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Old 10-16-2010, 08:59 PM
 
Location: MD
24 posts, read 65,939 times
Reputation: 11

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I have read many threads regarding these places for great schools & narrowed down to these cities/communities.

Our kids will be 7 & 5 by the time we move there. Husband will be working in Fort Meade or Linthicium Heights. We plan to rent a house in one of these neighborhoods to get the feel of it before buying a house. What are the big differences, pros, cons of these 3? Your local expertise on school, neighborhoods would be greatly appreciated!
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Old 10-17-2010, 08:03 AM
 
Location: Maryland - Howard County
195 posts, read 745,227 times
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You can find information out about schools here: Howard County Public School System
Test Scores Here: Howard County Public School System

Most of my clients go to the schools and personally visit to see what the school "feels" like or if they are not in the area at the time, they call the school. I don't personally have children and I am not allowed to talk specifically about schools but I am a product of the Howard County School System.

Neighborhoods:
Clarksville - was once a town of mainly farmland, a fire station, a corner store, and a hardware store. There is still a bit of farm land but it has slowly/quickly(however you view it) been built up. There are now some restaurants, gas stations, banks, Jiffy Lube, fast food, etc. Parts of Clarksville have older or newer homes on at least 1 acre tracts of land. There is a section of Clarksville called River Hill and the homes around there are around 18 years old or less. They are near the village center where the grocery store, banks, food places, etc are. It is more of a neighborhood feel as your lots are a lot smaller. Usually less than a half acre. There are some newer community subdivisions of larger homes being built as well: Walnut Grove, Willow Pond, The Preserves at Clarksville.

Fulton - neighbors the Clarksville area. Fulton too was mainly farm land and began development several years ago. You are looking at a mix of newer and older homes in Fulton and with lots that are at least an acre. However, there is a new area in Fulton called Maple Lawn which is meant to almost be a mini city inside of the town of Fulton. There is mixed housing - condos, townhomes, and single family homes with a community center and pools. You don't get much land with your property and it is to give you an urban feel. There is a commercial area with restaurants (Looney's and a couple non-chain restaurants), shopping (Harris Teeter for groceries, boutique type clothing stores), a spa, and a gas station amongst other things.

Ellicott City - is definitely the larger and more spread out of the 3. It is really hard to describe Ellicott City as it is so expansive and its boundaries are not as easily defined. Ellicott City neighbors Clarksville, Columbia, and goes to the border of Catonsville. Ellicott City is a mix of newer and older homes. There are many communities off of the Route 40/Long Gate/Route 100 corridor which provides you easy access to travel routes, plenty of shopping and restaurants. You can find townhomes, single families, condos, and apartments in Ellicott City. Old Ellicott City is a little section that has antique shops, little boutiques, pubs, and other restaurants along Main Street.

All 3 communities provide easy access to any travel routes without your home actually being on the highway. Because Ellicott City encompasses a larger area, the price point is definitely going to range more there and give you more varitiety and possibilities. There are several school districts in Ellicott City whereas Fulton and Clarksville really only have about two or so school districts within their boundaries.

The best way to get a feel for an area is to really drive around the area during the day and night. Hopefully this helped a bit...
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Old 10-17-2010, 10:24 AM
 
Location: MD
24 posts, read 65,939 times
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AlicynD, thank you so much for taking the time to give a thorough info.

As I mentioned in a separate post, we are going to have only a few days to check things out there before getting a temporary room for husband. I guess anxiety started to kick in! I'd like to get some local input re these areas. It's is a huge adjustment for me & the kids in terms of weather, lifestyle, outdoor activities-- culture-wise. Husband is from Chicago & the indoor lifestyle (art, reading, TV watching) seems to fit him well.

Regarding schools, I have done a bit of research via greatschools.org schoolmatters.com. I feel schools in Clarksville & Fulton seem to be better or equivalent to our kid's current school (Sage Canyon in San Diego). Most school in these above areas are older. Sage Canyon is just 10 yrs old so the infrastructure & facility are modern & nice. Our plan is calling the school district & 3 schools we are interested in w/ questions & set appointment for a meeting & touring the campus. We are trying to avoid of moving the kids' school twice.

Home cost (per sq ft) seems to be 20% less than where we are now. The lot is much bigger compared to 92130 zip code homes.

I planned to do exactly as you suggested, Taking some time to drive around the neighborhood when we fly in next month.
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Old 03-06-2011, 03:08 PM
 
Location: (Orginally From Ann Arbor, MI) Now reside in Evans, Georgia
560 posts, read 1,142,908 times
Reputation: 314
all 3 area's are low crime, great schools, and nice..Now add in Columbia and Elkridge

All are Howard county schools. the varying difference is prices for the homes. Fulton and Clarkville, are on the far pricer end where was Elkridge and Elliott city you can find housing for a good price reduction, but same crime rations, and school ratings.
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Old 03-06-2011, 05:19 PM
 
Location: Ellicott City MD
2,270 posts, read 9,147,676 times
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Personally, I am all about minimizing commute. If your husband will be working in Linthicum, I would look hard at Ellicott City. The commute is best going straight out 100. If it is Ft. Meade, then the other two are options. Yes, Clarksville has some of the newest construction, but there are a lot of great elementary schools in Howard County. The curriculum is the same at all of them. Also, I know that both Thunder Hill and Northfield are expanding/updating their facilities over the next 18 months.
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Old 03-17-2011, 12:39 AM
 
Location: MD
24 posts, read 65,939 times
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Thanks for more inputs! We are slated to move the whole family to Clarksville in Apr. Finally we just secured a house there. It is 1000 sq ft smaller than a brand new nice house N of rt 70 in Ellicott city but school is one of the major factor we decided in Clarksville even it seems to be a bit rural compared w/ the suburban EC or urbanized Columbia. We R city people so let's see how we fare for a yr in Clarksville. Besides, it is easy to access to rt 32 for husband to commute to work Ft Mead, Colombia & Laurel. In winter, on the snowy day, commuting time could be doubled/tripled.

