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My fiance and I have searched the states and have found nothing like home. We currently reside in Lower Bucks county. We have ample convienece stores, low crime, and family here. Nothing like home. We wanted to move far at first, but now the surrounding area of Reading, Pa has caught our attention. There was some information on the area, but a closer look is much needed. So I turn to you!
Where has low crime, affordable quality apartments, and convienence?
Which area's are preferred?
Where to stay away from?
Is it a no-go all together?
Any information on the area is a huge help! Thank you in advance =]
My fiance and I have searched the states and have found nothing like home. We currently reside in Lower Bucks county. We have ample convienece stores, low crime, and family here. Nothing like home. We wanted to move far at first, but now the surrounding area of Reading, Pa has caught our attention. There was some information on the area, but a closer look is much needed. So I turn to you!
Where has low crime, affordable quality apartments, and convienence?
Which area's are preferred?
Where to stay away from?
Is it a no-go all together?
Any information on the area is a huge help! Thank you in advance =]
If you have any specific questions I can try to answer them. I'm familiar with Reading - spending about half of my childhood in a nearby small town - but can't give expertise advice.
Are you looking at the city itself? That's really the only place crime is an issue. How familiar are you with the city and the area, and was there any specific neighborhood or town that caught your eye?
I've seen many references to west reading being a good area, but still can't figure much out about it. Also, coudn't find any apartments listed in west reading. Lorane had a gorgeous apartment, but all I could find about Lorane is that it's mostly white. I saw that you moved to center city. We live just about 20 minutes north from there. Nothing about Philly appeals to us. We're used to the suburbs (born and raised) and that's what we're looking for.
I've seen many references to west reading being a good area, but still can't figure much out about it. Also, coudn't find any apartments listed in west reading. Lorane had a gorgeous apartment, but all I could find about Lorane is that it's mostly white. I saw that you moved to center city. We live just about 20 minutes north from there. Nothing about Philly appeals to us. We're used to the suburbs (born and raised) and that's what we're looking for.
Reading is a city that's nothing like Philadelphia - it's 80,000 people, sustainable, and aside from some crime problems, a minor league hockey stadium downtown, and a minor league baseball stadium on the outskirts of town - quiet. Just so you know that we're comparing apples and oranges. There is simply nowhere in Reading you could live and have anything like Center City Philadelphia or the big city lifestyle. It's personally more my kind of city - I would love to live there, it's a city on a much more human level. But my thing is that I absolutely do not want to have a car - and Philadelphia is one of the few really great places to live where you don't need to have a car and can still be on the same level in society as everyone else. It's not so much the "big bustling city" element that's appealing to me - I don't really do the nightlife or entertainment stuff. Just so you know where I'm coming from.
West Reading is a nice place that's sort of a streetcar suburb - Penn Avenue is the main street of West Reading, with some yuppies shops and pretty similar to a bunch of small towns within Philadelphia's suburbs.
Wyomissing is another older, moneyed suburb of Reading with some really beautiful houses and streetscapes.
Shillington is another pretty neat small suburban town, Lancaster Avenue is its main street.
Mount Penn is another nice one, just outside of Reading, set on hills, with a main street of Perkiomen Avenue.
West Lawn and Sinking Spring are further along down Penn Avenue, nice places, not incredibly interesting - nothing much to say about them.
There are plenty of other towns further outside of Reading that are nice little towns, and easily accessible to Reading. I grew up in Hamburg, which is about 20 minutes away. But I don't know if you're looking to go that far out (unlike in Philadelphia, with a Metro Area that stretches forever, Hamburg at 20 minutes away is really on the outskirts of Reading's inlfluence, as it is also about 20 minutes away from Pottsville to the north - so you see how we are comparing apples and oranges). You could live pretty much anywhere in Berks County and have an easy commute to Reading, is what I mean.
As far as Lorane goes - I don't think it's a real place. Meaning the name exists, but it's not a town in any sense of the world. Rather a collection of subdivisions with no true purpose for existing, other than a place needs a name regardless of whether a place is worthy of a name. If you're interested in something like that, good luck to you - but I don't really have anything worth saying about it, as I've never heard of it and I doubt too many others will have either. It would probably be the same as living virtually anywhere else like it. Berks County has a bunch of quiet and nice small towns, several of which have semi-active semi-quaint main streets, and I've pretty much been to them all and can tell you my impressions of them.
