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yep , every month we were paying duplicate bills . it wasn't bad until the novelty of the house wore off . then it is was drudgery .
the house always needed something done . living in a forest environment can require a lot more maintenance and repairs from the harsh weather .
while we enjoyed the house in the beginning , it got quite boring years later and is nothing we would do again .
That's why I told the OP if he plans on going up there on weekends, plan on spending part of that time on property upkeep. When I was a kid, the one family member who owned this property always spent at least a few hours on regular things around the property. Over the years, he's grown tired of it, since he works long hours during the week---who wants to then go upstate and do more work? Now he does as little as possible.
I still don't see how owning a property and paying taxes, utilities, etc. is cheaper than a few vacations per year unless you were going on REALLY extravagant ones all of the time.
The Adirondacks are NOT a "weekend thing." You would spend your entire weekend behind the wheel of your car.
Catskills are doable, and I almost did it (finished home on 10 acres mountaintop, 95K) but my partner would not hear of it. It was 1/2 hour drive to a newspaper, 1/2 hour to Shoprite, 1/2 hour for a gallon of milk, or a bottle of Seagrams. And we both hate to drive. But at LEAST one could get into NYC in 2 hours.
pretty much we had the same 15-20 minute drive for everything in the pocono's. in fact one of the things that spooked us out of not retiring there was the fact that if you can't drive at some point there is nooooooo public transportation .
That's why I told the OP if he plans on going up there on weekends, plan on spending part of that time on property upkeep. When I was a kid, the one family member who owned this property always spent at least a few hours on regular things around the property. Over the years, he's grown tired of it, since he works long hours during the week---who wants to then go upstate and do more work? Now he does as little as possible.
I still don't see how owning a property and paying taxes, utilities, etc. is cheaper than a few vacations per year unless you were going on REALLY extravagant ones all of the time.
i hated going up and having chores . we paid to have everything done . cutting the grass ,snow plowing ,all had to be done while we were not there . the harsh winters had us re staining the deck and porch every few years and the woods had us having the gutters cleaned 2x a year . the screens sucked and we ended up removing them .. then there is bug control to worry about . it was rare when we went up that everything was just fine .
the driveway had to be clear of snow too or you can't even get a fuel delivery .
what was a killer and we were only going to the pocono's was the winter weather . while we intended to use the house year round there was always a threatened storm going up or coming back and we couldn't miss work if we got trapped . the Adirondack's are far worse .
The Catskills home I mentioned was atop a mountain in the Skawangunk Mts. (don't hold me to that spelling.) THe top electrical pole was forever being struck by lightning. The owners, our friends had two, count 'em, TWO, electronic organs fried.
They had a device on their phone that needed house current to take a phone message. No message in Winter? No power, no heat. They had to drop everything and drive to Cragsmoor to arrange to get heat into the house...they had resisstance heating. Not too pricey because they superinsulated the house, but DAMNED inconvenient in the middle of the night. They had to call the house every day of the Winter.
All burnable waste had to be burned in their back yard. "Honey have you burned the trash?" Everything else went to the town dump or your personal compost pile. Nice pond with frogs and fish.
I often think how different our lives would be had we bought there instead of in Manhattan?
The setting was idyllic in the true sense of the word
Neighbor sharing the hilltop was the empty George Inness Jr.'s mansion, Chetolah.
mathjac,
How long did you own the Pocono house?
Last edited by Kefir King; 11-20-2016 at 03:51 PM..
i hated going up and having chores . we paid to have everything done . cutting the grass ,snow plowing ,all had to be done while we were not there . the harsh winters had us re staining the deck and porch every few years and the woods had us having the gutters cleaned 2x a year . the screens sucked and we ended up removing them .. then there is bug control to worry about . it was rare when we went up that everything was just fine .
the driveway had to be clear of snow too or you can't even get a fuel delivery .
what was a killer and we were only going to the pocono's was the winter weather . while we intended to use the house year round there was always a threatened storm going up or coming back and we couldn't miss work if we got trapped . the Adirondack's are far worse .
And guess what happened this weekend? A family member of mine went to the house in the Catskills and surprise---they woke up to six inches of snow and it was still accumulating. I guess he hadn't checked the weather or wasn't expecting it because he told me he wouldn't have gone up if he knew it was going to snow. He spent 1.5-2 hours clearing a path to get out.
I am interested in buying a country/vacation house upstate somewhere where there are mountains, forests, lakes, hiking trails etc... I've largely narrowed this down to the Catskills and the Adirondacks. I am more interested in the Adirondacks because it is larger, however the Catskills appears to be much closer and offers similar features. I am interested in hearing from People about what the benefits and drawbacks are about each area of upstate. Particularly from people who are familiar with one of both of the areas. I am posting this here rather than in a upstate section of the forum because I'd like to hear from New Yorkers about their experience in both areas
You know you're posting here because this section is more active...In anycase, I live in the 'Valley, and the Catskills are a couple miles away. Time flows much more slowly here. Obviously, it's much more quiet and most people mind their business (in fact, it's an unspoken rule). There's a mix of "outdoorsy" folk, artists (writers, some actors), and local gentry. It's very beautiful & idyllic--but the economy is stagnant. This means that, due to the lack of industry, locals (full-time residents) are typically less affluent than "weekenders" (part-time residents from the 'City). That wouldn't matter in places like Woodstock or New Paltz, but in other (more rural areas) you might hear the occasional "citiot" remark...
In terms of the Adirondacks, Lake Placid is decent. My sister was a competitive figure skater and we had to travel to LP (and VT) for training & competitions. There's very little diversity (most of the residents are WASPs). Not sure if that's what you're looking for or not, but...It's scenic and there are a bunch of physically fit people, winter starts in late October, and you're across the lake from Burlington. What else? Oh, there's a bunch of ski resorts (Killington, Gore, Whiteface).
That's about all I know. Wherever you go, bring money.
And guess what happened this weekend? A family member of mine went to the house in the Catskills and surprise---they woke up to six inches of snow and it was still accumulating. I guess he hadn't checked the weather or wasn't expecting it because he told me he wouldn't have gone up if he knew it was going to snow. He spent 1.5-2 hours clearing a path to get out.
what a surprise ha ha ha ha .......
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