Hummelstown/Hershey area?? (Lancaster, Harrisburg, Lebanon: crime, homes, neighborhoods)

[tamale6961]

We are going to Pa. next week for my husband's job interview in Hummelstown. Since we have never been in Pa. before, we really have no idea about anything! We would like to know about the price of housing (range), taxes, utilites, etc. Also, what is the crime situation in the general area? If you could tell us something about the topography, i.e. flat, hilly, any lakes in the area, etc. that would be GREAT! Really, anything you can think of would be of interest to us. We are in our mid-fifties, so don't need to worry about schools, and are open to rural areas, as well as nice neighborhoods in towns-including any around Hershey or Hummelstown itself. Thanks so much (in advance) for replying to my request for information!

[danwxman]

You pretty much could find anything you want around here. Plenty of rural areas not far at all from Hummelstown, plus some really great in-town neighborhoods in Hummelstown. The Susquehanna river is only a few minutes away and has great recreational opportunities. If you're looking for cheaper housing, I'm sure you could find a great deal if you look at some of the in-town neighborhoods of Hummelstown, or Swatara and Lower Paxton township. Nextdoor to Hummelstown is Hershey (actually Derry Township) which actually has some of the highest housing prices in the area, but again if you look enough I'm sure you could find a good deal. There is pretty much zero crime in the Hummelstown/Hershey area...maybe some petty stuff and the occasional robbery but never anything serious. The area is a mix of hills and some flater land....in additional to the "Mighty Susquehanna" there is a the Swatara creek that runs through Hummelstown.

[tamale6961]

Dear Danwxman,
Thank you SO much for all of your information! We would be moving from the Pennsacola area of Fla., so we were kinda of concerned about the huge differences between the areas.
Are there LOTS of snow/overcast days in the area? The general area sounds really pretty. We are leaving the next Thursday and hope the rain/snow is done by then! lol. I hate bumpy airplane trips, (was in a close call in one during an ice storm once).
We are also started looking at a couple of other towns like Palmyra and Lebanon or Elizabethtown. Hope they are as good as the other ones sound!!??
Thanks again, you are a life saver!

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by tamale6961

Dear Danwxman,
Thank you SO much for all of your information! We would be moving from the Pennsacola area of Fla., so we were kinda of concerned about the huge differences between the areas.
Are there LOTS of snow/overcast days in the area? The general area sounds really pretty. We are leaving the next Thursday and hope the rain/snow is done by then! lol. I hate bumpy airplane trips, (was in a close call in one during an ice storm once).
We are also started looking at a couple of other towns like Palmyra and Lebanon or Elizabethtown. Hope they are as good as the other ones sound!!??
Thanks again, you are a life saver!

No problem...the weather here is VERY variable. For example, for the past few days it's been nothing but clouds, cold and rain, but earlier in March we hit 80 degrees! It's also going to be much nicer the rest of the week with sunny skies and highs near 60. That's just the way it is in the fall and winter, you can have a stretch of just perfect beautiful weather then its rainy/snowy and cold for a few days. The average snowfall is about 35 inches, though this year we got less then 20"...we typically get a few decent sized snowstorms, but climate here in south/southeastern PA is really more mid-atlantic then Northeast. Even in the middle of winter it's not uncommon at all to get a few days with highs in the 60s!

Out of the towns you mentioned, I would recommend Elizabethtown.. Lebanon is about 20 minutes from Hummelstown with no traffic...there's no highway link between the two it's just a two-lane road that gets really busy during the rush hours. If your husband is going to be working Hummelstown, I would honestly not reccommend living east of Hershey towards Palmyra or Lebanon. There's just too much traffic around Hershey and getting through that town during rush hour is a nightmare. Living in Palmyra or Lebanon you'd literally have to travel right through Hershey to get to Hummelstown. Elizabethtown has some great neighborhoods, also a place I didn't mention before was Middletown, you could look there.

[tamale6961]

Hey Danwxman,
Again, this just the kind of information we needed to know! Good thing you pointed it out, because we had seen some housing developments in Palmyra that we were thinking about looking at on Thursday, but now we'll focus our attention on Elizabethtown and Middletown (as well as Hummelstown itself). I was hoping for some great views of hills or lakes, but guess that is not available around there??

We have had a lot of WIND around Navarre and chilly for us too! At least today less wind and up into the low 70's, and of course, sunny.

Also, I have seen on the other threads that locals tend to be sort of stand offish towards newcomers, because you have to have been born there or something like that. We are looking to get into activites and community life, because we are sociable. Of the 3 areas, E-town, Mid-town or Hum-town, which one has an overall reputation for embracing newcomers (who are not going to be anti-social complaining types)!?
Sorry I am asking you so many things-but no one else has been as kind as you and replied! LOL!
Thanks again!!!

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by tamale6961

Hey Danwxman,
Again, this just the kind of information we needed to know! Good thing you pointed it out, because we had seen some housing developments in Palmyra that we were thinking about looking at on Thursday, but now we'll focus our attention on Elizabethtown and Middletown (as well as Hummelstown itself). I was hoping for some great views of hills or lakes, but guess that is not available around there??

We have had a lot of WIND around Navarre and chilly for us too! At least today less wind and up into the low 70's, and of course, sunny.

Also, I have seen on the other threads that locals tend to be sort of stand offish towards newcomers, because you have to have been born there or something like that. We are looking to get into activites and community life, because we are sociable. Of the 3 areas, E-town, Mid-town or Hum-town, which one has an overall reputation for embracing newcomers (who are not going to be anti-social complaining types)!?
Sorry I am asking you so many things-but no one else has been as kind as you and replied! LOL!
Thanks again!!!

The only place where I think that "standoff-ish" attitude towards newcomers is present will be in Lancaster county (which contains E-Town) because a lot of those people are mad that their pristine farmland is being eaten up by McMansions (and heck I kind of agree with them). But overall, I just don't think you'll have a problem anywhere. There's a ton of people your age in this area overall, and you should fit right in. Lately there's been a lot of people retiring into south central PA from Maryland, because PA doesn't tax retirement income and MD does.

I think it shouldn't be too hard to find some great views, I mean there's hills everywhere. If you want an actual view of a mountain, there is Blue Mountain about ten miles north of Hummelstown, maybe you could look at some homes towards there. They are building some homes on that mountain north of Harrisburg but they might be above your price range. In terms of lakes, there isn't too many other then some really small ones...but there's plenty of small streams and creeks around. Middletown is right along the Susquehanna river if you consider that.