Work moving from Olathe, KS to Wilmington- We might follow. (Newark: sales, apartments)

[seppdelaney]

I copied this from the Philly Forum- Want to have all opinions.

My wife and I may have the opportunity to move from Olathe, KS (a suburb of KC) to Philly Area. She and I work for the same company and there is an office opening in Wilmington.

Neither she, nor I, want to remain in KS if we do not need to- and we have nothing tying us to this City. We both want out of the Midwest. No kids yet, none on the way for now.

We're both in our late twenties, early thirties. We're looking for a home for under 200k, if possible.

What kind of neighborhoods are we looking at- considering we would need to get to Wilmington each day?

Would it be a good idea to look for homes in the Wilmington area as well?

We enjoy night life to a degree, but we're not 21 any longer, so every night isn't a bar night. We're both working professionals who enjoy a relatively active lifestyle- not a couple who will sit on the couch all day, every day.

We enjoy the arts, going camping, hiking, and cooking and eating well.

I'm a car enthusiast.

Our main concern regarding the move is the cost of living difference in housing- everything else seems about the same cost-wise. Olathe Ks is a nice suburb sw of Kc. We have a house here, which we'll need to sell in order to have the funding to move up there. (Luckily, Kansas City wasn't hit too hard with the housing disaster and I should be able to get back what I put in.) The house here is a split level, two car garage, 4 bedroom, 3 bath. We certainly don't want anything quite this large, but we don't want our quality of life to decrease either.

We've been looking at a number of homes in the Wilmington/Philly area and there are quite a few that we like from the photos- we'll have a realtor take us around when we visit. Since we don't know the area very well, we don't really know the areas from which we need to stay.

[doctorjef]

Especially if you could go as high as about 220K, I think you'll have considerably more choice. I would not wish to commute daily between Philly and Wilmington. There will be some housing stock within your price range in North Wilmington and Belfonte (also north of the City of Wilmington proper). The northern suburbs of Wilmington proper - broadly known as "North Wilmington" are nice and leafy. By living in Delaware you will avoid PA's higher property taxes, and of course there is no sales tax in DE. You will also be avoiding a trafficky commute and the added fuel costs. Apart from North Wilmington, there are other areas such as Stanton-Newport, Elsmere, and New Castle that would have properties within your range. I would avoid all of these, especially New Castle. You could also find something in some parts of Newark, but I don't see why you would want to have the longer commute when you could get suitable properties in North Wilmington or Belfonte. Stay away from Claymont, by the way. You could go farther south to places like Bear and Middletown, but then you are going to be way out in bedroom communities that are really unnecessary for your situation and which are lacking if you enjoy a little night life and finer dining. Finally, it would be possible to find a row house within the City of Wilmington at your price point, in more acceptable areas such as Forty Acres, but it will lack off street parking, will likely be something of a fixer upper, will come with City of Wilmington income tax (though this pays for city services), and will probably give you less bang for your buck.

Remember that around here "Wilmington" refers only to the City of Wilmington proper, which is a quite small area of the total. Most desireable areas are in the suburbs, outside the city limits, but these are at no great distance from the City. Indeed, it is possible that your employer is actually re-locating to an HQ outside the city limits. Confusingly, "Wilmington" has two meanings depending on context. To locals it generally means the City only, but if one is talking about the general area - including the suburbs - to non-locals who wouldn't understand the subtleties, then "Wilmington" includes the whole area generically.

[momonthemove]

You may wish to consider the 19808 area of Wilmington. Good luck.

[whereshome]

Originally Posted by momonthemove

You may wish to consider the 19808 area of Wilmington. Good luck.

We like 19808. You are in between Wilmington and Newark. It is a nice area and you could definitely find something in your budget.

[seppdelaney]

It's getting nearer. Work is moved- applications are in- coming up this weekend to do some recon. We're thinking we'll probably want a rental for 6 mo to get our footings and sell out current home- we have a dog and two cats and will have issues selling with them still in the house. Office is between Wilmington and Chadds Ford. Any ideas? Must have off street parking 2 car garage almost necessary.

[CarrieM]

Rockford apartments in Newark does short term leases and is pet friendly. Not sure that they are friendly enough for three pets, but it's worth looking into, as a place to start out.

[seppdelaney]

Great! Thanks!