For septic, you simply have a service company service it every year. I have never heard of anyone doing this themselves.
2. Have a good inspection done to make sure the well is in working order and the water table is good.
3. For a generator you need to have a well transfer switch installed.

Trust me when I say that many folks around us have no clue.

I've seen septic systems break down. (Try living next to that smell.) And we've seen well water that's too acidic, which eventually causes pinholes in pipes.

Don't pretend that everyone's an expert, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you're not handy or willing to "live a bit off the land," well and septic is not for you.

Oh please. You don't need to be handy or live off the land with well and septic. Good portions of Potomac and most of Darnestown are on multiple acre its with well and septic. Trust me no one is living off the land.

The well and septic basically runs itself.

1. For septic, you simply have a service company service it every year. I have never heard of anyone doing this themselves.
2. Have a good inspection done to make sure the well is in working order and the water table is good.
3. For a generator you need to have a well transfer switch installed.

Just the requirement of a generator is enough for me. No power = no water. Yeah, I'll stick with the tasty municipal water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Howard County resident here. I do not understand why anyone would think that our beautiful county is not diverse. Really, the areas where OP is looking claim nearly a majority of minorities. There are lots of immigrants are raising their families here.

To the OP: Maple Lawn is a beautiful area but the houses are crazy expensive, and the yards are really small for the houses. River Hill yields better house prices and bigger yards, but it's Columbia so you'll have to pay the Columbia Association HOA fees which are based on property value (maybe $1500-$2000 per year). Highland and Clarksville are rural areas dotted with pretty developments where the farmers sold out. Watch out, a lot of those houses use well water and septic tanks and that was a deal-breaker for me. Others are more comfortable with that.

Because Howard County is homogeneous compared to its neighbor Montgomery County.

And because people decide to live in Howard County instead of Montgomery County because they don't like Montgomery County's heterogeneity -- or at least that's what posters on DCUM say they do.

This. I've lived in both. I grew up in Howard County. Before Columbia. When Rouse tried to build Columbia to be extremely diverse, particularly economically diverse. And the original Columbia neighborhoods are still like that. But developers took over outside, and built McMansions everywhere. So the economic diversity has tanked. Western Howard County is the worst.

And MoCo is unbelievably more diverse. Howard may end up that way as well, but it will take a great long while in the western part.

However, I understand OP's concerns about MCPS schools, large classes, odd way of dealing with acceleration and differentiation, etc. Howard is better for that, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Not sure how a simple question took such a turn for the worst. I want a divere school because we are a minority so the poster suggesting Glenelg, we know your views but thanks for the breakdown! I'm considering this because of the schools. We moved here too late to apply to a real TAG program. The MoCo schools are good but overcrowded. The HoCo program for gifted students would be better for him. MoCo sticks all the kids in the same class and labels some as being in the advanced class. It's hard for the teachers to do differentiated teaching with so many students so the advanced kids with no behavior issues aren't given much attention. So those who help without being racist I'd welcome your thoughts! Thanks also to those who have alerted me to places and neighborhoods that may not have such a horrible commute.

I think that poster was being sarcastic.

I'm the one who mentioned Hammond Village, which is right off 29 and 95, and you can go take the MARC in Laurel, right down Rt. 216. It's near where I grew up, and has nice schools. Definitely take a look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

bottom line
If you're not handy or willing to "live a bit off the land," well and septic is not for you.

We are in a rural part of Mo Co that borders Ho Co and we have well and septic. Our water is fantastic - fresh! I could never go back to city water. Furthermore, you do have to test your water periodically and have the septic pumped. It is what it is. It's nothing to fear!

When the power goes out, the water goes out. And I bet that our water has a lot more atrazine in it than the WSSC water. I would love to be back on city water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Howard County resident here. I do not understand why anyone would think that our beautiful county is not diverse. Really, the areas where OP is looking claim nearly a majority of minorities. There are lots of immigrants are raising their families here.

To the OP: Maple Lawn is a beautiful area but the houses are crazy expensive, and the yards are really small for the houses. River Hill yields better house prices and bigger yards, but it's Columbia so you'll have to pay the Columbia Association HOA fees which are based on property value (maybe $1500-$2000 per year). Highland and Clarksville are rural areas dotted with pretty developments where the farmers sold out. Watch out, a lot of those houses use well water and septic tanks and that was a deal-breaker for me. Others are more comfortable with that.

Because Howard County is homogeneous compared to its neighbor Montgomery County.

And because people decide to live in Howard County instead of Montgomery County because they don't like Montgomery County's heterogeneity -- or at least that's what posters on DCUM say they do.

This. I've lived in both. I grew up in Howard County. Before Columbia. When Rouse tried to build Columbia to be extremely diverse, particularly economically diverse. And the original Columbia neighborhoods are still like that. But developers took over outside, and built McMansions everywhere. So the economic diversity has tanked. Western Howard County is the worst.

And MoCo is unbelievably more diverse. Howard may end up that way as well, but it will take a great long while in the western part.

However, I understand OP's concerns about MCPS schools, large classes, odd way of dealing with acceleration and differentiation, etc. Howard is better for that, for sure.

