Hi everyone,
My husband and I have been fruitlessly looking at houses in both UCity and Center City for the last six months. We are slowly realizing that even in our price range (mid-400s), we haven't been able to find a house that fits our requirements: parking for 1-car, 3+ bedrooms, garden, kid-friendly neighborhood. We had been looking exclusively in Center City and UCity because my husband is a surgeon at Penn and routinely works 90-100 hour weeks, so we were hoping for a short commute. He would need to drive since hours can really vary. I've been reading the posts in the various forums here, and it seems like Chestnut Hill keeps coming up. My question is what do you think about the commute? When we drove out there yesterday we followed Mapquest and took 76 to Exit 340A to Lincoln Dr, then up Germantown. Is that the most direct route or is there a shorter way between the hospital and CH? I don't have (or want) a car, so I think CH would work for me, too, because of the 2 train lines.
Thanks!
-es

Well, hang in there, it's often difficult to get the feel of the the area-
fyi, I'm a Realtor, so if you're already working with an agent,
you can skip most of this since your agent has probably done this for you.


In Center City, University City and the near suburbs, in the range from
from $425k to $475k

there are about 50 places-

cuts the list in half, down to 22 places

cuts the list in half again, down to 10 places

Homes are in the usual locations, three in "Center City"
Society Hill, Washington Square West, Rittenhouse Square.
The rest in the outlying Pennsport, Queen Village and Northern Liberties.

can't exactly match that, but there are a few that aren't condos and have
some kind of yard, but you'll probably have to put in your own garden.

Much harder to quantify- Society Hill and Washington Square West aren't bad areas though.

It depends, from the upper part of Chesnut Hill the fastest route can be crossing over the Wissahickon at Bell's Mill then taking Henry Avenue and either crossing at Falls Bridge going down 13 and crossing at Strawberry Bridge.

Depending on traffic, you can also take Lincoln to City Line, Belmont, Girard, 34th Street; or Lincoln to West River Drive then Sweet Briar to 34th - an old girlfriend drove that route from Manayunk to PCPS when she was going to school.


Going into the Main Line might be an option as well, a comparable drive time as from Chestnut Hill, but you've got a choice of options for Train and El that runs 24/7.


Well, Chestnut Hill is a very nice area,
7 places in the price range,
4 place that really might catch your eye

1 actually mentions "extensive flower beds"

Q- are you looking for a flower garden, or a vegetable garden,
or an herb garden?

Hal

Hi Hal,

Wow, thanks for the information. We actually have been working with an agent in the city, and she has brought us to a lot of places around here, just none that clicked with us. As we kept driving our price range higher and higher, we started to think that maybe we should start looking in the outlying areas instead. That's how we started thinking about Chestnut Hill. I know some of our friends have suggested looking at the Main Line, too, but I only have a recollection of that area from when I was looking at colleges 15 years ago!! Thanks so much!!

If I were commuting regularly to/from CH, I would use the West River Drive/Falls Bridge/Kelly Drive/Lincoln Drive/Cresheim Valley Road/Germantown Avenue route - basically the entire drive is through parkland. It's really quite lovely. Don't know as it would be any faster, but then again, I doubt it's much slower, given how the Schuylkill is on a rush hour morning/afternoon. So why not take the scenic route?

Yep, it is a beautiful drive I may be the one person under age 70 who has actually driven Kelly Drive and Lincoln drive while obeying the speed limit-
-I once (and only once) had to drop off somebody at Philly Airport, then meet somebody at Cresheim Cottage for lunch - so I had about 2 hours to go from the Airport to Chestnut Hill- so I took the scenic route up Broad, out Parkway and Kelly Drive, in April around 11 am -
no traffic at all - it really is a spectacular drive if you have time to look around- which you normally only can do from the yellow trails along the edge of Linoln or the Fairmount Park Bike trail from 10 Box to Ridge Avenue Bridge.

However,
while the Schuylkill expressay is slow
(I once had the privilege of being on a tidal Schuylkill in a canoe around 4pm - paddling up river against the current and the tide, I was STILL beating car traffic on the Schuylkill expressway)-

the Falls bridge is a notorious bottle neck- even with the long right on red, it can back up-

And Lincoln Drive can back up as well - I once had to dive off my bike along the Wissahickon bike trail because an accident on Lincoln Drive had traffic blocked, and a guy on a full cowl Honda Goldwing got tired of waiting and took the short cut down the bicycle trail on the north bank of the Wissahickon - damn near ran me over when we both came over the crest of the hill and he just about clipped me!

I think that Walnut Lane- Henry- 33rd - Strawberry to West River Drive is about the same distance but less used.

Hal

Thanks to you both; I knew I was asking the right people! And this is why I don't want a car! I am always amazed by the bottlenecks that seem to appear from nowhere and to disappear just as mysteriously (and why is it that the opposing traffic always seems to be moving at a brisk pace?!!).

i'll put my usual plug in for mt. airy or germantown too. there are plenty of people there who work for penn, including doctors, etc. finding a 3BR place with a nice garden shouldn't be hard. it's probably about 10 minutes closer. the typical route is lincoln/w river drive/sweetbriar cutoff/34th, but going all the way down to HUP on off-hours the expressway from south street may not be such a bad choice.

you can do a search on realtor.com for zip 19119 or 19144 and look at the pictures, though you'll to look harder for the nice homes in 19144 (they are there).

hal--i bet this is the chestnut hill listing w/gardens you saw. just above willow grove.
http://www.lorettawitt.com/listings.html#avenue

Yep, quick glance, looks like the same house, although the best identification of a house for sale through a Realtor is the MLS#-
If you're in the Real Estate Business, you'd notice that lots of "local "
Real Estate sites fill their web pages with listings from other offices,
which you can tell because when it's their listing, the agent emphasizes the MLS#, if they're cutting and pasting info from realtor.com, they usually de-emphasize the MLS#, so nice to see a well done page by the agent who actually listed the house.

That tendency to spook another companies listings as your own "local inventory" irks me a little - for instance I recently got a question - "My wife saw these on XYZ Realty website, I sounds like we have to go through them, but can you still represent us on these? I look at the "the local realtor site " and guess what? They've got lots of pretty photos, but all the listings are all from other offices! That's really more of a mechanism to attract prospective buyers-

I guess that's why I've always preferred working from the buyer's side, rather than the listing side - I guess I've always been ok with getting listings, but preferred working with buyers and evaluate and compare homes. Plus taking buyers through homes is much more enjoyable than sitting at an open house. You do develop a feel for neighborhoods, and I guess it's hard to work in Real Estate and not develop some interest in architecture-


Hal

the main line is tough at rush hour. what about parkside or is that not nice? i've only driven through the park there and seen those gorgeous homes.

Well, going from the Main Line to the hospital in University City,
you've basically got 5 routes- all congested

West River Drive,
the Schuylkill Expressway,
Belmont
Lancaster Pike
Haverford Ave

Depending on what time you have to be in,
avoiding rush hour makes a HUGE difference in drive time.


Hal