Need help with a move to Harrisburg (York, Carlisle: 2014, apartment complexes)

[Jadedsky21]

Hello. I will be moving to Harrisburg from New York to attend school at HACC for dental hygiene. At the moment I have not been in Harrisburg due to being in Texas helping my mom care for my dad who had a bad stroke. My mom wont be able to care for him, by herself, until the end of the year. So I will be helping out here until the end of the year. Which wouldnt leave me even a month to get ready for the spring semester. So it makes no sense for me to move back to NY and then start apartment hunting in Harrisburg. I have been trying to search online as I will need an apartment lined up when I move (I do not want to have to stay in a motel while I apartment hunt ). I dont have to be in the Harrisburg area. But I would like to be close and keep my commute time to 45 minutes, maybe even an hour. I also will be taking the bus to get to school so I do not want to be to far in the surrounding areas, or anything to rural since I will not have a car. My budget is $650, but I hope to find something under that. Also, I would have my 3 year old son so I would like an area that is safe, has decent schools and a few things that I can do with him and take him to on the weekends. We will be moving right after Christmas so I need a move in date of January 1st. Where so I begin? Any information would be great! thank you.

[PA717AC]

Maybe try Craigslist for apartments? You can also google property management companies to find apartment listings. A company called PMI comes to mind. $650 is a pretty low budget for the Harrisburg area, but a 1 bedroom may be possible.

As far as taking the bus to school, make sure you check out the CAT (Capital Area Transit) and find an apartment near the bus route. Our public transportation system isn't very robust here, so unless you live near a bus line, travelling to places may be difficult. Carlisle may be a good option, as there are some bus routes there and the downtown area is pretty walkable. It's a decent school district too. Be careful on the area of Carlisle, as some are a little shady.

I wish I had more ideas for you, but I"m not overly familiar with the bus routes.

Good luck to you!

[ki0eh]

Here is a bus route map: http://www.cattransit.com/wp-content...m-Map-2012.pdf

[Davros]

In case there's any trouble reading that map, the #9 bus is the bus to HACC, and Market Square Transit Center (T1) and Harrisburg Amtrak (T2) provide transfer points between other buses and the #9.

Also, do consider the benefits of staying near family rather than moving 1500+ miles away. Are there acceptable education programs in Texas?

[ki0eh]

Also good to check the actual schedules to see how (in)frequently the buses run and how (short) the hours are. At least they do run more frequently than the monorail: A 45-year-old plan to end Harrisburg's commuter problem – and how little has changed | PennLive.com

[Jadedsky21]

I only went out to Texas because my step dad had a stroke. If I were to stay any longer, I would be stuck out there in a state I don't like, taking care of my step dad. I was already enrolled in the program in NY before he had the stroke. HACC allowed me to transfer my credits in. I can re-enroll into the program at the school I was attending in NY and the schools in TX have a 2-3 year wait list. I may be getting a roommate, so my I would now be looking for a 2bdrm under $900. So my question is still the same, which area would be the best to move into? Something that is not too far from HACC. Thank you for the previous input.

[ki0eh]

Considering (a) $650, (b) safe, (c) decent schools, and (d) car-free to HACC - that's a very difficult area to find an overlap among the four criteria.

Harrisburg City schools have been rated the worst performing among the 501 school districts in PA. Of course a 3 year old isn't in school yet, and you will likely be through the program and moving on elsewhere for a job by when the child is in school. So, rationally, criterion (c) might be considered the most negotiable.

Note that the Harrisburg postal address goes far outside the City limits, and further than meaningful bus service goes - east of the Susquehanna River. So you can't really go by postal address in delimiting areas.

The only residential neighborhoods near the #9 bus line are Olde Uptown and Midtown, both within the City limits of Harrisburg. Midtown is generally considered more desirable from the point of view of safety. Olde Uptown might be ok, it's not considered the worst neighborhood. Harrisburg is a small enough city so block by block matters and neighborhood boundaries can be fuzzy. Unfortunately I think most of the posters with more current block by block knowledge aren't making time for this forum anymore.

One transfer opens up the A and F bus routes that pass the inner-ring West Shore suburban communities of Enola, Wormleysburg, Lemoyne, and New Cumberland - and also the #3 bus line that passes out of the City limits into Susquehanna Township. Susquehanna Township is a mixed-race mixed-income school district that has had some administrative turmoil recently, but had been rated much higher than the Harrisburg City schools. Bicycle commuting from the Susquehanna Township #3 bus line areas to HACC should be feasible much of the time, with the bus as backup. There is a paved bicycle underpass from Apollo Ave, a neighborhood off of Paxton Church Rd, under US 22/322 expressway into Wildwood Lake just north of the HACC campus (Google Maps shows this).

[Jahodor]

Originally Posted by PA717AC

Maybe try Craigslist for apartments? You can also google property management companies to find apartment listings. A company called PMI comes to mind. $650 is a pretty low budget for the Harrisburg area, but a 1 bedroom may be possible.

As far as taking the bus to school, make sure you check out the CAT (Capital Area Transit) and find an apartment near the bus route. Our public transportation system isn't very robust here, so unless you live near a bus line, travelling to places may be difficult. Carlisle may be a good option, as there are some bus routes there and the downtown area is pretty walkable. It's a decent school district too. Be careful on the area of Carlisle, as some are a little shady.

I wish I had more ideas for you, but I"m not overly familiar with the bus routes.

Good luck to you!

$650 for a one bedroom in the Harrisburg area, you are not going to get that, unless it is part of a private residence. In apartment complexes in Dauphin County, One bedroom units run $760-810 (if you are lucky) and these are at the older places. If there is a one bedroom unit less than $650 in this area, watch out.

The Brook at Colonial Park has one bedroom units at $760 with washer and dryer in the apartment with a max of 25 dollars water and sewage but once again, it is an older apartment complex.