Hey guys, It's looking like I may be moving to the Philly Area for work. Any suggestions where I should look for housing? Any areas that I should stay away from? I haven't decided if I'm going to buy or rent as I have no idea how long I will be here.

 

Don't live in Camden or you will get shot.

What price range will you be looking at?

 

if im renting under $2500 ish i guess?

if i purchase - $500k ish

 

you have it made, there are many good locations to pick from.

You should come up here for weekend and scout it out.

Burlington county in NJ is close enough without having to live in the city itself.

Do you have kids? (is school an issue?)

 

nope im single / no kids. i won't know a single person, so i think living in/close to the city may be the way to go


the office will be in langhorn? i think

 

If you will be working in downtown Philly and prefer suburban living then Jersey is probably a good bet. You will be paying toll every day to get across one of the bridges into philly but if you're in the market for a $500k house then maybe you don't care about tolls haha. If you decide to live north and/or west of the city in PA then you probably have to deal with driving on 76 (Schuylkill 'Expressway') which is a nightmare in my opinion. Depending on how close you end up living you might be able to avoid it by taking the surface roads.

On the other hand I have heard that property taxes in New Jersey are really high on average - I'm sure someone here who actually lives there can confirm/deny that. I personally live about 30 miles northwest of the city and I love it out here, one main reason being that there are plenty of nice roads to let the Z stretch out, but I'm still near convenience too (and only 45 minute drive out of philly).

I agree with Sean, come up for a few days and scout the place out.

 

You're in Phoenixville and it takes you 45min to get to the city?!

I'm in Reading and it only take me about 45-50min without hitting traffic. Phoenixville is a nice place because it's still closer to the city without living in it. That could be an option, especially with a cap of 500K for a home. Hell, around my area 350k would put you in a real nice place with garage/pool/backyard/deck etc etc.

I personally hate Jersey except for the beachfronts. Other than that I just despise driving around there. Maybe I'm just biased from what I'm used to though.

 

If you're working in Langhorne, take a look in Mercer County, NJ. Between the Lawrenceville / Pennington / Plainsboro / Princeton area there are some real nice communities and areas. Upscale, not super built up, but you're not in the woods either and in your budget. Mix of older and newer homes and towns. From there, its easy to hit the NJ Turnpike, 195, 295 or shoot back into PA to hit 95 or the PA Turnpike, so you can get anywhere easily, NYC, Philly, the beachfronts, AC, etc... With traffic, shouldn't take you more than half an hour to hit Langhorne from most of those areas.

 

good advice! thanks

 

Any input on some of the downtown areas of Philly? - I was looking at Old City and Northern Liberties.

Also, what do you turbo guys do with emissions testing? In FL we don't have that to worry about.

 

just an FYI Jersey you will have to pay the highest property tax in the country. No Joke a 2000 sqft townhouse will be about 5-7k a year in property and school taxes. Live in PA. If you get a place downtown (philly) you may be able to get a tax abatement for up to 10 years.

For renting you can get a phat place for 2500 a month downtown. rittenhouse square, society hill. I have a friend who had the penthouse in one of the buildings in rittenhouse square he paid about 3500-4000 a month. Also Delaware county, and chester county have the highest rate of millionares in Pennsylvania and they are only 30 min from the city..

Chester county= West Chester(college town) area plenty of hottie roaming the streets at night and all sorts of bars and fun.

Delaware county= Main line(devon, Villanova, Radnor, just not Chester)upper crust real snobbish out that way lots of old money more expensive housing and not as friendly neighbors, but very nice houses.


May be worth it to check out some websites and look for Trend MLS. They do most of the listings for the area.

Besides I have never dated a sane jersey girl

 

stay away from northern liberties..it's one of those "up and coming neighborhoods" It's still a ghetto. example: went to get flowers for my wedding from this "upscale" place in northern liberties, 400 a table setting, and I had to ask the bum to move when we left plus it looked like I could get crack next to the shop. When we left the place BAM HERPIES. True story well all but the herpies hope this helps

 

thanks for the heads up. what about logan square?

i don't want to out west of philly as my office will be in langhorne

 

Look for a place in Rittenhouse Square, the area is really really nice

 

Yeah rittenhouse square is real nice, kind of wish I could live down there. Rent will be pricey I think, but if you have no problem with $2k a month then it might be a good spot for you. Just gotta find a place with room to park the Z.

 

ideally i need 2 garage parking spaces ... which seems like it's going to either be hard to find or absurdly expensive.

 

you can get a lot. it will be about 180/spot.

I should have seen this. you want to live in CC, but work in Langhorne? it's a straight shot up 95 or the train goes there as well. I live in CC in Rittenhouse Sq. I love it, but I also live 2 blocks from where I work.

if you are going to be in langhorne, north-ish jersey isn't a bad gig because you will be close to NYC. people that live up there are more metro-manhattan than metro-philly IMO. you will be going out to NYC for the nightlife far more than Philly.

if you really want Philly, I would never dissuade someone... you get alot of the good parts of Manhattan (food, clubs, greenspace) without alot of the bad (price, size, congestion, people).

if you come out to scout, let me know and I can show you around a little.

2500 would get you a high end 1 bedroom (including a parking space allocation in your monthly budget and utilities) or a almost high end 2 bedroon (ditto) in most of the nicer areas of Philly.

if you are set on parking space and won't be working IN center city: Northern Liberties is a good deal. it is chock full of youngins (read; HIPSTERS) who I cannot stand, but alot of people like. good bar scene, good food scene, etc.

but IN center city you can check out Old City, Rittenhouse, loft district, market east, washington square, avenue of the arts, fitler square, society hill, penns landing, penn center...

 

thanks man, i'll definitely take you up on that. i think i'll be up scounting in the next week or two, as the expected move is probably beg/mid november.

northern liberties might fit me well, i kinda am sortof a youngin - i just turned 28. that also may make it a bit easier for me to get out and meet people - i won't know a soul moving up here. i found a quite a few nice places just looking online in old city and rittenhouse, but with no parking or street parking which is killing me. i want the z safe

i've also looked in jersey around the princeton area, but for some reason, it doesn't seem too appealing to me.

 

yeah, I moved from jersey and I absolutely HATE north jersey. just an FYI: most people in the Northeast area have a very standoffish attitude, so be prepared for that. it can be lonely not knowing people. even getting car meets together is tough.

Let me know when you are up here than, I'll gladly help you out.'

in Philly unless you go towards South Philly you won't get a private garage (and south philly sucks!)... you will most likely need to put it in a commercial lot (roofed or otherwise). there are better ones that have controlled access and 24 hour security, etc... and they are all around -200 a month. that is your best bet in this urban environment.

 

Eastampton, Marlton, Mount Laurel and places like that in west Burlington County would give you a good area to live in. If you rent a house the property tax won't matter.