Posted on 11/12/2013 2:28:59 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck
You chose wisely.
Still, I found my wife here - so I can't complain (much) for being rooted in this Stalinist wannabee State.
Anne Arundel County isn’t bad, but it’s still part of Maryland. You’d better check out our new gun laws to see what you can and cannot bring into the state and what you have to do.
Me, in a couple of years I’m leaving, probably moving to Texas.
Post 39 is quite correct about the resale value of the property. The husband and I lived within an hour of what is now the site of a new casino there before we retired to MD’s beautiful Eastern Shore. The rate of development in the Hanover area is astounding because of that stinking casino but also because of the government work at Ft. Meade, but you can find some decent housing and nice people in Harford and Anne Arundel Counties, as #39 says.
You might also want to check out the Catonsville area of Baltimore County.
Had to clear out the in-floating debris everyday and the marine railroad terminus butted up against a huge factory building.
Pretty humid in the summers.
High State Income tax when combined with the County piggyback rate.
AA Co. has some nice places, but likely pricy. Best to avoid a big commute.
LOL! Back when life was good! I grew up in southern Md. and loved living there. Beltway traffic drove me crazy so I moved.
Nope.
“Free state”.
You know how that goes.
I live in Severna Park, Anne Arundel Co. A nice little Conservative enclave on the Severn River, 5 miles as the crow flies from Annapolis...excellent National Blue Ribbon public schools (all of them) because the parents care. Nice alternative to to the $10-30K/yr private schools. I’ve grown up here since 1976...we need more Conservatives. Love the Chesapeake...
You would think so, wouldn’t you?
We “lucked out” last year and they went down from $1600 to $1500.
[Now we can afford that vacay in the Caribbean]
:-\
You’d throw up if I told you what our electric bill is.
If you have kids who will attend public school... you’ll want your kids to attend school in Howard or Montgomery County, and then you’ll want to look at the school demographics and number of AP classes offered in the high schools.
Job wise, this area has been pretty bullet proof.
You could live in Howard County. It’s very nice. There are actually some conservatives there. It’s geographically handsome, far more peaceful than Montgomery or Anne arundel, and a quick commute to Hanover.
You could live in Howard County. It’s very nice. There are actually some conservatives there. It’s geographically handsome, far more peaceful than Montgomery or Anne arundel, and a quick commute to Hanover.
What does “Hanover. South Baltimore. Anne Arundel County.” mean?
Carroll County to Hanover is a tolerable commute. (Most days).
Carroll is about as red as you get in central Maryland. Housing isn’t “cheap”, but it’s more affordable than places inside the immediate Baltimore/DC corridor.
As said up thread, be careful about bringing your guns in. Check the laws, the whole thing went nuts post 01/10/2013.
I grew up, spent the majority of my life in Maryland, actually grew up in South Baltimore just a block from the AA county line, went to HS in Baltimore City – a very good all girls public HS, lived in NE Baltimore City for many years and then Bel Air, Harford County for the last four years before moving to PA in late 2009 (long story, lost my job, was out of work for well over a year starting in 2008 and had to sell my house in a fire sale before the foreclosure, moved in with my niece here in the York area otherwise I’d probably still be in Maryland). I currently live in York and FWIW when I first moved here, I was commuting to Hunt Valley, MD every day for work.
A few observations/comments:
So many Marylanders moved to southern York County and the York area over the last 10+15 years, that if you live up here and work in Baltimore County or Baltimore City, the commute down and back up I-83 can be murder. And a commute to Hanover would be even worse as you’d have to get on the Baltimore Beltway and then on I-95 and go through either the FSK or Baltimore Harbor tunnels to get to Hanover. I “guestimate” that commuting from York to Hanover MD would a good two + hour commute and that’s on a “good day”, not to mention the tolls.
While the cost of living here in PA is “generally” cheaper than in MD it is not always. Depending on the locality, property taxes and car insurance are cheaper, housing costs are less but so are the property values and housing choices. Sales taxes are the same at 6% but PA does not tax clothing. But then again the roads here in PA are horrible compared to MD. Gas prices vary as do utilities; generally cheaper in PA except for if you have to use LP gas and a lot of places around here have LP unless you live in bigger town or newer development.
