Family of four, relocating to Philadelphia area. Need advice. (Reading: house, neighborhoods)

[Moody75]

Thank you for all your responses. I have them printed out. Staying in New Jersey is an option. We are ambivalent about it.

[Moody75]

OK, the realtor (who I haven't met and was designated by the new company) sent me a bunch of houses to look at in various areas! I don't even know where these places are.

Ok these are some name of the towns (areas?) she sent.......

Bala Cynwyd
Flourtown
Wynnewood
Springfield
Chalfont
Hatboro
BlueBell
Doylestown
Oreland

Are these all over the place in different parts of Philadelphia? Maybe she is trying to show me what's out there? Talk about overwhelming! I gave her the exact specifications that I gave you guys. Does it sound like she is pointing us in the correct directions?

[maf763]

These are mainly Montgomery County with a few in Bucks. All good areas, it looks like she is trying to give you plenty of good options.

[orrmobl]

You might want to reiterate your desire to be along a train line and for liberal areas. This would include places like Swarthmore/Wallingford/Nether Providence, Media and Narberth. She is sending you a lot of places in Montco but not much in Delaware County (Delco) which is defintiely somewhere you should be looking...

[MoorestownResident]

Originally Posted by Moody75

OK, the realtor (who I haven't met and was designated by the new company) sent me a bunch of houses to look at in various areas! I don't even know where these places are.

Ok these are some name of the towns (areas?) she sent.......

Bala Cynwyd
Flourtown
Wynnewood
Springfield
Chalfont
Hatboro
BlueBell
Doylestown
Oreland

Are these all over the place in different parts of Philadelphia? Maybe she is trying to show me what's out there? Talk about overwhelming! I gave her the exact specifications that I gave you guys. Does it sound like she is pointing us in the correct directions?

You are setting yourself up for a long commute. Stay in NJ - South Jersey has better access to center city, the shore, central/northern NJ and NYC. I can be at the shore in less than an hour, in center city in 30 minutes, in NYC in roughly 90 minutes and I used to commute to Bridgewater and Madison, NJ.

Walkable towns on the Patco train line include Collingswood, Haddon Twp, Haddonfield. Voorhees, Cherry Hill have easy access. The towns in Burlington County - the 4 Ms - Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Marlton and Medford offer great location, great schools, farms, preserved open space, tons of shopping and perfect location along the 295/I-95 corridor running north and south. No need to consider PA. The local roads in PA are in bad shape and the highway system pales in comparison to NJ's highway system. A short drive can take forever in PA. Moorestown ranked best place to live in the US by Money in 2005. Coming from Warren, NJ, you will experience culture shock in PA. Being farther from the coast, it has less sun exposure than south jersey, more cold weather in winter and typically much more snow. PA has less amenities and an overall worse location than NJ.

Also, be aware that Rendell is increasing personal income tax in PA for a minimum of 3 years. Chances are it will be a lot longer than that.

[niceguy19125]

Originally Posted by orrmobl

You might want to reiterate your desire to be along a train line and for liberal areas. This would include places like Swarthmore/Wallingford/Nether Providence, Media and Narberth. She is sending you a lot of places in Montco but not much in Delaware County (Delco) which is defintiely somewhere you should be looking...

I agree, it sounds like your real estate agent is making the assumption that you're a card carrying conservative based upon those recommendations.
If you're deadset on leaving New Jersey, there are only a couple of areas in PA that I could in good conscience recommend based upon your criteria.

One is Narberth, the other is Chestnut Hill/West Mt Airy in the northwest section of Philadelphia near the Montgomery County line..

531 Glenwood Rd, Merion Station, PA 19066 - Zillow
Address undisclosed - Zillow
110 E Moreland Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19118 - Zillow
8021 Seminole St, Philadelphia, PA 19118 - Zillow

[maf763]

Card carrying conservative? I don't think so for those areas.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Moody75

OK, the realtor (who I haven't met and was designated by the new company) sent me a bunch of houses to look at in various areas! I don't even know where these places are.

Ok these are some name of the towns (areas?) she sent.......

