Potential Relocation to DC/Baltimore Area
 

To any locals:

There is a good chance that we will be relocating to the DC/Baltimore area in a few months. I have an interview in a couple of weeks for my dream job. Hopefully it will work out. I am being optimistic and looking for recomendations of real estate agents.

If you are one or have one to reccomend please let me know. We will be looking for preferable a condo but maybe a townhouse. The location I am looking at is around the Greenbelt area but am somewhat flexible. The office is located in Laural but I would like to be near the metro for access to airports and DC.

That area is not his specialty, but I can very highly recommend Bob Graham (http://www.bobgrahamvarelo.com/), who helped me get settled here a few years ago. He was extremely professional and helpful!

before you buy, drive the route between prospective and necessary during runs hours.

the direction you mention is not bad the other direction is hell. ie am laural to greenbelt, pm greenbelt to laural.

there are no socially redeeming features in greenbelt. to get to decent restaurants, you must to to montgomery county, or dc. for a few activities, UMD in college park has started with the smith thing. UMD does of course have athelitic events.

laurel is not a bad residential place (last I have been to that specific
place was over 6 years back)

little north and you are in Baltimore
and little bit south and you are in the DC zone.
and very close to BWI.

I'm going to take exception with that statement.

While there may be no gourmet restaurants in Greenbelt, there is a great deal of social history.

Greenbelt, Maryland is a National Historic Landmark planned community built in 1937 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Greenbelt was designed as a cooperative garden suburb that would be a model of modern town planning in America. There is a real sense of community there: (many) residents work very hard to keep the original spirit of Greenbelt alive.

I don't live there, but have friends who spent more than 20 years there before relocating out of state. It's also convenient to metro and Marc rail and amtrak stations. The city also operates a fee based van shuttle for seniors and physically challenged residents.

It's not slick and modern, but worth considering if you're the type who enjoys being involved in their local community.

for history buffs:
greenbelt oral history project
greenbelt website

I just have a few minutes, or I would attach a couple of links for you (sorry!). I would look at the MARC Train and Metro websites and note where the lines run and where the stations are located. That would help you narrow your housing unit search to locations near a station or two.

On the Metro website, you can do a trip planner and have it tell you how difficult or easy it would be to get from a station to your work location. Beltway traffic in the morning tends to be bad between I-95 and around US 50 (NE quadrant on a map of DC). Usually, at least one of the major north-south routes: I-95, Balt-Wash Pwy, US 1, US 29 has some sort of issue every morning and evening.

Having said this, I've found that the Balt-Wash corridor has some pretty decent roads, when there's not wrecks on them, with several alternate routes. Also, at times this area is surprisingly rural, especially in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties.

While Prince George's County has had some unfair treatment in the media, I can't say the police are undeserving of the bad press. And the county schools are dreadful. While it would mean a longer commute, I'd consider nearby communities in Anne Arundel County like Odenton or Crofton, which are still convenient to BWI, Annapolis, and the MARC train to Baltimore/DC

I'm in the DC area and we actually drove up to Laurel last weekend. Here are my observations / experiances - Laurel itself isn't bad. Just down the highway south on 295 it gets "yucky". We have some friends who live up near there and commute down into DC and it's about a 20 minute commute on the train. Whenever they want to go out to dinner and out afterwards they have to make the 40+ minute drive down here.

It would be easier to give advice if we knew more of what your priorities are. You have said you want to be near metro, and that you are looking at a condo or townhouse. So I can infer you don't need the 6 BR, half acre McMansion. However, it would be helpful to know if you care about:

schools (any kids in public schools?)
commuting distance
taxes
being within walking distance of anything
what sort of environment (urban vs suburban vs rural, trendy vs laid back) you prefer

The answers to those questions will help me give better advice about where to look.

As far as agents go, http://www.buyersagent.com helped me buy a house several years ago and they were great.

