Relocating to Reading PA (Allentown, Bethlehem: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[pweiss]

Can anyone out there tell me about the Reading area - specifically jobs, housing and medical. Thanks.

[dcris]

Originally Posted by pweiss

Can anyone out there tell me about the Reading area - specifically jobs, housing and medical. Thanks.

Regarding jobs, they are here, what kind of jobs (good paying/not so good paying) depends on what you do.

Check the Reading Eagle online for a sampling. (http://www.readingeagle.com/)

I believe housing is plentiful. There's plenty of homes on the market in the area. (I'm an RE agent) Prices low to high, it's all there. There's rentals, but I don't pay too much attention to them.

Reading Hospital and St Joes(new) serve the area, and Lehigh Valley hospital is with an hour, and Philly is about an hour and a half / 2 hours away as well. Childrens Hospital (CHOP) and Fox Chase Cancer Ctr are among the many choices of medical facilities there.

[PaDutchBabe]

Originally Posted by pweiss

Can anyone out there tell me about the Reading area - specifically jobs, housing and medical. Thanks.

I've never heard of anyone not being able to get a job around Reading. There is Reading Hospital, which is understaffed and rushed (I hear) and a new hospital called St. Joseph's off of route 183 which is modern and clean.

There are all kinds of housing. Row houses, manufactured homes, single family, doubles, townhouses, apartments. You name it. Rents in the city proper are cheap- usually about $450-500 per month for a row house. I don't recommend the city,though it was safe and beautiful at one time, it is filled with crime, garbage, graffiti.

You asked about the Reading "area"-does that mean you are open to outskirts?
Try Temple, Blandon, Fleetwood, Shoemakersville, Wyomissing, Shillington. Still reasonably priced but without the urban headaches.

[tomahawk]

I have nothing nice to say about the Reading area. I can't wait to leave.
It's dirty.

[mechtm84]

Heeeeeeeelllll nah, don't go to Reading. Are you nutz?

Median income is only $24K
Unemployment is 9.2%
and the poverty rate is 35%
Crime is double the Nat'l average
Blood gangs litter 'da hoods' with graffiti
^^^^These are the facts
I'm not just babbling that PA sucks, this is right off City-Data

If you're in your right mind, you'd stay out of Reading and the rest of PA

[Bellereve]

That was my daughter response today when I asked her about reading. UFFF!!!

Some of my family members live and own property up there.... they are well off. But considering that my daughter was raise in an are in Kentucky when you can still leave your doors open, and now in a comparatively decent, clean and safe area in Florida(although not as nice or safe as KY) I am having second thoughts about exposing her to an environment that she is not even remotely accostummed to.
I was considering moving to that area(Reading) to be closer to my family and my daughter who is going to fordham next year.... but her answers left me in shock....

I don't know what to do.... I'll probably move somewhere else closer but not there....

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by mechtm84

Heeeeeeeelllll nah, don't go to Reading. Are you nutz?

Median income is only $24K
Unemployment is 9.2%
and the poverty rate is 35%
Crime is double the Nat'l average
Blood gangs litter 'da hoods' with graffiti
^^^^These are the facts
I'm not just babbling that PA sucks, this is right off City-Data

If you're in your right mind, you'd stay out of Reading and the rest of PA

If that's not bias i don't know what is, not to mention it's from someone who's location is "I hate PA".

Obviously reading is a bad place, but pretty much anywhere about a mile from the river on the west side is nice. Shillington/Kenhorst is a lower middle class area, while wyomissing is more of a middle, upper middle class area. Generally speaking.

[karen_s]

If you look on this blog, there is a comparison graph noting Reading's crime rate versus other cities in the Lehigh Valley. It's pretty eye-opening, considering Reading's size.
Lehigh Valley Ramblings

[Icy Tea]

As of right now, Allentown has far more murders than Reading, but both cities have too many.
The Poverty rate in Reading is 25%, 10% for the county of Berks. Unemployment is only 4% for Berks county, slightly less than Lehigh.
I'm not trying to knock Allentown, but it seems to be so close to Reading in so many problem areas that saying one is better than the other is nearly impossible.
The whole route 222 corridor from Allentown and Bethlehem to Reading to Lancaster are cooperating against problems coming out of New York and New Jersey, so let's find common ground and concentrate on the positives of the cities and surrounding communities, okay?

[Bellereve]

Originally Posted by PaDutchBabe

I've never heard of anyone not being able to get a job around Reading. There is Reading Hospital, which is understaffed and rushed (I hear) and a new hospital called St. Joseph's off of route 183 which is modern and clean.

There are all kinds of housing. Row houses, manufactured homes, single family, doubles, townhouses, apartments. You name it. Rents in the city proper are cheap- usually about $450-500 per month for a row house. I don't recommend the city,though it was safe and beautiful at one time, it is filled with crime, garbage, graffiti.

You asked about the Reading "area"-does that mean you are open to outskirts?
Try Temple, Blandon, Fleetwood, Shoemakersville, Wyomissing, Shillington. Still reasonably priced but without the urban headaches.

That statement came from a Real Estate Agent.... but I know how it is since I travel at least 4 times a year to Reading.
In a few words Reading has become a DUMP in the last few years. Although there are good areas in PA, it is better to be at least an hour away from Reading..... say, like in Everton, King or prussia or anywhere that is country like if you value your life....