Harford County vs Baltimore County (Dundalk, Towson: low income, section 8, transplants)

[lak8108]

My family ( me, husband and 2 yr old) will be moving to the Baltimore area around June 2011. I will be working at Franklin Square Hospital. Although I am concerned about the commute, we will love a nice community for our son

Several friends have advised us, they have recommended several areas in East Baltimore county vs Harford county vs Baltimore city.

So right now we are looking at renting a townhouse vs buying till we really get used to the area. Any suggestions will be gladly appreciated.

[qjbusmaster]

Originally Posted by lak8108

My family ( me, husband and 2 yr old) will be moving to the Baltimore area around June 2011. I will be working at Franklin Square Hospital. Although I am concerned about the commute, we will love a nice community for our son

Several friends have advised us, they have recommended several areas in East Baltimore county vs Harford county vs Baltimore city.

So right now we are looking at renting a townhouse vs buying till we really get used to the area. Any suggestions will be gladly appreciated.

any suberb is good avoid baltimore city!!!!! too much drugs and smoking I mean smoking to the point where the odor is literally a weapon itself that can knock u out. Even light smokers will be disgusted by it. If ya smoke when u smell baltimore smoke you will never want to smoke again!!! Now the harbor however is beautiful and lively. DC is very nice and the berbs are the way to go but DONT rely on the transit it is AWFUL!!!! Outside of baltimore and DC dont expect to go anywhere without a car

[lak8108]

Thanks for the information. We are seriously considering the Abingdon/ Bel Air area. But one of my concerns will be traffic driving down to White Marsh. About how long is drive with traffic or how bad is the traffic on 95? Some people have said to take 40. Just need input.

[(-)]

why not try areas like rosedale, parkville, nottingham or perry hall. all would be closer to your job at franklin square.

[bmorefella]

Certain parts of baltimore county make harford county look like a welfare case!!! Try the towson/hunt valley area!!! Its a lot more upscale than abingdon!! Honestly i would avoid harford county overall!!! If youw ant to live in the city, try clippers mill area!!

[BMWZ4RUlz]

I would highly echo the recommendations of bmorefella. Timonium/Hunt Valley/Towson. Good schools, great area and close to shopping and downtown.

[cbrc5ed]

Originally Posted by bmorefella

Certain parts of baltimore county make harford county look like a welfare case!!! Try the towson/hunt valley area!!! Its a lot more upscale than abingdon!! Honestly i would avoid harford county overall!!! If youw ant to live in the city, try clippers mill area!!

Why avoid Harford County overall? Yes there are parts to avoid (Edgewood), but Bel Air South, Abingdon areas that they are looking at are good- just be sure to get into the Patterson Mill school district and stay west of I95. Plenty of townhouses around. It's a good area, lots of shopping, restaurants. Franklin Square you have 4 major ways to get there- go down Bel Air Rd, I95, Route 7 or Route 40.

Hunt Valley is a bit out of the way to Franklin Square unless the OP is going to be working Night shift or odd hours. 695 during rush hour is horrible. There are areas in Towson closer to the city line that I would avoid too. Same goes with parts of eastern Baltimore County.

Originally Posted by lak8108

Thanks for the information. We are seriously considering the Abingdon/ Bel Air area. But one of my concerns will be traffic driving down to White Marsh. About how long is drive with traffic or how bad is the traffic on 95? Some people have said to take 40. Just need input.

Depends on the time of day, Rush hour is pretty bad, but there should be some relief with this multi mullion dollar road reconstruction project of I95.

Originally Posted by (-)

why not try areas like rosedale, parkville, nottingham or perry hall. all would be closer to your job at franklin square.

Perry Hall, White Marsh/Nottingham are worth a look at. Parkville too, particularly areas north of 695.

[rudy_d]

Originally Posted by qjbusmaster

any suberb is good avoid baltimore city!!!!! too much drugs and smoking I mean smoking to the point where the odor is literally a weapon itself that can knock u out. Even light smokers will be disgusted by it. If ya smoke when u smell baltimore smoke you will never want to smoke again!!!

Say what? I've heard plenty of criticisms of Baltimore, but that's a new one. B-more seems to have a lot fewer smokers than a lot of southern and western cities (ex California).

[james777]

Originally Posted by lak8108

Thanks for the information. We are seriously considering the Abingdon/ Bel Air area. But one of my concerns will be traffic driving down to White Marsh. About how long is drive with traffic or how bad is the traffic on 95? Some people have said to take 40. Just need input.

The traffic can be very bad during rush hour. You need to come here and do a couple of dry runs. In addition to searching that area, check out northeast Baltimore County, particularly the Rosedale, White Marsh, and Perry Hall areas.

