Middletown, DE (Wilmington, Newark, Hockessin: real estate market, townhomes, square footage)

[jsm927]

Considering moving to the area too from NJ, my question is how bad would it be to get to Wilmington in the morning commute? I would need to take an Amtrak into NYC 2 times a week (hoping to make it only 1 time a week) trying to understand if this would be brutal to get to the Amtrak. Is there a bus or alternative means other than driving there? I have done a 2.5 hour commute both ways before so I expect it to be around there.

Are there other town as nice closer that you know of? So far Middletown seems like what we are looking for. We are looking in the 300-400 range as well.

[jdoll]

I live near the Route 1/Route 299 interchange on the east side of Middletown. Plan on 30 minutes no traffic and 45 minutes with bad traffic to the Amtrak Station in Wilmington. NYC/Penn is 1-1/2 hrs via the Acela and 1 hr-50 mins via the Amtrak Regionals.

You can save some money driving from Middletown to MetroPark and taking the NJ Transit into NYC but plan on a 2 hr drive and another 1 hr on the train.

[doctorjef]

Would it be easier to take Amtrak from Newark, in terms of the drive from Middletown to Newark? I've no idea myself, since I only use the Wilmington station. Someone here will surely know.

Edit: Sorry, the above may be confusing. My point was that Newark might possibly be easier to get to from Middletown, but I'm not familiar with the location and conditions of the Newark station. ISTM that I've read something about it being in kind of a weird, out-of-the-way location and I'm not sure what it has in terms of parking, etc. One disadvantage would be that it wouldn't be served by Acela, just by regionals and SEPTA (the latter is irrelevant unless you're going into Philly to change to an Acela there, which likely wouldn't be too efficient). Acela is rather expensive, but we've had unreliable experiences on the regionals -- sometimes they get you to NY Penn Station almost as fast as the Acela, but other times we've found them to be VERY slow getting through the long, sordid stretch of north Philly and taking way longer than the Acela to make the overall journey. Business class on the regionals is at least uncrowded and pretty quiet, but isn't that much cheaper than Acela business class. For a special treat you can't beat Acela first class but you obviously wouldn't be using that for a twice weekly commute.

[armx]

Newark station is not in an out of the way location - just on southern boundary near old chrysler plant There are enough parking spaces. The concern would be that the SEPTA trains are - two or three at the rush hours. That restricts how long one could stay in NYC for business -perhaps, Wilmington is a better served location even though the drive from Middletown would be longer.

[doctorjef]

Am I wrong, then, that Newark is served by Amtrak regionals? Is it only SEPTA?

[jsm927]

Now my head is spinning LOL - I would be fine with the drive to Newark (DE not NJ) or Wilmington just not sure how long it would take. Also was open to suggestion to other towns that would be closer to Wilmington that are as nice as the Middletown area and have decent schools.

Really looking to leave NJ but have to be close enough to go to the NYC 1-2 a week for work. Is Bear nice? We like the suburbs - I currently live close to everything but not walking distance, we drive have parks and want a house with a nice size yard etc. We have a 3 year old and want a nice and safe area for her.

@Jdoll - I wouldnt want to drive to MetroPark from Deleware - I live 15 minutes south of there now and wouldnt drive there to catch a train its traffic hell there. Plus I want an easy commute - a train ride vs the stress of driving. I can always get work done on a train, so a 1 /12 - 2 hour ride isnt out of the question.

[armx]

Have you been down here for a visit or two? I invite you to come down. Internet is nice but it is all Plastic - real thing may not be as good or as bad as the online pictures and/or info indicate.

Nice and a safe place is such a personal definition - depends on your frame of reference. Unlike NJ, Delaware is not made of bunch of towns connected to each other but there are towns and a whole bunch of area in between that is unincorporated -that is called New Castle County - peppered with subdivisions or communities, some of them as big as 400 homes -like a town but governed by the County goverment..

To answer your question about other areas that are not as far as Middletown yet somewhat open there plenty of them but a combination of what vintage homes, what size yard is big enough etc. etc would determine which is appropriate from ALL considerations.

[jsm927]

Thanks armx, that is very helpful. We are planning a trip down but trying to narrow down the areas we want to see when we come so we are not just aimlessly driving around.

I do not want gang or drug violence near my home. We dont have it in my neighborhood but its just a few miles away in the next town over and is too close for comfort. To me a safe neighborhood has low crime, maybe Im sheltered but where I grew up there was almost none that we ever heard of. Where I live now is nice but the towns around us have gone straight downhill and are now innundated with illegals and drug and gang violence seems to have increased.

As for what we want, around 3000 sq foot home on at the least 1/2 acre of land. Enough for a yard to play in and a pool to add if not there. I want to be able to sit out in my yard and enjoy it during the nice weather. Noise is also a consideration - dont want jets scraping my roof So we do not want the airport close by(not in the flightpath) or to be on a highway with too much roadnoise.

I hope that helps. Appreciate all suggestions and information

[momonthemove]

Hey JSM! We moved from NJ to Middletown about one year ago. My husband commutes for his job. He usually drives when he goes to NYC. I have taken the train from Wilmington to the city. You can also get the train in Newark (which is actually closer to Middletown than Wilmington). I would say that it general takes us 40 min to get to Wilmington from our home. Good luck.

[armx]

JSm:

It is critical to know what time of the morning you have to reach NYC or in other words what time in the morning you will be commuting from Middletown to Wilmington ...Route 1 to I-95 merging can be a BEAR in the morning ..... and what time in the afternoon you would be returning from NYC would determine other options available........e.g. you could find a home of your liking near Newark and ride the express bus from Newark(free park & ride) to Wilmington to catch Amtrak train ...that is another quick option.