I live in the DC area near Silver Spring and don't really know what to suggest because I think what you want is impossible. YOu want more house for the money in DC than in Scottsdale, you said, and that isn't going to happen. I think you'll have to go to Baltimore or Annapolis or something because you can't get a good-size 4-bedroom house in the DC area for $250K or less. I live in Takoma Park and this might meet most of your criteria except the price, even though it's a reasonable area (maybe $300-350K would get you something like you want).<BR><BR>I don't think the economy has crashed here at all, but you really do need to figure out jobs first unless you're doing something you can do anywhere. Since you don't even mention your or your husband's occupation, I think you may not realize how much that affects where you live.<BR><BR>I don't know Annapolis, but have not been impressed with Frederick that much myself -- the traffic through there on the interstate seems horrendous, so it may be okay if you stay there, but not to commute to DC. There are not big-city job opportunities right in Frederick. I have a friend in an ordinary townhouse in Columbia and they are selling for about $200K in her complex which is nice but not deluxe, but they are only 3-bedrooms, not nearly the size you want.<BR><BR>I also think DC is out of the question except in very bad neighborhoods, as I have a friend now looking for a place for a couple smaller than you want, and he says all he's seeing is stuff at $400K and up in areas nobody used to be willing to live in (eg near Shaw, area east of Rock Creek but north of midtown and west of North Capitol), and those are nothing that great.<BR><BR>There are lots of snobby people in DC, but lots of others who are not, and it is a very good area for lawyers, but I don't know about ex-lawyers (depends what he's doing). I live on the border of DC in Takoma Park and it took me 30 minutes to get to my job near the White House, so you really can't live far out if you want a 30-45 min. commute. It takes about 45 min from Silver Spring to downtown DC, including waiting time and walking to/from metro stop.

The info given about DC is the very reason I never really considered it. But I didn't know if there were places on the outterskirts. Since I have zero clue (and my sister's only been in Baltimore a few years...) about what is outside, surrounding, etc. I thought I'd ask. Sounds like there are more "choices" in the towns that are between DC & Balt, or outside Balt. Like Reistertown and Towson, sounds like they have "hometown" appeal. Not necessarily looking for small-town, but am attracted to them, and suburban not urban living. I'm a midwesterner (from STL) at heart but for various reasons that's not happening. Anyhow, visiting the area next week to see if it is a place to consider. Might have to consider some other towns like Austin or Overland Park

Michelle, have you at least VISITED this area and/or your sister at all?!? If not, it will be quite a cultural shock compared to Scottsdale! And no matter what anyone tells you, you DON'T want to live in the CITY of Baltimore. It's quite an eyesore, too! Ditto for MANY parts of D.C.! And, even though there is crime in the Phoenix area, there's A LOT more in the Baltimore/D.C. area! Watch your step!! (And keep us posted on this Board about how your search is going!).

Yes the economy has crashed here in the Washington DC area (which includes 6 million people in DC, MD, VA and WVA).<BR><BR>Unemployment is terrible but maybe no worse than other places in the USA. The people who posted saying the economy is great here most likely have safe jobs in low paid retail or are in the medical field. Half the office buildings in the area are empty and the employment agencies tell me that job opportunities for professionals have not been this bad since the recession in the 1980s.<BR><BR>The posters that say there are alot of snobs in the area are right. This is snob city, where you are arted on your income and status much more than a regular area. Neighbors do not talk to each other.<BR><BR>Though on the positive side, the area has alot of trees and is great for weekend trips.

If you don't mind being terrorized, you can get houses for less than $ 200,000 inside the beltway in Prince George's County, suburban murder capital of the USA. If you have kids, they would be in a tiny minority at their schools.

Cathy, do you even read the business pages? DC is practically recession proof since the largest employers are the government, the military, and government/military related. Yes, the dot.com bust has put a lot of tecnho types out of work, but they are far from the main part of DC economy.<BR><BR>The unemployment rate in DC is below the national average.

Michelle,<BR>I definately would not discount the District. To be honest, neighborhoods like Dupont Circle, Capitol Hill, Adams Morgan, Georgetown, and Upper NW are filled with well-to-do professionals and families and if you look hard enough you may find a decent 2-3 bedroom handyman's special for about $250-300K. In addition, you would save thousands of dollars in auto insurance and gas because the metro is accesible, reliable and safe. If you want to spend a miniumum of 2 hours of every work day in traffic then I would recommend living in the burbs. But, if you want to be able to walk to the supermarket or to restaurants or the movies and have a 30 minute metro commute, consider the District. In addition, there are plenty of public and private schools in Northwest DC that are excellent. Check it out.

