Moving to Chestnut Hill - Buying a House? (Philadelphia, Lancaster: appointed, for sale)

[ibis888]

My wife and I are moving to Philly in the fall, I will be working in KoP.

We have settled on Chestnut Hill and are considering buying. We have found that there are very few properties for sale in the neighboorhood (especially when compared to Mt. Airy which is right next door and seems to have 5-10x as many properties on the market).

The ones that are for sale seem to have been on the market for several months and often have significant price reductions.

So here is the question: It appears to be a solid buyers market. Do others agree? Is this a good time to buy in Chestnut Hill? Is the neighborhood overpriced/underpriced for what it is?

Thanks in advance for the responses.

[Hobokenkitchen]

I'm an agent in Philly having recently moved here myself.

I do think you are correct that Philly is mostly a solid buyers market, except what I have noticed is that homes in Chestnut Hill seem to be moving better than almost anywhere else.

We thought we might buy there too, so I've been watching the market there (we've decided to stick in Center City). Things seem to go quickly if they are priced ok. There are always OPT (over priced turkeys) in every place which stay on a while, but I would say that Chestnut Hill is still pretty strong all things considered.

I would say look at a bunch of places in your price range, and if nothing suits you wait until something comes up that you like and jump on it.

There have been a bunch of homes that have gone in less than 3 weeks over the last month.

It looks like a great place to live - enjoy!!

[rainrock]

Chestnut HIll is an outstanding neighborhood, arguably the best all around hood in the entire metro. I dont want to discourage you from moving there but keep in mind that you will be hit with a 4% Philadelphia City wage tax seeing how CH is in the Philadelphia County.Eventhough you will work in KOP(Montgomery County),Philadlephia will take 4% of your paycheck for the privilege of living in the city.

Seeing how you will be working in KOP it may be worth checking into the nearby incredible Mainline towns in Montgomery,Chester,Delaware Counties-avoiding Phillys wage tax in the process. The Mainline towns are very similar to Chestnut HIll and you wont get whacked with Philly oppresive wage tax.

If you get a chance check out the towns of Bryn Mawr,wynnewood,Merion,Bala Cynwd,Rosemont,Haverford,Ardmore,Narberth.

Good luck.

[flowergarden]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Seeing how you will be working in KOP it may be worth checking into the nearby incredible Mainline towns in Montgomery,Chester,Delaware Counties-avoiding Phillys wage tax in the process.
Good luck.

I couldn't agree more. If you are working in KoP, why do you want to commute from Chestnut Hill? That's a long way for no reason, when the western mainline has so much to offer. Tredyffrin/Eastown schools are ranked 2nd in the state and 78th in the country. Great Valley school district is another wonderful district with great neighborhoods. Radnor is very nice, albiet a bit more expensive than T/E or Great Valley. Exton has nice areas and good schools.

With the price of gas, I would highly recomend T/E and Great Valley. Nice life, short commute time.

[ajb842]

Chestnut Hill is beautiful, though maybe overpriced for what you get. However, it's family friendly, there's germantown ave to walk with shops and restaurants. You are still pretty close to turnpike access(you can get to 309 via paper mill rd or take lincoln dr to city ave to the blue route) so you're looking at about 25min to KOP without traffic. Beware...the blue route with traffic is a nightmare...

[Hobokenkitchen]

Originally Posted by rainrock

The Mainline towns are very similar to Chestnut HIll and you wont get whacked with Philly oppresive wage tax.

If you get a chance check out the towns of Bryn Mawr,wynnewood,Merion,Bala Cynwd,Rosemont,Haverford,Ardmore,Narberth.

Good luck.

Ok, what is it that I am missing here? I have been out exploring the mainline towns twice now and I haven't seen anything even close to as charming as Chestnut Hill. I was actually totally disappointed by the Mainline towns. Am I missing the vital bits? Have I seen everything except the lovely highstreet that Chestnut Hill has?

I saw beautiful (and extremely expensive homes), and then it's just your normal shops on not so great high streets. I understand the school system beats Phillys hands down.

Chestnut Hill's high street is absolutely charming. The only place I found that came even close was West Chester. What have I missed? I'm definitely willing to drive out again and take another look, but I was driving up and down and round and round hoping to hit the cute areas.... and didn't find them.

Any thoughts???

