Moving near Reading with wife and 6 year old son (Pittsburgh: real estate, high crime)

[jbueno85]

Hi all,

The company I work for is relocating me to a department in Reading PA and I need to relocated near Reading for at least a year. My priority is having my son in a decent school. I am from Brooklyn, NY and I know nothing of PA. Any suggestions as to where would be a good area to reside? I dont mind driving half hour or so to work and I would probably travel often on weekends to NY so the closer east the better, but I am open to any suggestions. I will be working out of 2800 Pottsville Pike, Reading PA. Thanks for your inputs.

[Gerania]

I've never lived there, so I don't know the neighborhoods. What I do know is that Reading is a high crime small city. You will be looking on the outskirts, the next town over for housing. Hopefully, someone from the area will answer.

[NYMD67]

I am not sure how much help I can be as we are very new to the area ourselves. We were concerned with the "reputation" that Reading seems to have, prior to moving here.
However, it is no different than any other city of it's size , has crime,yes,wouldn't go into the city itself at night,but during the day, it seems okay.
There are many nice suburbs though of Reading,Wyomissing,Sinking Spring, West Lawn .
Great school district as well; Wilson.
I have heard fairly decent things however about the city of Readings' school district and it seems they are working hardfast to improve things....

We used schoolmatters.com as a good source while looking for school districts here....

Good Luck to you & your family.

[DEENYCPA]

I currently reside in NorthEast Reading (near Albright College) This neighborhood is still at its best. Nice and quiet. I am currently selling my home if anyone is interested.

I have a 6 year old who attends the elementary school in this area and the teachers are great!! I have no complains with that.

I myself relocated from Brooklyn, NY 5 years ago and I love living out here in Reading.

Dee

[happimedium]

I agree the area near Albright is nice (and there is an elementary school right across from the college). Other school districts that we considered when shopping for houses are: Wyomissing/Wilson, Governor Mifflin, Muhlenberg, Schuylkill Valley, Exeter. (Don't have kids yet, so can't speak from personal experience with those ...) The site GreatSchools.net is also good for gauging reputation/test scores (if you care about that kinda thing). Good luck with your move!

[TehStone]

I disagree with many of the above posters. I wouldn't live within 30min of reading if it were free, let alone pay. First and foremost, the pollution is ungodly! I didn't think companies were still allowed to pollute the air like I've seen in Reading: worse than Philly, worse than Pittsburgh, worse than LA! Second of all the place looks like crap, to put it nicely. If you're an illegal mexican immigrant the downtown should suit you nicely. Other than this site I haven't heard anyone ever say anything good about reading schools... yet they don't define "good." I define a good district as 85% or greater to higher education, 2% or less dropout rate... most districts in Chester county and Montgomery county (40-60 min commute) will meet my definition of good (Downingtown area SD, WCASD to name a few). BUT you will pay if you want to live in one of these nicer areas. Reading area housing prices are much lower than the other areas I'm talking about. 3br row house with a tiny yard in West Chester is going for $250k +, 4br colonial on .75acre going for about $450k +. Suburban Pottstown is probably a good option to consider as prices are low and I've heard good things about their schools (owen j roberts SD) - you could have a 20 min commute.

In my opinion, the quality of your son's education, not to mention lung capacity, is dependent on a long commute.

[NYMD67]

Originally Posted by TehStone

I disagree with many of the above posters. I wouldn't live within 30min of reading if it were free, let alone pay. First and foremost, the pollution is ungodly! I didn't think companies were still allowed to pollute the air like I've seen in Reading: worse than Philly, worse than Pittsburgh, worse than LA! Second of all the place looks like crap, to put it nicely. If you're an illegal mexican immigrant the downtown should suit you nicely. Other than this site I haven't heard anyone ever say anything good about reading schools... yet they don't define "good." I define a good district as 85% or greater to higher education, 2% or less dropout rate... most districts in Chester county and Montgomery county (40-60 min commute) will meet my definition of good (Downingtown area SD, WCASD to name a few). BUT you will pay if you want to live in one of these nicer areas. Reading area housing prices are much lower than the other areas I'm talking about. 3br row house with a tiny yard in West Chester is going for $250k +, 4br colonial on .75acre going for about $450k +. Suburban Pottstown is probably a good option to consider as prices are low and I've heard good things about their schools (owen j roberts SD) - you could have a 20 min commute.

In my opinion, the quality of your son's education, not to mention lung capacity, is dependent on a long commute.

I am sorry, but this post is not completely accurate, when it comes to the school districts.
I did ALOT of research prior to moving to this area, as we could have picked other areas to live, although my husband's job is in Reading..
The Wilson / West Lawn school district is excellent. Greatschools and schoolmatters.com can give you some of the breakdowns.
I also called almost every single elementary school prior to our house hunting to ask particular questions in which were all answered professionally.

As for the housing. We moved here from MD, where real estate is out of control, still. Our home here is over 3000 sq feet and the asking price was in the high 300K... not exactly cheap, however,compared to where we moved from, it is quite inexpensive. Possibly housing directly in Reading is cheaper, but the suburbs again, have many upscale areas and neighborhoods.
I moved from an affluent area in MD and I cannot stand hearing people criticize any areas because they don't look upscale,etc...
I don't think that this poster has spent much time in any of the suburbs of the area. Wyomissing,Sinking Spring,West Lawn are some of the nice areas to look at.

[NYMD67]

BTW, Wilson school district has a 1% dropout rate..... not sure what the percentage is of students that go on to college, I am can be almost certain that it is at least 85% though.

[Raena77]

Originally Posted by jbueno85

Hi all,

The company I work for is relocating me to a department in Reading PA and I need to relocated near Reading for at least a year. My priority is having my son in a decent school. I am from Brooklyn, NY and I know nothing of PA. Any suggestions as to where would be a good area to reside? I dont mind driving half hour or so to work and I would probably travel often on weekends to NY so the closer east the better, but I am open to any suggestions. I will be working out of 2800 Pottsville Pike, Reading PA. Thanks for your inputs.

Look up the Berks area near Pennstate west campus I heard nice area there. Also Boyertown or Pottstown and Allentown.

[clee210]

Totally unfounded. I lived in the outskirts of Reading my entire life and I m 33. I grew up in Exeter township. The schools are incredible. Its close to major highways. Reiffton is a prime area to live. It is 4 miles outside of the city and completely suburban. My only advice is stay out of Reading proper. 3 miles from 5th and Penn St in any direction will put you in a decent neighborhood.