Small family thinking of relocating to Pennsylvania. (Pittsburgh, Lancaster: rental, home)

[Hannah828]

Hello everyone. This is my first forum post here. I stumbled upon this forum and have been reading all morning. We are considering relocating our family from Maine to Pennsylvania within the next 6 to 8 months, due to A) We cant take the artic temps anymore. and B) My husband is having a rough time finding work in an economy that has gone from bad to worse. (He is a self-employed carpenter). I am an internet marketer so location is not a problem. We are just regular folks in our mid-forties with two little boys, ages 5 and 10. We could be wanting to move to a town or small city that is family friendly with small safe schools and affordable rental properties. Pennsylvania is home to several relatives and will be the retirement place of my own parents so is a logical choice for us. We arent ready to go someplace where we miss the seasons, just need to get away from the LONGGGGG dark winters and enjoy being outside more.
I hope that any of you could give me some suggestions of where I might start looking. I know, I know, It's a big state. Our relatives are in Bucks and Berks Counties but it is not imperative that we are next door neighbors or anything. Thanks for any help you can offer.
H.

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by Hannah828

Hello everyone. This is my first forum post here. I stumbled upon this forum and have been reading all morning. We are considering relocating our family from Maine to Pennsylvania within the next 6 to 8 months, due to A) We cant take the artic temps anymore. and B) My husband is having a rough time finding work in an economy that has gone from bad to worse. (He is a self-employed carpenter). I am an internet marketer so location is not a problem. We are just regular folks in our mid-forties with two little boys, ages 5 and 10. We could be wanting to move to a town or small city that is family friendly with small safe schools and affordable rental properties. Pennsylvania is home to several relatives and will be the retirement place of my own parents so is a logical choice for us. We arent ready to go someplace where we miss the seasons, just need to get away from the LONGGGGG dark winters and enjoy being outside more.
I hope that any of you could give me some suggestions of where I might start looking. I know, I know, It's a big state. Our relatives are in Bucks and Berks Counties but it is not imperative that we are next door neighbors or anything. Thanks for any help you can offer.
H.

The Pittsburgh region would be a good place to start looking. There's still plenty of construction going on in this area, even with the bad national economy. There's also quite a large tech sector for yourself to look into. The Winters can be pretty dismal here too, but coming from Maine it's probably nothing for you guys.

[ki0eh]

The areas south and east of the Kittatinny Ridge (basically I-81/78 and east) have had the most building activity. Of course it's slowed down everywhere, but long term growth in southeast and south-central PA has been much better than northern/western PA due to closer proximity to coastal growth centers. I personally prefer northern/western PA but they have colder winters and colder economy, sorry to say. My father worked construction and if you're moving you might as well move to a more prosperous area in order to keep working.

For smaller schools and affordable rents, one needs to pick the town carefully once you've gotten to a particular area. If you were focusing on the I-81 corridor between Harrisburg and Md. which will likely have plenty of building opportunities once all the approved lots get financed, two possibilities with smaller schools might be Newville and Boiling Springs. Both are places I looked at seriously when I moved to PA as a renter, and wound up initially in Boiling Springs.

[sharris]

I am going to say the Southern Pa area. Cumberland county and or York county. Just 45 away from Baltimore/ Washington Md area. And Hershey and Lancaster PA. Housing is affordable. Schools are good. Working in MD always brings along more money then PA so the location may work well for you. please let me know if you want more local info.

[sr1234]

Stay in the southeastern PA region. Otherwise you will get the bad winters you are leaving. Pittsburgh has been around 0 degrees all week with snow.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by sr1234

Stay in the southeastern PA region. Otherwise you will get the bad winters you are leaving. Pittsburgh has been around 0 degrees all week with snow.

SE Pa 's climate is a bit more moderate comparitively speaking but its no paradise either. I dont think its gotten above 20 degrees since Monday yet it never snows here anymore.

If you are considering SE PA I would look along the 202 corridor. Chadds Ford-West Chester,Exton,King of Prussia,Plymouth Meeting,Doylestown,New Hope.Thats where most of the new growth is occurring in the Philly area.