Looking at Chester County for possible move (State College, West Chester: homes, neighborhood)

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

but except for the farmers market,there is no downtown shopping or anything.

I agree with you 100% but I was responding to above comment. 11 years ago there was no shopping in GV but that is not the case any longer. Lots of new typical suburban retail in GV now. You dont have to go to Concord De any longer but many still do to take advantage of tax free shopping.

[toobusytoday]

Oh, well that's the problem, you responded to what I said, not what I meant! I meant that there is no downtown shopping because there is no downtown....

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

I meant that there is no downtown shopping because there is no downtown....

Yes its a tragedy. 20,000 upscale residents in sprawling Garnet Valley and there really isnt a place to come together as a community.No main street,no malt shop,no town barber or hardware store. Just a collection of highways,bog box america and 3/4 acre isolated residences.

toobusy have you had the chance to check out Chestnut Hill? The best neighborhood in the region imo.

[orrmobl]

I was poking around and found the Red Bridge Farms home page:

Chester County, Montgomery County, Delaware County Real Estate, Jonestimesthree.

[FindingZen]

Please be careful when linking to real estate information. Some sites feature a referring realtor which would violate the Terms of Service. While I trust that no one here is a Realtor in disguise, you wouldn't want to give the appearance of being one. As a (non-Realtor) member, it may be better at times to offer to DM the information to the interested party if that information contains a reference to a Realtor.

Thanks!

[sbhubbell]

I think it's interesting that over on the Houston board we have tons of realtors who are very helpful, not soliciting business, and we are allowed to refer people to various services all the time and it's not considered advertising if it's a referral from one user to another. The Houston board is SUPER active too, way more participants and discussions than here.

[orrmobl]

Unfortunately it seems most realtors around here always do try to solicit business sooner or later. It's pretty sad because they then negate any advice they have given as you suspect their motivations for doing so.

After several failed attempts to buy a home, with my realtor messing up to the tune of costing me $4K and the buyers realtor lying to us and her own client re the need to setttle by a certain date and time (the agent was pregnant and wanted her check before she went on maternity leave or I guess she would have risked splitting the commission or something), I now realize realtors and car salesmen are are both generally bottom feeders.

I hope there is a special ring of hell just for those who profit from deceiving their fellow man, even when they are trusted and compensated to do the right thing in the first place...

[sbhubbell]

Hehe, I've had some pretty terrible experiences with realtors too, mostly in PA. I got lucky this time and found a fantastic realtor who sold my house before it even went on the market in what has been a very slow market this year. I also got lucky in Houston and was assigned a fantastic realtor by my relo company. Neither were perfect but they were far superior to all the others I've had prior.

[oc2nyc]

Just curious sbhubbell if you are so happy in TX and had such bad experiences in PA why are you even on this board? Just wonderin'.

[bhill20]

Thanks again everyone for the input. We are pretty much set on our trip and will try to post our impressions when we get back.

Regarding school systems, it was interesting to read the list provided by orrmobl for all PA school districts. My family is from Berks Cty and in the area, Wyomissing SD is highly regarded, but ranked 61 in the state. I have worked in Lancaster and understand that Manheim Twp is similarly regarded in that county. My wife went to Richland SD in Cambria county. All of these SDs are in the top 60 SDs in PA, but I see that the districts we'll be focusing on in addition to Unionville (incl. West Chester, Downingtown, Garnet Valley etc) are all ranked at or better than these other districts we are familiar with. So really, I don't think we could do wrong with any of those choices from a schools perspective. Thoughts?