Suggestions for places to live.... (Philadelphia, Reading: rent, buying, schools)

[dfsichler]

Possibly moving from Portland, OR. to the Philly/Quakertown area. My company is based on Quakertown and I'm looking for suitable places to start looking. I'm 35, Single and active. I'm looking for something with charm, young professionals/students with decent rent prices. I don't need to be "in the city" so to speak. Although, I don't want to be out in the sticks having to drive to everything fun. Any suggestions folks? I'd like to spend no more than 20 minutes getting to Quakertown in the morning. I'm completely unfamiliar with this area. Any info/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Daryl

[toobusytoday]

I would suggest you start out right in Quakertown and see if you feel comfortable there. Quakertown is a nice place, not sketchy at all, and has a small downtown area with restaurants, stores, bars, etc. They have a wonderful library and local public pool and park. If you want something more lively, you are going to have to go North to Bethlehem or South to Doylestown. Bethlehem may have a younger vibe due to the Colleges that surround it, but Doylestown is a bit more upscale and yes, expensive. I like them both. The advantage to Doylestown is that it has a train station, which means you could take that to get into Philadelphia whenever you wanted.

[thelazyone]

I have a cousin who lives down in Conshohocken in Montgomery county. Its a suburb of Philly. He's single and the area he lives in meets his social and outdoor needs. You couldn't do wrong in Lehigh Valley. Rent a car and drive around would be your best option.

[toobusytoday]

thelazyone, I'm not trying to be rude but I don't know why you brought up Conshohocken. I surely wouldn't recommend that commute to anyone working in Quakertown.

[thelazyone]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

thelazyone, I'm not trying to be rude but I don't know why you brought up Conshohocken. I surely wouldn't recommend that commute to anyone working in Quakertown.

if u read my post you would understand why i made that point. as for commute; its not a terrible commute. as for rudeness, its a matter of opinion. no offense taken.

[Wulfgeir]

Well first let me sympathize for you. I hate this place dude, I want nothing more than to move someplace like Portland. I hate it here because theres a lot of racial tension, violence, gangs, dangerous minorities etc. We also have a lot of gross hillbillies in and around the sticks of Quakertown especially. It's been a goal of mine forever to move to a more diverse and finacinally upbeat area. My area (Lehigh Valley)used to be mostly white like 30 years ago and all of a sudden this wave of minorites from NY and NJ just gets everyone in an uproar. We have alot of illegals too that our employers hire. Our temp services are pretty much just for them, cause all white people have money so they shouldnt be using the temp services (as it seems they operate). Sorry, I'm not racist but everyones a little prejudice including me. I just cant stand living in a white area and my friends are in the minority areas and I get harassed by the cops a lot cause I'm white visiting my nonwhite friends in a nonwhite area so they think I'm always up to no good. It's pretty ****ed up. Thats just me though.

Anyways I had to get that out so you know to expect when it comes to race relations. I've been all up and down the east coast of the US and Canada. PA is one place I would never recommend for just that reason. Racial Tension everywhere. I dont know you though or what youre all about and what you like to do.

If youre an outdoorsy guy, Quakertown is awesome. I go fishing in Lake Nockamixon a lot. Thats to the east of Qtown if I'm not mistaken, pretty close by. It's freakin beautiful. There's a lot of game preserves to take kids to or dates or whatever. I personally dont like zoo's of any kind but we got'em. We have a lot of artsy things to do in the area too. Bethlehem is where its at when it comes to artsy things. (about 45 minutes north of qtown. It's a very historic area with lots of shopping and art galleries. Reading has a lot of good shopping too, clothing outlets and Vanity Fair. Reading is very urban though, careful. Quakertown has the Quakertown flea market, or Qmart, best place I know to buy produce and good meat. Theres a lot of asian vendors selling counterfeit goods so I wouldnt recommend buying anything but produce there, it's all locally grown by the amish. You know they grow good stuff. Um, I've never been to Center Valley which is real close to qtown, definitely 20 mins away or less. Also Coopersburg is right there as well, theres alot of jobs in Coopersburg but I dont know too much about it other than it's not "the boonies".

Everything I've said here mostly pertains to south of the Lehigh Valley where I'm from, as for Philly areas I dont really know too much about. I value my life, I stay out of inner city Philly. You might wanna check north philly suburbs. My ex was an art student who went to one of the schools there and she liked it. It's pretty suburban and of course, its philly, theres always something to do. philly is pretty far from quakertown though. It's not within a 20 minute drive. Um what else...King of Prussia has a GREAT mall, so does Reading. We got a nice mall in LV too, but nothing to rave about. Well I hope I didnt offend anyone here, living here for 25 years made me pretty miserable all I want to do is move somewhere to the west like oregon or washington or north cali. Hope this helps a little bit, and good luck...