MD has county taxes but they are rolled into and included in the State taxes (the so-called Piggy Back%) that varies from county to county but withheld and filed on one single MD tax return. In addition to the state tax, PA has the local taxes (EIT – Earned Income Tax), not by “county” but by local PSD’s (political subdivisions) of which there are hundreds and hundreds statewide), the state tax is a flat tax of 3.07% - no married/single rate, no withholding exemptions and then there is a LST – Local Services Tax – typically $52 per year. The EIT also includes the local school taxes but depending on the local school district you are in, they can be quite high. And while a Maryland employer may withhold PA state taxes if they if they withhold PA taxes or have “nexis” (a PA business location) and there is a reciprocal agreement between MD and PA on the state taxes, the MD employer may not - probably won’t withhold the local resident taxes. Perhaps not a big deal, but it is IMO more of a PITA to file three or four returns every year rather than two and self remit the local and LST taxes and some of the local tax bureaus are a real pain to deal with.
And here in PA there is also an employee unemployment payroll tax (SUI) at .07% for 2013 of ALL gross wages. PA also taxes 401k contributions (i.e. your 401k contributions are not excluded from PA state and local tax). The upside is that if you choose to retire in PA, your qualified 401k distributions are not taxed. Of course if you retire to a state with no income tax to begin with like FL or TX…
Then there are the annual auto inspections here in PA. You have to have your car inspected at a state certified inspection center every year (separate from your annual registration renewal). This is a “safety” inspection and an emissions inspection and if you don’t display an up to date inspection and emissions sticker, you can face a huge ticket (last year my great niece got a ticket for over $300 for being two days past the due date – the actual expired inspection ticket was only about $50 but then there were all sorts of added “fees” tacked on). The cost of both annual inspections, including the “fee” for putting the sticker on your windshield, usually runs around $70 although every inspection center sets their own price. But that doesn’t include the cost of anything the inspection center fails you on. And believe me, there are some inspection stations that WILL find “something” and offer to give you a quote to take care of it.
I took my car in for inspection at the end of October at one of those quick oil change centers because it was cheap and I didn’t need an appointment and was pressed for time with my work travel schedule of late, big mistake; they failed my inspection – telling me that I needed new rear brake drums and new windshield wipers. When I told them I preferred to take it somewhere else to have the work done, they copped a very nasty attitude with me and when I did take it to my usual garage, they found my break drums and windshield wipers were just fine and passed them. They did however find that my battery, the one the first place replaced last year, was not seated and strapped down properly, a true safety concern and probably explaining that rattling noise I’d been hearing. It cost me another $25 to have them re-inspect and issue my sticker but that was a lot cheaper than having unnecessary work done. And yes, I’m contacting Penn-Dot to file a complaint although I don’t expect anything to come of it.
And if you like in imbibe in an “adult beverage”, here in PA you pretty much can’t buy liquor or wine expect from a PA state run store (there are a few wineries that can sell you a bottles of wine but there is only one option for liquor). The prices are high and the customer service at the Wine and Sprit Stores are about as good and quick and surly and attitude free as what you will find at Penn Dot (DMV) when renewing your driver’s license or registration. And if you want some beer, again except for a very few exceptions, you have to buy beer from a beer distributor and you have to buy it by the case. A few “Wine and Sprit” stores and beer distributors are open on Sundays however. Re: York.
York and its surrounding areas have all the crime, race problems, illegal alien problems, “no habla ingles”, drug problems, shootings, stabbings, armed robberies, meth labs, home invasions that Baltimore City and its surrounding areas does, albeit on a smaller scale but without the good restaurants and museums, cultural events, and things that IMO make living in a major city worthwhile. And I’m still not used to so many local businesses closing at 5 or 6 PM weekdays and not being open on Sundays’. It’s a different culture up here¸ not to say that’s a bad thing but it’s just different from what I’m used to. For instance I used to go to a local family owned coffee shop in Bel Air Maryland every Sunday morning to meet with friends and hang out and drink coffee and eat muffins but when a new local coffee shop opened up just around the corner from me, I was really looking forward to continuing my Sunday morning routine only to find they are closed on Sundays’. Oh well, Starbucks is open on Sunday’s but I’d rather spend my money at a local business. I’ve yet to find a really good Chinese carryout or sushi place and forget Indian or Thai.. there are however some good Mexican and Latino joints, no surprise since there are so many Hispanics in York.
