Does anyone live in York County, PA?

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MooCowSteph

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We’re planning a move up there in the next 6 months or so. It will be along I-83, south of York, so maybe Glen Rock, Shrewsbury, Spring Grove, Hametown, New Freedom, Red Lion, etc. Hubby will still be working in MD, about 15 minutes over the line.

We’re looking at both new and existing homes, although we want as large a lot as we can afford, at least 1/2 acre.

Tell me everything you know! Good Catholic churches, taxes, schools, public and private, neighborhoods, libraries, parks, and anything else I can’t think of 🙂

Thanks!!!
 
I’ve seen some great listings in Penny Saver and such for homes in Red Lion. Obviously you know I don’t know anything else about York area.😛
 
We LOVED living there!

We lived in New Freedom for several years. We rented a townhouse for less than our first apartment in Cockeysville. Hubby worked in Hunt Valley.

Houses prices are lower than in the Baltimore area, which is nice.

We attended St. John the Baptist in New Freedom. It was almost 20 years ago, so I can’t say what the parish is like now! Our oldest was baptized there 🙂

If hubby hadn’t changed jobs, we would still live there. He works in Annapolis now. We’re happy where we are, but York County was a great place to live! --KCT
 
I used to live in Lancaster, PA for about 2 years. (about 45 min driving to York). Somewhere near York, there are few nice lakes and people go there to swim during summer time.

I liked living in Lancaster where I didn’t have to drive fast or worried about someone driving so closed to my car. 😃
 
That’s funny, we probaby would have moved there 4 years ago but I was working in Annapolis! We moved to Perry Hall. I worked for Governor Ehrlich, but with all that’s going on now (felons voting, high increase in electric, dismissing the electoral college, etc., etc., etc.,) we’re thinking we’d like to get out. Housing is SO much cheaper, but taxes are higher, including sales and property, not sure about income yet. If we could get a larger house for under $400K we would probably stay, but for the current value of our tiny townhome, we could get a new 2300SF single family home on 1/4 - 1/2 acre in PA!
 
Housing prices around here are insane. We bought a townhouse in AA Co in 1988 for 80K. We sold it in 2005 for 250K. A townhouse for 250K is nuts. (good for us, bad for buyers) I don’t know how young couples manage.

What would keep you from moving? —KCT
 
MooCowSteph said:
That’s funny, we probaby would have moved there 4 years ago but I was working in Annapolis! We moved to Perry Hall. I worked for Governor Ehrlich, but with all that’s going on now (felons voting, high increase in electric, dismissing the electoral college, etc., etc., etc.,) we’re thinking we’d like to get out. Housing is SO much cheaper, but taxes are higher, including sales and property, not sure about income yet. If we could get a larger house for under $400K we would probably stay, but for the current value of our tiny townhome, we could get a new 2300SF single family home on 1/4 - 1/2 acre in PA!
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Steph, if you’re not careful, we’ll join you for most of the same reasons. Want neighbors? 😉

My wife lived in Hanover for a few years, and really liked it; we got married at St. Joseph’s there. We also went to Engaged Encounter in nearby Columbia. And finally, I used to work part time at WSBA-AM.

York County is a really nice area, although there can be some resentment from residents who WEREN’T Maryland refugees (count the Ravens stickers and Baltimore County police cars in the Wal-Mart lot in Shrewsbury, for example!). I mean, how many folks moved from PA to be over the border in MD?

Yes, there are more nickel-and-dime taxes that you don’t have in MD, but your overall tax burden should be less in PA.

Nice areas I’ve been through include Hanover, Littlestown, New Freedom, Stewartstown, Dallastown, Red Lion, and Seven Valleys (I have friends who live there with their five children and go to the New Freedom parish). I don’t recommend York itself; I find it a rather run-down city, although the Central Market is a neat place. And as was pointed out, you’re maybe 30 minutes from Lancaster and Lancaster County, as well as Harrisburg.

Downsides I can think of: In winter, weather above the Mason-Dixon line can be completely different than below it; what could be sleet in Baltimore could be 3-6" of snow in York. Also, don’t expect PennDOT to take nearly as good care of the roads, especially in winter. And you’ll have to get used to the municipality, township, and county structures, which can be thoroughly confusing when, say, trying to call the police.

Let us know what happens!
 
I lived in Stewartstown for 14 years. We moved 3 1/2 years ago.

We attended St John the Baptist Church in New Freedom. Nice large church with all of things you would expect like CCD, CWA, Knights and the like. They also have Perpetual Adoration.

A little on the liberal side. Orans position for the Our Father, sometimes Father leaves the altar to greet people.

Lots of EMHCs. But like is said, a large church with lots of people.

My parents still live in York County, and we go back to visit all the time. When we are in town, we attend St John’s. PM me and we will let you know when we are in town, if you like.

