Where in PA should I move? Husband got job in Wilmington,DE

[sophiabilinsky]

You get less house for the money in DE but the taxes balance things out.. If you had a budget of $2500 per month for you monthly mortgage payment including taxes -- you will be able to buy a higher priced home in DE than PA because of the real estate taxes but the homes will be similar in size and quality (even though the DE home is priced higher). Yes, there are differences with homes in Greenville being more expensive than Brandywine Hundred, and UCF being more expensive than KSQ and AG but at the 50,000 foot level, the real estate tax difference between PA and DE is accounted for and balanced with higher home prices in DE relative to same square footage in PA.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by sophiabilinsky

You get less house for the money in DE but the taxes balance things out.. If you had a budget of $2500 per month for you monthly mortgage payment including taxes -- you will be able to buy a higher priced home in DE than PA because of the real estate taxes but the homes will be similar in size and quality (even though the DE home is priced higher). Yes, there are differences with homes in Greenville being more expensive than Brandywine Hundred, and UCF being more expensive than KSQ and AG but at the 50,000 foot level, the real estate tax difference between PA and DE is accounted for and balanced with higher home prices in DE relative to same square footage in PA.

Northern Delaware does not have more expensive home prices than Southeastern PA. I do not know of any town in Delaware that is more expensive than its PA counterpart. Not to mention once you get outside of Wilmington's handful of nice suburbs, the home prices in Delaware are dirt cheap, same cannot be said for anywhere in Delco/Montco/Bucks, and now a good chunk of Chester county. Even South Jersey is more expensive than Delaware...

[jf3971]

In the very desirable areas of New Castle County (Greenville, Westover Hills, ect), I think like homes are certainly more expensive in DE than in PA (and I'm talking areas like Chadds Ford, Kennett, Garnet Valley, Glenn Mills, etc.)

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by jf3971

In the very desirable areas of New Castle County (Greenville, Westover Hills, ect), I think like homes are certainly more expensive in DE than in PA (and I'm talking areas like Chadds Ford, Kennett, Garnet Valley, Glenn Mills, etc.)

The difference with Greenville is that it is more comparable to areas on the Main Line, Newtown Square, and Media/Swarthmore as far as housing stock goes. And those counterparts in PA area obviously more expensive.

Kennett Square is relatively cheap compared to many of its neighbors in PA. Chadds Ford, Westtown, Thornbury, Malvern going eastward toward Delco and Montco are noticeably more expensive than all counterparts in Delaware, the only comparably priced town in DE is Greenville (one town). Whereas PA has town after town of high priced homes.

Suggesting a move to PA because of being priced out of DE I have never heard before in my life, so I wanted to clarify that exaggeration. If you can afford a gorgeous home in Chadds Ford, you can afford the same home in Greenville.

[sophiabilinsky]

"Suggesting a move to PA because of being priced out of DE I have never heard before in my life, so I wanted to clarify that exaggeration. If you can afford a gorgeous home in Chadds Ford, you can afford the same home in Greenville."

Not sure in what post anyone suggested that someone who was priced out of DE could get a house in PA... if you read the posts carefully, the generalization is that the monthly payment for the same size and quality home is comparable in both locations.. In DE, the price of the home is higher but the RE taxes are lower making for the same payment as a lower priced home with much higher taxes in PA.

The thread started because of comments re: much higher RE taxes in PA. I was making the point that while that one data point is true, you have to look at the whole picture -- comparable homes are higher priced in DE. You can get a great, new 3500 - 4500 square foot home in KSQ or AG school districts for just over $400K and the same home in northern DE will be $500K +. Like all generalizations, it is just that -- there are exceptions by neighborhood etc.
But, the overall point is that one should not look at just the PA RE taxes and decide they have to look in DE --you have to look at the whole picture -- including income tax rates which we can't really generalize about since that becomes very personal based on someone's income level, etc.

[Pocopsonite]

Originally Posted by sophiabilinsky

"the generalization is that the monthly payment for the same size and quality home is comparable in both locations.. In DE, the price of the home is higher but the RE taxes are lower making for the same payment as a lower priced home with much higher taxes in PA.

It does seem that comparable houses in DE and PA are on very different sized lots. In DE, you're lucky to get 1/3 of an acre. In much of southern Chester County, minimum lot size is 1 acre (except for cluster housing) and in some townships it's 2 acres. That doesn't matter to some buyers; it's all about the house itself. But it matters a lot to other buyers, which is why they're willing to put up with higher real estate taxes even when the quality of the schools is not an issue for them.