In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
True. I guess I sort of bashed the entire city but more so my attempt was to tell a guy from Georgia that if the place your are going does not have an actual Baltimore address then you will be in an area that is not "the worst of the worst." Actually, it will could be very nice.
In reply to John Welsh :
Is this The President of the United States?
Other than driving through it more times than I can remember, my main memory of Baltimore is the graveyard where Poe is buried.
And one of my Spitfire friends lives in Severn, which seems reasonably nice and looks to be a reasonable commute to the BWI area.
volvoclearinghouse said:ultraclyde said:Interestingly enough I'm flying into BWI tomorrow, and back on Thursday. I have to do product demos at a Home Depot on Thursday morning in....uhh...I think it's Westchester, MD? Hotel in Owings Mills for the night.
So the judgemental map above seems really helpful at the moment.
Do you perchance mean Westminster? That HD is 15 minutes from my house. I drive past Owings Mills every day on my commute.
Now that I've rechecked my info, yes, I mean Westminster! Store 2580. HD does regional meeting things where they bring a bunch of their store associates in and have vendors set up demos for them to watch. Increases product knowledge for the people on the front lines recommending (hopefully) your products.
In reply to ultraclyde :
Not sure when you're getting in or what your schedule is, but I can recommend any number of food/beverage intake establishments, given your preferences. I might even be able to join you if you're up for it. Although, my daughter always says, never talk to strangers, and I am pretty...strange. ;-)
While much of Baltimore proper may properly be called a rat-infested septic tank, there are certainly some very nice communities in the surrounding areas. Just be selective about where you choose to live. And go after dark...
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
LMFAO at that map
For several years I lived near Severn (in the shadow of BWI) while working in D.C. It's a decent middle-class suburb, but the cost of living for the whole area was higher than what I was used to in Atlanta so we moved back south as soon as it made sense.
OP - do you get much snow in Kansas? Real winters and icy roads were an adjustment for me; summer tires were completely worthless from Dec-March.
KS gets plenty of ice. Snow isn't such an issue although it can be. I'll have dedicated snows on the car from November to March or April.
To '88Red, uh, sure.
captdownshift said:United Karting is at BWI, real karts, not kid karts. There's a $65 Friday night drop in league.
Thanks for sharing -- have to check that out the next time we're visiting family in the area.
I've lived in MD since late 2012 and Baltimore city since 2015. I'm saving/renovating so I can move down to Florida as soon as possible. I've done my best to keep an open mind so here's my thoughts on Baltimore.
Most importantly, do you have children or plan on having them? If the answer is yes, do not live in Baltimore city unless you can afford to live in a wealthy area with good schools. Baltimore city's schools are notoriously bad, and many don't even have A/C or heat so they're closed all the time due to weather. Unless you're in a really nice neighborhood, but for that you can wind up paying $400K for a 9 foot wide row home. If schools are important, I would recommend living in Baltimore county instead of the city. Property taxes are lower, crime is far lower, schools are better.
If you are single or just have a partner, grabbing an apartment in Fell's Point, Hampden, Federal Hill, or Canton would be neat. And by apartment I mean probably a row home. It'll be pricey but those are neighborhoods where you can walk down your street to the corner pub/restaurant. Lots of stuff to do. I work in Fell's Point and my wife and I grab dinner in these neighborhoods often. Hampden is a few miles north and basically hipsterville, but there's lots of neat stuff.
As has been said, Baltimore is a city of neighborhoods. Pay VERY close attention to that. I once lived in an upscale high rise apartment in a nice neighborhood. 3 blocks to the west, you could get robbed or murdered. Baltimore has extremely high crime but most of it is localized to specific areas - pay attention to crime maps and learn the good and bad areas. Also if you park your car in the city, never leave anything visible inside or there's a good chance someone will break a window to grab it.
Baltimore is an excellent city for the arts, live music (especially rock/punk/metal) gastropubs, craft beer, and things of that nature. There's always a ton of neat stuff to do. And it's in a great central location where you can take day trips to DC, Northern VA, Philly, Delaware, all sorts of neat places. Even NYC is a 4 hour drive.
The roads pretty much suck. The nearest autocrossing is in Washington DC. Nearest race track I believe is VIR. Not the best state for motorsports, I would say.
