hockeyspaniel

Hi, Just reading another post of JDUB "Relocating to the DC area." My husband and I are doing the same. My husband has been trying to impress upon me the traffic issues. He will be working in the Frederick Md. area. But we wanted to live closer to the city and are looking in Leesburg. We are empty nesters and really would like the more Urban - loft living lifestyle. I thought Arlington to Frederick might not be a bad commute but after reading everyones posts I see I am wrong. Any suggesstions for where to find an urban/manhattan style of living at a reasonable cost and still be able to commute to Frederick?

horizon

Baltimore

cnn

My husband use to commute to Frederick from Leesburg. The drive is very nice and you would be going in the opposite direction of traffic. The drive is about 45-60 minutes. Leesburg is not any closer to the "city" then Frederick. It more of a surbanite then loft style living. We love living in the Leesburg area. It is 45 minutes to the city on weekends. Loft living- Washington DC Arlington and perhaps Silver Spring...but not Leesburg.

cnn

Baltimore - Great Suggestion and its affordable.

MikeT

Even Baltimore is going to be a really long commute to Frederick.

I think you probably just need to forego the idea that you can live an "urban" life and have to work in Frederick. It may be an impossibility.

justme22

baltimore to frederick is a long drive. the traffic can be bad in and out of the city (and i lived there 20 years ago!) perhaps there is a revitalization going on in frederick in a historically industrial part of the area that might approach an urban setting.

moose21222

Take a good look at a map. There are NO areas around DC that are not grid locked at rush hour. Arlington to Frederick will be a monster commute. Yes the run out I-270 to Frederck will be counter flow but from the Captial Beltway-in you will be with the herd. Rush hour last 6:30 to 9 and 3:30 to 6:30. Try Bethesda or Chevy Chase. This will give you the urban thing and cut the Arlington to Fredercik run in half if not more. Condos in DT Balto are not a bad option either.

jo_ann

I left that area for Richmond about 20 yrs ago, but still head there lots for family "stuff". I may be missing something, but why not the Rockville/Gaithersburg area? Access to metro, so downtown easily (which would be a must for me). Lovely countryside - rolling hills - just like Leesburg (I have family in both spots) Great restaurants, outdoor activities (the urban lifestyle) gives your husband a very easy commute (head against traffic up I-270), so you can do dinners and wandering as you want in the evenings.

hockeyspaniel

Thanks for the info. At least we are going against the traffic; but that beltway is the problem. So sounds like I need to avoid that. Perhaps anything between Leesburg and Frederick and Bethesda & Frederick might work. Thanks

birgator

Surprise, but Frederick itself is actually a pretty nifty town -- albeit not Manhattan -- but there's tons of urban renewal, historic district revamping, groovy restaurants, lots of antique and other shops. And probably a loft or two. The historic downtown actually approaches a "small" urban lifestyle these days, depending on your definition of course.

I suspect that for what you may save in housing costs (there ain't no reasonable houses/apartments/condos where you're looking -- check Bethesda for one), you could live in Frederick, and spend every week end in DC at a hotel of your choice if you so desired. Voila!

B/

repete

In either Leesburg to Frederick or Bethesda to Frederick, you're certainly not getting an urban, loft-living lifestyle.

If you're looking for ``Manhattan'' style, you've got to be in town. Leesburg to Frederick offers only varying shades of outer suburb gray. Leesburg is the heart of Va. suburban sprawl and it's still a good hike into the city with little help from mass transit.

Bethesda has many more urban amenities and is close to the city, put doesn't have much ``loft/Manhattan'' housing.

Arlington to Frederick would be an absolute nightmare.

I'd say an extended house hunting trip -- or some temportary quarters while you learn the area -- might be the way to go.

rockhopper7

Has anyone addressed what "reasonable" costs might be in the DC area? Unless hockeyspaniel is coming from one the other grossly overpriced US cities, she and Mr. HS may get a bad case of sticker shock.

Budman

If he's working in Frederick, I would relocate in Frederick or close by. The traffic and commute in the DC area gets old after a while.

ilisa

Would you consider living in Frederick area? We moved here a year ago and absolutely adore it. The city has a lot to offer with shops, restaurants, antiques. There is also a lot historically and culturally. It takes us about 50 minutes or so to get to DC. Housing prices are here are going up, but are still less than say, in Montgomery Co., where we came from or other places closer to the city.

kgh8m

As has already been discussed, the commute from Arlington to Frederick would be a nightmare, even if it a reverse commute. I live in Fairfax County near Dulles, so it is 20-30 minutes closer to Frederick than Arlington, and I wouldn't drive to Frederick every weekend, much less every day. In addition to it being a long commute miles-wise, Hwy. 15 is 2 lanes and can back up between here and there.

