university of maryland - college park and surrounding area question

[caitycaity]

i am going to be a student at UMD in the fall and dh and i are going to try to buy our first home (likely a 2 br condo or th). we currently live in montgomery county.

we drove around campus last weekend and i was sort of surprised at how a lot of college park seems like a slum. i mean i know it is pg county, but still. we drove by people grilling on top of a metal trash can!

i have a few questions:
1) is the area around campus safe? i am used to being out and about in downtown dc late at night near u st., so i know how to behave in a large metro area. nonetheless when we went to visit umd there were a few areas in broad daylight that made me feel uncomfortable. the student newspaper seems to have a bunch of stories about robberies/stabbings that have freaked me out.

2) where is a decent area to live that is reasonably close to the campus? i'd like to be as close to the university as possible, but we also need to be near metro for my dh's job. should i be afraid to move from montgomery to pg county?

 

[Caradana]

Caity, I have zero advice on College Park but I think that it's awesome that you're heading back to school - I know you've been thinking about it for a long time. Best of luck and I hope you find a gorgeous spot to live.

 

[Poohnatic]

Caity,

I lived up Rt 1 on the Laurel/Savage border many years ago. There's plenty of decent places in PG, you just ahve to search a little.

Muirkirk road area of Laurel (montpelier?) is nice. There's also a pocket of really nice houses off of Powder Mill between 1 and 95.

I don't know how much of a commute you want, but there's decent stuff within 20 minutes.

At the time that we lived there, DH commuted to his job two blocks from the White House. Metro is not a problem over in that neck of the woods-Greenbelt metro station has ample parking. He'd also use the MARC trains from Laurel Park, Laurel, and Muirkirk stations.

Good luck and congrats on going to college!

Suzanne

 

[caitycaity]

thanks dana! and thanks suzanne for the advice.

i would be fine witha 20 minute commute. we were thinking greenbelt and beltsville looked like two promising areas.

any other thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

My DD is a sophomore at UMD. Take the Diamondback with a grain of salt. She knows not to walk around at night alone but I am not worried about her (too much). I do prefer that she lives on campus though.

Can't help you with the surrounding area.