where to start looking? (Allentown, Bethlehem: transplants, houses, neighborhood)

[somersmom]

i grew up in montgomery county but moved to ny where dh grew up. we've had it with the ny metro area & are looking to move away. we've mostly been looking in nc, but his parents are in the quakertown area & are lobbying hard for us to move to the lehigh valley. we went to school in the lehigh valley many moons ago but beyond that i'm not familiar with the specific towns & counties in the valley. what area is going to be fairly close to major highways? have good schools, low taxes, unpretentious people and be family friendly? we're looking for something in the range of 3500+ sf on an acre or more, preferably new construction.
any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks!

[toobusytoday]

This map is pretty good to see the different towns: Lehigh Valley, PA Online Map (broken link) As you can guess, the farther out, the more house you will get for your money. East Penn and Parkland are the current favorites for good large schools. Here's a link where you might want to start some school comparisons. Search for Pennsylvania public schools. You'll notice that the next distict north of Quakertown, but in Lehigh County, is Southern Lehigh School district. It has all your requirements except for low taxes. This is my School District, so forgive me for being a little prejudiced towards it. We're currently building a new 4-6 building to keep up with the growth and taxes have been going up to help pay for that.

None of the towns surrounding the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem or Easton are far from the main roads, and while there is new construction all around, most of the developments have less then an acre.

The family friendly preference is probably going to be more of a specific neighborhood thing, then an overall town feel. I love my neighborhood and area, but I'm not going to say that there's not a street of cranky neighbors that are into keeping up with each other. I work at the library and usually come home still smiling after dealing with the locals.

[KristyLiz]

I'm a Long Island girl who now lives in the Lehigh Valley, and we love it!

We moved here last fall from Montgomery county (Royersford) where we had beenliving for a few years, and as much as I hated to leave that area, I am very happy here in Lower Macungie.

We have a 3500 sq ft new construction, but it's only on a little over .5 acre, but I'm certain you could find more land. I have 3 young boys and we're in the East Penn school district - so far, so good! I did lots of research on school district before moving, and we settled on either East Penn, Parkland or Southern Lehigh - East Penn won out because although it is large like Parkland, it's not as spread out.

I have made more friends living here than anywhere I've lived before (we move around a bit!). I find that most of the people where I live are transplants from NY/NJ, so we are all in the same boat and very open to meeting new people.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, since I just went through this house hunt it's all rpetty fresh in my mind.

Good luck!

[jeffvivian]

If you are going to keep your commute to NYC then I would start looking in Center Valley - Hellertown, it is very close to 78 and gives you great ammenities and close to Quakertown, however a word to the wise 3500sq on 1 acre of ground you will PAY PRIME DOLLAR. If you are looking for something more affordable you can skip to the Nazareth, Bushkill Twp area it will keep you close to 33 which gets you to either rt80 or 78 to get to NYC but a little further from Quakertown. House and lots will be a littleless expensive there.


There are some other areas that are worht mentioning but I like to hear your thoughts on location and commute.

Thanks
Jeff

[somersmom]

thanks for the quick responses. i will start looking into those communities. we will not be commuting to nyc so that's not a worry. i am finishing my masters in teaching & will be looking for a teaching job & dh works from home. anyone know anything about coopersburg? my in-laws saw some houses there that they are sending us info about.

[toobusytoday]

I live just outside of Coopersburg. Great town. Just do a search on this forum with that as a keyword and you'll see my many ramblings. If you want to teach in PA, take the Praxis tests and get certification asap. It's not uncommon for people to work as aides or subs for 2-3 years before they can get a job.