Bucks County/Malvern (Lancaster, Doylestown, Paoli: for sale, apartment complexes, rent)

[starlight]

Hello all,

We are looking at a move into this area this summer and I have read most of the threads in this forum which are relevant and they all have been very helpful in narrowing an area. The most important thing for us is a safe area and a good school district, as we have young children. We seem to have settled on either the Central Bucks County or Malvern/Great Valley SD area. There are other school districts we really like but homes are over our budget, which is around $350,000. We will be looking at either old homes or townhomes in the future but will rent for now.

My question is does anyone have any specific preference for the Malvern area or the Bucks are and their respective school district, and, if so, why? Also, what towns would you recommend in the Central Bucks district - we were looking at Doylestown but are open to others. I was a little curious about Warrington - any downsides? Feel free to suggest any other towns and/or areas if you think we are missing them.

Thank you!!

[cpomp]

Those areas are pretty far apart. Where will you be working? I dont know much about bucks county, but im sure it is similar to malvern. Malvern is pretty spacious, lots of rollings hills with estates and newer homes mostly plotted along them, still mixed with old homes. The area is expensive, so $350k wont get you that much but im sure you could find an older home that may need some work.

[scosm]

I grew up in Malvern/Paoli and attended GV schools. The schools were good when I was there and have probably gotten better. It is a nice, pretty, safe area with good schools, as is Central Bucks. For me, it would depend a lot on where I was working, the commute and other factors. Both have access to commuter train lines to the city for what it's worth.

One thing about Malvern is that it covers a pretty big geographic area and is a fairly diverse area (Malvern, the mailing address I mean; the borough of Malvern is small). When a lot of people hear Malvern they think of the Great Valley corporate center which is in the center of the school district in East Whiteland township along the 202 corridor. That area is convenient for commuting and is more of a pure middle class, suburban tract housing with great access to the new Wegmans and Target but no town feeling to speak of except the commercial strip of Rte 30 in Frazer. Southern Willistown and Charlestown townships are a little different with a little more country feel, horse farms and some really fancy estates. There are a lot of nice homes inside the borough of Malvern and in the Paoli town area too.

[cpomp]

I wouldnt really classify malvern as middle class, minus a few neighborhoods directly bordering lancaster ave or king st. Most of the area is upper middle/upper tier. Most of the "tract" houses near wegmans cost 500k-1 million. Not really standard middle class.

[BPP1999]

Agree with above. And, DT Malvern is a downtown area, though it's relatively quiet it's pretty decent with a mix of housing (some of the newer stuff is fairly expensive). Also, it will get better with the new apartment/condo development being built.

[scosm]

Originally Posted by cpomp

I wouldnt really classify malvern as middle class, minus a few neighborhoods directly bordering lancaster ave or king st. Most of the area is upper middle/upper tier. Most of the "tract" houses near wegmans cost 500k-1 million. Not really standard middle class.

Well, I guess you are right that I shouldn't say that it is a "standard" middle class - it is a tiny bit of lower middle class and a blend of middle class to upper middle class and very wealthy. I was generalizing in my attempt to describe East Whiteland township which has a lot of developments, corporate office parks and no real town center.

The other things you say aren't right though. There is not much housing right on Lancaster Ave at all except for a trailer park and a few apartment complexes. Housing in the borough of Malvern is less expensive and in this original poster's budget (I know this is a somewhat old thread so he or she might have already made a choice), but I just looked at Zillow and there are plenty of houses in Malvern for sale for under 500K. There are plenty that are much more expensive too. What I was trying to get at is that the homes in the original poster's target range are in the areas in Malvern and Paoli and older developments in the immediate vicinity and in the areas near 202, 29 and 401. Some other parts of Malvern/the GV school district are much more expensive.

[southernNE]

Where will work be? We have moved all around this area, and some places although shorter by google maps are ruled out by actual time-or traffic time... My DH was working in Malvern at one point and is now in North Wales. We are living a little further out now, but have a 45 min commute, so it depends on what you want for drive time. 611, 202 and 309 can have lots of traffic depending on what time of day.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by scosm

Well, I guess you are right that I shouldn't say that it is a "standard" middle class - it is a tiny bit of lower middle class and a blend of middle class to upper middle class and very wealthy. I was generalizing in my attempt to describe East Whiteland township which has a lot of developments, corporate office parks and no real town center.

The other things you say aren't right though. There is not much housing right on Lancaster Ave at all except for a trailer park and a few apartment complexes. Housing in the borough of Malvern is less expensive and in this original poster's budget (I know this is a somewhat old thread so he or she might have already made a choice), but I just looked at Zillow and there are plenty of houses in Malvern for sale for under 500K. There are plenty that are much more expensive too. What I was trying to get at is that the homes in the original poster's target range are in the areas in Malvern and Paoli and older developments in the immediate vicinity and in the areas near 202, 29 and 401. Some other parts of Malvern/the GV school district are much more expensive.

I didnt say right on lancaster, I said directly bordering it. There are a lot of older smaller twins and splits. I was just clarifying for the OP that though Malvern has some mixed housing, its just not really a middle class area, in case they were looking for a regular middle class town.

[cast4]

The area off of Fahnestock has houses in the lower to mid 200's. Also the Buck Run/Deer Run Ln. neighborhood area could be described as middle class. The Tredyffrin part of Malvern off of Swedesford though is not middle class so it varies.