It seems like we have been talking about moving for so long, now that it's actually happening, it's a little hard to get used to. We've been planning this for going on 2 years now. Almost exactly one year ago, we took a lease in an apartment that met our minimum requirements of being in our neighborhood and being flexible with the lease, but we intended to be there for a limited time only. It's located on a busy street and never really felt like home to us. For two people who are dedicated to city living like to be very connected with their neighborhood, this has been one of the hardest aspects of living with a never-ending sense of temporariness and uncertainty.
We are buying a house in Baltimore. The idea of being able to unpack boxes is very appealing right now and we've done a somewhat obsessive job researching where the best place for us to live would be. We started researching in February of 2006 and originally thought we would be looking in Washington DC. Justin's job is halfway between Baltimore and DC. Teeny-tiny apartments near neighborhoods like Adams-Morgan, with no green space were a mere 600K. I'm sure there's nothing surprising about that, but it wasn't appealing or feasable. I used to live in Manhattan. While that was cool, I don't want to repeat the experience.
When we started looking at Baltimore I felt pretty conflicted. The city is known for it's friendliness (nicknamed "Charm City"), quirky culture (see: John Waters), and violent crime. It's that last one that is the problem. Most of what I knew about Baltimore came straight from The Wire. We originally shopped for a house in an area of town alternately called Pigtown or Washington Village. Being originally from Porkopolis, I see nothing wrong with including a little piggy pride in your name. There were a couple of areas of Pigtown that were particularly appealing like Barre Circle with it's beautiful brick sidewalks and photogenic lampposts. But ultimately it was the crack whores shivering in the alley that led me to think Pigtown might still be an area that I didn't feel comfortable while walking the dog by myself after dark. After the housing slowdown this year, a lot of investors rehabbing rowhouses in Pigtown (and all over Baltimore) got stuck with houses they couldn't move. That increased our doubt about the speed at which Pigtown might be gentrifying.
Federal Hill and Fells Point are great little neighborhoods, but mostly out of our price range. They also felt a little cramped. Maybe this doesn't make sense because it's a rowhouse, but not all rows are created equally and I didn't want to feel like we were living on top of our neighbors.
We've settled on buying a house in Locust Point, a neighborhood we are really excited about. It's on the southern Penninsula of Baltimore's inner harbor between Federal Hill and Fort McHenry National Park. We actually saw the house last August and thought it was the best thing we'd seen. It needs a lot of love, and a lot less mint green and pink walls (!!!) but is still livable and has a roof deck with a view of the harbor, which makes it even more livable. From our house, we can walk to the harbor, to Federal Hill, to Riverside Park, and Ft. McHenry is less than a mile away. There's close access to I-95 for Justin and more parking than in some other close-by neighborhoods.
We close on the new house on my Birthday.
