Another Moving Thread (Glenside area) (Washington, Ambler: rentals, houses, neighborhood)

[kylsttn]

When are you moving? Late May/early June
Where are you coming from? Washington, D.C.
Why are you moving? I'm starting school at Westminster Theological Seminary
Where will you be working? I'm not sure yet. My wife is a RN and will also be looking for work.
Have you been here yet? I have made a couple of quick visits but I don't yet have a very good "lay of the land"
Will you buy or rent? We want to rent first. We'd like to be sure that we are happy with the area we choose.
Renting - We are hoping to rent a 3 (plus den) or 4 bedroom house. We'd also like a garage and/or basement. We could go as high as $1,800 but would probably prefer to be in the $1,500-1,600 range.
We are married with a 7 month old. Hopefully we'll have 1 or 2 more by the end of the 4 years.
Do you prefer public or private schools? NA (at this point)
Do you have pets? We have a beagle
Do you want or need a yard? I think we need a yard and would like for part of it to have a fence.
Are you keeping a car? Yes.. we have one now.. we may get a 2nd.
Do you prefer busling activity or calm/quiet? I think we are ready for a slow down. We'd really like some sidewalks in our neighborhood.
What do you want to be closest to? We'd like to live as close to seminary as possible. No more than a 20 min ride in the car.

Thanks for your help.

[Wisertime]

You might want to put a question or some more general information about yourself and what you are looking for in your post. I have a beagle too and live near Glenside. If you are looking for house rentals you might try Craigslist first. You should be able to find something in the neighboring area in that range.

Glenside, Flourtown, Wyndmoor, Erdenheim, Rydal, Wyncote, Jenkintown, Elkins Park are all nice and 5 min drive to there. You can go a bit further out in Abington too depending what you like neighborhood/surroundings wise. Most places have yards and plenty of parks nearby for your dog. There is also a Dog park right near the seminary at Curtis arboretum.

Housing is cheaper than DC, but RE taxes in Mont. co are high FYI, if and when you are looking to buy.

PM me if you need any specific questions.

Good luck and welcome to the area. It's a great place to live. We just moved to the area in July and find things to like in all the towns above. Be sure to check out Chestnut Hilll. It's more upscale and pricey but nice to visit and dog friendly.

[kylsttn]

Sorry about that... I swear I had one in my head.
I guess I"m just looking for some direction on a good spot. We'd love something with a little bit of a small town feel but proximity to the seminary is right at the top of the list.
A place with some younger families would be a big plus too.
Thanks for any help you have to offer.

[LoganSquaretoLoganSquare]

Glenside itself would probably fit the bill, but I'm not sure what you'd find in terms of rentals at that price. It's a nice community with a couple of walkable downtown areas. I'd also check out Jenkintown, Wyncote, Elkins Park, Ambler, and anything listed in Abington. All of these are within a 15-minute commute of the seminary.

Check out listings on Realtor.com if you haven't already--you'll probably find a lot more houses with the amenities you're looking for than with Craigslist. The garage will most likely be the most difficult thing to find with a rental. We relocated to the area a year and a half ago and rented in Abington (Roslyn) for a while until we bought a house. I don't think any of the rentals we saw had a garage, but you may get lucky.

[maf763]

You can look in Oreland as well, but there aren't a ton of rental houses in the area to begin with, so to find one with everything you want for the price you want may be tough. You might want to contact a couple of local realtors to see what they say.