Are these all over the place in different parts of Philadelphia? Maybe she is trying to show me what's out there? Talk about overwhelming! I gave her the exact specifications that I gave you guys. Does it sound like she is pointing us in the correct directions?

Thats a pretty wide cross-section of towns concentrated in the northern suburbs.They go from newer upscale suburbia (Blue Bell + Chalfont) to older middle class suburbia(Flourtown Springfield Hatboro) to a couple upwardly mobile Main Line towns(Bala Cynwd + Wynnewood)

IMO Doylestown is the best town in the realtors group but the downfall is the commute.

Be careful listening to Moorestownresident who has a seemingly pathological anti-PA agenda. He's telling you to live in NJ and justifying it with easier commute yet he throws out Medford, Mount Laurel NJ which are upwards of an hour commute to Center City. Whereas Media and the Main Line PA towns are 20 minutes to 1/2 hour. Thats not to say there arent excellent options in South Jersey but be careful with MR's advisement.

You may want to consider taking school districts into account. These are some of the better ones in the 4 suburban Pa counties. Good luck.

Montgomery County
Lower Merion
Methacton

Delaware County

Radnor
Wallingford-Swarthmore
Rose Tree Media
Garnet Valley

Chester County
Tredyffrin-Easttown
Unionville-Chads Ford
Great Valley

Bucks County
Council Rock
Central Bucks
New Hope-Solebury


Here is a Forbes/CNN article in which 3 local suburban Philly Pa towns made the top 15 (USA best places to live).
9.Nether Providence(outside of Media)
12.West Goshen(Outside West Chester)
15.Horsham(close to Doylestown)


Best Places to Live: Top 100 - Nether Providence (Wallingford), Pa. (9) - Money Magazine

[thesixth]

If you want a liberal area outside of the city but not too far away, you could consider Bala Cynwyd, Wynnewood (these are in lower Montgomery co.). In Delco, your most liberal area close to the city would be Swarthmore/Wallingford.

In the city, the most liberal areas would be Center City, University City and Mt. Airy. Chestnut Hill too, but it's probably a bit more conservative than the others. In the city, you will have to think carefully about schools. Many times people send their kids to private schools.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by MoorestownResident

You are setting yourself up for a long commute. Stay in NJ - South Jersey has better access to center city, the shore, central/northern NJ and NYC. I can be at the shore in less than an hour, in center city in 30 minutes, in NYC in roughly 90 minutes and I used to commute to Bridgewater and Madison, NJ.

Walkable towns on the Patco train line include Collingswood, Haddon Twp, Haddonfield. Voorhees, Cherry Hill have easy access. The towns in Burlington County - the 4 Ms - Moorestown, Mount Laurel, Marlton and Medford offer great location, great schools, farms, preserved open space, tons of shopping and perfect location along the 295/I-95 corridor running north and south. No need to consider PA. The local roads in PA are in bad shape and the highway system pales in comparison to NJ's highway system. A short drive can take forever in PA. Moorestown ranked best place to live in the US by Money in 2005. Coming from Warren, NJ, you will experience culture shock in PA. Being farther from the coast, it has less sun exposure than south jersey, more cold weather in winter and typically much more snow. PA has less amenities and an overall worse location than NJ.

Also, be aware that Rendell is increasing personal income tax in PA for a minimum of 3 years. Chances are it will be a lot longer than that.

Some of these comments I can't argue with, but some perplex me. I'm not sure how you can say they'll have culture shock in PA coming from Warren, NJ. Don't put NJ on a pedastal. Warren County is in Somerset County, right? About a year ago, a Forbes survey (http://www.forbes.com/2008/06/27/sch...ealestate.html) said that Somerset County was #16 in the country for raising a family (jobs, housing, education, recreation, shopping, etc.) Chester and Montgomery Counties in PA were #'s 10 and 9, respectively.

Less sun exposure in PA? More traffic in PA? Are you kidding? NJ residents pride themselves on traffic congestion.

That being said, as a general rule, many of the communities MoorestownResident mentioned are closer to Center City Philadelphia than communities on the PA side, and you need to consider this. Chalfont is "out there" a ways, and Doylestown, while a great place, is too far from Center City. Your realtor probably should not have even suggested it.