DFW vs. Philly Living (Philadelphia, Allentown: home, employment, neighborhoods)

[_curious_]

We will be moving to Philly. Your opinion matters and appreciate if you can share it with all honesty.

- BEST school districts around Philly or if New Jersey is better then what areas?

- Townships that could be more friendly to diversity (specifically Indian Muslims). We have been given some negative advise about few areas but I will avoid naming them. We are looking to spend around $450K-$550K (cash) on housing.

- We really wanted to stay VERY close to SEPTA and wanted to buy home in the area where if we have to move in next 4-5 years, selling home is not a problem. In other words, we are looking to buy home in neighborhoods that are not inflated (in last 6 years), have moderate/diversified employment opportunities, and expected to grow with excellent school districts.

- We do not have job yet and this is a move due to family reasons. which areas should we consider for housing that are accessible to VAST majority of Delaware valley, South NJ etc.

[orrmobl]

Tredyffrin schools, Wallingford-Swarthmore schools, Rose Tree Media schools are probably your best bet.

You could go Central Bucks but the Septa proximity is less, Haverford and Lower Merion and Radnor have good schools, closer to city, but are pretty snobby and Havertown is lilly white from what I've heard.

[_curious_]

Originally Posted by orrmobl

Tredyffrin schools, Wallingford-Swarthmore schools, Rose Tree Media schools are probably your best bet.

You could go Central Bucks but the Septa proximity is less, Haverford and Lower Merion and Radnor have good schools, closer to city, but are pretty snobby and Havertown is lilly white from what I've heard.

Thank you so much for your time and response. School districts you mentioned are in West Philly. For some 'unknown' reasons I feel that staying on north east side (Central Bucks) will give us better accessibility to 'high tech (excluding IT jobs)" jobs in New Jersey as well. What about Ambler, Fort Washington, Chalfont areas....? Sorry, just confuse among so many choices/possibilities.

My spouse has 'greatest' possibility of getting a job into Center City and myself into high tech (non IT) companies and I notice they are all over the place. For example, Boeing in Ridley Park, Lutron in Allentown, Air products close to Allen Town, Checkpoint/Metrologic in South Jersey, L3 in Bristol, Gore in Delaware etc. Well, not sure where I will land (or if i will ever land in this economy.....

[newmarlig]

I strongly suggest you get a job first then ask about where to live. It will make things much easier for you. Good luck.

[_curious_]

Originally Posted by newmarlig

I strongly suggest you get a job first then ask about where to live. It will make things much easier for you. Good luck.

Yes, I agree that it will make things easier for now. May be we are thinking too much about the future and it's uncertainties.

One of the reason I asked this question now is that we do not like to 'tie' our housing with jobs.... we can land somewhere today and tomorrow things could change..... So, we thought we should pick out our 'ideal' (good to raise family) place and make sure that it is accessible from most areas of the city.

[FindingZen]

Philadelphia proper is shaped rather funny - kinda like a shoe with its heel up - so it's hard to suggest a suburb that's convenient to all of the area.

One solution might be to live near one of the major highways in the area: I-276 (The PA Turnpike), I-476 (The Blue Route) and I-76 (The Schuykill "SCHOOL-kill" Expressway). But even then it would be difficult to be specific without some idea about where you may be commuting.

Originally Posted by _curious_

We will be moving to Philly. Your opinion matters and appreciate if you can share it with all honesty.

- BEST school districts around Philly or if New Jersey is better then what areas?

- Townships that could be more friendly to diversity (specifically Indian Muslims). We have been given some negative advise about few areas but I will avoid naming them. We are looking to spend around $450K-$550K (cash) on housing.

- We really wanted to stay VERY close to SEPTA and wanted to buy home in the area where if we have to move in next 4-5 years, selling home is not a problem. In other words, we are looking to buy home in neighborhoods that are not inflated (in last 6 years), have moderate/diversified employment opportunities, and expected to grow with excellent school districts.

- We do not have job yet and this is a move due to family reasons. which areas should we consider for housing that are accessible to VAST majority of Delaware valley, South NJ etc.