I used Guaranteed Rate Affinity last year to manage a complicated post-divorce refinance on my home in Howard County. They were great and very professional.

Like others have mentioned, my loan was purchased by Chase 4 months later.

Hahahaha. Ride a bike.

Public transport can't have more ridership until it is made more functional. Yes we need more frequent buses, more train lines, hell even more bicycle options. When cities prioritize walking it creates more economic activity which then helps fund the public transport. Also I ride the metro everyday to work and you can catch the metro and lightrail at Lexington Market. Though I would like more trains that move through the city than the half finished attempts that are the lightrail and metro. Would've been nice if Hogan didn't literally break federal law and steal the money from the red line.

In short, if you build it, they will come.

https://app.oxblue.com/open/clarkconstruction/baltimorearena

You want to get a few quotes and then leverage the best quotes to see if other lenders will match or beat them.

I would not recommend getting a loan from a "big name" bank. Their rates are not the best and they don't have much room for negotiation. A broker is going to be your best option.

Check out www.better.com - their rates are very competitive and an easy way to get a baseline quote.

I've used Harborside Home Loans several times (current home purchase and two refis on my previous home) and they are fast with closings in about 3 weeks or less: https://harborsidehl.com/

Better offered me a slightly better rate but Harborside matched it.

Keep in mind that once your apply for a quote, that information goes public and your phone or email will get blown up by other lenders trying to get your business.

Catonsville was actually my first choice (lived there a while back, and Woodlawn) if I were buying right now it’s be great. But the non-complex rentals there aren’t what I need sadly. I work in owings mills right now but a lot of my run-ins are west/county and midtown.

On Charles St? It’s one of the main arteries of the city. Would be like putting a bus lane on 83. Traffic issues won’t be solved until there is a decent Subway in town. Bus lanes are a joke.

Absurd that cars are allowed on Charles and St Paul at all through most of the city tbh, they should have just one lane for buses then wider sidewalks with space for restaurants and bars to expand into the street and bike lanes

Parkville can get less than desirable, as with any area in Baltimore. One block makes a huge difference

Yup, cuts off at bel air, hazelwood to the north

Agreed. There are growing pains while we build it out and cars are still the primary method of commute, but we have to bite the bullet eventually

That’s the design I was referring to, protected by the lane of cars. Used to be configured that way, looks like they changed the configuration back to unprotected in 2018

That’s what you’re worried about? The color? It’s eye catching, which is good, because so many motorists are too busy paying attention to other things like their phones or radios.

Just for the record BBB is pay to play, so any company can buy an A+ rating and have bad reviews deleted.

Amsterdam started shifting to a bike and pedestrian centric transit method 30-40 years ago when they were going bankrupt from car centric infrastructure. Automobile centric infrastructure is a MAJOR drain on resources as road user taxes and fees are a drop in the bucket compared to the true cost for road building and maintenance. If the US were just able to print how much ever currency they wanted, we’d be in the same boat as the Netherlands. This doesn’t even take into account the environmental impact cars and heavy trucks have (regardless of propulsion.)

>The Roland Ave project could have been, and should have been the standard to follow.

We do have a standard to follow, Roland Ave is not it. Best practices for this configuration (Bike lane/parking lane/travel lane) puts the parking between the bikes and the cars, then brings the bike lane adjacent to the travel lane prior to any intersection where vehicles could turn toward the cyclists.

>The sign that says it’s the law to stop for pedestrians the sits in the middle of the road works for me every time on eastern.

As someone who walks a bike across Eastern in a crosswalk with one of those signs twice a day, you are a minority. The Boston Street crosswalks with those signs are even less effective than Eastern's.

>Painting a cross walk green and stoping the use of that sign is mental.

Roland Ave also has green paint, it's pretty universal for bike lanes. Until majority of drivers develop some awareness, it helps trigger them to into "that's not normal, maybe I should pay attention".

>Also… Rapid transit development? The project took six years!! To paint a fucking bike lane on the road?!?

The project was a mess to begin with, welcome to the world of design-build. However, it was a full streetscape, along with significant utility work and a stormwater system that carries a full stream.

We had our move set up well in advance, but I can at least give a big thumbs up to Charm City Movers. Would use again.

Or just all the fucking cars everywhere, and all the cement needed to accommodate them. The city is still stuck in the 70s and many of the people that live here are too.

If it’s just the subframe, get onto LKQ’s website and try to find a junked Focus of a similar year. Their pick and pull yards are: Baltimore (Erdman ave), Mt. Airy, Hawkins Pt. and Edgewood.

It’ll take some time and effort but you may luck out and be able to find one in better shape for a much cheaper price than from Ford.

You’ll still have to pay for someone to drop the old one and bolt everything up to the new one and install it, but you’ll save some cash that way.

Also a good tip: Pay for a Pre-Purchase inspection for any vehicle you’re looking to buy. $100-$150 will go a long way to prevent this kind of headache. Good luck!

It's not a "nightmare". It's working the way it's supposed to.

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Ok Goofy

I live in a nearby neighborhood and like it well enough. This is a really accurate description. It's quiet and laid back, which I love, but if you want to do anything interesting, you pretty much have to drive elsewhere. Herring Run Park has some good trails for a casual stroll, and Frankford is home to BLISS Meadows, which is a really cool program.

In theory sure. In practice public transport ridership has to actually increase substantially for this to happen, otherwise this just makes it worse for everyone traveling by car. And I’m not sure what the rationale for ridership increasing is—will the buses run a much faster or more frequent schedule than they did before? I think many are skeptical of Baltimore’s investments in public transport (especially the metro and light rail) as they have been so badly planned and executed upon (they don’t connect, etc.) and haven’t actually resulted in their projected usage.

I use Roland Ave all the time and its fine, but its not ideal. If you're doing a design, do it best. The best is a protected bike lane, like Maryland Ave/Cathedral St. The bike lane is on the inside of the street against the curb. Pedestrians use the sidewalk. Cars park in between the bike lane and the flow of traffic. Traffic flows and there is a buffer between cyclists and cars.

Here's a design: https://nacto.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/NACTO-Design-Guide-Burchfield-Chicago.pdf

I drive somedays, but when I can I ride my bike because of the convenience of North South bicycle corridor in Baltimore. The design encouraged my bicycle purchase. I hope it encourages others.