Choosing a place to live
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION - The three most important things when buying a home. That's only part of the story. Of course Location is important, but it's not the only thing that's important. For many people the ideal location means different things - Schools are important if you have young children, employment rates are important if you are unemployed, cost of living is important if you are on a fixed income and proximity to family is an important consideration for most.
When choosing a place to live everyone has different criterion for their personal choice. The following information was gathered from Sperling’s Best Places website at www.BestPlaces.net. I chose a few local townships to give readers a small sampling of the things that may affect your home buying decision.
Ambler (19002) Horsham Twp Blue Bell Warrington Doylestown
Poplulation 32,135 24,805 18,380 19,650 18,184
Growth since 2000 +4.5% +2.41% +0.98% +21.78% +3.24%
Median Home Price $428,000 $312,600 $413,800 $385,700 $446,000
- 1 yr appreciation (2.10%) (1.99%) (2.02%) (1.98%) (2.09%)
Cost of living Vs US 54.4% higher 35.9% higher 52.1% higher 47.0% higher 56.8% higher
$ spent per student $7,733 $7,403 $8,457 $5,842 $8,457
-Avg $ spent in US $5,678 $5,678 $5,678 $5,678 $5,678
Student/Teacher Ratio14.6 14.6 14.5 19.2 15.7
Local Unemployment 6.9% 6.9% 6.9% 7.5% 7.5%
- National Rate 9.1% 9.1% 9.1% 9.1% 9.1%
-Recent Job Growth (0.13%) (0.13%) (0.13%) (0.25%) (0.25%)
Posted on: Tuesday the 6th of September 2011.
Total views: 391
Written by: Tim Connelly

Tim came to the real estate industry with more than 20 years of customer service as a Vice President with Goldman Sachs & Company, where he serviced the needs of stock and options traders on three different stock exchanges. Tim's career change has allowed him to service the needs of home buyers and sellers with the goal of providing the same excellent customer service that his past clients at the stock exchanges came to expect of him. After all, when you hire a real estate agent, you want them to take care of all the details, so you don't have to. 