De, pa or nj?

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by Katyb14224

The company I will be starting with is supplying me with a professional relo service so I will have help in finding a place but was eager to get a general idea of where to start looking.

I would contact your relo person now. I think you will get much better advice than you're getting here. First of all, posters offering advice here here have no idea what you can afford. You say $1500 - $2000/month. Your relo person will ask you what price house you can afford - not what monthly costs you can afford. You could be paying $1500 on an $85,00 house or a $500,00 one depending on if you are putting 5% or 80% down. Lots more options the move expensive house you can afford - right? If you haven't done the math on mortgages based on your down payment to determine your housing budget, you'll need to do it.

As for PA, I doubt you'd enjoy the commute: 45+ minutes each way from Chadds Ford and about 60+ minutes from Media and West Chester - the only reasonable PA towns to commute to New Castle from. I suspect all three are outside your price range, though again - I don't know what it is. The nice PA towns are pretty pricey and you wouldnt want to live in the others within commuting distance. Your relo guide will tell you the same thing. Middletown is a closer commute and a more budget-firendley area. it is a small town which grew into a bedroom community for Wilmington. All the big box stores and chain eateries are there, and when you want something different, you can head to Wilmington or even Philly for a big city evening. One other place that might work is Newark - it's nice college town if you like that. Don't know if the nice sections of Newark proper are in your housing budget (once you calculate it), but the area outside of Newark called Pike Creek Vally might also work.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Bass7]

Originally Posted by rdlr

Yes, "research" is the key word. I've lived in Delaware all my life, and all of the services you mention above are included in my taxes. I don't pay for those services out of pocket.

My county taxes are less than $300 per year, for a mid-priced home. My town taxes, including all of the services mentioned above, totals less than $600 per year. What a bargain! Our children all went to Delaware public schools, and went on to earn college degrees, with two earning masters. We never had an issue with public schools here in Delaware.

Correct. Research. That is fantastic for you, but not all of New Castle county is like that. You know it and so do I . Not a knock, just the truth.

My 2 daughters live off Naamans road in mid priced homes also, both in developments, both do not have those services included in their taxes. The developments in winter are atrocious after any snowstorms for lack of any town snow removal, so not all places are the same.

Most of New Castle County is dependent on County Police and response times are not at all close to regular town police, again, not a knock, just factual.
I lived in North Wilmington and Newark developments and services were lacking compared to small Pa. towns.

You get what you pay for in taxes,

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by Bass7

Correct. Research. That is fantastic for you, but not all of New Castle county is like that. You know it and so do I . Not a knock, just the truth.

...which is why I commented on your original, misleading, blanket statements.....