I used to live on Society Hill. Parking there is an absolute nightmare. If you don't have your own garage--forget it! And my neighbors were horrible. They would never speak to us unless that had something critical to say. These people will literally tell you that you had better paint your shutter because you are bringing down THEIR property values. And don't ever hang up a rainbow flag for gay pride. You will be excoriated. Well, enuf said. Choose your poison. :)

John G. <BR>I worked close to Manayunk and live close to Chestnut Hill. I love both places. I am one of those 'Montgomery County' people that goes to Manajunk. I love the bars and shops. Just have to point out though people who lives there might be nice. The crowd (visitors) could get nasty. Last year, I wintness people playing pool in the bar I was in got arrested outside because they pull a gun on somebody else. The one person I know who got robbed at knife point in Center City was at an ATM machine at 3AM near South Street. As places to live, large crowds is probably more problematic.

Please come to Mt. Airy. Try to choose a street that is mostly black. (snob factor measured by who makes the best apple spice cake) <BR>As for the negative comments about the other areas. I would enjoy living in all of them. Philly is wonderful!..just that this area does have the greenery..the fall foliage..the hometown atmosphere..and the friendly black people that I enjoy being around.

You may also want to look at East Falls. It is close to downtown and has a lot of greenery. It is also close to a lot of private schools. For public schools, Central High is a magnet school that is selective and gets high reviews.

Is CH snobby? No, not really. Some people, yes, but a small percentage. Most people are very nice, and I've lived here 15 years. I haven't found the people in CH overall any snobbier than any other part of the city. There are Rittenhouse Square snobs, Society Hill snobs, even Mt. Airy snobs. <BR>As for housing prices, if you want a stone house, or one of the bigger, fancier row homes or detached houses on streets like Prospect, Seminole, etc., prices can be high. But you can find reasonably priced 3-bedroom houses on East Highland, West Highland near the WaWa, parts of East Evergreen (closer to Germantown Ave) or West Evergreen (across from the train station), some of the "lower" Hill streets, and in the newer townhouse complexes near CH East station for roughly $200k or under. People think of CH as grossly expensive and it's true if you want one of the big mansions or a 5 bedroom townhome, but the smaller houses are quite surprisingly reasonable. I know at least three people who bought townhomes in the areas I mentioned last year for under $200k.

Kim, Of COURSE people in CH can send their kids to public schools...The majority do! <BR>As for crime, etc., CH probably is safer than Mt. Airy, but Mt. Airy certainly isn't a dangerous place to live and CH is far from crime free. Both neighborhoods have people with nice homes and nice cars and that attracts criminals. CH's problems tend to be more along the line of cars being broken into (so don't leave anything in the car, especially at night) and don't park in an isolated spot. Violent crime is uncommon. Home and car insurance company agents can give you more specific info. <BR>Back to the cost of housing, as I said above, there is more reasonably priced housing for sale than non Hillers expect, but it usually moves fast. You also have to prod the realtors to hunt for you as they're obviously more geared toward moving the expensive homes with the big commissions. Another reasonably priced CH street to look at is Rex Avenue. <BR>The bad RE news in CH is rentals. They ARE hard to come by and you'll have much better luck getting a rental, particularly 3 bedrooms, in Mt. Airy. Finding a reasonably priced larger rental home in CH takes diligence, constant sleuthing, and usually some kind of local connection. So if you're not prepared to buy, you probably should consider Mt. Airy. <BR>I find the lifestyle in CH to be the best combination of urban amenities and country greenery in almost any U.S. city. Walking to the farmers' market on East Evergreen to pick up fresh vegetables, browsing the stores along Germantown Ave, then taking a long walk in Valley Green, makes me feel like I live in a very special place indeed. <BR>

I say bag both of those areas...I grew up in Germantown...sorry, if you ask me it is scary there...they are both on the cusp of really bad neighborhoods...go to South Jersey if you want some ground and greenery. Depending where you go you'll spend around 80k to appx 130 for a townhome...good luck... <BR>

Sorry to disagree with poster above but I live in South Jersey. Flat and ugly, and with a few exceptions- tract housing as far as the eye can see. I'm getting out as soon as the kids are grown!! If you want something with character stick with Chestnut Hill or Mt. Airy.