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Hi all!
My husband is an active duty officer in the Marine Corps and we are relocating next year to Lehigh County, PA. He will be working at the reserve center in Allentown. He is a pro at relocating, but I'm not, so I'm getting all the information I can about the area. We have a 7 month old and are looking for a SAFE neighborhood with parks and a close nice walk to shopping, malls, etc. Can anyone give some good advise? The current officer stationed at the reserve center said that Whitehall is a good place and so is Palmer. Can anyone confirm that with me and is there any parts of Whitehall that are sketchy? We also want to not be too far from medical facilities as we are planning on having more children. A good school district isn't a concern because our son is too young for school at this time and the Marine Corps will move us again in three years. How is the real estate market right now out there? We live on the Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton, California in officer housing on base and pay around $2200 per month with all utilities and trash. Also, we are looking for a non denomination Christian church that is upbeat, good in size and has great fellowship and ministries. If anyone can give any advice to the above...that would be super!! I sure would appreciate it. My husband is pretty fearless when it comes to relocating, but I on the other hand get a little nervous. He has been all over Asia, so he is not too worried about PA. We visited there once around Bird in Hand and absolutely thought PA was beautiful and the people seemed really nice. We can't wait to get out of California (not natives) as the gas prices are killing us and so in the cost of living. Thanks and have a good day!! Debbie
I'm not sure why Whitehall was recommended, not that it's a bad area, but it's an older area of Lehigh County and it might be harder to make friends. What it does have is good shopping! If you are going to be renting, you would probably have the best luck renting a town house and that would also be a good bet for finding other young couples. Center Valley, near where I live has some nice townhomes off of Route 309. I'm not really sure about renting one, but they are nice and our community is great.
Any of the small towns surrounding Allentown will have parks and be within 15 minutes of a hospital.
If I were you, I would concentrate on finding a "younger" area so you can find other couples like yourself. That's not saying that people like me (I'm 50 and have kids ages 23-15) aren't friendly, but by this time we have a circle of friends and wouldn't have much in common with a young family. Maybe I'm wrong, but my impression of Whitehall is that it's a very settled area with not alot of turnover. That is definately mho and may not be true.
If you are planning to buy then you want to look for a house in a school district - not for you but for re-sale. Just by a quick perusal of the posts here you will see that finding a home in a good school district is the number one priority for most people moving into the area. I'm not sure I would buy in this housing market if I knew I had to sell in three or four years. Our resident real estate agent, Jeff, might have a better insight into that.
Thanks toobusytoday! You know, I've been watching the real estate market and I noticed that there weren't many homes for sale in Whitehall, so I think your instincts are right in that respect. The tough thing is, my husband and I are kind of right in the middle of everything. We aren't in our mid to late 20's with a baby, but we are in our mid 30's with a baby. Makes it hard to make friends that are our age and have the same aged children. It's hard enough as it is to make any friendships anyway being in the Marine Corps family and moving so much. You definitely have some good advice with the resale value. We have talked to a couple real estate agents via email, but we haven't got there yet. We are hoping to come out there next spring/summer to check out that area and find that special place that feels like home.
The most important for us right now is safety. Especially for myself. The hardest part is finding that perfect place for everything you need!! When you say resident real estate agent...is that someone who replies to posts like mine?
Everyone, including yourself, seems very friendly there in PA! Someday we will settle down when my husband retires from the Marine Corps (been in for 18, going for 30 years). We've often thought of PA, but are hoping to settle down in Colorado (where I grew up). Thanks again for taking the time and giving me some insight into Whitehall!
Frankly, I think many young Mom's are in their thirties anymore. I was 27 when I had my first and 35 when I had my third. So, when I meant young, I meant couples with young kids. They keep you young, right?
Safety outside of the cities is a given. Usually the crimes that you hear about in our town are bashing mailboxes or drunk driving although once in awhile you hear of thefts from cars in driveways. We have had a couple of bank robberies but not an everyday thing.
Jeff Vivian is a poster on this Lehigh Valley forum who is also a realtor. While he can't advertise here, he knows the market and is more knowledgeable about the overall area regarding real estate then many of us.
