West Chester; Chester or Delaware Counry (West Goshen, Media: house, neighborhoods, buy)

[jhone]

Thinking about moving to West Chester for the good schools but am somewhat confused about the fact that the WC school system covers communities in 2 counties.

Is there any advantage or disadvantage of living in one county over the other for the school system (Chester or Delaware Counties)?

[rainrock]

The parts of Delaware County that would be included in West Chester Schools are all pretty pricey e.g, Thornbury,Glen Mills,Edgmont. For lower property tax, more affordable housing you will have a much wider range to choose from in Chester County. Thats really the only pro/con I can see.

Both counties in that general area are upscale except for a few blocks of the town of West Chester itself and even those sections are pretty calm. But you have some nice middle/upper middle class neighborhoods in Chester County like West Goshen,Westtown and West Chester.

Good luck

[Multitasker Too]

The major component of your taxes will be your school taxes. These will have the same basis whether you live in DE county or Chesco. The older the home you buy, the less the taxes will be. The real question is, where will you commute to? Do you need quick access to Baltimore Pike, 95, 202, Rt 3? Where is work?

West Chester school covers a big area. Narrow it down based on locations. Also, Rose Tree Media, Garnet Valley, Chadds Ford-Unionville are decent in their own right, depending on the criteria you choose.

A good Realtor can help you considerably in narrowing down your location, as no doubt can many on this board.

Best of luck!

[jhone]

Originally Posted by Multitasker Too

The major component of your taxes will be your school taxes. These will have the same basis whether you live in DE county or Chesco. The older the home you buy, the less the taxes will be. The real question is, where will you commute to? Do you need quick access to Baltimore Pike, 95, 202, Rt 3? Where is work?

West Chester school covers a big area. Narrow it down based on locations. Also, Rose Tree Media, Garnet Valley, Chadds Ford-Unionville are decent in their own right, depending on the criteria you choose.

A good Realtor can help you considerably in narrowing down your location, as no doubt can many on this board.

Best of luck!

Thanks,

We've been looking for a few months but will probably buy sometime this Spring. We were originally looking in the Unionville school district but are somewhat scared by the fact that most of the homes in this area have septic systems. So, we've narrowed it down to West Chester schools in areas without septic systems. This seems to be areas close to route 202 in both Chester and Delaware counties. From what I've read the West Chester schools are almost as good as Unionville schools.

We've seen homes in the West Chester area which we like but were confused by the fact that the one school district covered areas in 2 different counties.

From your replies, it looks like it may not make a difference at all. Commuting is not a problem as most of my work will be from home.

[Multitasker Too]

Don't be scared of septic systems...just learn about them. There is an absolute wealth of info on line to be Googled.

Both septic systems and sewer systems have their own issues. This is frankly the first house we own that is connected to the sewer system. Our last house in this area was actually in Thornbury Township, DE county, WC schools and had a septic. You don't need to be a fraid of it, just get a really good inspection done. Find out about what sort of maintence has been done on the system, (like pumping it out,) and look into getting a lint filter on your clothes washer to trap the lint before it gets into the septic. Also, find out if hook ups to sewer are expected in the near future...it can be pricy! Be careful if the property you are looking at has been vacant, however. If the system is not in use, problems may be missed.

Even with sewer systems you have to worry about tree roots in the lines, causing back-up into the house if you don't keep it clear. Heavy rains can cause the same thing. You also have to watch the vent covers to make sure they are intact. One of ours had been broken off with the previous owner and we didn't know about it until sewerage backed out onto the lawn. Fortunately, our house is elevated off the street, so we didn't get any in the house. The pipe was blocked from broken plastic pieces. We were lucky that the guy who fixed it was able to just reach in with a tool and unblock it. We could have been facing excavation and relayment of pipe had the pipe been crushed or had the plastic pieces gone too far to be pulled out.

Home ownership is not for those without an emergency fund!

[kmart67620]

I have gone to schools in both counties. Depending where in delco you are depends on the school and same with chester county. West chester school district contains 4 or 5 elementry schools and 3 middle schools and 3 high schools one they just opened last year. I personally enjoyed west chester. I now have chidren enrolled in the dowingtown school district and find that they ask way to much of kids in that district. plus they may go on strike soon. Unionville is ok i knew a few people that went there, and they were pretty neutral about it. theres 12 public school districts so you have plenty to choose from. i hope some of this info was helpful. and if you have any questions about a specfic school in the wcasd please contact me