Within Exeter Township there is a neighborhood along Lorane Road, with a Lorane Elementary School about 1/2 mile south of Route 422. The area is very residential, but with many strip malls along Rt. 422 giving you the national stores, grocery stores, you need. It's pretty convenient to lots of places, although no quick, easy route to Bucks County to visit your family. Little crime. Good schools. VERY suburban. No problem there.
Within Exeter Township there is a neighborhood along Lorane Road, with a Lorane Elementary School about 1/2 mile south of Route 422. The area is very residential, but with many strip malls along Rt. 422 giving you the national stores, grocery stores, you need. It's pretty convenient to lots of places, although no quick, easy route to Bucks County to visit your family. Little crime. Good schools. VERY suburban. No problem there.
That's interesting - I didn't realize that was that strip mall area along 422. I'll have to look for a sign next time I'm through there.
To heatherlm, you are probably well aware of what you want - and I have a personal preference for towns as opposed to not-towns, so that's what my advice comes down - it's important to know that I am biased, especially when it comes to those Berks County towns of my childhood I have a somewhat spiritual attachment to.
I know you're really close to Berks County, but I also know (having lived in both) for most people in the Philly area, there's no real reason to go up to Berks County. If you're looking for something like Lorane, I don't mean to dissuade you. Only that if you're not entirely familiar with the area, it's just not the same thing. The small towns in Berks County are legitimate small towns, often surrounded my farms and mountains (and in recent decades, yes, strip malls and cheap suburban housing, which is actually where I grew up as opposed to the town of Hamburg itself). The "big urban city" in Berks County, is Reading - at 80,000 people, which is in reality not much larger than Bensalem, although obviously more like a traditional city than Bensalem is. So for example, Birdsboro, a small town near the Lorane that you mention, has a "downtown" essentially consisting of a bank, a turkey hill convenience store, and a church. Despite being a town, it really does feel like "the sticks" compared to Philadelphia.
West Reading is a nice place that's sort of a streetcar suburb - Penn Avenue is the main street of West Reading, with some yuppies shops and pretty similar to a bunch of small towns within Philadelphia's suburbs.
Wyomissing is another older, moneyed suburb of Reading with some really beautiful houses and streetscapes.
Shillington is another pretty neat small suburban town, Lancaster Avenue is its main street.
Mount Penn is another nice one, just outside of Reading, set on hills, with a main street of Perkiomen Avenue.
West Lawn and Sinking Spring are further along down Penn Avenue, nice places, not incredibly interesting - nothing much to say about them.
There are plenty of other towns further outside of Reading that are nice little towns, and easily accessible to Reading. I grew up in Hamburg, which is about 20 minutes away. But I don't know if you're looking to go that far out (unlike in Philadelphia, with a Metro Area that stretches forever, Hamburg at 20 minutes away is really on the outskirts of Reading's inlfluence, as it is also about 20 minutes away from Pottsville to the north - so you see how we are comparing apples and oranges). You could live pretty much anywhere in Berks County and have an easy commute to Reading, is what I mean.
This post basically sums up many of your options very well and included all of the areas I was going to recommend as well.
If you don't want to be right in the middle of Reading, which after living there for 20 years myself I wouldn't blame you, but still want a slight city feel I would say your best options would be West Reading (literally right across the bridge from Reading), Shillington (parts have that small city kind of feel and the downtown is alright), and Mount Penn (which is essentially just a section of Reading and definitely shares the city feel in areas.)
Side note: When I say "city feel", as FamousBlueRaincoat said, this isn't a city feel like areas such as Philly have. It's a FAR smaller scale and is pretty much simply housing based around a somewhat centralized "downtown" area. So please don't immediately cross these places off your list, as they all have there own things to offer, and just check them out for yourself if possible and decide what has that "home" feel to you.
