Town suggestions for family where job location doesn't matter? (Bethlehem: for sale, apartment)

[ConfusingRotary]

When are you moving? Summer, this year or next, depending on what we see
Where are you coming from? Originally from NEPA, lived in Sellersville, now living in Mahwah, NJ
Why are you moving? To buy a house and lay down some roots
Where will you be working? Remotely (co is in midtown Manhattan)
Have you been here yet? Yep

Will you buy or rent? Buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? House or townhouse. Soft limit of 250k
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend?
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married, three children (ages 6, 5, and 1)
Do you prefer public or private schools? PUBLIC!!!
Do you have pets? 50lb dog, cat
Do you want or need a yard? yes
Are you keeping a car? two
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? calm and quiet

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Shopping X
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.) X
Nightlife
Near Bus stop? Please note that there is NO rail service in the Lehigh Valley.

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Down to earth people, preferably non-religious!

Phillies or Mets? Orioles!



I work from home, traveling into the office once every few months. Proximity to work is obviously not an issue. My wife has family in the Nazareth area. I have family in the Slatington area. I'm somewhat familiar with Bethlehem as I had family there years ago.

Our main concerns in order are as follows:
1) SAFE!
2) good schools
3) close to activities for the kids (eg dance, Girl Scouts, karate, soccer...)
4) close to basic shopping

We do have two cars, but if we didn't always have to use them, that'd be great. We currently live in the center of our town and we can walk to several parks as well as a bunch of dining options. The schools here are top notch as well, but being in Bergen county, it's extremely expensive and we cannot afford to buy here. Neither of us really wants to be renting forever.

All that said, we used to drive through Coopersburg and it was pretty nice looking. We are into small towns as long as they are close to other amenities. Her family has raved about the Nazareth area, but I haven't actually been there yet. I also had family in Schnecksville a few years back and, while it was ok, it was a bit out there and dull. I know Coopersburg is really close to Quakertown for things like big box stores, but there must be some downsides to it as well, right?

What other towns should we be checking out?

[Gettingouttahere]

Best school districts are generally considered to be Parkland, East Penn, Southern Lehigh and Saucon Valley. Use greatschools.net and check out the education forum here on c-d for a thread that lists links to other sites. Use USNews reports on the best high schools -- one of the LV charter schools, LV Academy, near the airport, is among the top in the country. No residency needs for that school. The US News reports also drill down to the state level; there you'll see that Parkland HS is top rated in the area.

Ratings aren't everything, though. Southern Lehigh is tiny compared with Parkland. Maybe that matters more to you than test scores.

Housing values will be highest in those four districts, specifically because of the schools. Resale value, should you leave, would also be higher for you. As a general rule, you can get a house in any of those districts for $250k, but it would not be anything extreme - a basic cape cod or small colonial on a standard or smallish lot. Expect to pay $300k and up, way up, for anything much nicer than that.

Great walkable neighborhoods NOT tied to school districts are College Hill in Easton and Historic Bethlehem - gorgeous old buildings, wonderfully eclectic shopping, etc., but you wouldn't want to send your kids to the public schools there, by and large. Toobusytoday will chime in to tell you all about Coopersburg, near her -- I don't know much about that area, but it's in Southern Lehigh and I like the looks of that district a lot. (I don't live in the L.V., but want to )

[toobusytoday]

As gettingouttahere mentioned, I am the cheerleader for Southern Lehigh School district. We have a nice small downtown in Coopersburg and a great school district. There are no unsafe areas. Maybe undesirable, but not unsafe. We wanted to live in a small school district and SL is 1/3 the size of East Penn and Parkland.

I think the town with the nicest downtown is Emmaus in East Penn School district. Your price point is a little low if you want new construction but you should be able to find a house with a yard in any of the areas around here. If I were you, I'd take some time driving around and make an appointment to tour a school in each district to get a feel, or at least go to the library and maybe a HS sporting event. Once you find an area that you are comfortable in, contact a realtor IN THAT AREA so they can keep an eye out for new listings. At your price point, there will be lots of competition for good houses, and this is especially true in Southern Lehigh because we have much less housing stock to begin with.

In Center Valley you can easily do a drive by and see three of our schools (HS, Middle School and Intermediate School) at the intersection of route 378 and Preston Lane and than drive 1/2 a mile on Preston Lane to see our Library and the large Upper Saucon park with the rail trail and playing fields. Just up route 309 are The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley :: 2845 Center Valley Parkway, Center Valley, PA. 18034 :: 610-791-9707 For general shopping - Target, Kohls, etc we generally go South to Quakertown about 10 minutes away.

