drexel hill, pa (Philadelphia, Springfield, Lansdowne: houses, neighborhoods, to buy)

[neleh]

Hello,
Can anyone give me much-needed info. re. Drexel Hill, Pa. I am looking for WALKABILITY and can no longer afford the prices being asked in Center City Philadelphia, since all the gentrification started and increased over 5 yrs. ago. Also, the basic row in Philly is very, very small 14 x 48 and unappealing to me. I am looking to buy a house under $200,000 K., in a close-in suburb. I had considered Germantown, although not that familiar with the area, seems rather sprawling. My favorite section of Philly is Rittenhouse area. Of course, this area is out of reach financially for many. I know all the neighborhoods of Philly, and as I mentioned, they are filled with the basic row which is not to my liking and will not pay upwards of $250,000 for this type of house. I, therefore must revamp my options.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

thank you.

[MKE8244]

I am guessing from your post that Drexel Hill is an area you are considering. Be careful there of high taxes and issues with resale. Public schools there are also poor so another factor if you have kids. DelCo in general has high taxes compared to much of MontCo and of course Philly.

Personally, I'd buy in (certain areas of) Germantown before Drexel Hill. Schools are not great either but taxes will be a lot lower and generally I think that area is on the rise. I used to live in nearby Mt Airy and its a very fun neighborhood with a lot going on.

Hopefully others will weigh in with other ideas but you might also look at Glenside, Abington, Oreland.

Lansdowne (Delco) and Collingswood (NJ) also come to mind as areas that are having a resurgence so perhaps you could find something there in your price range before prices go up. Collingswood is a bit ahead of Lansdowne but Lansdowne is right near Drexel Hill if you prefer that area.

[NYtoNJtoPA]

What about Aldan?

[StayingAfterSunday]

I was going to suggest Lansdowne, an older suburb located near Drexel Hill, with many older houses, some of which are within your price range. There is one problem, though, with my suggesting Lansdowne, and that is the fact that these houses are probably not within walking distance to shopping centers, basic stores, etc.

Drexel Hill does have an area near State Road that might be considered to be within a walkable distance to some shops, churches, banks, dry cleaners, etc. I haven't been in the area for quite some time, so things may have changed to some extent. From what I can recall, a fair number of houses that are located somewhat close to business establishments tend to be what you do not want, i.e. row houses, twin houses, etc., although this is not to say that there are no single houses available in your desired price range.

[RVA_DELCO]

Originally Posted by StayingAfterSunday

I was going to suggest Lansdowne, an older suburb located near Drexel Hill, with many older houses, some of which are within your price range. There is one problem, though, with my suggesting Lansdowne, and that is the fact that these houses are probably not within walking distance to shopping centers, basic stores, etc.

At Lansdowne Ave and Baltimore Ave, the town epicenter, there's a grocer, Wawa, pharmacy, bank, restaurants, farmer's market, music shop, miscellaneous things-- Literally walk ten minutes in any direction from there and you would cover most of the township.

[NYtoNJtoPA]

The cross streets of State Rd by the Drexeline Shoprite seem nice enough. I like the character of the homes in that neighborhood, and quite a few are under $200K, but taxes are ridiculously high for PA, kind of in the same league as (North) Jersey property taxes. That tells me it might not be that good of an investment, considering it is PA and not NJ thus property taxes are not normally that high. I know people in the area that get by without cars there and they all agree the area is on the decline. I particularly never had a very positive opinion of that general region. It is very old and decaying, traffic is horrendous and the schools are terrible. Might be a convenient place to live if you commute to CC using mass transit, but beyond that I really do not see anything else it has going for it at this point.

[PHL10]

This is an aside but I do hear this dilemma more often than I would think. People love the walkable environment that dense, attached housing creates but don’t want to live in dense, attached housing. But since one begets the other so there is no separating the two.

As someone mentioned, if you work in CC, Collingswood might be a good choice.

[mls128]

I would not buy there unless you won't need the schools AND aren't planning on moving ever. There's a reason the houses there are cheap, everyone is trying to get out due to the insane taxes and pretty bad school district. I think living there itself would be fine, most of it is still a nice neighborhood and I agree the housing stock is amazing. But, it is a bad investment and I don't see it turning around anytime soon. Springfield nearby is a more solid area and the prices aren't that expensive.

[Burger Fan]

Originally Posted by mls128

I would not buy there unless you won't need the schools AND aren't planning on moving ever. There's a reason the houses there are cheap, everyone is trying to get out due to the insane taxes and pretty bad school district. I think living there itself would be fine, most of it is still a nice neighborhood and I agree the housing stock is amazing. But, it is a bad investment and I don't see it turning around anytime soon. Springfield nearby is a more solid area and the prices aren't that expensive.

Springfield is the exact opposite of "walkable" though. There's a lot of sprawl there, plus that baltimore pike corridor which is more auto dealerships and big box retail rather than the kind of main street type grocery stores and shops the OP is looking for.

wouldn't recommend it, even if it was within his price range.

Originally Posted by PHL10

This is an aside but I do hear this dilemma more often than I would think. People love the walkable environment that dense, attached housing creates but don’t want to live in dense, attached housing. But since one begets the other so there is no separating the two.

Mostly agree. you CAN find what the OP is looking for, just not within that price range. Media would work but in no way are you getting anything close to $200K near Main Street.

[Mdez]

Yes there are many neighborhoods in Drexel Hill that fit your budget, however as far as walkability there's not much of it. Drexel Hill is suburban. The only place that is somewhat walkable that I can think of are the intersections of State and Burmont roads where there are some little bars and shops.

Have you considered the Roxborough/Manayunk section of Philadelphia? Or even some neighborhoods in South Philly have affordable row houses.