Interested in moving to Lehigh Valley area from NJ (Allentown: appointed, rentals)

[hinesmama]

Hello,

Hopefully I can get some good advice from this group. Me and hubby are thinking of moving to the Lehigh Valley area. We are currently living in Central Jersey (somerset county) about 50 minutes out from that area in PA via I-78. We want to remain working in NJ, but we need the affordability of PA. We are in our early 30s and with four kids, we have come to the grim realization that the size of the home we need is far-fetched from what we can afford in NJ. NJ is horribly over-priced/over-crowded for what you get. Folks are scattering from this place faster than flies since the economy here basically sucks.

We are currently renting for $1550 a month, and want to at least get started in PA by renting. Me and hubby break a little over 100k a year, but we have some old credit issues haunting us that we are clearing up. My kids range in age from 10 yrs to 6 mo. Good schools, diversity, and close shopping are very important to us. We are a suburb family, but need the closeness of a city. I saw on craigs list that there are some newer, immaculate 4 br townhomes for rent for under or around what we pay in rent. However, the locations are greek to me, and we don't want to choose unwisely. Its no issue for us to jump in the car and head over to PA on a weekend to drive around. We have 5 months to search which I think is more than enough time. Where do you suggest we start looking? What area would accomadate a family like mine? Thanks for any help.

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by hinesmama

Hello,

Hopefully I can get some good advice from this group. Me and hubby are thinking of moving to the Lehigh Valley area. We are currently living in Central Jersey (somerset county) about 50 minutes out from that area in PA via I-78. We want to remain working in NJ, but we need the affordability of PA. We are in our early 30s and with four kids, we have come to the grim realization that the size of the home we need is far-fetched from what we can afford in NJ. NJ is horribly over-priced/over-crowded for what you get. Folks are scattering from this place faster than flies since the economy here basically sucks.

We are currently renting for $1550 a month, and want to at least get started in PA by renting. Me and hubby break a little over 100k a year, but we have some old credit issues haunting us that we are clearing up. My kids range in age from 10 yrs to 6 mo. Good schools, diversity, and close shopping are very important to us. We are a suburb family, but need the closeness of a city. I saw on craigs list that there are some newer, immaculate 4 br townhomes for rent for under or around what we pay in rent. However, the locations are greek to me, and we don't want to choose unwisely. Its no issue for us to jump in the car and head over to PA on a weekend to drive around. We have 5 months to search which I think is more than enough time. Where do you suggest we start looking? What area would accomadate a family like mine? Thanks for any help.

Where were these townhomes? If you give me a list of specific areas I could give you a decent idea of what the town and community is like. I assume schools are important to you, right? The best school in the Lehigh Valley, IMO, is Parkland, outside of Allentown. Other good ones are Emmaus, Southern Lehigh, Wilson in Easton isn't bad. I have lived in NJ for years (essex co.) and I can tell you that schools in PA will for the most part be way better than ones in NJ. I was stunned when I was living in NJ and saw communities where homes were going for $600k and their schools stunk. Just bizarre. One thing to consider is the lack of diversity of PA. Now, this is a touchy issue, so some people might get all nasty with me about it, but the fact is that once you're outside of the big cities, like Philly, Reading, Allentown, etc. it is very common to see towns well over 90% white. If diversity is a huge issue, then by all means move to Allentown, but I would personally avoid it like the plague. There is a very tiny hispanic population in PA, although it has been growing in the Lehigh Valley, but it won't be anything close to what it is in NJ and NYC. I'm hope I'm not scaring you, because the LV is a very nice area and a community being 96% white certainly doesn't mean it's racist. I've never seen any abnormal racist conflict that any other area wouldn't have. Perhaps you should embrace diversity of thought, rather than diversity of race. What's the point of diversity if everyone acts the same and thinks the same, but simply looks different?

[toobusytoday]

Matt's right, once you get out of the cities, there is little racial diversity. These sites Search for Pennsylvania public schools. and SchoolMatters will help you compare schools and you can look at the demographics too. Close shopping may also be an issue unless you live in Whitehall (Lehigh Valley Mall) or perhaps Center Valley (The Promenade Shops).

I kind of think you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want to live in a small town, you're probably not going to have much shopping choices, low cost homes and diversity. What we do have are good schools, more reasonably priced homes and good enough shopping. What tends to happen in our school district for kids of any color is that get into the groups with similar interests. My sophomore son hangs out with his friends in band and on his robotics team. I don't know someone's nationality or skin color until I meet them because it's not something he would think to mention.

