Moving to East coast for first time (Philadelphia, Allentown: real estate, for rent)

[momofali]

My husband just got a job at the hospital in Bethlahem. I flew out with him for the interview, and I could tell right then that I can't live near the hospital. It's just very different from what I'm used to. We live in Las Vegas in a brand new neighborhood. We have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old. I have read about the East Penn and Parkland school districts on this forum. Are they only ones in lehigh valley or just the best. Also, where could we go that is a nice newer neighborhood or developement. I would love a backyard. We will most likely rent for a couple of years. Say around $1500 a month. Unless we could buy a house for that. I don't know what the market is like out there, but we could easily buy a house here for that now because everyone is foreclosing. My husband is used to a 30 minute commute, so we can be a bit away from the hospital. As long as we are somewhat close to the freeway. And what about preschools. This is the last year before my 4-year-old goes to kindergarten, so I'd like a pretty good preschool.

Wow, that is a ton of questions. I'm very nervous to move all the way across the country. Thanks for your help.

[jimmyrocks]

Well, I assume you mean Lehigh Valley Hospital. The area around there is East Penn and Parkland School districts. Both are very good. What don't you like about that area?

The housing market has really tanked in the valley as our friend EmmausRocks likes to tell people, so finding housing for $1500/mo shouldn't be a problem. Even when it was a strong market, $1500 would have gotten you a decent place with a back yard.

If you're looking for new construction, East Penn School District (Mostly in Lower Macungie Twp) is absolutely full of it, and has decent access to I-78 and I-476. I-78 will take you to New York in about 2 hours, and I-476 will take you to Philly in 90 min, and Scranton in 90 min. (such as this area: Google Maps)

The Lehigh Valley is a lot different than Las Vegas, even if Sands is trying to to put in a casino. It's a much smaller area, but the area around it is much more densely populated so outside of the valley there are still a lot of shopping options, plus we have lots of water, so you really don't need to water your lawn all that much.

Now if you mean Muhlenberg Hospital, I'd probably suggest Hanover Township, Northampton County.. Maybe even East Allen (where every lot is at least 1 acre)... and for St. Lukes hospital.. Center Valley might be a good fit.

[momofali]

Thanks for the info. It is St. Lukes hospital. I didn't like the older houses by the hospital and how crowded the streets were from all the on-street parking. Plus, I felt like it was a bit of a drive to find a shopping center or mall. But maybe it's just something I need to get used to and am spoiled from what I am used to. I live in the suburbs, but minutes from any store, wal-mart, home-depot, restaurant, movie, mall, etc.

I'm excited we should be able to find a place for $1500. I just have this assumption that it is so expensive to live on the east coast. Could you explain what a TWP and a borough are.

[jimmyrocks]

If you're over at St. Lukes, I can understand why that neighborhood isn't considered very desirable. It's a pretty old area, and in the process of urban renewal. I know good amount of people who live over there and love it though.

I think you really should look at an area called Center Valley or Coopersburg (Southern Lehigh School District). You would have access to 378 to get to St. Lukes, and I-78. The Promenade is over there (Welcome to The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley) and you can get to other stores pretty easily.

I really like Bethlehem (the parts north of Washington Ave), and think there are a lot of really good places to live in the city itself, and I don't agree with everyone saying Bethlehem Schools are bad. (Mostly because I attended school there)

As far as municipalities goes.. (this is a brief explaination, there are a lot of inconsistancies) PA splits up the counties into townships. As population centers form they can become villages within the township, they can split from the township and become an independent municipality in the form of a borough, and a borough with enough population can become a city. School districts usually include a few municipalities, and local taxes are paid to your local municipalty. Very few municipalites have changed in the past 125 years, so their boundaries don't really line up to current population areas.

[momofali]

Originally Posted by jimmyrocks

As far as municipalities goes.. (this is a brief explaination, there are a lot of inconsistancies) PA splits up the counties into townships. As population centers form they can become villages within the township, they can split from the township and become an independent municipality in the form of a borough, and a borough with enough population can become a city. School districts usually include a few municipalities, and local taxes are paid to your local municipalty. Very few municipalites have changed in the past 125 years, so their boundaries don't really line up to current population areas.

Thanks for the info. That seems very confusing and something one would learn after living in the place for a while. When we were driving from Philadelphia, our GPS found Bethlehem and Bethlehem TWP. Are those 2 separate places or is Bethlehem like a village in Bethlehem TWP. And are Center Valley and Coopersburg villages or municipalities. Not that any of this really matters at this point, but I'm curious.

Thanks again.

[toobusytoday]

Center Valley is technically a town, but since it doesn't really have a downtown area,I think of it as an area next to Coopersburg. Coopersburg is a town. Both places are in Southern Lehigh School district in Lehigh County. Bethlehem is in Northampton county. Unfortunately, you will be hard pressed to find a house for $1500 a month in Southern Lehigh. There are some but they will not be the new ones. The average new home goes for twice that amount, unless you are interested in a town house. There is a new huge development going up just off of route 309 called Liberty Village that has a mix of single houses and townhouses.

