Clueless in Philly (Philadelphia, York, Springfield: low income, townhomes, transfer)

[storyofz]

My husband and I are interested in moving to one of the nicer suburban areas outside of Philly later this year - we liked Abington and Blue Bell - but we are from NYC and have very little familiarity with what towns would make sense for us. We are looking for the following:
* easy access to public transport to get to NJ/NYC/Downtown Philly
* a single family home with some room on all sides
* an excellent school district, charming downtown, and SAFE SAFE SAFE neighborhood

Any help from the locals would be helpful.

[Tone509]

Originally Posted by storyofz

My husband and I are interested in moving to one of the nicer suburban areas outside of Philly later this year - we liked Abington and Blue Bell - but we are from NYC and have very little familiarity with what towns would make sense for us. We are looking for the following:
* easy access to public transport to get to NJ/NYC/Downtown Philly
* a single family home with some room on all sides
* an excellent school district, charming downtown, and SAFE SAFE SAFE neighborhood

Any help from the locals would be helpful.

If you can let us know your budget, we might be able to better pinpoint some ideas for you.

Choosing between those two towns, I'd go with Abington. Depending on where you live in greater Abington, you'll have your choice of up to six commuter rail stations to choose from to get to and from Center City. You'd probably have to drive over to Trenton or start from downtown in order to catch a train to NY. There are a plethora of detached homes but you won't necessarily find acres between you and your neighbor; it's an older bedroom community. Townhomes are rare, though.

Abington's school district isn't as "trendy" as those out in the western suburbs these days but it did produce this fine graduate. Your kids would get a fine education there.

Abington doesn't have a downtown per se but it "borrows" from Jenkintown's cute downtown area immediately south of town.

Generally speaking, east of Old York Road (Rt. 611) tends to be more upscale than the west side (which also happens to include the high school). That said, there are basically no "unsafe" neighborhoods. Crestmont is a predominantly black neighborhood with a relatively high percentage of lower-income households. It's not the Marcy Projects, though, and can be easily passed through or even avoided if necessary.

I don't have much first-hand experience with Blue Bell but I do recall it being a safe if less diverse community of relatively newer homes. There are a lot of office parks out there which may be great if you work in one of those, perhaps not so much if you have to fight through the traffic. If I'm not mistaken, Blue Bell is in the Plymouth/Whitemarsh school district which is well-regarded. Perhaps the only drawback for you is that commuter rail isn't quite as convenient. You'd have to drive maybe five miles to Ambler, Gwynedd Valley or Fort Washington; in the Abington area, you're never more than a mile away from a train station.

[juniperbleu]

^^ I second Tone's post. Really, both are great, but you've got more transit options from Abington. I took the train from the Melrose Park station (just south of Jenkintown) to 30th Street and then up to NYC (actually, Long Island via Penn Station). I think it took me about 1.5-2 hours to get to Penn. If you're further up in Abington (or even closer to Willow Grove or Warrington) it's easier to drive to Trenton. The route is (from 30th) to take the R7 to Trenton, which parks literally behind the NJ Transit train to NY. I think my transfer time in NJ was about 3 minutes. From 30th you can also take Amtrak, which is pricier.

[frankgn87]

I third it. I work In Abington and its a tight community with excellent schools

[DailyJournalist]

Haddonfield, NJ would be an excellent choice for what you are looking for and is located right on the PATCO line(easy access to Philadelphia) which also gives you access to the Riverline which will give you connections to NYC and North Jersey:

Haddonfieldnj.org - A website all about Haddonfield, New Jersey, featuring updates on Haddonfield events and happenings as well as important community information.
Port Authority Transit Corporation
RiverLINE.com : Home

[namaw]

Hey Z, Abington twp. awesome school district. Teachers like it here. They care about students and keep in touch with parents. Counselors are outstanding. Faculty all work together for the better of each student.
I have had children in reg and sp ed. Terrific programs both. We are in Glenside, less than 5 min from PA TP and 309. Charming downtown with historic Keswick theater. Live shows, something for everyone. Walk around small shops, or go up the street for and excellent and very reasonable fresh fruit and veggie Produce Junction. I feel very safe here. Shopping is everywhere. They just remodeled town. It looks great. Police dept. if needed is right on the ball.And, I couldn't ask for better neighbors.Your family would only benefit by moving here. Good Luck!
Oh and BTW, train is right up the street, for us within walking distance.

