Is it possible; 4 bed, 2 bath, > $250k house, top notch public schools, commutable to Philly? (Philadelphia: real estate)

[jfbd6805]

Is it possible to to find such a place near Philly? I think the city itself would be too expensive for us. Plus we enjoy the outdoors so a place with parks and outdoor recreation would be nice. Any suburbs fit the bill or shoud we stick to considering the Midwest?

When I say commutable I mean around 30 - 45 mins.

Our kids our young so schools from elem and up are important.

DH could also put in for Allentown - is that a better choice for us considering our modest budget?

Forgot to mention, we'd like a decent yard (no townhomes).

Thanks so much and look forward to your suggestions. I have no idea where to start looking so am hoping for some town names so I can get on a few real estate websites and see if its something we like or not.

[toobusytoday]

I much prefer the Lehigh Valley to the Delaware Valley but I don't know what you like. Our suburban schools are not rated as highly as the ones surrounding Philadelphia but they are still good and safe. Here's the local paper for the Allentown, Bethlehem area: Lehigh Valley news, Allentown news, Bethlehem news, pocono news, Easton news from The Morning Call and mcall.com -- themorningcall.com

[rainrock]

Here is a R/E link for Montgomery County which was ranked the 9th most livable county in the usa this year. Chester County was ranked #10.

here are houses under $250k


Montgomery County 103 matches

Chester County99 matches

Burlngton County NJ 287 matches as Moorestown Resident breaks out in hives.

[MoorestownResident]

Very little diference, actually. A function of what's on the market so it's not very useful.

But if you insist at least do it correctly. Half of BC is not in the Philly metro area as it is the largest county in NJ by land mass stretching to Mercer and the Atlantic Ocean. Chester is useless because it is a small county.

However, looking at the entire county:

Excluding land and rentals, realtor.com <250:

Burlington: 2,026

Montgomery: 1,895

Looking at the towns in BC in the Philly metro area:

Burlington County: 1,834

Montgomery: 1,895

[ooodsie]

I put your criteria into the MLS with 4 bedroom 2 bath in the school districts of council rock and neshaminy and it came back with 10 houses for sale today. Ranging from 209-249. Most are in langhorne or levittown and have about >.25 acres of land.

[MoorestownResident]

But to answer the OP directly, very slim pickings for a house $250K or under with top tier schools in SJ, unless you look at a condo or a bungalow/fixer. This is a sampling in top districts.

Your best bet in SJ is Cherry Hill because it is a huge twp with a wide variety of older housing stock but taxes are killer:

I suggest with that budget stick to PA.

[MoorestownResident]

FYI, new construction in Montgomery County for 250K:

(DM Moorsetown Resident for missing link)

[kelb]

You can find a nice house in Levittown in your price range...but I would also check out Ambler in Montgomery County. Safe friendly area, nice downtown, 30 min train ride to center city.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by MoorestownResident

But to answer the OP directly, very slim pickings for a house $250K or under with top tier schools in SJ, unless you look at a condo or a bungalow/fixer. This is a sampling in top districts.

Your best bet in SJ is Cherry Hill because it is a huge twp with a wide variety of older housing stock but taxes are killer:

I suggest with that budget stick to PA.

You are misguided again MoorestownResident.As been noted previously, backed up with facts. The suburban PA. median home prices are much higher than South Jersey.

http://www.selectgreaterphiladelphia...port_2q081.doc

2008 Median Home Prices First Half of 2008.

BY County

Chester PA. $310,000
Bucks PA. $282,000
Montgomery PA.$265,000
Burlington NJ. $231,000
New Castle DE. $230,000
Gloucester NJ $210,000
Delaware PA. $205,000
Salem NJ. $171,000

[MoorestownResident]

I apologize, maybe you are not a business school graduate. The housing composition as you see below is far different in NJ due to affordable housing law. Four SJ towns with high concentration of affordable housing mandate have 60% more condos on the market (496 vs 306) than TEN towns in the PA burbs - with less total listings to boot (2179 vs 2384). This dramatically skews the averages.

At the end of the day, it is what you get for the money, not what it costs. Not only are you getting more house in PA you are paying 50% less in taxes. In other words, go take $400K+ and go shopping in both areas. See where the better value for your money is. And you put Villanova's or Gladwyne's massive estates in Moorestown and it is almost laughable the difference in cost and property tax per square foot. R/E is about location, location, location. The fact is there is virtually no housing stock in those towns below 4,000 square feet. In fact nobody even lives in either town. Condos? No chance. I've proven my points so I consider this subject matter closed.

PA
Condos Total
Lower Merion 167 570
Radnor 51 256
Ambler 10 240
Wayne 51 256
Malvern 7 217
Media 10 217
Hatboro 3 98
Downingtown 7 368
Gladwyne 0 70
Villanova 0 92

Total 306 2384

NJ

Cherry Hill 151 761
Marlton 111 550
Voorhees 71 320
Mount Laurel 163 548

Total 496 2179