There is a newish elementary school in Shrewsbury. I hear it is great. Generally schools in that area are good. There was a Catholic School in Dallastown, I don’t know if it is still there. There is one up in the north part of York, it is part of St Rose of Lima. There are a couple of small private schools in the area. There are two Christian schools close to the PA/MD line. Both in/near Shrewsbury. One is Baptist based. The other is not as much. They had a couple of Catholic teachers and students Our son attended the one that was not. It used to be call CSSYC (Christian School of Southern York County). Now it is something like Shrewsbury Christian Academy. Okay for the younger grades, but they used to use Abeka, which is a problem for Catholics in the older grades. I hear they have changed some of what they use, so it may be better. They have a first grade teacher that is second to none.

The library system is great. Both the one in Shrewsbury and Stewarstown are new. There are inter library loans, so if you want a book from another town, they will bring it to your library.

Taxes seem to be really high. Property taxes are out of this world. They use those to finance the schools. But you do not pay taxes on clothes, shoes, or food. Your car will need an inspection and emissions. But there is no sales tax when you bring a car into PA. There is only one plate, on the back. MD and PA have tax reciprocity. That means that if you live in PA and work in MD, you only pay taxes to PA. It used to be about 6% income tax. There is a local tax too but it is very low, something like 1%.

Stewartstown has a playground/park behind the Presbyterian church. Shrewsbury’s is behind the firehall, I think. There is a big playground/park in York across from the York Galleria Mall.

What else? The Clippin Corner is a great place to have your hair cut, Stewartstown Family Practice has a wonderful doctor, Dr. S., Summer’s has yummy snow cones and Original Pizza is good.

Want to know more? PM me. I could talk or type for hours about York County.
 
KCT said:
Housing prices around here are insane. We bought a townhouse in AA Co in 1988 for 80K. We sold it in 2005 for 250K. A townhouse for 250K is nuts. (good for us, bad for buyers) I don’t know how young couples manage.

What would keep you from moving? —KCT
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Yep, we have a two bedroom townhome that’s worth between 235-250k. :eek: Good for us though 👍
 
Thanks for all the great info!!! At first it seemed like the taxes were going to be a lot higher in PA, but tonight I talked to my FIL who had a decent size house on more than an acre in Timonium and he’s paying about the same in property taxes as we would in PA. We’re not paying a lot right now b/c we have a small townhouse on .05 acres 😛

From what I understand MD residents pay school taxes in their income tax, which is higher, where PA residents pay it seperately.

We’re still deciding what we’re going to do and when. We can buy existing now, we can probably buy new now, or we can wait a while (probably a year?) and save to buy a lot and build. We’re thinking we should do a little upgrading here in our kitchen and master bath to maximize our $$ and compete a little better with the new $400k townhomes a few miles over.

We’re going to pray about it and decide what to do, but I am pretty certain we’ll be in Southern York County, as Parkton and Freeland, MD are just too darn expensive, and it’s not worth paying an extra $100k or more for the same house to save 10 minutes of driving.
 
Maybe all of us who want to flee from MD should ban together and form a nice Catholic community 😛 DH says we should call it “Catholic Corners”. 😃
 
maryjk said:
I lived in Stewartstown for 14 years. We moved 3 1/2 years ago.

We attended St John the Baptist Church in New Freedom. Nice large church with all of things you would expect like CCD, CWA, Knights and the like. They also have Perpetual Adoration.

A little on the liberal side. Orans position for the Our Father, sometimes Father leaves the altar to greet people.

Lots of EMHCs. But like is said, a large church with lots of people.

My parents still live in York County, and we go back to visit all the time. When we are in town, we attend St John’s. PM me and we will let you know when we are in town, if you like.

There is a newish elementary school in Shrewsbury. I hear it is great. Generally schools in that area are good. There was a Catholic School in Dallastown, I don’t know if it is still there. There is one up in the north part of York, it is part of St Rose of Lima. There are a couple of small private schools in the area. There are two Christian schools close to the PA/MD line. Both in/near Shrewsbury. One is Baptist based. The other is not as much. They had a couple of Catholic teachers and students Our son attended the one that was not. It used to be call CSSYC (Christian School of Southern York County). Now it is something like Shrewsbury Christian Academy. Okay for the younger grades, but they used to use Abeka, which is a problem for Catholics in the older grades. I hear they have changed some of what they use, so it may be better. They have a first grade teacher that is second to none.

The library system is great. Both the one in Shrewsbury and Stewarstown are new. There are inter library loans, so if you want a book from another town, they will bring it to your library.

