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Old 03-02-2011, 02:08 PM
 
42 posts, read 103,739 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by movingtolhv View Post
We also looked at one of Judd's developments but in Coopersburg. We were put off that their 450k quick delivery home included their standard features of formica and linoleum for the kitchen. For that price I would have expected corian and tile. Toll and Pulte include these types of things as standards at a lower price point. We were totally turned off when they showed us the linoleum samples. We also drove out and checked out Brookshire but it seemed pretty far out for us.
Did you guys find another area to build in (that you liked)? I haven't found too many other spots. There were actually a couple but (on a map) they seemed to be pretty close to train tracks. That would not be a good thing!
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Old 03-02-2011, 04:20 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyKidsMommy View Post
Did you guys find another area to build in (that you liked)? I haven't found too many other spots. There were actually a couple but (on a map) they seemed to be pretty close to train tracks. That would not be a good thing!
We are now just looking at quick delivery and newer houses. We realized it would take at least 6 months to build a new house. We just didn't have that much time. We are leaning towards Parkland because the taxes seem lower and we can get a bigger lot (also flat). That's not to say you can't find that in East Penn but it is harder to find in our price range.
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Old 03-04-2011, 06:52 AM
 
Location: PA
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Have you been out to visit the area yet? If not, you really need to come out and drive around.

Selling in Zionsville is very difficult - pretty, but very rural and off the beaten path.

We are in a Pulte house in the East Penn SD after a long, long search of the area. The difference in taxes between the two districts is not big enough to base your decision on.

As a mom of young kids, I would want to be in more of populated area with moms' groups, preschools, etc.
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Old 03-04-2011, 08:16 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KristyLiz View Post
Have you been out to visit the area yet? If not, you really need to come out and drive around.

Selling in Zionsville is very difficult - pretty, but very rural and off the beaten path.

We are in a Pulte house in the East Penn SD after a long, long search of the area. The difference in taxes between the two districts is not big enough to base your decision on.

As a mom of young kids, I would want to be in more of populated area with moms' groups, preschools, etc.
Well, you have some good points. We are coming up very soon to look around at neighborhoods. The house we buy now we aren't planning on selling anytime soon. My husband grew up in the Macungie area. He swears Zionsville is only 15 min. to LVH & everything else we would want to get to. The neighborhood we're looking at is actually in the East Penn SD.

My SIL lives in Farmington Hills. I know Graymoor is right near there too. It is more convenient to everything & I'm sure there are lots of kids to play with (and mommies to become friends with, for me). We'll have to see...

Thanks again!
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Old 03-04-2011, 10:11 AM
 
1,245 posts, read 3,168,213 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyKidsMommy View Post
My husband grew up in the Macungie area. He swears Zionsville is only 15 min. to LVH & everything else we would want to get to.
He is right, it is only 15 minutes to the hospital, Emmaus, or Macungie, give or take a few minutes depending on traffic.

Even though Zionsville is rural, if you are in a development, you don't have to worry about kids to play with, they will be all around.
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Old 03-04-2011, 10:35 AM
 
27 posts, read 58,969 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyKidsMommy View Post
Did you guys find another area to build in (that you liked)? I haven't found too many other spots. There were actually a couple but (on a map) they seemed to be pretty close to train tracks. That would not be a good thing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by KristyLiz View Post
Have you been out to visit the area yet? If not, you really need to come out and drive around.

Selling in Zionsville is very difficult - pretty, but very rural and off the beaten path.

We are in a Pulte house in the East Penn SD after a long, long search of the area. The difference in taxes between the two districts is not big enough to base your decision on.

As a mom of young kids, I would want to be in more of populated area with moms' groups, preschools, etc.
We are considering moving to Parkland and you worry me a bit with your comment about moms groups, preschools, etc. When we drove around Orefield, Schnecksville, there seemed to be lots of developments. Do less young families live in these areas? I don't want to be the only mommy out there.

As for my comment on taxes earlier, I noticed a difference of about 2-3k between the districts for comparable houses (size, age, lots). This might have just been the case for the houses we looked at and it is not a deal breaker for most buyers.
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Old 03-04-2011, 11:54 AM
 
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I just thought of another question - Is Coopersburg about as far from Macungie & Emmaus as Zionsville is? My SIL seems to think Coopersburg & the Saucon Valley region is "up and coming". Maybe Zionsville will be like that one day??? What do you all think?

