Best towns to live in, new job in NW Reading, PA. Married, 53 & 62 yr olds (Fleetwood: apartment)

[chipnanna]

Hello,
Looking for best area to rent house or apt (will buy soon, but want to get familiar with area first), we plan to be here the rest of our lives, as my husband loves his new job, it's the type of atmosphere he's been looking for his entire life, great people to work for and with. My husband & I (and our one cat) just moved from FL to PA for his new job in NW Reading, put our stuff in storage. No kids at home, we're iving in a hotel until we find a place to rent or buy, will want to rent for a while before buying a home. We are aged 53 & 62. There's so many small towns that it's difficult to narrow down. Also, we've heard that it's difficult to find rentals due to many people from Philly coming this way, even hotels are full of people coming here for work.

He does not mind a long commute (used to drive 1 to 3 hours one-way in the past) but would prefer to live within 30 minutes of Reading Airport, or the closer the better. We found out that the city of Reading is difficult if you are not familiar with the area, we are not familiar with PA at all. We've lived in many places due to both of us being prior military, but not PA, and we plan to stay here for good. We prefer to live in a very small town or out in the country. We'd LOVE to rent or buy farm house or any house in the country, but are not picky right now, staying in hotel is very expensive.

When are you moving? Here now in hotel.
Where are you coming from? FLORIDA
Why are you moving? For job, and to get out of FL due to overwhelming amount of people there, healthcare system clogged, traffic horrible, no seasons, no sense of community in FL.

Where will you be working? NW Reading
Have you been here yet? Yes.

Will you buy or rent? Rent for now, but buy soon.
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? House How much can you spend? Not sure yet.
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? Prefer house, but apt okay. How much can you spend? Don't want to spend more than $1200 on apt, will consider more for house.
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? Walk up.

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married, no kids at home.
Do you prefer public or private schools?
Do you have pets? One cat.
Do you want or need a yard? Would love a yard, but for now, don't have to have.
Are you keeping a car? Yes.
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? Quiet, rural, love farm country.

What do you want to be closest to? Reading Regional Airport.
Work yes, nw Reading.
Shopping No
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.) No
Nightlife No
Train or subway stations No

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Does not matter.

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? We are not sports fans.

We'd appreciate hearing from people who know the area to give us feedback.

We love hiking in the woods, aviation, gardening, healthy lifestyle, animals, and helping others.

Thank You.

[thedirtypirate]

Well if rural country living is what you are looking for, you pretty much have your pick. I would just look at places not to far from rt. 183 or 222 so you can get on the road to the airport quickly. It gets rural quick.

[chipnanna]

Thank You, I appreciate your help. Yes, we've seen that it DOES get rural quick, and what's nice about this entire area is that the rural areas are still close to shopping, etc. On the west coast of FL, it's not like this, the towns run into each other, it's no longer nice like it was in the 80s & 90s.

There's so many towns to choose from here, the rental websites go by town rather than area on a map - I found one website that lets you draw an area on a map, but there's very few rentals listed, it's an obscure website.
Thanks Again!

[Tweb66]

I agree with the above, you have a ton of choices. I am a big fan of Fleetwood myself. That area, Berks, SW Lehigh, NW Montco, its filled with a lot of underrated country inns, biker bars, many with great food.

[Jeanie Beanie]

I like to go to realtor. com and choose "Rent" instead of "Buy" and you can put in 19610 in the search area so you'll get places near to the airport. Choose the map rather than the listing option and you can see if the homes are in crowded places or more spread out.

Realtors who manage properties use this feature and I doubt you'd get the scammers that clog up Craig's List. You can get a good idea of what is out there = the options and costs.

Good Luck! And welcome to Berks!