Moving To Pa (Philadelphia, Chester, Norristown: to rent, house, transfer)

[yayapow]

My family and I will be moving to pennsylvania in the next couple of months, my husband's job has transfered him to their Philadelphia office. I would like to know what areas are good to live in with good schools for our children, my husband is willing to travel a distance to work in order to live in a nice area. I have read that Chadds Ford is nice, How far of a drive to downtown Philly? or can suggest other nice places with good schools also we are wanting to rent a house not buy at this time. What is rent prices like? Thanks for any help.

[thesixth]

Chadds Ford is a very nice area with great schools, but it will be a bit of a commute into downtown Phila. I'd say at least 45 minutes or more depending on traffic/time of day etc.

If you want shorter commutes there are plenty of good places to choose from closer to Phila. proper. Try the Main Line area (Lower Merion, Haverford, Ardmore, etc) in lower Montgomery County. Other nearby Montgomery Co. towns to check would be Abington, Jenkintown, Ambler, Glenside. They offer shorter commute into the city.

Also check out areas of Delaware County like Broomall, Newtown Square, Springfield, Media, Havertown, Swarthmore. These are closer to the city too. Varying price ranges in these places, but you should be able to find something that fits your budget.

[bryson662001]

There are literally thousands of suburban towns around Philadelphia. Off the top of my head I would say about 90% of them are "nice". Chadds Ford is in that 90% although it isn't too convenient to downtown (which locals call Center City) I would begin by studying the map, finding the freeways, and googleing some of the names of towns. Also if he want's to ride the train then google SEPTA which is the local transit agency and look at their maps. People here may recomend a certain town they are familier with but it is just like picking a name out of a hat, there are that many to choose from. I can say that the area immediatly bordering the Delaware River tends to be not so nice and south of the city isn't as nice as west and north. Same goes for New Jersey. The further away from the river the better. Some of my favorites are Abington and Cheltenham to the north. Ardmore, Gladwyn, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Villanova to the west and Cherry Hill, Haddonfield and Moorstown in New jersey. Those are some of the close in suburbs that are easier to commute to. Philadelphia also has some nice neighborhoods but the public schools in the city are not considered good. A few bad areas are Bristol, Norristown, Chester, Camden, anything south of the airport (all on rivers btw). I can't post urls on this sight but if you google ms live maps it is the best map site imo.