Reading PA neighborhoods

[maroyaolo]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Amen. Thank you for defending the great city of Reading. It is a beautiful and historic city with so much potential. I had a wonderful time visiting and exploring the city earlier this year - I did not feel unsafe. I walked around the whole city. I also detest the Reading bashers on this forum.

On a positive note, here is my photo tour of the city of Reading and the beautifully restored historic buildings located there:

Discovering Historic Pittsburgh: Reading, PA

My budget is $60.000 to buy a house
I am self employed
I have four children ages 2, 4 , 9 and 11 and a husband
I am planning on moving in march possibly earlier
I am from Brooklyn New York . It used to be rated very high in crime rates but it is up and coming now. From what I can see, Reading cannot be worst than Brooklyn and the Neighboring areas.
I am looking for a 4 bedrooms 2 baths possibly more. I need to live in a good school district for my children.
Someone suggested Allentown but I am planning in the future to open a carribean restaurant ( Haitian) since I feel that the area is virgin.
I am conflicted, Help... Thanx in advance

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by maroyaolo

My budget is $60.000 to buy a house
I am self employed
I have four children ages 2, 4 , 9 and 11 and a husband
I am planning on moving in march possibly earlier
I am from Brooklyn New York . It used to be rated very high in crime rates but it is up and coming now. From what I can see, Reading cannot be worst than Brooklyn and the Neighboring areas.
I am looking for a 4 bedrooms 2 baths possibly more. I need to live in a good school district for my children.
Someone suggested Allentown but I am planning in the future to open a carribean restaurant ( Haitian) since I feel that the area is virgin.
I am conflicted, Help... Thanx in advance

Reading could be a neighborhood in the present day South Bronx or South Philly. It's a bit rough, for sure Reading school district is one of the worst in the state, but it's not a war zone by any stretch of the imagination, it's nothing like Detroit, or the Boogie Down Bronx of the 70s or North Philly.

For $60k you could find a nice row home in the north end of town, near 61 and 5th street highway. That area's quite a bit nicer and more stable than the eastern side of town. However, in that price range, you'd have a hard time finding a house in the suburban Mifflin school district.

Allentown is rougher than Reading is at this point. It's a bit bigger, but a lot of the growth has been trouble makers. You'd be better off in Reading.

Also, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm DYING to get a Caribbean restaurant around here. I'm sick of driving all the way to Allentown or KoP just to get some jerk chicken and beef patty. I will say that I don't know what Hatian food is like, but as long as it's more like Jamaican food and less like Dominican food, I'll be a regular.

[tights24]

Well, I think you'll be able to find a row home, but I'm not sure you will find a 4 br 2 bath one. Also, I would be leery of having that range of children in the Reading Schools. Like BTA mentioned, there is a "chance" you could get up near 5th street and 61 and that may get you into Muhlenburg Schools which would certainly be a better choice. Also a little bit nicer area, even in the Temple area. Good luck.

[Jeanie Beanie]

There is a great program called "Our City Reading" that helps people BUY homes in the city. The homes are all refurbished with new plumbing, heating, electric, most have dishwashers, and new roofs and paint and rugs. There was a piece on Channel 69 WFMZ last spring that might help explain:
Our City Reading homes change lives; neighborhoods | News - Home

You have to go to classes to learn to budget and the ins and outs of being a homeowner. And you have to live in the home - they are not going to set you up to become a landlord, there are too many landlords in the city, and people have more pride in their home if they own it. Someone said the 4 corners of the city are the best places to live. I'd have to agree with that generalization. But the city can turn around.

Having 4 kids, you need a larger home, and with your budget you CAN buy a decent place in Reading. I used to live near 16th & Haak Elementary school, and that was pretty nice. Everything out near Albright College is pretty good, near Alvernia College is pretty good. There are good pockets. I think it'll be better than New York, frankly. I've heard of people moving out of New York to come to Reading, because they perceived it to be a better environment for their families.

To the OP, Good Luck! Let us know how things work out.