There's positives and negatives to Baltimore. I wouldn't choose settling down here but if it fits your current life situation right, you could have an excellent few years, especially with a good job that paid well.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse :
I'd love to, but timing may be a PITA. I land at 430pm and have to pick up the rental, then fight traffic up to the owings mills area and check in to the hotel. Evening plans include dinner somewhere nearby and a run to one of the HDs in Owings Mills for supplies. I'm out the next day by 3pm.
In reply to infinitenexus :
you pretty much described all the northern east coast cities.. Philly.. Newark.. NYC.. New Haven.. Boston.. Etc.
Fueled by Caffeine said:In reply to infinitenexus :
you pretty much described all the northern east coast cities.. Philly.. Newark.. NYC.. New Haven.. Boston.. Etc.
Sounds remarkably similar to any large city with a highly developed suburbia, honestly.
Stupid question, but what does “the wire” on the neighborhood map mean ?
In reply to einy :
Where the only cop show ever made worth watching, The Wire, took place.
I’ll have to check that show out if I can find it somewhere. Thanks !
ahhh ... the HBO series I see now
In reply to einy :
Amazon Prime. Maybe HBOGo too.
Cool ... I have Prime
RevRico said:In reply to einy :
Where the only cop show ever made worth watching, The Wire, took place.
Well, The Wire, of course, evolved from Homicide: Life on the Street, also set in Baltimore. Ran from '93 to '99.
In reply to ultraclyde :
Understood. Figured it might be a tight schedule. For dinner, a coworker of mine who lives in OM recommends "Granny's". Down home southern cookin', and they do serve drinks, too (and supposedly great desserts). En route from bwi to OM, "Deusenburg's" in Catonsville is a nice little spot for German food.
I can't recommend anywhere for that Maryland staple, the crab cake, because frankly no one makes them as good as I do. 
In reply to infinitenexus :
No kids, no partner. The row house situation sounds fine as long as I can find one with a garage. I know that won't be easy. I've taken the train from New Haven CT down to DC and enjoyed that (train delays going back were less than awesome...) I'll have a 9/80 work schedule if I take the job so three day weekends every other week and there's some other things like flex time that could work to my advantage as well. I'm not that worried about motorsports, if I'm honest I've never been on a track of any sort unless we're talking about running.
Crime map and neighborhood to neighborhood differences seem similar to New Haven or Philly. I kind of wonder if Baltimore is more like New Haven than Philly in some ways although I wouldn't be making very educated statements on that at this point in time.
I have an offer letter waiting on me and need to figure out my entire life by Monday so thanks again to everyone providing solid feedback based on your own experiences. So to the four or so of you that have done so, thanks!
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
If you decide to accept the offer, feel free to reach out to me for input on the move. I've lived in a few places in the area and my travels have taken me all over the city and suburbs.
You're right; rowhomes with garages are somewhat dear. A lot of the newer construction has it, and some renos, but you pay for that. I'd really, really strongly recommend a first-ring suburb over downtown; that's what I did when I was single and living here and would do it again.
Where in KS are you currently?
If you're in the Metro, I'm sure KC can be compared to Baltimore after seeing the earlier map; a couple/few decent areas in city proper, but you'll be paying for it. If you'd like a wider selection of neighborhoods and houses, you're pushed to the 'burbs.
Fuzz, I live in Lawrence, I work in Olathe. Baltimore seems less sprawly that KC. I'm really hoping to find a walkable neighborhood in Baltimore that still gets me my own garage space for projects and security without spending everything I make on rent. Remains to be seen how likely this is.
pres589 (djronnebaum) said:Fuzz, I live in Lawrence, I work in Olathe. Baltimore seems less sprawly that KC. I'm really hoping to find a walkable neighborhood in Baltimore that still gets me my own garage space for projects and security without spending everything I make on rent. Remains to be seen how likely this is.
As a reference point, I own a rental house on the South side in a first ring suburb of B-more. Market rent for a 3 bedroom detached single family will run you 1500 to 2k a month. My house has a somewhat oversized garage, but the neighbor to one side of me is also a rental and they have a nice 2 car garage. I have decent renters in there now, as does the neighbor, so those places aren't on the market, but you should be able to find something. My place isn't walkable to downtown B-more, but it is walkable to a local neighborhood community with bars, restaurants, supermarket, etc. Home depot and auto parts stores 5 minutes drive away.
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