Tuesday, February 21, 2012

We're moving to Baltimore - where should we live?

My husband and I want to find a safe place to live that is somewhat near Johns Hopkins Medical Centre and is also close to amenities like coffee shops, restaurants, etc. We are looking to rent. Do you know of any good places?We're moving to Baltimore - where should we live?
Hopkins has 2 campuses - the main one on Wolfe St. and the Bayview Medical Center. The Canton neighborhood was overpriced but a market correction may have made some properties affordable.



I would suggest Greektown because one could take a long walk to Bayview or drive 10 minutes to the main Hopkins campus. Canton is 10 minutes away with its restaurants, shops and other amenities.



Now that Hopkins is building new patient towers on Orleans St., the surrounding neighborhood is likely to gentrify and the quality of housing and the neighborhood will improve.



Please do not be dissuaded by those who speak against living in the city. If you live in White Marsh or Glen Burnie, you have to cross a tunnel to go to work every day. The I-95 tunnels are shut down a few times a week due to accidents and bomb scares. Living in the city avoids those possibilities.



{EDIT} Johns Hopkins operates a shuttle service between the academic campus on Charles St. and the medical institutions (plus the Peabody Conservatory). If you wind up living in Charles Village, you can take the shuttle bus. Hopkins also operates a shuttle between the large parking lots in downtown Baltimore and the hospitals. I agree with the poster that there are established neighborhoods throughout the Baltimore Metro area but it boils down to what you can afford and how close you want to be to the amentities you describe in the question. For example, Hampden has many amenities along 36th St. and the housing prices may have corrected themselves. Yet, Ednor Gardens is isolated and one needs a car to drive anywhere outside the community.
Thank you very much. I was mildly exaggerating about the bomb scares (there was one in 2006 which shut down the Ft. McHenry Tunnel for 5 hours) but there are always accidents and construction in and near the tunnels. Good luck in your search and welcome to Baltimore.

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We're moving to Baltimore - where should we live?
Rather than live outside of the city (Balto Co like White Marsh, Timonium, etc) or in the overpriced gentrified parts of the city such as Canton consider one of the many neighborhoods that have always been "built up" or are simply undergoing even more development.



Charles Village is a short walk from John's Hopkins University and only a short drive to Hopkins' Broadway Medical Center (Wolfe St). For a long time it has been the home of students, long time residents, and the typical city dwelling bohemians (artists, musicians, etc). Recent development along 33rd Street and the general area has brought lots of new businesses (Barnes and Noble, coffeeshops, etc). Very close to the Baltimore Museum of Art, parks, and other conveniences Charles Village has lots of big older rowhomes with plenty of room to move around. It also has condos and apartment buildings, both older and brand new.



There are also neighborhoods like Ednor Gardens, Mayfield, Beverly Hills/Waltherson, which have lots of extremely well-maintained older rowhomes, semi-detached, and single family homes, all on treelined streets without alot of traffic. These feel like real "neighborhoods" and have lawns and tree canopies, all in the heart of the city and never more than 10-15 minutes from downtown. (Unless traffic is hideous for some reason.)



Finding a place to rent in any of these areas shouldn't be that hard, although neighborhoods like Mayfield are primarily owner occupied you can still find well kept rentals that will let you enjoy the benefits of a whole home without the congestion/inconveniences (parking, burglaries, etc) of the recently gentrified areas (like Canton, Patterson Park, etc).
Unfortunately, near JHMC and safe dont go hand in hand. If you want to move to the suburbs, there are many that are about a 25 minute drive. If you are really a city dwellar, take a look at the areas north of the city on I83 near the Hopkins undergraduate campus or in the Patterson Park area, which is undergoing a redevelopment. I cant say that Patterson Park is "safe", but it depends on where youre coming from.
The area near Hopkins is absolutely NOT safe.
look in the whitemarsh area to the north Glenburnie to the south

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