Is Main Line near KOP Mall?

[TravelSheila]

My husband and I have lived most of our lives in this general area and both worked in KOP & Wayne, PA until a relo took us away recently (for a couple of years). We have a family too and school districts are important to us, so I can relate.

First of all as a school reference, you can check out the Philadelphia Inquirer (newspaper) online. Annually they do a "report card on the schools" and you can reference the current as well as previous years results. It provides data on SAT scores, teacher salaries, spending per student, etc. for Public and Private schools in PA and NJ.

The Main Line is a wealthy area, so you will get little for your money compared to some other areas nearby within a 30 minute drive. People live there more for the prestige and address than they do a nice home in that price range. So its up to you how important it is to say I'm from such-and-such town. For me I'd rather live in a nice home than name drop a town and live in something that's old and outdated, but that's me.

Immediately around KOP you have the "T/E" school district (Tredyffrin-Easttown) which is EXCELLENT, likewise the Radnor School District but the latter is in the Main Line area. Also, you have Great Valley SD, West Chester SD, Phoenixville SD, Downingtown SD (D-East schools have better reputation then D-West, but both are good) and "OJR" (Owen J. Roberts) SD. These are in Northern Chester County. Heading into Montgomery County, you have Methacton SD, Spring-Ford SD. These are good. The "Report Card on the Schools" has some interactive maps that will give you a feel for where these School Districts are located in reference to each other.

When we move back to the area we also want a 30 minute or less commute and these will satisfy the criteria. We have lived in West Chester, Royersford, and Spring City, PA. They are a 25-30 minute commute from KOP.

Another good web resource is prufoxroach.com. It's a local real estate website that you can create a free profile (and decide for yourself if you want to receive updates on properties that you save as your "favorites"). One of my favorite things about this website though is that you can type in an address to your profile (like your husband's new work address) and each property that you view will automatically calculate the driving commute from the selected property to your specified address. Knowing the area I've found these calculations to be reliable. (But you should cross reference with mapquest or a drive it yourself to be sure.)

If you want to see at a quick glance what you can get for your money in different school districts (or towns) in this area, go to http://everyhome.com/us/home.htm (broken link) and request the username/password ("special" and "guest"). Then you can search by school district, township, etc and price. You will see thumbnails of homes and a quick overview of price, bed/baths, etc. A nice quick way to get a feel for what your dollar will buy you. I use this in combination with pru fox roach to get a good feel for properties.

One last thing, property taxes are high (esp. new construction)so factor that into your monthly mortage fees too. On a 500-800k new house I'd say easily $12k/yr or more.

Hope this helps!