Future PA Resident Seeking Opinions, Perspectives and Connections! (Allentown, Bethlehem: rental, condo)

[MamaDee333]

Hello future neighbors!

I was directed here via another PA forum, with many suggesting that Lehigh Valley is THE place to be!

We have a little time until the big move, so I am hoping to get as much information and feedback as possible from the good people who already reside here. Our main concerns are good public schools and low crime... It would be nice to meet some friendly folks as well, but I won't push my luck

We have a pretty open choice regarding where in PA we wind up, so I am trying to do as much homework as possible before we decide which area would be best for my little family and I! That being said, here is my survey!


When are you moving? This time next year we should be on our way.
Where are you coming from? Out west in the desert!
Have you been here yet? My husband has, but I have not. We both grew up in the northeastern US and its been calling us home for many, many years now. I trust his judgement!

Will you buy or rent? We are looking to buy a private home in a quiet suburban area, and a multifamily/condo/townhome/mobile home etc. to rent out in a more urban/bustling area. Our budget is on the smaller side, as we aim to make these purchases in cash. We don't mind homes that need some fixing up/updating etc. It's something I actually enjoy doing!


Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married with two children of elementary school age. One will be just about ready for middle school by the time we move, and the other not far behind. Sidenote: My father will be living with us as well.
Do you prefer public or private schools? We will be sending our children to public school, and good school districts are a TOP priority for us!
Do you have pets? Dogs and cats
Do you want or need a yard? We would like a yard that can accommodate a small BBQ/picnic type area and space to throw a ball around, but nothing beyond that is required.
Are you keeping a car? We have 2


What do you want to be closest to?
Schools and hospitals/medical facilities are fairly important, and we do not mind driving 20+ minutes to shopping etc.


Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? None of that is important to us, though we would like to find a home in an area that is low in crime!

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? Let's Go Mets! (though they're breaking my heart this season! )

Thank you all in advance for your time and attention! I hope that you're having a wonderful weekend and I look forward to talking to you in the future

[JohnZ963]

Define your housing purchase budget in dollars please. This area has everything from trashed $25,000 ghetto rowhouses in Allentown to $1 million + mansions on acreage. Are you working from home or are you needing to find jobs? If you are decent earning professionals, I would not move to this area without jobs lined up unless perhaps you work in healthcare.

[MamaDee333]

Originally Posted by JohnZ963

Define your housing purchase budget in dollars please. This area has everything from trashed $25,000 ghetto rowhouses in Allentown to $1 million + mansions on acreage. Are you working from home or are you needing to find jobs? If you are decent earning professionals, I would not move to this area without jobs lined up unless perhaps you work in healthcare.

Hello and thank you for responding! At this time it seems as though we will be looking for homes between 150-200K for the private home and around 100K for the initial rental property. To be honest, we are just looking for where the best areas are and will be able to work with/around our budget when we find "the perfect place for us". Employment opportunity is also something we are not concerned with at this time.

Thank you again.

[toobusytoday]

That's going to be a real challenge, but possible if you are looking for a fixer-upper or a row home. Most of the towns surrounding the three cities up here - Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton have good schools, but avoid the city schools themselves. Most of the towns Nazareth, Hellertown, Coopersburg, Macungie, Emmaus, Fogelsville are actual small towns started in the late 1700's and are really compact with row/twin homes, plus beautiful stand alone large houses and some restaurants, farmers markets (on weekends), and a nice community feel. If you go out into the country in the areas outside of the towns you'll find a wide variety of housing - singles, housing developments and farms. Macungie area has lots and lots of townhouses. I'd suggest coming up, looking around and settling on a school district. Once you get that, find a local realtor and have him/her start actively searching for what you want. It's a sellers market now and there aren't a lot of houses in your price range so it might take awhile.

[ASRGUY]

Dee,

I advised you about NEPA in that forum as well. Knowing you are maxing at $200,000 for a home is a challenge and i would assume slightly more so In LV. I would imagine in the top performing school districts in LV that will get you an outdated ranch. Property taxes aren't cheap in Pa. Are you hell bent on this investment property because it sounds like without that you would have a really nice budget to get in a really good district??. I still think you will like LV better than NEPA for job and careers and growth and proximity to Philly.

[PBToast]

I replied to her post in Philly forum on same. so I checked Zillow for that price and got mostly older Victorians on the main streets in the small surrounding towns. Looks like there is a bunch in Pennsburg in the $150-200K range. That would be the Upper Perkiomen school district. You will get a small yard, but will be lucky to get a free standing 1-car garage out back. Also probably only 1, maybe 1.5 bathrooms. Older houses in PA can mean 100 years old.