I think the previously listed school statistics accurately portray the general diversity of the different areas. (Thanks to the pp who posted those.) I can't reliably state that Howard County is more or less diverse than Montgomery County, but I don't think anyone can state that it's not diverse. Really, it's fine for anyone who wants to live here as long as you don't play the "I'm better than you" game. People like that don't stick around very long. We do have far fewer lawyers in Howard County. Is that a problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lime Kiln and Clarksville Middle are great schools. They're both diverse, have great state test scores, active PTA, etc. Howard County doesn't have a magnet program because each school has GT specialists and provide GT services at all school campuses. Actually, there are plenty of people who commute to DC who live in neighborhoods that are zoned to both of these middle schools. Go to the Howard County School website http://www.hcpss.org to obtain more information (demographics, test scores, school profiles, etc.) about each school and to look at the school boundary maps. HCPS website and each school's individual website will offer you lots of information.

There are many other great schools. However, with a commute to DC you wouldn't want to go in further north than Highway 32.

Agree- no further north than 32 or right adjacent to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're new to this area and live in Montgomery County right now. I'd like to move DC into the Howard County school system. One of the prior posters nailed it. I'm doing this for the kid. So given these responses, how bad is the commute from the Laurel/Maple Lawn area in terms of time and traffic? How long would the MARC train take? Also, any thoughts on the schools zoned for this area feeding into Atholton or Reservoir High?

Atholton is great - the Wilde Lake Middle School is the only bad thing between Clemens Elementary and Atholton High School. Not sure what to tell you about that - won't sugar coat that it would be a good thing. But the Elementary and HS in that pyramid are solid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out the neighborhood off Rivers Edge Road. It's right off 29 so easy access. A variety of home styles, sizes, prices. Great schools, near Columbia but just south and no CPRA taxes!!

Community here is nice but the only way in or out is off 29. You are a prisoner to 29. No way your family is bike riding out of the community ever. We vetoed this area for that reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out the neighborhood off Rivers Edge Road. It's right off 29 so easy access. A variety of home styles, sizes, prices. Great schools, near Columbia but just south and no CPRA taxes!!

Community here is nice but the only way in or out is off 29. You are a prisoner to 29. No way your family is bike riding out of the community ever. We vetoed this area for that reason.

We looked at Rivers Edge 15 years ago but there were no available houses at the time.

Off-topic, but last week a cement truck flipped over at the entrance to Rivers Edge and nobody could come or go for 2.5 hours. I was impressed the cleaned it all up in only two and a half hours, though. It was just a freak accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're new to this area and live in Montgomery County right now. I'd like to move DC into the Howard County school system. One of the prior posters nailed it. I'm doing this for the kid. So given these responses, how bad is the commute from the Laurel/Maple Lawn area in terms of time and traffic? How long would the MARC train take? Also, any thoughts on the schools zoned for this area feeding into Atholton or Reservoir High?

Atholton is great - the Wilde Lake Middle School is the only bad thing between Clemens Elementary and Atholton High School. Not sure what to tell you about that - won't sugar coat that it would be a good thing. But the Elementary and HS in that pyramid are solid.

The homes in Riverside, Riverside Estates, and Holiday Hills (south of 32 and west of 29) are zoned to Lime Kiln and not Wild Lake Middle. So, if the OP is looking into those neighborhoods she will have the Clemens Crossing, Lime Kiln, and Atholton feeder. Looking at homes south of 32 and west of 29 will eliminate being zoned to Wild Lake Middle. The school boundary maps on the county's website shows the feeder patterns for the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out the neighborhood off Rivers Edge Road. It's right off 29 so easy access. A variety of home styles, sizes, prices. Great schools, near Columbia but just south and no CPRA taxes!!

Community here is nice but the only way in or out is off 29. You are a prisoner to 29. No way your family is bike riding out of the community ever. We vetoed this area for that reason.

We looked at Rivers Edge 15 years ago but there were no available houses at the time.

Off-topic, but last week a cement truck flipped over at the entrance to Rivers Edge and nobody could come or go for 2.5 hours. I was impressed the cleaned it all up in only two and a half hours, though. It was just a freak accident.

I just looked at it on the map, and yikes! That's a terrible neighborhood design. Who approved it? If 29 were blocked, the whole neighborhood could burn down, with nothing anybody could do about it.

[Anonymous]

Oh please. You don't need to be handy or live off the land with well and septic. Good portions of Potomac and most of Darnestown are on multiple acre its with well and septic. Trust me no one is living off the land.
The well and septic basically runs itself.
1. For septic, you simply have a service company service it every year. I have never heard of anyone doing this themselves.
2. Have a good inspection done to make sure the well is in working order and the water table is good.
3. For a generator you need to have a well transfer switch installed.

Trust me when I say that many folks around us have no clue.
I've seen septic systems break down. (Try living next to that smell.) And we've seen well water that's too acidic, which eventually causes pinholes in pipes.
Don't pretend that everyone's an expert, PP.

There is no expertise needed. We moved into a home with well/septic after living in LA and NYC. (Acidic water just involves a water softener which also doesn't need regular maintenance and just sits there. Your home inspection checks these systems out. All you need to do is to have them checked at the 5 or 10 year mark. )

I've seen friends on municipal water and sewer have sewage back up into their basements and deal with water restrictions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There is no expertise needed. We moved into a home with well/septic after living in LA and NYC. (Acidic water just involves a water softener which also doesn't need regular maintenance and just sits there. Your home inspection checks these systems out. All you need to do is to have them checked at the 5 or 10 year mark. )

I've seen friends on municipal water and sewer have sewage back up into their basements and deal with water restrictions.

If you believe that a water softener doesn't need regular maintenance and just sits there minding its own business for 5 or 10 years, that tells me that you've never had a water softener for acidic well water.