Looking for a central state. (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: fit in, apartment, rentals)

[lilbear]

This is my first time posting in the PA forums. I just looked at a map online today to find a spot that's middle to my parents in MI and my best friends in NH and MA. I found PA. Sure, there's NY too and we have friends there but we're somewhat more interested in a brand new place. We currently live in SC and look to move out of here someday. Basically, when the funds are saved and jobs are found.

So I'm gonna use this little questionnaire someone posted as a guide. Hope it helps.

When are you moving? ASAP Hard to pinpoint a time, a year at 2 most I hope.
Where are you coming from? South Carolina. Hubby is from SC countryside, I'm from suburbs of MI.
Why are you moving? Desire to be closer to family and friends.
Where will you be working? Hubby is a Computer Technologist/Graphic Designer. I am currently a Manager in retail but have experience with children in schools and daycares, also financial experience.
Have you been here yet? Drove through Philly once a looong time ago. But no, haven't officially visited.

Will you buy or rent? Either. But at the time we do have a few pets. Looking for something not too expensive to buy or rent so we can keep a simple lifestyle. I don't know going rates for PA yet.

If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? House. Without knowing prices, I don't know what we'll spend. Without knowing what kind of money we can make up there, hard to say.

If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? I don't know the going rates. I find $500 not to be unreasonable if it's a decent place. Apartment or townhouse would be fine.

Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? Walk up I guess.

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married. We're in our 20s.
Do you prefer public or private schools? No children.
Do you have pets? Currently we're down to 2 indoor cats, a small terrier and 3 cockatiels (not the big parrots) that share a cage. Dog is senior though, so that could change, as we've lost 2 pets already just since January this year.
Do you want or need a yard? I like to have a place to go outside. As also our dog needs to. Our dog doesn't spend time alone outside anyway, so I can clean up immediately after her and take her for regular walks.

Are you keeping a car? Yes.
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? For where the home is located, quiet. Hubby likes a quiet calming place to come home to, I have to agree with him.

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Shopping
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Nightlife
Train or subway stations
Not too small town but not too city either.

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? It doesn't matter. As long as it's a safe neighborhood.

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? Someone will have to elaborate on this for me.

[Ohiogirl81]

What's more important to you, being close to your parents, or to your friends? I can give you some vague driving distances ...

Michigan is at least a 10-hour drive from Philadelphia (I'm basing this on my drive from my home to my sister's home in Ann Arbor); your parents may live even farther away. It takes my sister about five hours to get to Pittsburgh.

Northwestern Pennsylvania is about four to five hours from southeastern Michigan (again, basing on the drive from my mom's house in Erie to my sister's house in Ann Arbor). My only drive to New England from Erie was to Boston; it's about a nine-hour drive.

[ki0eh]

Maybe a good place to start would be the State College area. It's not real big, not real small, more open to outsiders than someplace multigenerationally inbred, just off I-80 on the new I-99, has retail and potential for computer/graphic arts jobs.

Probably not right in town or in State College Area School District, would you meet your target rent or quiet, but more likely the Bellefonte Area, Penns Valley Area, or Bald Eagle school districts.

(Yes I know you're not interested in schools but the websites and data are often organized that way, vs. entering all the little towns by themselves.)

[lilbear]

As long as we're not in college town, that's alright. My parents are first priority because of their health. Michigan's economy sucks too bad to try to go back. Although we've tried. My parents live in the SE area, about 50 miles NW of Detroit. I'd like to be no more than 6ish hours from them. Right now, I live 12 1/2 hours from them.

How is the economy say the NW and central area of the state? How are the costs of living?

[ki0eh]

S.C. is pretty quiet once you get more than a couple of miles from campus. The areas I was suggesting are 5-20 miles out.

The economy, frankly, stinks in the entire quadrant north and west of State College. (Unless you're experienced at drilling gas wells, then it's great!). North of I-80, from about ten miles west of I-81, offers essentially no knowledge-based employment at all. Although that area is the most beautiful part of the state, you need to bring your money with you by establishing your live-anywhere career elsewhere, or your retirement income.

For two unconnected people to get jobs, especially in this overall economy, you're looking at State College, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley area (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton), maybe NEPA (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). The good news is that around each of these (even Philly) you might be able to find living modes that are "not too city". State College, NEPA, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, maybe LV will be relatively affordable (though there's likely some sticker shock except perhaps in NEPA, for coming from South Carolina...)

[ki0eh]

Just thought of another alternative. Corning NY is the home of Corning Incorporated | Home which invests heavily in R&D, so keeps the town clean with specialty shops for the few tourists and the PhD's spouses. No college (just a small community college for the locals on the outskirts) so remains quiet. I-86 and I-88 has a bare fraction of the traffic of I-80, for your trips to New England and Michigan (get your passport card to drive through Canada). Box retail in Big Flats is shared with nearby Elmira, the former home of Mark Twain that's declined greatly from its peak. Property taxes in upstate NY are outrageous, but if you're renting that's the landlord's worry. Corning-Painted Post schools are very good, but if you want lower taxes when you buy a place, the PA border and its very low tax Northern Tioga SD is barely ten miles out.

[lilbear]

I've only lived in SC for just under 6 years. I still don't care for it here completely. How do people react in PA to newcomers? I haven't always been welcomed here in SC because I'm different. I'm from... The north. or... The flat lands.

I put around $500 as rent. But what do some of those areas usually average?

[lilbear]

I think we posted at the same time. I'll check that out too. I'm doing some mapping of the areas that's been mentioned to me and looking for rentals to see what price ranges there are.

I'm thinking more than likely, we'll be renting for starters.

[ki0eh]

It seems like folks in PA react very differently to newcomers depending on the area. Larger cities and college areas are certainly more used to newcomers. Newcomers to the Harrisburg area seem to vary in how open things seem - my experience and that of the poster BacktotheCityMouse, for example, seem to be very different in that regard. NEPA seems to be pretty variable based on what the posters say in that sub-forum.

I don't think I would rule out Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse either. Syracuse seems to have stable employment because everyone's already left, or something like that. News in that sub-forum recently talks of a new technical center for JPMorgan Chase opening there and starting to seek employees.

Ithaca has nominally low unemployment, but tremendous under-employment (think PhD's in secretarial jobs) due to it being Nirvana for left-liberals. If you don't think GWB should be sent to The Hague for war criminal prosecution, you won't fit in with that set. But Ithaca is pretty quiet as college towns go, too much partying means you flunk out of Cornell.

[lilbear]

Our friends live in Syracuse and we've got those areas already in the back of our minds. It just seems so expensive and city life. But, we still need to spend more time in these areas and that helps figure it out too along with well, finding a job. SC is #2 from the top in unemployment last I heard. It's hard to make enough money to get outta here. We're constantly saving what we can though and hope nothing too big hits us hard to take it away.