Bucks County PA? (Philadelphia, Erie, Reading: amusement park, house prices, best school)

[pinoa]

My wife and I are moving to PA. We are coming from Long Island NY. We have 2 small Children and our major Concern are the schools. We have been told that Nazareth is a good place to live but Bucks maybe more what we are used to. We would like to be within 30 minutes of major shopping as well. Is there anyone that can explain the differences between the 2 areas and give some advice on which place may be more like where we now live? Thanks to anybody that responds.

[countryJo]

I live in Bucks County. There are quite a few people that live here and commute to NYC daily for work. There's a lot to do here and we are just 30 minutes from center city Philadelphia. The best school district here is said to be Council Rock in Newtown, PA although Neshaminy and Pennsbury are good as well. There's lots of shopping available. If you have kids, there's also Sesame Place a water amusement park.

[toobusytoday]

Plug in the numbers: www.schoolmatters.com and see how they compare. Big Schools (i.e. most Bucks county schools) mean more choices, more competition, maybe more friends. Smaller schools mean you get to know more people, less competition, probably friendlier, stats can still be good. When we moved, shopping was our last priority, uncrowded, excellent schools was our first. We chose Lehigh county. But that's okay, it's good that we all want different things. Unfortunately, it looks like shopping followed us... Big outdoor mall with fancy shops opened in the fall. (I'm not that close to Nazareth) Nazareth is growing pretty fast right now but not much shopping.

BTW, when you compare Nazareth to Bucks, you are comparing one school district to a whole county.

[SARGGON]

Bucks county is definitely the more affluent of all areas of PA. The housing market seems to be stronger, nicer homes and better schools. I hear people say house prices are expensive there, but I believe you get what you pay for and price is all relative anyways. Compared to the rest of PA bucks county is up there in price but when you look at it on a national basis in my opinion its not. About $450 k for a nice practical home for a young family - not bad considering the amenities nearby.

[toobusytoday]

I thought Montgomery County had a highest housing and income rate in the state. I could be wrong. I think the cache of Bucks county comes with a price tag, but not appealing for all. I won't pay more for something just because it has a designer label and that's how we've always looked at housing. Just because a house is in Bucks county does not mean it is worth an extra $100,000. Are the schools in all of Bucks better then all the schools in another county? Of course not. I think it's great that each of us thinks we made the best choice for our family. I also think that the strength of a forum is greater when we give out information about particular areas. No offense, sarggon but saying that a whole county has "nicer homes and better schools" seems to be a little over the top.

Yesterday I drove from my home in Lehigh county through Bucks and Montgomery counties on the back roads towards Montgomeryville. Except for the occasional signs announcing a township I really didn't know what county I was in.

[Scorp1o]

....great information. My wife & I are in a similar situation. We are a progressive A.A. family coming from York, PA (via Columbia, MD), and simply can't stand York. The schools our kids are currently attending are great (academically), but race relations are horrible. We are actually trying to choose between Erie, PA, Berks County (Philadelphia) and Bucks County (Philadelphia) to move permanently. We're to the point where we're willing to sacrifice a "bit" of our kids' elevated school ratings, so that they will have better exposure to cultural/ethnic and progressive social arenas (which we believe would be better, educationally, in the long run). We're also going to be conducting a business in the area we choose, so we would REALLY appreciate some feedback pertaining to the 3 moving options we're considering. Thanks!

[toobusytoday]

Scorpio, What do you mean by Berks County (Philadelphia) and Bucks County (Philadelphia) ? I don't understand why Philadelphia is mentioned. It might be more helpful also if you mention some towns in the areas you are talking about. I mean, Erie is a city so I can understand that, but Bucks is a County - Quakertown and Doylestown are two very different large towns in Bucks County and could be compared and contrasted with each other. Berks is another county. Two places in Berks county are Reading and Kutztown. I wouldn't live in Reading but Kutztown is pretty nice..... I am not sure how you compare whole counties to each other when one woud just live in a specific town. Hope that makes sense.

I know next to nothing about Erie except it's cold and they get lake effect snow, so can't help you there. Perhaps something that would help would be to look at the schools in the places you are looking and see how well represented the A.A. population is. www.schoolmatters.com has all kinds of numbers and an ethnic breakdown too.

[SARGGON]

I don't live in Bucks county or anywhere near the area. Actually I live in Northeast Pa. - Pike county. But the differences between bucks county and Leigh valley area from what I've seen where a different kind of people, a little more quicker paced in that part compared to northern part. I always thought areas in Leigh valley and Bucks county to be the more beautiful part of PA. Would I pay 100k more for a house there if I wanted to live there?? - yes definetly. I would not use the term " with a designer label" to compare differences in areas to live though. I would rather use the term " more prestigeous areas or less devveloped areas when comparing areas to live. Maybee thats because I'm also thinking resale. After all its about Location, Location Location. The Wallenpaupak school district in Pike county though is one of the best in the state - our daughter goes there - they push kids academically. Just went to a high school play - The scarlet pipernel there and it lasted for almost 3 hours of a play with a musical - like broadway production!!! completret with orchestra. - Kids there really talented. - so there are acceptions of schools to areas. Perhaps I made a mistake generalizing all of Bucks county but there are alot of nice areas there including Lehigh county - which was also nice. - Wife and I know alot of nice people from those areas.

[jillp221]

council rock is excellent (i'm a former grad) but Central bucks has outranked Council Rock for quite a few years now and Central Bucks is a huge district. you might want to look into that

[lookin'for"home"]

Need to know more.

If you like yuppie- Council Rock and Central Bucks are a dream come true.

I like professional but can't stand the yuppie scene.

You'll be fine in Central and Southern Bucks-although I still hear some bigotry.

I think you'll be fine in Lehigh, too.

Sorry to hear about York. I'm white but it's still a criteria for me- so I'll scratch that off my list.