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Old 05-27-2023, 06:44 AM
 
42 posts, read 53,701 times
Reputation: 32

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Hi, first of all thank you for your time in reading this. My wife and I will be moving from the Miami area to the PA/NJ area at the beginning of 2024. We have no roots in Florida and are ready to be closer to family as well as live somewhere with seasons. We are willing to live in either the Philly suburbs on the NJ or PA side. Combined, we make 250-275k/year. Willing to live up to 50 miles outside of downtown Philly.


When are you moving? January 2024
Where are you coming from? Miami area
Why are you moving? Work/to be closer to wifes family
Where will you be working? Either Philly or Newark but hoping for Philly.
Have you been here yet? Yes, last week for wifes brothers on military leave in Toms River.

Will you buy or rent? Buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? House. Max 800k
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend?
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married, no kids yet.
Do you prefer public or private schools? Public
Do you have pets? 1 dog
Do you want or need a yard? Prefer a yard
Are you keeping a car? Yes, two cars.
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? More on the quiet side

What do you want to be closest to? Within 50 miles of work.
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? No preference.

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? PHILLIES
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Old 05-27-2023, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Pa
401 posts, read 426,083 times
Reputation: 925
Real estate taxes in NJ are crazy, make sure you check before buying. $10-15k a year is pretty common.

We lived in rural NJ, Warren County for 30 years, with few restaurants and entertainment and retired in 2015 and moved to West Chester Borough, we love it. People are very friendly, the town has a community spirit, downtown is alive with always something going on, tons of places to explore, live theater, 75 plus restaurants and many shops. The Halloween and Christmas parades are amazing and not to be missed. It seems they always have something going on downtown where they shut down the streets and have a great time. Here is the Borough Parks and Recreational web site to give you and idea of the things happening.

https://west-chester.com/139/Parks-Recreation


If you love gardens Longwood Gardens is 20 min drive, amazing place a must see. We are members and visit many times during the year. Longwood Gardens is a botanical garden that consists of over 1,077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square. It is one of the premier horticultural display gardens in the United States and is open to visitors year-round to enjoy native and exotic plants and horticulture (both indoor and outdoor), events and performances, seasonal and themed attractions, as well as educational lectures, courses, and workshops.

https://longwoodgardens.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwood_Gardens

Just a short drive away are more gardens are in Delaware

https://www.visitwilmingtonde.com/th...tions/gardens/

With a tradition of horticulture going back 300 years, Philadelphia is America’s Garden Capital.
Visit more than 30 public gardens, arboreta, and historic landscapes, all located within 30 miles of our landmark city.

http://americasgardencapital.org/?fb...wTHsIAEGJ_jMo-

If you like mansions more in Delaware with many DuPont family homes and other attractions.

https://www.visitwilmingtonde.com/th...o/attractions/

The area around West Chester has many walking and bicycle trails.

https://www.chescoplanning.org/resou...circuittrails/

Delaware the place with no sales taxes(think liquor, stoves, tv, washer/dryer, etc.) is 20 mins away. Train service to Philly is 15mins away in Exton, local train you are in center city in 55 minutes . You can be in the country in 10 mins. Tons of shopping nearby, King of Prussia mall is 20 mins away, largest mall in the east. Many others malls in the area. The Philadelphia Airport is 40 minutes away.

West Chester is a university town, West Chester University with about 13K students on and off campus, if that bothers you may not like it. You have to be careful not to live near student housing, this website from the borough lists all student housing
http://www.west-chester.com/DocumentCenter/View/34
With that said we have had no problems living near the university. We take advantage of the many free concerts, lectures, etc the university has to offer. The University has a large music program with many talented students. We attend quality concerts 2-3 nights a week, all for free.

https://www.wcupa.edu/music/eventsCalendar.aspx#/?i=1

The local police and campus security keep close tabs on the students and pretty much do not put up with a lot of stuff. Our encounter with students have been great, we were moving in a couch and struggling when all of the sudden it got lighter, a few big guys saw us and stopped and helped and would not take anything for their time.

Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center http://uptownwestchester.org provides live theater, and concerts.

Also the University has live theater, concerts and lectures for a fee. https://www.wcupa.edu/oca/wcuLive/

Some streets parking can be a problem so look for homes with off street parking or where parking is not restricted. They love to give out $25 parking tickets! Here is a map http://www.west-chester.com/DocumentCenter/View/764 of where parking is controlled.

Homes can come on the market and be gone in a few hours or a day or so.

When we were looking to move out of NJ,we looked at Media, Chestnut Hill, Phoenixville, Doyestown and several places in Delaware including Hockessin, Newark near the University and Dover and settled on West Chester a decision we do not regret at all.

More info here
http://www.visitphilly.com/towns/west-chester/

Great blog on West Chester

https://hellowestchesterpa.com

Overview of West Chester

https://savingplaces.org/stories/how...n#.YmztLBopChA

Chester County Parks and Playgrounds

https://westchesterpa.macaronikid.co...and-recreation

Video of good & bad of West Chester
https://youtu.be/Lfip35t-XgM


West Chester Area School District is a top rated, public school district. It has 11,972 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1. According to state test scores, 64% of students are at least proficient in math and 80% in reading. are rated very high as noted below.

Niche ranks nearly 100,000 schools and districts based on statistics and millions of opinions from students and parents. Best School Districts for Athletes in Pennsylvania 8 of 495, Best School Districts in Pennsylvania 25 of 495, Best Places to Teach in Pennsylvania
87 of 496

Removed link from competing site

The U.S. News & World Report K-12 directory encompasses 102,451 preschools, elementary, middle school and high schools that you can search based on the state, district or city near you. The data on student diversity, teachers, counselors, test scores and district spending can help you find the right school for your child.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12...istrict-108768

Good luck in your search.

Last edited by toobusytoday; 06-27-2023 at 02:29 PM..
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Old 05-27-2023, 03:46 PM
 
Location: Pa
401 posts, read 426,083 times
Reputation: 925
Forgot to say West Chester is a Philly suburb in Pa.
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Old 05-27-2023, 05:26 PM
 
42 posts, read 53,701 times
Reputation: 32
Thank you for the wealth of information! West Chester was not on our radar before but it is now. I have to remind myself that good schools come with a cost, and in this case it resonates to the high property taxes. Overall the public education system of south florida is pretty dismal but then again the overall environment doesn't put education on a pedestal as much as it should, rather invests more time and energy into tourism, leisure, and overall amusement/entertainment in my opinion. Thanks again!
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Old 05-27-2023, 06:48 PM
 
Location: Pa
401 posts, read 426,083 times
Reputation: 925
Check out the Philadelphia forum on places in the greater Philly and NJ. More details and folks will give you more places to checkout.

We spend 6 months looking and spent long weekends in hotels in the various areas seeing what was going on and chatting with locals. Some places were alive during the day and dead at night and weekends. You may want to rent for a bit to get a feel for the various areas before buying. More difficult living so far away trying to see what is happening.
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