This area would be very convenient to St. Luke's, probably about 20 minutes with some traffic.

Shopping is very convenient here as well. Within the Center Valley area is Welcome to The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley which everyone likes. And less then 15 minutes south is Quakertown with Target, Best Buy, etc. In the town of Coopersburg are two grocery stores, drug stores and several restaurants.

If you do a search on this site for Coopersburg or Southern Lehigh, you'll see my ramblings. We moved here over 11 years ago and I love living here. The schools are great and the people are friendly.

I suggest getting a map to kind of orient yourself, it is confusing at first. Two sources to check out to get an idea of prices are Real Estate, Homes, New Construction, Mortgages, Classifieds, Newspaper Classifieds from Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and the Lehigh Valley in The Morning Call and mcall.com -- themorningcall.com and lehigh valley apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

Southern Lehigh School District compares well with East Penn and Parkland but it's smaller. There are just 5 schools in the district but we're adding a 6th school next year to relieve over-crowding. East Penn is also dealing with over-crowding and I believe a new school will be built sometime soon.

[jimmyrocks]

toobusytoday should be able to give you a lot better information on real estate prices in the area.

I do cartography for a few PA municipalities, so my perspective is from the legal boundaries and distintions of the areas. (Example: School Districts of Lehigh County - http://loc8.us/extras/citydata/tgr42077uni.rss - Google Maps )

As far as Bethlehem and Bethlehem Township: Bethlehem is a City of 71,000 people. It started in 1746 as a village along Main and Church streets in today's downtown Bethlehem. Also in 1746 Bethlehem township was created as a subdivision of Bucks County. In 1752, Northampton County split from Bucks County. As time went on the Village of Bethlehem became a borough, as did West Bethlehem and South Bethlehem. These boroughs eventually merged into the City of Bethlehem. Bethlehem township still exists to the north and east of the City.

Center Valley has no government of its own, and is legally part of Upper Saucon Township. Coopersburg is its own borough. These distinctions don't really matter unless you're working with the local governements. As toobusytoday said, most people would consider both places to be "towns".

[momofali]

toobusytoday: Thanks for the info. I'm going to go to thos website right now. Do you have kids in school, and if so, have you been pleased with the Southern Lehigh School district. 5 schools seems so small to me because the school district in Las Vegas is massive, and I'm sure has well over 200 schools.

jimmyrocks: Thanks for the info about the towns, etc.

[CHIP72]

In Pennsylvania, there are many school districts within each county; very few high schools have multiple high schools and in cases where they do, they usually only have 2 high schools (as is the case for the Bethlehem School District and Allentown School District).

I'm unsure how good the Whitehall School District is (located in Whitehall Township), but you'd definitely live near mall and shopping center shopping if you lived there. It also wouldn't be too long a drive from Whitehall Township, especially near US 22, to St. Luke's Hospital (the hospital where I was born BTW).

Incidentally, though it was explained pretty well above, in Pennsylvania incorporated municipalities primarily fall into one of 3 categories:

*Cities - both Allentown and Bethlehem (and Easton) are cities.

*Boroughs - called "towns" or perhaps "villages" in some other states, boroughs are usually built-up older places that are town-like and smaller than cities. Some Pennsylvania boroughs can be very small though, sometimes with less than 100 people. Near Bethlehem places like Fountain Hill and Nazareth are boroughs.

*Townships - these are generally more rural or in some cases suburban areas that usually but not always do not have town-like areas. In some cases they will contain villages, which are unincorporated places in Pennsylvania. Near Bethlehem places like Bethlehem Township, Hanover Township (in both Northampton and Lehigh Counties), and East Allen Township are townships.

It should also be noted that every square inch of Pennsylvania is incorporated and has some form of local, sub-county level government. Related to that, Pennsylvania is also a home rule state, which for planning purposes means that land use controls are at the municipal (sub-county government) level.

[toobusytoday]

The good part about having small districts is that you can easily see which ones are good - at least on paper. Try these sites for comparing them - Search for Pennsylvania public schools. or SchoolMatters - Home (http://www.schoolmatters.com/ - broken link) You'll find that East Penn (towns of Emmaus and Macungie) and Parkland (West Allentown and the area Northwest of Allentown) have the best scores. East Penn has the most new housing in the area. Whitehall has tons of shopping but the schools are not quite as good and there aren't too many new ones. Southern Lehigh School district is actually comprised of three areas - Center Valley, Coopersburg and Lower Milford. Lower Milford is a very pretty, semi-rural area.

You asked if I have kids in the schools. I have one son in the High School. He started pre-school here and has gone all the way through. We moved here when my older ones were going into fourth and seventh grades and they graduated from SLHS a few years ago. I was the PTA president at my youngest's elementary and have stayed involved- as much as they've let me! Yes, I've been very satisfied with the schools. We wanted small schools so the teachers would know our kids and vice versa and good schools but not so much competition that the kids would feel overly pressured. It worked!