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Old 12-27-2009, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Michigan
3 posts, read 13,448 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello, thanks in advance for your help. My husband is about to transfer within his company to Philadelphia. He works for an upscale hotel and will be working in downtown Philly. We currently live in Michigan, outside of Detroit and will be moving in the next two months. He will be leaving first and I will follow with our two children soon after.

Please help with some ideas for good places to live. We will be renting, as it will be impossible to sell our house here in the foreseeable future. Good schools are very important, as well as not too crazy commute for him, no more than 30 minutes would be ideal. He will be working at 15th and Market St. We are not opposed to living in New Jersey as well, although, perhaps there are benefits to staying in PA that we don't know about, such as taxes, etc. We have a budget of no more than $1500 a month in rent. Since we will probably be subsidizing our mortgage, keeping it below that would be even better, since I won't be working at first. I would prefer a yard for the kids, but am open to city living and suburb living.

I am a teacher, but will take the first year off to get everything settled before looking for a job. I am also trying to finish my Master's degree, so am looking into Grad schools in the area, but that is really not that important right now.

Thanks for your help!
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Old 12-27-2009, 10:17 AM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,179,214 times
Reputation: 2715
With the housing crunch alot of people who cant sell are renting out their houses for market rates, so you may want to keep that in mind. $1500 bucks can rent you a pretty nice house nowadays.

Weichertrents has a good website with private houses and apartments, I d highly recommend it. I would post the link but they frown upon that on this site.

If the 30 minute commute to Center City is a must you are pretty limited to what you can look at imo considering public schools.

In Philadelphia Chestnut Hill,West Mount Airy.
In Pa. suburbs Wynnewood,Ardmore,Narberth,Haverford,Havertown,Bry n Mawr,Wayne,Devon, Media,Swarthmore,Nether Providence. These are very nice towns, prototypical east coast leafy ivy league type towns.

For newer housing/apts in Pa you would need to extend your commute WNW to 45M-1Hr. That puts you in the beautiful rolling hills of Chester,Montgomery and Bucks Counties. Towns I would recommend Doylestown,Plymouth Meeting,Chester Springs,Valley Forge,Chesterbrook,Great Valley,Malvern,West Chester,Garnet Valley.


In South Jersey. Haddonfield,Voorhees and the big hub is Cherry Hill.

Good luck.
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Old 12-28-2009, 12:42 PM
 
Location: South Philly
1,943 posts, read 6,965,961 times
Reputation: 658
Welcome! I think your family will really like it here.

Westmont, NJ sounds like what you're looking for. Train to Center City, good schools, walkable town and still affordable.

It's a 16 minute train ride from Westmont to 15th & Locust and the trains run 24/7 (sometimes important in the hotel business) at peak periods trains are typically every 5-7 minutes. On the overnight it falls back to two per hour. For most of the day they're every 12 minutes. If he has the pleasure of free parking at work (and doesn't have to drive to work during peak periods) it can take 20-30 minutes depending on the time of day. Tack on another 10-15 minutes if it's during rush hour.

Westmont schools (Haddon Twp. school district) are really good . . . as in top 10% in South Jersey and top 25% in the state.
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Old 12-28-2009, 03:06 PM
 
Location: Michigan
3 posts, read 13,448 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks so much for your help. I will check out those towns you mentioned. Can you tell me how the schools are in Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy? I will also look in NJ. Thanks again.
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Old 12-28-2009, 03:38 PM
 
Location: Villanova Pa.
4,927 posts, read 14,179,214 times
Reputation: 2715
Chestnut Hill and West Mount Airy are beautiful neighborhoods and the elementary and middle schools are very good but you would need to find a charter or catholic shool once your kids reach High School. Philadlephia public high schools other than the charter schools are not in good shape.


With children, hate to say it and just my opinion but you are probably better off living in the suburbs. The Pa.- Philly suburban counties have a pretty good grip on the best school districts in the state.

Top school districts in the Pa burbs. Definitely worth doing some research on, you cant go wrong with any of these school districts.

