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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thanks all! We have definitely contemplated renting out our condo and then renting a house in Baltimore. Perhaps we just haven’t looked hard enough but it feels like the cost advantages dissipate a bit in the rental market than buying? Perhaps because the Baltimore real estate market is soft? We can find apartments there pretty cheap but SFHs are significantly more expensive to rent than to pay the mortgage on (even factoring in the taxes, which we are very aware of). Still an option, but less appealing for a variety of reasons.

So far, we’ve looked at Fed Hill/Riverside/Locust Point, Roland Park, and Hamden. Fed Hill has been most appealing because of my DH’s commute and because it feels most like where we live now. Roland Parks is most appealing for schools but feels pretty suburban to us. Hamden is a mix of the two and feels the most like an “up and coming” neighborhood of anything we’ve seen in Baltimore.

We have looked at both Catonsville and Ellicott City, but again they might be too suburban for us. Even looked at Columbia because the schools are great but yes to the PP who mentioned it gets pricy fast.

I don’t know, maybe this is a pipe dream? Starting to feel like our best bet us to stay in our condo in DC another 5 years or so, assuming we can figure out a school situation we can live with, and then reassess. It feels like there should be a middle ground (maybe Hamden?) but we just haven’t figured it out.[/quote]

With the obvious caveat that I haven't a clue where you live in DC and that I think predicting home values in 10 years in a fools errand, if you want to avoid a suburban vibe--as you've noted, living within those more popular areas in Baltimore city that you list is a very, very different ballgame than living within the more popular areas in DC. We lived in Fed for years and when we return to visit friends, I am sad to see that the area looks more rundown. It may sound like I'm parroting some fear-mongering out there but restaurants/bars have closed, etc. because of upticks in crime.

I think if you buy in Catonsville or Ellicott City (close enough to take advantage of each's cute downtown), you'll CERTAINLY see a return on your investment--but if those are too suburban for you, think you could be looking at a difficult decision.

That said, the idea of being in a small 2BD with a kid located in an "eh" school district is worth a move to the 'burbs for me, but that is total personal preference. [/quote]

I don’t think the rate of appreciation in Catonsville or Elliott City has been that high over the past five years or so, most of North Baltimore has appreciated slightly over the same time period.  Baltimore really got hit hard by the 2008 housing crash, so people who bought during the boom still may not have fully recovered their price (thought most are there or getting close).  Those who have bought more recently have seen some appreciation, although perhaps not in Federal Hill which has lost some cachet to areas on the other side of the harbor like Harbor East and Canton, and even adjacent neighborhoods like Locust Point.

That said, I have lived in Baltimore on and off for 20 years and actually feel pretty hopeful about it’s future right now.  We have a new young mayor and a new straight shooter for comptroller.   Mayor has just hire the city’s first city manager.  We are seeing a lot of ny transplants since covid times, and our relatively low cost of living is going to continue to make city desirable to transplants.  Yes, crime is bad but feel that we’ve hit bottom there, and it remains the case that most violent crime is centered in certain neighborhoods and is dirt related, just as it is in dc.[/quote]

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