Neighborhood:Village of Olde Mill Location: Millersville, Anne Arundel County

Average sales price: $231,000 (January through June)

Notable features: This neighborhood of 1970s houses goes against the grain of suburban look-alike streets with nothing but one color and style. Properties range from split foyers to townhouses with bump-out windows, some clad in wood, some in brick and some in siding. There's lots of attention paid to yards here. And because the neighborhood is just east of Veterans Highway and Route 97, it's a 15-mile drive to downtown Baltimore, 18 miles to Annapolis and 34 miles to Washington.

The average home selling in Millersville in the first half of the year changed hands for $440,000, so Olde Mill is a relative island of affordability. Dominic Cantalupo of Champion Realty in Pasadena suggested it when I was looking for something in pricey Anne Arundel that's less costly but still worthy of being called a hidden gem. You won't get huge homes here, but then more people are in the market for modest nowadays. The properties tend to range from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet.

Nancy Scanlon, who's lived in the neighborhood since her home was built in 1971, thinks the location is great.

"We like being near the airport, and we like being near Annapolis," she said. "My husband, before he retired, worked for the Veterans Administration in Washington. And we're near Baltimore. ... It's just a nice, friendly, convenient-to-everything neighborhood." The community association organizes Easter egg hunts and holiday lighting contests.

There's a pool with a swim team, too --the Olde Mill Swim Club, which charges an annual membership fee.

"We've been happy here," Scanlon said. "And we will be here until we move on to the next life."

About this series

With help from readers, The Baltimore Sun's Real Estate Wonk blog selected 10 nice, affordable and off-the-radar places as "hidden-gem neighborhoods." This is one of the 10.