Chester County
Tredyffrin-Easttown(20 miles from Center City)
Unionville-Chadds Ford(30 miles)
Great Valley(25 miles)

Montgomery County

Lower Merion(15 miles)
Methacton(30 miles)

Delaware County

Radnor(15 miles)
Wallingford-Swarthmore(10 miles)
Rosetree-Media(15 miles)
Garnet Valley(20 miles)

Bucks County

Central Bucks
Newhope-Solebury
Council Rock

Last edited by rainrock; 12-28-2009 at 03:46 PM..
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Old 12-28-2009, 11:58 PM
 
Location: South Philly
1,943 posts, read 6,965,961 times
Reputation: 658
Philly has a good system of charter and magnet schools. The magnet schools being among the best in the state. If your kids are still young (and they're academically competitive) they have a good chance of getting into the better magnet/charter high schools. If they're already 12 or 13 it might be a lot tougher.
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Old 12-29-2009, 06:30 AM
 
117 posts, read 586,153 times
Reputation: 58
We do have a good system of charter schools, but the waiting lists are a mile long, so don't plan on using them.

I highly discourage you from sending your child to any public school in Philadelphia. Some people here will tell you that there are a few good ones in certain areas like Center City or Chestnut Hill, and while the schools there are better than most Philly public schools, I think you would still find the suburban schools a better fit. Even the "good" Philly schools are caught up in the horrible bureaucracy of Ackerman, the superindendent.

Good luck on finding a place!
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Old 12-30-2009, 07:25 AM
 
26,985 posts, read 43,527,133 times
Reputation: 31820
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hwebber View Post
Hello, thanks in advance for your help. My husband is about to transfer within his company to Philadelphia. He works for an upscale hotel and will be working in downtown Philly. We currently live in Michigan, outside of Detroit and will be moving in the next two months. He will be leaving first and I will follow with our two children soon after.

Please help with some ideas for good places to live. We will be renting, as it will be impossible to sell our house here in the foreseeable future. Good schools are very important, as well as not too crazy commute for him, no more than 30 minutes would be ideal. He will be working at 15th and Market St. We are not opposed to living in New Jersey as well, although, perhaps there are benefits to staying in PA that we don't know about, such as taxes, etc. We have a budget of no more than $1500 a month in rent. Since we will probably be subsidizing our mortgage, keeping it below that would be even better, since I won't be working at first. I would prefer a yard for the kids, but am open to city living and suburb living.

I am a teacher, but will take the first year off to get everything settled before looking for a job. I am also trying to finish my Master's degree, so am looking into Grad schools in the area, but that is really not that important right now.

Thanks for your help!
I'd recommend Suburban New Jersey over the PA suburbs which are further away from Center City.

The towns of Collingswood and Haddonfield are within a 15-20 minute ride to 16th and Locust Streets in Center City via the PATCO trains (Port Authority Transit Corporation) which operate 24 hours a day. You can fairly easily find a place to live within walking distance or a short drive of of these stations.

To find rental home listings versus apartments, check with local realtors in Collingswood or Haddonfield or simply do a Google search using the city name, search term "house for rent", etc. There are a number of choices in your price range and even more if you look to the towns of Oaklyn and Audubon which are close to Collingswood and Haddonfield respectively, but offer more for the money as they're not as train accessible, but a short drive to the station.

The school districts (http://www.collingswood.k12.nj.us/ or (Haddonfield Public Schools (http://www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us/newhomepage/new_home_page3.htm - broken link)) are excellent.

As you're renting in New Jersey, the taxes won't be any different other than the Philadelphia Wage Tax, where your amount paid will be credited towards your New Jersey State Tax at the end of the year.

Good luck!
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Old 12-30-2009, 11:27 AM
 
Location: South Philly
1,943 posts, read 6,965,961 times
Reputation: 658
A few things - I have friends with kids ranging in age from 6-19. They're all in charters or magnet schools . . . except for one who is at a catholic school. There are waiting lists but they're not as bad as it seems. You just have to get on a few of them.

Jenks, Meredith, McCall and Greenfield are great grammar schools. They're good today, they were good before Ackerman and they'll be good after Ackerman.

I also have friends in Collingswood (I used to live there) who have 3 kids in the Collingswood system. Most of the k-6 schools are good to great. The high school, unforuntately, is sub-par. If your kids are still really young i wouldn't worry too much. The high school is certainly making strides but it's not there yet. It's not behavioral issues, it's just it takes a while to overcome decades of low expectations when it comes to academics.
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Old 12-30-2009, 06:28 PM
 
183 posts, read 630,241 times
Reputation: 53
Skip NJ, taxes are too high. Go with towns like Ambler or Jenkintown, where you husband will have a 30 min train commute and your budget will afford some decent housing. Good luck!
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