Dh applied for a different federal position about a month ago. He beat out 2400 other people for the job. They called this morning to let him know he got the spot.

WE'RE MOVING TO DC/MARYLAND/VIRGINIA. Actually, we'll be living in Maryland. Hopefully in either the College Park or Prince Georges County area. I have a few choices for school, both letting me graduate almost on schedule, maybe a semester later than I wanted.

Hopefully I'll be able to find a job w/ either an international aid agency, the Smithsonian, or UM College Park.

We're calling a realtor this week. We'd like to sell the house and be there before school starts.


My best friend remembers College Park and PGC as being good areas. Is that still correct? I haven't been there in 15 years.

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"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

I don't have any info on Maryland but I just had to say
WAY TO GO TO R and congrats to you alll!!!!
And I am so glad your schooling is still on track.
This is fantastic news !!!!!

YAY!

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@@@
l/ l/ l/
Dont go through life,
GROW through life

Real eyes...realize...real lies.

OMGoodness - Congrats! How wonderfully exciting!!!

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I live in Silver Spring, MD which is in Montgomery County. College Park is a nice area. I would not live in Prince George's County. They have problems of all kinds. Car insurance is more expensive because cars are taken all the time. Also housing would be cheaper PGC but like I said they have problems all the time. Be aware that housing is high. In your part of Texas, I do not know the price of houses but here the cheapest is $300, 000 for a small house. You could get a townhouse a little cheaper. My house is small and worth about $400,000. Check with realtors in this area. I would avoid southeast DC and PGC as areas to live in. Do you have children? Montgomery County has great schools but there are many great private and religious schools in the area. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

I just thought of another thing or two. If you decide to live in Maryland, you have to pay a one time tax on the blue book value of your car. If you decide to live in VA, you have to pay a year tax on your car. When we moved here 20 years ago, I thought that was the crazyiest thing I ever heard.

Another suggestion, live close to where you work. Traffic is terrible. People drive one or two hours to get to work because they live where it is cheaper (outside the DC area). Two of our teachers do that.
One lives in Crofton and the other teacher lives in Annapolis.

In the long run you may pay more for a house close to work but the value of the house will go up faster.

We've lived in El Paso, Texas for the past 7 years. We don't know where to look for a decent house. I need to be able to get to UM - any campus will do. In MD, I have narrowed it down to Columbia or Ellicot City. But I'd like to keep my VA options open also. However, while I've lived in Hampton before (15 years ago), I've no clue about anything north of Richmond.
I hope to find a job soon after getting there. Is it hard?

We would like to not spend more than $325k or so on a house (I cannot believe I just said that. We could get a mansion here for that!). As long as he can take the metro, dh has no problem doing an hour or so commute. We'd like a decent neighborhood that's very integrated.

We have 3 kids - 12 yo boy, 7 yo girl, 4 yo girl. GOOD public schools are important. We'd prefer a small town or city.

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

I am going re-iterate REad52's post run do not walk away from Price Georges County, whenver I cross the bridge from VA into PGC I go armed for bear its NASTY over there remember when DC was called "The Murder Capital" well thats PGC in MD for you.

Car insurance in MD EXPENSIVE, no safety inspections on cars so no telling if the guy behind you has brakes that work.

Montgomery County is nice, even where you are thinking about in Columbia is nice too, I know their schools are good in Columbia area.

In VA you have to have state safety inspections on your car every year, emissions every two years, registration is a lot less than Marylands fees, I just renewed for two years and it was $63. Yes you pay personal property Taxes on your Car every year, but its being slowly but surely abated we are only paying 30% I believe now, I dont pay because I get a disability write-off.

I agree live close to where you work or use the metro system. Gas in MD/DC/VA is expensive right now although since I got back from FL last night it has come down from $3.25 a gal for regular to $3.05 and we paid under $ in FL

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~ Christine ~
Grammie to Trinity Lorayne Jean Keens Born June 9, 2011 Loving my awesome guitar picking 100% Country Boy boyfriend Kenny !
RIP Daddy~ 01/24/1930-06/01/2007 I miss you !
Dont Think you Can .. know you can ~ Jeff Hardy

Yep, I just read that about PGC on another board. we'll stay away from there!

