Opinions... Morgantown (PA), Ephrata, Douglassville... (Philadelphia, Reading: houses, construction, school districts)

[camrynh]

Yes, three very different areas, but I think that's where we're going to focus our house hunt when we relocate to PA. My DH will be working in the Exton area, and is fine with a commute of up to 1 hour. We're looking at these areas b/c I've been able to find houses that meet the criteria we're looking for (newer construction but not brand new, 4 bedrooms, 2300+ sq ft, under 300K), and *seem* to have good school districts.

Can anyone give me any insight into those areas? We're planning a pre-house hunting trip up to PA soon to narrow the focus, hopefully. Just to take a look around and see which areas we like the best. However, I'd really like to get a feel for the areas before then, if I can.

Right now we live in an area that is kind of rural, but really close to a huge city. There's a lot of shopping/traffic. I would like to be no more than 15-20 minutes from shopping (nice grocery stores, Target, that kind of thing) and close (within a few minutes) of gas stations/convenience stores like WaWa and Sheetz.

TIA.

[lititzman2003]

Morgantown is a nice town with a new shopping center just off the Turnpike. I keep hearing that Ephrata has a drug issue but I don't really know for sure. I know nothing about Douglassville.

Good luck with your search.

[kone]

I commute from just north of Morgantown, through Exton, to Malvern. I live in between Reading and Morgantown on the Berks/Lancaster line.

Morgantown is still pretty rural but catching up fast. Property prices have risen mostly because it's so close to the Philly burbs and their jobs. It's a nice community and I'd guess the schools and their ammenities are now above average - as I said, it was mostly a farm town not so long ago. A commute to Exton from there is 20 minutes on a bad day and you don't HAVE to use the crappy PA Turnpike - a BIG plus for me. Ephrata has kinda the same feel, except much larger in scale. It has the Amish and Mennonite influence still but is not as "homey" as Morgantown. I'd guess there's a much stronger minority influence there. I'd bet the commute from Ephrata would be just short of an hour each way on the PATP and cost $3.15 each way. Add to that the beating your car will take and... well, you do the math.

Douglassville is close to Exton but the main artery in that area is 422 - a brutal, sometimes high-speed, bumper-to-bumper, thrill ride or a bumper-to-bumper stoplight-to-stoplight crawl, depending on the day. I did that road daily for many years and I cannot begin to tell you how glad I am I don't drive it anymore. 422 is the NUMERO UNO reason I would avoid settling in Douglassville area. Home prices are pretty high and school taxes (Daniel Boone probably) are some of the highest around, and getting higher.

Guess you can tell my choice would be Morgantown, huh?

[JohnZ963]

I'd go with Morgantown. There's a good variety of housing in the area, and the commute to Exton is pretty quick.

Douglassville has a ton of housing built with the past 10 years. Post-bubble, you would have no problem finding what you want in your price range. Rt. 422 stinks, but your husband wouldn't be on the bad portion for long - about a mile or two eastbound in the morning and westbound in the afternoon. However, Rt. 100 south to Exton is no picnic either. A lot of traffic and lights, generally only one lane each way except for the far north and south parts. It has the typical wawa-type places, banks, and a crappy grocery store, although better shopping is 15 min. away around Pottstown.

I don't know much about Ephrata, only having passed through a few times. Long commute to Exton, people probably have more of the old "PA dutch" mentality than the others. Not much decent shopping if I recall correctly.

[camrynh]

Thanks for the input! Sounds like while we'll still look at the other areas, we'll focus more on Morgantown. I appreciate it

[Icy Tea]

Morgantown has a landfill which is just north of the town along the 178. It is very odorous so stay away from that area. Oddly they have on again off again plans to build a big housing development near there at New Morgan which was once an iron mine and had EPA concerns. Apparently people are willing to move out of Montgomery and Bucks to live next to a landfill.
Morgantown itself is nice enough as well as Elverson and also just south/ west of there along route 23.
Without that ^%$# landfill the area would be a woodland oasis, part of the Hopewell Big Woods region.

[kone]

Originally Posted by Icy Tea

Morgantown has a landfill which is just north of the town along the 178. It is very odorous so stay away from that area. Oddly they have on again off again plans to build a big housing development near there at New Morgan which was once an iron mine and had EPA concerns. Apparently people are willing to move out of Montgomery and Bucks to live next to a landfill.
Morgantown itself is nice enough as well as Elverson and also just south/ west of there along route 23.
Without that ^%$# landfill the area would be a woodland oasis, part of the Hopewell Big Woods region.

Icy Tea has a good point about the landfill in M-town. You can be in that area and be clear of it so consider that when you're looking. I will say that it's hard to live in Berks County and NOT be close to a landfill. Berks has sold itself to the Devil (for Philly and NY Trash).

[Icy Tea]

Disney once considered building a theme park where the landfill is. I don't think it was ever a serious idea, they also wanted to build something in Philly which never materialized. There's another landfill at the Lancaster/Chester county line just SW of Morgantown which seems less noticeable.

[PeeAye Native]

I would be very cautious of the incorporated area named New Morgan. Five or so years ago it was notorious for shady politics associated with that landfill. The full story is in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and may be online. To kind of summarize, the town of New Morgan was inhabited by all of 12 or 13 people, 11 or 12 of whom were related to the owner of the giant landfill. And of course the elected officials, consisting of most of the 12, did not question expansion plans very hard, nor did they question anything very hard. I think all of them were employed by the landfill.

The state came in and cleaned up some of the politics, but there is some of that legacy to deal with.

[JohnZ963]

Not to worry, it's still inhabited by the same 12 or so people, mostly in company-owned housing I believe. There is really no housing available in New Morgan for outsiders. That giant housing development is still years away in the planning stages. For 99.9% of the population, New Morgan is just a weird place to drive through on Route 10.

Originally Posted by PeeAye Native

I would be very cautious of the incorporated area named New Morgan. Five or so years ago it was notorious for shady politics associated with that landfill. The full story is in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and may be online. To kind of summarize, the town of New Morgan was inhabited by all of 12 or 13 people, 11 or 12 of whom were related to the owner of the giant landfill. And of course the elected officials, consisting of most of the 12, did not question expansion plans very hard, nor did they question anything very hard. I think all of them were employed by the landfill.

The state came in and cleaned up some of the politics, but there is some of that legacy to deal with.