OP here. I'm an accountant, so a job shouldn't be an issue. Not looking to make tons of money, just live a comfortable life. We live in the affordable part of Vienna in an old small home. Our neighborhood is amazing and that will be the hardest part to duplicate. Tons of kids, nice down to earth parents, schools and metro are walkable. I would love to find a neighborhood like that with good public schools. I gave a friend who recommended Glen Mills, which looks to have good schools. Anyone know that neighborhood? I really don't like DC as a city. It doesn't look like a city (when you've grown up outside NYC), and I hate politics. We love the outdoors, so also looking for good hiking and biking which should be just as good if not better in PA. Also happier that we would be closer to the ocean for weekend trips. Thanks for all of the neighborhood suggestions. As for price range, I'm not sure. Im guessing our HHI when we move will be about $125k and we will be down to one child in daycare. I need to run some numbers, but I think of like to keep the house under $400K. Thanks again for the advice!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

philly is pretty much the 6th borough if you know what i mean. All of the families I know that bought are/were working in new york, and commute back up there multiple times during the week while the other days working in the philly office of their firm (most of them consultants).

it is dumpy but it's getting better.

I find the food scene in philly to eclipse dc by a long shot.

Philly is mroe 'closed off' and 'angry'. It is an angry city.

But I think there's immense value there for the right couple/family/person.

On the Easterm Seaboard, Boston, NYC and DC have emerged as the winners, and Philly and Baltimore are the losers. You can get a great house for a bargain price compared to the other areas, but it's because the demand is low and the jobs don't pay as well. So you can look at house porn for a while, but then reality sinks in.

I don't think Philly and Baltimore are comparable and I've lived in both. Philly is huge relative to Baltimore, and the big employers are universities, medicine and pharmaceuticals. Industries are quite different, but pay in Philly is very good if you're in the right field.

Same if you find a job in Baltimore at Hopkins, T. Rowe Price, whatever is left of Alex Brown, etc. But there aren't as many of those jobs and the pay isn't as good asin other cities, hence the lower real estate prices. Basically both Philly and Baltimore are industrial cities that are too large for their current economies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

philly is pretty much the 6th borough if you know what i mean. All of the families I know that bought are/were working in new york, and commute back up there multiple times during the week while the other days working in the philly office of their firm (most of them consultants).

it is dumpy but it's getting better.

I find the food scene in philly to eclipse dc by a long shot.

Philly is mroe 'closed off' and 'angry'. It is an angry city.

But I think there's immense value there for the right couple/family/person.

On the Easterm Seaboard, Boston, NYC and DC have emerged as the winners, and Philly and Baltimore are the losers. You can get a great house for a bargain price compared to the other areas, but it's because the demand is low and the jobs don't pay as well. So you can look at house porn for a while, but then reality sinks in.

I don't think Philly and Baltimore are comparable and I've lived in both. Philly is huge relative to Baltimore, and the big employers are universities, medicine and pharmaceuticals. Industries are quite different, but pay in Philly is very good if you're in the right field.

I am surprised by some of the negative comments here. We moved from DC to Philly about six years ago. I lived in DC for almost a decade before that. It's certainly true that DC has more higher paying jobs than Philly (and correspondingly higher-cost real estate), although Philly is a huge medical employer and there are many many doctors and scientists. I've really been happy living here. We are in Chestnut Hill, in a beautiful old house with a large yard, our child attends an excellent private school for under $20K/year (though middle and high school are much more expensive). There is plenty of great culture--an exceptional orchestra, top art museums; there are lots of great restaurants; there's a real culture of different, funky neighborhoods. The city is certainly segregated but then, so is DC. I do think Philly doesn't draw the same mix of interesting, international, driven people that DC does, but DC is pretty unique in that regard. And Philly is a bit more insular, with many residents who have grown up here. I rarely encountered that when I lived in DC.

I know a number of families in the Mount Airy/Chestnut Hill area whose kids attend public school--many were in a mom's group I joined when my child was born, so it's a somewhat random assortment--but it's true that the public schools are dicier and we chose not to go that route.

I agree that Philly is not DC in the sense that it's not a world-class city. But it's incredibly liveable which, with kids, I really appreciate. I do miss certain things about DC, particularly the close friends I have there, but I am grateful for the life we have built here and wouldn't trade it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

philly is pretty much the 6th borough if you know what i mean. All of the families I know that bought are/were working in new york, and commute back up there multiple times during the week while the other days working in the philly office of their firm (most of them consultants).

it is dumpy but it's getting better.

