@NEPatsGirl – a lot of young people are heading out of MontCo to find something more reasonable. Howard County/Columbia and Frederick/Mt. Airy are pretty popular for folks who have jobs in/near DC/Baltimore but want to buy something sane.
That said, we didn’t buy til we were 37 and the kids were already in school. Had to get the student loan/day care/save for down payment years out of the way first.