Might be Moving to State College, PA (Progress, Gettysburg: real estate, houses)

[jgdesign]

The wife might be getting a professor position at Penn State in the fall of 2011. We currently live in the Chicago area. Although I've driven through Pennsylvania twice in the past and spent some time at Gettysburg, I'm not at all familiar with this area. What are the best places to live if, say, we also wanted to buy a home with a few acres of land for some hobby farming and horses?
What's the real estate and climate situation like there.
Is it a good area to raise a young child? Are the schools good?
Anyone please describe to me what this college town is like.
Thanks!!!

[PA2UK]

I grew up in State College and loved it - my mom always says "State College is a great place to raise kids!" Apart from more development, it didn't seemed to have changed much since I've been back so I would say that's still true. I also have friends who are currently raising a kid in SC too and they love it. My family even go back there every summer for Arts Fest even though they moved away about 14 years ago.

I went to Lemont/Houserville which was fine for me but in Jr High, my brother was being bullied and the school didn't take it very seriously (it got so bad my parents had to pull him out and put him in a private school and took him to a therapist) - that was a long time ago though (about 1991) so things have probably changed.

But I think people think that because it's a college town, there's not much for families and kids to do, which is so not true. I was never bored growing up.

[Lion11]

Welcome(possibly) to happy valley! State College is a great town for kids. There are a lot of festivals, sporting events, and shows that appeal to kids and families. It is a "college town", but students aren't a problem unless you live next door to a frat house. Downtown is great...good food, shops, and activities. State College Area Schools are ranked as some of the best in the state and I haven't heard anything bad.
Very exciting that you want a small hobby farm! State College is a great place for that. Look online a bit(I like 1kbb.com), you can find a small horse property in SCASD for $300,000 and on up for bigger houses/more land. If you want more house/acreage for your money, I would advise you to look in Bellefonte or the Centre Hall area. Bellefonte is smaller than SC, but still offers great schools. You can even find a property in BASD in Benner Township that is 5-10 minutes from SC. Centre Hall students attend Penns Valley schools, which is very small, but there is a lot of land out there and still only 15 min. or so from SC. Good Luck!
These links may be helpful:

State College, PA - Penn State University
Hot Picks for Central Region
State College PA Events: Penn State Community Calendar
State College Kids - The Original Online Family Guide for State College, PA
Penn State Alumni move back to State College:State College - Alumni Moving Home to Happy Valley
Jay Paterno, an assisant Penn State football coach, writes a weekly column. This week's provides a wonderful(and so true) description of the town:http://www.statecollege.com/news/col...ollege-566949/

[Davros]

Originally Posted by jgdesign

The wife might be getting a professor position at Penn State in the fall of 2011. We currently live in the Chicago area. Although I've driven through Pennsylvania twice in the past and spent some time at Gettysburg, I'm not at all familiar with this area. What are the best places to live if, say, we also wanted to buy a home with a few acres of land for some hobby farming and horses?
What's the real estate and climate situation like there.
Is it a good area to raise a young child? Are the schools good?
Anyone please describe to me what this college town is like.
Thanks!!!

I just wanted to add my opinion. The two posts above mine are very good.

It's a rural area, so there should be plenty of places where you can do farming and have horses. Overall, farming is huge in the area. Every August, there is a Penn State event called Ag Progress Days which should be a lot of fun for any hobby farmers, as there are many commercial farmers who come here to share with each other what they know and companies who come here to sell stuff to farmers.

Outside of State College itself and other towns such as Bellefonte, the area is very rural, and is mostly farmland in the valleys and woods on the hills.

The physical setting is beautiful. We just got through with an excellent fall season, with oaks, hickories, aspens, and maples.

Coming from a major city such as Chicago to a college town such as this will be a bit of a culture shock. There isn't much opportunity for shopping, the mall is dated and limited. But you can get what you need here. And the traffic is non-existant.

Public education in this area is excellent.

You can pretty much live wherever you like, and it should be pretty nice. In Pennsylvania, the counties are divided into townships and boroughs, so that every piece of land belongs to some unit smaller than the county. Some of the townships that offer a good mix of rural living and convenient proximity to State College are: Halfmoon, Patton, Ferguson, Harris, Benner, Spring.

[Jen Dahlke]

Nice town state college schools are very good. It is very safe and there are other young families in State College area. Boalsburg, Port matilda are in the state college school district. In the Port Matilda area you may be able to get more land and have animals. Check the Centre county region Bellefonte, Milesburg etc
I like State College because I am so close to all of the action and Penn State , but that works for me.
If your family wants room and animals that my not work for you.