Nice, inexpensive suburbs (Lancaster, York, Ardmore: for sale, real estate, rent)

[northernNJdude]

What are some nice suburbs to live in outside Philly?

Price Range: Under $600K for a decent house
Type of neighborhood: safe, maybe near woods
Downtown: Yes
Income level: middle class to upper middle class
Time to downtown Philly: 20-35 minutes

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by northernNJdude

What are some nice suburbs to live in outside Philly?

Price Range: Under $600K for a decent house
Type of neighborhood: safe, maybe near woods
Downtown: Yes
Income level: middle class to upper middle class
Time to downtown Philly: 20-35 minutes

Define "decent house," because a budget ceiling of $600k will find you detached, single-family homes in even our most exclusive suburbs.

[FindingZen]

HeavenWood is corrrect. Perhaps $600K doesn't go so far in North Jersey but it will likely rate you a quality home in most upper-middle/lower-upper income neighborhoods. Off the top of my head:

Elkins Park, Melrose Park, Huntington Valley, Jenkintown. Technically, Jenkintown acts as the "downtown" of the 5-10 radius surrounding it. Not really woodsy but fairly quiet, particularly east of Route 611/Old York Road.

Lafayette Hill, Blue Bell. Borders the tony Chestnut Hill neighborhood across the city line which would act as your effective downtown. (Edit: Chestnut Hill also has two train stations that are about a 25 minute ride from Center City.) Back in the 'burbs, Plymouth Meeting Mall would satisfy your typical mid-to-upscale retail needs.

Media. Sells itself as "America's hometown". State Street is lovely.

The Main Line: a contiguous line of traditionally upscale neighborhoods leading from Overbrook across the city line to Paoli with the main road being Lancaster Avenue/Route 30. If you caught the express Paoli/Thorndale train into the city, you could conceivably live out as far as Radnor or St. David's and still be within your preferred commute time. However, the value of what you get for your money would be less than other neighborhoods mentioned and may even rival some North Jersey locales. Others more familiar may know better, but my layman's guess is that better values - not to mention a shorter commute - might be found in Ardmore and Wynnewood. Wayne, Bryn Mawr and Ardmore all have active downtowns.

[frankgn87]

That kind of money will get you a very nice home in Moorestown NJ. Has a gorgous down town too. Much lower taxes then North jersey too. In line with any of the pa burbs. Actually if you want to be 25-35 mins of Center city, south jersey is your best bet. OR Haddonfield nj which has even a nicer downtown.. Very old colonial homes too.

Moorestown Township, New Jersey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Historic Haddonfield Home Page

Haddonfieldnj.org - A website all about Haddonfield, New Jersey, featuring updates on Haddonfield events and happenings as well as important community information.

Haddonfield, New Jersey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[2e1m5a]

Narbeth or Ardmore west of the city, or Jenkintown or Abington north of the city sound like they would fit well.

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by 2e1m5a

Narbeth or Ardmore west of the city, or Jenkintown or Abington north of the city sound like they would fit well.

I agree except you ain't getting to CC in the time required by the op. Thats a tough requirement actually

[bryson662001]

From Jenkintown it is 30 to 45 minutes depending on time of day and traffic. The zip is 19046 for Find Real Estate, Homes for Sale & Houses for Rent - REALTOR.com®. Jenkintown is a small boro with it's own government. Most people who use Jenkintown for an address don't literally live in the boro but rather in surrounding Abington Township.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

I agree except you ain't getting to CC in the time required by the op. Thats a tough requirement actually

The Eastern Main Line through to Central Delco can definitely be done in 20-35 minutes by either car or train, depending on where in those areas/where in Center City. The Near Northern suburbs can be done in that time by train, albeit you're scraping against the upper limit.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

I agree except you ain't getting to CC in the time required by the op. Thats a tough requirement actually

Frank, Glenside to Suburban Station is 28 minutes by train (I just checked www.septa.org). Abington is about 5 minutes north of Glenside so that commute is about 33 minutes. Jenkintown is about 5 minutes south of Glenside so that commute is about 23 minutes. A drive from Glenside to CC is about 10-12 miles and would take 30-45 minutes.

Narberth to Suburban Station is about 20 minutes via train. Ardmore is about 25 minutes. A drive from Narberth to CC is about 10 miles and would take about 30-45 minutes.

There are plenty of places convenient to Center City, even in PA.

If I could recommend my preference, I'd suggest Jenkintown (part of Abington Township). Great selection of older, stone homes in your price range. Taxes will be high ($8k-$12k) but probably still less than North Jersey. Certain sections of Jenkintown are more "town-y" with tree-lined streets, while other sections are more suburban with bigger yards with trees. It's congested in that it's a very developed area (about 3,500 people per square mile per Wikipedia if you are into statistics), but it's not congested like Seacaucus or other similar places in North Jersey. It's an older area that's not highway-centric like North Jersey. Much of the areas developed around the trains, actually.

[bryson662001]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

Frank, Glenside to Suburban Station is 28 minutes by train (I just checked www.septa.org). Abington is about 5 minutes north of Glenside so that commute is about 33 minutes. Jenkintown is about 5 minutes south of Glenside so that commute is about 23 minutes. A drive from Glenside to CC is about 10-12 miles and would take 30-45 minutes.

Narberth to Suburban Station is about 20 minutes via train. Ardmore is about 25 minutes. A drive from Narberth to CC is about 10 miles and would take about 30-45 minutes.

There are plenty of places convenient to Center City, even in PA.

To be fair, if you aren't driving you should add the time from your house to the train station, parking and actually waiting for the train to arrive. I am guessing you have just doubled your commute time?