OK, I know there are a zillion of these out there, and I've even scanned through several of them. But none of the others quite fit our situation (news flash: everybody's circumstances are different!), so I thought I'd post my own version of the question.

My fiance and I are planning to move to the Philly area next summer/fall ('07), primarily because we're planning to attend UPenn (her as an undergrad, myself as a part-time grad student). We managed to spend an evening visiting the city at Christmastime, and we're going back this weekend (Memorial Day) for a five day visit to check out the campuses and the city.

One of the big purposes of our visit is to try and figure out where we might find a good place to live. But our circumstances are a bit different from everybody else's, so I thought I'd post my own question.

I haven't gotten a job in the Philly area yet, so that's obviously a big factor that's still unknown. Even so, we know we're going to need to be within a reasonable distance of UPenn. Personally, I really don't want more than a half hour commute to work (I have 20 minutes right now and that's pushing it if you ask me), and we shouldn't have to have more than 30 minutes to school, either (this is also a factor in my job search). So we're looking at areas within a 30 minute commute (driving, walking, or public transportation really doesn't matter) of the University, and that's probably the number one consideration.

We also have a rather large dog, which is probably our number two consideration. Right now we're pretty spoiled as far as land goes, and the dog has a decent amount of room outside to run in the yard. I'm guessing this is going to be a good bit more difficult in the city itself, although there do seem to be plenty of parks. For convenience, however, I'm thinking it would be really nice to have at least enough of a yard to let the dog out to go to the bathroom, without having to walk her down to the park if she happens to have to go in the middle of the night or something.

Safety is also a huge concern. For myself, it's not that big a deal (I'm a big, scary looking guy, which is enough to deter most violence). My girlfriend, however, is small and cute, and while she can take good care of herself, I'd be far happier if she never had to. So somewhere safe, where we can minimize the number of "bad" areas between us and the University would be very good.

We're also planning to be there long enough that I think it makes more sense to buy than to rent (although we'll probably start out renting while we look for a good deal). I'm thinking that a townhouse would probably be our best bet, since it would probably be much more affordable than a single family residence but still have at least a minimal yard for the dog. Still, I'm quite open to either a more traditional house or a condo, depending.

We're also still pretty young, and currently childless. Schools (other than the University) are more or less a non-issue, and it would be nice to live somewhere with other twenty-somethings and/or students, where stuff is going on.

I'm already prepared for the shock, but my current house cost $100k for 1700 square feet and a .3 acre yard. I realize I'm not going to get anything close to that in the Philly area, but I'd really like to have something decent for under $200-$250k if possible.

Thanks in advance, and I'm sorry - you probably see a thousand threads like this a day.

PS: If anybody has any advice on job hunting in Philly, I wouldn't turn it down. I've recently rediscovered just how much Monster.com and the like suck. I'm a computer programmer, for what it matters.