Whoops, thanks for catching that.

For those of you looking to buy in Philly, I have to put in a quick plug for u/decentchinesefood who has to be one of the best agents in the city. I posted in the Moving Mondays thread on 02/13 and he got right in touch with helpful info. We were looking at houses by that weekend and, I'm not kidding, we're closing next Monday on a beautiful place in West Mt. Airy. That's literally like 7 weeks from looking to closing. No pressure, knew how to navigate bidding wars sensibly in a seller's market, candid about the condition/value of houses, savvy, kind. Can't recommend him enough.

I appreciate your saying so — I'm definitely aware that NYC, where say a violent crime rate is concerned, is actually one of the safest cities in the US and that Philly is a different beast. Wasn't trying to diminish gun violence as a problem there.

It's still not something I'm super concerned about, personally, as a factor guiding where I'll live. This is more to say that I don't automatically assume that a working-class neighborhood is "dangerous" because of broken windows, and my chances of getting murdered anywhere outside of Kandahar (gay guy) are pretty low.

Appreciate this.

TLDR: Mid-thirties couple looking for neighborhood suggestions for 3-br under $425k; adopting in next two years; most familiar with Fishtown, but probably too pricey for us; Richmond is of interest; bonus points for easy access to Schuylkill River Trail (runners), but don't know much about West or Northwest Philly; content with a good pub we can walk to and a decent sq ft.; high threshold on "safety."

My partner (born and raised in Philly) and I are planning on moving to the city in the next 3-6 months to be closer to his family and we'd love to get a little general advice about picking a city neighborhood in our price range. Our budget is about $425k for a 3-br or large 2-br. We'll likely be adopting a baby in the next two years, so a 3-br would be nice, but if we had to move again it wouldn't be the end of the world.

My brother-in-law lived in Fishtown for a long time and that's probably the area we're most familiar with, but obviously it's a bit pricey and so the volume is low in our range. There's much more in the way of options a mile or two over in Richmond, which looks like one of the more promising options for us. But we're also not wedded to that side of town, and would love recommendations for pretty much any neighborhood that's in our price range and has a good pub — personally, I'd love somewhere with easy access to the Schuylkill River Trail (we're runners).

If you search on here for general info about certain neighborhoods that are, like, accessibly priced for us, you read a lot of stuff that seems possibly hyperbolic about how "dangerous" it is and how everyone is going to smash your car windows and crime you. We've lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn the last two years and we've (gay guys) never felt unsafe. I tend to think a lot of perceptions about "safety" in the city are filtered through perceptions about poverty and race — just because you encounter a couple people asking for change on your daily walk to the train or people congregating on a stoop with beers doesn't mean you're going to get crimed. So this is to say we're not especially sensitive to "broken windows," though wouldn't mind it if the neighborhood had a few things for fancy boys like us (a cute antique shop, a nice cocktail bar, a gay karaoke spot, etc.).

Very graciously appreciate general advice and thanks for your patience with an interloper.