Ah... I had thought that the original poster was comparing MA to the city, not to the country.

I remember a LA-residing friend of mine complaing a while back about how high his car insurance was- $600/yr. I told him that, if he had those rates in Philly, people would ask if he had pics of Mayor Rendell and Lynne Abraham in a compromising position.

Would I be nuts to buy a house on Lincoln Dr? We are coming out next week to look at houses in Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy. More than half of the houses we are looking at are on Lincoln Dr. I'm more familiar with Chestnut Hill. We have been up and down Lincoln Dr., but I never gave it much thought about living on it until I realized what slim pickins we have for housing options.

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I don't think you'd be nuts. The houses on Lincoln Drive seem to be more affordable than those which are a few blocks off. You'd probably be getting more house for the money. That being said, you also have to keep in mind that Lincoln Drive is a busy street. You won't have as strong a connection with your neighbors simply because the street can act like a barrier. Also, with the traffic of Lincoln Drive comes obviously problems associated with it....noise, sirens, pulling out of the driveway, etc...

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- George -

http://www.nutter2007.com

One of my good friends lives on Lincoln Drive closer to Allens Lane. They have a great twin. I'd love to have been able to buy one when we were looking.

I grew up right off of Lincoln Drive (at the top, between Emlen and Allens Lane) and I think that things slow down up at the end- I'm sure that cars go fast sometimes, but even as a kid I could cross Lincoln Drive comfortably albeit carefully. I'm not sure if houses are available up there. In terms of the community feel, I agree that there may not be the same sense of a block identity that a smaller street may have but I knew lots of people that lived on Lincoln Drive and considered them to be part of the community and they knew each other. They came to our block parties. So maybe it depends on which part of Lincoln Drive you are talking about. I would be more hesitant to buy a house on the more traveled part.

I haven't seen too many for sale signs on that part of Lincoln Drive for awhile. The last I can really remember was this summer in the 7000 block and it went for $385K.

They are all around Lincoln and Greene. I wanted to be able to walk and utilize the amenities in the neighborhood. I've got three kids and I really don't want to worry about them getting hit everytime we go outside. Do the houses sit close to Lincoln Dr. or are they set back? I'm sure it probably depends on the property.
I'm not feeling very encouraged about house hunting next week.
Thanks for your help. It's nice to get an opinion from people who live there.

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Near Greene I think that most of the houses are set back a bit - nothing right on the street. And I believe that most of those houses have back yards so as long as your kids stay in the yard they will be fine. But to be honest Lincoln and Greene (and McCallum too) is a common place for accidents - I've witnessed two happen there (and seen the aftermath of several others) over the last 2 years - but that just may be par for the course on any part of Lincoln Drive. Also the residential portion of Lincoln drive is not as much of a raceway as the part along the Wissahickon.

But the houses along Lincoln are very large and beautiful - So I think that it's worth the look. But why not have your realtor show you some others in the area (not on Lincoln Drive) while you are at it?

I have lived in mt.airy my entire life. When I was growing up there was no talk

of east or west. I also live in the so called contraversial area near wadsworth

avenue which today is being questioned whether it really is east mt.airy or not.

Every resident who lives here and who grew up here like me only knows

their neighborhood as being MT.Airy, or East Mt.Airy if you want to be technical.

I grew up on Gilbert street and walked down Mt.Airy avenue to go to the closest

mailbox which was a half a block away from my street. I really think that

if this area were a little more racially diverse, there would not be any

doubt as to what this section should be called. I lived on the west side

for six years and decided to come back across stenton avenue because

my car had been stolen twice and my husband was held up by a gunman.

I never had these problems where I grew up and I still feel safe here today.

The last post is wrong in many ways.

First, the area between Stenton and Cheltenham Avenue is known as Cedarbrook, not E. Mt. Airy.

Lincoln Drive is in no way a border....look at a map, this doesn't even make sense. Lincoln Drive runs right through most of W. Mt. Airy. The real issue is how far down Gtown ave. you go and still consider it Mt. Airy, not Gtown...this is pretty subjective, esp. since Gtown Ave gets pretty shitty pretty quick past Sedgwick (I know things are getting better around Carpenter, but the residential area to the east is pretty dangerous and hoody and the avenue is ghetto from there all the way to Broad Street.)

Why are you trying to define this? What is your agenda?