I find the food scene in philly to eclipse dc by a long shot.

Philly is mroe 'closed off' and 'angry'. It is an angry city.

But I think there's immense value there for the right couple/family/person.

On the Easterm Seaboard, Boston, NYC and DC have emerged as the winners, and Philly and Baltimore are the losers. You can get a great house for a bargain price compared to the other areas, but it's because the demand is low and the jobs don't pay as well. So you can look at house porn for a while, but then reality sinks in.

Frank Rizzo was the worst Mayor! I grew up in Philly while he was Mayor and he was a neighbor of mine. He was a racist, sexist and homophobic who believed in excess police force to keep people ( minorities) in line.

Love it here. Great food and art scene.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

philly is pretty much the 6th borough if you know what i mean. All of the families I know that bought are/were working in new york, and commute back up there multiple times during the week while the other days working in the philly office of their firm (most of them consultants).

it is dumpy but it's getting better.

I find the food scene in philly to eclipse dc by a long shot.

Philly is mroe 'closed off' and 'angry'. It is an angry city.

But I think there's immense value there for the right couple/family/person.

Wow, I would call it a city with far more joie de vivre than here. Dc is dull and navel-gazing , power / status-obsessed ... Philly is much more carefree and funky. People are less stiff and friendlier. Everything is negotiable. No sales tax on clothes. Worse economy, so prices are way lower. But there is a sort of self- contained aspect of the city that gets tiring. Also a little inferiority complex. But there are such great things to enjoy there, it was never an issue for me.

The whole place has gone down hill since Mayor Rizzo left the scene.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

philly is pretty much the 6th borough if you know what i mean. All of the families I know that bought are/were working in new york, and commute back up there multiple times during the week while the other days working in the philly office of their firm (most of them consultants).

it is dumpy but it's getting better.

I find the food scene in philly to eclipse dc by a long shot.

Philly is mroe 'closed off' and 'angry'. It is an angry city.

But I think there's immense value there for the right couple/family/person.

Wow, I would call it a city with far more joie de vivre than here. Dc is dull and navel-gazing , power / status-obsessed ... Philly is much more carefree and funky. People are less stiff and friendlier. Everything is negotiable. No sales tax on clothes. Worse economy, so prices are way lower. But there is a sort of self- contained aspect of the city that gets tiring. Also a little inferiority complex. But there are such great things to enjoy there, it was never an issue for me.

There are tons of NYC and DC transplants in the eastern end of Lower Merion.

Bala, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, and even a little farther out will get you to center city very quickly. You can live in walking distance to a septa station or drive over and park quite easily. Narberth and the parts of Merion close to Narberth have the most walkable neighborhoods IMO.

Anonymous wrote:I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

philly is pretty much the 6th borough if you know what i mean. All of the families I know that bought are/were working in new york, and commute back up there multiple times during the week while the other days working in the philly office of their firm (most of them consultants).

it is dumpy but it's getting better.

I find the food scene in philly to eclipse dc by a long shot.

Philly is mroe 'closed off' and 'angry'. It is an angry city.

But I think there's immense value there for the right couple/family/person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Some people prefer to be more in the mainline zone: think Conshohocken, Chestnut Hill, Norristown - that's where most of the private schools are, and neighborhoods that look a lot like NWDC and CCMD (and are priced accordingly).

Good luck

Just FYI, none of the towns mentioned above are on the main line or nearby. CH is in the city, norristown is run-down and dumpy, and Conshohocken is a cute urban-ish area good for young professionals.

2101 here - yes, the PP before the one I quoted is wrong. none of those places are main line.

2101 - the nyc professionals that bought in philly (outside of rittenhouse) all bought in: haverford, merion, bala cynwyd, ardmore.

that's close in main line.

I love some of those old houses in Philly and the Main Line suburbs but it would take more than that to get me to move there. Philly is such a dump and the surrounding communities seem very segregated with little diversity. I think you'd forever feel like an outsider there.

I know a truckload of late 30's early 40's people that bought on main line and commute to nyc 3x a week.

The housing stock in main line nabes will make your jaw drop coming from dc. A lot of those homes were built to last 200-300 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Some people prefer to be more in the mainline zone: think Conshohocken, Chestnut Hill, Norristown - that's where most of the private schools are, and neighborhoods that look a lot like NWDC and CCMD (and are priced accordingly).

Good luck

Just FYI, none of the towns mentioned above are on the main line or nearby. CH is in the city, norristown is run-down and dumpy, and Conshohocken is a cute urban-ish area good for young professionals.