Reply to Job offer in Bmore, DH working in DC - where to live? and preschool situation?

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Job offer in Bmore, DH working in DC - where to live? and preschool situation?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My niece and nephew live in Baltimore, she works in DC and drives there and says it's better to drive than deal with mass transit..they also like living in Bmore, they find it much more affordable than DC. [/quote]

I lived in Baltimore and worked in DC, and driving from Baltimore to DC (and especially to NOVA) is miserable.  The train is by far a better option, in my opinion.

But that said, while I love some things about Baltimore, I would caution OP against immediately buying there.

In fact, I would caution against buying anywhere until you try out the commute for a good, solid year.

There are plenty of places to rent in Baltimore.  There are also plenty of places to rent in other areas along the MARC line.

I found out the hard way that even if you do some "trial runs" of a commute, you really don't know how you will like it one year out.   The real estate market in Baltimore is nothing like the market in DC.  If you buy a house now, in a year or two, you might not be able to break even when you factor in transaction costs.  It really does not make sense to buy unless you plan on staying there 5 years or more.

Whenever considering a longish commute, it is better to rent in the target location first.  You might find that it just isn't workable and you need to find a different location.

I also would caution you heavily against relying on commute estimates given here.  I've read all kinds of claims (not on this thread) that I don't believe.  I don't know if any studies have been done, but it is my strong suspicion that people convince themselves their commute is shorter than what it is as a sort of mental coping mechanism.  I've seen claims on here (this forum and others -- not necessarily this thread) that just aren't possible, at least not on a regular basis.

As to the PP who recommends Silver Spring.  I think the SS-Baltimore commute is rough.  Sure it's a "reverse" commute, but keep in mind that if you work downtown in Baltimore, you're going to get Baltimore traffic anyhow.  And depending where you are in SS, you'll still get SS traffic, which can be dense.    Again, rent in SS for a year and see how it goes before buying a house.

I feel the same way about Columbia.  I often see people recommend it as being in commuting range to DC, but I personally find that commute extremely draining.  Perhaps some day when there is metro in the area, but driving from Columbia to DC is rough.  Columbia to NOVA, yikes!

Again, pick an area you think might work, rent there for a year and then decide whether or not to buy.  What people find tolerable in a commute is VERY subjective.   You might also want to consider how dense an area is, because if both you and your DH are commuting, you might want to find an area that has no traffic on weekends.  Again, this is why it's so much better to rent in an area first[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics