Moving to Lancaster end 2012 (Philadelphia, Harrisburg: 2015, apartment, rent)

[Angelbw]

I currently live in Guatemala (Central America) with my Guatemalan wife. We got married at the end of last year and are considering moving to Lancaster by the end of 2012.

The reason I picked Lancaster is because I grew up as a Missionary Kid and Lancaster has always been home. The thing is that I've never lived there as a "grown up", having lived in Guatemala for the past 10 years. We've decided that we don't want our kids to grow up with the violence and inherent paranoia that it brings and want to move somewhere more peaceful. My wife loves the country and has fallen in love with Rural Lancaster when we visited.

Since I haven't really had to "hold my own", so to speak, I thought I'd check in here for any advice/comments.

When are you moving? End of 2012
Where are you coming from? Guatemala City, Guatemala
Why are you moving? Looking for somewhere safe, where we can make a living with a single job and reasonable hours.
Where will you be working? Hoping to transfer and Telecommute. Will most likely be linked to the NYC office if it comes through but will have to look for other work if it doesn't.
Have you been here yet? Yes, I went to LBC for one year and also studied at LCS for 3rd and 9th grades
Will you buy or rent? Most likely rent at first, hoping to buy down the road.
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? I don't know, to be honest. I don't know what cost of living will be, what salary could be like or how much I need to make.
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? Initially I don't think this matters as much as where it is. My wife wants to live outside the city.

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married, no kids. Planning on waiting a few years before we have kids, maybe 2015.
Do you prefer public or private schools? That would depend on cost of living, salary and cost. I hear there's good public schools but not sure yet.
Do you have pets? No pets but would like to get a dog.
Do you want or need a yard? Would prefer but we can wait for that.
Are you keeping a car? We will be selling everything and starting from scratch but my experience is a car is a must.
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? A little of both but we're not adverse to driving to Philly or taking the train to NYC.

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Shopping
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Nightlife
Train or subway stations

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? I think mostly we don't want anything to loud. We tend to be pretty quiet and don't much like being in a party kind of place. As far as race, religion and all that I think it doesn't matter as much as what kind of people they are. We are Christians, go to church every sunday, don't really party or go out drinking and are moderately conservative in our ways.

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? Is this Baseball? Not very big into watching sports.

[Strumphs]

Lancaster is a nice city, as you already know. None of it is especially loud, outside of the typical traffic noises. Most shops/restaurants are closed by 9 PM. Of course, the farther outside of town you are, the quieter it is, but the more driving you have to do. The train station [on the north edge of town] gives fast access to Philly and Harrisburg, if you need a little more excitement than sleepy Lancaster can provide.
The economy in surrounding area is pretty good. There wasn't a big bubble here so there wasn't a big bust, and there are still jobs to be found.
I'm living in the northern end of town now, right by Lancaster General Hospital. It's a nice area: fairly quiet, basically no crime, walkable to the train and to a few drugstores, and a 5-10 minute drive from the mall and other shopping centers.

[Angelbw]

Originally Posted by Strumphs

Lancaster is a nice city, as you already know. None of it is especially loud, outside of the typical traffic noises. Most shops/restaurants are closed by 9 PM. Of course, the farther outside of town you are, the quieter it is, but the more driving you have to do. The train station [on the north edge of town] gives fast access to Philly and Harrisburg, if you need a little more excitement than sleepy Lancaster can provide.
The economy in surrounding area is pretty good. There wasn't a big bubble here so there wasn't a big bust, and there are still jobs to be found.
I'm living in the northern end of town now, right by Lancaster General Hospital. It's a nice area: fairly quiet, basically no crime, walkable to the train and to a few drugstores, and a 5-10 minute drive from the mall and other shopping centers.

That is certainly quite encouraging since I'm probably going to need to look for work. I have a few friends who have been unemployed and my brother has been out of work for quite a while. That has me pretty stressed but I'm usually pretty confident and things seem to fall into place How is the cost of living? I mean from what I'm seeing we can rent something nice for about $800 - $1000 but being out of the country there's a lot of smaller costs that are hard to get a feel for. Like Gas, train/bus/toll booth's, taxes, groceries, restaurants (we love to eat out!) and entertainment like movies, theater, concerts and so on.

About how much does it take to live comfortably in Lancaster? And how expensive are those things?

[pman]

the train to philly is $12-15 I think, each way(they sell monthly tickets where fares are commuted) that train also goes to NYC (if you need to visit an office there).

[Strumphs]

Originally Posted by Angelbw

How is the cost of living? I mean from what I'm seeing we can rent something nice for about $800 - $1000 but being out of the country there's a lot of smaller costs that are hard to get a feel for. Like Gas, train/bus/toll booth's, taxes, groceries, restaurants (we love to eat out!) and entertainment like movies, theater, concerts and so on.

I can't exactly speak to how much it costs to live comfortably, since I'm very cheap, but I can tell you that there are good deals around. Prices are definitely cheaper here than in the Philadelphia suburbs. Gas is lower than the national average, but I don't know how it compares to other parts of PA. Bus fares are a little high but they're not bad if you buy a monthly or 10-ride pass.
All in all, if you don't want to pay too much for anything, you don't have to.

[jbridgetfisher]

I transplanted to Lancaster PA approximately 3 1/2 years ago. Becoming gainfully employed was extremely difficult despite my 20 + years in the medical field, which Lancaster is an abundant medical community with services.

My challenge was that my "roots" were not here in Lancaster and people get weary of "city folk" and other outsiders.
After more than 3 months of looking for employment I signed up with an employment agency and decided to allow their reputation be the promoting force behind securing a job. Within 2 weeks I had 5 interviews and 3 job offers, it was a huge relief.

My advice would be to contact local employment agencies to assist you with finding work.

Best Wishes!