Polly, CPA

Correction, Roger. Montgomery Co does not have the highest Maryland tax rate. Frederick, Harford, Prince Georges, St Mary's, Somerset and Wicomico are all higher than Montgomery meaning 25% of Maryland counties have higher taxes.

Carol

I think the Buffalo poster was referring to a suburb of Buffalo rather than the city ... don't knock it if you haven't been there. Some of the Buffalo suburbs are really nice (Amherst, East Aurora, Orchard Park). Also, I think Amherst, NY was rated as one of the safest towns in the US ... it's school system is excellent.

I'm also in "sticker shock." I have traveled often for business to the Washington DC area and have gone out to Rockville, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Gaithersburg for business. I know that those areas are nice, but what is left over after you pay the mortgage and taxes on a $500,000+ house? I live in a very nice suburb of Rochester, New York (and can get into the city in 10-15 minutes for restaurants, concerts, theater, etc). You can but a new or fairly new, 2000-2500sf, 4B, 2 1/2 bath house on a 1/2 acre in an area with a good school system in the 200s, depending on the home's features ... $250,000 will get you a beautiful, fully updated or new house. If you want to spend more that $300,000 you can buy a huge, brand new home or a really deluxe preexisting house. Commutes average 15-20 minutes (30 minutes tops unless coming from outside the county). I've looked into jobs in the Maryland/Washington DC area in my field, and the pay range is no higher than what I make here! So, I have alot more money left over for other things .... LIKE TRAVELING!

JTA

I repeat: Check out Gaithersburg!

As a burned out commuter, I refuse to commute anymore. The furthest south I will go travel for a job is Bethesda, and it's a pretty easy commute. Roger thinks Gaithersburg is ugly and overly-planned. I don't really know what he's talking about. And really, Kent Island is nice, but travelling the Chesapeake Bay Bridge twice a day is NO PICNIC, especially with Spring, Summer and Fall beach traffic. We have friends at Kent Island and if they didn't work from home, they wouldn't be able to live there. Beautiful place to visit, but to live? Gaithersburg!!

carolyn

Liz,

Bethesda is a great suburb of DC, except maybe the traffic on Wisconsin Avenue. The housing market is extremely tight there, and most of the neighborhoods are established, especially inside the beltway. You'll be in heaven if you like to eat out, downtown Bethesda is loaded with every type of restaurant you can imagine.

The further you get outside the beltway, the cheaper the housing prices are. You may want to look in areas Chevy Chase close to the Silver Spring line (there is a little pocket there that is a little cheaper), and as someone else mentioned, Kensington.

I don't know about the schools; generally, I've always heard Montgomery County Schools are good.

Roger

A correction for Poly- when you take into account Montgomery's very high property tax rates and Montgomery's extraordinarily high property values, you can expect to pay the most in taxes if you live in Montgomery, especially Bethesda. And it's pretty damned hard to get whiskey on a Sunday in Montgomery. Come to Queen Anne's- lower taxes, better buys for houses (I bought a ranch on two acres for $ 152,000 in 1991) and, best of all, I can buy whiskey on a Sunday, no problem.

Roger

And a couple quick notes. Carol, you should have been here when the Clinton crowd came here in 1992-93. After living in semi-mansions in Little Rock, bought for 150 grand, they were SHOCKED at DC's high prices. Blame Washington's high prices on all the money voters vote to send here. Where there's a lot of cash and power, you'll find a lot of lawyer-types and politicians fighting for a good chunk of the funds. As for JTA, I live five miles on the east side of the Kent Narrows Bridge so I know the commute can be done. Often less then 1 1/2 hours one way. I listen to a lot of audiobooks in the car and read books on the subway.

Christina

yet another corner heard from -- me, I live in Takoma Park, much maligned around here. Sorry, Roger, you are wrong about the taxes; I live in a house that was in PG county and then it became Montgomery County through referendum (they moved county border) .. My property taxes went down IMMEDIATELY! I lived in the same house, but the tax rate was a lot lower. So, it isn't true that Montgomery has higher property taxes than PG County. In fact, some years later (maybe 7? I think we changed counties in 1995) my property taxes are still lower than they were when my property was in PG county, 7 years ago, even after all the inflation in houses prices and the fact that my assessed value went up. I don't like to talk about the value of things on here, but to give you an idea, my property taxes are roughly 1.5% the assessed value of my house (I think the percent is the same regardless of house value) which is very close to the market value. I don't own one of those 500K jobbies, but that means the yearly property taxes would be $3784 on a 250K house (and my property taxes are higher in Takoma Park than other parts of the county because we pay a city add-on).

I also suggest some nicer areas of Silver Spring and yes, Takoma Park. It can be nice and housing costs may be half or little more of Bethesda for same thing. Some people have said things about it on here which refer to a low income area nearby (Langley) and that is not so nice there, but that is not Takoma Park. Some other remark compared Silver Spring as a "far-out" suburb equivalent to Manassas! Silver Spring is right on the border of DC (it is a large area called that name, some areas can be far out, but there are nicer older neighborhoods like Colesville close to the DC border and the beltway and East-West highway which goes directly to Bethesda) and is NOTHING like Manassas, which I wouldn't even call a suburb of the city myself, it's on the way to West Virginia.

I haven't been in the market in that area and don't know schools (but Montgomery county in general is good, I thought), but a good real estate agent can help you with charming older but good neighborhoods close to the border. I may be off, but in Takoma Park (which I like because it's a real town, even if not much, in comparison to just suburbia) I think you could get something $250-350K like you want.