[hinesmama]

I looked through this site: Information on Rentals
Some were in Macungie, Bethlahem, Whitehall, Allentown, Emmaus...etc

Thats great to hear about the schools. You are soooo right about the quality of NJ schools. I am so disappointed right now. Is pre-school free and full-time in PA?

We are a multi-racial family, and maybe I should have clarified myself but as you know NJ is very unique in how alot of our towns have a little bit of everything in them. Since you are familiar with NJ, the type of town I am referring to in diversity would mirror Edison, Linden, Rahway, North and South Plainfield, Cranford, West Orange....I could go on and on. See I love this state for so many reasons, but equally hate it because of all the corruption, greed, and disconnect with core family values. The hustle and bustle is sickening.

Originally Posted by mattjd

Where were these townhomes? If you give me a list of specific areas I could give you a decent idea of what the town and community is like. I assume schools are important to you, right? The best school in the Lehigh Valley, IMO, is Parkland, outside of Allentown. Other good ones are Emmaus, Southern Lehigh, Wilson in Easton isn't bad. I have lived in NJ for years (essex co.) and I can tell you that schools in PA will for the most part be way better than ones in NJ. I was stunned when I was living in NJ and saw communities where homes were going for $600k and their schools stunk. Just bizarre. One thing to consider is the lack of diversity of PA. Now, this is a touchy issue, so some people might get all nasty with me about it, but the fact is that once you're outside of the big cities, like Philly, Reading, Allentown, etc. it is very common to see towns well over 90% white. If diversity is a huge issue, then by all means move to Allentown, but I would personally avoid it like the plague. There is a very tiny hispanic population in PA, although it has been growing in the Lehigh Valley, but it won't be anything close to what it is in NJ and NYC. I'm hope I'm not scaring you, because the LV is a very nice area and a community being 96% white certainly doesn't mean it's racist. I've never seen any abnormal racist conflict that any other area wouldn't have. Perhaps you should embrace diversity of thought, rather than diversity of race. What's the point of diversity if everyone acts the same and thinks the same, but simply looks different?

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by hinesmama

I looked through this site: Information on Rentals
Some were in Macungie, Bethlahem, Whitehall, Allentown, Emmaus...etc

Thats great to hear about the schools. You are soooo right about the quality of NJ schools. I am so disappointed right now. Is pre-school free and full-time in PA?

We are a multi-racial family, and maybe I should have clarified myself but as you know NJ is very unique in how alot of our towns have a little bit of everything in them. Since you are familiar with NJ, the type of town I am referring to in diversity would mirror Edison, Linden, Rahway, North and South Plainfield, Cranford, West Orange....I could go on and on. See I love this state for so many reasons, but equally hate it because of all the corruption, greed, and disconnect with core family values. The hustle and bustle is sickening.

Emmaus and Macungie are both very nice areas and are part of the East Penn School District, which is a fine school district. You would have to live in a very expensive area, like the Caldwells or Millburn, to get the same quality of school district in NJ. You really cant go wrong with this area, it's very family oriented and the schools are great.

Whitehall is a nice area and Whitehall school district is good...not as highly rated as East Penn or Parkland, but it is above average IMO and far better than anything in the city of Allentown. The big benefit of living in Whitehall is the location. You are very close to RT.22 and all the shopping, like Lehigh Valley Mall, MacArthur Rd, etc.

Bethlehem is a big city and it really depends on what part you are interested in. There are some dumpy areas, but also a ton of new, very nice homes, around the RT.22 area. It's really hard for me to make a judgement on Bethlehem without knowing the specific part of the city you're talking about.

Allentown sucks. No way around it. It's not good for families, the schools are terrible, crime is high...think East Orange, Paterson, Elizabeth, etc. That's what you'd be moving into. If you're saying Allentown, but really mean an area outside of the city, then that might be different. But if you really, really mean Allentown...like, inside the city....then heck no. Avoid Allentown like the plague. Macungie, Emmaus and Whitehall are all very same and have tons of families, so I wouldn't worry about crime. I don't think being a multi-racial family is going to be a big deal. All three of those areas are very white with little racial diversity, but it's not as if nobody has seen a bi-racial person before. Again, Bethlehem just depends on the specific area and school district.

[toobusytoday]

While I agree about avoiding Allentown and parts of Bethlehem, WEST Allentown is actually Parkland school district and there are some nice homes and great townhouses over by route 22. Whitehall is okay, especially for shopping but not that great compared to East Penn or Parkland School Districts.

