Likely moving to the Philly area, could use some advice from people in the know!

Norton · Jan 22, 2013

Before you go to far in investigating it and wasting your time....

The Broad Street thing was a misfired tongue in cheek. North Broad is a war zone....as in feeling like the Griswolds asking for directions.

HoCoShooter · Jan 22, 2013

If you like Baltimore you'll love Philly. :sad20:

A lot of it reminds me of the Edmonson village area between Catonsville and Baltimore.

Personally, you couldn't offer me a free mortgage to live there. I hope your stay is short.

gamer_jim · Jan 22, 2013

I hear the police there LOVE it when people Open Carry. Make sure to OC a large pistol, preferably on a thigh holster.

BDurk · Jan 22, 2013

I spent a lot of time in a around Philly, both in college and then later married with children.....it can be a great town or a lousy place to live based on the area and where you are in life.

From my perspective, you need to plan around your commute. There are only a few main arteries in and out of the city. A drive that normally takes 20 minutes on 'the Schuylkill' (interstate 76) without traffic, can take well over an hour during rush hour. If you don't choose wisely you'll end up spending an awful amount of time in a car. The best situation I found was to live a reasonable drive to a SEPTA station (think Philly’s version of METRO) and take the train into the city.

After that it matters if you have kids or plan to while there. There are some great areas in the city if you're without kids and some great areas outside the city it you have them.

So, any kids? Where is the grad school located? Where will you be working?

smokedog · Jan 22, 2013

Norton said:
The Broad Street thing was a misfired tongue in cheek. North Broad is a war zone....as in feeling like the Griswolds asking for directions.

Yes, what Norton said :thumbsup:

Go up there and spend a few days to look around stay out of the city if you can. Center City is nice and so are the out lying neighborhoods but the traffic will suck the life out of you.

AliasNeo07 · Jan 24, 2013

Norton said:
Before you go to far in investigating it and wasting your time....

The Broad Street thing was a misfired tongue in cheek. North Broad is a war zone....as in feeling like the Griswolds asking for directions.

Thanks a lot! :lol2:

BDurk said:
I spent a lot of time in a around Philly, both in college and then later married with children.....it can be a great town or a lousy place to live based on the area and where you are in life.

From my perspective, you need to plan around your commute. There are only a few main arteries in and out of the city. A drive that normally takes 20 minutes on 'the Schuylkill' (interstate 76) without traffic, can take well over an hour during rush hour. If you don't choose wisely you'll end up spending an awful amount of time in a car. The best situation I found was to live a reasonable drive to a SEPTA station (think Philly’s version of METRO) and take the train into the city.

After that it matters if you have kids or plan to while there. There are some great areas in the city if you're without kids and some great areas outside the city it you have them.

So, any kids? Where is the grad school located? Where will you be working?

No kids. We are young (early 20s) and kids won't be for a little while. When we decide to have kids it is unlikely that we will be living in the city. She is looking at UPenn (in philly). I will be working for Amtrak probably at Penn Station mostly but will likely have to drive to other areas when problems arise, etc.

Again, I am totally into living outside of the city provided the commute isn't terrible. Just didn't know if there were good areas of the city to look at in the event that we did decide to get an apartment in the city.

bkuether · Jan 24, 2013

Norton said:
We accidentally drove through there on the way to the Willow Grove NAS and were very impressed with the beauty of the homes. There were several what appeared to be high end shopping areas, so I presumed it to still be a nice area.

Check out google maps, they are building houses on the naval air station runways and property. Kinda sad it was cool seeing planes fly so close the ground. They also did an awesome open house.

I grew up in Southampton, in Gravel Hill Farms. Stackpole, Klinger, William Tennent......

Doc TH · Feb 13, 2013

U Penn is in West Philly, probably the only part of the city with more crime than North Philly. Earlier poster about North Broad St. was correct. Went to med school and residency at Temple - knife and gun club members in the E.R. every night, and it hasn't gotten much better. Center City has appeal, but $$. If you get out of the city into lower Bucks Co., it can be nice - Abington, Jenkintown prob. still expensive though. It is true that Hatboro, Warminster, Willow Grove are OK but IMO the commute will be a drag, unless you take the railroad into town. You may want to look at lower Bucks, like Cornwells Hts. It USED to be OK. West of Philly, like Upper Darby, was decent blue collar neighborhood years ago; don't know about it today. Areas like Villanova, Radnor are nice but costly.
I believe if you spend the time looking around you can find something acceptable. However, previous posters were correct in saying that if you are looking for a good neighborhood in Philly tou have to be lucky or well-financed.

deesly1 · Feb 13, 2013

I am from PA remember unlike Maryland Pa is a commonwealth so the law applies to the whole state. Filthadelphia is a run down city in the North, and West the closer you get to Broad street (AkA route 1). I would live in Darby, West Chester, or some suburb. However the condo's aroung market street are nice reminds me of the property around phelps point. But Filthy usetobethe stick up capitol ofthe world 1989-1995. Oh and get use to people parking rightin the middle of the street. You could not give me property in Filthy.