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

First, let me say that DC/MD/VA are all intergrated. Not all areas are connected to the Metro system. Will your husband be working in downtown DC? I still think Montgomery County would be the best area esp. if you want to be near UM-College Park. Columbia and Ellicot City are nice areas and are in Howard County. They have good schools. There are not really any small towns or cities. Let me put it this way. If you picture Washington, DC as a diamond, Maryland is to the north and Virginia is to the south. I live on the top of the diamond in Silver Spring. Also to the north is Baltimore about 30 miles or so. There are houses from DC to Baltimore in the north. Going south is the same. I moved here 20 years ago. Areas that were blank now have houses on them. Lots of people because there are lots of jobs. It is a great place to live but it is not like Texas. I was to El Paso about 33 years ago and saw a lot of open space. My ds lives in San Antonio so I know that side of Texas. Still open space. But this area has many parks and many trees. The 2 expensive things are housing and car insurance. But I can find deals on food etc.

nor would i live in dc. i am from that area. i would live in md or va but not pg county or dc

do a lot of research, there are great advantages to living there but it is super expensive. my family lives near dc and their houses are now worth close to a million each. ack!!

jaded,
Is there any way you could 'scout' the area before moving down there?
Like take a trip to get a first hand feel of the cities you have in mind?
What about apartment living - is that a consideration? That way you can get a feel of the area before committing to buying a home.

__________________
@@@
l/ l/ l/
Dont go through life,
GROW through life

Real eyes...realize...real lies.

Before we moved here 20 years ago, we came a scout out places to live. We had visited the area twice before so we knew we wanted to live here. Also both my dh and I had our income double by moving here.
Wisconsin was a depressed area. In fact, when we finally sold our house after 1 1/2 years, we sold it for less then we paid for it. We were just glad to get rid of it. We rented at first and then bought a house when we knew for sure we would stay. I really like it here. I would stay here forever but as I get closer to retiring, we may move. My dh has been on disability for 2 years. In fact, if my son stays in San Antonio, we may move there.

no, I can't go down there. It would cost too much and they aren't relocating us. We've decided to rent for a few years instead of immediately trying to buy. However, if our house doesn't sell before August then we (the kids and I) won't be leaving till December b/c I'm going to go ahead and take classes here so that when I leave I'll only have 2 classes left.

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

You can rent houses for a reasonable amount. Because there are a lot of govt. workers that change with different presidents, many people keep houses just to rent them. You should not have a problem finding a house to rent. We rented for 3 years before we bought. My friend whose dh was military rented for 9 years before they bought (he also left the military). My dh was out here working for 5 months before we were able to join him. His boss paid for the move and I rented our house until it sold.

read, I'm jealous. we have to pay for the move ourselves, which means not going until the house is sold. do you have kids? how old were they when you moved?

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

Yes, we have 3 kids. My oldest son was 9, my middle son was 6 and my dd was 4. We had been to DC the year before so my kids knew where we were moving. When my oldest son was ready for college, he got a ROTC scholarship and went to Marquette University in Milwaukee where we had lived. He meet a girl from Chicago and married her. They lived in this area for about 1 1/2 years when he was stationed at Walter Reed Hospital (he and his wife are nurses). They now live in Chicago. My other son followed his girlfriend to TX. They broke up a year later but he stayed. He like TX. He got married to another girl on St. Patricks Day. She has about 2 more years in the military. She has been in Iraq once. My dd thinks of Maryland as home. She does not remember much about WI.

Those are close to my kids ages. My 12 y/o is terrified he won't make friends. My 7 year old is thrilled and my 4 year old doesn't get it.

__________________
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

Just tell your son that friends will be easy to make. Many families work for the govt. so they move all the time. Does he play sports? Sports are big in this area. My kids went to Catholic school. Their CYO's were mainly for sports. The school that I teach at is the grade school that my kids went to for most of the time here. We have a football field. They have had teams for 50 years. In the summer the pools all have swim meets. Most of the kids go from one sport to another depending on the season. There is also scouts and many activities both school and church related. My middle son was shy but made friends quickly. My kids went to a Catholic high school in DC. It had a JROTC program so they marched in the St. Patrick Day parade and the Cherry Blossom parade in downtown DC. My second son was captain of the rifle team. All my kids including my dd were officers in JROTC program. My two sons also did drill team. My oldest son and my dd went to JROTC camp every summer in high school. Does your son like museums? All the museums downtown are free. Do your kids like zoos? We have pandas. There is so much to do for families and kids.

If you are going to rent a house, you might want to look at Silver Spring and Wheaton (which is inside of Silver Spring, they go by post officees here). It is only a few miles from UM-College Park, it is on the metro line and it is part of Montgomery County which has great schools. There are parks and lots of trees. We have deer and all kinds of wild life.