Moving to Maryland (Baltimore, Columbia, Frederick: homes, neighborhoods, schools)

[Steed3003]

Hello,

Our family be moving to the East Coast in the US end of 2022 / beginning of 2023. One of the states we're currently looking at is Maryland.

We're quite flexible in terms of location, since we will be both working from home. We would be looking to not be more than an hour drive away from an international airport.

We have a dog so we're looking for an area that will have plenty of green spaces immediately available and easy outdoor access to national parks. In terms of budget, we would be looking for 600,000 USD for a 4/5 Bedrooms house.

We're looking for a nice mix between a rural feel but still not feeling completely isolated, and hopefully to find a town or city that will be as walkable as possible.

We will be doing a few visits end of the month to get a proper feel of each area and lock in on our favorite two or three areas. We wanted to post here and check with the locals first what would be their top two / three picks with good value areas that would fit best our search criterias.

Thank you all and available for any additional questions!

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Steed3003

Our family ...

Does that mean that schools, neighborhoods, County sports programs, etc will ALSO matter?
Otherwise ...with a $600,000us budget you pretty much get "pick of the litter"

I suggest you find a large folio US Road Atlas book (new about $15us). LINK
Use that when you look at the "countryside" features ...
for proximity to BWI or one of the DC airports with the flights you need.

[DXBtoFL]

Frederick.

[emmmcubed]

Originally Posted by DXBtoFL

Frederick.

That was my immediate first thought as well. "National parks" and "walkable" would put other possible candidates, like maybe Westminster or Parkton, further down the list. Parts of Columbia would do for "walkable," but probably too urban-ish for OP.

[Steed3003]

Originally Posted by MrRational

Does that mean that schools, neighborhoods, County sports programs, etc will ALSO matter?

Eventually yes, not as much immediately. By family meant our husband and I and our dog but we don't have any kids yet.

Thank you DXBtoFL and emmmcubed for your suggestions for Frederick, as well as Westminster and Parkton. Will add them to our must see list when we will go visit potential places end of the month.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by Steed3003

Eventually yes, not as much immediately.
By family meant our husband and I and our dog but we don't have any kids yet.

Then you don't "need" a 4/5 bedroom $600,000 property yet either.
Probably not until the oldest enters grammar school -- so maybe 10 years off?

Maryland is known as "The Land of Pleasant Living".
It's not at all difficult to find locations that will suit your needs & interests.

[North Beach Person]

There are eighteen National Parks in Maryland, most are associated with events and as such are fairly small. That would be unlike most of the ones west of the Mississippi.

Park Ranger John tells you about them:

https://www.parkrangerjohn.com/natio...s-in-maryland/

[Steed3003]

Originally Posted by MrRational

Then you don't "need" a 4/5 bedroom $600,000 property yet either.

Since we both work from home, we will need the two additional rooms for offices.

Originally Posted by MrRational

Maryland is known as "The Land of Pleasant Living".
It's not at all difficult to find locations that will suit your needs & interests.

We're using Zillow as well as well as Niche for our online research but there is as much as research can do, this is why we wanted to check with locals as some great options might not pop up in our research. Like Frederick that the two other members recommended.

[skeddy]

Laplata, Maryland, 20 miles south of DC

[BaltimoreBruiser]

So, since you didn't offer up a ton of background info, would be hard to really suggest or narrow down specific areas. But I'll build on what others have said and will add a few more towns in those areas.

- "Frederick Area": So the city of Frederick is not a bad spot by itself, with some of its immediate suburbs pretty spaced out. But even within this general area, there's plenty different spots to choose from. A little further west, but outside your 1hr window to airports (by 10-20m) is Boonsboro, and likewise north is Emmitsburg. Both are nice little walkable small towns within a quick trip to Frederick, and near ample green spaces like Cunningham Falls State Park. Westminister (not really Frederick area but will include here anyway) has a pretty cool main street area vibe, but I despise the 140 corridor which runs parallel. Also, Mt. Airy is a nice spot off Rt. 70 that I would consider looking at.

- "Harford County": Harford county and northern Baltimore County are also decent spots. There's Bel Air/Forest Hill. Bel Air has a decent 'downtown' area. And Forest Hill is more spacious. Alot of new builds in the area and older homes in your price range. The downside is the traffic and its more congested than some of the other towns I mentioned. But go 10 minutes or less north or west of the area, and you're in beautiful rural/farm areas.