Buckingham Springs in New Hope (York, Bristol: apartment, renters, how much)

[Yeledaf]

I recently came across a website for this 55+ community located in New Hope. As a person contemplating retirement in a few years, and interested in relocating to Bucks County, I would appreciate any input regarding Buckingham Springs and the New Hope area as a potential retirement location.

Thanks in advance for your input!

[PaigeOne]

I live near this community. Despite how nice the individual homes look, in my opinion, this place has the feeling of a trailer park.

[larnsue]

trailor park its not. however! the homes are prefab modulars. The community is very nice, quiet and clean. Its not new. Its not fancy. dont know why PaigeOne states it feels like a park. Perhaps its TOO clean for her. My thoughts are that if it reminds one of a trailor park it wouldnt be any of the above. I dont know anything about how much the true cost would be to live there. I would think there is a monthly fee. Check it out....and remember the lot is not bought there; just the house it sits on. that is one reason it may sound inexpensive to move there. Oh yeah, its not in New Hope....actually it is in Buckingham which is close to Doylestown, Newtown, and New Hope too. Quiet town. Wonder where PaigeOne lives exactly....most of the homes nearby are either quite old and smaller or they are new McMansions. I have lived in the area for 57 years, so I do know.

[Tracysherm]

I have to agree with PaigeOne. The place looks pretty tacky. They may be kept up nicely, but these "modular" homes do look like trailers. Sorry.

Bucks County, especially the New Hope area, is beautiful. There are old historic homes that can be quite pricey, in nice boros and farm areas. Then there are the ubiquitous McMansion developments. But there are also areas with medium sized, medium age, houses. If you are going for less expensive, there are very nice townhouse communities, which are much better than a glorified trailer.

Anywhere in this area you will encounter high property and school taxes. Some of the school districts in Bucks rely more on school district income taxes (1% of your salary if you live in their district). So if you are retired, you might do better in those areas, since I don't think the school districts tax SS and retirement income (but I could be wrong there).

[runswithscissors]

OP, First of all it IS New Hope. For all the experts.

1490 Durham Rd, New Hope, Pa

Apparently the experts think that the only thing that is New Hope is Peddlers Village.

I've been through that development several times. There is nothing trailer park about it and I am from that area since the 70's. They are prefabricated. But I'd rather live in there than in the tacky-PERSON communities surrounding it, and there are plenty. Especially with tacky people and their unruly kids. Bad enough we had to put up with the growth in that area and the self important people that came with it. House poor with giant ugly houses and no furniture inside. Or the townhouse crowd with a mess outside everyone has to look at and a bunch of teenagers disturbing everyone in the neighborhood. And their lovely children bringing bongs onto the 7th grade school bus.

Council Rock, Heroin High. Kinda tacky.

I haven't been through since about last summer so there's always the possibility that it's changed. A coworker's mom lives there and there are no problems according to her last year. (I'm in FL now so I have no idea). There were also no surrounding obnoxious developments the last time I drove by, which is a BIG PLUS.

I find it sad that someone MIGHT already KNOW they're prefab and gets the answer "tacky". I don't think that was the question ....about your TASTE.

Yes, retirement in PA is not always the most financially beneficial decision, though. But if you're sticking in PA, this is one of the affordable options. 200,000 for a prefab is quite different than 4,000 in a Bristol trailer park. And for seniors sometimes they can only afford one or another.

OP, stay in Solebury township.

I am from Upper Makefield, a contiguous township. We don't tell people their stuff is tacky.

[Tracysherm]

Yes they have a New Hope address, but the development is not within the actual geography of New Hope. Please check a map.

And FYI, Peddler's Village is not in New Hope either, it's miles away in Lahaska.

I do not dispute that there are drug and behavioral problems in even the better school districts in that area. I'm appalled at that too. And yes, people can be low class and still reside in a nice zip code.

But get real; pre-fab box houses are tacky. The big McMansions that people bought but can't afford are also tacky.
Money does not mean class. Zip code does not mean class.

The older historic homes, like victorians and stone farmhouses are the classiest houses in that area. There are beautiful homes from the colonial and federal periods that are outstanding. Anything that can be built in a few weeks or a few months, with no character, is just plain tacky, whether its a $150,000 box that looks like a trailer, or a $600,000 McMansion monstrosity by Toll Brothers.

Yes, peoples' TASTES can vary from person to person. But CLASSY and TACKY are universal constants, to those who know the difference.

[larnsue]

Wow am I chuckling over this! Everyone always has an opinion. But for sure, that lovely Bucks County attitude shines right through as always. What a good way to spread the real persona of living here in wonderfully arrogant Bucks. I am ashamed of being a resident and of what we have become over the past 50 years. Farmland, we are not. Country, we are not. Friendly, we certainly are no longer. Competition county, we sure are. Our noses are held so high here we would all drown if caught in a rain storm. Now how much class is that, do you think?

[runswithscissors]

After getting a rep on this thread I came back to see the updates. The last poster is correct. The area turned into snobs. Snobs with no foundation. Both parents working for two expensive SUVS and houses they couldn't afford while the kids go home to empty houses. Then you have your stay at home mothers who spend all their free time on manicures and tennis and complain about having to rush to pick up their kids at school. They're the ones who never have your kid over their house but their kid is always at yours. Or your kid goes over there and isn't even offered a drink after playing there all day. Or your kid is over there and the parents disappear and leave a houseful of 10 year olds unsupervised.

Snobs who have roots in Kensington, Richmond and Northeast Philly neighborhoods. (and New Yorkers). "Classy". Yes, the "new" Bucks County attitude is arrogant. By people who don't even live here and have to look at maps to figure things out.

Buckingham Springs has a NEW HOPE zip code and is considered New Hope. Not that it matters. The EXPERTS debating about it are thinking of the BOROUGH of New Hope when they want to argue about New Hope versus something else. What's the difference? We locals all call the "area" New Hope. It doesn''t matter. Buckingham, New Hope, Lahaska, Solebury, etc it's all the same thing.

Regardless, there was not a thing wrong with Buckingham Springs and is a great lower density area. Last time I was there the houses (HOUSES) were cute and excellently maintained. From what I could determine just by driving through there are no problems there, but that doesn't mean there aren't unknown variables like water table etc. I'd live there in a quick minute and as I said I am from Upper Makefield, the township formerly called the Gold Coast due to the expensive housing and high taxes. Even there we have modest homes but a bit higher than Buckingham Springs. But a single house in U.M is alot more maintenance than Buckingham Springs and when you are retirement age you don't want alot of maintenance.

It's a shame people can't find out who's really posting on message boards. You get all kinds, like 20 year old apartment renters or "outsiders" commenting on what housing is of value, or "cool". Nobody who knows about housing would suggest old Victorian houses or farmhouses LOL...to an everyday retiree, especially one looking for affordable houses ...Victorian and Farmhouses are money pits.

[Boeing]

I'm not familiar with New Hope, but prefabs aren't all they're cracked up to be either. A friend of mine just moved into a new pre-fab house three years ago. Faulty wiring, shoddy carpentry on anything not pre-fabbed, drainage issues, etc.

[ChasMac]

This is a very nice, well organized and maintained community. There is an excellent Club House with scheduled seminars including guest speakers on healt and finance. The houses are affordable, well built modulars and afford a low-cost, low maintenance community. I am a realtor located just a few miles from Buckingham Springs and would happy to provide information on pricing and availability.
Charles.