New to Baltimore | Imamother

amother

Thu, Jul 29 2010, 4:16 pm

Im planning on moving to Baltimore after Succos. but have no family there. We need the lower standard of living as compared to Monsey. Im curious what the reception is like, do any of the shuls or organizations actively welcome you, or do you have to fend for yourself and agressively try to meet people and make friends.

Thank you

bdot

Thu, Jul 29 2010, 5:25 pm

I moved here a few years ago, and am very happy here. while overall I feel that it's a warm community, it is a big enough community that it's not possibe for everyone to know everyone. (it's not like you'll be in seven mile and people will know that you're new..) feel free to pm me for any info -- I'd love to help out. it's just too much to write here. good luck!

amother

Thu, Jul 29 2010, 6:23 pm

Im from NY and moved here when I just got married 13 years ago. I was slow to make friends and feel connected. Once I had some kids and joined a shul, I met people and day care and now at carpool. I meet people all over and have lots of people that "know" me.

The real deal breaker for me is being able to make GOOD FRIENDS. and I have!

the point is, you need to network yourself through a common thread....like kids, school, chesed in order to forge relationships. You can not expect to get friends from a shul kiddush that is claustrophobic and caotic and over in 15 min.

abby1776

Wed, Aug 04 2010, 6:55 pm

I just moved from Monsey (Wesley Hills) to Baltimore in June and it is different! Not in a bad way - just different. It has been difficult for us to find a pediatrician because every doctor we call says they arent taking new patients - that never happened to me in Monsey (I highly reccomend Dr. Yackov Kiffel in Monsey by the way).

In monsey there are dozens of yeshivas and schools to choose from, in Baltimore there are two (maybe 3).

I do not know if you have cleaning help or child care in Monsey, but the same sort of employee pool does not exist in Baltimore and it is more expensive. I paid $10 an hour in Monsey for cleaning help and in Baltimore the best I could find was $12.

Another thing I noticed is that very few of the houses have garages, which is strange to me and makes life annoying in the rain.

But these things are minor and not really important, overall the people are really nice and friendly and welcoming. We have been invited out every shabbos since we moved. So overall my conclusion is that Baltimore is a nice place to live.

abby1776

Wed, Aug 04 2010, 6:58 pm

Oh I forgot to mention in my post above (this is the former monseyite who moved to Baltimore in June) I am not so sure the cost of living is lower. The school tuition is just as high as I was paying in Monsey (Darchai Noam), you may be able to find less expensive housing, but you could buy a 3 or 4 bed room house in areas of monsey for 300's and the prices appear to be the same in Baltimore.

The food is not as cheap as in Monsey. There may be more employment opportunities (Social Security is headquatered in Baltimore). But honestly I am not finding that my expenses are significantly lowered by moving to Baltimore.

We moved because I got a new job in the area after my old company went bankrupt.

abby1776

Wed, Aug 04 2010, 7:06 pm

Former monseyite again - another important thing to consider if moving to Baltimore - if you have school age children - in Monsey the town of ramampo pays for school busing - its free. This is because the frum/chasidic voters control the school board and busing is something that is not a seperation of church and state issue and they can get the government to pay for. There is generally no busing in Baltimore and everyone has to arrange car pools and if there is busing IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE (upwards of $1000) - so think carefully and do a projected budget before moving from Monsey to Baltimore if you think your expenses will be that much lower.

You can PM me - but I think there are a lot of people operating under the misconception that Baltimore is so much less expensive than Monsey and I think that its important to get out there and dispell that myth. There may be more housing opportunities, there is a jewish organization that provides funding and low interest mortgatges for jewish people to purchase homes in certain areas to maintain a jewish presences, there maybe more job oppotunities, but I do not think overall that the cost of living is much lower.

Tova

Wed, Aug 04 2010, 7:17 pm

Welcome, Abby! Do you mind saying - or PM'ing me - what area you moved to? I am happy you found everyone so friendly.

Never having lived in Monsey (but having a lot of family in the Northern NJ area - Passaic, etc.) I can't really do a full price comparison, but housing is definately much cheaper here. There are plenty of 3+ bedroom homes for much much less than $300K. The previous owners of our home bought it in 1999 for $90K (this was of course before the housing bubble). But - it's my impression that it is much easier to live a simple life here in Baltimore. I do not find that people are fancy or into gashmius - that element is a very small minority.

Oh - and the Rabbanim here are so top notch that even after living here (nearly) my whole life I am impressed anew constantly when I hear stories (and I have plenty of my own!).

energy11

Wed, Aug 04 2010, 7:29 pm

I lived in Baltimore many years and want to say that food is LESS expensive than Monsey IF you shop carefully, and IF you are not Chalav Israel.
Shoppers and 7Miles are very expensive, but lots of cheaper foods are available in Wallmart, Save a Lot and even dollar store!

DefyGravity

Thu, Aug 05 2010, 10:21 am

As with anything, it depends what you buy. Different items are cheaper at different stores. Yes, certain things are cheaper at Wal Mart, and I have several items that I like to buy there, such as OJ, Rhodes Dough, and Morning Star Farms items. But there are many items that I also buy at Shoppers and 7 Mile Market that are priced very reasonably. I tend to do most of my shopping at Shoppers, and what I buy is well-priced.

It's worth it to look at 7 Mile's weekly circular online because even CY dairy products can be well-priced. They tend to have different brands of 2 pound bags of cheese on sale nearly every week, and those are always priced very well.

energy11

Thu, Aug 05 2010, 10:38 am

DefyGravity wrote:

What's that?

By the way, that reminds me that the Russian vegetable store sells puff pastry from Canada with OK Hechsher at a fraction of the price from 7Miles.

DefyGravity

Thu, Aug 05 2010, 10:46 am

Rhode's Dough is frozen dough that you can use to make easy pull apart challah. Obviously, it's cheaper if you make challah from scratch, but if you don't, it's MUCH cheaper than buying challah.