best elementary school near wyomissing/reading area (Scranton, Lancaster: appointed, real estate market)

[mmdht2]

hi guys,
i have taken a job at wyomissing/reading and need to move this summer. i have a 4yo and a 9yo. school is the most important thing to me. i don't mind traveling 30miles to work if i have to. i want a house with 4rooms and at least 2 car garage. i want to spent about 500k but higher if need be.
what are my choices?
thank!
james

[mmdht2]

anyone?
i'm moving from atlanta by the way.

[SteelCityRising]

You'll find an answer soon enough I'm sure. The main forum has a lot of helpful members from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley, but there aren't many (if any) who live in Berks County yet. From what I've heard the city of Reading itself should be avoided like the plague for its violent crime issues, but Wyomissing is a much more stable inner suburb. Good luck, and welcome in advance to PA!

P.S. For that type of money you could live in a mansion in southern parts of neighboring Schuylkill County, in the areas around Deer Lake and Orwigsburg, as well as Hamburg in Berks County.

[mmdht2]

thanks for the reply. is there a ranking or pa public elementary schools? like i said, i don't mind driving 30 miles to Wyomissing (that's almost 1/2 way to philly). i just want a good school for my kids.
regarding $500k budget, I didn't want to spent that much either but looking at Wyommissing, you will be surprised to see how expensive the houses are there.
thanks
james

[Scott R]

According to Google Maps, my house is a 39 minute drive to the center of Wyomissing. I live in Warwick Township, Chester County. We're in the Owen J Roberts school district which is supposedly pretty good. Our daughter goes to French Creek Elementary school, which I believe is the East-most elementary school in this district (and, therefore, likely the closest to Wyomissing).

We just moved from Simsbury, CT this past December which had great schools and finding a good school was important to us.

The town we're in is very pretty (no overcrowded developments - the township is pretty strict about minimum lot sizes close to an acre), with lots of homes with acreage and horses. It's definitely a bit rural, though, with a large blue collar population, lots of hunters, a paltry number of decent restaurants (a big problem for me - I love good food). But we're only about 20 minutes to Exton, 25-30 minutes to Malvern, and 35 minutes to King of Prussia, all of which have plenty of shopping and restaurants.

I suspect (and hope) that with the recent/ongoing suburban sprawl in nearby areas (e.g., Eagle, Chester Springs) we'll see more and better shopping/restaurants pop up closer by.

[Scott R]

Oh, by the way, the house we bought (which could be considered a "small lot" in our town - about 0.8 acres) but a newer home (4 years old) and about 2500 sq ft was about $400k. Again, according to Google Maps, we're about 39 minutes (26 miles) from the center of Wyomissing.

Going slightly further away from Wyomissing, you can find a couple of brand new developments in Eagle (e.g., Toll Brothers) which are beautiful homes and carriage homes (fancy large condos) in the $380-440k price range for similar square footage but much smaller lot sizes (I mean *really* small - like 0.15 acres) and with association fees involved. These are in the Downingtown East school district which is also supposed to be quite good but the schools are quite a bit larger (if that's a negative to you). On the plus side, they're 10 minutes closer to Exton than me, which means more shopping/restaurants.

FWIW, my wife and I work in Exton and our priorities were to find a home that was within 30 minutes to work, had a good/great school system, and had a quieter feel. We would have also liked better restaurants and a good organic grocery store nearby, but I guess we couldn't have everything.

[Scott R]

One last thing...I recommend you take a look at pahomesonline.com if you haven't already. It's got some nice search options, including letting you search for homes within specific school districts. I don't know how things work in Atlanta, but the way the schools/towns here are aligned was confusing for us at first. In CT, if you lived in a certain town (e.g., Simsbury), you were in the "Simsbury" school system. Here, you might live in Downingtown and be in the Coatesville school district (not considered to be desirable) or the Downingtown East school district (considered much better).

OK, one more thing...if racial diversity is important to you, you may also be disappointed with the area I'm in. That was another priority for us which didn't pan out. I mentioned that our town has a larger blue-collar population. What I forgot to mention is that it's primarily white. One town that would have worked for our commute, had good diversity, and good schools was West Chester. That would definitely be a *lot* farther to Wyomissing, though.

I don't think you'll find good diversity with good schools between me and Wyomissing/Reading, though. That said, I'm hoping that diversity will improve over time in our area as the ongoing suburban sprawl from Philly and other more diverse/urban areas (e.g., West Chester) spreads out further. Of course, that won't happen overnight.

If you need additional help, post here or send me a private message through the forum.

[gut12]

I maybe the lone Berks County native. I know this area very well and am very familar with the wyomissing area. Wyomissing is a very good school as are most of the Berks county schools. Wilson is also good, with the lowest taxes right now ( but that will be changing next year as they will all go up ). I am also very familar with the real estate market as I am a home builder in this area. I am currently working with several people who are looking to relocate to the Berks/Lancaster Co. area. I believe it is truly PA's best kept secret !!!! Low cost of living, good schools, close to everything and a short drive puts you in major cities (philly, Pitt, NYC, Balt.,Wash DC) plus close to the beach,mountains, and rich farm land. There is really no other place in the country that puts you within such a short drive (1-3 hrs) of so much stuff.

If you need help, please email me direct at gut12@netzero.net (my name is Chris) I would be more then happy to help you.

PS 500 K will get you A LOT of house. I also know the Atlanta market as my sister lives there-- and trust me 500 here is like 900 down there !! As I said I am a builder so I am very in touch with prices. I have some land available in areas if you would like to build and not be in a sub division.

[gut12]

BTW Bucks,Mongt,Chester,Deleware countys are all much more expensive then Berks,Lancaster and Lebanon. There are these "imaginary" lines that you just have to know about,that will make all the difference in cost of living

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by mmdht2

hi guys,
i have taken a job at wyomissing/reading and need to move this summer. i have a 4yo and a 9yo. school is the most important thing to me. i don't mind traveling 30miles to work if i have to. i want a house with 4rooms and at least 2 car garage. i want to spent about 500k but higher if need be.
what are my choices?
thank!
james

Well, first off, congratulations on the job!

As it has been said, Berks County largely has great schools. Wilson, Wyomissing, Governor Mifflin, Muhlenburg, Oley Valley, and Daniel Boone are your primary suburban school districts surrounding Reading, which are all great public schools -- so take your pick! Reading itself has plenty of crime, drug, and gang issues, and the public schooling in the city itself is rather sub-par compared to its suburban peers.

With regard to your housing budget, 500K can get you a very nice and large home, but keep in mind, as one poster has mentioned, that property taxes, housing prices, and general cost-of-living is substantially cheaper in Berks than what you would find more toward Philly in neighboring Montgomery or Chester counties.

Some suburban areas of Reading that I would look into are:

Oley Valley
Shillington
Muhlenberg Township
Birdsboro
Exeter Township

Good Luck!