Need info about Philadelphia area

[Tiger]

My wife and I are considering moving close to Philadelphia when she retires in 2 years. Right now we are checking into towns in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. If anyone can recommend some towns for me to look into I would appreciate it.

We would like to spend up to $275k for a house.

 

[calmloki]

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Philadelphia". " First prize: a week in Philadelphia. Second prize: two weeks".

Thankyou, thankyou - tip your waitress, we'll be here all week!

 

[Cattusbabe]

My wife and I are considering moving close to Philadelphia when she retires in 2 years. Right now we are checking into towns in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. If anyone can recommend some towns for me to look into I would appreciate it.

We would like to spend up to $275k for a house.

Check out the site Phillyblog.com. It is a blog site for people living in Philly and around Philly and those considering moving to Philly. It is broken down by neighborhood and there is a section re. the burbs. You can get a lot of your of your questions answered there. Beware, lot of real Estate agents haunt the place. I live in Philly proper (and love it) so I cannot give you detailed information about the burbs. You may want to investigate Bucks county in addition to the ones you mentioned. Very lovely area. Good luck on your search.

 

[Kronk]

Depending on what you're looking for, $275,000 might be iffy. I live in West Chester, PA (Chester County). My house is probably around $400-ish. It is a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath, 35 years old, and isn't a showpiece by any stretch. $275 is more the range for townhouses in this area.

The farther west you go from where I am, the cheaper houses are. Exton is still a bit pricy, Downingtown less so. Phoenixville and Collegeville are more reasonable, but are farther away from the city, if that matters to you.

Traffic in this area is pretty brutal. Most restaurants are packed on Fri and Sat nights. Winters aren't horrible, especially if you don't have to get to work. Today is 85 degrees, which is nutso.

Not quite as familiar with prices in Delaware and Montgomery counties, though you could run names by me if you'd like.

 

[Kronk]

Oh, and BTW, my township made Money Mags list of best places to live in 2007 at #12. Weird. Hrm. It lists median home price as $308k. Really not sure how that's possible. There are a number of $800k developments in the township.

Best Places to Live: Top 100 - West Goshen, Pa. (12) - Money Magazine

 

[Gworker]

I live in Montgomery county almost in Berks county. I took a motorcycle ride through Bucks county Sunday morning. I saw quite a few reduced real estate signs on farms and land, probably reduced from $1,000,000 to $980,000. I moved to the area from Northern Virginia a little over a year ago. It is less expensive than the DC area but still kind of high. The property taxes are outrageous. You might be able to find an older house for around $275,000 in Montgomery County. Builders are still building like crazy. We started looking around Collegeville but had to move farther west to get the kind of house we wanted in our price range.
We looked all over the Collegeville, Skippack, Montgomery County area. Feel free to hit with a PM if you have any questions about that area.

 

[Tiger]

Thanks for the replies. When I have some more questions I will ask.