Pennsylvania to Atlantic City? (Philadelphia, Chester: for sale, real estate, home builder)

[Long Island is too Crowde]

Hello all, I am two years away from retirement. I am looking to buy a house in a nice suburban area in Pennsylvania. My wife is in love with the houses that advertise in the NY Daily News from LTS Builders. I am 55 and finishing up my career in law enforcement. Kids are already off on their own so that is not an issue. I love to go to Atlantic City so I would not want to be more than an hours drive to AC. Any recommendations? Thank you in advance.

[PA2UK]

No more than an hour? That would be difficult, if not impossible. Philadelphia is about an hours drive from AC but you don't want to live in the city. On Google maps, any suburbs that appear geographically closer to AC than Philly still have the fastest route taking you through Philly anyway (to get to the Atlantic City Express Way), making it more than an hour.

Maybe I'm wrong and someone else can help because I'm mostly familiar with the upper Philly suburbs like Bucks County, which is definitely at least 2 hours from AC. But according to Google maps, even the lower suburbs and into Delaware are over an hour's drive. There are plenty of places about an hour and a half from AC but if you're not willing to be more than an hour's drive, I think you need to look for homes in NJ.

[Long Island is too Crowde]

Thank you for the response pa2uk. An hour and a half is not that bad. I drive 3 hours from LI as it is now. What part are you thinking of? Would I be able to build one of these Poconos Homes For Sale, Land, Mountain Real Estate, PA Home Builder type of houses in the area that you are thinking?

[PA2UK]

You may still be asking for a bit much. In general, the closer the suburbs are to Philly (and therefore the closer to AC), the older the suburbs will be so you'd be looking at older homes. If you want a big, brand new home, you may need to look further out - more like 2 hour from AC.

Again, I'm not too familiar with the lower Philly suburbs but look for areas between West Chester and Chester. West Chester itself is a University town so they'll be a lot of students but the surrounding areas may not. Also avoid Chester itself, not a nice area but again, some of the surrounding areas should be nice - like Springfield. I was just browsing realtor.com and this looks like the type of house you're after and Springfield is only an hour and 20 mins from AC: http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...064_1112770695

Also check out some areas around King of Prussia but again, the areas with big new homes might extent out to Pottstown which will be more like 2 hours from AC.

If you're actually looking to build rather than buy though, I don't know much about available land/lots in those areas, sorry. Although I did just happen to spot this on realtor.com too: http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...064_1112856624 so it looks like Springfield will be a promising area for you to look into.

[JennyLou]

I grew up in Phily burbs..Deleware County to be more specific and we used to go to Atlantic City all of the time. My Mom lives in "downtown" Lansdowne and you can get to AC in less than an hour and a half driving, but you can also take the SEPTA train from many spots into 30th St station and then take the AC train right into Atlantic City and it's cheap. Lansdowne is an up and coming place and is great for people retiring, there's so much to do and it's a 15 minute drive or train ride into the city. It's neighbor, Drexel Hill has some really nice houses as well. Another good area is Chester County, there are some newer homes up that way.

If you're not completely convinced that you want to be in PA, there are a lot of great burbs right over the PA/NJ border.

Good luck with your search.

[pman]

what's so important about aC? tables games are coming to Philly

[cindycotter]

Best prices are in Delaware. Get alot for your money so I hear from other retirees. Close to beaches too.

[sunsetcliff]

Lewisburg is nice- as is Watsontown.

Selinsgrove, Danville. All of which has daily busses to AC. But with Bucknell- Bloom, SU, and once you learn the area- you wont want to leave the area much.

(really)

I moved here from Chicago in 88. I should have moved here sooner.

[dberger]

Originally Posted by sunsetcliff

Lewisburg is nice- as is Watsontown.

Selinsgrove, Danville. All of which has daily busses to AC. But with Bucknell- Bloom, SU, and once you learn the area- you wont want to leave the area much.

(really)

I moved here from Chicago in 88. I should have moved here sooner.

Just an FYI, these are in central PA and are a good 3-4 hour drive from AC, and the buses are slow. Stick wth SEPA.

[JennyLou]

Originally Posted by pman

what's so important about aC? tables games are coming to Philly

PA can get table games all they want, but there is not going to be the same competition for AC unless a bunch of casinos get places in the same area. I live about 20 minutes from Hollywood Casino, but once you get there, that is all that is there...you can walk out the front door, go to the boardwalk and get to 9 other casinos. You can't walk to the beach or the outlets or the marina. There's lots that is so important about AC.

I am delighted at the casinos in PA, but they're never going to be AC.