Wilson School District of Berks County, PA (Philadelphia, Reading: real estate, homes)

[knicksin8]

I am interested in relocating my family to this school district.

As far as the township of Spring, West Lawn, Sinking Spring, Lower Heidelberg, and Wyomissing are considered, are these towns considered:
rural or suburban?
Is it an ethnically diverse area?
Is it a relatively safe area?
Any comments on the shopping and restaurants in the area?

Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

[knicksin8]

bump

[mattjd]

I'm semi-familiar with Wyomissing and West Lawn. These are suburban/rural settings. They are technically the suburbs of Reading, but many people also work in Philadelphia. I'd say the drive to Philly is about an hour - hour and a half, depending on traffic. It does have some shopping in the area and you aren't that far of a drive from suburban philly shopping either. King of Prussia is a great mall.

Is it ethnically diverse? Not really. I'd say it's about 95% or more white, which is the norm for pennsylvania outside of the cities. I'm not sure where you are moving from, but it's quite normal to have towns that are 93%-97% white in PA. And no, 97% white doesn't mean it's racist.

Is it safe? Extremely. Wyomissing is probably one of the wealthiest areas in the county, if not the region. Very good schools, very nice and expensive homes...nice and safe area all around.

[NYMD67]

hi,

Our family just relocated to Berks County from MD. We moved due to a job relo...
Spent many,many hours researching school districts,etc.. I found the website :
schoolmatters.com
very helpful for us!
After all of that research, we thought that the Wilson School district was what we were looking for.
We have been here a few months and are extremely impressed with our children's school ,the activities available in the area and we like our neighborhood.
It has been a much easier transition for our children than we had anticipated,however,I have to be honest,not so easy for mom and dad... (mostly mom!).
Finding that it is hard to come into an area where it seems most of the people are either from here, or have lived here quite a long time and not extremely warm.
I don't want to insult anyone so I will just leave it at that.
I am sure after some time, we will come to meet some people (it is winter and not a great time to meet people,so we are giving it some hope!).

I think that in a few months,we will be saying that we really like it here!
But ,in regards to your question about schools, yes, Wilson School district seems to be pretty top rated and we are extremely pleased!

Good Luck in your search.

[knicksin8]

Thanks guys for the great replies!

[knicksin8]

can anyone recommend any good realtors for new construction single family homes near Wilson S.D. or just Berks County, PA ?

[dj10]

This is a website for Weichert Realtors which lists new construction. I had checked off areas that should be in the Wilson School District and that is the list that came up. I can't recommend any realtor in particular but if you look to the right of each listing it shows the realtor for that group of homes although I would think you can use any realtor.


Weichert.com : Buying : PA : Berks County : Real Estate Search Results

[knicksin8]

thanks for the reply dj10.

can anyone comment on how the property taxes in berks county generally compare with those in chester and lancaster counties?

also, i plan on commuting daily from from the reading area to lancaster. specifically, i was wondering:

1. how congested is the commute on US-222?
2. what time is considered "rush hour" on this commute in the a.m. and p.m.?
3. also, does US-222 typically get icy and difficult to navigate during the winters?

any feedback would be great. thanks again.