Hi- I'll be new to Philly in May. I'm from San Diego. I have a small family. From this terrific forum, I'm leaning towards settling in NE Philly-I'm looking for a neighborhood thats a 25 minute commute to Center City by Train for work, dates and urban excursions; Malls, Target, Suburban feel, and Parks for my 2year old. I'm looking for a 2-3 bed room apt or small house to rent. Can you opine on rents, neighborhoods I should check out? I'll be in Corporate housing for a month so I'll need a place by July. Thanks!

Then try looking in the Fox Chase/Burholme/Rhawnhurst/Upper Lawndale area. You will be close to the regional rail line, R8, which is a 22-25 minute ride to CC (depending upon which stop--Market East or Suburban Station). These are nice neighborhoods, with trees and parks and local shopping as well as supermarkets and easy access to shopping malls both on the Roosevelt Boulevard and heading out to the suburbs in Willow Grove (Willow Grove Mall). This is a nice hybrid of city/suburban which is easy to live in for a family. You will have amenities, you will have plenty of parkland nearby for biking and walking as Pennypark Park are to the north of this area, just off of Krewstown Road, and you can head into Cheltenham Township, just west of city limits and explore or bike, in Tookany.

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Thank you HospitalityGirl. I will start checking that out. Please pm me if you have more NE suggestions.

San Diego to Philly? That's going to be quite a culture shock for you and you're kids. I couldn't think of 2 places that are more polar opposites of each other.

The only thing the 2 cities have in common is their love for Balboa. One a fictional person, the other a nice park!

Just keep in mind that we all pretty much mean well.

I also agree that the Lawndale/Fox Chase/Rhawnhurst are might be a good place to start looking, but I'd also suggest Somerton.

I should have boilerplate for this

You may wish to consider joining a bunch of Phillybloggers in Tacony, http://www.taconycivic.org

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Agree with the posts on here, but my favorite is of course Lawndale. Lawndale/Burholme are like small towns and Fox Chase/Rhawnhurst more like the suburbs....but all within earshot of Center City.

Great areas, with great people...and shockingly, apparently more and more people are seeing this from the posts I'm seeing on here!

Did we finally loose all the downers of the NE?

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Thanks for the great info.

What sources should I use to apt. hunt in these areas? Do I use Craigslist to find an apt in these areas? Should I look at something else?

Here's the catch, I'll be in CC for a month in Corporate housing so I won't have a car. I'll need to lug my 1.5 yo in a philly CarShare. Yuch.

The Philly Car Share cars are fine, clean and well kept. You really won't mind using them. Craigslist is one avenue, as is The Northeast Times and The Gleaner, which are local neighborhood papers.

__________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY

"Censorship is free advertising by the government"--Federico Fellini

"Do you mind if I smoke while you eat?"

I would also suggest http://www.phillyforrent.com/rentals, it's an offshoot of the philly.com real estate section.

Very easy to navigate.