If this isn't what you're looking for and you're more fond of suburbs, definitely check out West Lawn (rather affordable, safe, nice central location, good schools, etc), Sinking Spring/Spring Township which is very similar to West Lawn, and depending upon your budget Wyomissing is defintely worth a look.
thank you for your responses!! we know philly very well, as i live just down the street from northeast philly limit. the northeast is one of the bestter areas in philly however is still unattractive. a quiet safe area is key for us. We are "home rounded" people.
to famous blue: its funny you mentioned Bensalem. Its just down the street. my Fiance lived in Langhorne. since you brought up Bensalem, im asuming you knw that general area. howdoes it perhaps compare to some of the suburbs mentioned above? not so much size but more like quality of housing, attitude of community, ect.
as i said i have not been to Reading, therefore i cant point out how surrounding towns differ from one to the next.
Also, any info on kenhorst, laureldale, and any other towns just north of downtown reading would be greatly appriciated.
thank you for your responses!! we know philly very well, as i live just down the street from northeast philly limit. the northeast is one of the bestter areas in philly however is still unattractive. a quiet safe area is key for us. We are "home rounded" people.
to famous blue: its funny you mentioned Bensalem. Its just down the street. my Fiance lived in Langhorne. since you brought up Bensalem, im asuming you knw that general area. howdoes it perhaps compare to some of the suburbs mentioned above? not so much size but more like quality of housing, attitude of community, ect.
as i said i have not been to Reading, therefore i cant point out how surrounding towns differ from one to the next.
Also, any info on kenhorst, laureldale, and any other towns just north of downtown reading would be greatly appriciated.
I'm not actually familiar with the Bensalem so much, I just knew that it was a larger suburb - sorry. I just moved to Philadelphia back in August, after having lived in the Midwest several years. I've explored most of the city itself and several suburbs that are well served by transit, but have not gotten out to the NE that much. The furthest out I've been is Franklin Mills Mall - which I believe is just the other side of the Bensalem border?
Just like the city of Reading is a smaller and more humane sized city than Philadelphia, the suburbs also are less massively sprawling and alienating than in Philadelphia - you're probably not even going to find anything as sprawling and disorienting as Far Northeast Philadelphia, to tell you the truth - I suppose some areas around Wyomissing (I don't know what exactly the proper name of the town is, but the area just off of 222's Broadcasting exit). Laureldale and Kenhorst and most towns that are that close to Reading but haven't been mentioned mostly because there's just nothing much to say about - not to take anything away from them. They tend to have a normal street grid, lots of Post-War housing, some random things here and there. I'm not so familiar with Kenhorst, but went to Laureldale a lot as a kid.
The couple of places which have something which sort of makes them stand out have already been mentioned. But I seriously can't think of anywhere that would be a "bad" place to live though, other than some rough spots in the city itself. When you take a trip up there you'll see what I mean - it is similar to Philadelphia, in that Reading feels like Pennsylvania, and so do several of the surrounding towns. But it's on a seriously smaller scale. Most neighborhoods within Reading itself are probably quieter than where you live now in Bucks County - based on what I've seen of it anyway.
Lorane Road does have some very upscale and very highly rated apartments that used to be called Eastwick, but I think they changed the name. I believe you can buy condos and townhouses in that devlopment. Now back to Reading.
Reading has serious issues but you'd be surprised how much of it ends at the city border. There is some crime that spills over, but not violent crime. Things like burglary, theft, robbery( I guess thats violent), but not to a great degree. Reading has very strong and vibrant suburbs which helps and hurts the city. It hurts it in that people have no need whatsoever to go into the city to shop or eat or work. It helps in that people have money to spend to keep the city afloat. There is a great sports venue in The Sovereign Center( hockey, arena football, shows) and they have a top rated AA baseball stadium at the cities northern edge. 10 minutes out of the city and you start getting into areas that are truly rural, although there are big sprawling housing developments around, too.
Berks will beat Bucks county out as far as home prices go, as well as taxes. Its lower. I don't think you'd give up anything school wise or in quality of life, except that Bucks is closer to the Jersey Shore and NYC and Philly.
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Lorane?