I started to look for housing in Columbia, too. However, Clarksville seems to fit us better in term of school. All the schools in Clarksville & Fulton sound great! School assignment in Ellicott city is tricky. I use the website http://www.hcpss.org/sl/sysbush0.php to check the school before spending time to read more about the house ad. We met the principal of North field while I was in town in Nov. We were impressed w/ the staffs & school programs & those happy little faces we saw! However, getting a house that fed to Northfield ES was a daunting task!

It was stressful in house hunting. We missed a couple houses in desired neighborhoods-- Centenial or Northfield. Most rental houses in these areas are old. Husband is picky & passed a large house in Burleigh Manor w/ a nice facade but so dated inside. Not many houses w/ 4+ Br for rent in Ellicott & virtually only 1 or 2 in Clarksville in our range-- under $3.5K. 2 weeks ago, we actually started to shop for a house to buy!!! It is ridiculous to pay almost $40/yr for rent while we could use that $$$$$ toward the down payment. I heard that you cannot break the lease in MD. We tried to get a 6mo lease but every landlord wanted 1 yr lease min. Anyway, we are renting & will look for a house to buy after getting a feel of the area. It is not a good idea to buy a house now while we don't know much about the community. Now we are even thinking of settle down in Bethesda after the lease ends if husband OKs w/ the long commuting. Is it against the traffic to go up North in the AM?

I did all the research from CA, just have husband go & view the houses/neighborhood.
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Old 03-17-2011, 06:31 AM
 
382 posts, read 1,205,798 times
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Kimba, thanks for the update. I enjoyed reading your comments, especially about Northfield. I love that school and it's good to know it still makes a positive impression. The school boundary situation in the county can be difficult to figure out. Sounds like you did your research and handled it well. I think it's amusing that your husband balked at a dated interior. Normally that would be the wife. LOL. Clarksville is a great area - I"m sure you'll be happy there. Good luck with your transition.
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Old 03-17-2011, 11:30 PM
 
Location: MD
24 posts, read 65,939 times
Reputation: 11
Correction in my post: " $40K/yr" not "$40/yr". I wished!

Thank you so much for the best wishes. We are trading sand for snow, hacienda house style for Colonial one, rattle snakes for ticks & the beach will be 4 hrs+ drive instead of 10' away. I told my close friends things I am not thrilled about: traffic is really bad between Columbia & DC even after 9PM Northbound on the weekdays, that there are no fences between the houses (we are having brick walls in our neighborhood) , that MD is #8 in 2010 crime ranking. I'm trying to think of the + side of the move... that is European trips will be less expensive & shorter time to travel, that is we will be flying only 2 hrs to Chicago to visit family, that is we will be vacationing in southern CA every yr, that is water bill is much cheaper in MD, that is eating out is 20% less, that is the schools/PTA seem to be as great as the one the kids are going now, that is John Hopkins hospital is top one. The list goes on to mentally prepare myself for this move. I almost cried today when I found out the kids in my little girl's class at her pre school were preparing a farewell book & party for her. We broke the news just 2 days ago.


Thank you this forum, I have found many helpful info! Just a few more weeks I will be a new comer then a "local" soon! Watch out for Californian immigration!

PS: Where can I find great resource for kids activities, enrichment classes & reviews? I have read a whole bunch of magazines & brochures but would like to find reviews/input from local parents.
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Old 03-18-2011, 03:03 PM
 
382 posts, read 1,205,798 times
Reputation: 238
Quote:
We are trading sand for snow, hacienda house style for Colonial one, rattle snakes for ticks...
Don't forget the stink bugs. They're taking over.

Quote:
PS: Where can I find great resource for kids activities, enrichment classes & reviews? I have read a whole bunch of magazines & brochures but would like to find reviews/input from local parents.
What kind of activities are you looking for? The weekly Columbia Flier/Howard County Times/View newspaper has a list of events and activities. Also, the libraries have great programs for kids. We are very close to the EC branch and we practically lived there when my kids were little.

Howard County Rec and Parks has a lot of summer and year-round activities for kids and the community college has camps. http://howardcountymd.gov/rap/rapdoc...Camp_Guide.pdf
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Old 03-19-2011, 12:34 AM
 
Location: MD
24 posts, read 65,939 times
Reputation: 11
Thank you very much! We are looking for varieties of activities: outdoor festivals ( I guess we have to wait until summer?), plays for kids, good dance school, karate, swimming, piano lesson. Any forum that I can find the reviews/rating from local parents?

The kids are so sad that Legoland will be far away (even in Florida). We will need to go to the library the first week when we get there.

Are there any free outdoor musical/festival events in summer? How do I find out about those events? Are most kids enrichment classes/activities in Columbia & Baltimore?

BTW, what is the magazine there now? Columbia or Howard magazine? I could not find it on line to look for the "Top Doctor" list. I got the Ped & dentist for the kids but still need recommendation for an allergist & primary doctor or an internal Doc for myself & husband. I had asked all my docs, they know none in Columbia/EC.

Yes, I saw a stink bug got in our bedroom one evening while I was there in Nov. I just gently scooped it up w/ paper napkin to avoid that namesake odor! Thanks for reminding me of this notorious bug. Now how do we handle of the unloading the moving truck; the door will be widely open all day & it will be April, the time these bugs start to reemerge & they love the warmth inside the house. Maybe I just don't turn on the heat?
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