[ConfusingRotary]

I'd definitely prefer a smaller school district to a larger one. Test scores don't really tell the whole story, either, I think. I graduated from a mediocre school tests-wise (Tunkhannock Area) but turned out fine (or did I ) because my parents were very educationally-focused. To be honest, I'm not too concerned with housing stock as long as it's not falling in on itself. I grew up in a ranch home and am quite comfortable in that setting. We'd just like to keep our running for the kids to a minimum. To give you an example of what I mean, I grew up a good 10 miles outside of Tunkhannock itself, so any activities (football, basketball, etc) were a long haul (especially after leaving the school on a bus at 3, getting home at 430, then having to leave again at 5 to get to 530 practice :\). It ran ME ragged, and I can't imagine what it was like for my parents...

I've had some bad run-ins with realtors being overly pushy and generally unhelpful, although I've also heard they're a bit tied with the rules against pointing people to one area or another. I figured I'd get the locals' perspective here and just take a look myself. Coopersburg is definitely on the list, and it looks like we'll add Emmaus.

Does the Coopersburg library (southern lehigh library?) have programs for kids? Our library here is pretty intense with a bunch of reading/fun programs for kids (they even had an animal expert bring some snakes and other wild animals in for the kids to see), it'd be nice if they had something similar (even if they don't have animals ).

I've seen some people complaining in the NEPA forums about their town+school taxes being in the 10-13k/year range. Is there any of that down in the Lehigh Valley?

[Gettingouttahere]

Yes, there are high taxes in some areas. If you're not familiar with Zillow, I heartily recommend it. Taxes are shown, current as well as historically, for all homes for sale.

[toobusytoday]

SL's library is the newest library building in the Lehigh Valley. It was built in it's present location less than 10 years ago. Yes, there are many children's programs including a summer reading program. I would say the programs offered are a real strong point. Southern Lehigh Public Library

I have nothing good to say about our taxes. They aren't low, but our schools are good. The highest chunk goes to the school district and PA has hundreds of school districts with 80% of the funds provided locally. Our school taxes haven't gone up much, if at all, and are not supposed to go up this year. I'm not saying this is something I especially like, but you might - all of our HS students get a macbook to take home. You get what you pay for.

[ConfusingRotary]

Yep, I've used zillow, trulia, and realtor to check out various places. We've actually been looking for years, but now that we've had some time to save and our kids are in school, it's time to really settle.

What's the story with Nazareth? Does it have a downtown area (even a small one) or is it just a community of housing developments? It seems pretty close to Bethlehem for all the kids' activities and I see that the school district is well regarded..

Remember that we're coming from NJ where taxes are almost always in the 10k range!

[toobusytoday]

Nazareth is indeed a small town with a main street. It was settled in 1740. It's seen quite a growth spurt in the last decade and you will probably find quite a few people that work in Northern Jersey and commute. Here's a site that lets you compare schools. I would disregard any reviews. SchoolDigger.com - Compare Nazareth Area High School to other Pennsylvania schools

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by marchawg

Yep, I've used zillow, trulia, and realtor to check out various places. We've actually been looking for years, but now that we've had some time to save and our kids are in school, it's time to really settle.

What's the story with Nazareth? Does it have a downtown area (even a small one) or is it just a community of housing developments? It seems pretty close to Bethlehem for all the kids' activities and I see that the school district is well regarded..

Remember that we're coming from NJ where taxes are almost always in the 10k range!

Nazareth has a decent little downtown area. I live in Lower Nazareth and really like it here. We go to the target/ Wegmans/ Walmart complex all the time for quick things and regular shopping. The Lowes and HD are also only a couple of miles away.

I don't go into nazareth proper often, but it's the same school district, NASD, which is also highly rated. I used to live in Center Valley, and liked it. The reason we moved here, is because it's a bit closer to NJ (where I work and have friends/ family) and closer to shopping we use often.

I think the parks are about the same as Southern Lehigh (theirs is wooded, which helps in the summer, but there are 2 in Lower Nazareth and a large park in Nazareth with a pool, but I haven't been). The SL library is better too, but we are really close to the Palmer and Bethlehem libraries (haven't been there, as toddler books at nazareth are fine for now) so that helps.

[ConfusingRotary]

I've used great schools and school digger and Nazareth/SL seem pretty comparable overall. We will add Nazareth to our list to check out. Thanks!