Moving from Toronto Area to Philadelphia... (apartments, condos, townhouses)

[john3_3221]

I recently was offered a position at a prominent research library in Philadelphia and I'm seriously considering it. I currently live in a Toronto suburb and was looking for an affordable suburb to live in the Philadelphia area, and I'm wondering if anyone would know of any. I'd rather not live in the city.

A friend mentioned to me that he lived in a place called the Main Line and that he loved it, but everything there seems extremely expensive for some reason. I did some searching for apartments/condos in the area and they seem pretty ridiculously expensive, though the area looks charming.

Are there any affordable suburbs in the Philly area?

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by john3_3221

I recently was offered a position at a prominent research library in Philadelphia and I'm seriously considering it. I currently live in a Toronto suburb and was looking for an affordable suburb to live in the Philadelphia area, and I'm wondering if anyone would know of any. I'd rather not live in the city.

A friend mentioned to me that he lived in a place called the Main Line and that he loved it, but everything there seems extremely expensive for some reason. I did some searching for apartments/condos in the area and they seem pretty ridiculously expensive, though the area looks charming.

Are there any affordable suburbs in the Philly area?

if you look at some of the recent threads, you will see similar discussions. the vast majority of the philadelphia suburbs are very nice, good schools, etc. there are only a handful of suburban areas that are "bad". the main line is an area to the west of the city encompassing a number of towns and is going to be in the higher end of the price range. there are many other areas that are less expensive, each with their pluses and minuses. if you give some more detail on your price range and what you're looking for, i'm sure you will get a lot of suggestions.

[Northbound81]

Philadelphia suburbs are expensive. Living in the Main Line is like living in Oakville as far as costs go. Try across the river in Jersey for the most affordable suburbs. The affordable suburbs in the PA side are a long commute to the city. Far Northeast Philadelphia is pretty affordable, safe and clean, but definitely a long hike to the city. You can use the rail line to get in.

We need to know if you have school-aged children, what your price range is, etc. to make any suggestions. Also keep in mind suburbs in the Philadelphia area are a lot different than in Toronto and many of them are strictly single-family houses. Apartments/condos are usually segregated into specific areas of town, if they exist at all. It's not like Mississauga where high rise condo towers are all over town.

[john3_3221]

Interesting.

I should have specified, I'm single, looking for a condo in about the same price range as now ($1100 1 br condo) since the salary is basically the same.

I'm very quickly finding out that the suburbs in Philadelphia are entirely different from the suburbs here. There seems to be a lot less suburban sprawl, at least on the Pa. side. I will check out the NJ side though, thank you.

[newmarlig]

Where will your job be located? That would help. Are you definitely set on the suburbs? The Center City area is a great location.

[pman]

Originally Posted by Northbound81

Philadelphia suburbs are expensive. Living in the Main Line is like living in Oakville as far as costs go. Try across the river in Jersey for the most affordable suburbs. The affordable suburbs in the PA side are a long commute to the city. Far Northeast Philadelphia is pretty affordable, safe and clean, but definitely a long hike to the city. You can use the rail line to get in.

We need to know if you have school-aged children, what your price range is, etc. to make any suggestions. Also keep in mind suburbs in the Philadelphia area are a lot different than in Toronto and many of them are strictly single-family houses. Apartments/condos are usually segregated into specific areas of town, if they exist at all. It's not like Mississauga where high rise condo towers are all over town.

this isn't entirely true. the northern suburbs are relatively affordable as well and don't involve bridge tolls to get to most jobs and have lower taxes than nj (excepting cheltenham which has insane taxes like nj)

[cpomp]

The mainline is a very expensive area to live in. It is very nice, but comes with a price. Other suburbs that offer that town feel are media and west chester. They are still pretty expensive but not as inflated as the main line. It is harder to find condos in the suburbs that are nice yet affordable, so maybe you could check out townhouses, or twin style homes.

[templeu]

The mainline is expensive, but with a budget of $1100, I'd imagine the poster could find a 1 bedroom apartment.

The mainline is large though and broken into towns. If you'll be looking into the city, you might want to start looking at the towns closest to the city first (roughly from closest to farthest): bala cynwyd; wynwood; narberth; ardmore; bryn mawr, haverford, wayne. (There are other towns considered to be part of the mainline - but this should be a good start). If you start you search on craigslist, I can't imagine not finding places that fall within your budget.