You don't want to live in VA, I don't think. Traffic is horrendous and houses cost more (although some taxes are lower). The traffic around Bethesda is not so great, but in general it is better in Montgomery County than NoVa. It's better around where I live in Takoma Park than Bethesda. If they only would make that metro connecting line from Takoma Park to Bethesda, it would be great.

Christina

oh, re the taxes as I just did mine -- of course, the income tax rate is slightly lower in Montgomery, also, as the CPA noted above. But the property taxes are also lower than in PG county.

Alex

Regarding the restaurant Benihana of Tokyo: What a contrived, phony, plastic, unexciting and, of course, CLAUSTROPHOBIC Disney-like JOKE that place really is!!

Ted

Takoma Park or Silver Spring?!? You must be joking!! You would be better off living in Germantown or Gaithersburg (try Montgomery Village)!!

Roger

Quit quibbling, Christina. Using a personal anecdote that I have no desire to research for refutation does not alter the fact that Maryland is a very high-tax state and that Montgomery County is a very high-tax county. So is Prince George's- I used to live in Seabrook and in Laurel. PG is such a hole (horrid schools, maybe the most murderous suburban county in America) that quite possibly they've raised property taxes so extraordinarily high in order to make up for residential flight, the idea being to squeeze as much out of a homeowner before he/she leaves to become part of Maryland's suburban sprawl problem. As an aside, I believe Christina's situation is unusual- a few years ago Takoma Park, split between wealthier Montgomery County and poorer PG County for years, voted to move its PG portion to Montgomery County. That may account for Christina's assertion. By the way, Liz, you may wish to consider Annandale, Virginia. Large houses can be had there for $ 350,000-380,000, the public schools have improved immensely in that particular area and the elite magnet high school, Thomas Jefferson, is close by.

pete

Here's a link showing all the MD property taxes by county. Montgomery is not the highest. Baltimore City is.
http://www.sentineltitle.com/tax_rates.htm

ilisa

Liz, I live in Montgomery County, in Germantown. Now, while I personally can't afford a $400-500,000 home, I have many friends who can. They have all purchased homes in the Potomac, North Potomac, Rockville and Gaithersburg areas. Some of these homes are in the Wootton school district which is considered the best in the county. So, you may want to consider those areas. In addition, while there are plenty of new developments, there are also plenty of older homes (where you will get more land). A girlfriend of mine who is house hunting (and refuses to pay as much as $400,00 for a home) said she found you can get more for your money in an older home in Potomac, than the newer homes in N. Potomac or Rockville. As far as the commute to Bethesda, it takes me about 20 minutes with no traffic. Metro is very accessible, as well.

Johnlw

A little further out in Maryland is Columbia, in Howard County. It is a planned community, centered around ten 'villages.' Great schools, lower tax rate, and lower housing prices. Here is a link--

http://columbiamaryland.com/

We love it.

liz

I really appreciate all the responses. There is some great information here. Now I can go to some real estate websites and know which areas to look in.

Ann

Traffic and housing prices are just as bad in Maryland as Virginia. Everyone who lives in Maryland says they would never live in Virginia, and all of the Virginians say they would never live in Maryland.

It simply makes sense to live in Maryland if you work in MD, live in VA if you work in VA, and live in DC if you work in DC.

colum

You'll get some mixed reports on places like Columbia -- it's probably just a matter of taste. Some consider "planned" communites to be a bit sterile, but others love them (I'm in the first group). And I have visited Columbia several times, so I'm no stranger to the place. It's all a matter of what you're looking for.

pete

Find a few areas you like, then stay in a hotel in each of those areas and try your commute in morning and evening on a regular workday. This area is so congested it can take 1.5 hours to go 20 miles. You cannot tell what the commute will be like by being on the roads on the weekends. For example, Columbia might seem convenient since it is 1/2 way between DC and Baltimore, and only 25 miles from DC, but the Baltimore-Washington Parkway north is completely packed for about 20 miles every evening rush hour (from New York Avenue all the way to the 197 exit). You would not know this if you drove from DC to Columbia on a weekend. Another suggestion is to look at Garrett Park, it's a small incorporated town right between Rockville & Kensington. It has older, large victorian homes (but is expensive), and a MARC train station that goes into Union Station. I think it's a very attractive neighborhood, and if you have $500-$600K, you should be able to find something.

Here's the link to the Montgomery county schools website: http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/
It has school boundary info, test results, and school population statistics.

Roger

Pete may be right on the RATES but, due to property values, your gross property taxes will be higher in Montgomery, especially Bethesda. Baltimore County's rate may be higher because houses have comparatively poor value in places like Sparrow's Point, Arbutus, Dundalk and Essex.

mjh

I live in Columbia and I like it very much BUT whenever I have to go to a meeting in Bethesda I cringe. Last time it took me over an hour and a half, and I hear that the traffic that day was "normal". There are many jobs in my field in Bethesda but I wouldn't even consider them because it takes so long to get there.

I say stick to Rockville, Potomac, Kensington, Garrett Park -- around that general area. Drive the exact commute to your Bethesda job during rush hour to see what it's like. It is very congested around that area. Ideally live near the Metro or on a route with buses that feed into the Metro but, again, take the public transportation commute to the job during rush hour morning and night.

The Washington area is a great area to live in.