possibly moving to Philly area (Chester, West Chester: houses, neighborhoods, best school districts)

[jenmal]

We are looking at moving to the greater Philly area in the next few months (or as soon as we sell our home in Atlanta). We love all of the things that Philly has to offer, but we could use some help narrowing down the list of areas to seriously consider. We are looking for: 1. small school district (less than 20K kids) that is open to subject/grade acceleration or at least does some differentiation in the classroom for advanced kids 2. neighborhoods that are urban/suburban. No subdivisions--we want sidewalks and tree lined streets, grid like street patterns, the kind of town the kids can walk to school or ride their bikes, lots of diversity and varied housing options under $375K. Houses that need work are fine, as long as the neighborhood appreciation is headed up. 3. Easy access to public transportation (train) to downtown. Commuting isn't necessary (work at home), but we want the access that public trans. provides. I've gone through previous postings, and I do like what I see in Media, however, we'd like a few other options. 4. Small town atmosphere but not so small town as to be closeminded or backward. Also, any comparisons to the Boston area (where we are also looking) would be helpful.

Are there any places to avoid? Schools that don't "get" gifted kids or are difficult to work with? We don't have a great school situation now, and are primarily moving because we need better schools/more options for dual enrollment or early college.

TIA,
Jennifer

[William shivers]

well your 2 best school districts in this area are haverford township and radnor township. Havertown is a great family oriented area and the housing prices are good. For 300 you can find a 4 bed single with taxes around 4000. In radnor however the prices are much higher as are the taxes. Probably looking at 450 for a home and taxes around 5500-6000.

[krohnkiller]

How far do you want to be from downtown? Then I could steer you in several good directions

[jenmal]

We're looking for not so far from downtown, maybe 35-45 minutes tops driving, but somewhere on a train line so that we can take the train in when we need to. Commuting isn't the issue, just the easy access to all the in-town offerings and enrichment activities.

Any thoughts on Cheltenham, Upper Darby, Penn Valley?

[Syrinx2112]

Cheltenham and Upper Darby are inner ring suburbs that have seen better days, I personally would punt on both. Penn Valley if its the same Penn Valley I'm thinking of is big big bucks filled with $3 M dollar mansions.

Walkable downtowns with regional rail into center city:

Media
Swarthmore
Ridley Park
Main Line Towns(Pricey)- Ardmore-Haverford-Bala Cynwd-Wynnewood-Bryn Mawr-Narberth-Malvern-Merion

Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy in Philadlephia fit your criteria perfectly. Chestnut Hill is extraordinary with its own fabulous downtown strip.

West Chester is great but a good 20 miles west of center city Philly.
Phoenixville
Doylestown
Glenside

[William shivers]

again i would say havertown, it sits right on a train line and is about a 30 minute commute to center city. It also has 1 of the best school districts around, chatam park elementary is considered the best in the area, philadelphia mag wrote it up last year

[mckngbrd]

how far is MEDIA, really? I had someone who lives in germantown tell me it was AT LEASt 45 minutes...

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by mckngbrd

how far is MEDIA, really? I had someone who lives in germantown tell me it was AT LEASt 45 minutes...

If one were to take the R3 train from Media to 30th Street Station - as your husband would per your other post - then it would be about a 35-minute ride. Actual Center City would be another 5-10 minutes.

Driving to (and paying expensive parking fees in) 30th Street or downtown regularly may not be advisable, as the choices would be signal-heavy Baltimore Pike or traffic-heavy Blue Route(I-476) and I-95. A map website clocks the latter route at about 19 miles and 28 minutes. Add at least another 20 minutes for traffic.

[orrmobl]

Definitely check out Media and especially Wallingford-Swarthmore schools (in Nether Providence/Wallingford/Swarthmore/Rose Valley) - they are close to the best of the bunch in the area, great place to live, great location, friendly neighbors - you really can't beat them in that area.

[JHG722]

Three year old thread bump, nice.