General Contractor with 4 kids Moving from Clearwater FL to Harrisburg/York Suburbs. (Lancaster: sales)

[miz.hanson212]

Hi,

We are an average family. We have 4 kids, 15, 13, (Highschool) and 9 and 7 .

Wife: Some college about 60 credits. Does property management, apartment home rentals...Not quite like real estate, but similar. Want's to work, but in this area, she can't find a job that pays more than 14 an hour with less than a 45 min commute. With 4 kids, it's smarter to just stay home.

Husband: General contractor, but get get a license here, so makes sub contractor wages and is limited on the scale of work he does. He loves his work, but want's to work for home owners, not investors who buy distressed property for a crap flip. Wages since the economy picked back up a bit...60 to 70 k a year. Job offer to make 20 hourly to start in PA doing construction...Also have family member who is a real estate investor who can use a GC.

Lifestyle: We are conservative, but open minded. We aren't holy rollers but believe in God. We love dancing, enjoying wine, food, and doing fun outdoor things when it's cooler. We don't like to judge and we make friends in all walks of life. We don't go to the beach often and haven't afforded to go to theme parks here.

Our neighborhood: We live near safety harbor Florida, 2 miles from countryside mall. Our kids are zoned for countryside high, safety harbor middle and McMullen Booth Elementary. The elementary suffered and we enrolled our kids in a private school with a scholarship. Our home is 1500 sqft with a somewhat working pool. Septic tank, Ripped rotting lanai, overgrown swamp trees. Drunk people cutting thru to get to the other zip code. Petty thefts. Punks speeding thru our street. This is all we can find and afford in this area that fits us. Our master is actually a garage that was converted without permits. We pay 1350 rent. Our house is somewhat renovated. Pool materials 100, electric 250-300, insurance liability only 100 (2 vehicles) , food 1500, gas 400 to 500 monthly. Water 80.00 Trash 30.00 Those are just area specific bills. We obviously have car payments, cable/net, health ins. tuition, sports, Cell phone bill, credit card, student loan. etc. Sales tax here is 7%. There is no state tax, but if we owned a home, our property taxes cost 400 a month and insurance 150 just to live in our low blue collar middle class outskirt of a decent school zone zip code. We have considered moving to a different area, but it doesn't change the legalities of my husbands work.

We have basically made our minds up to move, since PA is easier to become a legal GC than Florida (my husband has plateaued with how much money he can make) We are in a rut. He can't build his biz enough to retire at all. The public schools are a lot better up north too. Based on what I wrote...Will a family like us find a market to make money up in Dutch Country, Cumberland, York area? Is it realistic to find a home that will fit us better for the same, if not less money. Any suburb that offers lots of family activities, fairs, library's and other places with free/ cheap activities? Is there a market for construction, or do we need to worry about the Amish competing with home building outside of Lancaster. We would like to be in a country setting, but easy drive to fun stuff. Enola, CampHill, Mechanicsburg, York Suburbs, any other suggestions or am I on the right track? THANK YOU ALL!

[Dequindre]

Do you value countryside or convenience more?

There are some communities that kind of split the difference of the two and offer more affordable housing (more for your money). I'd start by looking at Hanover, Chambersburg, and Gettysburg. All three combine convenience of modern life with the rural attributes I feel you may be looking for.

Places like York, Camp Hill, and Mechanicsburg are more pricey and have a very busy, suburban feel to them.

[PA717AC]

Hi there....
I agree with Dequindre -- Hanover, Gettysburg, Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg are all good choices. The Camp Hill - Mechanicsburg - Lemoyne area has more recreational options than Gettysburg or Hanover, but depending on where you want to work, they're all good choices.

There's a good quality of life in the area -- a lot of minor league sporting events, family-friendly festivals, yard sales, mini-golf, cheapie movie theaters, etc. If you're looking for a good education, it's best to stay out of Harrisburg city or York city schools.

With your wife's occupation, your best bet may be the Harrisburg (Camp Hill/Mechanicsburg/Lemoyne) area. There are more apartment complexes in Harrisburg than there is in York, Hanover, or Gettysburg.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck to you!

[miz.hanson212]

Busy suburban is what we have here based on Florida, Tampa Bay standards. Everything is within a 2 mile radius. Mall, great parks, schools and even a beach. We like open fields and rolling hills. We don't mind being out in the country. Is slower paced, but looking a google maps, Camp hill, as "busy" as it may seem, it doesn't compare to our over developed tiny bay that we live in. Thanks so much for the feed back! I think Enola, camp hill, mechanicsburg will work for us, since wife's jobs and husband jobs may be mostly in harrisburg, or york.

[Dequindre]

Originally Posted by miz.hanson212

Busy suburban is what we have here based on Florida, Tampa Bay standards. Everything is within a 2 mile radius. Mall, great parks, schools and even a beach. We like open fields and rolling hills. We don't mind being out in the country. Is slower paced, but looking a google maps, Camp hill, as "busy" as it may seem, it doesn't compare to our over developed tiny bay that we live in. Thanks so much for the feed back! I think Enola, camp hill, mechanicsburg will work for us, since wife's jobs and husband jobs may be mostly in harrisburg, or york.

I'm not too familiar with Enola, but the Camp Hill/Mechanicsburg area should fit your family nicely. Camp Hill is closer to Harrisburg, so expect the homes to be a little older and smaller. Mechanicsburg has the newer, fancier homes.