[storyofz]

Thank you - your response was very helpful - so let me respond in kind
We are looking in the 350k range, and not in low income or projects areas. The color of my neigjhbors skin is completely irrelevant, we just want a very neighborly, single family home area, with realtively easy access to rail and a fun downtown - like Glenside (the Keswick is great).

How is Horsham - Huntingdon Valley, Fort Washington?
And so while we are at it - I suppose the name of a good realtor would very helpful as well.

Originally Posted by Tone509

If you can let us know your budget, we might be able to better pinpoint some ideas for you.

Choosing between those two towns, I'd go with Abington. Depending on where you live in greater Abington, you'll have your choice of up to six commuter rail stations to choose from to get to and from Center City. You'd probably have to drive over to Trenton or start from downtown in order to catch a train to NY. There are a plethora of detached homes but you won't necessarily find acres between you and your neighbor; it's an older bedroom community. Townhomes are rare, though.

Abington's school district isn't as "trendy" as those out in the western suburbs these days but it did produce this fine graduate. Your kids would get a fine education there.

Abington doesn't have a downtown per se but it "borrows" from Jenkintown's cute downtown area immediately south of town.

Generally speaking, east of Old York Road (Rt. 611) tends to be more upscale than the west side (which also happens to include the high school). That said, there are basically no "unsafe" neighborhoods. Crestmont is a predominantly black neighborhood with a relatively high percentage of lower-income households. It's not the Marcy Projects, though, and can be easily passed through or even avoided if necessary.

I don't have much first-hand experience with Blue Bell but I do recall it being a safe if less diverse community of relatively newer homes. There are a lot of office parks out there which may be great if you work in one of those, perhaps not so much if you have to fight through the traffic. If I'm not mistaken, Blue Bell is in the Plymouth/Whitemarsh school district which is well-regarded. Perhaps the only drawback for you is that commuter rail isn't quite as convenient. You'd have to drive maybe five miles to Ambler, Gwynedd Valley or Fort Washington; in the Abington area, you're never more than a mile away from a train station.

[storyofz]

Thank you - very helpful

[storyofz]

Hi Daily Journalist - thanks for the info - I am a Jersey girl, born and raised, and worry that even in Haddonfield, the property taxes would be exorbitant compared to PA. Your thoughts.

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Haddonfield, NJ would be an excellent choice for what you are looking for and is located right on the PATCO line(easy access to Philadelphia) which also gives you access to the Riverline which will give you connections to NYC and North Jersey:

Haddonfieldnj.org - A website all about Haddonfield, New Jersey, featuring updates on Haddonfield events and happenings as well as important community information.
Port Authority Transit Corporation
RiverLINE.com : Home

[JasmineFlower]

Also just wanted to jump on the Abington bandwagon. And I would say you can't beat the public schools in Abington, not many other school districts in the state can say they have their senior high, junior high, and 4 of their elementary schools get blue ribbon awards.

Fort Washington is nice, its part of the Upper Dublin school district.

Depending on where you live in Huntingdon Valley, you will be in either the Abington SD or the Lower Moreland SD.

Horsham has nice homes and is a nice place to live, but out of all the school districts mentioned, I would place this at the bottom even though its certainly still a good one.

Blue Bell would mostly be part of the Wissahickon school district (though in your price range, Ambler might be where you would look). Wissahickon is a great school as well.

I also wanted to point out that in addition to the cute shopping areas in Jenkintown and Glenside and the great mall in Willow Grove, Abington is very close to Chestnut Hill, so that's something else to consider.

I think with your price range, you may be priced out of most of the Wissahickon and Upper Dublin school district areas, as well as out of Huntingdon Valley and the nicer parts of Horsham. Also, don't rule out the Springfield area (in Montgomery County, that would be Oreland, Laverock, Erdenheim areas), good schools, some homes still in your price range with the qualities you are looking for.