And while the surrounding areas are quite conservative, York City is very liberal and drags everything around it down. I have to say that having grown up and having lived in Baltimore most of my life, I have some “street smarts” and knew where not to go or where to keep my guard up but I pretty much went all around Baltimore City all the time and felt relatively “safe”, but there are some places in York City that I’m afraid to drive through in broad daylight. Same with Lancaster City and hint, it’s not the “Amish Mafia” that you have to be concerned with : ).
And generally speaking, the wages around here suck. So unless you have a really good job locally or you are OK with a one to two hour + commute to Maryland or DC or to (shudders) Philly, I don’t have a lot to recommend about York. If you work around here but make a lot less, the overall lower cost of living won’t gain you anything unless you commute a long distance for a higher wage, and a lot of that is used up in gas and travel time. Then there is just up the road from York, the capitol of PA, Harrisburg, otherwise known as “Detroit on the Susquehanna”.
Yea, Baltimore City and some of the surrounding areas are pretty bad, very bad, very bad in fact and there are a lot of liberals in Baltimore and surrounding the DC area, but many would be surprised how many conservatives there are in Maryland and even in Baltimore, even in Baltimore City, I knew quite a few when I lived there including some of my former neighbors in NE Baltimore. Just my observation too, and generally speaking, I find that the people here in PA are not as friendly as the people in MD. That’s not to say that there aren’t exceptions – that I ran into completely rude, nasty, a-holes in MD and some have found some very nice people here in PA but just generally speaking, in my day to day interactions with strangers and on the road, that people in PA are not generally as nice as “true” life-long Marylanders who still have and hold on to a bit of “southern charm”. Just my observation, I’m sure a lot of people will find and tell you differently.
The bottom line is that there are good and bad, honest people and criminals, conservative and liberal people just about everywhere you go and that no place is “perfect”. I sometimes miss living in Maryland even though I b’d and complained about living there when I did, I’m sure that if I moved back to Maryland, I’d miss PA. Home is where and how you make it. Find like minded people and good friends and good food and good and fun places to go and it will be “home”.
Hanover. South Baltimore. Anne Arundel County. Big trouble, I hear. But can it be survived? Has anyone dwelt there and lived to tell the tale?
As other have said, Hanover is situated close enough but still affordable enough to DC to be a sleeper community. There are parts that aren’t so nice (stay away from going south into to Laurel for instance and north to parts of Glen Burnie) but Hanover is an up and coming and an increasingly upscale area, in part also due to its close proximity to Ft. Meade (NSA and The Goddard Space Center) and all their affiliated contractors. BRAC (Base Closure and Realignment) has brought a lot of new high tech jobs and highly paid people to the area. While that has probably increased housing costs in the area due to increased demand, the flip side is that wages for in demand tech skills are also at a premium and more upscale shopping and dining and entertainments have also moved in. But then if you want a more rural experience or like hunting and fishing or water sports, you are in the right place for that too and not all that far a drive to the Maryland Eastern Shore. FWIW, there are also a few indoor gun ranges around the Ft. Meade area.
That’s the BWI area of Maryland.
The nice things about this area are :
1) Lots of jobs C/O DC and taxpayers
2) Tons of stuff to do outside work: Ocean (City), Mountains west of Baltimore ~ 40 miles (and even better Southwest in VA), DC tourist stuff, and some crappy skiing in PA.
I don’t venture into Baltimore anymore but I am sure there is stuff there to do.
?
The bad stuff?? O Malley and Democrats
“I don’t venture into Baltimore anymore but I am sure there is stuff there to do.”
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The Orioles and their beautiful ballpark.
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That Park just made it more difficult to get into the City from the South and West side.
Too much traffic because of it and too few exits , coming in from the North Highway 83 is unaffected.
But it is a tourist attraction. An expensive one.
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