Which suburb is (relatively) the most friendly, down-to-earth? (Philadelphia, Doylestown: income, property taxes)

[andreaspercheron]

I have to agree with Doylestown and those closeby areas - however.... I live in Horsham which is in Montco and I LOVE living here - AND the 15th best city to live in!!! It is very nice here, everyone is friendly and my friends from out of town refer to my local areas as "Pleasantville" LOL
Now, I will say this about Doylestown, it's a very happening little town, always something going on, if you are of drinking age, all of the younger people hit the town at night and bar hop. Good times.

[ooodsie]

NE phila is part of Philadelphia itself.. All of the suburbs we are referring to are seperate towns outside of actual Philadelphia. NE Phila are "sections" of Phila like "Mayfair, rhawnhurts, lawncrest etc" .. You probably don't want that area. You are looking for suburbs of Phila. Suburbs to the NE *of* Phila, and closer to North Jersey/NY would be the lower bucks county area; which is Newtown, yardley, Langhorne, Bensalem, Levittown etc... All of these towns are about 1hr commute to north jersey, 1.5hrs to NYC and also 30 minutes commute to Center City Phila. I personally live in Bensalem and am going to be moving to Yardley in the near future. All of those suburbs are great for a family of mini-van owning target shopping people

[sbhubbell]

As far as friendliness and escaping the land-o-Lexus...maybe Wallingford Swathmore and media. Some neighborhoods might be a little more "showy" than others, especially the bigger more expensive houses on larger lots where neighborhood gatherings are less frequent. These towns certainly are nothing like Long Island!

[kelb]

From the info you gave, I'd suggest you check out Levittown and Ambler. In Levittown you will find amazing housing value and ample room for your family. The nicer, upgraded properties go for around $250,000 these days. Go for neighborhoods that are in the Pennsbury or Neshaminy school districts. You will find lots of younger families, and your rambunctious kids will find many like minded friends. If you have to do the city, you can jump on I-95 and be there in 30 minutes.
Ambler is the place if you want a small town feel, but close to everything...and you can jump on a train in the middle of town and be in Center City in 30 minutes.
Good luck.

[GMonkey]

Sorry, I must be smoking crack. I somehow totally missed the part where you specified easy commute to NY. My suggestions are great for an easy commute to Philly, but for NY, I suggest Bucks County (Yardley area?). Unfortunately, I only know that that the area is pretty, and family oriented. I know nothing about friendliness or how down to earth the area is. I have a close friend who was raised there, and she is super sweet and laid back, but that's all I have to go on.

Good luck!

[dm10273]

For family-friendliness and a doable commute to Manhattan, you want to be in Newtown, Upper Makefield or Lower Makefield (Yardley). I live in Newtown Township and commute to NYC up to 3 days a week and telecommute the other week days. It's a 20 minute drive to the Hamilton station (NJ transit) and a 60-65 minute train ride to Penn Station on the express train. Newtown is an absolutely terrific place to raise a family. There are lots of amenities nearby and plenty of places to visit. Doylestown is a very cool nearby town. New Hope and Lambertville, NJ are charming. And Princeton, NJ is just a 25 minute drive away.

Philadelphia (center city) is about 35 minutes away (no traffic) but there's no real reason to go there. There are very few compelling reasons to visit Philly, and you really don't need to go there to enjoy the charms of living in this part of Bucks County -- especially if your economic life revolves around NYC.

[toobusytoday]

I think that in real life, the actual neighborhood will make the most difference in friendliness or snobbiness. We've moved around a lot and I've found that while some towns can have an overall snobby feel, that doesn't matter if your own neighborhood is warm and friendly. How you find that out before you move in is probably pretty hard.

With our current house we knew right away that we were looking at a great neighborhood. When we visited the first time, we were very late due to a bad accident on the turnpike so one of the owners was home. We asked him about the ages of the kids in the neighborhood and he pointed at each of the houses and told us who lived where and the ages of their kids. The day we came back for a second look through, two of the neighbors came over with kids in tow to talk to us and talk up their neighborhood, telling us how the kids often played capture the flag on summer nights, etc. The day we moved in and for the two or three days following we had half a dozen neighbors come over with baked goods or just to say hello. Now after saying all that warm and fuzzy stuff, I've heard there are neighborhoods around here where the neighbors don't know each other and are not that friendly. I figure we just got lucky.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by mom9410

Oops! I meant to "acceptable" rather than "exceptable." I guess I have another criteria to add my list of demands; they can't hold bad grammar against me!

Thank you for all the input. It is easy to research homes available for sale, but harder to really get a feel for a town just from the internet. I really value the honest opinions.

We really just want a different quality of life. We are taking a big hit financially from the downturn of the economy, and NY is just not really an option if we want to live within our means.

We really enjoy many of the things in Philly (e.g. Please Touch, Benjamin Franklin Institute, Rodin museum, art museum, etc...). We also like to go in for concerts or festivals or a show, so we do want some accessibility to the city, but not necessarily on a daily basis.
My husband will mostly be working for home, so a commute into Philadelphia isn't an really an issue. However, he will have to return to NY on a semi-regular basis, so the commute to NY is actually more of the issue.

For us, having more space is a priority. Not to be showy, but just for the room. We have 3 loud and rambunctious kids. We want room for them to run around, invite friends over, and have space for their way-too-many toys. We would love room for a pool, swingset, and grill.

I don't think NJ suburbs will be an option for us financially since our paycheck will still be from a NY company, rather a PA based on.

I am sorry this is so long. Thank you all again for the help. I appreciate all the suggestion.

I'm confused why you would eliminate the Jersey suburbs of Philly. This is South Jersey. The state laws & state taxes are the same, everything else is different. (This is comparing North Jersey to South Jersey, if you think it's all the same.)

[Pilot1]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

I'm confused why you would eliminate the Jersey suburbs of Philly. This is South Jersey. The state laws & state taxes are the same, everything else is different.

No they are not the same. Jersey...........

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by dm10273

For family-friendliness and a doable commute to Manhattan, you want to be in Newtown, Upper Makefield or Lower Makefield (Yardley). I live in Newtown Township and commute to NYC up to 3 days a week and telecommute the other week days...
Philadelphia (center city) is about 35 minutes away (no traffic) but there's no real reason to go there. There are very few compelling reasons to visit Philly, and you really don't need to go there to enjoy the charms of living in this part of Bucks County -- especially if your economic life revolves around NYC.

I'm guessing you wouldn't want to live near this guy...