Levittown or Surrounding Area (King of Prussia, Morrisville: real estate, how much, house)

[invertigo]

My wife and I are currently considering a move from Cherry Hill, NJ to lower Bucks County. We noticed quite a few homes in our price range in Levittown, but unfortunately, we don't know anything about the area. Is this a good place to live? Are any of the surrounding towns better? We have most of our family in North Jersey so access to one of the major arteries up there is critical. Our jobs will be in King of Prussia and the Princeton area. Our biggest concerns are:
-Property taxes- We currently pay about 5,500 on a home we paid 250k for three years ago and I think this is high. Taxes here have gone up about 1,200 on us since we moved in.
-Convenience to shopping/activities
-Home prices- Obviously!! Our budget is under 300k
-School systems- We have a good one here so we'd hate to leave it for something worse

All we ever hear are great things about Bucks County, in general. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Oh....and I noticed that the area we would be looking in is near the river so flood prone areas is a definite concern as well. Thanks in advance for your help!!

[Pat_in_Pa]

Generally, the (eastern) sections of Levittown that fall into the Pennsbury School system sell for a premium over the larger (more south/central) sections that fall into the Bristol Twp. school systems. Some sections in the Neshaminy school system (further northwest sections) are also considered better. You can see the reasons for perception problems with the Bristol Twp. schools by visiting Pennsylvania Dept Of Education - Academic Achievement Report (http://www.paayp.com/county.jsp - broken link) or any of the various websites that report school testing reports.

You can compare homes in the three school districts on the kw website. Their listings are searchable by school district, and clearly show property taxes as the last line item in the description. That site also often includes address so you can do a drive-by.

There are certain sections of Levittown that are notorious for being worse than others, in terms of drugs/crime. But the folks I know who live or lived in Levittown had nothing but good experiences.

Good luck.

[invertigo]

Thanks for the post. Okay, I've done some research on my own too and it seems like Levittown is a no go for what we are looking for. Is anyone familiar with Cherry Hill? Would anyone be able to compare some of the lower Bucks towns to it as in more urban/more rural?
Also, if anyone can spout off some tax figures, it would be great....like "I have a 300k house and I pay so much in taxes". I always hear how much lower PA is, but I can't find any real info on that. Thanks again.
I must be missing where the last poster mentioned that I could find the property tax listings by district...?? I checked out the link, but can't find it. Maybe I'm just slow today!

[Pat_in_Pa]

I wasn't sure we could post real estate agent websites without violating no advertising rules.

The kw.com site has the taxes as the last line item in each listing's description. Go to the main page, fill in the ZIP drop down using some Bucks County ZIP code like 19067, 19055 or 19030. You'll get results for only that ZIP, so click on NEW SEARCH. You'll go into the main bucks county search screen, and be able to search on town or schools.

[Pat_in_Pa]

The tax comparison is difficult, because there is a wide range of tax municipality difference in Bucks. For example, you might see high taxes in Morrisville and assume you'd get a good school system with that...wrong.

You might see low taxes in Yardley. Good schools.

In Yardley, on older homes about $300k, taxes can range from $4000 to $6000, guesstimate. Lower Makefield, newer homers, a little higher.

In Bucks, you'll even see almost zero tax, because of the dump by the river. The residents in developments around Tullytown got a $5000 check kickback in 2007.

Try doing the search above, and compare Newtown to Cherry Hill.

[invertigo]

Does anyone know if any realtors would be interested in showing us around a few towns?...or is that pushing it? I know we have nothing specific in mind, but hey, we have to start somewhere. Should I just plan on driving around on my own??