Would buying in Philly make sense for us? (Philadelphia, Chester: condo, how much)

[Spotted_Lantern_Fly_666]

Hello and thanks for reading. My wife and I are in our late 20's and looking to buy within the next year. We are currently in southern NJ and while we like it here, we'd like to explore all available options. We are looking for suggestions for anywhere in philly or suburbs that could work based on the below criteria. I think overall, Pa is going to have more job opportunities for us over the course of our careers than south NJ so we are thinking about that too.

When are you moving? Flexible but targeting winter/spring 2021
Where are you coming from? Haddon Township NJ
Why are you moving? More space (currently in 750 sq ft), stability
Where will you be working? I work in Camden in software, she is at Temple
Have you been here yet? A handful of times, so have only seen small portions

Will you buy or rent? Buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? Anything that is non-HOA, max budget ~340k.
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? Walkup

Do you have a preference of living in a NJ or PA suburb? Exploring NJ separetely
(If you answered NJ - post your answers here: //www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...-philadelphia/)

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married no kids
Do you prefer public or private schools? Public. Because kids might be happening in the future, younger level schools that are average or better would be good. I don't think a district with all low ranked schools would work out. We'd probably worry about high schools at a later date.
Do you have pets? In the future yes
Do you want or need a yard? Something, even small would be nice.
Are you keeping a car? Have 2 now, but willing to go down to 1. Having semi-convenient parking is important here. Would be willing to pay for monthly parking depending on price. Having a driveway would be a big perk of staying in nj.
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? Somewhere in the middle

What do you want to be closest to?
Work - Right now my commute is by car ~20-25m, hers will be 45m+ via patco and septa once WFH stops. I am wondering if anywhere in Pa would help these numbers. I know mine is going to increase but I do have the option of leaving <7am. Is driving through philly to Camden realistic at all here?
Shopping - Doesn't need to be that close
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.) - Doesn't need to be that close
Nightlife - Doesn't need to be that close but would be a good perk
Train or subway stations - Since commute time is important to us, I think the location would need to be close to one/both of these.

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Either is good. Not listed above but I'd like to add, some type of neighborhood that is walkable for leisure or dog walking would be good. We definitely do enjoy parks too.

Favorite Beverage - Craft Beer, wine, water? Bubble tea
_______________________________________

Thanks!

[bushelobeans]

Sounds like South Philly might work. I don't know much about schools or neighborhoods there though. I live in North Philly. Hopefully someone will give you some better suggestions than me...

[PHL10]

If you aren't gung-ho on urban living and you think public schools will become a big part of the equation in the future, I'd look to the burbs unless you don't mind moving twice. I'm raising kids in the City so I'm not being a downer but you really need to be committed to staying in the City to make the hassle and general downsides worth it.

[MarketStEl]

Regarding public schools, I would like to suggest that you keep an open mind and read my Phillymag September Schools Issue cover feature, which offers a contrarian take on the whole issue of "school quality" and rankings. It will go live on Phillymag.com this weekend and appear on your newsstand at about the same time.

[chessimprov]

Since you don't want to stay in a hi rise, I think you should stay in the area where you are in and just look for a bigger place, or consider nearby Collingswood.

[myplacephilly]

I think you might like East Falls/ Wissahickon, which is close to the restaurants and shopping in Manayunk and Roxborough and not bad of a commute to both your work places! Or Mt. Airy. (nice small businesses on Germantown Ave.) For your price point, you could find a nice starter home in both those locations.

[Spotted_Lantern_Fly_666]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, very helpful.

Originally Posted by bushelobeans

Sounds like South Philly might work. I don't know much about schools or neighborhoods there though. I live in North Philly. Hopefully someone will give you some better suggestions than me...

This seems to be desirable for many people but would I be right to assume I'd need to pay a few hundred a month for a spot in a parking garage which might be quite a distance away? I guess the commute to Camden would be possible without a car but I'd sorta be worried about giving it up completely.

Originally Posted by PHL10

If you aren't gung-ho on urban living and you think public schools will become a big part of the equation in the future, I'd look to the burbs unless you don't mind moving twice. I'm raising kids in the City so I'm not being a downer but you really need to be committed to staying in the City to make the hassle and general downsides worth it.

Yes you could be right that completely urban living might not be what we are looking for. I guess that's part of the reason I wanted to get some suggestions.

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Regarding public schools, I would like to suggest that you keep an open mind and read my Phillymag September Schools Issue cover feature, which offers a contrarian take on the whole issue of "school quality" and rankings. It will go live on Phillymag.com this weekend and appear on your newsstand at about the same time.

To be honest the schooling situation isn't something we are very knowledgable on, I guess we've just been looking at overall ratings which may not tell the whole story. Thanks for suggestion, I am interested in reading that article.

Originally Posted by chessimprov

Since you don't want to stay in a hi rise, I think you should stay in the area where you are in and just look for a bigger place, or consider nearby Collingswood.

We definitely are considering Collingswood, Haddon Township, Oaklyn etc and maybe out to Mt. Laurel too. The property taxes in Camden county are pretty killer though so we couldn't spend as much as certain spots in Pa.