If you look at Schooldigger.com -- Search and compare elementary, middle, and high schools. or SchoolMatters - Home (http://www.schoolmatters.com/ - broken link) you can get an idea of the demographics of the areas surrounding Allentown. Another invaluable resource is a good map. My very favorite is the ADC bookmap of the Greater Lehigh Valley: Greater Lehigh Valley, PA Street Map Book : ADC Map: Part of the American Map Publishing Group (http://www.adcmap.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=869 - broken link)
Whitehall is close to everything. That is why I settled there (well that and the fact that I am 2 minutes from my office). But I would seriously look at whitehall-coplay area, south whitehall, and even Northampton. All of these should get you close to what you want.
Palmer would be about a 15 to 20 min commute everyday for you husband as the 5 to 10 min commute in Whitehall or South Whitehall. But if your ok with that then Palmer would be a very nice place.
Also if commute if not of concern, Macungie can be a good area, Hellertown maybe another area.
My heart always goes out to our Marines and Soldiers (must include them as our son in law did a tour in Afganistan and Iraq)
I was born in Lancaster Pa (close enough to Bird in Hand to get your point). My husband was born in San Francisco. We met in New Jersey when he was working in the World Trade Center. We had 3 small children - then the opportunity presented for him to return sailing for the Merchant Marine transporting LNG from Indonesia to Japan. His idea of the perfect spot was Lake Tahoe. With 3 small kids and him working on a ship 4 months on, 4 months off, I wanted to be close to family and friends. So PA it was and he loves it here more than California.
After 20 years my husband retired from shipping and took a job in the Lehigh Valley as an engineer at a gas fired power plant. So we relocated from the Reading PA area to Lehigh Valley five years ago. There are alot of nice areas around here. Alot of the new developments such as ours went up over the last 5-6 years and have taken over farm land. So it is nothing to pass corn fields in your daily runs and yet there are plenty of restaurants, grocery stores, Wal-Marts, movie theaters etc within 15 minutes. We are located in Forks Township, which is right next to Palmer Township which someone else wrote to you about. Looking at a map we are at Rt 33 and about 5 miles north of Rt 22.
I've only been to the San Diego area once but am familiar with the San Francisco area. Traffic here is nothing like the Bay area. Rt 22 is 2 lanes each way. The Lehigh Valley Mall is about 20-25 minutes from here although traffic can bottleneck on 22 especially at rush hour around 8 and 5 (I've been in 4 lane not more than a car length 75 mph 5am traffic in CA trying to get from Vallejo to the San Jose airport). That would be something to consider for your husband trying to get to the reserv center - don't know exactly where that is in Allentown and my guess is he probably wouldn't be on an 8-5 schedule. The Lehigh Valley Mall is located in the Whitehall area. As someone said, the Whitehall area has lots of shopping and traffic wise is the most congested in Lehigh Valley, but I think it quickly goes north to a more rural area.
You might want to consider going south around Rt 78. There is a mountain between Rt 22 and Rt 78 but being from Colorado you would consider it a hill- but at least we have streams and it isn't all flat. There is a new outdoor Shopping center off of Rt 378 - Saucon Valley - there may be new housing in that area but it is spread out so you would definitely need a car. I'm only throwing this out to you because there may be a price difference between the southern area as opposed to the Palmer/Forks area where I am. Lots of people in my development moved from New Jersey and work in New Jersey(we are only a few miles from the Jersey border) or even New York City (which is about 1 1/2 hours from here.) It is easy to take a bus into the city. But houses are cheaper here and taxes are lower than Jersey. My experience is that when we were looking for a house five years ago, we were moving from the Reading area which is 50 miles south and the price per square foot at the time was $92.00 in the Reading area and $102/sq ft in the Lehigh Valley Area
There is a large hospital right off of Rt 78 and at Rt 29 - Lehigh Valley Hospital which has a good reputation. Muhlenberg Hospital is affiliated with Lehigh Valley Hospital but the building is only about 3 years old. My husband has been there twice, once for surgery and once admitted from the emergency room and it is a great facility. It is located right off of Rt 22 and 378. I assume it has a maternity section and pediatrics but i would just double check.
