Hey guys. I currently live in Boston, MA. and I am thinking about moving to the Philly PA area. Anyone from there have any opinions? Good idea? Bad? Hows the cost of living? Car Insurance? Crime? I'm looking to move fairly soon. Is there a dragway nearby there? Any good Dyno shops/Mechanics? Please let me know your opinions guys, and you may have another fellow f-body in town. Thanks.

Please e-mail me with your opinions.

 

TTT???

 

mike, why don't you move right outside of philly right here in south jersey. there's alot of people from philly that are moving to south jersey. plus when you live in philly you have to pay a city tax...i think the insurance rate's are a bit lower than here in jersey but i could be wrong about that?!

there is a good race track right here in south jersey....ATCO raceway in atco n.j. it's about 25 minutes from philly and one of the best traction tracks you'll ever find, and as far as dyno shops that a question i can't answer...maybe some of the other gear heads can answer that.

eric

 

How are the laws there (in or near philly?) How about insurance rates. To give you an example, I pay $950/mo. rent for a STUDIO apartment, $3,500/yr for full coverage insurance, I'm 21, Everything seems outrageous here. Looking for a better situation. What do you think of PA overall guys? Like it or hate it? I LOVE Boston, just getting too expensive. And traffic sucks too. I'm driving trucks right now, which I really don't like. Trying to get into computer programming, but VERY competitive here. So, please guys, post opinions. Thanks.

 

Hey Mike,
I live right outside of philly and it is pretty reasonable. In the city limits it can get expensenive. It take me about 15 min. to get in the middle of the city. I pay $700 for a two bedroom apartment, just waiting to get the house built. Just truned 25 and my insurance went way down paying only 2100 full coverage for the year. If you live out of the city you dont have to pay city wage tax. My apartment complex has apartment avabliable. There are three tracks in the area. Maple grove, Englishtown and my favrote Atco, which is probably the closest. About 30-40 min. away. There are lots of Fbody guys in the area and lots of gatherings. You would like it. You can also go to the city for street racing. That can be lots of fun. There are lots of bars and clubs in the city as well. hope this help you out better.

 

as far as the laws and the cops go philly is pretty cool. the cops really don't bother you unless you act like a eagle fan!!!!!

mike i would really look into living in jersey first.i personally think jersey is a better place to live. i just go to philly to party!

eric

 

Suburbs of Philly.

I live in Bucks County - just northeast of Philadelphia, about 20 minutes from downtown. I pay $660/month for a one bedroom apartment (private - not a complex). I was paying $1,000/year for full coverage when I had my mustang and it's actually the same with my Jeep.

Atco is about one hour from here. Englishtown - Raceway Park - is about one hour from here and Maple Grove is about one hour from here. It's actually a pretty central location. We are about 2 hours north of Washington D.C. (not a good place to be right now), 2 hours from the Pocono Mountains, 1 1/2 hours to the Jersey Shore, 2 hours from New York City...you get the picture!

You'll pay a 3 or 4% city wage tax if you live or work in Philadelphia. Insurance and taxes are higher in New Jersey.

Good luck and feel free to e-mail me if you have anymore questions.

 

If you don't mind commuting, Berks county doesn't have emisions inspection, and for what you're paying for rent, you can buy a house here. Maple grove is here too. The down side is the PA dutch chicks ain't exactly fit 'n trim I'm paying about 1K a year for insurance on three cars, and a truck with the truck being financed. (cars in sig) Besides, Jersey is all flat and boring, and the deer look like little dogs. ( I can say that because I'm from Jersey)

 

ZZ are you talking about my woman???? She's gona stomp ya

Acutally the area is pretty nice. I do have a 1 hour drive to work.
The people at the 24 hour Wal-Mart do get a little scarey after 10:00pm.

Just under 2 hour tow to E-town or Atco. 1.5 to Cecil and less than 1/2 hour to Maple Grove, and little over 2.5 hours to Numedia. A lot of racers double run at E-town and Atco same for Maple Grove and Numedia.

 

Michael,
You should schedule a couple of visits to see for yourself. I moved from Chicago about a year ago. Here is my take.

I think that Philly will measure up alot like Boston. Both cities are rich in history, culture and diversity. The cost of living will be significantly less than Boston, however. On the plus side, Philly is situated in the Delaware Valley which is gorgeous country. There are lots of car enthusiasts here and they are very friendly.

So there's my .02, maybe I'll see ya round.

Glenn AKA Hooker

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm looking into some houses now with my mom. We're looking to get a split type of house, possibly a house with an in-law? I'm kinda sceptical about moving though. The cost of living sounds good. I heard the cops suck out there. I've lived in Boston my whole life, except for the 2 years I spent in Alabama in the army. That's a whole different scenario though. Would you move, or would you stay in Boston? I can't make up my mind. How are the jobs there? I'm making $14 an hour here which is BARELY enough to get by. That's another scare, is if I just jump up and leave, I won't have any job or contacts there, and I don't want to end up working at a Burget King. I'm trying to get into computer programming, but VERY competitive up here. Well, let me know what you guys think. Talk to you later.

PS: I'm psyched, just finished my FLP header install today, but am having a problem with my Y-pipe hitting my SLP SFC. I'm close though. I'll have my new plugs/wires on Monday. I just gotta pop those puppies in, and fire her up. Keep the replies coming. Later.

 

We have active SSOA members in PA.

Here's a list of them in a thread from today.

http://www.chirpthird.com/ubbcgi/ult...=011500#000005

 

There are alot of great places to live around here. NJ car insurance is out the roof and always has been. I pay $1900/yea full coverage. Lowest limits and $1000 deductible. 27years old no points... ummmmm, ok, maybe 1 or 2. I live in Jersey, 30 min from atco, 1 hr from e-town, ~1 hr from cecil, 1.5 from the grove. Dont live near the grove cause then you have to put up with Kazman. I'm 10 min from center city and right in the middle of everything. Great area to live. I own a 3 bedroom rancher, with the worlds greatest garage in the works.... $1200/month for mortage, tax, tags and title.

 

Here's a vote for NOT moving to Jersey.

Could be that I'm too into firearms for me to ever want to live in that socialist state. Plus I hate jug-handles -- for God's SAKE, sometimes I just want to make a LEFT TURN... trust me, I can handle it.

Personally, I would do what I did... I used to live in West Philly while going to school at Penn. Now I'm in Montgomery County -- about 30 minutes outside the city. Housing is cheaper, insurance is cheaper (I'm 28 with a clean record and pay $1350/yr for full coverage), and you don't have to deal with the city wage tax -- over 4% of your income. If you're willing to move even farther out, then you can avoid the emissions testing with your inspection. I am originally from the Lehigh Valley and think that's also a good place to live (Allentown/Bethlehem area). Cost of living is even lower there and you could still commute down to this area w/i an hour to find a higher paying job.

In either case, I wouldn't move into the city of Philadelphia; but PA is a great place to live. I'm 1.5 hours to the mountains, 1.5 hours to the beach and Atlantic City, 30 minutes to Philly and what it has to offer, and about 30 minutes from the middle of nowhere if that's what I'm looking for, too.

 

I'm in central Jersey (between Trenton and Princeton) and there's all kinds of crazy PA driver's clogging up our roads! You can get a 2 bedroom apartment for around $800-900 a month, NJ taxes are high, NJ car insurance is higher and NJ inspection is a pain in the butt if you have a modified car (your car with the headers probably isn't legal in NJ). Your probably better off in PA than NJ. And if you move just outside Philly to Lancaster you change your name to Zeke, you can get a job shoveling manure pretty easy!