[jhauver]

Originally Posted by hinesmama

Hello,

Hopefully I can get some good advice from this group. Me and hubby are thinking of moving to the Lehigh Valley area. We are currently living in Central Jersey (somerset county) about 50 minutes out from that area in PA via I-78. We want to remain working in NJ, but we need the affordability of PA. We are in our early 30s and with four kids, we have come to the grim realization that the size of the home we need is far-fetched from what we can afford in NJ. NJ is horribly over-priced/over-crowded for what you get. Folks are scattering from this place faster than flies since the economy here basically sucks.

We are currently renting for $1550 a month, and want to at least get started in PA by renting. Me and hubby break a little over 100k a year, but we have some old credit issues haunting us that we are clearing up. My kids range in age from 10 yrs to 6 mo. Good schools, diversity, and close shopping are very important to us. We are a suburb family, but need the closeness of a city. I saw on craigs list that there are some newer, immaculate 4 br townhomes for rent for under or around what we pay in rent. However, the locations are greek to me, and we don't want to choose unwisely. Its no issue for us to jump in the car and head over to PA on a weekend to drive around. We have 5 months to search which I think is more than enough time. Where do you suggest we start looking? What area would accomadate a family like mine? Thanks for any help.

My family and I are in the same boat as your family and we found an amazing townshouse in the lower macungie area of PA which is approximatley 30 minutes past Bethlehem. My husband is going to still commute to NJ (we currently live in Middlesex cty). Thanks to the affordablility of PA I can stay home with my children, 2years & 8 Months. We have heard alot of great things about lower macungie twsp and thats where we decided to move. We originally were looking in Bethlehem only because we have friends there, but the more we looked the harder it was to figure out the "good" parts from the bad parts. We settled in lower macungie based on the great schools and very family like township. That is all I know right now until we get there, but I'd love to help if I can.
Good Luck,
Jennifer

[3boys269]

I am wondering which townhomes in Lower Macungie you are looking at. Be careful when moving into developments with children, not all child friendly. Meaning where I am we just got told we need to take down our bball nets, and have a huge yard but are not allowed to have fences, swings, trampolines. When we bought all of that info. was kind of swept under the rug, so to speak, or shall I say put to us as they don't really bother you about it, especially the basketball nets. Well we bought one, and a two foot one and received a letter that we have ten days to remove them, as did everyone else in the development with them . So, yes the homes are nice, but the development itself not so child friendly. We are a bit disappointed.

[hinesmama]

Thanks for the info. I am very familiar with Paterson and East Orange, and would never want to move my kids even remotely near a city like that. My husband came from East Orange, and can attest to that personally. Well the search is slimming down....all the info has been extremely helpful!

Originally Posted by mattjd

Emmaus and Macungie are both very nice areas and are part of the East Penn School District, which is a fine school district. You would have to live in a very expensive area, like the Caldwells or Millburn, to get the same quality of school district in NJ. You really cant go wrong with this area, it's very family oriented and the schools are great.

Whitehall is a nice area and Whitehall school district is good...not as highly rated as East Penn or Parkland, but it is above average IMO and far better than anything in the city of Allentown. The big benefit of living in Whitehall is the location. You are very close to RT.22 and all the shopping, like Lehigh Valley Mall, MacArthur Rd, etc.

Bethlehem is a big city and it really depends on what part you are interested in. There are some dumpy areas, but also a ton of new, very nice homes, around the RT.22 area. It's really hard for me to make a judgement on Bethlehem without knowing the specific part of the city you're talking about.

Allentown sucks. No way around it. It's not good for families, the schools are terrible, crime is high...think East Orange, Paterson, Elizabeth, etc. That's what you'd be moving into. If you're saying Allentown, but really mean an area outside of the city, then that might be different. But if you really, really mean Allentown...like, inside the city....then heck no. Avoid Allentown like the plague. Macungie, Emmaus and Whitehall are all very same and have tons of families, so I wouldn't worry about crime. I don't think being a multi-racial family is going to be a big deal. All three of those areas are very white with little racial diversity, but it's not as if nobody has seen a bi-racial person before. Again, Bethlehem just depends on the specific area and school district.

[KristyLiz]

We are in Lower Macungie, and are very happy here - teh East Penn SD is very highly rated and we have been happy with it so far.

I do't know much about the cost of the townhouses in the area, but I do know there are quite a few developments to chose from.

Good luck!