moving to Wilmington Area ?'s (Newark, Pike Creek: relocating, real estate, property taxes)

[hc7612]

Hello all. We are going to be relocating to the Wilmington area from Pa.(My husbands job). I would like to know where are the nicer suburbs of Wilmington? We really do not want to be in the city itself, but prefer an upscale suburban community. Does anyone have any suggestions on communites and what areas to avoid. Thanks so much in advance.

Heather

[mikandmari]

The best upscale area just outside of Wilmington is up route 52 (Kennett Pike). Any of those neighborhoods are very nice (and very expensive) right up to the PA state line (this includes Greenville & Centerville). They are in the Red Clay School District, which allows students to choose and apply for which school they'd like to attend. It's a convenient area & has some wonderful upscale shopping.

Another nice area is just outside of the northern side of the city, called -what else- North Wilmington or the Brandywine area. These are the communities off the route 202 corridor (Concord Pike). Concord Pike itself is pretty congested, complete with chain restaurants, shopping centers & a mall, but tends to be pretty upscale with decent-type people.

If you narrow it down to any certain neighborhoods, I can tell you what you might be surrounded by (i.e. areas to avoid, bad traffic, etc).

[hc7612]

Thanks so much for your feedback. We will be moving from Berks Co. Pa. We will most likely want new construction as our son has a ton of allergies. He is 7 so a good school district is important to us, or proximity to a good private school.

We actually drove down towards Middletown this weekend and we were disappointed. We also think the commute would be to much.

I have done some searching but have found limited info. on new home communities. Can you suggest any that are near the locations of the towns you mentioned? Again, thanks so much for the input. I know nothing about Delaware!

Heather

[val olson]

Heather,

My fiance and I just moved to Chadds Ford, PA. We are 15 minutes from downtown Wilmington in a beautiful, rural area living in an old stone house.

Real estate taxes are lower in Pa, and being close to tax free shopping in Deleware is a plus. We are by major cultural attractions, shopping centers and major thoroughfares.

Good luck with your move.

Val

[mikandmari]

I think you mean the property taxes are lower in Delaware... right? WAY lower!

If the original poster can afford Chadds Ford or Chester County, PA, they are a good choice for new construction, and an easy commute to Wilmington. But property taxes on new construction are easily $12000+ yearly. The schools are supposedly better, but I don't have personal experience with those school districts. Delaware does have some great private schools.

Northern Delaware is pretty built up at this point... and I agree that Middletown is disappointing and the commute to Wilmington is horrible (too many commuters and not enough roads). One area with new homes being built that is very nice is the Hockessin/West Newark area, such as Paper Mill Road. If you can pick up a copy of the Wilmington News Journal's Sunday paper, they show a map with new communities in their real estate section each week for the entire county. If you call their subscription department, they can send them to you.

[hc7612]

Val Olson,
Thanks for the info. MikandMari is correct. We are actually moving to Delaware from Berks. Co. Pa. We pay approx. $14,000 a year in property taxes. This is outrageous to us. We will be paying approx. 1/5 of what we are paying now. We are now focusing on the Bear, Delaware and Newark/Hockessin area. We actually visited a couple of neighborhoods yesterday. I was very pleased with Red Lion Chase. We want new construction because of our son's allergies. Chadds Ford area is gorgeous, and PA. schools are great, however logistically speaking, for us we need to look further south. Thanks again for the info.

Heather

[kerrywelsh]

Originally Posted by hc7612

Val Olson,
Thanks for the info. MikandMari is correct. We are actually moving to Delaware from Berks. Co. Pa. We pay approx. $14,000 a year in property taxes. This is outrageous to us. We will be paying approx. 1/5 of what we are paying now. We are now focusing on the Bear, Delaware and Newark/Hockessin area. We actually visited a couple of neighborhoods yesterday. I was very pleased with Red Lion Chase. We want new construction because of our son's allergies. Chadds Ford area is gorgeous, and PA. schools are great, however logistically speaking, for us we need to look further south. Thanks again for the info.

Heather

Hi, we lived in Wilmington a few years ago and found that most people in North Wilmington (where the best neighborhoods are) send their kids to private schools. For most folks it was cheaper to live in DE with low taxes and send kids to private school than to live in PA with the insane property taxes and go to public schools. That's one of the reasons I'm hesitant to move back - I'm not really into private schools (snob factor) but it seems that in North Wilmington, that's what everyone does. That said, all the areas north of Trolley Square area really beautiful and relatively affordable (compared to PA, NJ, NY, etc.).

[hc7612]

Thanks for the additional information. We would like him to be in Public school, as long as the school itself is a safe one. Where we are looking around Red Lion Chase, the new Wrangle Hill elementary looks great. I hope that it turns out that way, or we will send him to private school. I still have alot of homework to do.

Heather

[Nelly622]

There are some really nice upscale neighborhoods in and around Hockessin which is in the Red Clay School District where you can choice your children to the school you would like them to attend. There are a couple of really nice neighbor hoods along Rt 41 (Breckenridge, Westminster, Wyndom, Westmont) as well as along Brackenville Road. There are a couple of new construction neighborhoods along Limestone Rd in Hockessin and along Old Baltimore Pike and Paper Mill Road. All are very close to Pike Creek which was just rated one of the top 100 best places to live in the U.S. Lots of shopping centers in the area, very convenient to PA and also to I-95.

[aljay89]

We didn't want to go with a private school for our 4 and 6 year old, but we found the public schools to be so bad... it was inevitable. If you decide to go the private school route, but don't want the private school snobbery, try Elementary Workshop Montessori School in downtown Wilmington. It's very down-to-earth, multiracial, people from all different walks of life. We love EWMS because every teacher knows the name of every child and they really seem to love the children, and we all help parent each other's children. The school has about 75 kids and is one of the least expensive non-parochial schools in the state, and by far the least expensive Montessori. It's a great school -- check out the website at Elementary Workshop Montessori School. If you decide to sign up, please tell them I sent you! -Allison