Waverly, NY - Pros/Cons

[Hartwick]

Waverly, New York?? I read this forum occasionally and respond rarely and only in cases where I feel very strongly and/or have unique knowledge or insight to add. I agreee with much of what is written above. I grew up in the Southern Tier and have worked here until recent retirement. My wife is from "The Valley" which encompasses Sayre and Athens, PA., and Waverly, NY.( she and ALL her family have left the area, with one brother now living in Richmond...you could not pay any of them enough money to consider returning to "The Valley"). For years, we have traveled to the Guthrie Clinic, Ltd., in Sayre, PA, for our healthcare...it provides world class healthcare, literally in the middle of nowhere. That speaks loads of the quality of the medical institution that can attract and retain world class cardio-thoracic surgeon, neurosurgeons, and every medical specialty invented, and their willingness to live in the Southern Tier of New York State and the Norhern Tier of Pennsylvania.

That being said, there really is not much to Waverly, New York. It's a small, old, depressed town is desperate need of revitalization. I't s a town of the "Haves...the wealthy medical staff who build their mansions and estates on the Northern hill outside of Waverly," and the "have nots"...the many residents remaining in Waverly. The only industry is the processed cheese factory, a Rynone Factory that produces kitchen-bath cabinets, and countertops. There is an auto yard in town that dealers bring their unwanted used cars to as a holding area until others bring them to auctions. There is a small school system. A handful of struggling store fronts remain.

The housing market is depressed, with most of the housing stock being old, old homes in various states or repair. Then, of course, are the multi-million dollar mansions owned by MD's from the Guthrie Clinic, Ltd.

Curtural opportunities, shoppiing, groceries, entertainment, department stores....you'll be driving to one of the nearby(sometimes not so nearby) cities mentioned above, like Elmira, Owego, Binghamton, Ithaca, Corning, etc., although Sayre, PA, now does have one fine dining restaurant, a small WalWart, and a small Lowe's.

The wineries are located in the pure Finger Lakes regions to the North of Waverly. They are at least an hour's drive away. Bed and Breakfasts? there are several in "The Valley" and frequented more by families who have their loved ones in the Guthrie Clinic, and it's associated Robert Packed Hospital.

If someone handed me a million dollars, I could easily relocate to Ithaca, New York, home of Cornell University, Ithaca College. Ithaca has had extensve coverage in these forums and one of the most popular small towns in upstate New York. Other towns to consider would be Aurora, as mentioned above, Cortland, Seneca Falls, Moravia, Watkins Gleb, Owego(where many MD's and medical staff from the Guthrie Clinic live) (I believe Owego just made the top of the list of Budget Magazine's "Best Small Towns" list ).

One of your other criteria mentioned whether Waverly is a scenic area. Sorry to say, but it's located adjacent to interstate I-86 and unless you have reason to stop there, most cars drive by and don't even notice it. It's not a particularly scenic area, especially during these long, cold, gray, sunless, snowy winters.

So, since you have a choice, you'd be wise to drop Waverly off your list and consider some of the small towns listed above by myself and others. You'll be much happier anywhere but Waverly.

[ki0eh]

My impression of The Valley is honestly fairly similar to Hartwick's. Some other small communities dominated by large institutions dependent on brainpower seem to do better at leveraging local community revitalization - Corning is an outstanding example, and Coudersport was one before the collapse of Adelphia. I'm pretty sure I'd want to live anywhere in The Valley vs. most of the City of Elmira, but otherwise it comes off poorly compared to neighboring communities. Not that there's a dangerous feel, it's just - blah? Hard to explain.

Nearby Towanda, PA seems to do better at community revitalization. There's a nice new trail along the river, cleaned up storefronts, etc. Owego, about the same distance away, seems to show more community pride as well.

North of there, Spencer and Van Etten are much smaller, sharing a single school, but seem to have some spillover influence from Ithaca-employed newcomers. I remember years ago an Ithaca radio station had a call-in trivia question for a trivial prize, "What are the Twin Cities?" At the next stop set the DJ seemed a little annoyed, saying he wanted to give the prize away but someone called in to say the Twin Cities were Spencer and Van Etten so he didn't give it to them.

[Tioga]

...Speaking for Owego..village, town. and surrounding rural area(where I'm at)...we've had more than a few retirees, corporate transplants, and those wishing to "escape" from elsewhere, move to our area. I wonder if this forum has ever played into their relocation decision to come here? I'll have to check out Budget magazine's website to see what they had to say about Owego. I do know from local realtors , that many across the U.S have contacted them via the net as they search for that next home.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Tioga

...Speaking for Owego..village, town. and surrounding rural area(where I'm at)...we've had more than a few retirees, corporate transplants, and those wishing to "escape" from elsewhere, move to our area. I wonder if this forum has ever played into their relocation decision to come here? I'll have to check out Budget magazine's website to see what they had to say about Owego. I do know from local realtors , that many across the U.S have contacted them via the net as they search for that next home.

Maybe the pictures of the village had some influence on their decision. It is a nice looking village and I'll have to check it out one day.

[SnowCrazy]

These responses are excellent - exactly what we need to hear!!!! Thank you so much. We're definitely getting more of a feel for the area, and we will add several of your suggested towns to our list of potentials. In some ways, it'd be easier if a job transfer was forcing us to just pick a place and go forward regardless of the pros/cons, but having time to do a little homework is nice, too, and this forum works well for that.

I hate talking to real estate agents who tell me every little town is a 'gem' and there's so much 'potential' in every home; sometimes it's difficult talking to locals because they can be suspicious or overly enthusiastic about your reasons for relocating. There is some beautiful land available outside Waverly, but we wondered about the town after learning a renovated 'mansion-esque' building for sale was two houses down from a rundown one-story, also for sale. Same town, that's not too weird, but that close together seemed odd. Yet the local B&B apparently does so well, it stays booked almost year-round, but now that makes a lot of sense after the info shared about the Medical Center. So your contributions are definitely helping us 'outsiders' understand a little more.

Of course, we may take all your good advice and end up in one of these 'run away quickly' areas, anyway, but I guess we can't say you didn't warn us.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by SnowCrazy

we wondered about the town after learning a renovated 'mansion-esque' building for sale was two houses down from a rundown one-story, also for sale. Same town, that's not too weird, but that close together seemed odd.

Honestly that sort of juxtaposition could probably happen in many of the small towns in the area. It's part of what makes this one of the most interesting areas of the country. Also makes site-specific evaluation imperative - not a good idea to make a purchase offer sight unseen in general, but here especially.