North Wilmington neighborhoods (Greenville: real estate, cliquey, new home)

[crandolph]

What makes Tavistock a "more desirable" neighborhood than Shipley Heights or Sutton Place? (A realtor told me that Tavistock was "more desirable" -- and pricing seems to reflect it -- but she couldn't tell me WHY.) Thoughts, natives? Is it the west vs east of the pike business (which I still don't understand completely)?

[scubaguy]

Originally Posted by crandolph

What makes Tavistock a "more desirable" neighborhood than Shipley Heights or Sutton Place? (A realtor told me that Tavistock was "more desirable" -- and pricing seems to reflect it -- but she couldn't tell me WHY.) Thoughts, natives? Is it the west vs east of the pike business (which I still don't understand completely)?

I've been here 30 years+. Delaware can tend to be very "clicky". Your agent may be one of "those people" who still dwell on something that may have been more desirable 20/40 years ago. Shipley Heights, Sutton Place, etc. are all beautiful neighborhoods with a great sense of community. The property values have all increased (and decreased) in tandom in all of the areas of North Wilmington equally. Go with your gut on this one. Which may mean finding another real estate agent. Best wishes on a new home.

[crandolph]

Well here is a follow-up question: is west of the Pike more "cliquey" than east? if that is the case we probably actually want to be east.

[doctorjef]

I don't know the answer to that, but actually I do think that the neighborhoods west of 202 are generally more affluent. Does that necessarily equate to cliquishness? I think it's more a matter of whether you feel a gut level sense of being at home in a particular neighborhood. I personally think that in general property west of 202 is going to be a better investment -- it's a smaller area than east of 202 and more convenient to the upper crust burbs of Montchanin and Greenville. There's lots of nice homes east of Concord Pike, but it's a big area and some of it is rather far-flung and not all that convenient to the rest of greater Wilmington. West of 202 is more compact and easier to generalise about. My personal favourite bit, bordering the City of Wilmington itself, is Alapocas.

[scubaguy]

I may have previously misused the term as well as the spelling of "cliquey". I think there are a subset of folks who enjoy saying they are from a particular area in an effort to identify their own status or level of affluence (perceived or otherwise). This whole business about West and East sides is ridiculous. The entire North Wilmington (Brandywine Hundred) area is beautiful, filled with lots of developments where a great variety of people from various socio-economic and richly diverse backgrounds reside.
One certainly cannot generalize that affluent people live primarily on the West side versus the East side. Some developments have smaller homes, which fetch lower prices, and some developments seem to be able to get a bit more than others, but they are located all over this area --not specifically on one side of a dividing line - 202. There is affluence dispersed throughout the East and West sides. I've had not heard this before, except from one real estate agent and DoctorJef (not my intention to pick on you).

We live in a fantastic, newer neighborhood in N. Wilmington. The houses are beautiful, neighbors are friendly, the development backs to a newly designed public golf course, and the DE Greenway goes through the development and leads to the Alopocas State park. The prices have also held their value -- but again we are on the "East" side as designated by these threads. (Hopefully no one thinks this equates to the preverbial "other side of the tracks") Other houses down the street from us are also considered desirable and have sold for $800K to $1MM dollars. I feel the need to mention the Toll Bros neighborhood on the "East" side of 202 -near Target that are close to $1MM homes and sold out in a flash.

Hopefully, this argument/perception will dissipate gracefully. I hope crandolph and others who read these posts and are not misinformed by the opinions of a few. This perception of the East -vs. - West side of 202 probably started 40 years ago. People begin to parrot what they've heard previously with conviction in their voices, signaling it is absolute. (Now that you read it on the internet, it must be true) If a particular house and development feels right for you, that's where you should hang your mailbox. You really can't go wrong with anywhere in N. Wilmington. You will only find what it is that you actually seek!