Best Place to Live in Chester County?? (West Chester, Coatesville: affordable houses, private schools)

[Custom Draper]

My family of 4 is relocating to Chester County. My husband will be working in Coatesville, so has a reverse commute so no concerns from that perspective.

Schools are a big factor for us and we're overwhelmed by the choices because schools have excellent ratings across the wide area of Downingtown, West Chester and Chadds Ford-Unionville.

Can someone please help us narrow it down?? We'd love to have convenient access to the city center of West Chester, but also want a "nice house in the burbs". We took a ride through Downingtown today and while the shopping looked great, it was a lot of sprawl and I wasn't crazy about how things looked on the other side of the tracks (lots of industrial areas).

Please help!! We drove through areas by the river and fell in love with the quaintness of (Thornbury/Westtown/Brandywine??) but it looked pricey and it a bit old money and we're looking for a vibrant community w/ lots of young children.

Thanks!!

[rainrock]

Did you look around Exton, Chester Springs, Great Valley? This area is growing very quickly with younger families. Tons of newer developments. Malvern,Paoli and Goshen are also fantastic but older communities.

[debolina]

I live in the Westtown area and find there to be very affordable houses here as well as more $$$ ones. We moved here from the midwest which is much less expensive. Where are you moving from?
Exton is becoming very congested. If you are interested in private schools alot of them draw from a very large area.
I wouldnt move out of West Chester for anything! I love it here and the town is awesome! (anytime of year!)

[rainrock]

Yea the West Chester area is superb.From the Brandywine all the way to Ridley Creek State Park its just great.

In fact Chester County just flat out rocks.

Today I visited a couple friends, one lives in Willistown Township,the other in Lionville(Chester Springs) .What an incredible landscape which has been preserved wonderfully for the most part. Willistown is only 10-15 miles from center city Philly and you would think you were in the hills of Vermont. I love it out there.

Exton is getting quite congested but all the development is very upscale. I love that triangle from West Chester to Chester Springs over to Valley Forge/KOP.

[bkapoor]

Hi,Did you move to Chester county? How are the schools? We are planning on moving there and the schools are very important to us. Our kids are 12 and 6. Thanks

[toobusytoday]

bkapoor, If you click on Custom Draper's name you can see all the posts by her. Looks like she was looking to move to CT or Massachusetts earlier this year. http://www.city-data.com/forum/conne...ml#post7679577