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Old 02-13-2007, 05:27 PM
 
262 posts, read 789,784 times
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If anyone has experience with living in both metro-Philadelphia and metro-Atlanta, could you provide a comparison. Positives and negatives. I am Asian, married with kids. Generally looking for issues related to quality of life, weather, traffic, diversity, etc. I have to decide soon about relocation plans. I have some experience with Atlanta (I live in Georgia), I am trying to understand the metro Philadelphia area, and see what advantages it can offer. Appreciate your input. Thanks.
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Old 02-13-2007, 05:50 PM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,210,044 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athensvaasi View Post
If anyone has experience with living in both metro-Philadelphia and metro-Atlanta, could you provide a comparison. Positives and negatives. I am Asian, married with kids. Generally looking for issues related to quality of life, weather, traffic, diversity, etc. I have to decide soon about relocation plans. I have some experience with Atlanta (I live in Georgia), I am trying to understand the metro Philadelphia area, and see what advantages it can offer. Appreciate your input. Thanks.
I have never been to Atlanta so I can't comment. Overall metro Philadelphia is a very solid area to work and raise a family although you may want to note that it is currently 20 degrees and raining, so the winters are no picnic in these parts of the woods.
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Old 02-13-2007, 06:09 PM
 
Location: New Holland, PA (20 minutes from lancaster)
71 posts, read 353,827 times
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it depends on what area of Philadelphia you are looking to move into. South Philly and Center City Philadelphia are the best parts of Philadelphia to live in and are highly regarded. The areas with the most crime are west philly, northeast philly and southwest philadelphia. Statisticly speaking Atlanta has more crime than philadelphia, but this doesn't mean philadelphia isn't completely better than atlanta. many jobs are open in philadelphia and there are many well-funded colleges in philadelphia if you have to get a better education. housing in philadelphia(or around center city) should be built very well. costs of homes and condominiums are less expensive than NYC and boston. Philadelphia's metropolitan area is the nation's fourth largest with a population of nearly 6.5 million people and is growing fast. nice towns that people could move into and enjoy would be norristown, exton, king of prussia, manayunk and the main line and gladwyne area(but only celebs live there, such as Patti LaBelle, Will Smith, Bill Cosby and Allen Iverson are just a couple). these towns are west of philadelphia. south of philadelphia is delaware, wilmington is delaware's largest city with a population of 72,000 people and is right on the border of delaware and pennsylvania. wilmington is also right below philadelphia. the only problem with this is that the philadelphia international airport(PHL) can cause a lot of traffic. in conclusion, i would consider moving either to the manayunk area or to wilmington. but trust me, you'll have fun in philly.
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Old 02-13-2007, 09:30 PM
 
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I visited the SEPTA site. I was pleasantly surprised to see Exton (R5), Norristown (R6), Wilmington (R2), etc. covered by SEPTA. Good public schools, house (not condo), close to SEPTA line (short drive to SEPTA station OK) are what I would like. House: 300-500K. Can you focus me to areas that I should look at.

We like to have urban fun on weekends. Looks like Philadelphia city would have a lot to offer. Plus all the wonderful east coast cities nearby. Am I correct?
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Old 02-14-2007, 06:04 AM
 
Location: Finally escaped from Philly ;-}
1,182 posts, read 1,429,630 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhillyPhan View Post
it depends on what area of Philadelphia you are looking to move into. South Philly and Center City Philadelphia are the best parts of Philadelphia to live in and are highly regarded. The areas with the most crime are west philly, northeast philly and southwest philadelphia. Statisticly speaking Atlanta has more crime than philadelphia, but this doesn't mean philadelphia isn't completely better than atlanta. many jobs are open in philadelphia and there are many well-funded colleges in philadelphia if you have to get a better education. housing in philadelphia(or around center city) should be built very well. costs of homes and condominiums are less expensive than NYC and boston. Philadelphia's metropolitan area is the nation's fourth largest with a population of nearly 6.5 million people and is growing fast. nice towns that people could move into and enjoy would be norristown, exton, king of prussia, manayunk and the main line and gladwyne area(but only celebs live there, such as Patti LaBelle, Will Smith, Bill Cosby and Allen Iverson are just a couple). these towns are west of philadelphia. south of philadelphia is delaware, wilmington is delaware's largest city with a population of 72,000 people and is right on the border of delaware and pennsylvania. wilmington is also right below philadelphia. the only problem with this is that the philadelphia international airport(PHL) can cause a lot of traffic. in conclusion, i would consider moving either to the manayunk area or to wilmington. but trust me, you'll have fun in philly.
Manayunk is a neighborhood IN Philly so keep in mind you will have to pay Philly taxes.
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Old 02-14-2007, 08:07 AM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,210,044 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athensvaasi View Post
I visited the SEPTA site. I was pleasantly surprised to see Exton (R5), Norristown (R6), Wilmington (R2), etc. covered by SEPTA. Good public schools, house (not condo), close to SEPTA line (short drive to SEPTA station OK) are what I would like. House: 300-500K. Can you focus me to areas that I should look at.

