Possibly moving to Delaware (Wilmington, Delmar: apartment, low crime, houses)

[rhc0607]

My husband and I are looking at moving to Delaware from Texas. We want to be within 30 miles of any major cities for job related reasons, but want to live in the suburbs. We will be having kids in the future and are looking for a neighborhood that has great schools, low crime, houses about 175-250K, and things to do in the suburbs. Any suggestions????

[Bekka]

Originally Posted by rhc0607

My husband and I are looking at moving to Delaware from Texas. We want to be within 30 miles of any major cities for job related reasons, but want to live in the suburbs. We will be having kids in the future and are looking for a neighborhood that has great schools, low crime, houses about 175-250K, and things to do in the suburbs. Any suggestions????

Honey, crime is everywhere. It doesn't matter if you want to live in the suburbs or inner city. Crime is crime and where there is something that someone wants then they don't care where you live.

In the suburbs you may be paying more than 250K for in the inner city home are costing 175K-250K...

GOOD LUCK...

Bekka

[bizymudda]

why delaware? have you considered maryland? you could be close to baltimore and DC. delaware is getting crowded partly because of an exodus from NJ and prices here for everything have been increasing tremendously. If you don't have to be in delaware look at PA or MD

[rhc0607]

We are looking at the other states such as Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. Maryland is too expensive, my husband wants to live somewhere that snow in the winter...he has never lived outside of Texas and wants to experience winter. I think we are leaning toward Pennsylvania...I do know that crime is everywhere, but some areas are more prevalent than others. Just wondering what cities have a LOWER crime rate.

Thanks

[hc7612]

If you choose Pennsylvania you will indeed get snow. Not a huge amount, but it will snow a couple of times a winter. That has been my experience since living in SE PA. for the last 3 years. If you are looking to be within 30 minutes of the major city like Philly? Maybe you should consider areas around West Chester, Pa. Property is somewhat pricey though and property taxes in Pa. are through the roof. That is one thing that I will not miss when we move the Delaware at the end of this year. Our property taxes will be 1/4 of what we pay now. As you stated there is crime everywhere. But you can find safe havens everywhere as well. Good luck in your search.

[rockky]

rhc0607, Maybe this will help you. I posted this link before, but I don't recall where.

delawareonline ¦ The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.

[Gone-2-Beach]

I looked into the issue of crime as it keeps coming up in different topics in our forum. The most recent statistics available are from 2006 and are defined as "the number of crimes per 1000 residents" in the state. Crimes were defined as "Murder, forceable rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, theft and vehicle theft". I looked at Delaware and other "retirement" states. I chose to compare retirement states because that is what is of interest to me. Others will chose other states to look at for varying reasons important to them. Here is what I found.

Delaware - 4.1 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Florida - 4.7 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Arizona - 5.1 crimes per 1,000 residents.
North Carolina - 4.6 crimes per 1,000 residents.
South Carolina - 4.9 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Tennessee - 4.8 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Nevada - 4.6 crimes per 1,000 residents.

United States Average - 3.8 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Does this mean you are perfectly safe in Delaware? Of course not. But in my opinion, if you are a prudent, careful, aware individual who does not take risks or hang out in the wrong places, you really shouldn't have any more of a problem in Delaware than anywhere else.

Just my opinion ... and a few statistics.

Charley

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by CMTAD

what I found.

Delaware - 4.1 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Florida - 4.7 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Arizona - 5.1 crimes per 1,000 residents.
North Carolina - 4.6 crimes per 1,000 residents.
South Carolina - 4.9 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Tennessee - 4.8 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Nevada - 4.6 crimes per 1,000 residents.

aCharley

charley...........We come from Philly where the crime rate surpasses all other cities.
We lived in a rather nice residential area called Torresdale. Not much crime in that area but of course we would venture out.
I really didn't think that much of it while I lived there.
I knew in what areas the high crime occured and we never went there such as north Philly, Kensington, south west and parts of south.

We watch both news channels.......Philly and WBOC Delmarva........
Philly had murder after murder on the broadcast EVERY night.

Delmarva is about the beaches, fall fairs, state fairs. Sure there is a murder once in a while but there is definately a difference.

One of my neighbors is from the same area as Bill and I, she brought up this fact not long ago.
We both agreed about the difference.

[Gone-2-Beach]

I lived in the Bronx for the first 27 years of my life. THE Bronx, also known as Da Bronx ... the Boogie-Down Bronx. There was plenty of crime to go around ... lots of drugs, muggings, apartment robberies, arson, gangs, car thefts, burned out buildings, etc. Anyone who knows the Bronx in the 1970's knows what I'm talking about. The Bronx, the home of subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz. The Bronx, where things were "so bad" that Curtis Sliwa formed the "Rock Brigade" on Fordham Road which eventually grew to become the "Guardian Angels". The Bronx, where looters burned down many of the stores on Burnside and Tremont and Jerome Avenues during the great blackout of 1977. The Bronx, where the Son of Sam ruled the streets in 1977 and 1978. The Bronx, where if you wanted drugs or prostitutes or illegal weapons, everyone knew exactly where to go to get them. The Bronx, where they named the 41st Police Precinct, "Fort Apache". The Bronx, where the Neighborhood Watch program was born ... because it had to be! THE Bronx, home of more horror stories than you can imagine.

Guess what. It NEVER affected me at all. Not one day. Not me and not any of my friends or family members or neighbors.

If you plan to move to Delaware and walk alone through the rough neighborhoods of Wilmington at 3AM every morning looking for trouble, you'll probably find it. But if you move to a relatively good neighborhood, and most are, and you live the right kind of life, you shouldn't have any major problems.

Charley

[ShariR]

Hello!

Kent County Delaware is the perfect blend of city and country. (IMHO) We are within a few short hours of Philadelphia, Washington DC, NYC as well as beach areas. There are a lot of developments going up in the area (Fiddlers Creek is breaking ground next month and has a lot of built in open areas/playgrounds for families with children or just people who want to stroll through their own neighborhood!). Many well within your price range!

The cost of living in DE is LOW! You'll pay $1,000 (or less) in property taxes compared to $8-10K in PA, NJ, D.C. areas. We have great schools (private and public) as well as good medical care.

Its a great place to raise a family!