Ten "Undervalued" Areas's in the D.C./Baltimore Region

It is hard to say anything is “undervalued” right now. There used to be dozens of areas I thought were undervalued, but guess what, they are “properly valued”. So this list is on a relative basis, and while I do think these areas have some appreciation upside, this is honestly more geared towards where you can still get an affordable place in a nicer area.

Wheaton/Aspen Hill

Wheaton & Aspen Hill are two of the only areas left in Montgomery County where you can get a single-family home under $600k. Wheaton, especially, has some things going for it. First of all, an amazing food scene (shout out to Ruan Thai & Stained Glass Pub), is metro accessible & has some serious development planned. As an aside, I think a big trend of the next decade will be bringing urban living to the suburbs; Wheaton is primed especially to benefit from that. Aspen Hill is a pretty average area but still relatively affordable, and I assume I will somehow end up living there someday. A fun fact (or at least fact), I went to three totally different schools in Aspen Hill from 5th through 12th grade. I guess Aspen Hill has a lot of old abandoned schools. And then when I graduated and thought my Aspen Hill days were over, my first friend to buy his own home bought in, you guessed it, Aspen Hill.

Gaithersburg

Gaithersburg is honestly my favorite area of Montgomery County. First of all, Rio & Crown Farm are fantastic. (Side tangent, does anyone remember the Pokémon Go craze? The lake at Rio had like a ton of Pokémon, and my friend and I spent all that summer walking around the lake, bullshitting, and catching Pokémon.) Secondly, my mom has worked for the city planning department nearly my entire life. Gaithersburg is not nice by accident; the planning department does a ton of work to encourage walkable development like Rio, Crown & the upcoming Lake Forest Mall development. They even make developers use certain quality of materials that make it feel nice. While city taxes are high, at least you know it's going to a government that actually gives a shit about making the area nice for its citizens. It’s honestly a real-life Parks & Rec. Prices generally range from around $400k for a townhome to, on the absolute upper end, maybe $1 million, but most stuff can be easily found in the $500k-$800k range.

Woodley/College Gardens

This is admittedly biased, but I grew up in College Gardens till I was 13 and had a good childhood, or at least the College Gardens part was fine, school was a different story & the reason I do real estate lol. It's a basic 1960-70’s subdivision, except with a little extra. It has multiple parks, a community pool, a community shopping center (shout out to Carman’s Italian Ice; I was there before it even opened), and while I know this cliché and overstated, a real sense of community. And you can still buy a nice large home in the $700–$800k range.

Columbia

Columbia, MD, recently named the “Worst City to date in America”, so maybe more for my married couples, but it’s honestly one of the few areas where prices still seem too low. You can get a nice decent home in the $400s and a really nice home in the mid $600s and totally master planned, lakes everywhere, hiking paths, community center. It’s just like one of those idyllic towns in a horror movie right before something awful happens to everyone in the town (Good luck!). Now, you do pay for this horror movie aesthetic through the CPRA tax, generally around $150-$250 a month, but it genuinely goes to maintaining the community, and I believe you even get discounts on the many community amenities & centers.

Bowie

Bowie & Columbia are broadly similar, IMO. Two 1970’s era master planned nice areas. Bowie is probably a little less planned than Columbia (less horror movie aesthetic) but nice nonetheless. To be honest, the biggest difference might be where you work. If Route 50 is more convenient, you might choose Bowie; if you’re Route 29 enthusiast, Columbia might make more sense. You can still get a single-family home in the mid $400s in Bowie and a borderline McMansion in the $600-$700s. Really solid value.

Eastern Shore of MD

This is admittedly a pretty large area that encompasses everything from literally some of the most isolated parts of the country (Hooper’s Island) to 30k houses (Cambridge) to 20 million waterfront properties (Saint Michaels). Fun fact: Talbot County, MD, has the most shoreline of any county in the United States. But to me, that’s its charm. There is something for everyone at every price point. You can live on 50 acres or walk to town in Saint Michaels or Easton. You can spend $30k or $20 million & everything in between. I think the sweet spot is Easton, MD, which is a totally livable place with all the shopping you’d find on Rockville Pike. We have a Target; we even have an Ulta, which I am told by my mom & sister is a big deal. You are also literally surrounded by water, around an hour to an hour and a half back to D.C., assuming decent bridge traffic, good food scene and single family homes still in the $300s & $600s buys you something pretty baller. The Eastern Shore is a little choose your own adventure, which I love.

Riggs Park/Michigan & North Michigan Park

This area, basically the area of northeast D.C. that borders Prince George's County, is one of the more affordably and relatively safe areas of the city. It’s also relatively new, 1950-1970s vs. 1900-1920s in most of the city. Yes, you lose some of the charm of the old homes, and frankly, the area isn't very walkable, but the build quality of these homes is infinitely better than the 1920s homes. (When people say they don't build them like they used to, I always say good because frankly, anything built pre-World War Two is an adventure). Super affordable as well, row homes range from the mid $500s to the mid $600s, some rare single family is still in the $700s, and even duplexes, some of the rare multi-family built in this era, are in the $600-800s. The area is kind of boring, but right now in the city, I think boring is good.

Parkville

Parkville reminds me in certain ways of Silver Spring about 15 years ago. Granted, there’s no downtown, but it's a solid area with well-built, attractive homes, that for whatever reason, were much cheaper than the surrounding areas. Does it really make sense that Towson or Lutherville-Timonium are almost double Parkville? Not really. Again, anywhere you can find single-family homes in the mid to high $300s in a decent area with good housing stock, right now is, by definition, a good “value” in my opinion.

Frederick

I tried to do one for each county and, to be honest, Frederick was the hardest. It's had some of the fastest growth in the state and it's frankly hard for me to differentiate many parts of Frederick County from one another, with one major exception: downtown Frederick. While it has seen prices skyrocket since the pandemic, it's still, in my humble opinion, really solid. It's incredibly charming, has a fantastic dining scene, and has really cool shops (which I know because every time I go there with my mom and sister, I have to wait what seems like hours, but may only be minutes in reality, while they shop). It has Carroll Creek Park. It's basically everything you'd want in a charming, walkable small town except it's right off 270. (Caution: commutes from Frederick into the city can be brutal; this probably isn't for someone in the office downtown 5 days a week.) And it's still relatively affordable. For all that, townhomes are still available in the mid $300s. $500-600k gets you something pretty special still.

Canton/Harbor East/Brewers’ Hill/Fell’s Point

An interesting thing has happened over the past few years. D.C. has really struggled, and certain parts of Baltimore appear to be improving to the point that areas like Canton and Fed Hill might actually be nicer and more affordable than many formerly hot D.C. areas. Now the reason I chose this part of Baltimore is frankly its variety of experiences. Harbor East is basically new & gleaming, Fell’s Point is one of the oldest & most charming parts of the city & possibly state, Canton is kind of quiet in the city at least relatively & Brewers Hill is kind of industrial chic. But you can walk between all of them easily, so you don’t really need to choose one. Hamden is cool as well but is disconnected from the rest of the city, Federal Hill is cool if you're 25 & love drinking (If the city is looking to get the squeegee boys real jobs, may I suggest they could ID people before they enter Fed Hill, with the twist that if you are over 25, you cannot enter and are rerouted back to Canton.) but again there's less variety around there. Prices range from the low $300s to something pretty baller in the $500-600 range.