A colleague of a friend of mine is relocating to Baltimore. He’s young (28), single and looking for a home. Needs input on places to live. Called me because I used to live there, back in the day. But it’s been seven years and things are sure to have changed.
He’ll be working up north in Hunt Valley, so there’s a commute to consider. He’d like a house with a yard if possible but would like to be in the city. His price range would be low to mid 200K, let’s say $225k. He’s handy (he owns 28 rental units here) so could do some repairs; redo a room or two if he needed to. If the place he’s looking for is not in the city that’s not a deal breaker. He’s been told it’s for about 2 years but these things are known to run longer (my company told me I was moving there for 18 months and I was there for 5 years).
So, where should he start looking?
The only place I know off the top of my head is in ellicot city/columbia area. But it would be a little bit of drive. I’ll some of the people in my class tomorrow who know the area better than I do and i’ll get back to ya.
Tell him to look in Cockeysville, Phoenix, Freeland, Hunt Valley, Jacksonville, Timonium… He’ll find something nice in one of those places
Sykesville. Big houses, big yards, isolated area, relatively inexpensive. (more value than Columbia/Ellicott City)
Thanks for the responses. All of the places mentioned so far are on the west side or north and outside of the Beltway, correct? Anything in the center that’s reasonable and decent neighborhood, or not in that price range? Also, what about stuff on the Northeast side towards Perry Hall / White March or even Parkville? Since he’s a single guy he may not want to be too far out in Suburbia.
I don’t live there now, but I spent the first 18 years of my life in the Baltimore area. If I were your friend, I’d do what my parents (and thousands and thousands of Baltimoreans) did: go north of the Mason-Dixon Line and live in southern York County, Pennsylvania. The commute to Hunt Valley is not going to be more than an hour under normal circumstances, and you can probably do it in as little as 40 minutes depending on the exact location of home and work. It’s fairly clean, quiet, and the cost of living is extremely low. For $225K, you could get a large, top-quality brand-new track home on maybe an acre, or something a little older with a fair bit of land. My parents have lived in that area for nearly 30 years and spent most of those years commuting to jobs in the city, and my brother commutes to college there now - it’s very doable, though they’re going to need to widen I-83 in the very near future for that to remain the case.
The only downside is that he will be OUT of the city. There is NO nightlife and lots of rednecks. Public services such as hospitals and police are distant (though in the latter case it’s not a big deal as the area has very little serious crime). He’ll NEED cable TV. Bear in mind, though, that Baltimore is right there if he wants stuff to do.