Looking for townhome w/garage in Philadelphia suburb (Media, Commodore: apartment, rental)

[knicks0819]

Hi everyone,

My wife currently works in Center City at N Broad and Vine St. I work just north of Wilmington in Claymont, DE.

We really like where we live in suburban NJ just outside Cherry Hill, but we're spending over $650 in gas and tolls per month which is really a pain.

We'd like to move to the PA side to at least avoid the tolls for both of us. However, we prefer the suburban lifestyle and having a private garage is a must for me (safety reasons and I also work on my cars over the weekend).

My first thought was to look into listings within Center City so she'd be able to walk to work. We obviously wouldn't be in the suburbs, but it would still be ideal if she could walk to work and I drove to Claymont. However, I think this is probably asking for the impossible with the private garage requirement.

I've now turned to looking at suburbs between Center City and Claymont. A townhouse style community would be highly preferred. We're looking to keep her driving commute within 15-25 minutes (due to the nature of her work). I don't mind commuting up to an hour. We love Media, PA but it seems like her commute could be well over 30 minutes if there is traffic.

I'm hoping some of you can throw out some suggestions (either towns to focus on, or even townhouse/apartment rental community names if possible). I've tried looking but the separate garaged parking is always the issue (for some reason, this seemed a lot easier to find on the NJ side).

We'd prefer to stay below $1,500, but we're flexible (especially if something exists within walking distance of Broad/Vine).

Thanks everyone in advance!

[FindingZen]

RE: Media, is she opposed to taking the train in from there?

[tom_567]

I suggest you run your math numbers carefully. Have you considered getting a more economical car for your commuting to Delaware? I believe the Delaware Memorial Bridge is only $4/day, which would be $1040 a year if you worked 5 days every week of the year, plus your wife's commuting costs. Has your wife considered taking PATCO and transferring to the BSL instead of driving in? Both things would substantially cut down on your commuting costs. Public transit would be pre-tax too.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that your wife will lose her ability to claim her Philadelphia wage tax against your NJ State Tax liability. You may find that your overall tax burden goes up by moving to PA. NJ will issue you a wage tax credit on your income taxes. In PA, you may owe a local wage tax of up to 1% on your Delaware salary.

I'm not a professional accountant, but just be sure to do ALL of the math and see if there are other ways that you can skin the cat that may make you happier than moving.

Good luck with your decision!

[knicks0819]

Appreciate the responses.

Unfortunately, she can't rely on public transportation if living outside walking distance. She's a medical resident and if she's on an overnight call, she can be called in at any hour in cases of emergencies. We do love Media but it seems like it'd take an hour or more door to door, which is not recommended by her hospital. She can park for free at the hospital, so all this makes driving really preferrable.

As far as the bridges, we both take the Commodore Barry Bridge (Del Mem is really out of the way for both of us). She commutes about 28 times a month, I commute 22 times a month. That's 50 trips at $5 apiece, so $250 in tolls per month. Both of our cars are newer Toyotas and we already get good mileage.

State residency isn't an issue. We plan to keep our NJ residency status. Neither of us make enough to have it impact our tax situation anyway.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by tom_567

The reason I'm bringing this up is that your wife will lose her ability to claim her Philadelphia wage tax against your NJ State Tax liability. You may find that your overall tax burden goes up by moving to PA. NJ will issue you a wage tax credit on your income taxes. In PA, you may owe a local wage tax of up to 1% on your Delaware salary.

I'm not a professional accountant, but just be sure to do ALL of the math and see if there are other ways that you can skin the cat that may make you happier than moving.

Good luck with your decision!

Good looking out for the man but he will be able to take a credit against his local earned income tax for amounts over the 3.07% PA rate. In other words if the DE rate is 5.5%, you will generally get a credit on your PA return for an amount equal to your DE income multiplied by 3.07%, and a credit against any local EIT (except the wage tax) up to 2.43%, which is the excess of the DE rate over the PA rate. Most local EIT's in PA are 1-1.5%.

The NJ rate for a couple filing jointly is 5.525% for income between approx. $75k and $150k and 6.37% between $150k and $500k. The PA rate is a flat 3.07% and the Philadelphia city wage tax is about 3.5% for nonresidents. The calculations can get cumbersome but you get the idea. With NJ's higher graduated income tax rates there's not a huge difference.

[bryson662001]

A rental community with a garage in which you can work on your car is almost non existent but condo townhouses with that feature are numerous. Maybe you can rent one of those through a realtor.