Moving from Kansas City to Somewhere around Philly (Philadelphia, Chester: apartment, townhouse)

[seppdelaney]

My wife and I may have the opportunity to move from Olathe, KS (a suburb of KC) to Philly Area. She and I work for the same company and there is an office opening in Wilmington.

Neither she, nor I, want to remain in KS if we do not need to- and we have nothing tying us to this City. We both want out of the Midwest. No kids yet, none on the way for now.

We're both in our late twenties, early thirties. We're looking for a home for under 200k, if possible.

What kind of neighborhoods are we looking at- considering we would need to get to Wilmington each day?

Would it be a good idea to look for homes in the Wilmington area as well?

We enjoy night life to a degree, but we're not 21 any longer, so every night isn't a bar night. We're both working professionals who enjoy a relatively active lifestyle- not a couple who will sit on the couch all day, every day.

We enjoy the arts, going camping, hiking, and cooking and eating well.

I'm a car enthusiast.

Thoughts?

[FindingZen]

I would look at Delaware - there is a DE forum here, of course - as you will have more housing choices in your price range and the nightlife options (Trolley Square in Wilmington, Main Street in Newark) may be enough for you until you decide to have a "staycation" in Philadelphia.

[drive carephilly]

Yup. Look in northern New Castle Co. In and around Wilmington and Newark.

Wilmington would compare more to Omaha - except that you're only 30 minutes from Philly and an hour from Baltimore.

If you were looking for something a little more "country" you could look in adjacent areas of Chester County, PA or Cecil County, MD. If you wanted to be a little more tied in to the city (Philly) you could look in Delaware County, PA which would put you half way between Wilmington and Philly. Media, PA would be a good starting point.

If you really wanted to be in Philly you could live in South Philly (anywhere close to 95) and still be able to get to Wilmington during rush hour in ~45 minutes.

[bryson662001]

Start with www.realtor.com For location plug in these Delaware County, PA zips (one at a time)
19036
19078
19064
19070
19033
19094
19086
19060
19014

[seppdelaney]

Thanks much for the help!

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

Yup. Look in northern New Castle Co. In and around Wilmington and Newark.

Wilmington would compare more to Omaha - except that you're only 30 minutes from Philly and an hour from Baltimore.

If you were looking for something a little more "country" you could look in adjacent areas of Chester County, PA or Cecil County, MD. If you wanted to be a little more tied in to the city (Philly) you could look in Delaware County, PA which would put you half way between Wilmington and Philly. Media, PA would be a good starting point.

If you really wanted to be in Philly you could live in South Philly (anywhere close to 95) and still be able to get to Wilmington during rush hour in ~45 minutes.

I wouldnt compare Chester county pa with cecil county maryland. The main reason is because Cecil county is pretty rural and somewhat backward and way cheaper. Chester county is rural in a wealthy sense, rolling hills with scattered estates. Especially within a commute to Wilmington, there are a lot of wealthy communites, so your search will be more difficult. The southern most townships in Chester County would be the most affordable.

Media will not really work unless you look for an apartment or a small rancher or rowhome. I would look into the brookhaven area. Aston is more expensive than brookhaven, but I would say aston is the ideal town for you to move to. Close to everything, somewhat affordable and a good school district for future children.

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by cpomp

I wouldnt compare Chester county pa with cecil county maryland. The main reason is because Cecil county is pretty rural and somewhat backward and way cheaper. Chester county is rural in a wealthy sense, rolling hills with scattered estates. Especially within a commute to Wilmington, there are a lot of wealthy communites, so your search will be more difficult. The southern most townships in Chester County would be the most affordable.

Like I said, the parts of Chester County that are adjacent to New Castle Co. are rural. My parents live in Chester Co. about 15 minutes from Newark. The view from their backyard is of an amish farm. There's no question it's rural - and mostly indistinguishable from nearby areas in Cecil Co.

[bryson662001]

The OP's budget is under 200K

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by bryson662001

The OP's budget is under 200K

Indeed. A townhouse could be doable though.

[seppdelaney]

Op again- our main concern regarding the move is the cost of living difference in housing- everything else seems about the same cost-wise. Olathe Ks is a nice suburb sw of Kc. We have a house here, which we'll need to sell in order to have the funding to move up there. (Luckily, Kansas City wasn't hit too hard with the housing disaster and I should be able to get back what I put in.) The house here is a split level, two car garage, 4 bedroom, 3 bath. We certainly don't want anything quite this large, but we don't want our quality of life to decrease either.

We've been looking at a number of homes in the Wilmington/Philly area and there are quite a few that we like from the photos- we'll have a realtor take us around when we visit. Since we don't know the area very well, we don't really know the areas from which we need to stay.