Relocating to the area (Chester, West Chester: sales, to rent, townhomes)

[Camiller26]

Our family is considering a move to the area. My husband would be working at the airport (KPHL). We have 3 young children so a safe yet reasonably priced neighborhood with good schools is what we're looking for. We are planning to rent until we are more familiar with the area but we're looking for some general ideas of where to look. A commute of up to 45 minutes is fine to the airport. To start we're looking for a place to rent that is 3 BR and approx $1000-1200 a month. Can anyone recommend any nice areas.

[orrmobl]

I would recommend West Chester but you should check the housing prices in Wallingford (really great, down to earth people), Media (quaint, walkable downtown) , Garnet Valley, Chadds Ford (best in this part of Delco). But honestly everyone wants reasonably priced, good schools, close to the city, or airport in your case. Your definition of reasonably priced is the key to the question - typically you can get very good schools but pay more either for the house or for taxes or you can get more reasonably priced home, lower taxes, much further from the city.

[niceguy19125]

Originally Posted by Camiller26

Our family is considering a move to the area. My husband would be working at the airport (KPHL). We have 3 young children so a safe yet reasonably priced neighborhood with good schools is what we're looking for. We are planning to rent until we are more familiar with the area but we're looking for some general ideas of where to look. A commute of up to 45 minutes is fine to the airport. To start we're looking for a place to rent that is 3 BR and approx $1000-1200 a month. Can anyone recommend any nice areas.

Most folks leave out a great choice when choosing to move to the area you describe, probably because it's in another state. You should seriously take a look at the North Wilmington area of Northern Delaware. Off the I-95 Naamans Road exit to the west are some great areas. The Arden, Foulkwood and Highland Woods neighborhoods are some stand outs. South/East of I-95 off Marsh Road is the Bellefonte neighborhood which is good as well.
It's less than 30 minutes to the airport and the area is a great family friendly place to live. The rent costs are significantly lower as you'll notice from the attached links below also. The Brandywine School District is pretty good.The overall performance numbers are skewed by a couple of not so good schools in areas where you wouldn't be living. There is no sales tax in Delaware which is a bit of savings as well.

http://www.pattersonschwartz.com/sea...412&category=6
N. Wilmington Townhomes Now Reduced--Save 100's A Month---Few Remain! (http://delaware.craigslist.org/apa/1268072136.html - broken link)
Arden, Stone Home (http://delaware.craigslist.org/apa/1256591834.html - broken link)

[Jen38]

Chadds Ford, Garnet Valley, West Chester and even Media are all good areas and within 45 min commute to the airport. We lived in Chadds Ford and loved it but houses can be pricey. You're probably looking at $550 and above for most of these areas for a 4 BR 2 Bath single family. The schools though are all very very good. If you moved anywhere else in the country your kids would probably be one grade level higher after going to any of these schools. We moved to the West coast and my kids are flying through their classes here.
We have a lot of friends in Media and they live in very pretty neighborhoods. The commute time would be even less and it's right off of 95. My girlfriend actually bought a great house in the $400's with an acre of land in a nice quiet neighborhood, but it did need some updating.
If you want new and updated you are looking close to $700K and higher. Taxes are high also. On the East coast you pay for what you get! We absolutely loved living there and would go back in a minute if my husband got transferred back but it is not cheap.

You could get a less expensive house and much lower taxes in North Wilmington but you would have to look into the schools. I know a lot of people who have moved from Delaware because they wanted PA schools. It is cheaper to pay the taxes than it is to pay for DE private school. As for the public schools in DE, they are probably equivalent to many states in the US but PA just has some of the best school districst around and you just can't compare.

Good Luck with your move!