young professional working in Delaware County (Philadelphia, Chester: real estate, apartment complexes, renting)

[krazen1211]

I've been doing some research, and considering a few of the lower townships in Lower Merion, Drexel Hill, and Manayunk.

Wage tax, I believe, is not an issue as I plan to register my parents NJ address and I do not work in Philadelphia.




When are you moving?

Jan 1

Where are you coming from?

NJ

Why are you moving?

Work

Where will you be working?

Media, PA

Have you been here yet?

No

Will you buy or rent?

Rent

If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend?

Doesn't matter, $800 to $1200.

Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Don't care. 1st floor is preferred.


Are you married or single? Do you have children?

Single, no.

Do you prefer public or private schools?

Don't care

Do you have pets?

No


Do you want or need a yard?

No

Are you keeping a car?

Yes

Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet?

Activity



What do you want to be closest to?

Looking to keep commute to within 30 minutes. Beyond that, I want to try to meet more people my own age.

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood?

Similar age. Don't care about the others.



Thanks,

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by krazen1211

I've been doing some research, and considering a few of the lower townships in Lower Merion, Drexel Hill, and Manayunk.

Wage tax, I believe, is not an issue as I plan to register my parents NJ address and I do not work in Philadelphia.




When are you moving?

Jan 1

Where are you coming from?

NJ

Why are you moving?

Work

Where will you be working?

Media, PA

Have you been here yet?

No

Will you buy or rent?

Rent

If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend?

Doesn't matter, $800 to $1200.

Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Don't care. 1st floor is preferred.


Are you married or single? Do you have children?

Single, no.

Do you prefer public or private schools?

Don't care

Do you have pets?

No


Do you want or need a yard?

No

Are you keeping a car?

Yes

Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet?

Activity



What do you want to be closest to?

Looking to keep commute to within 30 minutes. Beyond that, I want to try to meet more people my own age.

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood?

Similar age. Don't care about the others.



Thanks,

If you do not have kids then there really shouldn't be any reason to even look into lower merion. They have an excellent school district which places a premium on the town that would not make sense for you to pay, especially considering you're looking to be around other young single people and Lower Merion is a place that no one would describe with the adjectives "hip" or "young".

Drexel Hill, would be more reasonably priced than Lower Merion. You'd be close to the city so you could find fun for people your age... but as far as I know there's probably not a large, young single professional crowd actually in town.

Manayunk is not a township, or at least hasn't been for about 2 centuries, it's a neighborhood in Philadelphia. If you're looking for young single professionals this would be by far your best option from the one's you've mentioned. There are significant drawbacks though, your commute from Manayunk would like take over half and hour depending on traffic as it is the furthest of the three locales... although Lower Merion is not much closer. Living in Philadelphia also means your car insurance will be higher. I also should warn you, it is against the law to register at an address where you do not live, especially in regards to your car insurance, there is a very real likelihood that if you get in an accident that they will find out that you don't live where you say you do and you could get in serious trouble. Changing your address to a Philadelphia address also means that you WILL pay a wage tax because even though you work in Media, you would still LIVE in Philadelphia.

Have you considered Media itself? It's easily one of my favorite suburbs as the center is actually fairly urban and lively. There are many bars in the area and probably a fairly large number of single young professionals. Plus nothing is better than living close to where you work. I would take Media itself into serious consideration.

[krazen1211]

Thanks for the tips. I'll take Media into consideration and discard Lower Merion.

The 30 minute commute (that's about what google maps gives me from Manayunk to Media) can be extended a bit. I won't be travelling during rush hours and I have the option of working remotely once a week or so.

Finances are a bit secondary, and I'm not looking for much. Just a dishwasher, central AC, and a tolerable parking situation. Seems quite easy to find a 1 BR or 2 BR in the 700-900 range with those parameters. I'm not the most innately social person so I want to be around people; I've done the 'live where you work' thing for a couple years and want a change.

Finally, how would other Philadelphia neighborhoods go? I looked at Wynnefield/Overbrook/Eastwick but I'm concerned about safety. Center City is inconvenient, and obviously given a commute to Delaware county Northern Liberties/Fishtown is out.

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by krazen1211

Thanks for the tips. I'll take Media into consideration and discard Lower Merion.

The 30 minute commute (that's about what google maps gives me from Manayunk to Media) can be extended a bit. I won't be travelling during rush hours and I have the option of working remotely once a week or so.

Finances are a bit secondary, and I'm not looking for much. Just a dishwasher, central AC, and a tolerable parking situation. Seems quite easy to find a 1 BR or 2 BR in the 700-900 range with those parameters. I'm not the most innately social person so I want to be around people; I've done the 'live where you work' thing for a couple years and want a change.

Finally, how would other Philadelphia neighborhoods go? I looked at Wynnefield/Overbrook/Eastwick but I'm concerned about safety. Center City is inconvenient, and obviously given a commute to Delaware county Northern Liberties/Fishtown is out.

If you're looking for a Philadelphia neighborhood, I think Manayunk is a good option, especially if you're not traveling during rush hour. Wynnefield is still decently safe as far as I know, I'm not exactly up there often, overbrook and eastwick are a bit dicier, but honestly the other thing about those places is even though you're in the city I don't know if there are going to be a ton of young professionals living in those areas.

Other than Manayunk, the other western neighborhood that I would recommend is University City, fairly safe and certainly lively. If you want to be around young professionals you could certainly do worse. Depending on which part you live in you could also be quite close to media.

As far as the suburbs go, I have to say media is your best bet to be "around people". It's denser living than most places in the suburbs... at least by the city center, it's a bit livelier. Suburbs in general don't generally place you "around people" and it might be harder for someone like yourself to meet someone.

It might be a good idea to check out some of the apartment complexes along the R3 (ahem Media/Elwyn Line), some are nicer than others but the main plus for you here is that you would placed in a situation that has closer living quarters that I imagine would make it easier for you to meet people. I also imagine most of the people living in them are themselves young adults. The added benefit is of course the fact that it also opens up the train as a viable work commute if you were inclined.

[ElijahAstin]

Lower Merion and Drexel Hill are family-oriented places. I think Manayunk or University City would be far better choices--especially the latter, since you have very easy access to Delaware County.

[krazen1211]

How is parking in University City, and more importantly, driving in and out?

[PhillyViaBoston]

Originally Posted by krazen1211

How is parking in University City, and more importantly, driving in and out?

Parking in University City isn't as bad as in Center City, if that helps you gauge things.

The drive from University City to Media is pretty easy... You can either jump on 76 to 95S to 476N to exit 3/Baltimore Pike (15-20 minute drive) or you can go straight down Baltimore Ave which turns into Baltimore Pike and runs through Media (maybe 20-25 minutes and a lot of stop lights).

Going from the city to the suburbs for work will put you opposite most traffic, making the commute easier than if you were doing the reverse.

You also have the option of taking public transportation from University City... Both the Media/Elwyn regional rail line (stop by Franklin Field on Penn's campus) and the route 101 trolley (Market-Frankfort subway line to 69th St terminal) will get you to Media.

[krazen1211]

I've looked further into this.

I checked out Old City/Society Hill a bit but the commute seems prohibitive.

Meanwhile, how is Roxborough? I'd figure its quite culturally similar to Manayunk but the housing/real estate stock seems quite a bit better.

And finally, how is the Schuylkill northbound in the morning? As I understand it, the Schyulkill gets much less crowded after Belmont Avenue.

[templeu]

In addition to considering Media itself, you might look at West Chester.

[FindingZen]

^Agreed. Their respective downtowns have enough going on to keep younger professionals interested until (and often including) the weekends.