family moving to philadelphia from new york (good, reasons)

[ha215]

Originally Posted by selhars

Of course. This is the place to come if you have questions.

Without a budget? No, other than I'd say all of close-in Montgomery County is good for what you want. Bucks County is farther away -- period. Close-in MontCo you can get in in less than an hour. Bucks, it's less likely.

(I mean an hour door-to-door, including leaving the house, getting to the train station waiting for the train, getting off and walking to where you need to be....OR driving AND accounting for parking and getting to work or the office, getting in the elevator to finally sitting at your desk or in position to work.)

DelCo has a lot of nice places also. It's just that the close-in, bordering parts of DelCo aren't the best. (Where as MontCo, just step across the county line and it's better.) So you have to go farther out to get to decent parts. But even going farther out in DelCo would be closer than Bucks County.

thank you for explaining - this helps a lot. I will continue researching about all of the above! Glad I asked.

[ha215]

also- what do you consider to be "close in" montCo? Thanks!

[selhars]

I'm not the best person to ask...because MY idea of close is VERY close. I can't stand long commutes. The last two jobs I've had I've been super blessed. My commutes have been 1.5 miles (7 minutes) and 5.5 miles (16 mins). Most of my working years my commute has been 30 minutes.

So close in for me is TIME driven, not distance.

No matter where I work, I drive to work -- and pay whatever it costs to park there. Even if it means being in traffic and pay a lot to park, I drive. I'm just not a public transit person. The commuter train is way better than catching a bus. But even so. No train for me. I'll drive no matter what.


Why have you seemed to ruled out living in the city? There are family friendly areas in the city limits. And I'm not suggesting downtown, just in the city. The way Philly is shaped, one can clearly see there are several neighborhoods that could work work you the are are no where near downtown.

Did you rule out the city? Or did the same people who gave you the other info that turned out not to be so accurate scare you off from the city?

[ha215]

Yes, I totally get you. Makes sense. I don't think my husband is a train person either since he's driven to work his whole life but will take the train if needed. The reason we ruled out city neighborhoods is because we are under the impression they are usually small with no parking spots, and are less safe. One family told me they were getting out of the city for that reason. So we decided on the suburbs right above downtown.

I've recently been told to check out the area of Bustleton. If my husband decides to drive, the person who lived there said it'll be about a 30 minute commute. And it's close to malls, major roads, etc. Would like to hear your opinion on it if you have one!

[selhars]

Parts of Mt. Airy and the far Northeast might work for you. Or Roxborough and Andorra.

I'll let others provide more info.

[ha215]

thanks!

[ilovephilly79]

I'll second Roxborough. It is in the city but not like most City neighborhoods. There are many other City neighborhoods that have parking, but it might be street parking.

I have family that lives in Bustleton and it will be pushing on your 40 minute commute requirement. But again, it completely depends on the day. One day, you might make it closer to 30 minutes, and the next day you might be looking at an hour. The other problem with Bustleton is that you are either stuck taking Roosevelt Boulevard for a proportion of your trip or you are stuck traveling over to 95 which isn't always fast. Both of those options suck. Personally, the Northeast is an acquired taste. Acquired taste that I've never really quite acquired.

[selhars]

There are SOME areas of Philly that have single family homes that have driveways and garages.

And there are more areas that have row houses/townhouses with garages. (Of course the current owners may be using them as storages areas filled with junk and they're not using them for their car.)

And if not garages driveways, to park at least one car off the street.

One issue is that lots of people in some neighborhoods have enclosed those garages to make them living space. As long as they haven't done that the garage is still usable as a garage.

[Flyers Girl]

I fear that we are overwhelming the poor OP.

Getting back to basics, if your husband is going to be working on Arch Street in Center City and would consider public transit, I really think you can't go wrong with the western suburbs. Now, a lot of those areas would be considered to be along the Main Line, but there are towns just off the Main Line (to the north and south) that would still be feasible for your husband to use transit (either Regional Rail or the trolley) but that would be less expensive than many of the Main Line towns.

Some areas to consider that are not the Main Line but are not far from transit: Newtown Square, Broomall, Havertown, Springfield, West Conshohocken, Conshohocken. I think your sweet spot is going to be south of Route 30 (Lancaster Avenue) and in the western suburbs, as that will be a better commute than north of Route 30. All towns I mentioned except for Conshy and West Conshy fit that bill.

Google Philadelphia, PA and then look due west and you'll see all these towns.

[selhars]

I believe the OP said her husband wants to drive AND be less than 40 minutes out.

You're not going to drive -- or you can't count on getting from Broomall, Newtown Square and some of the other places that have been suggested -- in 40 minutes not in morning or afternoon rush hour anyway.

Even by train I'd allow more time.

I've moved a couple of times. I draw a driving commute circle of 30 minutes -- in this case they want 40 minutes -- and everything INSIDE the circle is a possibility. If it's outside the circle, it's not. Plain and simple.

If the commute can be longer, just move the perimeter of the commute circle out farther.

Do the du diligence based on that. IF -- IF the commute is of primary importance.