You can look up houses in these areas using Zillow and putting in your criteria. The school district is generally listed. You can then look up the district online and check for ratings. Also check the taxes. Is this rental property you want to buy going to be your "income"? For $100K you can't buy much if anything around PA. Not a townhouse or condo. Maybe a mobile home? But then you have to rent the land and the fee for that can run an additional $400-600 per month. At least those in Bucks County. Good Luck!

[loose cannon]

You are leaving the desert and I am trying to return. To each their own.

[MamaDee333]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

That's going to be a real challenge, but possible if you are looking for a fixer-upper or a row home. Most of the towns surrounding the three cities up here - Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton have good schools, but avoid the city schools themselves. Most of the towns Nazareth, Hellertown, Coopersburg, Macungie, Emmaus, Fogelsville are actual small towns started in the late 1700's and are really compact with row/twin homes, plus beautiful stand alone large houses and some restaurants, farmers markets (on weekends), and a nice community feel. If you go out into the country in the areas outside of the towns you'll find a wide variety of housing - singles, housing developments and farms. Macungie area has lots and lots of townhouses. I'd suggest coming up, looking around and settling on a school district. Once you get that, find a local realtor and have him/her start actively searching for what you want. It's a sellers market now and there aren't a lot of houses in your price range so it might take awhile.

I didn't even realize I had responses here! I don't know why I wasn't getting notifications! Bummer!

I've actually found quite a few really nice options through trulia that we could absolute work with, we're just unsure where the safest areas are and best schools/districts as statistics can only tell you so much... and even the comments from parents/students can be misleading. Just looking to get the best/biggets picture of everything

Thank you for the tips/advice! We're probably going to get in touch with one around Christmas time, as that is when we will be officially selling our house here. Maybe things will shift a bit more, but as I said for now what we can get for our budget doesn't seem unreasonable. besides I do so love a challenge!

[MamaDee333]

Originally Posted by ASRGUY

Dee,

I advised you about NEPA in that forum as well. Knowing you are maxing at $200,000 for a home is a challenge and i would assume slightly more so In LV. I would imagine in the top performing school districts in LV that will get you an outdated ranch. Property taxes aren't cheap in Pa. Are you hell bent on this investment property because it sounds like without that you would have a really nice budget to get in a really good district??. I still think you will like LV better than NEPA for job and careers and growth and proximity to Philly.

I am not too concerned with an outdated home as I actually enjoy putting work in and "snazzing things up" so to speak. We purchased our current home as a new build and I still wanted to update/change almost everything!

You're preaching to the choir about the investment property! That is my father's push unfortunately. It's a lifelong dream of his to do this and after my mother passed away suddenly, I'm hard-pressed to deny him the opportunity. I tried to suggest that we look to it in the future but he's stubborn as a mule and it "gives him purpose" (his words). Believe me I would love to have the full 300K to play with but am glad to work with less to make everyone happy at the end of the day. I don't believe its impossible... perhaps challenging... but worth it at the end of the day.

[MamaDee333]

Originally Posted by PBToast

I replied to her post in Philly forum on same. so I checked Zillow for that price and got mostly older Victorians on the main streets in the small surrounding towns. Looks like there is a bunch in Pennsburg in the $150-200K range. That would be the Upper Perkiomen school district. You will get a small yard, but will be lucky to get a free standing 1-car garage out back. Also probably only 1, maybe 1.5 bathrooms. Older houses in PA can mean 100 years old.

You can look up houses in these areas using Zillow and putting in your criteria. The school district is generally listed. You can then look up the district online and check for ratings. Also check the taxes. Is this rental property you want to buy going to be your "income"? For $100K you can't buy much if anything around PA. Not a townhouse or condo. Maybe a mobile home? But then you have to rent the land and the fee for that can run an additional $400-600 per month. At least those in Bucks County. Good Luck!

I am making my rounds all up in the PA forums, eh? I don't know why I wasn't receiving notifications about replies in places other than the NEPA forum... I'm still trying to get a feel for this site so hopefully no one thinks I was ignoring them!

We don't mind older homes and I thank you for the heads-up! Pennsylvania is SO LARGE that it can feel overwhelming trying to find where to begin... My husband makes fun of me because I spend every free minute on trulia/zillow and the PA school performance sites trying to find out where is good/bad and where the district lines actually lay.

The rental property will be my father's income/pet project, as I mentioned in a previous post. My husband and I have pretty marketable skills in healthcare and law/government, so we're not overly concerned with the job market at this time... We just want to be sure where we live has a good public school system for our kids. We are absolutely looking at all of the tax info and rents for the area to get an idea of what would be coming in vs. going out.

Again thank you for the tips and direction!