Comparisons: Manayunk, Roxborough, East Mt. Airy, East Falls, and Whitemarsh Township (Philadelphia: houses, neighborhoods)

[tkd108]

Moving to Northwest Philly in a few months. Can you all please compare/contrast Manayunk, Roxborough, West Mt. Airy, East Falls, and Whitemarsh Township? Chestnut Hill is out of our range and it seems most of Philly’s NW burbs are as well. We are looking for SAFE over anything else. Home requirements include off street parking for at least one car. We don’t want a row house. We have seen some other options on trulia.com. Is it even possible to get a single family house for under 225K in these areas? We’d rather have a tiny single than a large twin/rowhouse/duplex. These areas are appealing because we know people there and they seem more surburban than the rest of Philly. Other info: Looking to be close to our Mt.Airy place of worship, have a 3 yr old toddler, and we don’t party.

[JasmineFlower]

Well instead of comparing the areas, I'll just say, you will most likely have to look solely in Roxborough and Whitemarsh. Whitemarsh is not part of NW Philly by the way, but I assume you know that. In both areas, there are single family homes. Whitemarsh will have very few under $225k and pretty small. Roxborough will have also have very few for this price range, but possibly a couple more and possibly a bit larger.

If you don't want to live in a rowhome, you might want to reconsider living in a twin, which has the feel of a SFH and many times will have off street parking, if you want to try to go for neighborhood over just being able to afford any SFH in NW Philly. Your options for a SFH in your price range will be limited in all of these areas.

[tkd108]

Thanks Jasmine. Any thoughts on safety? Ive heard mixed things about Mt. Airy. Safety is a bigger concern than a single family home

[PennKid]

In terms of safety, all the neighborhoods are equally very safe- there are problems in easternmost Mt Airy, but a lot of people disavow it and say that it's in Germantown. It's best west of Upsal and/or south of Germantown. The only mumblings are by people that cant believe a 40% black neighborhood can be one of the nicest and safest in Philadelphia. In East Falls, there is a little bit of a siege mentality since North Philly is not too far, but it's never even come close to actually affecting the neighborhood.
Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls, Mt. Airy- all great neighborhoods. Although its a personal prejudice of mine, I'd advocate for living in these neighborhoods over Whitemarsh- the more decent people live in cities, the more everyone benefits... although Whitemarsh is hardly urban sprawl, don't be fooled by the argument that nothing good is to be found in suburbs!

[JasmineFlower]

I agree with PennKid completely on safety. Its hard to go wrong with any of these neighborhoods. I think some might argue that Manayunk is a little less family friendly than the others, but that's about it, all great neighborhoods that you should definitely consider.

[tkd108]

Thanks. What would you say is the most family friendly? We aren't necessarily looking for the safest trendy area with clubs and restaurants, but I guess the most "surburban" location in the city. We're a mixed race and mid 30's and you could say we fall into the granola/food co-op/baby jogger/stay-at-home-mom-with-playgroup/alternative religion/ group...

[JasmineFlower]

Well from your description, West Mount Airy would be a place you would love to live. If you have trouble affording West Mount Airy, make sure you look in East Mount Airy and West Germantown. Roxborough is a very nice suburban like, family friendly, mostly white neighborhood. Its still your best bet for finding a SFH in NW Philly in your price range. East Mount Airy is a traditionally black middle class neighborhood that is becoming more diversified as others discover its about as nice as West Mount Airy but less expensive (though probably not for long, prices have definitely gone up in recent years), same with West Germantown.

West Mount Airy is a diverse area that has basically everything you have described - family friendly, granola/food co-op, also has decent amount of interracial couples and families and varied religious choices. In my experience, the majority of people in West Mount Airy are accepting of most anything. But all the areas are quite family friendly, that's not really an issue in these neighborhoods. They all have a mostly suburban feel, maybe Roxborough and Mount Airy a bit more than West Germantown, but only by a bit. There's trees and parks and these areas are largely residential, definitely a suburban feel.

[tkd108]

Originally Posted by JasmineFlower

Well from your description, West Mount Airy would be a place you would love to live. If you have trouble affording West Mount Airy, make sure you look in East Mount Airy and West Germantown. Roxborough is a very nice suburban like, family friendly, mostly white neighborhood. Its still your best bet for finding a SFH in NW Philly in your price range. East Mount Airy is a traditionally black middle class neighborhood that is becoming more diversified as others discover its about as nice as West Mount Airy but less expensive (though probably not for long, prices have definitely gone up in recent years), same with West Germantown.

West Mount Airy is a diverse area that has basically everything you have described - family friendly, granola/food co-op, also has decent amount of interracial couples and families and varied religious choices. In my experience, the majority of people in West Mount Airy are accepting of most anything. But all the areas are quite family friendly, that's not really an issue in these neighborhoods. They all have a mostly suburban feel, maybe Roxborough and Mount Airy a bit more than West Germantown, but only by a bit. There's trees and parks and these areas are largely residential, definitely a suburban feel.

