Allemaengel t1_j6d3phl wrote on January 29, 2023 at 2:23 PM

You know how every PA county has that one place that's the shitter in that county? Norristown handles that role in southern Montco and Pottstown as a bonus does the same for northern Montco.

Don't do it. Buying a house in a truly shitty town rarely gives you any return on investment and if you buy one with a lot of issues to fixed you're doubly-fucked.

I made that mistake buying a place needing work in a Bucks County borough I thought was on the upswing and after 10 years I had to sell and the town wasn't really any better so I lost big time. Also the school district quality can screw you over even more which happened in my case too.

XSC t1_j6dlkya wrote on January 29, 2023 at 4:30 PM

Is pottstown bad? Only seem parts of it, look alright but then again that was during an event.

Allemaengel t1_j6dmzmm wrote on January 29, 2023 at 4:39 PM

Parts of Pottstown itself aren't good but I don't think they're worse than Norristown.

You'd probably be better out in the immediate surrounding Pottsgrove townships if you could swing that.

Or for a more rednecky but still reasonably cheap deal still in Montco check out East Greenville-Pennsburg-Red Hill boroughs but by that point you're on the way towards Quakertown and the Lehigh Valley. The Upper Perk S.D. isn't that bad there.

TiberiusCornelius t1_j6dp4vf wrote on January 29, 2023 at 4:53 PM

The crime rate in Pottstown is actually worse than Norristown if you look at the data. Violent crime is 1 in 128 vs 1 in 216, property is 1 in 32 vs 1 in 60. Crime has also slowly been trending down in Norristown while still worse than most of the rest of the county.

I have friends in both and the basic vibe I get is that Norristown kind of has a baseline level and then some areas are much worse (especially down around Markley) whereas Pottstown is kind of pockets of good and pockets of complete shit.