[hummingbird21078]

As for Baltimore county I think you'd be happier in the northern areas or eastern closer to the harford county line. I grew up in Rosedale and my family still lives there to this day. Avoid it! It is nothing like it once was. The old lady that lived across the street from my mom was robbed at 8pm while she was sitting in her living room watching tv. My grandmother's shed has been burglarized multiple times and counting. Three of her neighbors had their cars stolen, one had their house broken into last week while they were on vacation. If you have children then you may want to be warned that Golden Ring Middle Schoolers are very involved in this "fight club" thing, one of my friends informed me of this, as an active PTA member at the school she has plenty of knowledge as to what goes on there. This fight club isn't just there, it's hitting almost every middle and high school, even out here in Harford county and Cecil county. It has become a real problem in the schools, just not enough media coverage to get the word out there to parents, IMO.
South Bel Air/Abingdon isn't too bad, just very congested anymore. It's the "trendy" place to live in Bel Air, everyone wants to move there. Schools in the Bel Air area are over crowded, although they are redistricting I don't think that it will help much. Then you have to consider the BRAC moves as well, which is bringing an influx of people to the area, thus more congestion and school crowding. While it is very convenient to shopping, entertainment, dining and the 95 you have to decided if your safety and sanity from the bad drivers and traffic is worth it. Me personally, I cannot stand traffic but others don't seem to mind it, so it's a personal choice of what can you live with.

I live out in Havre de Grace. Small town, well actually a city, water oriented area, plenty of new development, schools aren't over crowded yet, plenty of dining, entertainment etc. Even out here, where it used to be nice, it has been taken over by drugs and crime.
Here's the problem as explained to me by a couple officer friends. As Baltimore tears down the old housing projects, which mostly have been bought out by Hopkins, the former residents of said areas are moving out to the counties. The route 40 corridor has always had cheap rents and housing prices, section 8 housing is abundant and plenty of available housing projects. This is certainly appealing to those with low income. Most of the housing projects gave out information to their residents and helped them secure housing, a lot of them came out the 40 corridor. Harford county has seen a growing rate of gang violence, drugs, violent crimes, burglaries, thefts etc because of this. Sure Harford county has had it's problems before and cannot entirely blame the low income residents that have moved into the areas as the sole source of the problem but it has, however, significantly increased the problems. They hold a 4th of July carnival in Havre de Grace every year and a few years back they almost did away with the annual event because of gang violence. This was directly stated!! and every resident of Havre de Grace knows this full and well! This has never been a problem before.
Out in Cecil county, a friend of mine lives in Elkton and has lived there for 12 years, tells me that several nights a week she hears gun shots going off in the low income housing a block from her house. She has never before heard this sort of thing in her area. There have been shootings there, drugs are rampant in the area, thefts and so on have become common place. Elkton has never had such problems until recent. I am not saying that any of the areas mentioned have been with out problems because they have, just not such large scale and not consistently. The people who have lived in these areas for a long time can tell you this is just as recent as the past few years. They never had to worry about locking up their homes at night, they felt comfortable with leaving their cars running while running into the store (never a good idea anyway), letting their kids out to play without worry and getting a decent education in the schools. This is not true any more. Most of us transplants moved out here years ago to get away from the crime and problems that were taking over Baltimore city and county but it seems as though they just followed us. Yes there are safe places to live and raise your family, just not out the 40 or 95 corridor.

My personal suggestions:

Abingdon, besides what i stated before, it's too close to Edgewood.

Aberdeen, YUK! I go there to shop and that's it. Sit on W. Bel Air Ave any time of day for about an hour and you will get to see first hand the junkie parade that wanders, sometimes aimlessly, up and down the street.

Edgewood, not even if the house was FREE!!!!

Joppatown, not as bad as Edgewood but still has it's problems.

Havre de Grace, still nice but slowly getting worse. The residents here don't roll over and shut up easily. The police are pretty on the ball too which helps a lot.

Bel Air, over crowded and over priced but plenty to do and close to everything.

Darlington & Dublin so nice, so quite, close enough yet far enough. If I were gonna buy a house, this would be my first choice.

Jarrettsville, beautiful area, nice homes, quiet and rural. My second choice if I were to buy a home.

Street, Pylesville & Rocks area, surrounds the Rocks State Park and does have some beautiful homes. House prices vary greatly also, a little something for everyone. Still close to everything too. This would be my third choice area.

Forest Hill, a lot of new development going on, revitalization in progress. A bit pricey in most areas, trendy and getting crowded but still breathing room.

Fallston, pricey in most areas, somewhat congested as this is another trendy area, close to Bel Air.

Jacksonville, pricey but nice, real nice.

Monkton, White Hall and Parkton, not many rentals but plenty to buy. Prices vary but most are up there. Nice areas and close to Beaver Dam, plenty to do.

Baldwin, Hydes and Glen Arm, very nice and quiet. Homes here range greatly in prices from 100k to 1 million or better.

Gunpowder, very nice and close yet far but i would stay on the white marsh side for the schools.

Middle River, Essex and Dundalk, some areas are okay while others i wouldn't send my worst enemy to live in. I've heard mixed things about the schools in these areas as well.

Parkville, Carney, Perry Hall, some areas of Parkville, like closer to Hamilton and the city are not the best and have become rampant with drugs, junkies and hookers walking Harford Road all day and night, other parts of Parkville have remained quiet and peaceful. The schools I haven't heard any major complaints from anyone.

Towson, Loch Raven and Lutherville, TRENDY!!!!!! Most areas are pricey, congested, always has been. The closer you get to Govans the worse it gets.