<p>Gaahh, eyemamom, you’re killin’ me! Two and a half pages of horror stories only to hear it could be worse!! 
jk</p>
<p>I would drive through the Smokey Mountains to avoid the Beltway :)</p>
<p>Don’t worry, most of the Baltimore area is nothing like the Wire. The Woodlawn area would be fine for work, but she wouldn’t want to live in that area. Most of the post college kids prefer to live in downtown Baltimore near the harbor. The commute to Woodlawn woud be take about 30 - 40 minutes. There are nice apartments in the suburbs (Owings Mills, Towson, Ellicott City) that would be closer, but I don’t think they’d be as appealing to a recent grad. I hope she gets some offers and she can visit and see what she thinks.</p>
<p>I worked in Germantown for 12 years a lifetime ago. 1979 - 1991.</p>
<p>justamom - throwing a little levity into the conversation. 
I’ve lived here 20 years now, there is a LOT to love about MD. Beaches, mountains, city, rural - close to two major metro areas. We’re in the south but not overly southern. We’re more relaxed than the northeast, not so slow moving like the true south. Mild-ish winters. And let’s not forget our obsession with crabs and crab cakes. Did you know we put out old bay like other places put out salt and pepper? You haven’t lived til you have fries with old bay.</p>
<p>If your dd gets a job, she will make the best of wherever she ends up. Younger people don’t mind the things we old’uns can’t handle. If she moves to a high traffic area she will just learn to adjust her schedule and find backroads around.</p>
<p>But really, rent The Wire - lol. I know it’s not all like that, but I believe Baltimore is the number one murder capital right now - even if it is mostly drug related. But hey, she could buy a townhouse for 20k in those areas. :)</p>
<p>I work in Rockville. Several of my colleagues live in Germantown. Their commutes are not difficult. The reverse commute (Rockville to Germantown) wouldn’t be particularly difficult, either. </p>
<p>But regardless of which Montgomery County community she ends up living in, she’s not likely to go to DC except on weekends or holidays. It’s just too much of a trek for a weekday evening.</p>
<p>There are young people in Rockville/Germantown/Gaithersburg. Really. Just go to the Rio (Washingtonian Center) and look in the bars of the many restaurants there. They’re full of young people. Seven days a week.</p>
<p>I grew up in Olney, went to HS in Rockville, college in Towson, and now live in Carroll County. Family are in nearly every town mentioned here. Reading this thread has brought back a flood of golden memories. (To my dad, the ICC is the “outer Beltway” predict3d in 1972. lol) Thank you.</p>
<p>Here are my suggerstions:</p>
<p>Avoid the Baltimore suburbs. Cheaper, yes. But, a dreadful commute to Germantown. And Woodlawn would be a culture shock to a country girl from CT. </p>
<p>Does she require an apartment in the traditional sense? What about renting a room or guest house (for example) in Potomac or Bethesda? Might be cheaper, provide a reverse commute, and DC access when she wants it. Pretty, pleasant, and, relatively speaking, safe.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, no, we’re not talking about commuting from Woodlawn to Germantown. There are two separate job opportunities. The Woodlawn one isn’t far enough along in the process for me to start pumping you all for info on housing in Baltimore. But you could all cross your fingers for her!!</p>
<p>If the Baltimore job materializes, she might like Charles Village, near the Homewood campus of JHU. Lots of young people in that area. That particular neighborhood changes quickly, block by block, as you go east toward Greenmount Avenue (or, at least, it did eons ago, when I lived on on Guilford Ave.), but Baltimore does have some really good city neighborhoods.</p>
<p>If she’s working in Germantown, I agree with the apparently emerging consensus that she should live in Bethesda, in N. Bethesda near White Flint Metro, or in Rockville, and spend 18 months saying, “Good Lord, I can’t believe what I have to pay in rent!” until she just gets used to it.</p>
<p>I’m not sure she could save enough by living in Silver Spring or Takoma Park to make up for $8.00/day in tolls on the ICC. Others may know better. But I think the idea of having a housemate and living somewhere near 270 would appeal to me more.</p>
