Job in Chadds Ford, PA (Wilmington, Newark: condos, crime, houses)

[aaron3]

I have just accepted a job in Chadds Ford, PA. Now comes the fun part of looking for housing. We are moving from Indiana and looking at houses in the 300-400 range. We place very high priority on the public school system. We were looking at Newark and Hockessin, as well as several cities in Chester and Delaware Counties in PA.

It seems like the school systems Red Clay and Christina have a wide variety of schools, with overall low average test scores for the District as a whole. Does anyone have any thoughts about how individual schools are in Newark/Hockessin?

Thanks.

[carguy2299]

I'm just trying to give you a idea of the area. This is kind of general. The topic goes from housing to schools, and back an forth(just so you know).
There is a lot of catholic,and parochial schools in the Hockessin/Wilmington area. There is St. Marks , Ursuline,Padua Academy for girls,Tower Hill,Friends,and a whole bunch of others in the city. Most of those schools are decent. However, The Charter School of Wilmington is considered one of the top 100 schools in the country,and its in the outskirts of Wilmington (in a nice area near Greenville). It doesn't cost money to get in, but they do placement testing. Hockessin is really upscale(million dollar houses) . North Wilmington is a super nice area as well. If you can't really afford expensive houses then some areas to check out that are still nice ,but affordable would be areas in Bear,Brandywine,Concord,and Newark. Now, If your in the City of Wilmington, it can go from small town homes, to ragged looking brick buildings, then back to condos, or big bungalows, or huge houses(depending on where you are). Its just like any other city. It has its problems, but there mostly centralized to certain areas. Newark in comparison , the crime isn't as apparent. In other words, there is vandalism, and sneaky stuff that goes on in that area. Its mostly college kids, or young kids looking to get into trouble though. Whereas, in Wilmington, the crime is obvious. You can tell in Wilmington. In Newark, its like a polar opposite. You don't know who is who down there. I'm just telling you from experience, because I grew up in Newark. I went to school in Wilmington. In Wilmington, in the bad areas, you can see the hoodlums out in broad daylight. The differences are, when police patrol, in Wilmington they would do a jumpout on a supposed crook. In Newark, they would apprehend them , and not even be undercover unless the Police considered them a real nuisance(an they would then do something to take care of the matter). Newark Police are very vigilant about what they do. Wilmington has a lot of stuff to take care of,and they are building a bigger force. Anyway, Just some info so you know.

take care...

[Summering]

And Chadds Ford is a wonderful place to live. There is an old Mill we meet at our DE friends and us from Pa. Great ambiance, and great food........a charming lunch place.
A bit off of the beaten path, but all stone and just so cozy.
You will love it there.......