We like to have urban fun on weekends. Looks like Philadelphia city would have a lot to offer. Plus all the wonderful east coast cities nearby. Am I correct?
The septa rail map is a good guide. I would recommend the towns along the R5. The best public shools in the area are in these neighborhoods. From Narberth all the way out to Exton. Pick one out you can't go wrong.

Also the towns along the R3 are extremely nice as well. Especially from Swarthmore westward including Swarthmore, Wallingford, Media, Elwyn.

The suburbs of Philly offer you a great quality of life. Very safe, nice landscape mixture of forest, streams and green rolling hills, and a robust economy. A quick 20 minute trip into center city Philly, one of the top 5 downtowns in the usa. You'll only be a 90 minute car ride to the beach, Atlantic City, NYC, Baltimore and less than 3 hrs from DC.

As always you should visit an area firsthand to see if its your cup of tea, but there is no reason you wouldn't enjoy living in the nw suburbs of Philly.
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Old 02-14-2007, 09:45 PM
 
262 posts, read 789,784 times
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Default Understanding the Philadelphia area

I just read the National Georgraphic article about Philadelphia (I think I saw this mentioned in a different thread). I think I will be visiting Philadelphia this summer to take a look.

If one lives in either R5 or R3 cities mentioned in rainrock's previous post -- is it a given that I park/ride, or is it possible to 20to30-minute-walk/ride if I chose location wisely. What is the starting price range for good homes (nothing fancy, but professional living that is not a starter home, not townhouse).

I read in an article about Philly that manufacturing was part of the economy. True? Which geographic areas?

I have been to the Philadelphia inquirer website. What are the popular local TV channels out there, where I can look up the website for local news.

Thankyou for your time providing input.
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Old 02-15-2007, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,210,044 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by athensvaasi View Post

If one lives in either R5 or R3 cities mentioned in rainrock's previous post -- is it a given that I park/ride, or is it possible to 20to30-minute-walk/ride if I chose location wisely.
Absolutely. But given the lazy nature of most people they could live 1/2 mile from the station and still drive. Yes you can definitely live and walk to the station without ever getting into a car.


Quote:
What is the starting price range for good homes (nothing fancy, but professional living that is not a starter home, not townhouse).
Depending on the quality of town. There are safe towns along the raillines that you can buy a single 3 BR home for an average of 200K. The nicer towns with the incredible english tudors and impeccable neighborhoods will start out at $400K for a single home



Quote:
I read in an article about Philly that manufacturing was part of the economy. True? Which geographic areas?
Scattered. sSome of it is in Philly, some in South jersey, some in Delaware, and some in the Pa suburbs.

Quote:
I have been to the Philadelphia inquirer website. What are the popular local TV channels out there, where I can look up the website for local news.

Thankyou for your time providing input.
nbc10.com
cbs3.com
fox29.com
6abc.com

also check out phillyblog for additional help
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Old 02-15-2007, 09:58 AM
 
Location: Finally escaped from Philly ;-}
1,182 posts, read 1,429,630 times
Reputation: 292
Quote:
Originally Posted by athensvaasi View Post
I just read the National Georgraphic article about Philadelphia (I think I saw this mentioned in a different thread). I think I will be visiting Philadelphia this summer to take a look.

If one lives in either R5 or R3 cities mentioned in rainrock's previous post -- is it a given that I park/ride, or is it possible to 20to30-minute-walk/ride if I chose location wisely. What is the starting price range for good homes (nothing fancy, but professional living that is not a starter home, not townhouse).

I read in an article about Philly that manufacturing was part of the economy. True? Which geographic areas?

I have been to the Philadelphia inquirer website. What are the popular local TV channels out there, where I can look up the website for local news.

Thankyou for your time providing input.
The 3 main tv channels are abc6 (wpvi), nbc10 (wcau), and cbs3 (kyw). All three do the local news and have websites (which I don't know offhand right now). Fox29 also carries the local news, but I'm not sure what their call letters are, but their webside is myfoxphilly.com.
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Old 02-18-2007, 07:31 PM
 
24 posts, read 155,868 times
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Hold your horses here...Northeast philly is not a dangerous place. Sheeshhhh. Stay above Cottman Ave and you'll be just fine.

Lived and worked in Philly 48 years. I know every neighborhood.
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