Dear All:

We are look for purchasing new homes. Right now we rent in Wynnewood and the housing price in Lower Merion seems a bit too much to us. It looks like homes in Havertown are less expensive. May I know why Havertown homes are cheaper? Any drawbacks in Havertown or Haverford? We are pretty new in the Philly, so your response is greatly appreciated.

I would say its a combination of things. Havertown is traditionally more blue collar, the homes are smaller, the lots are smaller and supposedly the schools on one side of town are much better than the other...there is a "wrong side of the tracks" there.

Haverford is considered the Main Line which is the most affluent area around here...so there is the "snob" factor driving housing prices, and I would guess the neighbors would be more upper class than middle, the homes would be a tad larger with more land around them...

Main Line vs Not-Main-Line has something to do with it, but a bigger factor is schools. Wynnewood is part of the Lower Merion School District. Havertown is part of the Haverford School District which though quite good, doesn't have the reputation of Lower Merion.

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Homes in haverford township are a bit cheaper than lower merion, the snob factor has a lot to do with it, the schools in ht are great, taxes are on the reasonable side, and it is an all around great place to raise children. There are plently of larger homes available for less than 500k, those same homes would cost 600-700k in lm

I would hardly describe Havertown as blue collar. It may not be as affluent as Lower Merion but it's not that dramatic a difference. I would say it attracts people from less well-paying white collar occupations (people other than doctors, lawyers, CEOs). Ridley Park or Sharon Hill could be called blue collar, but not Havertown.

I grew up in Havertown, and while I was very happy to leave when I graduated from high school, I do have to say that, in retrospect, it is a great place for middle-class and upper-middle-class families. It's a typical "inner-ring" suburb and I'd imagine that most of the housing stock dates from the 1950s through the 70s, though some houses are older or newer. In fact, Havertown actually has some quite old sections that date from colonial times, so there is a bit of history and tradition. The schools are generally quite good, especially if you have a bright kid, since honors-track classes and teachers are great. I went to Chatham Park Elementary and recommend it highly. Economically, Havertown is definitely middle-class and not as affluent as, say Gladwyne or Villanova; it also has some neighborhoods that are wealthier (specifically northwest of Eagle Road as you get closer to Radnor/Bryn Mawr) and less wealthy (closer to Township Line Road and some of the working-class areas of Upper Darby). Also, I should add that the people, at least as I remember, are less pretentious and status conscious than some of the rich folk in Lower Merion.

Judging by your mastery of the english vocab, I'd say you're a foreigner.

Buy a home in Lower Merion.
The people there are more open minded.

Havertown is more "working class" than Lower Merion.
People there a tad more ignorant.

I'm just being honest here. My intention is not to hurt anybody's feelings.
Take me for example. I'm a product of Del Co. and also a minority and look how ignorant I am towards other people.

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"who pissed in your cheerios of life"?

Who are you responding to?

Not you.

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"who pissed in your cheerios of life"?

I, too, grew up in Havertown (Haverford Township). It was a great place to grow up, and is still a great place to raise kids. As the above posters stated, Lower Merion School District has one of the best reputations in area. But Haverford is also a fine place to send your kids to school. As a Haverford grad, I felt I was more than prepared for college, and in some ways more prepared than other students who had attended elite private schools.

When I was in H-town (high school class of '94), Havertown was very economically diverse. I can't say for certain this is still the case, but my friends' parents ran the gamut from electricians to contractors to insurance salesman to doctors, lawyers, and restaurant owners. That said, I do think there was a blue collar majority. Personally, I think that kind of economic diversity was a benefit that you won't find in LM.