Looking for CHEAP but not deadly (Philadelphia, Darby: apartments, to rent, crime)

[coldblooded36]

Hi. I am considering moving from Brooklyn to Philly and need some advice. I'm moving because I cannot afford to live in Brooklyn anymore, but I want to be somewhat close to family and friends in the NYC area. I would ideally like help from someone who knows both NYC neighborhoods and Philly neighborhoods because I think they will best be able to understand exactly what I'm looking for. I grew up in alot of borderline bad areas in NYC- East Harlem (104th +
3rd) during the Dinkins era and later a section of East Flatbush that is not exactly middle american suburbia. I am ok with areas like this where many soccer moms would not move their kids but where I can live cheaply and not have to dodge bullets. I want something comparable to these areas- basically areas that are not gettin super-gentrified and incredibly expensive, but not areas like Brownsville in BK that are incredibly isolated and dangerous. I am not worried about being the only white person on the street, but I don't want to live next to a crackhouse. I know these areas exist in NYC (just for too much $$$) aka flatbush, North bronx, harlem, sunnyside, ridgewood queens, etc, I just need to know their counterparts in Philly. Thanks for any help.

[PhilaForNow]

Look here www.phillyforrent.com you can get a good apartments for under a thousand in Manayunk or Roxborough and the center city area for over thousand some say their Borderline Bad areas but sadly their Philadelphia only good areas if your looking for Borderline war zones look at the north east and or a war zone look at the reminder of the city.

Originally Posted by coldblooded36

Hi. I am considering moving from Brooklyn to Philly and need some advice. I'm moving because I cannot afford to live in Brooklyn anymore, but I want to be somewhat close to family and friends in the NYC area. I would ideally like help from someone who knows both NYC neighborhoods and Philly neighborhoods because I think they will best be able to understand exactly what I'm looking for. I grew up in alot of borderline bad areas in NYC- East Harlem (104th +
3rd) during the Dinkins era and later a section of East Flatbush that is not exactly middle american suburbia. I am ok with areas like this where many soccer moms would not move their kids but where I can live cheaply and not have to dodge bullets. I want something comparable to these areas- basically areas that are not gettin super-gentrified and incredibly expensive, but not areas like Brownsville in BK that are incredibly isolated and dangerous. I am not worried about being the only white person on the street, but I don't want to live next to a crackhouse. I know these areas exist in NYC (just for too much $$$) aka flatbush, North bronx, harlem, sunnyside, ridgewood queens, etc, I just need to know their counterparts in Philly. Thanks for any help.

[William shivers]

for around a 1000 a month you could own a home in upper darby, sharon hill, collingdale. These are not great areas but I do own some homes in these areas that I rent out and have never had a problem going there day or night.

[rainrock]

What sort of price range are you looking at? Do you want to be in the city or are suburbs also an option?

[coldblooded36]

I'm looking to rent a 1br in the 600-850 range, I don't mind living in the burbs as long as the city is easily accessible by bike or public trans

[coldblooded36]

How about greys ferry, caroll park, or kensington?

[rainrock]

You can do alot better than Grays Ferry or Kensington with $850 in Philly. If you do your homework you can find 1 BR's in center city and neighboring hoods like Northern Lib, fairmount, Queens Village.

I wouldn't advise Grays Ferry or Kensington. South Philly east of Broad is still in decent shape if you are looking in the $600 range.

[Ariadne]

IF you are looking in the 600-850 range I would say you have a ton of options. YOu can find 1 bedroom apartments in the Jenkintown/Abington area three blocks or less from the train station and pay 600-700 a month including heat and hot water and these are in extremely nice areas. Apartments are even cheaper in the Fox chase area (Northeast philly)...some people consider that a little borderline but I have friends that live there and love it.

[MoonlightMadness]

Upper Darby in Delaware County is a nice up-and-coming area. With the police getting really tough on crime there, it's quickly losing it's rep as a bad, gritty town (although you might want to move further away from 69th St.). My bro-in-law's family lives there; it has a nice, old-town feel to it. And with the 69th St. terminal, there's plenty of public transportation through the area and into Philly. Just a suggestion.

[coldblooded36]

Thanks for everyones input. I was in Philly today for an interview and looked at acouple apartmets in different areas. One area I didn't hear anyone mention was southeast Philly below Center city. Real old school Italian neighborhood it seemed like, that almost reminded me of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, where I lived when I was younger. I'm definitely going to look hard in this area since it should be cheaper since its outside of center city.
After that I looked at another place further west (down Mckean) and now know why I have heard people advise against West Philly (even though this was southwest I guess). Looked more like 'the hood' the further west you go from Broad. However the place I looked at was huge and dirt cheap. The last place I looked was in Fishtown and it was an area I would never move to, which is wierd because I had heard this was like the new 'artsy' neighborhood in philly. It was definitely not- in fact in all my time in NYC I don't think I ever walked through a worse looking area. Anyways, that's it, again, thanks for everyones advice.