[ibis888]

Thanks everybody for the great responses....

My wife and I don't have kids so school districts aren't our #1 priority. I am in agreement with the previous poster, the mainline towns just didn't seem as "nice" for what my wife and I are looking for. Understand that this is a totally subjective judgement and others may not agree but after spending a few days wandering around Chestnut Hill we were sold.

As for the 4% city wage tax, we are taking that into account. It does seem as if it is partially made up for by lower real estate taxes (under $4000 per year for a 400K property).

I drove the route from Chestnut Hill to KoP a few times. It takes about 20 minutes during the middle of the day. I am hoping that it won't go up much past 45 minutes during high traffic times. We are coming from DC where 2+ hour commutes are commonplace so to me the Chestnut Hill/KoP commute doesn't seem so bad.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Hobokenkitchen

Chestnut Hill's high street is absolutely charming. The only place I found that came even close was West Chester. What have I missed? I'm definitely willing to drive out again and take another look, but I was driving up and down and round and round hoping to hit the cute areas.... and didn't find them.

Any thoughts???

I agree. The commercial districts of the Mainline leave alot to be desired and many of the towns are currently in the planning process of upgrading their town centers. There are currently a few hidden gems such as Wayne and Suburban Square in Ardmore. I was referring more to the neighborhood communities themselves. Great housing stock,parks,schools etc. plus you miss out on the Philly wage tax.

But you are 100% correct. Lower Merion has 60,000 people, the avg. home last year sold for $650 k but you would never know it by looking at the retail of Lancaster Ave.. I dont get it either.

Hoboken if you get the chance Doylestown is on par and perhaps better than West Chester. Great town. Media and Swarthmore are also main street type towns that are very nicely kept. Swarthmore's downtown is very small though.

[orrmobl]

I think the couple of block of 30 through Wayne by the movie theater are quite charming. That's about it. Media and West Chester are definitely more quaint and old fashioned feeling in a good way.

As for buying now, prices and the rent ratio in this area are still quite out of whack. We're talking another 20+% drop in prices and a rent ratio that needs to drop from about 14.5 to 12.5.

If you don't have to buy yet, I wouldn't. I would rent in Chestnut Hill and try it for a year to see if you can stomach the commute. That way you can jump on a house quickly or move elsewhere if it doesn't work out and avoid a 20% hit on your house value.

We're currently renting after a few failed attempts at buying last year and I feel we really lucked out. We are in the catbird's seat - we have cash on hand and no house to sell in order to buy the perfect house should it come along. If the market picks up, we'll buy quickly, if not, we'll buy in time for my son to start school next Fall. Either way, I feel we're avoiding most of the bad and not sacrificing too much of the good.

Some don't recommend timing the market, but that's not exactly what I'm doing. I would just rather pay a few extra points in interest and later refinance than buy a place that won't be worth what I paid for it for another 10 years....

[Hobokenkitchen]

Originally Posted by rainrock

I agree. The commercial districts of the Mainline leave alot to be desired and many of the towns are currently in the planning process of upgrading their town centers. There are currently a few hidden gems such as Wayne and Suburban Square in Ardmore. I was referring more to the neighborhood communities themselves. Great housing stock,parks,schools etc. plus you miss out on the Philly wage tax.

But you are 100% correct. Lower Merion has 60,000 people, the avg. home last year sold for $650 k but you would never know it by looking at the retail of Lancaster Ave.. I dont get it either.

Hoboken if you get the chance Doylestown is on par and perhaps better than West Chester. Great town. Media and Swarthmore are also main street type towns that are very nicely kept. Swarthmore's downtown is very small though.

We did check out Doylestown a while ago - very cute! Still not as nice as Chestnut Hill though. I must admit we are still tempted by Chestnut Hill, but right now we are enjoying being right in center city. There is so much going on - and the homes are so beautiful - we just love it.

There was one house we got close to making an offer on in Chestnut Hill, but it got withdrawn.

Glad I didn't manage to drive around and miss everythingon the mainline! Thought I was going nuts! Agree some of the homes are to die for. We just like to be where more stuff is going on. Coming from Hoboken which is such a cute 'walking town', we love that center city Philadelphia (and Chestnut Hill to some extent) are the same way.

Chestnut Hill reminds me a lot of England. Very charming.