Hi!

My husband is interviewing for a job in Philly, so we are starting to investigate housing options. We are currently living in northern Wisconsin and we know no one in the area. Quite honestly, I'm lost. Here's our situation:

Hub would be working in Center City and I would prefer he didn't have a ridiculous commute. We have three little kids, so we'd like a good school district. I don't need a brand new house, but we'd like a nice, safe neighborhood and we'd need 3 bedrooms. We'd probably need to find something for no more than $300K.

Does such a place exist? I'm open to city or suburbs. Would really like any opinions as I have no clue where to start.

Thanks so much!

Haverford Twp; Haverford Schools.

__________________
NUTTER 2007

Media, Conshohocken, or Glenside/Jenkintown.

Media

I concur. For your budget and for the of quality schools it may be
your best option.

The commute isn't that bad to CC.

In terms of schools in rank order in Delco with train access and affordable homes:

Wallingford and Swarthmore - great schools, liberal town, on R3 train line

Rose Tree Media - "America's Hometown" Also on R3 line

Havertown - also great for families, short commute into city

Marple Newtown - Broomall also is great for families, but you will have to drive pretty far to a train station

Springfield - Also great for families, on the R3 line, cheapest houses of the bunch...schools are still in the top 100 in the state...

Actually, it's "everyone's hometown"

North of the city is Warminster. Some of the biggest yards you can find are there, and prices are very reasonable. There is a Warminster train station that will take you to CC. School district is good, and there is also a good Catholic school system there if that's your religion.

Collingswood, Haddon, etc.

We looked at the PA burbs and discovered that the taxes are also high, we found that the NJ towns I mention have better dining and retail options, and have better mass transit options if located on the PATCO line.

Many of the PA areas people have mentioned are great - Media and Havertown. But we found that many of the PA burbs (Montco, Delco) are all about "getting back to what they used to be" as opposed to "going somewhere new". That, for me, was the tiebreaker.

I believe that the resale values are better in PA than in NJ, but since we are in for 17 years we felt that was a non-issue.

The antics of some racists in Gladwynne also cost us Josh Smith. You'd be wise to steer clear of the clownish trust fund babies in old-money areas of the burbs. But that is coming from a city kid.

Blue Bell / Ambler are great areas with excellent school district!
The R5 is close by with express traisn going directly to Center City

__________________
Now what are we going to do about taking Winthorpe back and returning Valentine to the ghetto?