Taxes seem to be really high. Property taxes are out of this world. They use those to finance the schools. But you do not pay taxes on clothes, shoes, or food. Your car will need an inspection and emissions. But there is no sales tax when you bring a car into PA. There is only one plate, on the back. MD and PA have tax reciprocity. That means that if you live in PA and work in MD, you only pay taxes to PA. It used to be about 6% income tax. There is a local tax too but it is very low, something like 1%.

Stewartstown has a playground/park behind the Presbyterian church. Shrewsbury’s is behind the firehall, I think. There is a big playground/park in York across from the York Galleria Mall.

What else? The Clippin Corner is a great place to have your hair cut, Stewartstown Family Practice has a wonderful doctor, Dr. S., Summer’s has yummy snow cones and Original Pizza is good.

Want to know more? PM me. I could talk or type for hours about York County.
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I’m glad to hear that the libraries are nice. Baltimore county has phenominal libraries, in fact, voted one of the ten best in the country. I’m going to miss them. Does the system have an online catalog? I use that all the time.

Playgrounds are very important too! Although I’m hoping we can put a nice one in our back yard if we have the space and money.

I have some old friends who go to St. John’s. We used to go to Our Lady of Grace, which is in Parkton about 6 or 7 minutes from the line, and they left there to go to St. John’s. In a lot of ways I prefer traditional conservative parishes, but in my expereince the more progressive ones seem to have more families with young kids and friendlier people, but maybe I’m just relating that to Our Lady of Grace. Progressive, but a really great group of parishioners. We might make the drive back to there if we are close enough. We were married, DH converted, I, confirmed, and daughter baptised there. 🙂
 
MooCowSteph said:
Maybe all of us who want to flee from MD should ban together and form a nice Catholic community 😛 DH says we should call it “Catholic Corners”. 😃
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There’s a bookstore in Towson called the Catholic Corner.
—KCT
 
Cygnus_X1 said:
Steph, if you’re not careful, we’ll join you for most of the same reasons. Want neighbors? 😉

My wife lived in Hanover for a few years, and really liked it; we got married at St. Joseph’s there. We also went to Engaged Encounter in nearby Columbia. And finally, I used to work part time at WSBA-AM.

York County is a really nice area, although there can be some resentment from residents who WEREN’T Maryland refugees (count the Ravens stickers and Baltimore County police cars in the Wal-Mart lot in Shrewsbury, for example!). I mean, how many folks moved from PA to be over the border in MD?

Yes, there are more nickel-and-dime taxes that you don’t have in MD, but your overall tax burden should be less in PA.

Nice areas I’ve been through include Hanover, Littlestown, New Freedom, Stewartstown, Dallastown, Red Lion, and Seven Valleys (I have friends who live there with their five children and go to the New Freedom parish). I don’t recommend York itself; I find it a rather run-down city, although the Central Market is a neat place. And as was pointed out, you’re maybe 30 minutes from Lancaster and Lancaster County, as well as Harrisburg.

Downsides I can think of: In winter, weather above the Mason-Dixon line can be completely different than below it; what could be sleet in Baltimore could be 3-6" of snow in York. Also, don’t expect PennDOT to take nearly as good care of the roads, especially in winter. And you’ll have to get used to the municipality, township, and county structures, which can be thoroughly confusing when, say, trying to call the police.

Let us know what happens!
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Of course, we could always use a RUSH fan as a neighbor (Moocowsteph is my wife).
 
I grew up in that area, Steph! We moved to a farm in New Park (east of Stewartstown) in 1966. I lived there until 1972 when I came to the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore and stayed here. My mom stayed until the early 1990’s.

Way back then, Catholics were few and far between. They thought we had two heads, horns and tails. In high school, I had a teacher who always persecuted me for being Catholic, and I really learned to defend the Faith. We drove to St. Mary’s Church in Pylesville, Maryland (about 15 miles away) for Mass. My mom taught CCD to high school seniors. Her “thing” was defending the faith also.

My mom volunteered for many, many years at the Stewartstown library when it was right on Main Street. My first job was in Coover’s Pharmacy right near the big supermarket next to the bank and across from the funeral home.

I still love to shop at Saubel’s supermarket in Shrewsbury. They have the best meats. And Barton’s orchard outside of Stewartstown is not to be missed for peaches and apples.

I get very homesick when I drive up to PA, even though so much has grown and changed. It still smells wonderful!

Well, all this rambling has surely been no help to you, Steph, but I had fun reminiscing.

Betsy
 
baltobetsy said:
I still love to shop at Saubel’s supermarket in Shrewsbury. They have the best meats.
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My husband LOVES the big, fat hot dogs with skin from the Saubel’s deli.

I take my dd’s to the Center for Women’s Health in Camp Hill for yearly check ups and stop at Saubels on the way home.

–KCT
 
hmmm…I’m going to have to stop ther next time we go up looking at houses. Is that pronounced “saw-bells”?
 
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