Getting back to real estate here. Prices have gone up since we built 5 years ago and are dropping but I think if we were to sell now we would get our money back. It is a totally different market than our experience in the Vallejo Ca real estate market. My mother in law passed away 2 years ago so we went out, did some improvements and sold the house for an outrageous price compared to PA. That was 1 1/2 years ago and our nephew who still lives in the area said the house is back on the market for less than half of what we sold it for. Just goes to show you, all real estate markets are local. There are 3 houses currently for sale in my neighborhood. One has been for sale for a year but is totally overpriced. The others have been on the market for 2-4 months but if they were to sell close to their asking price I don't think they would take a loss. Another house went on the market last fall asking $360,000, it sat till spring and sold at $313000. But here you can get a relly nice house for that money. A kitchen with a dishwasher, celler (possibly finished -probably not) 4 bedrooms, 1/4 acre, 2 car garage, back deck or patio.
Overall, this part of Pa is nice. Skiing if you are interested is about 30 miles north of here in the Poconos. Philly is 2 hours. The Sovereign Center in Reading has some good entertainment coming in - there is an IMAX theatre soon to be completed there -which is about an hour away.
Gas here is 3.99 for the most part. If you are looking at buying here real estate and school taxes total about $7000/year on a house around $300,000. Our trash bill is about $115.00/quarter. Water is about $45/quarter.
I'm guessing you like the internet We have highspeed internet here and the combined package with cable and long distance phone from RCN runs $140.00/month. We have expanded cable service but not HBO. However, what we have covers plenty of childrens channels as our daughter and grandson lived with us while our son in law served in Afghanisgtan and Iraq. If you were to live in a more rural area I would definitely check your options there.
OK - I'm giving info here like I'm talking to one of my own kids and I'm running out of space - besides my hubby gets home from work soon. Hope this helps. Just another word - I would be concerned about the resale value if you will only be here a few years plus you would have realtors fees when you sold. You might want to consider renting a house -some people don't want to sell now and take a loss and are trying to rent till the market improves. Just a thought.
Car insurance is another thing that might be cheaper here. If you don't already have insurance thru USAA you should consider it since you are military. We have it because my husband was a Navy LT. Things always depend on your driving record and credit rating but they give great coverage and good ccard rates etc.
OK, I'm sending this off- if you have other questions I'll be glad to try and answer - as far as churches go I'm sure you can find what you are looking for - I'm catholic so I really can't help there but my experience thru life is that if you have children and want to get involved in a community you won't have a problem no mater where you live.
OK - that's it --I hope this is of some help. God bless our Marines and the rest of our military - I don't know where this country would be without you!!!
Don't sell Whitehall short. Like jeffvivian said, it's close to everything, schools and parks are good, Lot's of places to eat and shop and churches a plenty, many with good daycare giving lots of oppertunity to meet people young or older.
Driving around I see quite a few nice homes for sale or rent so housing shouldn't be a problem either.
You might want to consider going south around Rt 78. There is a mountain between Rt 22 and Rt 78 but being from Colorado you would consider it a hill- but at least we have streams and it isn't all flat. There is a new outdoor Shopping center off of Rt 378 - Saucon Valley - there may be new housing in that area but it is spread out so you would definitely need a car. I'm only throwing this out to you because there may be a price difference between the southern area as opposed to the Palmer/Forks area where I am. Lots of people in my development moved from New Jersey and work in New Jersey(we are only a few miles from the Jersey border) or even New York City (which is about 1 1/2 hours from here.) It is easy to take a bus into the city. But houses are cheaper here and taxes are lower than Jersey. My experience is that when we were looking for a house five years ago, we were moving from the Reading area which is 50 miles south and the price per square foot at the time was $92.00 in the Reading area and $102/sq ft in the Lehigh Valley Area
The area that she's talking about is Southern Lehigh school district and the shopping center is the Promenade Shops in Center Valley. That is, it's located in Center Valley but the proper name is The Promenade Shops of Saucon Valley.
I will respond shortly, but wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond to my inquiry. We have been out of town and my son at Rady Children's Hospital for surgery, so time has been a luxury this past two weeks!!
Talk to you all soon!
Debbie
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Debbie 
Thank you all!
