graduating college in may, relocating to camden county (Collingswood, Haddonfield: middle-class, real estate)
New Jersey Suburbs of PhiladelphiaBurlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, Salem County in South Jersey
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male - going to work in cherry hill - will have car
Ideal: short trip to phil but have city-burb vibe without having to go there
rent apartment in a downtown-ish area - preferably near a bar
***not be the only idiot 22 y/o running around a town of older people***
reading mixed things about haddon, collingsworth
would it be worth just living in philly / what would commute be like / tax implications
Help a kid out I can't visit the area for several months
If you're going to work in Cherry Hill, don't live in Philly. You'll get hit with a 4% wage tax from the first penny you make.
The only place I can think of that fits your requirements is Westmont/Haddon Township, situated on Haddon Avenue between Haddonfield and Collingswood. All three of those towns have a PATCO stop for easy access to the city, but only Westmont has bars; the other two are dry. The trouble is, good rentals in Westmont for a single are hard to come by. I suggest working with a local real estate agent in Collingswood/Haddon Township/Haddonfield to find a place.
I would strongly advise against living in Camden County in your situation.
Camden County, and South Jersey in general, are not good places for young, single people. Mass-transit is very sparse, with the PATCO being the only reliable mode for getting into Philadelphia on a regular basis. Also, there are few downtowns of note in the region, much of SJ only grew up since the 1950s, so it's mostly just suburban sprawl. If you want mass transit and a downtown area, you're limited to Collingswood, Westmont, and Haddonfield.
Collingswood and Haddonfield are dry towns, so there are no bars there at all. Haddonfield is a fancy town and does have some interesting shops and is architecturally beautiful, but there aren't many young people there from what I've seen. It's mostly upper-middle-class white families, and the restaurants and stores cater to that crowd. There's a Starbucks and a few other coffee shops, but they're usually populated with high schoolers.
Collingswood is supposedly the "hip" destination down here, but once again, it's a dry town that basically shuts down after 8 PM. It has a half-mile strip of restaurants (mostly Italian) strung out along Haddon Avenue, along with a some other specialty shops. It has a little bit of a hipster/alternative vibe and a sizable LGBT population, mostly early-30s folks who have fled Philadelphia for better schools. Beyond the Haddon Avenue strip, the rest of the town is just blue-collar residential. Overall it still has more of a 1950s small town vibe than a 21st century transit-village feel.
Westmont is the one non-dry town with easy PATCO access. There are about a half-dozen or so bars in town. A few are primarily restaurants and shut down at 10. A few are very dive-y and cater to the old-white-guy crowd. The rest, such as PJ's and The Pour House by PJ's (the PJ's restaurant group basically dominates the bar scene) are nice enough sports-bar, wings and beer type places. They do quizzo during the week and cover bands on Saturday nights. They stay open till 2AM but in my experience start to empty out around 12.
Westmont might seem pretty decent, but there are many drawbacks. First, It's the least walkable of any of these towns, very spread out with crummy sidewalks and many curb-cuts, you can walk to all the bars and restaurants, but it's not a short or pleasant walk. Most people just drive and park for a night out, I think I might be only person who walks to the bars regularly.
Second, the crowds at the bars (and everywhere else in town) aren't particularly young. You'll occasionally encounter some college or post-college friends getting together, but in most cases I encounter married women getting away from their husbands, or dads getting away from their kids for a night. Westmont has a big population of young families, tons of kids outside biking and whatnot all the time. I'm sure it's very charming for families, but not a great place to meet other young people. SJ is very insular, in a lot of these towns everyone seems to know each other because they've been here so long. In Philadelphia, there are tons of new people moving into the city all the time, so it's much easier to meet new friends.
Third, there's a paucity of decent rentals in the region. Haddonfield as a couple of old buildings that have terrible reviews online and seem mostly populated by the elderly. Collingswood has a large number of old garden apartment complexes, but they're all pretty far from downtown. Westmont has basically no apartments near the downtown. There are apartments above the storefronts on Haddon Avenue in all three towns, but since these buildings are rarely over 2 stories, there aren't many to go around and they get snatched quickly. There are a few new complexes, such as the Lumberyard in Collingswood and the Albertson Avenue townhomes in Westmont, but these might be out of your price-range. Most rentals you'll find will be converted homes listed on Craigslist, which will put you further from the avenue and more squarely in the middle of family-oriented suburbia. It took me a year of Craigslist-searching to find an apartment in Westmont nearish to Haddon Avenue. Also, it's very tough to get a rental close to a PATCO station. All the stations, Westmont especially, are surrounded by oceans of surface parking meaning even if you do luck into a rental near the avenue, it's still a bit of a hike to actually walk to the station. Not terrible, but it does detract from the "I can just pop over to Philly for a night out" mentality.
Overall, it's much easier to find a rental, make friends your age, and have a good time in Philly than it is in Camden County. I thought I could make Westmont work for me, but it seems SJ doesn't have what millennials are looking for, and the local mentality seems deadest against change.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by dudebros
male - going to work in cherry hill - will have car
Ideal: short trip to phil but have city-burb vibe without having to go there
rent apartment in a downtown-ish area - preferably near a bar
***not be the only idiot 22 y/o running around a town of older people***
reading mixed things about haddon, collingsworth
would it be worth just living in philly / what would commute be like / tax implications
Help a kid out I can't visit the area for several months
There are rentals available along Kings Highway in Cherry Hill just across the line from Haddonfield. One complex is called Waterford.
male - going to work in cherry hill - will have car
Ideal: short trip to phil but have city-burb vibe without having to go there
rent apartment in a downtown-ish area - preferably near a bar
***not be the only idiot 22 y/o running around a town of older people***
reading mixed things about haddon, collingsworth
would it be worth just living in philly / what would commute be like / tax implications
Help a kid out I can't visit the area for several months
Cherry Hill is an easy commute from Philly. Unless money is super-tight, I'd accept the wage tax as a cost premium. There are far worse places for young people than Collingswood and Westmont, but Center City has far more of what you're looking for.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by dudebros
Every review for that place was miserable - unless you're the landlord i don't know why you suggested it
I've known people who've rented there for decades. Many stayed for years. Most apartment reviews make the places sound like the complexes are from the inner circles of hell. But since you know better than me, I won't bother you with any other suggestions. Good luck.
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