Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-03-2014, 04:11 AM
 
Location: Haarlem (Netherlands)
18 posts, read 24,117 times
Reputation: 21

Advertisements

Conshohocken, Northern Liberties, Fairmount, East Falls.....so many options!

My fianceé and I are moving from the Netherlands to Philadelphia coming month because I got a job in King of Prussia. We have plane tickets, we have a job, but we don't know where to live.

My main question is: How much could/should we spend on rent?
My salary will be 63k per year. My fiancee will not be working initially but doing voluntary work. What would be the best place to live for us?

Our situation
* I will be working KoP
* Preferably less than 1 hour commuting
* We definitely hope to be able to afford a car
* We love the city life (lived in Berlin, Istanbul and I love city rhythm), but understand that might be impossible.
* It's a bit of an open door, but it is important for us to live in a safe place.
* We love to dance, go out for drinks, do loads of sports (gym, soccer, running) and my girl loves nature

Our current plan
Our current plan is to live in an apartment community in Conshohocken for the first 6 months to give us some time to get to know the city. Consequently, we will hopefully move closer to the city center. For now, we checked places like the Londenbury and Sherry Lake apartments, where we will have to pay between 1360 and 1754 dollar per month without utilities. A this is quite a big margin, I would like to understand what I could actually afford.

My main concerns for not moving straight to the city center are:

* Parking
* Time to commute
* I do not know how much I can afford

124 Express bus
I actually considered taking the 124 Express Bus to work on a daily basis. This would allow us to live in city center without having a car. However, my new colleagues informed me this might not be a good idea, although I could not understand exactly why this would be a problem. Does anyone use this line or understand why it would not be nice to take on a daily basis to work?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Last edited by Louden; 11-03-2014 at 04:21 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-03-2014, 05:23 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
5,725 posts, read 11,688,679 times
Reputation: 9828
First, welcome. I recently spent a week in Haarlem and absolutely loved it, so I have a sense of where you are coming from. While living in Center City may be a better experience for many, the commuting time would be the downside. If the 124 stops within walking distance of your job, then you could do it, but realize it will likely take over an hour, at least on the way home. Traffic along that corridor is always bad, but worse in the afternoon. If you leave early, it isn't so bad, but you can't avoid it in the afternoon. There are no bus lanes like you have at home. The other limitation is that you may only have two options an hour, so if you just miss a bus, you have a long wait for the next one.

Conshohocken is probably your best suburban alternative, but look for a place closer to the river (like Londonbury) rather than Ridge Pike (like Sherry Lake). The downtown part of Conshohocken is where you'll find the bars and restaurants as well as the river bike trail, which will take you to the city in one direction and well into the countryside in the other. You are also close to the train station and it's about a 35-40 minute train ride to Center City. There is a massive new apartment complex being built at Spring Mill as well as other complexes in the area, so shop around. You might also be able to find a private apartment - maybe somebody at the job can refer you to a realtor or a source for these.

For a walkable American suburban town, Conshohocken is a good one, but realize it is nothing like Haarlem or other Dutch cities in terms of amenities and transportation infrastructure. You just won't find that here. Center City Philadelphia may be comparable to Amsterdam in some ways, but the outlying areas are far more car-centric than what you are used to.

Note - one other thing - if you live within the city limits, you'll pay a higher income tax, which makes Conshohocken more attractive than East Falls or Fairmount financially. Northern Liberties would make a bad commute worse, so I wouldn't even look there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 05:34 AM
 
Location: Haarlem (Netherlands)
18 posts, read 24,117 times
Reputation: 21
Thanks so much for your quick response. That is exactly what I am looking for and very helpful!

We will have to acclimate a lot probably and this will not always be easy. However, that's all part of the adventure we are looking for as well. You are right about the commuting I think. As my girl and I will already be seperated quite some time due to the fact that I will have to travel 25% for work, it is probably more important to ensure we can spend as much time together as possible. Traveling an extra 1.5/2 hours per day will not be very beneficial to this.

It's especially nice to see you visited Haarlem and understand where we're coming from. I hope the people were friendly and helpful enough around here, we are not always known as being the "warmest" people walking the earth.

Do you also maybe have any idea or indication with regard to the money I could spend on rent? At Londonbury I will be able to take up an apartment of about 1700 dollars as they keep a 1/3 rule. However, it sounds like that might be a bit much with my salary, especially as we also want to drive a car.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 07:23 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,223 posts, read 16,773,376 times
Reputation: 2972
general rule of thumb would be 1/3 of your income as a maximum which would put you around $1700; however, that's pre-tax and should be considered a maximum. If you take 25% off the top for taxes you will end up with a number closer to $1300/mo.
124-there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with buses but the 124 runs half hourly which is fairly good service for such a long route. the main downside is that it can be a somewhat long commute AND it's ona regular city bus (seats are not meant for long hauls). what part of KoP is your job? this could make a difference as there may be other commuting options. the main problem is that center city itself isn't particulary cheap and it may be difficult to find an apartment for 1300/mop reasonably close to the bus route.
there's also this bus
ConnectKOP: Your Source for All Things Transportation in KOP
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 08:47 AM
 
Location: Haarlem (Netherlands)
18 posts, read 24,117 times
Reputation: 21
The Accenture office is on S Gulpg rd next to the Valley Forge Memorial Gardens.