Baltimore to Frederick is also not a commute I would wish upon someone every day - I've done it about a dozen times. Hwy. 70 often has traffic problems, too, and miles-wise, it can be a haul.

You don't say where you're moving from, but chances are, there may be some sticker-shock. And, even if no sticker shock, there's no need to pay 3 times as much to live somewhere near Frederick than it costs to live in Frederick. The places that have been suggested are all more expensive places to live than Frederick. Arlington is a very expensive place to live. Frederick has a much lower cost of living than the other places it's been suggested that you consider.

There appear to be condos and townhomes in Frederick's downtown and historic areas on www.realtor.com, so you could be within walking distance of some activities. It might make sense for you to live in one of those, save on the housing costs, and then update the condo to your tastes, or travel to DC each weekend.

Good luck!

uhoh_busted

You really will want to look at Frederick, itself if you want a slightly urban lifestyle. We seriously looked at Baltimore, ourselves, before moving to Durham, NC. Commuting to Frederick from Baltimore might not be horrible -- I'd suggest staying near Federal Hill or thereabouts (even the Inner Harbor) on one trip to see how it feels, and try to be there during the week so you could see what the commute might be like.

Housing costs in the Washington DC area are astronomical. Whatever option you decide to take, (Frederick or Baltimore are, I think, your best choices) you might be wise to rent for 6 months to a year, unless you find something that REALLY grabs you. I remember reading someplace in the last few months that it is more cost-effective to RENT than to buy in the DC area (unless you have a good bit of equity to put down...and then you really will want to be comfortable before you gamble all that equity on a place that might not fit all your needs!)

Christina

I live on the edge of DC proper and have friends and relatives in Frederick, Columbia, Arlington etc and, as others have said --- what you want is impossible. Most people would love to be able just to live and work in Frederick, rather than having to commute to DC to work, but live in Frederick. Rockville and Gaithersburg are not urban living, there would be no point at all to living there. Bethesda might be the closest to what I'd call urban living, but that commute would be horrendous, as well as real estate in Bethesda. Leesburg is a small town, I don't understand the idea of living there for urban loft living like Manhattan. Frederick is more urban to me.

JoyinVirginia

Any possibility you could rent near your husband's work for a while? Live close to a Metro station that would take you into DC easily when you wanted to go? Whatever you do, DON'T live on one side of a bridge and commute to the other side - ESPECIALLY the Woodrow Wilson Bridge that I-95 runs over, the main artery connecting Va and Md.Whatever your husband has told you about traffic - unless you are coming from LA or NY or Boston areas you just can't fully understand until you have driven in the area yourself. You have gotten some great advice in this thread!

NotImportant

Ive lived in Northern Virginia all all my life. Im 35 years old now. 10 years ago the population in this area started to grow at an almost unbelievable rate. Population here double between when I was 20-25 and then was 8 times what it was when 20 till when I became 33. I don’t have any hard facts to support this and am gauging by the people I see on the road and in the stores. They keep building houses on every piece of open land. More house and more people come… right now the roads can’t support then people that are here. Commute times to go just 20 miles on average are 1 ½ hours now. And they keep building house. Road development around here sucks. By the time they get done building something its already out of date. THAT and don’t forget about the MS13 gang that now resides in our area. For those of you that don’t know MS13 is the worst gang that has ever existed. They deal with all the normal gang related crime, drugs, rape, murder…along with human trafficking. Our fearless police force commissioner in a Public Relations conference when asked what the Fairfax police force was doing about the gang problem stated “Law enforcement concerning MS13 in this area is not an option” They would rather just give you a parking violation ticket.

If you have anyway not to live here…run. Get away from this place. It used to be a nice place but the population has grown to fast and no one is running to catch up except for the housing developers…which btw will charge you and unbelievable price to by a home here. Want to buy nothing more then a home that isn’t falling apart? Expect to pay ½ million for it.

emd

I've lived in N.VA for 20+ years (West Springfield now). It has alot to offer, but once we are empty nesters we are going to be out of here fast. I don't think you can live the kind of loft life you want and commute to Fredrick. Gaithersburg is a possibility but it is suburban and congested like everywhere else. Living in Fredrick could perhaps be described as "quaint" or something like that, but it is not urban-loft, it's a small town. I think you should come here and rent a car similar to the one you'll be driving and spend some time commuting around at rush hour and check out the areas. We considered living in Leesburg/Loudon Co. a few yrs ago and looked all over that area but that area is very different than what you describe. The living areas (developments) can be far from each other and it seemed to us like nothing connects them.
Unfortunately, much of what NotImportant says is true. But if you are like us, the work is here, and as I said, it has good points (esp. good schools where we are). This past weekend my daughter and I stayed downtown and went to an excellent exhibit at the Phillips, a play at the Kennedy Center, etc. But then we get out of D.C. and come home.