Where are the suburbs in Northampton, Lehigh & Bucks counties? (Allentown: low crime, credit)

[PAsearch]

Looking to purchase a home (townhouse, duplex or single family - new or resale - priced under $200K) in an area with the following characteristics, in order of importance.

* No/low crime
* No flood zone
* Predominately white collar professionals
* Within 25 miles of the I-78 NJ/PA toll plaza (Northampton, Lehigh, Bucks Counties)
* Within 10 miles of the Route 202 PA/NJ toll plaza (Bucks County)

Please indicate, from the list attached below, which areas meet the criteria. If easier, feel free to indicate which areas don't qualify & why. (i.e. Town A - high crime, Town B - blue collar, etc.)


Thanks

[toobusytoday]

There are many small towns surrounding the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton that would fit your criteria. I don't think they are considered "suburbs" because most have been towns run with their own government for over 100 years. Priced under $200,000 is going to be pretty hard considering the rest of your criteria.

[maschine]

In Northampton county, I'd recommend College Hill, which is still in Easton proper with easy access to the downtown, but is a quiet, beautiful neighborhood on a hill overlooking the downtown.

The houses range from modest row homes on the main street to nearly mansions in the more wealthy sections. I don't have statistics about its specific crime rate because it technically is located in Easton, but it's definitely not a flood zone (it's on a large hill) and it is right next to Lafayette College. I have lived in College Hill for a great deal of my life and have never felt threatened or unsafe.

[PAsearch]

toobusytoday, could you be more specific please? My goal is to use these responses to search the MLS, but "many small towns surrounding the cities...." isn't a valid search criteria.

If it makes it easier for you, I can try to submit the attached list in a different format so you could just highlight the appropriate cities.

Thank You.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by PAsearch

Looking to purchase a home (townhouse, duplex or single family - new or resale - priced under $200K) in an area with the following characteristics, in order of importance.

* No/low crime
* No flood zone
* Predominately white collar professionals
* Within 25 miles of the I-78 NJ/PA toll plaza (Northampton, Lehigh, Bucks Counties)
* Within 10 miles of the Route 202 PA/NJ toll plaza (Bucks County)

Please indicate, from the list attached below, which areas meet the criteria. If easier, feel free to indicate which areas don't qualify & why. (i.e. Town A - high crime, Town B - blue collar, etc.)

Is there also an extra credit question and will their be a curve?

[toobusytoday]

PAsearch,
We did a similar search (30 minutes from my husbands company, very good schools, housing around a certain amount, etc.) From the towns that met the distance criteria, we looked at the school districts because we had certain standards for schools as well and that was a high priority for us. That meant going to sites similar to Search for Pennsylvania public schools. and SchoolMatters - Home If you go into the schoolmatters website, you can see the community demographics.

I have no idea what towns are within 25 miles of the toll because we didn't look in that direction at all. OTOH, if you give us the names of the towns that you've come up with we might have a valid opinions. Figuring out what towns are within the radius is, IMHO, your job.

The school district that I live in, Southern Lehigh, (Coopersburg and Center Valley) in Lehigh County, is not in a flood zone, has very low crime, I think predominately white collar professionals but I don't really know if it's within the 25 mile range and it will be difficult to find a house under $200,000. Hellertown, is in Northampton County and might be a better fit.

[toobusytoday]

My apologies, I just found your attached list. In case anyone else missed it, PAsearch has attached a pdf file with a list of communities for us to choose from.

In Lehigh county, skip all of Allentown, except West Allentown in Parkland School District, Emmaus is a great little town, but won't have that mostly white collar professionals you're looking for. I don't think I get that criteria anyway.

Macungie is also a nice town, growing rapidly and you'll find all kinds of housing here. The commute will not be a pleasant one.

Fountain Hill is a little dicey. I would not recommend it.

Salisbury is an area more then a town, no townhomes, close to Allentown. Schools are okay.

West Bethlehem is okay, not great. Bethlehem is tricky - there are gangs in some areas.

Coopersburg, Upper Saucon, Center Valley and Lower Milford are all Southern Lehigh School District - The only place that has townhomes is Center Valley in that district. No flooding anywhere. Our favorite.

[PAsearch]

toobusytoday, Thanks for your latest reply. It's exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. By the way, what does IMHO stand for?

maschine, Thank You too. This is also helpful.

[toobusytoday]

IMHO - In my humble opinion

[renlouis]

Oh, that's funny - I always thought it was "in my honest opinion", but I was just guessing!! Hopefully one's humble opinion and their honest opinion are one and the same!!