Moving from FL- West Chester? York? Others? (Lancaster, Harrisburg: apartments, new house)

[DMBFireDancer3441]

My boyfriend and I are both teachers and are looking to relocate to Southern PA from Florida. We are looking for a place where there are four seasons, but where the winters are not too harsh. We also love to be outdoors and a place near parks would be great. Anywhere that is known for being dog friendly would be wonderful as well, since our golden retriever loves to be out with us.

Aside from good schools, we want an area where we will be able to afford housing. We are looking for $250,000 or less and would love to be in a relatively new suburb type area.

West Chester looks to have a great historic downtown area, but is new housing in a nice neighborhood affordable nearby? We would like to be within 20 minutes of the dining and downtown area, but live in a place with the newer, more up to date feel. We can't afford much, but would like to be in a suburb area with some of the resturants we like, organic food markets, and Barnes and Noble, etc.

We also thought York seemed like a nice location, but have found very little information on the area online.

If anyone has any suggestions for scenic areas with affordable housing we would appreciate it. We want a historic downtown area with festivals and events nearby, but would really prefer to live in a more modern, almost cutsie area.

[teachbeach]

What do you teach? First priority would be securing jobs, which are competitive in the common majors. If you are specialized, you might have a better chance. Also, depending on when you received your degrees, getting teaching licenses in PA can be a royal pain in the ***.

Your price range would probably get you more house, yard and value in the York or Lancaster area. York has many dog friendly parks (as long as you pick up) and some great vets, so it's a dog friendly community. When driving through neighborhoods, you always see dogs being walked by their owners. There are a huge amount of residential neighborhoods, all within a 20 minute drive to the downtown area. The downtown isn't much, but there are some great restaurants, a wonderful performing arts center, a city market, neat coffee houses. We have a Borders too! Organic food markets--not yet, but our local grocery stores are getting a better selection of organic packaged foods and produce. There is are 2 Wegmans within 45 minutes of York, one in Carlisle and one in Hunt Valley, MD.

York is also less than an hour from Baltimore, 40 minutes to Harrisburg and 25 minutes to Lancaster-so it is an ideal location.

I'm not familiar with much of the West Chester area, so can't be a good help there. The areas near/around are growing rapidly and people complain of traffic, lines, congestion and everything else that comes with overgrowth without planning.

[danwxman]

York is only 20-25 minutes from Harrisburg. You could also consider the Harrisburg area, with that price range you should be able to find a nice home in a good community. There are a few organic grocery stores and a brand new Wegmans in Mechanicsburg which has pretty much everything you need.

I would reccommend looking at Mechanicsburg, Carlisle, Boiling Springs, East Pennsboro or Hummelstown. Downtown Harrisburg has many festivals and is within 15-20 minutes of all the towns mentioned. Mechanicsburg is known for its large street festival in the summer (Jubilee Day - the largest one-day street festival on the east coast) and many parades throughout the year.

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by danwxman

York is only 20-25 minutes from Harrisburg. You could also consider the Harrisburg area, with that price range you should be able to find a nice home in a good community. There are a few organic grocery stores and a brand new Wegmans in Mechanicsburg which has pretty much everything you need.

I would reccommend looking at Mechanicsburg, Carlisle, Boiling Springs, East Pennsboro or Hummelstown. Downtown Harrisburg has many festivals and is within 15-20 minutes of all the towns mentioned. Mechanicsburg is known for its large street festival in the summer (Jubilee Day - the largest one-day street festival on the east coast) and many parades throughout the year.

more like 30 with no traffic unless your doing 90+

[Orion17]

Originally Posted by DMBFireDancer3441

My boyfriend and I are both teachers and are looking to relocate to Southern PA from Florida. We are looking for a place where there are four seasons, but where the winters are not too harsh. We also love to be outdoors and a place near parks would be great. Anywhere that is known for being dog friendly would be wonderful as well, since our golden retriever loves to be out with us.

Aside from good schools, we want an area where we will be able to afford housing. We are looking for $250,000 or less and would love to be in a relatively new suburb type area.

West Chester looks to have a great historic downtown area, but is new housing in a nice neighborhood affordable nearby? We would like to be within 20 minutes of the dining and downtown area, but live in a place with the newer, more up to date feel. We can't afford much, but would like to be in a suburb area with some of the resturants we like, organic food markets, and Barnes and Noble, etc.

We also thought York seemed like a nice location, but have found very little information on the area online.

If anyone has any suggestions for scenic areas with affordable housing we would appreciate it. We want a historic downtown area with festivals and events nearby, but would really prefer to live in a more modern, almost cutsie area.

