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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Living in Catonsville?
My husband and I are thinking about buying in Catonsville. Any recs on where to look or what it is like living there? I would like to be in walking distance from the restaurants/stores and stay around the 300k price point. How are the schools in Catonsville?
Re: Living in Catonsville?
I grew up there. It's a great area to grow up but it does have some iffy areas, that are still considered "catonsville" but where I personally wouldn't live - but it's hard to generalize (like I can't just say "stay north of here and west of here") - it depends on the particular street and the particular block. also, lots of the surrounding areas say they are "catonsville" but I wouldn't consider them catonsville (for example i just did a trulia search on houses in catonsville, and I got a lot in Westview or Woodlawn.)
The best area to live in Catonsville, in my opinion, is the general Oak Forest area - west of Hilton Ave and south of Frederick Road. The streets between South Rolling and Hilton though are pretty nice as well, just not considered "Oak Forest" proper, although some may try to claim OF for theirs haha. This is the old established area, where the summer homes used to be for those who came to Catonsville from the city back in the 19th century (especially Montrose Ave.) This is also one of the pricier areas because it IS so desirable.
If you want to be in walking distance to the shops and restaurants (the shops aren't fabulous, for the most part they are very need-specific, not necessarily "let's go browsing" kind of shops) but the restaurant scene there is starting to pick up big-time) then your pricepoint is going to go a bit higher, or you may have to get a smaller home, OR be more careful about the particular street, bc those streets can blow hot and cold in terms of whether I would live there or not.
I will say that Catonsville was hit pretty bad by the bubble so you may be able to get a good deal.
the schools are pretty decent. Hillcrest and Westchester are the two best elementary schools in my opinion but Catonsville is good as well (I went there.) Be very careful where you buy because many areas are zoned to Arbutus for middle school instead of Catonsville. Some people like Arbutus but three of my siblings went there and each had a horrendous experience. But you would still go to Catonsville for high school (which is a very good HS, most people I know who went there loved and had a great experience.) I didn't go there bc my parents were so disenchanted with Arbutus that they sent me to St. Mark for middle school and I stayed in catholic schools for HS.
If you have any other questions let me know! my mom's best friends all still live there (my parents moved last year) so I still hear all the gossip ha.
I didn't grow up in C-ville, but I live there now. I agree with everything Mrsbecky has said, especially about where cville really is. My boss lives in Catonsville Manor, which is actually NOT in Catonsville, it's actually in Woodlawn...
The best way to find out which school your future kids will go to is to use the bcps find my school locator at http://www.bcps.org/apps/boundaries/
I have heard that Arbutus is getting better and if you are within the Arbutus boundaries, you can always send your kid to one of the magnet schools or a private school. (I'm not sure how long ago Mrsbecky's siblings went there, or what changes, if any, have occurred since then. )
I'm not up on all of the gossip (only some of it) and we've only lived there for a year, but I can give you that perspective as well
Definitely check the address on the BCPS website for zoning. MH grew up in Catonsville but their house was zoned for Woodlawn High. He was in the magnet program, and did very well and had no problems.
5 cats. 1 baby.
What year did your husband graduate? Did he go to middle school in the area as well? Sorry to pry - I grew up out there
I went to Johnnycake Elementary, Johnnycake Middle (now Southwest Academy), and was zoned for Woodlawn but my mother said I was going there over her dead body. I applied for and got into their magnet, but I also got into Western's environmental science magnet, which was my first choice.
To the OP: my mailing address was a Catonsville one, but as with Kaiene's husband, I was zoned for Woodlawn High. It was rough then, and that was 12 years ago - it's gotten worse. Catonsville High is a great school, Western School of Technology & Environmental Science is a magnet school in the area that's awesome - there are definitely options.