We would be building in a neighborhood. So, yes, I guess there would be kids around us. Hopefully we wouldn't be too far from preschools or Moms' groups, etc...
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Old 03-04-2011, 01:15 PM
 
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Congrats on the move. I know exactly where Brookshire is...beautiful homes with beautiful lots. We visited there about a month ago and absolutely loved it. I have not heard any bad things about the builder either. Your husband is right, Macungie is about a 15 min. drive from there- I would say more like 10. Yes, it is a little far out there....but it is a development that will eventually grow. A friend of mine lives in Pennsburg, which is only about 5-10 min away, and yes, there is a super Wal-mart w/ other stores about 5 min. from the neighborhood. Her son attends Hereford and she has no complaints, although I personally would want to stick w/ East Penn SD. I would say you should ask yourself what kind of lot you want as the lots in Brookshire are much larger- like 1-2 acres.....Lehigh Crossings, Graymoor you will find smaller lots, 1/2 acre or even less. We looked at Graymoor, liked the neighborhood but the lots were too small and we felt there wasn't much to choose from w/models, I believe there were only 4 to choose from.
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Old 03-04-2011, 01:22 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyKidsMommy View Post
I just thought of another question - Is Coopersburg about as far from Macungie & Emmaus as Zionsville is? My SIL seems to think Coopersburg & the Saucon Valley region is "up and coming". Maybe Zionsville will be like that one day??? What do you all think?

We would be building in a neighborhood. So, yes, I guess there would be kids around us. Hopefully we wouldn't be too far from preschools or Moms' groups, etc...
Coopersburg is a bit further, but not much.

Honestly, I don't see Zionsville being much more than a bedroom community. There is a lot of farm land and open space in the area, so I don't see it being heavily developed in the near future.
The other thing to mention about Zionsville, is it is up on the mountain, not down in the "Lehigh Valley" you actually have to go down rather steep grades to get to either Macungie or Emmaus. This also leads to getting more snow in the winter. In my past experiences(which were few) the roads (rt. 29 & rt. 100) were always well maintained in snowstorms, but, it could be treacherous going down them during a storm.

It really depends on what you like. Do you prefer being in highly developed areas, like the Macungies, or in a community with more trees and open space around you. I prefer the latter, which is why I love the Orefield/Schnecksville areas of Parkland.

Quote:
Originally Posted by movingtolhv View Post
We are considering moving to Parkland and you worry me a bit with your comment about moms groups, preschools, etc. When we drove around Orefield, Schnecksville, there seemed to be lots of developments. Do less young families live in these areas? I don't want to be the only mommy out there.

As for my comment on taxes earlier, I noticed a difference of about 2-3k between the districts for comparable houses (size, age, lots). This might have just been the case for the houses we looked at and it is not a deal breaker for most buyers.
If you drive around the communities in Orefield/Schnecksville you will see that they are compromised mainly of families with children. You can also see the plethora of jungle gyms and trampolines in the backyards to confirm this.
You will not be the only Mom.

$3,000.00 a year is a car payment, I'll take that savings.
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Old 03-04-2011, 01:25 PM
 
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When your kids are little it's easy enough to do playgroups in your neighborhoods but once the kids start school it gets more complicated if they are in different school districts. Sports and Scouts are usually done through the schools and car-pooling would be pretty impossible. Once they are in Middle and High School, it's even harder for kids to maintain friendships when they are in different schools. We could have gotten more house for our money if we had bought in East Penn, but when we saw our neighborhood with all the kids our kids ages and the distance to the schools, it just felt right to us.

It looks like Macungie is about 10 minutes from Zionsville, Emmaus is 14 minutes and Coopersburg is 20. I find the latter hard to believe because I know I can make it to Lower Milford Elementary from my house in 10 minutes and that's just down to road to Zionsville.

Southern Lehigh is known to be up and coming, probably because of the numerous developments of McMansions, The Promenade Shops and the industrial park with Olympus, D&B and Lutron in Coopersburg. I believe we have the highest cost of housing in the area. The latter is not an especially good thing, IMO. I'm not sure Saucon's reputation is changing much. After re-reading your post perhaps you mean Southern Lehigh and are referring to it as "the Saucon Valley region".

Zionsville is more of an area then a lively town. Coopersburg, Macungie and Emmaus are all real towns with a history, schools, historical societies, mayors, etc.
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