Maybe it's just me but I always think of gated communities as modern day castles - gotta keep the brown people and commoners as far as way as possible.

As for Phil Hartman, bad choice of example as his own wife shot him in his master bedroom...maybe they will start turning the ever more popular his and hers suites into safe rooms...people can just interact thru the tv or something...sigh

Death in Teheran: (More or Less a Paraphrase) A man from Damascus found out that the Grim Reaper was going to come 'harvest' him the next day. He immediately set out for Teheran, hoping to escape his fate. When he got there, he ran into the Grim Reaper, who expressed surprise and said: "What a surprise to see you here. I wasn't supposed to see you until tomorrow in Damascus!" While I am not a complete fatalist, I do believe that we shouldn't live in fear and should face the world with our heads held high.

Wow, these tangents! I don't really think about gated vs. nongated neighborhoods. What I was wondering, as the OP, was is Blue Bell CC full of kids outside playing? That's what we want b/c we have 2 small kids.

Even thought I've never been there, I would have to say no.

Most families move to housing developments or inner ring suburbs with real sidewalks (its amazing how many developments don't even have sidewalks!).

And with the daycare culture these days, kids may play in the yard on the weekend, but during the week they are at daycare, school or the sitters.

You pretty much have to drive potential neighborhoods during the week to see if kids are out or not.

If you pick the best schools you can afford, and areas with lots of amenities close and sidewalks, you can all but guarantee kids.

Also looking for basketball hoops in the driveway and swing sets in the back yards is another good indicator...

You could also call/email the local Mom's group - I'm sure they could point you to the places that have lots of families...

There are quite a few subdivisions in the areas which are NOT gated communities. In fact, most ARE NOT gated. While most of these subdivisions are populated by families with children, today's lifestyles tend to result in "play dates" vs. kids just going out and knocking on the neighbor's door to start a pick-up game, etc.

Try driving the neighborhoods on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Most kids do some activities after school, so that is not necessarily a good time to evaluate the neighborhoods. Of course, speak to neighbors in the subdivisions in which you are looking. They will always give you the FULL scoop.

Carol Murray Cei
Real Estate Consultant for Life
Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors
Spring House, PA
215-643-9661
carolworksforyou.com

You DON'T need a gated community.. out there..


Just find a neighborhood out there that suits you and is nice. There are alot of McMansion developments going up in the area that should be in that price range, maybe higher now.

I'd just look into which schools your kids would end up in.
Or how far they'd have to drive to whatever private school they're gonna go to.

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