Thinking of moving to Philadelphia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend Collingswood and Haddonfield in NJ. Cute walkable areas. In PA, Wayne, haverford, swarthmore, lower merion are nice main line areas. They can have an old money feeling. I think Glenside would be great. Has a nice theater and its on the regional rail line for easy commuting. Bucks county has pennsbury and the council rock school districts. They are great and many people commute into philadelphia from there. It would be no crazier than many of the DC commutes.

The Philadelphia area definitely has a different flavor than the dc area. While dc has many transplants, many people in Philadelphia are born and raised. Their is a true philly accent and many unique traditions and local flavor. It can take awhile to break in, but it is worth the work.

Glenside is more of a blue collar town with people and their large extended families who've lived there their entire lives. I like the area - my family probably knows at least 1/2, if not 3/4, of the town - but you'll find it a little more insular than some of the other towns. Try Blue Bell, Fort Washington, Abington, maybe Ambler (parts can be good, others not as good). Gwenned Valley may be too expensive. Bucks County is great if you want more house/land for your $ and like a more rural area, but the commute to Philly sucks.

It can be a little confusing because PA has school districts that are smaller areas of counties and each school district is seperate and distinct. So you have to figure out what school districts you'd like to target and then look at what towns make up the district. The lines were drawn a long time ago based upon population back then. Now that the area has grown, you'll find the size of each school district can vary widely. For example, I graduated from Wissahickon which is about 300 kids in a graduating class vs. North Penn next door which was more like 1,000 per graudating class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would recommend Collingswood and Haddonfield in NJ. Cute walkable areas. In PA, Wayne, haverford, swarthmore, lower merion are nice main line areas. They can have an old money feeling. I think Glenside would be great. Has a nice theater and its on the regional rail line for easy commuting. Bucks county has pennsbury and the council rock school districts. They are great and many people commute into philadelphia from there. It would be no crazier than many of the DC commutes.

The Philadelphia area definitely has a different flavor than the dc area. While dc has many transplants, many people in Philadelphia are born and raised. Their is a true philly accent and many unique traditions and local flavor. It can take awhile to break in, but it is worth the work.

Glenside is more of a blue collar town with people and their large extended families who've lived there their entire lives. I like the area - my family probably knows at least 1/2, if not 3/4, of the town - but you'll find it a little more insular than some of the other towns. Try Blue Bell, Fort Washington, Abington, maybe Ambler (parts can be good, others not as good). Gwenned Valley may be too expensive. Bucks County is great if you want more house/land for your $ and like a more rural area, but the commute to Philly sucks.

It can be a little confusing because PA has school districts that are smaller areas of counties and each school district is seperate and distinct. So you have to figure out what school districts you'd like to target and then look at what towns make up the district. The lines were drawn a long time ago based upon population back then. Now that the area has grown, you'll find the size of each school district can vary widely. For example, I graduated from Wissahickon which is about 300 kids in a graduating class vs. North Penn next door which was more like 1,000 per graudating class.

A lot of options given in this thread are not remotely doable on a $400k budget. (ie, the median house price in Wayne is $1 million.) The glenside response above is good though. we moved up here from Montco and have found it easy to make friends, fwiw.

[Anonymous]

We have friends in Ambler and it seems like a nice place to live. Decent homes under $600K, good schools, walking distance to SEPTA, and easy to get to Philadelphia and I-95.

[Anonymous]

You'll have to become an Eagles fan and learn the Eagle salute. (Hint: it involves outstretching your middle finger.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in hatboro. The schools are good. There's a lot of new housing developments but the old houses are nice. You can take the train in...but parking at the station sucks.

I also grew up in Hatboro. If you look off of Byberry Road heading towards Huntington Valley there are a lot of nice older homes in Upper Moreland Twp (ok schools) and into Lower Moreland Twp (great schools). Other side of Hatboro is Hatboro-Horsham schools, which is also good.

Also lived in Ardmore when we first left Philadelphia so I could go to better schools, but I can't really add anything to it since I was young.