A cheaper life in the suburbs?
Lower Merion, here we come! Then again, maybe not.
A cheaper life in the suburbs?
Miriam Hill
Let's rip this Band-Aid right off: We looked at houses in the Lower Merion School District this weekend. We still want to stay in the city, but when a friend sent us a listing for a $250,000 house in Bala Cynwyd, we gave into temptation and looked.
A much smaller mortgage and a stellar school district? For that, we might tolerate a commute.
Predictably, the house was too small, with a layout that not even our most creative sides could envision transforming into something appealing. The Realtor also showed us a nearby house for $389,900. That one was beautiful, and we could have moved into it tomorrow.
But unless we could talk the owner down a lot, it wouldn't save us much. At this point, though, a suburban house at the right price could buy us off.
We have more than a year to think about this, so we won't be bidding on anything soon. We prefer Philadelphia, but increasingly, our mortgage is boosting the appeal of the suburbs. We bought our house in September 2006, at the height of the boom. I knew we were paying too much, but we needed a home and could afford the payment. We envisioned lazy breakfasts on our third-floor deck, with a view of the skyline. Pretty soon our beloved little boy arrived, thinning our wallets and leaving no time for leisurely meals.
We can still afford the house, but only if both of us keep working. If we have to pay for private school on top of the mortgage, we will not have much left over.
Of course, we love our neighborhood, and moving is a pain. Our house would need tons of work before we could sell it, and neither of has time to do it.
Tomorrow, I am going to yet another kindergarden open house. Once again, school choice is making my head hurt.
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Center City and the immediate neighborhoods are great, but lately I've been thinking of moving out as well. Now that I'm older I find I don't have the patience for the government hooligans anymore and I'm mad about the last TWO tax hikes on my house, and the assessment that I know is coming to raise them even further. Everyone I've known with a child approaching school age leaves the neighborhood and moves to a suburb with good schools eventually. It's only the diehard city fans who stay once they have children, or people with lots of extra cash. Schools, bad government, and the fear of crime. Unfortunately, corporations aren't coming back anytime soon and poverty remains very high and no one has any real answers.......— Yob- profound post. remember rendell and the city on the rise. what happened? who and what is to blame? was there never a chance for philly to have boon years? were the corporations already gone? comcast stayed. how can we get these kids to stop destroying the schools? or do we need more money before they will care about schools? geez
- You work hard and be a good neighbor and you end up suffering due to some of the lowlifers who live in Philly.I have lived in Olney for 25 years and twice in the past 6 years lowlives have moved onto my block disrupting the tranquility of the block.Now one lives next to me and one directly behind.The city has many lowlives and high taxes with rampant political corruption that will motivate me to move to the suburbs once the housing market changes.All the stories you read about the youth doing bad,remember they have parents who are doing a bad job,and doing bad at being a good neighbor.— Andrew Grier
- parts of the burbs aren't so great either, so be careful where you move.
— Lil Bobby - Until middle/upper class parents are willing to learn about the public schools both in their immediate and non-immediate neighborhoods, we won't see much substantive population change for the better in the city. Too many people just assume no school in the city can be any good and leave. And as usual, no one will just openly admit that no matter how good any city school is, if it's mostly black, they won't put their kid in it if they're white. It's that simple. All the talk about test scores and crime - how many charter schools perform well (yes there are a good number of them) and have excellent discipline programs - most white people still act like they're "black" schools and avoid them. You move to the suburbs and all the problems are hushed up, and under-reported by the media, as well...or was that just a coincidence that no one really covered the kid trying to beat three teachers where I work in the 'burbs? And about taxes: start raising hell about taxes and you'll see some changes.— 19151
- No question it is cheaper in the burbs, especially places like Lower Merion, Radnor and Broomall with a strong business tax base and low property taxes. If you can figure out the schools (e.g Penn Alex, ICS, Greenfield) you can save the private school $. It comes down to raising a child in the city with everything it has to offer them verse saving money and raising them in a more sterile environment where they are in and out of the car all the time....Good luck.— Earl J
- with everything the city has to offer ? like trash on the sidewalks, panhandlers on the streets, muggers and thugs waving guns, marauding gangs, and stray animals roaming freely ? if i want a taste of the city, i can take a rare trip in there from my nice, safe, clean suburban neighborhood ! — the_chief
- We weighed the decision years ago whether to move out or stay -- balancing the cost decision vs the many things the diversity and complexity of urban life would add to our children's lives. We decided to stay, settled on a less expensive option (but not inexpensive) option for lower school with the intent of sending the kids to magnet schools for high school. Both kids ended up at Masterman; one is now at a highly competitive university. Both have an appreciation for diversity, ethnic and socioeconomic, that they may not have gotten in the 'burbs. It has not always seemed like it was the easiest path to take, but I believe it is one of the best decisions we could have made for both us and our children. Good luck with your decision.— CityRes
- Philly is a cess pool and will continue to be so until we actually have a two praty system and people who are committed to restoring the neighborhoods again. I have about 3 years left in Philly In a neighborhood in which I was born and raised---I've watched all my decent neighhbors move out and the trash move in. I can't wait to get out myself , but I'm not giving my house away like some of them did.. You want my house , you pay--and no freebies or seller paid for changes.— crystalrainbowspirit1
- Philadelphia School District has a well deserved reputation as incompetent, subservient to interests other than the well being of students. Whatever good schools there are will always fight that (imo accurate) perception, esp among those with the resources to get out.
The Philly Public School brand is on par with the Ford Pinto- a better case for vouchers could not be made.
It is sad- the city had a great opportunity to take the recent boom and the desire of the baby boomers kids to live in the city. As this cohort has kids of their own, they're realizing their parents weren't so stupid for heading to the suburbs.— samac
But only one topic has become a passion: the pleasures and challenges of raising a young child in the city.
Not too long after her son was born four years ago, she started hunting around for day care, which triggered her ongoing search for a good primary school. Public, private or charter? Stay in the city or move to the suburbs?
And then there are the more mundane questions, such as how many games can you play while sitting on a stoop?
Please join her in the conversation about raising children in Philadelphia and about making this city better for kids. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, but her only personal obsession is not football, but Bruce Springsteen. As he might have said, it’s hard to be a parent in the city.
You can also follow Miriam on Twitter here.
