OK, that helps a lot to clarify what you are looking for.

This may result in what some would consider radical suggestions, but if you prefer an urban location, my advice is, go with an urban location. I do not think of Greenbelt as an urban location - it has a small historical village center, but with sprawling suburbs all around it. I would suggest you visit it, but be prepared to be underwhelmed. If you are hoping for Boston, Greenbelt is NOT the place you want to be. Also, the Greenbelt metro station is not within walking distance of the Greenbelt village center (in fact, I think it's technically in College Park) so if you did live in the village center, you would not have direct metro access - a bus or car would be necessary.

Because Laurel has little to no public transit accessibility, I believe you are (more than likely) going to have to drive to work no matter where you live. So pick somewhere you want to live, and has the lifestyle you want, and drive from there, rather than driving from somewhere that might be a little closer but is not the place you really want to be.

So, if I had to drive to Laurel, and wanted an urban, close-to-metro life style, with a small townhouse or condo, where would I look?

1. downtown Silver Spring - plenty of condos, easy (walking) metro access, lots of restaurants, and it's near the Beltway so it's a fairly easy drive to Laurel
2. Capitol Hill - ditto - you can get on 295 and go straight up to Laurel.
3. downtown Baltimore - a slightly less comfy commute because you're going with traffic instead of against it, and worse for access to DC. On the other hand, you have much better access to Baltimore (an interesting city in its own right), it's easier to get to BWI, and it may be less expensive.