I assume that you would be working primarily out of the office in Laurel.If so,I'd concentrate on housing in Anne Arundel county or southern Howard county.Laurel is split between Prince George and Howard-for many reasons I'd stay away from PG county.If children are involved,the school situation may make your commuting decisions for you.

BWI is easily accessible from Laurel via the BW Parkway or even 95,depending on your location.It's easier than IAD or Reagan,although we do use IAD for most international trips.MARC and Amtrak both have stations at BWI.

As for DC-if you will be going in often,Metro access is helpful.Otherwise for the occasional trip,you can drive to any Metro station and park for the day.

Good luck- the Baltimore-DC area is a wonderful location.

Thanks For the replies so far.

More info,

kids grown and out of the house so no worry about schools. They do visit a couple of times a year from the UK for a couple of weeks at a time.

I'll be working in Laurel and MrMMP will continue traveling weekly. Most likely from BWI but possibly utilizing other airports as contracts change.

Prefer a maintanence free lifestyle. I only want to worry about how to decorate my walls. Do not want a house with yard and twelve acres. Want condo with monthly fee that takes care of everything. I am open to the possiblility of a townhouse.

We prefer an urban location but again are flexible. HimThatFlies is rarely home except weekends. So most of the day-to-day living is at my choice. I will be the one commuting to work. I would rather commute to work and come home at night and on the weekends to be near everything I want. We lived in Boston for a couple of years, usedf public transport and loved it. I am looking for more that type lifestyle.

Hope this helps.

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.

Thank you for the info. This does really help!

I agree with crhptic
For living in an Urban area, I'd suggest the DC area. Something NW
around tenlytown or closer, but this will add significant commute
to your office in Laurel.

If you stay in/around Laurel, your daily commute is short, you have an
easy access to BWI and almost midway between
Baltimore and DC.

It all depends on your preference whether you want to live in a City
or be close to it for the weekends.

I've lived in the Greenbelt area (College Park) area for a long time, ntil 2 months ago. I can't think of many areas of Greenbelt where I would reccomend someone to live. The north end of College Park could work better than Greenbelt. Probably only locals know it, but there is a walkway to the Greenbelt Metro to the College Park side of the station. On the Greenbelt side it doesn't look safe to walk on the road there to get to the station. Also the apartments nearby get a lot of police calls. College Park is right on 95/495 and pretty close to both 95 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. This mornings paper had a story on a home invasion in that area. The story was surprising because it is pretty rare there.

Another nearby place that beats Greenbelt is Beltsvile. It is betweeen Laurel and College Park and right next to Greenbelt. With the big USDA farms there it kinda feels more small town than urban though.

If it were me, I would go for the Columbia area. Based on your description, I would say somewhere in DC, that is safe, would fit better.

Oh, my GOD, can you imagine a roundtrip weekday commute from Tenleytown to Laurel? Even taking the Metro to Silver Spring, then a bus, would be a pain in the neck because you'd loop south through central DC and Union Station before heading north again.

When I first moved to the area some years ago I rented in Briggs Cheney, which is northern Silver Spring off US 29. The area equidistant between Silver Spring and Columbia has a lot of nice condo communities, you can take a fast bus down to the Red Line, and Laurel and BWI are both minutes away.

I wouldn't choose to live in Prince Georges County, sad to say.

I agree - that's the only reason I didn't include, for example, downtown DC, Dupont Circle, etc. Those are great neighborhoods but unfortunately would probably be an hour+ drive to Laurel, with the bulk of that time spent getting from the middle of the city onto the highway. So I tried to limit it to "urban" areas that were very close to a highway which would get to Laurel easily, and were on the east side of the area (e.g. Bethesda is close to the Beltway, but I would not wish a twice-daily drive across Montgomery County on the Beltway on my worst enemy)

I'm not sure how many years ago this was, but personally I think that area is not all too terrific now. (It may have been nicer in the past)

There are nice areas out US 29, but they are further out near Burtonsville. The Briggs Chaney Road area - specifically - has a high concentration of low-rent apartments, and all the associated social ills.