<p>One potential source for information about rentals and houses/apts. to share is: [Gazette.Net</a> Maryland Community News in Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and Frederick County](<a href=“http://www.gazette.net/]Gazette.Net”>http://www.gazette.net/) It is pretty good for MoCo, I think, but I’m not sure about the other counties.</p>
<p>I would avoid living in Silver Spring or Takoma. SS is still a bit sketchy and Takoma is very ‘organic & crunchy’, neither are probably great ideas for new college grads. (forget the traffic in that area - Georgia Ave & New Hampshire Ave are nightmares any time of day).</p>
<p>PS - if the Baltimore job pans out, either Ellicot City or Columbia would be good choices. Forget Towson - it’s at the norther point of the Baltimore beltway and not a good option.</p>
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<p>Really? I don’t mean to be contrary, but I wouldn’t think so. Great place to buy a center-hall colonial with a yard; great place to send your kids to the public schools. I think life in Howard County would be a little slow (think glaciers) for a single twenty-something.</p>
<p>Can she afford to live in Germantown? I’ve only visited the area so I am not all that familar with everything but the same principal applies pretty much in every town, live close to where you work. You go to work every day. Don’t base where you want to live on where the entertainment lies. It’s easy to commute in at 7:00 PM to go see a show or whatever on a Saturday night, not so easy to commute in rush hour every day of the work week.</p>
<p>I agree with Sikorsky that while Columbia or Ellicott City would be convenient to the job in Woodlawn, it would be incredibly boring for a single twenty-something. Most recent grads living back home in HoCo want to move to DC or downtown Baltimore as soon as possible.</p>
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That might be an idea for a place to live, too–there are a lot of apartments, there. There’s a nice health club in Rio, too. It’s also full of young people.</p>
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<p>Definitely a case of YMMV. I have worked in the burbs and lives closer to the city doing reverse commutes for 30 years … and I wouldn’t have it any other way. IMO it totally depends on what the person would like their free time to be like on weeknights … it they are happy with suburb nightlife then living in the burbs will definitely save time and money … if they want to be closer to more activity and singles living closer to the city may be worth the commute time and higher rent. I lived in the burbs in high school and absolutely HATED it and will never again.</p>
<p>3togo–but would you do the reverse and drive through traffic to get to your job. A reverse commute is ideal in any situation. This isn’t about city life vs suburban life it’s about finding an affordable place for a new grad to live and she needs to understand that she can commute into the city easier on weekends and unless she can find several roommates, she can’t afford to live in the city. It’s not worth spending every last dime you have to live in the “hip” place.</p>
<p>I grew up in MD/DC and echo the votes for Bethesda and get in a group house. I did so after college (with existing friends) and it was a ton of fun and very easy to get to DC on wkends. My first job was in Rockville and still made it to happy hour in DC on Fridays. I would spring for the extra $ versus living in outer burbs, and she’ll have reverse commute up 270 to Germantown.</p>
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The job offer in question is in the far burbs … so considering a reverse commute is an option for the OP (and yes for me I spent more on rent to be nearer or in cities and saved other places)</p>
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<p>Parts of Germantown are kind of sketchy, but it’s very difficult to identify which parts because practically everything in that area was built so recently that the paint is barely dry. It can be very difficult to identify a slum when it’s a newly built, clean, attractive slum.</p>
<p>Even in Gaithersburg, which is not quite so new, it can be hard to tell. Google Orchard Pond and Beacon Place. They’re only a couple of miles apart on the same main road, but one is a place where I would be scared to walk in the daytime, and the other is a place where I would be perfectly happy to live. Locals will know which is which. Anyone else would have a hard time figuring it out, I think. </p>
<p>If it were my kid, I would rather see her live in Rockville or Bethesda. At least in those communities, which have older sections, the sketchy places LOOK sketchy.</p>