Baltimore Help? Possible Fellowship there

Hey, my husband has a fellowship interview in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins. I am wondering if any of you could provide insight?
From what I have researched so far, we would be looking for a place like Towson to live...we will be in an apartment. We have 2 boys...and one will be in 1st grade. We want good schools and good neighborhoods. I will be staying at home with them.

I have also found that I should expect about $1500 for a 2 bedroom (1000 sqft ) apartment...do any of you think that is possible?

We are from Texas and have never been to the east coast at all. Please enlighten me.


Thanks!!

[rainbabies]

hi and welcome to our little slice of heaven.

we lived outside of baltimore, in a nice neighborhood...in glen burnie. it's easy access to batimore, all the surrounding hospitals and DC. the beltway, no matter where you're commuting in/out from is going to take a lot of time to get through during rush hour.
towson is about a half hour from glen burnie...and if memory serves, a bit more expensive. columbia is also a great area...but again, more expensive.
we paid $1200/month for a three bedroom one bath house. it had a large fenced in yard. i think that was actually a good deal, considering the location. we have three kiddos and wanted a safe area for them. they were not in school yet, so i can't comment on that.

uvagradk, dcjenn, and peggyfromwastate may be helpful here!

the harbor is a great area...and there is an excellent childrens hands on discovery center there and aquarium.

sorry i can't help with more, but hopefully others will chime in.

oh! and if you LOVE bagels....head to goldberg's. nothing like a good bagel!! reisterstown road!!! (sadly, that is what i miss the most about living there.)

good luck with everything!

[DCJenn]

Hi!

It kind of depends on what kind of experience you're looking for in Balto.

Towson is a perfectly fine, kind of generic suburb of Baltimore. It's on the northern side so if you're interested in heading to DC then add another 30 minutes to the drive.

Catonsville is a nice, if older, inner suburb of Baltimore (I have friends there). If you're Jewish there are enclaves in Pikesville that are nice but some parts of Pikesville are not so nice anymore. Columbia is a 'planned' community that has a variety of communities. They designed it so that you'd never have to leave. Mt. Airy is a fine community, probably a little out of the way. Howard County school are probably better than Balto County schools. Glen Burnie is in Anne Arundel County and I don't know much about their school system.

He will be facing a commute unless you want to live in the city. There are some FAB neighborhoods within the city limits but like most fab inner city neighborhoods, they're a bit pricey.

Good luck!

Jenn

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Hi All!

I'll chime in here. I grew up in Anne Arundel county near Annapolis but went to private high school in Baltimore. I would say the Towson/Glen Burnie descriptions are accurate. I believe that Anne Arundel school systems are generally considered better than Towson's (which is in Baltimore County) but I could be wrong (I don't have kids yet). Towson is more built up than most of Anne Arundel county though of course that would depend on where you live. I would say traffic from Hopkins to Towson will be worse than Glen Burnie just because there's fewer routes and backroads and more highways. I'm not sure on rent but I will second the comment about the Inner Harbor being a wonderful place for kids. The National Science Center and Aquarium are both in Baltimore. Plus, DC is an hour away and has all the other national museums. Columbia is further than Towson or Glen Burnie from Baltimore. I would consider that a suburb of DC. Other communities to check out with affordable housing are Catonsville and Pasadena. All have some good and bad areas but it's affordable and if you research the schools, you could get a great value there.

Excited for you!! Maryland is a wonderful place to live!!!!!!

[Sheherezade]

We lived downtown in Federal Hill. Wonderful neighborhood -- but the public schools were ehh. There was a movement to gentrify them along with the housing, but I'm not sure it took. I ran a co-op preschool for the years we were there. My read on the schools in town was that I would be putting my son in private school. There are lower cost private schools and Catholic schools. My friend sent her daughter to a city Catholic school and was OK with it. It depends on what grade you are looking for, how much of a family budget you want to spend on education and how you want to balance that with commute.

My SIL is in Towson and very happy. Lots of our neighbors in Federal Hill moved to Towson when the kids hit school age. The commute down from Towson is easy, easy, easy. From Glen Burnie and Columbia, it is a little more involved and I'd expect more traffic in rush hour.

Ellicott City? (sp??) I had friends with no kids move out there. It was a nice little town. Catonsville has a killer recycled tire playground. (Also an easy commute.)

Good luck. I loved living in Baltimore but it was easier when I didn't have to think about schools. We'd have stayed put in Federal Hill and ponied up the private school costs. Somehow.

[lirio]

I grew up in Burtonsville, which is great but a bit far for you. Maybe try Columbia or Ellicott City? I don’t know how much it costs to live there though. I went to Towson University for one semester and I liked the neighborhood, it was fun. My husband was doing research at Johns Hopkins for a year; the poor guy was commuting all the way from Germantown! Some places to live are very cheap but they are not safe, so watch out for that. Also Howard County Public Schools are very good. I worked for Montgomery County Public Schools, which are nice but farther away.

[DCJenn]

All-

My room-mate from college has a nice house for rent close to Hopkins but not in a skeevy 'hood. She's posting it on the student doctor site.

Jenn

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Second time I've heard the word "skeevy" today

[MrsK]

Second time I've heard the word "skeevy" today

I love that word "skeevy."

Sorry don't know how I missed this. We're in Balto and at Hopkins. Love, love, love Baltimore. We live in the city (Federal Hill) like Angie did. I certainly have been to Towson but I'm not really up to speed on rents in Towson. Certainly Towson public schools on average would be much better and different than Balto city schools. But as Angie mentions Catholic schools could be an option. Don't know the price tag for Catholic schools but know that private non-Catholic schools are quite expensive.

Have any questions I can actually provide a helpful answer to about the area?

Thanks!!

Thank you for all of your responses!!!

[Sheherezade]

Roland Park! I just had to come back and post that before I forgot. I think that's the neighborhood that has a lot of the Hopkins attendings. Frightfully close to the private schools. Nice houses, trees - and a ten minute commute.

I wanted to add it to this thread.

Yeah, Roland Park is swanky. Power to those in fellowship training that can afford to live there.

[Sheherezade]

It is pricey. I was killing myself trying to remember the name of the neighborhood. We mostly went up there for the parties. DH's mentor lived there. He pissed off the neighborhood by painting his mailbox tie-dye. Good guy. He died while jogging the year after we moved away. See what Hopkins does to you? Be careful!!

I like Widespread Panic and DW has always loved the Greatful Dead. Neither of us has the inclination to paint our mailbox like a tye-dyed tee-shirt. Do love the notion the notion of pissing off an upscale neighborhood though.

We've been at parties where residents of our block (affiliated with Hopkins) talk in horror of the previous owners of our home painting our formstone home white with Carolina blue accents....duh, it's one thing that sold DW on the home!