Where to live when schools are not an issue (Philadelphia: renting, houses)

[Elizabeth924]

We are empty nesters in our 50's. We would love to live in Philly, but my husband works in Valley Forge so the wage taxes and commute just doesn't make sense.
We've done the suburban thing. We are from Canada and my husband's job transferred him to the beautiful state of Pennsylvania. : )
We are young at heart! I need life, people, action, restaurants, pubs, cool shopping (not malls) culture, etc.
I would love to use my car as little as possible and to be walking distance to a train station is bonus so that I can get to the center of Philly easily. Diversity is very welcomed, makes life that much more interesting.

I honestly have been looking for a year. We have moved here 4 months ago and are renting in Wayne. (Wayne is beautiful, just too suburban for us). I'm back and forth to Canada and we still have our house there. Our budget for a house would be under $400,000 as we aren't selling our house in Canada right now.

Can anyone suggest some nook or cranny I may have missed in my search? So much on here is related to good school districts which is understandable but does not apply to us. We only want an older home and if it needs work, that's fine.

Right now we are looking at Ardmore and area, Wyncote and area. If there are any places like Chestnut hill or Mount Airy, I'm all ears.

Thank you.

[mcguirk]

Lansdowne.

[Elizabeth924]

Ok, checking it out. Is there a downtown that's somewhat self sufficient? I will be driving all weekend checking out places.

[newmarlig]

Media.

[sweendog024]

It might still be too suburban for you, but if you are looking at Ardmore its certainly worth a look...Narberth? its got some nice little restaurants, some shopping, and the train station is like 2-3 stops from Center City

[mls128]

I wouldn't recommend staying in Wayne just because your mainly paying for the schools which are not needed in your circumstance. Ardmore would be GREAT, except still kinda the same case with wayne where you are paying a premium for the schools unless you're on the haverford township side of it. Ardmore would definitely be a bit cheaper than Wayne though. It definitely has a self-sufficient downtown, you could pretty much get everything you need in town. It is also pretty diverse, houses range from 200k rowhomes to multi-million dollar mansions. I love Ardmore and think it may be just what you're looking for. I haven't spent a lot of time in Lansdowne, it has a lot of great housing stock, you could easily get a gorgeous,renovated victorian for under 300k. So you may get more for your money there but there is also a reason for that. Lansdowne is kind of a diamond in the rough and is surrounded by a lot of notso nice areas, for that reason, the schools are TERRIBLE, some of the worst in the state, I am pretty sure the majority of people in the area who can afford to send their kids to private schools. I know schools are not an issue but it could affect resale. But, I hear Lansdowne is up-and-coming and although i'm not sure the downtown is huge it does have a main street area. Ardmore would probably be about a 20 min commute to valley forge area while Lansdowne would be about 30 minutes. I don't know a lot about Wyncote besides that it is part of Cheltenham township but if you are willing to consider that area you do realize that is like 5 mins from Chestnut Hill right? I saw that you were interested in Chestnut Hill and that is not really near center city Philadelphia, it's on the far northwest border of the city so that might also be doable. Hopefully this was helpful, good luck with everything!

[mls128]

Also, I second Narberth which someone else recommended, similar to Ardmore. Although, the housing stock seems to be limited b/c it is a small boro so you may have to wait a bit to find something you like.

[Elizabeth924]

Thanks! Yeah, not much available in Ardmore and Narberth in my price point. I will keep my eyes open in that area for sure.

[Elizabeth924]

Thanks Mls. I would live in Chestnut Hill or Mount Airy in a heartbeat if it wasn't part of Philadelphia. It is part of the city and the commute isn't as bad for my husband, but ofcourse it still has the wage tax issue which we may just have to deal with.

[Angus215]

Suck up the wage tax and live in the city. There is no substitute for it in the suburbs. Property taxes are generally a bit lower in the city, so that may offset some of the incremental 3% wage tax. You only live once.