Michelle,<BR>I definately would not discount the District. To be honest, neighborhoods like Dupont Circle, Capitol Hill, Adams Morgan, Georgetown, and Upper NW are filled with well-to-do professionals and families and if you look hard enough you may find a decent 2-3 bedroom handyman's special for about $250-300K. In addition, you would save thousands of dollars in auto insurance and gas because the metro is accesible, reliable and safe. If you want to spend a miniumum of 2 hours of every work day in traffic then I would recommend living in the burbs. But, if you want to be able to walk to the supermarket or to restaurants or the movies and have a 30 minute metro commute, consider the District. In addition, there are plenty of public and private schools in Northwest DC that are excellent. Check it out.

The District is great, no doubt. But a 700 square foot, 1 bedroom condo (without parking) will cost you at least 300k in Dupont, Georgetown, etc.

Michelle,<BR>Here's a good website to find houses and pictures, and info about various neighborhoods.http://www.realtor.com.<BR>In the Maryland area, try zipcodes 21030 and 21093 for the HuntValley and Lutherville/Timonium area. These neighborhoods can give you what your looking for; off of I-83, 20-25 minutes from downtown Baltimore. The pricing is good in these neighborhoods as well (withing what you stated). There are jobs, the economy has not crashed. I also agree with the Annapolis recommendation. Although it is a bit pricier than the Northern Baltimore County area. Ask your sister about Towson, Timonium,Lutherville, and HuntValley/Cockeysville (all within the Dulaney Valley area mentioned by another poster). Of course we're all giving you adivce on where we live because we love it. Good Luck in your search. Also.. IMHO I think Frederick is a little too far out of the way.

Cathy, sorry to disappoint, but I'm in a well-paid job in the DC area, and so is my husband, and we both get calls from headhunters on a weekly basis. Not because we're special, but because we're accountants. And I have friends in the area in all fields, including technology, and I don't know anyone who's been laid off.<BR><BR>Nationwide, unemployment is at 5.6%. 4% is considered zero unemployment because that includes people transitioning jobs, recent college graduates, and people voluntairly unemployed. So that figure doesn't look too bad to me, and it looks a whole lot better than the unemployment rates when I graduated from college (1991). So things look pretty darn rosey to me.<BR>

TRIP UPDATE!

Oops, hit the return on the last reply...<BR>Well, we flew into Charlotte and loads of places between there and Boston. I have to admit, NC (including Chapel Hill) was very friendly and welcoming. Though I wouldn't live there due to family in Baltimore &amp; want to be within stiking distance. Sooo, we really liked Charlottesville VA - a friendly college town, liberal and seemingly open to &quot;outsiders&quot;. Big enough for all the creature comforts. Husband likes the university for completing his MBA, potentially. Obviously employment issues are a consideration. On to Alexandria and many many surrounding areas (Silver Springs, Annandale, Vienna, etc) - which turned to not-as-friendly. I will mention the sniper did play a small part in it, since we were stuck in 2-hour traffic on 95 just after one of the shootings. This was not related to any of our impressions, though. We liked it better up outside Baltimore, though none were really our lifestyle desires. Fredrick MD did come closer, maybe 3rd on the desire list. Visited Olney, Towson, Reisertown, Lutherville, Ellicott City, Mt Washington (hah!) and others that were suburbs of the larger city, and did not stand alone. Coming from Scottsdale AZ (which is new and really clean) it was tough to compare those aspects - though we like old and charming. not just older.<BR>Loved Boston, but too cold and far for us, too. We're considering looking into Austin TX and KC (husband won't live in STL, where I am from) <BR>Basically we are still on the prowl! I could write more, but hubby needs computer. So this is very brief and omitting lots of in-depth info.

Why would you ever want to leave Scottsdale? <BR><BR>And to all you DC people, why is the traffic so &quot;terrible, horrendous, etc&quot;? I thought DC had one of the nicest most efficient subways systems I have ever seen.<BR>

When I lived there I liked Federal Hill in downtown because its historic and at the harbor. DC is not the easiest place in the world to live for numerous reasons. No major interstates really run THROUGH it which accounts for a lot of the horrible traffic. It might be important to note that while DC has so much to offer its also 80% poverty in the city and some of the suburbs arent much better. Even though the people were typically less than friendly, Baltimore was just easier to deal with compared to DC. Annapolis is beautiful and there are alternatives to avoiding the traffic or at least there were? Columbia is nice and now Howard county has eclipsed Montgomery county in the affluence dept in that matters to you. Columbia is also new by Md standards, its only about 35yrs old and has everything close by. Good luck