Possible relo to Philly suburbs (Philadelphia, Chester: real estate, new house, school districts)

[NYMD67]

Hi,

There is a possibility that a move to the Philly area is in our future,could be this year possibly.

We have moved quite a bit these past few years, due to my husband's job. The moves have all been due to job advancements thankfully.
We have been living in the state of MD for almost 10 years now but have been relocated to different areas.
The real estate here is insane for most individuals and we have always had to live quite a distance from my husband's office due to the cost of housing.
We don't want to be in a situation where we are just able to pay for our home and nothing else.

With our next move,we want to be sure that we will be able to live fairly close to his office ( a 45 min commute is fine,but looking for nothing more),a place convenient to decent grocery stores,retail and things to do with children, such as a Little Gym or other facility.
Pretty much a family oriented suburb....
Our current home is new,4 bdrm,2.5 bathroom but extremely far from nice conveniences such as a nice mall,or retail shopping area. We like the small town feel,but we dislike the fact that it takes us almost 1/2 hr just to get anywhere with the kids.

We would be trying to keep our home around the $375-380K range.
Is this realistic for a nice area outside of Philly?

Any suggestions would be great!
Thank you so much

[rainrock]

Will your husbands office be in Center City Philly?

$375 K will get you a nice house in great family towns like Media,Nether Providence,Havertown,Marple,Horsham,West Goshen.All are within 3/4 of an hour of center city but unfortunately they will be older homes, nice older well built homes though . Newer 4 BR house 1/2 hour from center city isn't realistic. Newer housing at $375 k would be way way out in Oxford,Avondale,Coatesville areas, beautiful areas but 1 1/2 hours from center city.

This is Money magazines/cnn list of 2007 best usa towns to live in and 3 of the Philadlephia suburban towns made the top 15. Again these are all older established affordable towns. There are tons of new developments surrounding these towns but the new houses start at about $500K. Its possible you could find a fairly newer house(10 yrs) in your price range.

Nether Providence
West Goshen
Horsham
Best Places to Live 2007 - Money Magazine


Good luck.

[Pat_in_Pa]

Yes, this is very realistic for a 45 minute commute.

You're true plus here is that many of the school districts are good. In MD, from the scores I've been reading, it seems as though parents need to find a few good schools peppered among the lousy ones. In the PA burbs around Philly, it's the opposite. You watch out for a few bad districts among all the good ones.

Let me know if you need that PA scores link.

[toobusytoday]

SchoolMatters - Home You can compare your present school district in Maryland with ones in PA and ones in PA with each other.

[JerzBoy]

Where exactly will your husband be working? It will make a big difference if he is working in Center City Philadelphia or the burbs.

[NYMD67]

Thank you all so much so far for your info... My husband would actually be working in Wayne,PA , I am not sure how far that is from Philly but know it is fairly close?
Any thoughts on that area itself?

You are correct about the MD schools, although Western MD has some great school districts.
The entire problem with the state of MD is that people just can't afford the housing in areas that are convenient to anything.
Our home cost almost $ 400K to build and we are close to very little. A nice grocery store is a 20 min ride for us.
To live in our same house closer to my husband's office would put us easily in the 600K area and that is not affordable in our eyes to say the least....

Any more info would be appreciated-thank you so much.

[NYMD67]

One other "requirement" that we have would be a diversity issue.
My husband and I have 2 daughters who are adopted from China. Not a big deal, at least to us as we are a family. However, it has been something that has created hurdles for us when trying to find someplace to live here in MD.
Many areas are small and really not open to any type of diversity, especially if you are not from the area to begin with.
We are different and we often feel as though we are on "display".
We are looking for an area with some diversity and hope that our children would be able to meet other Asian children so they don't feel so different from everyone else.
I would assume that areas around Philly are open to this and that there would be a larger adoption community to begin with?

[rainrock]

Wayne is very nice. Its about 20-30 minutes west of center city Philly but is very centrally located in some really nice populated well- to- do suburbs. I have to tell you though a new 4 BR single home anywhere within 10 miles of Wayne is going to be big $$$$$, Washington DC area like prices. You could probably find an older house in the Wayne area in the $350K range but you definitely wont find a new 4BR for that price.


You will get alot more house for your money about 5-10 miles west of Wayne in the towns of Exton,Downingtown, Chester Springs. Beautiful areas that have been growing quickly, but they built too many houses and there are bargains to be had. If you want newer housing head west of Wayne.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by NYMD67

We are looking for an area with some diversity and hope that our children would be able to meet other Asian children so they don't feel so different from everyone else.
I would assume that areas around Philly are open to this and that there would be a larger adoption community to begin with?

That could be a problem. The counties that surround Wayne are 0.03% Asian. People are generally very friendy and accomodating but meeting other Asian children is going to be a challenge.

Good luck

[Duderino]

King of Prussia is another option not too far from Wayne, as it is one of the most diverse communities in the area - over 10% Asian, according to 2000 census stats. I think a lot of communities in the area are diversifying, however, and you definitely shouldn't feel worried about your children about fitting in.