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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's important to look at Baltimore clearly, OP. You will be able to afford a much nicer house than you can afford in Bethesda or Chevy Chase. But you will be faced with a lot more crime. It's not something you'll see in the nicer neighborhoods of Baltimore, but it's something you live with. You never leave anything in your car, you always turn on your alarm, even if you're running out for 15 minutes to pick up the kids from school. The roads are atrocious and the drivers are horrible, even worse than DC drivers. There is not as much traffic as in DC, but whenever there's a problem (construction, for example, a parade, a special event), there is very little police traffic control, so you can get stuck for hours, literally.

There are a few decent public schools in the city, and some charter schools that are good, but extremely difficult to get into (just as in DC). Most of the city schools are atrocious, so you'll likely spend a minimum of 25K to send each child to school, including preschool. Yes, cheaper than DC privates, but not exactly cheap. Parochial schools are less expensive. The suburbs do have better schools. Howard county has the best schools, so if you can manage the commute to Ellicott City, you'll do well. Columbia has good and less good schools, so you'll have to be careful buying there. Catonsville I would skip, but it does have a good seafood restaurant and a nice wallpaper store. Ellicott City is mostly subdivisions and McMansions, although there's a cute central area that has some small stone houses and a lot of antiques stores and other touristy shops. Towson is just north of Baltimore, has good schools (in some parts) less good schools in others, so you have to be careful buying there.

Real estate is not cheap in the nicest areas, Roland Park, Guilford, Homeland, a few other pockets in the city. It's even more expensive in Towson, nearly as expensive as Arlington. If you want a townhouse, you can get a lovely century-old rowhouse in Bolton Hill, but there is so much crime in the area that there's a private police force policing Bolton Hill at night.

Personally, I would not do it, OP. I don't think the charms of "charm city" are worth giving up the cosmopolitan live of DC.

However, if you have a good or great job offer, that's another story. As PPs have said, the job market sucks in Baltimore. If only one of you has a job, it's not likely the other will find work quickly or easily, unless you are in an extremely desirable field. Baltimore operates very much on old school ties, so if you have no network, you are not in a good position to find work, unless you are at Hopkins, in which case that's a different story.

There are other ways to make DC work, OP. I'd look at all of those before making the move to Baltimore, unless you don't mind moving back to DC if you decide Baltimore isn't for you. [/quote]

great post. there are properties in Mt. Vernon that I salivate over but unless I was in medicine (so many good hospitals in a small area between UMD, JHU, Union Memorial, etc), academia at JHU or UMD law/med, or in buy-side finance at T.Rowe Price, I would not move up there. I love love love Mt. Vernon though (and Guilford, Roland Park, Homeland)....I just hate the economy and insular people up there. [/quote]

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