1969sschevelle · Feb 13, 2013

went with the kids on a school field trip to see the liberty bell. everyone really wanted to run the rocky steps and eat a cheese steak from pats......could not get to either but did see the liberty bell and......a mint...........and ate ice cream from the soft ice cream truck.......when I asked the kids what they thought of the city....they said..............the ice cream was ok...and the bus trip was fun...lol

SammyB · Feb 13, 2013

Philly isn't that bad. I grew up close to it and spent a lot of time there. I like it there, lots to do, good food, good music, lots of history if you're into that sort of thing. Plus the Eagles and Phillies are there!! But, I'm biased since I grew up around that area. All in all not a bad place to live.

AlpineDude67 · Apr 23, 2013

I grew up in Philly area. It is like any other place, there are nice things and bad things. In the city I would stay south of Spring Garden and east of city hall, with some really nice and expensive neighborhoods like Society Hill and Rittenhouse Square mixed in with some sketchy neighborhoods down by the Italian market. If you can avoid WORKING in the city proper you will save money because the city of Philadelphia tacks on a wage tax for income earned in the city regardless of where you live. I grew up in Delaware County, which is either working class/ethnic neighborhoods or rich, except down by Chester, which is better than it used to be, but still pretty much a hole. Main Line is over by Villanova and out that way and that is where all the old money is. There are also wealthy parts of Bucks county in the north. If you work in the city, either live there or live near a SEPTA commuter rail station, don't drive into downtown from the distant suburbs, it sucks. If I were young and moving there, I would probably try to find a place to live in Manyunk if I could afford it. Not in the city, but convenient to it, in a stable neighborhood, which now has good restaurants and bars. Unfortunately a lot people have already figured that out and so the prices have gone up.

sunset1 · Apr 23, 2013

If you're willing to stretch your drive to 25-30 minutes, Media is a very nice suburb of Philly.

It is safe, has great public schools, pleasant downtown and nice parks.

It is a relatively easy drive into the city.

Surrounding areas such as Newtown Square, West Chester are also very nice.

Philly is a great city.

As an added bonus, you're only 90 minutes from the Jersey shore.

You'll enjoy it.

Good luck.

bmonast · Apr 23, 2013

Born and raised up there, suburbs of course. Wynnewood but any of the neighboring towns are all good. I was always in Montgomery County PA but there are some nice towns/neighborhoods near Wynnewood, Haverford etc. that are in Delaware County that are worth looking into. I would not live in Bala Cynwyd, the crime is bad there from what I remember. For ease into the city, Wynnewood and Merion are tough to beat.

bmonast · Apr 23, 2013

And keep in mind the city has a wage tax, so if you either live or work in the city of Phila. you will pay something like 4.3125% for that privilege as well. Not sure of the current rate but it was something like that back in 1995 when we moved.

psoyring · May 13, 2013

I used to be in the Navy and my last duty station was Philly Naval Base, I lived in Prospect Park (Delaware Co.) just South of the Airport, and really liked it. Everybody recommended places to live North of the city, I am glad I went South, the traffic is much worse on the North Side.

ofofhy · May 13, 2013

I lived in Philly for six years before moving to DC/Balto area (4 years ago). I still go up there about once a month to see friends. Personally, I loved living in Philly - favorite city so far of the six in which I have lived. I lived in the neighborhoods of Univ. City, Rittenhouse, Chinatown, and finally Fishtown. Fishtown was my favorite. It was affordable (still is). We had a small 2 bedroom house, with a 20 x 20 back yard. The best thing about Philly is how walkable it was. You can walk to work, the bar, the grocery store. The subways, trolleys, and buses go to places you want/need to go. I didn't have a car for four of the years. Biking is prevalent too.

What school will your fiancee most likely be attending? - Penn, saw that above.

PM me if you want some more info.

ofofhy · May 13, 2013

bmonast said:
And keep in mind the city has a wage tax, so if you either live or work in the city of Phila. you will pay something like 4.3125% for that privilege as well. Not sure of the current rate but it was something like that back in 1995 when we moved.

Baltimore and the surrounding counties are at 3.05%. Philly resident wage taxis currently at 3.98%, non-resident is 3.5%. Philly only taxes grad school stipends at 50% (if she has one). Depending on her funding source, she may not have to pay state taxes on her stipend (again, if she has one). Philly's property taxes are also much lower than the surrounding counties and Jersey, so take that into account if you are looking at buying property.

Kbroc2 · Aug 16, 2013

Stay out on the fringe use the train

INMY01TA · Aug 16, 2013

Do you still have to buy your beer from a pub? Two six pack limit from what I remember? None sold on Sundays? I spent a weekend there in the 90's and vowed never to go back.

Likely moving to the Philly area, could use some advice from people in the know!

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