is Bucks co. really worth it? (Plum, Doylestown: for sale, big home, preschool)

[Madjacz]

bmk1106- Thanks for that information, very helpful. My husband will be managing multiple buildings in both the PA and NY City area so he'll have to have a car.... can you tell me then, if a doylestown (please tell us in more detail about the First Friday events) or other areas are better b/c of driving commute?
Are there other towns that have shopping/townsq feel close by? I have 3 little kids 8-3 and I've lived in places that are not convenient and really want a convenient option this time.

[L.K.]

In researching the townships that BMK1106 mentioned,it appears that Chalfont,Buckingham,Plumstead,Warrington and Warwick have the highest % of families/kids.That is something that I look at too.Doylestown Borough is only 19%,Doylestown township is 35%,the most is Warwick with 50%Buckingham appears closest to Newark for us-65 miles.But that is not the desiding factor for us.A great town atmosphere,lots of kids and great schools for our 3 kids also.

[BMK1106]

Originally Posted by Madjacz

bmk1106- Thanks for that information, very helpful. My husband will be managing multiple buildings in both the PA and NY City area so he'll have to have a car.... can you tell me then, if a doylestown (please tell us in more detail about the First Friday events) or other areas are better b/c of driving commute?
Are there other towns that have shopping/townsq feel close by? I have 3 little kids 8-3 and I've lived in places that are not convenient and really want a convenient option this time.

Doylestown's first Friday's are held on the first Friday of each month. Most of the town businesses will stay open late to exhibit the works of local artists. There's also live music... and a few other vendors out on First Fridays.

If you are looking for that townsquare feel - I would definitely recommend Doylestown. All of the other boroughs/townships I mentioned are very close to Doylestown, so just a short drive and you are there...

Since you want to be closer to NYC - you might want to try Upper Makefield Township - I'm not very familiar with that area's community involvement/activities - but, I do know that Upper Makefield is closer to I-95 and is Council Rock school district (great reputation). Though, from what I hear, it is rather expensive. I'm sure you could find some posters on this board with more info about Upper Makefield...

[L.K.]

BMK1106-in looking at the townships that you mentioned,when I check the routes to Newark,some go[such as Buckingham] on highway 202-287-78.And others are on highways 276-95.Are there any major differences in the road conditions/traffic congestion etc for these different roads?

[L.K.]

in addition to the above question about the highways,can anyone tell me about total taxes for each township in the CB school ditrict? Say on a $400,000 house,what would taxes be in Warrington vs Doylestown vs Buckingham? Or where could I find this info do you think? Thanks

[L.K.]

Does anyone have information on where to find total tax info? Alot of real estate sites don't show tax info.Do the ones that do show it all the taxes on the house? Are they accurate?

[bucksguy]

Other stores going in Valley Square:
PF Chang, California Pizza K, Panera, MaggieMoo's Ice Cream, V. Secrets, Borders, Kildears Pub, Anne T.,among others.

[skivino]

is Bucks co. really worth it?

My answer is a definite YES. I've lived in Bucks County most of my life (Early 40s). But I'm more from the Eastern/Lower Bucks area. I graduated from Council Rock (as did my 2 sisters and 2 brothers), my children go to Pennsbury. Both districts are great. CR has a higher 'rating' but that is because they don't have the diversity that Pennsbury has, both economic and racial. I acually prefer the diversity that Pennsbury has, because it's giving my children an opportunity to see that the world is more than UMC white suburbanites (which CR district surely was when I went....we probably had maybe 10 minorities out of the 3500 people in the HS!) Having huge experience with both districts I can honestly say they are both equal in terms of eductation.

Compared to the CB district (which also is a very good district) CR/Pennsbury are closer and much more convenient to RT 95 and Route 1 if getting to Phila/NYC and Central/South Jersey are important. Taxes are high,(ours are over $6K but many in the newer develops are min $10K and more) but that's reflected in the school system. We don't have a Wegmans down this way (sadly) but there is one outside of Princeton NJ which I can get to in 20 min (sans traffic) from my home in the Lower Makefield/Yardley area.

I can get to Phila in 28 minutes (the exit for CC) without traffic and have reached NYC in just over an hour on a Sat morning. The NE Corridor train station (Trenton) is 15 minutes away. There's the Delaware River, the canal with an awesome bike path that runs from Bristol to Easton!
Yardley is adorable, quaint Victorian homes, the river and canal, and a duck pond to boot! But there's really no good shopping in Yardley. Too many Real Estate agency's have taken up the lovely main street. There are few cute shops though, and sadly we even have a Starbucks, but it's on the pond so it's location is great.

Newtown (CR district) is wonderful. Great little shops on Main street, good restaurants and they even have a Hardware Store still! I believe it's been in operation since at least the early 1900's. HD/Loes didn't push them OOB.

The area has changed so much since I was young. It was beautiful farms and rolling hills, now it's mostly developed. But Bucks is definitely worth it... they don't call it Beautiful Bucks County for nothing!

[L.K.]

wow-thanks for the great information! We plan to come out in March to look around to decide where we would like to live.As I mentioned in my original post,we need great schools[sounds like they are] and a decent commute to Newark,and lots of kids and kid activities in the area-soccer,swimming,tennis.Any other insite you have would be greatly appreciated-L.K.

[L.K.]

I guess I did not mention all that in the first post,but that is what we are looking for Thanks again for your time and info!
L.K.