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Old 12-29-2011, 07:51 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
1,567 posts, read 3,116,430 times
Reputation: 1664

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One area I'm very familiar with that fits that semi-rural subdivisiony vibe is the area around Exton in Chester County. Some nearby areas would be Chester Springs, Downingtown, West Chester. Nice safe areas. Good schools. Close enough to the city for stuff to do yet far enough away to avoid the congestion and "ghetto" areas. They've even got a few farms remaining so there are areas of open land - which is nice.
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Old 01-02-2012, 09:02 AM
 
941 posts, read 1,803,767 times
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I heard Chester area was pretty pricey.
Can you rent something comfortably under the $800 OP mentioned,
or for that price would it be Section 8 housing?
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Old 01-02-2012, 10:55 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
1,567 posts, read 3,116,430 times
Reputation: 1664
Quote:
Originally Posted by countryswan View Post
I heard Chester area was pretty pricey.
Can you rent something comfortably under the $800 OP mentioned,
or for that price would it be Section 8 housing?
A two bedroom for $800 per month will be challenging in that area. Maybe in one of the actual boroughs. It is a pricey area, but with good reason.
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Old 01-02-2012, 02:40 PM
 
958 posts, read 1,197,574 times
Reputation: 228
Quote:
Originally Posted by countryswan View Post
I heard Chester area was pretty pricey.
Can you rent something comfortably under the $800 OP mentioned,
or for that price would it be Section 8 housing?
It is very important to remember the difference between Chester and Chester County. I can't stress the importance of it enough.
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Old 01-03-2012, 11:34 AM
 
Location: Newport, NC
955 posts, read 4,089,311 times
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I'm surprised no one mentioned the Lehigh Valley (unless I missed it). Do a search on this website and you'll get a wealth of information.
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Old 01-04-2012, 03:06 AM
 
941 posts, read 1,803,767 times
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I have heard others make mention of Lehigh Valley.. and how cheerful it is living there. What's your take on it.\?
(unfortunately I have shied away from it purely because the highway in that area tells me its a big busy fast place...just didn't appear friendly)
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Old 01-04-2012, 04:43 AM
 
Location: Newport, NC
955 posts, read 4,089,311 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by countryswan View Post
I have heard others make mention of Lehigh Valley.. and how cheerful it is living there. What's your take on it.\?
(unfortunately I have shied away from it purely because the highway in that area tells me its a big busy fast place...just didn't appear friendly)
We lived in the Lehigh Valley for about 20 years until we relocated because of my job. While Allentown - Bethlehem is very urban, there are many smaller towns in the general area. Our favorite location was in New Tripoli where we built our first house, but we also enjoyed living on Ettwein st. in Bethlehem, near Liberty high school.
We've been away from the area since 1995 so I'm sure things have changed, but from the posts I read in this forum, I think it could be a viable option for you.
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Old 01-04-2012, 03:07 PM
 
13,254 posts, read 33,519,625 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by countryswan View Post
I have heard others make mention of Lehigh Valley.. and how cheerful it is living there. What's your take on it.\?
(unfortunately I have shied away from it purely because the highway in that area tells me its a big busy fast place...just didn't appear friendly)
Busy, fast pace? Well, not really. Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton are all small city's and there are small towns surrounding all three. It's certainly not as fast paced as the Philadelphia suburbs, and we've previously lived in four of them. I always give a big sigh of relief when I get on our leg of the Pennsylvania turnpike and the traffic peals away going east and west when I go North.

There certainly are people that commute to NYC from the Lehigh Valley but because we don't have rail service, it's not a big majority. I like our area and have found it to be the friendliest place we've ever lived, and that includes SW Virginia. We had neighbors come to our door with food and the whole family in tow to meet us when we moved here. I play bunco monthly with my neighbors and we watch each others pets and houses when we go away. Schools are good, the area is pretty and it feels like home even though we are not from here at all.
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Old 01-05-2012, 11:26 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
1,567 posts, read 3,116,430 times
Reputation: 1664
My impression of Lehigh Valley has always been that it's a good, solid "all American" kind of place. An overall good area to live in.
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Old 01-17-2012, 07:02 PM
 
4 posts, read 9,716 times
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Thank you all for all your help.

We were able to make a trip up there a couple of weeks ago, put a lot of miles on the rental but got some good ideas of the area.

From the areas we seen, I think I like the Camp Hill area as well as the vicinity of Hershey.

Sadly I missed the posts on the Chester area until after we got back, so I may have to do some more looking into it. I noticed on my Google searches there seems to be a lot of "row house" type homes when I search for realty in Chester.

Am I looking in the wrong general area, or are there not really any rural type homes in the area?


Thanks again for everyone's opinions and sorry for taking so long to reply...between packing and figuring out where we're going, I've been a bit busy.
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