Living in Southwest Philly while working in Delaware (real estate, school districts)

[toobusytoday]

My personal suggestion would be to live in the Newark area and assume your kids will go to private schools. If money is not a problem and you want a short commute, buy a house in Greenville like the other rich people in Delaware. There's no way you are getting a 30 minute commute to Newark or CC Wilmington and live in West Chester or Media.

The color of your skin and accent will not matter in the affluent areas- its your job status and income that you will be judged on.

This link will give you some comparisons between districts in Delaware: http://profiles.doe.k12.de.us/School...e/Student.aspx

[chessimprov]

For DE, I know that Red Clay is a real good school district. One of the best in the state I believe. I believe Sussex Tech is also good, but that would be too far from where you're working.

[Pocopsonite]

In addition to property taxes, factor in income tax rates and, to a lesser extent, sales tax.

Delaware County and Chester County in PA have high property taxes, but the schools are much better than in Delaware. PA has a 6% sales tax (not applied to groceries or clothing), and a flat 3.07% income tax. Many residents of Chester and Delaware Counties shop in Delaware, where there's no sales tax on anything as long as it's not *delivered* to PA.

Delaware has fairly low property tax and no sales tax, but much higher income tax for middle-class and above wage earners: 6.6% marginal tax rate beginning at $60,000. https://www.tax-brackets.org/delawaretaxtable

You don't seem to be considering Chester County. Parts of that are around 30 minutes from Christiana Care in both Newark and Wilmington. Aim for the Unionville/Chadds Ford School District rather than the Kennett Consolidated School District. Taxes aren't very different and the educational quality IS. No question, though, Chester County is not close to Philly.

You have to run the numbers for your own personal situation. Move to Delaware, save on property tax, send your kids to private schools. VS. high property taxes, lower income tax in PA.

[1ondoner]

So if he works in DE and lives in PA, he will have to pay high DE income tax and high PA property taxes. No?

Originally Posted by Pocopsonite

You have to run the numbers for your own personal situation. Move to Delaware, save on property tax, send your kids to private schools. VS. high property taxes, lower income tax in PA.

[fen81]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I have been doing some thinking and I agree with some of you guys that the commute might be too long. I think its best If I stay close to work, especially with a new family. At least in the beginning and then will see how it goes.


I appreciate everyone's input. You guys are very kind.


Thanks.

[chessimprov]

If you don't want to live in a snooty area but want to live in PA, you could consider cyber school, especially if your kids are in middle or high school. DE I believe does not permit cyber schools for education through charter funding. There are private cyber schools which can be expensive.

[Fireshaker]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

For DE, I know that Red Clay is a real good school district. One of the best in the state I believe. I believe Sussex Tech is also good, but that would be too far from where you're working.

Hahahaha. No. Just no. My fiancee taught in Red Clay for several years, and I wouldn't wish that district on anyone.

Anyway, here's the deal: Delaware isn't a great state for education (PA ranks much, much higher), but living in PA and commuting to DE is a nightmare. My aforementioned fiancee did it, and the traffic is horrendous, and it added hours to her day. Even her current "shorter" commute, from South Philly to Garnet Valley, is terrible. If you're working in DE, you should just live in DE. You won't find districts that rival the best of PA, but there are some decent ones, such as Brandywine, that should do the job.

[Fireshaker]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

So if he works in DE and lives in PA, he will have to pay high DE income tax and high PA property taxes. No?

This is another excellent point. Delaware has no sales tax and very low property tax, so the way the state makes their money is through an insanely high income tax. Now, if you live and own in Delaware, it evens out, since you aren't paying the other taxes. But if you're living in PA? Kiss your paycheck goodbye, because then you're not only paying crazy income taxes, you'll also pay PA's higher property taxes on top of that.

If you work in Delaware, you really need to live in Delaware.

[chessimprov]

Originally Posted by Fireshaker

Hahahaha. No. Just no. My fiancee taught in Red Clay for several years, and I wouldn't wish that district on anyone.

Anyway, here's the deal: Delaware isn't a great state for education (PA ranks much, much higher), but living in PA and commuting to DE is a nightmare. My aforementioned fiancee did it, and the traffic is horrendous, and it added hours to her day. Even her current "shorter" commute, from South Philly to Garnet Valley, is terrible. If you're working in DE, you should just live in DE. You won't find districts that rival the best of PA, but there are some decent ones, such as Brandywine, that should do the job.

So, is Red Clay one of those districts that has what I hear is a prestigious magnet school (Cab Calloway), but everything else outside of that is not that great?

[Fireshaker]

Originally Posted by chessimprov

So, is Red Clay one of those districts that has what I hear is a prestigious magnet school (Cab Calloway), but everything else outside of that is not that great?

Pretty much, I think. Cab is fairly well regarded as an arts / music magnet, and there are a couple of others that are not bad; Red Clay is a huge district, so you can't paint it all with a broad brush. But generally speaking, it's not that great. Part of the reason, as I understand, is forced busing, which dumped a lot of inner city Wilmington kids into schools that weren't prepared for it. So you end up with some weird situations where you have schools that look nice and are surrounded by mansions, but are completely and utterly failing.

It's possible to do ok in Red Clay, but it depends on heavily on the school, and honestly it probably just isn't work the hassle to the OP.