Living in Philadelphia-moving from Europe-I know nothing about Philly-help! (apartment, rent)

[newfrontalex]

Hi everyone! My first post and here I am, needing everyone's help. I just got a job in Philly (17th street and JFK blvd), and am moving there from Eastern Europe. The job is paying decent (north of 70K per year), so I'm looking for places to live. A few issues...
1) My baby son-just 9 months old. I need place where my wife and I can take the kid out (parks, etc) daily
2) Safety-coming into a new city I've never been to, I know absolutely nothing nor do I know where to live
3) Transportation-I will have a company vehicle/gas card, so commuting isn't an issue, but I'd like to spend the least amount of time doing so so as to ensure more time with my family while we adjust to our new life.

Please note that we're looking for specific area pointers (i.e. stay away from Arch and 19th) etc. We are looking for a 1 bedroom apartment, since we're used to making the best of small living spaces out here and hate wasting money on unused space. I'll gather everyone's responses so as to make both the navigation through Philly easier for a newbie, as well as some details where to put my roots down (at least for the moment). Thanks everyone for your help in advance!
Alex

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by newfrontalex

Hi everyone! My first post and here I am, needing everyone's help. I just got a job in Philly (17th street and JFK blvd), and am moving there from Eastern Europe. The job is paying decent (north of 70K per year), so I'm looking for places to live. A few issues...
1) My baby son-just 9 months old. I need place where my wife and I can take the kid out (parks, etc) daily
2) Safety-coming into a new city I've never been to, I know absolutely nothing nor do I know where to live
3) Transportation-I will have a company vehicle/gas card, so commuting isn't an issue, but I'd like to spend the least amount of time doing so so as to ensure more time with my family while we adjust to our new life.

Please note that we're looking for specific area pointers (i.e. stay away from Arch and 19th) etc. We are looking for a 1 bedroom apartment, since we're used to making the best of small living spaces out here and hate wasting money on unused space. I'll gather everyone's responses so as to make both the navigation through Philly easier for a newbie, as well as some details where to put my roots down (at least for the moment). Thanks everyone for your help in advance!
Alex

if you're looking for only a one bedroom apartment then with 70K you have a lot to work with.

You could find a reasonably sized,nice, one bedroom apartment for under 2k a month in center city, or old city, or northern liberties. All great neighborhoods with parks and safety. Also all places where you wouldn't even need to drive to work and could be there in no time at all.

70K isn't a ton of money for a family of three to live in downtown philly, but if you're fine with a one bedroom apartment you'll have no problem at all finding a great place to live.

in fact considering what you want and the money you have to spend, it's a little hard to give a recommendation.

how much do you want to spend on rent a month? do you want to live downtown or in the suburbs? do you want to live in an apartment building or a street apartment?

[pman]

a two bedroom in the spring garden neighborhood (15 walk to the north) might work as well as southwest center city (to the south). spring garden has a nice park (roberto clemente) for kids, a couple of ballfields, etc. they are putting in some kid friendly stuff on logan square (19th and race)

[rugnot]

Art Museum area- you can walk to work and to the Philly Art Museum, the Rodin Museum and to the park along East River Drive; you will be able to watch the rowing teams train and compete on the river, go for long bike rides, etc. It is a real urban neighborhood, but with the cultural dimension of the museums and the park, you will find it more than comfortable.

[cpomp]

i would suggest the suburbs for you, but that whould be completely different than the city. But you could find an apartment in a town outside of the city.