Thanks jasmine. We drove through Roxborough yesterday (didn't even seem like Philly) and we thought it was lovely. We really liked it. Seemed nice and spread out. I just posted a thread on this. Perhaps you can take a look and respond if you see fit.

We also drove through Mt. Airy as well. W. Mt. Airy definitely seemed a bit nicer than E. Mt. Airy although we didn't drive through all of EMA. EMA was interesting, it definitely seemed like things changed almost by the block. Nice to not-so-nice, back to nice. There were definitely some streets we felt that weren't so safe. But there seemed to be some nice areas too. We had a better feeling about WMA though, as we don't have the desire to sort through EMA looking for the safe blocks, nor be a part of an "up and coming" area that still has some issues. Not banging on EMA, as we didn't see the whole area but WMA just feels more like us.

[JasmineFlower]

If you thought EMA was block to block, I tend to think you were in Germantown not EMA. Its pretty hard to know the difference if you aren't very familiar with the area. EMA isn't really block to block when you are west of Vernon, its all about the same, bigger homes, some single family, a good deal of twins. Where were you? Streets in EMA are Vernon, Ardleigh, Anderson, Boyer, Gowen, Gorgas, Sedgwick, Crittenden. Is that where you were? Or did you go east of West Mount Airy on say Wayne or Greene?

Yes, WMA is nice and most think its nicer than EMA. A good deal of that tends to be about traditional demographics though. But EMA isn't really a block to block either, especially since we narrowed down the section of EMA to look in. So, I'm definitely wondering where you were. Bad patches aren't widespread in WMA or EMA, some a little less idyllic sure, but nothing that bad. And EMA isn't an up and coming area, its been a nice place to live for decades now.

Here's homes in EMA -

420 E DURHAM ST, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
528 E ALLENS LN, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
607 E. Mt. Airy Street, Philadelphia, PA | Powered by Postlets
411 E ALLENS LN, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
415 E GORGAS LN, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
231 E Durham Street, Philadelphia, PA | Powered by Postlets
7205 Boyer Street, Philadelphia, PA | Powered by Postlets

And after posting this, I'll point out, its all out of your price range. So, I guess it may not be an issue of whether or not you like EMA. There will be places you can afford, but they are likely to be rowhomes or small twins and may or may not have off street parking. The lower the price, the less idyllic the street or streets nearby (trees, traffic, etc.). And WMA is more expensive. So, you might be looking for a needle in a haystack in terms of what you want, unless of course you're willing to get a place in need of a little work.

[tkd108]

Originally Posted by JasmineFlower

If you thought EMA was block to block, I tend to think you were in Germantown not EMA. Its pretty hard to know the difference if you aren't very familiar with the area. EMA isn't really block to block when you are west of Vernon, its all about the same, bigger homes, some single family, a good deal of twins. Where were you? Streets in EMA are Vernon, Ardleigh, Anderson, Boyer, Gowen, Gorgas, Sedgwick, Crittenden. Is that where you were? Or did you go east of West Mount Airy on say Wayne or Greene?

Yes, WMA is nice and most think its nicer than EMA. A good deal of that tends to be about traditional demographics though. But EMA isn't really a block to block either, especially since we narrowed down the section of EMA to look in. So, I'm definitely wondering where you were. Bad patches aren't widespread in WMA or EMA, some a little less idyllic sure, but nothing that bad. And EMA isn't an up and coming area, its been a nice place to live for decades now.

Here's homes in EMA -

420 E DURHAM ST, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
528 E ALLENS LN, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
607 E. Mt. Airy Street, Philadelphia, PA | Powered by Postlets
411 E ALLENS LN, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
415 E GORGAS LN, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19119, US
231 E Durham Street, Philadelphia, PA | Powered by Postlets
7205 Boyer Street, Philadelphia, PA | Powered by Postlets

And after posting this, I'll point out, its all out of your price range. So, I guess it may not be an issue of whether or not you like EMA. There will be places you can afford, but they are likely to be rowhomes or small twins and may or may not have off street parking. The lower the price, the less idyllic the street or streets nearby (trees, traffic, etc.). And WMA is more expensive. So, you might be looking for a needle in a haystack in terms of what you want, unless of course you're willing to get a place in need of a little work.

I certainly didn't see some of these houses
I went by some of these streets. Our place of worship is on W. Allens (WMA).. .I have a friend who lives on E. Durham (in the 200's) and the street looks trashed, although he said it's getting nicer. In EMA (at least that's where I thought i was) I was on 75 Ave 76th Ave and Ogontz,Rugby St. Upsal, VErnon, sharpnack, and near the Simons Community Center/Playground (E. Walnut and Woolston). These areas look undesirable to me.