Also, per the OP's interests, I would not call that area even remotely "urban". You cannot walk to anything.

Two completely different alternate ideas although they would both be a little bit of a commute to Luarel. 1) Annapolis, MD and 2) Penn Quarter. Annapolis is out on the water in MD probably a 40 minute drive (maybe longer in traffic). Penn Quarter is in downtown DC near the Verizon Center where the Wizards & Capitols play and on par with Capitol Hill & Georgetown in terms of restaurants.

I don't know much about the MARC train (or Laurel), but i know it runs from DC up towards Baltimore and runs through or close to Laurel. I am not sure what the stop / station is like in or whether its possible to take that train out from DC to Luarel and then walk or bus to the office.

Another item if you are planning to buy - the real estate market here is VERY VERY slow - I don't care what the realtors or talking heads on TV say about a "leveling off" sellers are getting desperate and you should be very agressive when making an offer.

I'm sure some will disagree, but having just sold a house in suburban Virginia and bought one in DC, the real estate market here has hit a brick wall. We sold our house in March. Our former neighbor put their house on the market shortly thereafter and have not had a bite in 3 months.

I understand, but I was recommending the area due north of there up US29, and IIRC Burtonsville is only about another four minutes up the road -- it's like the next traffic light.

It's not far, true...just wanted to make sure we didn't steer the OP into the wrong location.

My current commute is 2 hrs each way. tenlytown to laurel cant be that bad :D

One thing I should add is that Laurel is served by the MARC Camden Line— which is in every way inferior to the roughly parallel MARC Penn Line. The Camden Line is slower, runs less often, and has fewer connections; it does not go to BWI and the only Amtrak connection is at the end of the line, Washington Union Station. Silver Spring is on the Brunswick Line, with comparable connection opportunities.

As far as the real estate market, well, the flip side of a slowing market is that gentrification is also going to slow, and with the recent spike in crime, the risk of speculating in a marginal area is much higher.

capitol hill was mentioned in there somewhere. I think it a good choice. it is a back commute to laural. should take no more than 30 min 4 days out of 5. wreck the other day, and take forever. I back comute from balt to cap hill to play squash and can still do that at 4-5pm in less than an hour.

friends do not tell friends to live in pg county. I have lived here since 77.

the minority management of the county has functioned in a manner such that it has terrorized every major retailer. the new demands for 30% minority contracts for a new major development have further ailenated big business.

The closest thing we have to a good restaurant is in VA. second closest set is in DC. the closest thing we have to a decent grocery story is in VA.

Forget Greenbelt. You would be best off in the Columbia area where I live.

I sent you a PM

We have some friends who live on near D & 3rd NE within walking distance of Capitol Hill and Union Station. They live in a VERY COOL refurbished townhouse dating back to the 1890s. It definitely meets your criteria of low maintenance and close to urban amenties & transportation.

I work in Silver Spring and also echo those comments as well. They are building new condos and townhouses left & right and have Yuppified the downtown area. The American Film Institute is right there as well as the HQ of the Discovery Channel.

Silver Spring downtown is a good idea. Getting to Laurel from there would be easy, most days.

Thanks to all who have replied so far. It has been very helpfull.

To clarify a point. I realize I will probably be driving into Laurel for work. I am looking for the "after work" personal urban lifestyle. I would rather not have to be driving in the car to go everywhere. I want to go home, park the car and be able to have a life after work and on weekends.

Move downtown somewhere near a metro stop. Of course, you may have trouble finding somewhere to park your car. NOt sure if you realize but, Greenbelt metro station is not exactly within walking distance of anything.

I used to live in PG county. I recommend either Montgomery or Howard county. If you want an urban environment please take a look at downtown Silver Spring, it is a really nice place. It was sleepy about ten years ago, but has been totally redeveloped, its new slogan is "silver sprung'". This comes from someone with the flyertalk name, Silver Springer.