Most of the small PA towns have that charm plus the suburb growth.

Cannot speak to West Chester, but York, Harrisburg and Lancaster areas would all suit you.

Definatly look into the Teaching thing. Since PA teachers are unioinized (two work stoppages in communities around us) the jobs are not given up and not easy to come by. It makes for a good area to raise kids though seeing as how we get the better teachers b/c of said competition.

I would say anything north of Harrisburg would have harsher winters b/c of the appalachain mountains.

[bnepler]

Born and raised in the Hummelstown / Linglestown areas. Both are great. Also spent several years in the West Chester area. It's beautiful country area and it's a college town with many neat eateries and shops. Spring summer and fall have many things going on and some great parks in both areas. Winter is bla bla bla......., dead after living here in sunny FL. Teaching positions are very political also the teacher's union takes care of the ones with tenure...

[orrmobl]

If you don't mind poor schools (locals say they're not that bad and are ever improving) and higher taxes, you can get a lot of house in a brand new development in the Coatesville area...not the city but just outside in Thorndale, Caln Township, etc. This area is definitely on the way up and the increased tax base has got to trickle down to the schools right? They have built a ton of new houses and I'm not quite sure who they're going to sell them to so it may be a feeding frenzy...and this area has all the amenities you're looking for plus green space plus close to Lancaster with all that area has to offer...

For a little more dough you could look to Downingtown which has MUCH better schools and I would think lower taxes as well...

[SC Bound]

I moved to SE Pennsylvania from Florida....trust me, you don't want to move here. The winters last forever for one thing, and if you haven't driven in snow you are looking at a nightmare. The rest of the winter is very gray and dismal. Schools - not great. Also, West Chester may look like a quaint little town, which admittedly downtown is, but, go outside that area and there are either very expensive homes, or apartments. There is not much middle ground, and taxes are murder!

My family is moving to the Charlotte area, actually a little below but only 20 minute drive to Fort Mill, SC ... housing is reasonable - approx. $250k for 4 bedroom house not too far from lake. Less expensive if you move farther out. High School is fabulous - they even have a complete Culinary Institute in the high school. Believe I read it is in the top 30 in the country. Also, taxes there are ALOT lower than PA. This area also has the 4 seasons but very little snow...and when it snows everything closes!

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by SC Bound

I moved to SE Pennsylvania from Florida....trust me, you don't want to move here. The winters last forever for one thing, and if you haven't driven in snow you are looking at a nightmare. The rest of the winter is very gray and dismal. Schools - not great. Also, West Chester may look like a quaint little town, which admittedly downtown is, but, go outside that area and there are either very expensive homes, or apartments. There is not much middle ground, and taxes are murder!

My family is moving to the Charlotte area, actually a little below but only 20 minute drive to Fort Mill, SC ... housing is reasonable - approx. $250k for 4 bedroom house not too far from lake. Less expensive if you move farther out. High School is fabulous - they even have a complete Culinary Institute in the high school. Believe I read it is in the top 30 in the country. Also, taxes there are ALOT lower than PA. This area also has the 4 seasons but very little snow...and when it snows everything closes!

Hahaha... long winters? South east and to some degree south central have mild winters compared to virtually any state of equal or higher latitude (except NJ). Obviously you can't handle the cold, which is fine, but don't bash an entire state because of your inabilities. It's not 4 seasons if you don't get snow, it's 3 seasons, 3.5 at best.

I agree though that west chester is expensive since it's the location of the wealthier people from Philly.

Also, living here there is virtually no chance of a hurricane hitting here with any significant strength. Most we've had is flooding and damaged trees.

Personally, I'd recommend the York area (not the city of york), but make sure you can get qualified to teach in PA before moving.

[Nouvelle Villa]

West Chester area can be quite expensive. I saw people recommend Harrisburg region and that seems like a good suggestion if you want to consider it. You should note that the winters can be somewhat harsh here. I also moved up here from Florida. My wife is a Floridian but I was raised in the north and I can attest that winter is still a drag here. Funny thing is that I saw a reply suggesting North Carolina. We live here and were strongly considering NC until recent opportunities opened for us in the area and now we plan on staying longer. However, we still plan on moving at some point. The biggest sticking point is housing. We look for houses in the 250K-300K range. In West Chester, it does not get you much. However, in Charlotte, you get what seems to be very nice single family homes in the 200-250 range and salaries don't seem to differ too much.

On a positive note, Pennsylvania has a number of small to mid-size old fashioned towns, such as Media or West Chester, which is pretty unique and lovely, especially coming from sprawling and uniform Florida.

I hope this helps and good luck.