Southern Md/Indian Head area

well it looks like I may be moving from Harford county to Indian head, got a couple questions,

first what's a good area to cheep area to live, any good shooting down there, while I would love to make the 40 minute commute from VA, I think that I need to look for an area a little further north as I just separated from my wife and have two kids 2.5 and 6 MO, who will be staying in Harford country for at least the next couple years,

so there is going to be a lot of back and for on the weekends

any suggestion would be appreciated.

its kind of funny that VA is literally 2000 feet away from Indian head

I would say live in Indian Head but I don't know much about it other than it's in the non crappy part of PG county. The further up 210 you go towards DC the more expensive it will get but if you like the country there's parts of Charles county that are fairly cheap like Nanjemoy. Beware Charles is the heaviest taxed county in MD IIRC. As for ranges Myrtle Grove is the closest range but it's public and has it's faults. Saint Charles Sportsmens Club in Waldorf isn't too far and has a nice indoor facility.

If you hunt, get your bow hunter certification. It's required to hunt on base.

The town of IH itself is the crappy part of Charles County. Real estate prices have been dropping, the only retail is a dollar store, boared up houses, boarded up businesses etc. There is no need to live in the town itself, lots of reasonable options with a 15min commute.

What kind of housing are you looking for? Small house? Apartment? Do you want land?

indian head is kinda dump, although there is decent housing for cheap once you get off 210. there is also utter crap as well so buyer beware. if you are looking to rent, you can either find someone with a house for rent, or find one of the nearly infinite rental comunities that scatter Waldorf. waldorf has everything you need, and more (some of which you do want, some you don't). La plata is alright, unless you are talking to someone who is from la plata, then it seems to be the greatest place on earth (i fail to see how this could even be a consideration). if you are working in indian head, and you'd like to stretch your bucks out, king george VA has much more affordable houses ( and its not maryland... just let that sink in) and a decent number of folks make that commute. northern VA isn't bad either (commute wise) but can get pricey (but still not MD). FYI rent in charles county isn't significantly less than NOVA if you are going the apartment route. houses for rent are cheaper than NOVA, but apartments not so much. the not so nice bridge to la plata takes 15-20 min (northbound) and southbound can be more if there is bridge back up. the bridge will close usually 2 or 3 times a year due to wind or whatever. king george to IH is about a 45 minute commute depending on where in king george you are.

as someone who commutes from charles to harford more often than i'd like, the big tips are don't make dinner plans before 830pm on a friday cuz you won't make them unless you want to spend more than 2 hours driving up there (ugh). if you leave from waldorf at 430 pm on a friday, the earliest you will be able to get to bel air is 630 (and thats if the stars align). if you leave at 7, you'll get there at 815. if you are able to leave early, leaving any later than 3 pm will result in crappy traffic at some point, the DC area rush hour starts at 3 sharp, and continues through about 7. during the summer, the drive on sunday evening from harford to charles is awful as you get to deal with returning beach traffic.

myrtle grove is the place to shoot. in charles co if you don't have friends with farms.

thanks for the insight, nova would be nice but I am going to since my kids are going to be in Harford county, I want to try to limit the commute for me heading up there on the weekends and or their commute down since they are young.

right now looking at renting, either a small house, or apartment is fine. no going to need a ton of room

If schools are no issue, you have plenty of options. Waldorf is a mixed bag. Many homes in the older communities are rentals and owned by folks who live 1/2 way across the country. Not all landlords have good judgement when it comes to renters. A bunch of new apartments have gone up in recent years and those have not yet undergone the social rot that tends to develop in apartment communities as they age. At the prices these apartments charge, you would probably be able to find a townhouse or smaller home to rent in Waldorf or White Plains.

The outbound commute on 210 to the base is not bad. If you can stomach PG, you may be able to find a nice rental in Accokeek.

the commute from NOVA (assuming close-ish to Woodrow Wilson bridge) to harford county won't be any different time wise than that from charles county due to the roads and where they exist.

If one works in Indian Head, it makes no sense to put up with NoVa traffic and cost of living unless you want your kids in a NoVa school district. 5 days/week commuting on the beltway vs. Living local to the job. To get up to Harford Co on the weekends it's a wash whether you drive from NoVa or Chuck Co.

