Pennyslvania or Delaware? (Philadelphia, Chester, West Chester: houses, neighborhood, new construction)

[ieee488]

I currently live in New Jersey.
The property taxes here are awful.

I am starting to do my research about "retiring" to a different state.

I prefer new construction and would like to be close to I-95.

I am not sure where I should start looking?
Any suggestions?

[FindingZen]

Hello!

If you would copy the questions in the first post of this thread and paste them along with your answers, that will help us provide more focused answers.

[ieee488]

I want to move beyond the the area of that in the map in that other thread.

Seems like I should post in the general Pennsylvania forum.

[nancy361]

i have 2 family members who live in delaware and moved from PA....they love it..taxes are lower....my father and step mom moved from here to cape may then jersey got too costly and they moved to middletown delaware , in a newly built home they had in 55 and older....after 2yrs they hated the comm type and wanted a reg neighborhood, and so they moved a few miles away called Lakeside... all the homes are so nice and well kept reg neighborhood type...and 95 isnt too far from their house, maybe 20 min or so give or take...they love it in delaware......my brother moved from PA to delaware. he and his wife live in rehoboth beach about a mile from ocean....they love it too.....they spend their winters in florida though.....i live in PA......delaware county, very congested, too many people and such a small county in comparison to chester and lancaster and berks county etc....delaware county is very close to delaware, my town is anyways, 95 is maybe 15 min away......but as i said, unless you move further out in the county its very congested. cars buildings people......you can cross the border into delaware and be in really nice areas.....me personally, i like the open spaces and less congested areas.....

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by ieee488

I want to move beyond the the area of that in the map in that other thread.

Seems like I should post in the general Pennsylvania forum.

The map in that thread is of Philadelphia proper. The areas near I-95 in both PA and DE could be considered part of the Philadelphia metro, although you may find more Delaware-specific info on that forum.

[motherofpearls]

Delaware taxes are way lower. PA taxes in some areas are comparable to Jersey in crazyness. Take Phoenixville area where a 300 000 dollar house can have 7K tax! On average where I live taxes are 5000-6500 per year.
If you want to stay in PA and save on tax, the cheapest property taxes can be found in KOP, Blue Bell, West Chester, Bryn Athyn as I know of.

[pman]

hmm, interesting. $290k and $5900 in taxes
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13...54724620_zpid/
not cheap, though it appears you have have a pretty nice house for a good bit less than that
here's a nice one with taxes of $3900
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/52.../9145320_zpid/
DE, I believe, exempts a portion of property tax for seniors, PA doesn't tax income for seniors.

[ieee488]

Originally Posted by motherofpearls

Delaware taxes are way lower. PA taxes in some areas are comparable to Jersey in crazyness. Take Phoenixville area where a 300 000 dollar house can have 7K tax! On average where I live taxes are 5000-6500 per year.
If you want to stay in PA and save on tax, the cheapest property taxes can be found in KOP, Blue Bell, West Chester, Bryn Athyn as I know of.

$7K on $300K house is crazy but probably still cheaper than NJ.

I live in central NJ, and they're building a lot of houses in my township, and I am just dreading property taxes going up and up.

What about Painters Crossing, Chadds Ford, Concordville?

[jf3971]

taxes are fairly high in those areas and are probably comparable to New Jersey.

[Angus215]

In PA, if you live in areas with large, efficiently run school districts and a lot of commercial property, your taxes are going to be lower. Those are the two biggest factors. NJ taxes are high because schoold districts are too small, convoluted, and inefficient. Plus there is a lot of corruption and inefficiency in local government. I live in Montgomery County, PA, and overall i think the property taxes are very reasonable (with some notable exceptions). Where I live, taxes are ~1.25% of market value, which is pretty good. Where I lived in Monmouth County, NJ, property taxes were ~2.0% of market value. I think that Delaware has even lower property taxes though.