Here is an "urban pioneer" who loves Reading, and I wanted to add his post on what he's thankful for on Thanksgiving:
http://explorereading.net/2012/11/21...-reading-2012/

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by maroyaolo

I am from Brooklyn New York . It used to be rated very high in crime rates but it is up and coming now. From what I can see, Reading cannot be worst than Brooklyn and the Neighboring areas.

The crime rate for the smaller cities in Pennsylvania (York, Pottstown, Reading, Lancaster , and Pittsburgh) is high , but not as high as Philadelphia or Harrisburg (one of the highest in the state). But many people say they love living in Harrisburg, and have no problem with crime if they stay out of the most violent neighborhoods. Brooklyn is so much bigger than Philadelphia, that the overall crime rate for the borough is probably meaningless because there is so much variation in the neighborhoods. But I suspect that you are correct that Reading is not worse in general than Brooklyn.

Reading has one of the highest poverty rates in the country.

Map of Berks County from the Census bureau shows the city of Reading broken up into 27 neighborhoods with an average of roughly 1200 houses per neighborhood. These neighborhoods have between 1,741 and 5,346 residents. They are numbered 1 through 29 with #24 and #28 missing.

Density in people per acre is given for each neighborhood. You can download detailed data on home prices, incomes, and racial make-up. However, as a general rule the higher density neighborhoods have more poor, lower prices, and more demographic mix.

While densities above 50 people per neighborhood are very common in Brooklyn, in Pennsylvania they are very rare outside of center city Philadelphia. In Reading about 1/3 of the people live in neighborhoods below 10 people per acre and 1/3 of the people live in neighborhoods above 30 people per acre.

Tract #|population 2010 | people per acre
8 | 4,405 | 58.9 (8th St and 11th St, Windsor St. and Pike St)
19 | 2,539 | 56.3
15 | 3,730 | 55.7
10 | 3,248 | 51.2
14 | 4,494 | 48.9
12 | 1,741 | 45.2
16 | 2,670 | 43.1
17 | 3,224 | 35.4
23 | 2,186 | 32.4
1 | 5,346 | 26.8
9 | 2,696 | 23.3
21 | 2,783 | 22.5
7 | 4,196 | 21.4
13 | 2,970 | 20.3
20 | 4,181 | 20.0
11 | 4,184 | 19.5
22 | 2,026 | 14.6
5 | 3,554 | 11.7
25 | 3,201 | 9.6
4 | 3,936 | 9.1
6 | 3,261 | 9.0
26 | 3,330 | 8.4
2 | 3,970 | 7.6
27 | 2,071 | 5.9
3 | 2,172 | 5.4
29 | 3,094 | 4.2
18 | 2,874 | 3.9

[LollyOllie]

New Yorkers have been buying up Reading properties to rent out for over the last 15 years and it's destroying the city. They don't care or take care of the properties even though children live in them. They just want to make money. It's a vicious cycle; the tenant starts complaining about serious problems like water leaks/no water, black mold, ceiling/roof collapses etc. the landlord ignores it, the renter doesn't have the time and money to fight them so they up and leave losing money. Then the landlord continues the cycle of renting it out while charging down payments,fees and advances while knowing the tenant will leave in a month or less because it is uninhabitable and then right before inspection, that would make them pay to fix everything, they sell it for whatever they can and move on to destroy the next property. Every slumlord I've ever known of or had was a New Yorker. So if New Yorkers are starting to move to Reading, I think that's great. In Reading you won't make the money you made in New York, there is little to nothing to do (The Pagoda- just a Chinese looking building that is just a place for suburban kids to hideout at to drink and do drugs, The Hilton- an overpriced motel quality hotel with bedbugs, the Sovereign Center- no big artists will or have ever played there and the Reading Phillies Stadium.) But like I said, New Yorkers should move to Reading, maybe they can fix all the buildings that the other New Yorkers destroyed.

[toobusytoday]

MOD CUT - This thread was started in 2006 and the OP is not on city-data any more.