Thanks pman for the calculation! It was a good call. That narrows down our options a lot of course. The Londonbury and Riverwalk apartments will be out of range then, so I believe we will have to look at places that are located on the other side of Conshohocken (Plymouth gardens/Sherry lake) and are a bit cheaper.

But I rather be realistic and don't worry about our finances too much. Do you think that we would be able to afford a car if we could rent for 1300-1350 dollar? That would leave about 2500-2600 per month for other expenses. Although I'm trying to get an impression of what life would cost in the US through various websites, I think we'll only understand the true cost of living after we've experienced it for some months.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Philly
702 posts, read 538,175 times
Reputation: 973
Yes. Get a cheap car. Do not borrow money to buy it. Depending on your age, insurance should be less than $600 year, registration and inspection should be around $100/year. Parking should be free or nearly free. Other than that, you're looking at a $40 oil change every 3,000 miles and gas, which is a little under $1 per liter here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 09:13 AM
 
Location: Boston Metrowest (via the Philly area)
7,264 posts, read 10,544,071 times
Reputation: 8812
Quote:
Originally Posted by Louden View Post
But I rather be realistic and don't worry about our finances too much. Do you think that we would be able to afford a car if we could rent for 1300-1350 dollar? That would leave about 2500-2600 per month for other expenses. Although I'm trying to get an impression of what life would cost in the US through various websites, I think we'll only understand the true cost of living after we've experienced it for some months.
That should be plenty leftover for car ownership and other living expenses.

Cost-of-living in the US varies dramatically by local area, but the Philadelphia area is generally a little more expensive than the national average, although higher than average incomes (in terms of the national average) tend to make up for this.

All in all, if you use the budget you've determined for rent costs, and stick to an area such as Conshohocken/Plymouth Meeting (Manayunk is another potential option for a bit more of an urban flavor, although that will add a bit in terms of commute) that is relatively close to King of Prussia, I think you'll be living pretty comfortably.

Good luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 09:39 AM
 
Location: Haarlem (Netherlands)
18 posts, read 24,117 times
Reputation: 21
Great, that gives me a bit of a more secure feeling about our aims. I read that Manayunk is nice indeed, but that would mean that we would have to pay the city tax as well, am I correct? So about 200 dollars per month extra.

I really love the way Manayunk looks on pictures, it does look a bit more vibrant than Conshohocken. Do you have any suggestions what apartment communities would be good over there?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 09:45 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,223 posts, read 16,773,376 times
Reputation: 2972
well that's moderately good news. their office is BEFORE the mall which would shorten the bus trip subtantially (all routes go to the mall before completing their runs and a lot of offices are after the time consuming mall stop. I'd note that you appear to be on the 125 route. there is one other option that would afford the greatest flexibility transitwise, the norristown high speed line
SEPTA | Norristown High Speed Line
this line runs between 69th st station (where you could pick up the elevated line that runs along market st in the city) and norristown with a stop at gulph mills. from there you would catch the bus, it means you do not have to get on the very congested highway. a few of the buses even start at gulph mills station which should make them more reliable.
http://www.septa.org/schedules/bus/pdf/125.pdf
you could live along the nhsl (known locally by some as the P&W). the only suburb I can think of that you could live without a car is ardmore. you'd want to live closer to rt30 side but not so far your walk to the ardmore junction stop would be too long. ardmore also has regional rail service. bryn mawr is another option but it's much smaller than ardmore and lacks the functional amenities you'd want as a pedestrian (ardmore has a 1920's era mall that is laid out for pedestrians as well as a farmer's market and more to do. you'd avoid the wage tax here. the commute would actually be fairly fast on the P&W. you could also live in the city along the el.

Last edited by pman; 11-03-2014 at 10:06 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-03-2014, 09:59 AM
 
Location: Boston Metrowest (via the Philly area)
7,264 posts, read 10,544,071 times
Reputation: 8812
Quote:
Originally Posted by Louden View Post
Great, that gives me a bit of a more secure feeling about our aims. I read that Manayunk is nice indeed, but that would mean that we would have to pay the city tax as well, am I correct? So about 200 dollars per month extra.

I really love the way Manayunk looks on pictures, it does look a bit more vibrant than Conshohocken. Do you have any suggestions what apartment communities would be good over there?
You are correct that you'd have to pay a wage tax in the city, which is about 4% for residents:

City of Philadelphia: Tax Rates

So, yes, this is an extra consideration, but it may or not be worth the extra cost if it is a location that is more preferable for you.

I also don't have extensive experience with apartments in Manayunk, but I think your price range is doable. This looks like a nice listing in your price range, for example:

The Greenview--A Newly Renovated Community Apartments - Philadelphia, PA 19127 | Apartments for Rent
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:27 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top