opinion on Magnolia (Dover: sales, hotel, homes)

[jams]

hi all, I would greatly appreciate any fedback you could provide.
I live in NJ and am consideting moving to DE, we have looked at Chesnut Ridge by Ryland in Magnolia and like what we have seen so far.
I have 2 daughters 19 & 10 my understanding is that Ceasar Rodney school district is one of the best in the state.
I'm just looking to move to a family oriented community where we can be a part of it and I can provide better opportunities to my family.
of course like any other 10 & 19yr old my daughters are not thrill about moving and leaving schools and friends behind they are my only concern I'm trying to make them understand that this move will help us all, as an outside salesman I'm traveling into DE. MD & PA so DE would be ideal for me. can anyone give me feedback on the development, the town, would there be kids my daughters age to make friends with?
thanks for your help, Juan.

[anniebleu]

Juan,

I think that a couple of people who sometimes contribute to this forum live in Magnolia. Not certain, but I don't think they have young children (I'm not here much, so I forget!), but I'm sure they could give you some information.

We live in the Dover area, but it takes about 20 minutes for us to reach Magnolia, usually on our back route to the beaches, so I have little to tell you.

Did you visit--or are you reading online? If you've visited you'll know that Magnolia is a small village. My impression is that there are now far more people living in surrounding developments and trailer parks than in the village. I doubt that there's much of a sense of community within the town itself, but someone else can contribute more in this regard. I may be completely wrong.

Caesar Rodney has a good reputation.

Most activities, shopping, medical, etc., will be in and near Dover.

If you haven't visited, I think you should. Ask many questions. Also, please know that, depending on where you're traveling (for work) in Maryland, for example, you have to plan carefully to get across the Bay Bridge spans during the warm months, especially late May through September. We do this often, so I do know. Others will alert you about the busy times, if you don't already know, traveling north into PA.

Best luck.

Annie

[from PA]

Hi Juan,

My husband and I live in Magnolia . We moved here from PA, 3 years ago.
We live in Jonathan's Landing, a neighborhood of single family homes on 1/3 acre lots which all back up to open space.
We are conveniently located to Rt.1 and we travel frequently to PA and MD and we are 1 1/2 from PHL and 1 3/4 hrs from BWI. We have no regrets about our move to Magnolia and it is a perfect scenario for someone in outside sales especially if DC, PA and MD are your territories.
If your girls love the beach its an easy drive from here. Good luck.

[anniebleu]

Couple follow-up comments, and I hope that this is far more information than you need, Juan!

Since we cross the Bay Bridge spans twice or more almost every week of the year, we truly do know about the warm months traffic jams, leading up to the bridge, going either east or west. Traffic can be at a halt as far away (c. 9 miles) as Annapolis when one is traveling east toward the Bay Bridge, and similarly jammed going west, especially late Sundays and Monday mornings.

So, if you have to travel for work and it involves crossing the bridge spans, do keep the following in mind: from late May through Labor Day--and sometimes well into September--approaching (returning) from the east, you can get stopped for hours from Thursday afternoons through Saturday (c. 6 p.m.) especially. The worst time to be returning to Delaware, of course, would be Fridays and Saturdays when so many are headed to the beaches.

Traveling west, you'll find huge back-ups on Monday mornings. (Sunday afternoons can be really difficult too.)

We must be slower drivers than PA, as it takes us about 2 1/4 hours to reach BWI from Dover--and that's with relatively light Bay Bridge traffic.

PA, do you have young children? Don't think so, but am uncertain. Aren't you in the, uh, somewhat older group as we are? If yours are grown, do you know of anyone in Magnolia who has young ones and might have some comments for Juan?

[from PA]

Our neighborhood consists mostly of young families with children . There are empty nesters and retirees here as well, a nice mix I would say.

Regarding traffic to BWI, most of the time, our flights are at 8 AM so that would mean getting there before 6:30 or so. The only time it took us more than 2 hours was during the snow storm in early March. At that time, we did not travel the back roads but took RT. 1 north to RT.95. The only vehicles on the road were snow plows and of course us.

An outside salesperson can schedule appointments and flights around the heavy traffic to avoid the jammos. For instance, we had business in MD on a Saturday morning and decided to leave Friday night and stay in a hotel. That was a mistake as the traffic was horrible and the commute was a nightmare.

It's all a matter of timing.