Rural areas close to West Chester? (Coatesville, Bradford: foreclosed, renting, townhouses)

[Taurean]

Hello all,

This is my first post on the site.

How far outside of the West Chester area does one need to go before the region becomes rural/farmland? This town intrigues me quite a bit. My ideal living situation would be within a 15-minute drive of downtown in a much more spead-out/rural locale...maybe renting a small house on a couple of acres.

I am not much interested in townhouses/developments/McMansions, etc., or contributing to over-development of former farmland.

Is this kind of living situation possible in the West Chester area?

Thanks a lot.

[rainrock]

There is still some very nice pasture surrounding West Chester. The sprawl is beginning to get out of hand, thank goodness for the global recession and collapsing housing markets and the death of Toll Brothers, Pulte,Hovnanain etc.


Your best bet might be looking west of West Chester towards Marshallton,Wawaset,Embreeville,Unionville,Kennet Square. To the immediate east is mcmansion mania with development after development in Westtown,Thornbury Chadds Ford. But further east look into Willistown Township (Sugartown,White Horse,Goshen are unreal old historic areas that have been saved from over-development)

15- 20 minutes to answer your question

Good luck.

[JohnZ963]

I think it's possible. At least you're renting, so the cost should be somewhat reasonable Parts of Pocopson and Newlin Townships come to mind. Maybe a small portion of East Bradford Township, sort of the southwest part I believe. There are tons of small-lot developments closer in towards West Chester, but if you go further out there are homes on a couple of acres and some larger farms and wooded parcels. If you stretch your time out to 20-25 minutes you can get to West Marlborough Twp. which is very rural with a lot of preserved farms. If you asked this 5-10 years ago I would have suggested West Bradford Twp., but most of the rural areas there are now slated for development.

[MoorestownResident]

The whole area of West Chester is basically rural. Take a drive on the turnpike, it's way out there.

[pman]

yeah I don't know, my old orchard was replaced with a housing farm, the general store with an upscale restaurant.

[Taurean]

Great information. Thanks a lot.

Where do you see this area going in 10 years? Is housing expansion pretty stabilized or is there potential for lots of sprawl?

[MoorestownResident]

It will stay the same or decline modestly. The hot housing market of the past 5 years or so had people buying big homes in sprawling locations regardless of the commute time. Now much of that is being deleveraged, people will downsize, and/or be foreclosed on, and move closer to work putting downside pressure on housing prices longer in these sprawling locations. West Chester is way too far from Philly. That's my opinion.

[pman]

Originally Posted by MoorestownResident

It will stay the same or decline modestly. The hot housing market of the past 5 years or so had people buying big homes in sprawling locations regardless of the commute time. Now much of that is being deleveraged, people will downsize, and/or be foreclosed on, and move closer to work putting downside pressure on housing prices longer in these sprawling locations. West Chester is way too far from Philly. That's my opinion.

except that Chester County has seen much of the region's job growth. It doesn't depend on the city the way south jersey does with its wage tax deduction. West Chester is fairly close to some major job centers in eastern chester county (GV and chesterbrook). OTOH, western chester county is far mroe sprawling (as not long ago it was bucolic farmland)

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by Taurean

Great information. Thanks a lot.

Where do you see this area going in 10 years? Is housing expansion pretty stabilized or is there potential for lots of sprawl?

Sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. Southeast Delco, which most thought was completely developed 10 years ago, found builders jamming small developments in every piece of developable (is that even a word?) land during the boom.

National housing projections show that a boom in new housing will be needed to fit everyone. West Chester is increasingly popular and has lots of land on the outskirts of town - I predict it, along with remaining farmland and any vacant spaces, will be built upon a la Southeast Delco.

Take a look at all the developments in the Downingtown/Thorndale/East Fallowfield area - that is the type of development you will see. Those areas still have lots of rural land around them - I would recommend moving there over West Chester, as long as schools are not a priority.

If you have deep pockets, Tredyffrin township has regulations in place to prevent over development - check out the areas of Malvern and Valley Forge along Yellow Springs Road - lots of large estates and horse farms.

[mbj350]

Around Unionville and Coatesville is a huge tract of land that used to be part of the King Ranch and now is conservation-eased with 33 acres per house. Is that what you were looking for?There is actually a lot of preserved open space buffering this area as well.