Phoenixville looks like the pick (Collegeville: apartment, for rent, buying a house)

[maestro]

I'm really close to making the call on where me and my young family (wife and 2-year old) and I'm strongly leaning towards Phoenixville. It seems like a great downtown, there's some good parks, and the housing is decently affordable.

Is there a good section and a bad section of Phoenixville that I should know about when it comes to housing?

[orrmobl]

You really need to visit...the downtown area and those with new developments are nicer...areas with old rowhomes and singles, bars, apartment buildings can get a tad shady pretty quickly.

I would still recommend Collegeville over Phoenixville as its rural and developing and Phoenixville is the new hot spot meaning you will currently overpay partially due to hype...and the commute to center city will not be a fun one...

We looked seriously at Phoenixville 2 years ago but when we got full price for our house, we decided to look elsewhere as the location was far from family and the town still has quite a bit of revitalization to do...

If you want the safe bet, buy in the best district you can afford, plain and simple....

[maestro]

I'm considering renting in Phoenixville in the short-term to get a feel if I like the neighborhood, with Collegeville as a back-up plan for buying a house.

I guess what I'm asking is: as I see places online for rent (or buy for that matter), is there a specific area that's better or worse than another? Ex. south of XXX Street is good, west of XXXX Street is sketchy, etc?