Originally Posted by myplacephilly

I think you might like East Falls/ Wissahickon, which is close to the restaurants and shopping in Manayunk and Roxborough and not bad of a commute to both your work places! Or Mt. Airy. (nice small businesses on Germantown Ave.) For your price point, you could find a nice starter home in both those locations.

Hm those areas look interesting, the drive to Camden would be ok if I left early (<30-40m)? It also looks like we'd be in commuting distance to many other companies along the main line as well?

Thanks again.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Spotted_Lantern_Fly_666

To be honest the schooling situation isn't something we are very knowledgable on, I guess we've just been looking at overall ratings which may not tell the whole story. Thanks for suggestion, I am interested in reading that article.

You'll find a link to it in this discussion thread I just started here:

Might the Right School for Your Child Be Your Neighborhood Public School?

[skintreesnail]

Given your preference for parking and a yard, the burbs might make more sense. Off-street parking can be found but isn't the norm, as are yards outside of just a cement slab. It's nice not having to mow the lawn though

As others have said, south philly will probably work for you in terms of the city. Passyunk is nice, parts of point breeze like new bold or the blocks close to washington. Graduate Hospital, queen village, Hawthorn, Bella Vista too, but probably too much. Parts of north philly have been seeing a lot of development as well, particularly around fairmount ave, Ridge ave and Girard ave. Those neighborhoods would be Fairmount, Francisville, Brewerytown, Callow Hill, Northern Liberties and fishtown. Areas of west philly might work if you can find something around the trolley near Drexel, Penn or Clark Park. Other areas like mt airy, germantown and manyunk are nice (chestnut hill is great but probably outside your budget) and you could probably find a yard and off-street parking as well, but then you are pretty far from Camden. The train to temple would probably work though, probably 10 minutes or so. You could in theory do the train to BSL to PATCO to camden. Or you could do train to Jefferson station to PATCO. I have no idea what that would be like but it would most likely be a long trip. Not sure what driving would be like.

Just to throw in my personal experience, I've lived in the city for about 15 years. I've lived in the clark park area, rittenhouse, washington square west and graduate hospital. While owning a car can be convenient if you want to get out of the city to the mountains or shore, it's very possible to get by in this city without a car at all; I did it until the last 6 years (needed to reverse commute for a couple years). Pretty much any service you can think of can be found within walking distance of many neighborhoods. I relied heavily on the subway and trolleys until buying a house within walking distance to my office. I will say that the subway is very convenient if you live near a stop, and switching to the el or the trolley was simple. the subway-surface trolleys that go through west philly are also convenient if the trip is mostly in the subway portion. I only took patco once, but I would guess that would be a quick way to get to work if your office is near a stop. if you live on the BSL the trip to temple will be very fast. I don't think they have a free interchange though between septa stops and patco; I think there was some card that works with both systems though (freedom something-or-other). The buses are convenient in terms of getting on one, but are subject to traffic and aren't the most reliable. I've driven through center city and camden which is easy enough, but not during rush hour, so I don't really know what it would be like at 7am.

I've spent the last 6 years parking on the street, which I can say is a little stressful but easy enough if you don't move your car often and are able to get back earlier in the day. This differs from neighborhood to neighborhood, but I find if I get back prior to 5pm I can find parking easily within a block of my house, often right in front. I don't recommend more than one car though if you rely on street parking; it'll be annoying to you and your neighbors.

We've been raising a child in the city as well, lots of other families as well. Parks are great, although we need more. Fairmount and Wissahickon are amazing, the Schuylkill river trail will extend all the way to Bartram's garden in a few years, and they are creating a new park at Penn's landing that will extend over Delaware ave and 95 between walnut and chestnut. A lot of the neighborhoods are creating smaller parks, and although we don't have a pet a lot of people do (please clean up after it if you move to the city; unfortunately not everyone does. It may be compostable, but that really doesn't fly in a city and is no fun when your kid runs through it as they're frolicking in the park or skipping down the sidewalk).

Schools are getting better in the greater center city area and in other neighborhoods, some are actually really top-notch. Penn Alexander and Meredith come to mind. Greenfield and McCall are also very good. Chester Arthur, Jackson, Stanton, Nebinger, Bache-Martin are other ones in greater center city that I have heard good things about. There are some charter schools that get good ratings as well.

In terms of cultural institutions, nothing comes close to Philly except DC and Chicago and only NYC surpasses it (which is easy to get to by train). Great food scene, markets, sports, lots of festivals, parades, music venues and activities. I know you said you didn't need to be close to these things, but as someone who grew up in the country having all this stuff within walking or biking distance is really very liberating and being close to the energy of the city is just kind of a good feeling. My wife grew up in the suburbs and despised it, although the Philly suburbs have lots of older walkable towns which is kind of different than her experience.

[chessimprov]

If you think Philadelphia will work for you well, but concerned about the schools, there are respectable private schools if you don't mind the tuition from that if applicable later on. Also, if you are okay with cyber charter school, that is an option through your tax dollars when you live in PA.