Easy commute from King George County, VA.

If you prefer to reside in Maryland look in the area south and or west of LaPlata.

marylandmark said:

La Plata or Western Waldorf are much, much, much more "liveable" than the Indian Head area.

Food choices, grocery stores, entertainment, big box stores, etc are all available in La Plata or Waldorf.

I live in La Plata and have driven to Indian Head daily for the last 20 years. PM me and we can talk if you'd like or meet up down these here parts one day.

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Yeah, this.

Although there are a few sketchy neighborhoods in the western part of Waldorf as well.

King George (the town) is about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes away, but there's no traffic unless there's something up with the bridge. Dahlgren would cut off about 15 minutes from that. Mount Victoria area is nice, as is Nanjemoy, if you're looking for rural.

a lot of good advice here, Dahlgren is interesting, I have to decide if I want make that hour commute, looks like from a tax standpoint, I would be ahead 1300 dollars paying VA state tax but 2 hours of road time a day is a tough call

initially what I think I am leaning towards is finding a room in the immediate area for 500 bucks or so, 15 to 20 minute commute, and getting a smaller apartment in Harford for the weekends with the kids.

ideal, maybe not, I think that might work, the ex is going to look a relocation to DC area once her lease is up so that will give me a little bit of time get to know the area

stringer bell said:

a lot of good advice here, Dahlgren is interesting, I have to decide if I want make that hour commute, looks like from a tax standpoint, I would be ahead 1300 dollars paying VA state tax but 2 hours of road time a day is a tough call

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Plus commuter toll @ the Harry Nice Bridge

http://www.mdta.maryland.gov/Toll_Rates/nice_rates.html

haha,

mayland does love their bridge tolls, 20 years growing up in Pittsburgh, the city of bridges has no bridge tolls and insta CCL

stringer bell said:

haha,

mayland does love their bridge tolls, 20 years growing up in Pittsburgh, the city of bridges has no bridge tolls and insta CCL

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Haha, until recently with the ICC, the only place I paid a toll to drive on a road was PA.

If you get a place near your kids, you may find that you come out ahead with the contractor rate at a branded motel for your workplace digs.

stringer bell said:

a lot of good advice here, Dahlgren is interesting, I have to decide if I want make that hour commute, looks like from a tax standpoint, I would be ahead 1300 dollars paying VA state tax but 2 hours of road time a day is a tough call

initially what I think I am leaning towards is finding a room in the immediate area for 500 bucks or so, 15 to 20 minute commute, and getting a smaller apartment in Harford for the weekends with the kids.

ideal, maybe not, I think that might work, the ex is going to look a relocation to DC area once her lease is up so that will give me a little bit of time get to know the area

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I am in training right now in Waldorf and the lady I am training with has a rental property her and her husband are getting ready to put on the market.

It is on 301, South of La Plata. If you want, I can get some contact information from her next week when I am back at the site.

PM me if you like and I will try and find a more precise location in the meantime.

stringer bell said:

haha,

mayland does love their bridge tolls, 20 years growing up in Pittsburgh, the city of bridges has no bridge tolls and insta CCL

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Where in Pgh? I grew up in the South Hills 50 years ago.

I lived in Waldorf for 20 years and you can have it. Wouldn't want anything to do with the town of Laplata either. I'm in Accokeek now and it'll do me fine until I can get back to the US of A. It all depends on what you like of course but I wouldn't discount the areas north and east of Indian Head. Outside of the subdivisions you may even get a place you can shoot on. People on that side of the county are much less likely to freak out over it.

I've lived in Waldorf since 1982.

Yes, we've seen the town grow because of "The Mall", and we've seen the town go to Hell, because of "The Mall".

Traffic going North, from Waldorf (or even Indian Head/Accokeek area) is going to be AWFUL.

Learn the back roads out of the county. Use them.

My commute (to DC and back) has gone from 45 minutes one-way, to 1-1/4 hour to 2 hours (depending on weather) to a Friday evening commute home, in Summertime................ 3 hours or MORE!


The highways have NOT kept up with the residents and/or businesses.