Pennsylvania PA- Maryland MD- or Delaware DE (Pittsburgh, Scranton: sales, apartments)

[mx3fam]

My husband works in North East, MD and we are house hunting. We have found a lot of houses in our price range ($250k) in Elkton. I have heard great things about Rising Sun as a city and the elementary school. We are considering moving to DE because of the tax benefits or PA because of the Amish. I'd like to get input on neighborhoods, cities, areas, taxes, etc. We are about 15-20 from the state lines of both DE and PA so if we move we'd like to stay just over the state line. We dont want to be too far from work.

Thank you
Mary

[North Beach Person]

Why would you move to PA because of the Amish?
MD-higher housing prices, generally better roads, higher state income taxes, sales tax on more items, creeping sprawl, higher wages
PA-lower housing prices, but property taxes are higher in relation to property value than MD, PA has some strange local taxes, generally better schools, better, and cheaper, state colleges and universities, less zoning restrictions in most areas than MD, PA has almost as high a % of senior citizens as FL, active anti-tax sentiment generally, lower wages
DE-lower taxes generally, no sales tax, good roads, small state, creeping sprawl

[CHIP72]

One thing to keep in mind if your husband's job is in North East is that you'll encounter more traffic as you go towards Elkton and Newark/northern DE. Mind you, the bulk of the traffic will be in the opposite direction at peak periods, but I-95 can have a good bit of traffic in either direction at various times during the day.

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by mx3fam

We are considering moving to DE because of the tax benefits or PA because of the Amish.

Seems hypocritical to me. Wanting to move to an area due to it's agricultural heritage while looking for a suburban-sprawl-causing type house. No doubt, you'd be looking for a large lawn too.

[mx3fam]

Thanks North Beach! Very hepful.
Chip- we usually just drive the 40, so I hadn't thought about the 95. Thanks.
Marodi- HYPOCRITICAL? We moved from urban to experience some rural (so yes- we want a large lawn too- like that is something bad?). I have great repect for the Amish and feel badly about some of the growth that had pushed them out of some areas. We have Amish friends in Myersville, PA. I am not advocating building apartments- I am talking about buying a house that someone there wants to sell...what is so wrong with that?

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by mx3fam

I am not advocating building apartments- I am talking about buying a house that someone there wants to sell...what is so wrong with that?

You must excuse Marodi. Like many Eastern Pennsylvanians we're both growing resentful that the massive growth from the BosWash Corridor is destroying much of our natural beauty. The Poconos have transitioned from a honeymoon getaway to a congested NYC/NJ exurb. The Lehigh Valley is a disgusting mess of subdivisions, and now people are flooding into Bucks County and commuting to NYC as well. South Central PA has been feeling growth pressures from Baltimore as residents there seek inexpensive housing.

If you're going to be buying a pre-existing home, then I must salute you (and feel like hugging you!) If you're tearing down a 3/4-acre plot of woodlands to build a McMansion when there are already hundreds of similar ones on the market, then shame on you! That's what I don't understand about my own native Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. We have hundreds upon hundreds of homes already on the market and yet new subdivisions are springing up like hemorrhoids. More often than not they're named after natural features that were destroyed to permit their construction (i.e. "Stone Bridge" which was named after a historic stone bridge that was removed to make way for the subdivision).

I just don't understand the Pennsylvanian love affair with everything "big, gawdy, and ostentatious." Give me a Victorian or Craftsman-styled home on a tree-lined street with sidewalks in a quiet in-town neighborhood ANYDAY!

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I just don't understand the Pennsylvanian love affair with everything "big, gawdy, and ostentatious." Give me a Victorian or Craftsman-styled home on a tree-lined street with sidewalks in a quiet in-town neighborhood ANYDAY!

It's not just PA Paul, it's nearly everywhere. I live in a town that was mostly a weekend place for Washingtonians. In the last 20 years has come the transition to full-time residences. Going are the 1 and 2 story craftsmen beach cottages, replaced by 3 story, windowless, vinyl clad, lot hogging monstrosities. The reality is that the older houses do not fit with many of today's perceived life-style "needs". Our house is of 1915 vintage with minimal structural modification and interesting circuits (some of which I've modified). The entire County here has suffered from McMansioning, as has all of Southern MD, so it's not just NEPA. North of Pittsburgh has had it happen, too, as has VA and DE.

[mx3fam]

Thanks for that ScranBarre. I think we agree. I think you must preserve history as much as you can. I think it is unreasonable to think that areas won't grow/change. But I am one of those who would love to live in Mayberry. I wish areas would care more about the land than the tax dollars and jobs that come from all those subdivisions. Slow growth- planned communities. Build around stone bridges and hundred year old trees- those are the show pieces- those are the reasons we want to live in those areas. Honor them.