Northeastern Pennsylvania Photo Tour: PART TWO (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: hardwood floors, house, neighborhood)

[SteelCityRising]

Baltic Celt: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your kind-hearted comments! I was feeling rather depressed recently after seeing my ex out in public with someone else, so it felt wonderful to know that I helped to brighten somebody else's day! I truly do love the area; the faults we have in the way of narrow-mindedness, racism/homophobia, scarcity of high-paying career opportunities, etc. are more than compensated for by our breathtaking scenery, low crime rates, historic architecture, proximity to NYC/Philly/NJ, outdoor recreation, a low cost-of-living, and great shopping opportunities.

I'm actually going to dabble in the best of both worlds, at least while I'm single and not tied down to anyone or anything in particular. I plan to commute two hours each way between my downtown loft in Scranton and my employer in NJ or NYC, so I can enjoy living in NEPA while earning more than twice the starting salary for an entry-level accountant in our region. I plan to use the extra money from living frugally to start purchasing, renovating, and then "flipping" homes in both Scranton and Wilkes-Barre to give people alternatives to the suburbs so that they can possibly raise their families within walking distance to a park or school, instead of along a busy four-lane highway (like my development). After accumulating enough assets, I want to open up a few business ventures that will spark some new life into our transitioning downtowns. With all that's been happening lately in Downtown Scranton, I'm still shocked that there is no BOOKSTORE in the city; I'd change that! Pittston doesn't have a single health foods store within a 20-minute drive, and I'd also like to open a new jazz cafe along the Susquehanna River in Pittston in a former train station near Kennedy Boulevard, so that patrons could dine beneath the lighting of the Water Street Bridge while listening to Peggy Lee's "Fever!" Downtown Wilkes-Barre would also get some attention from me; I like the idea of opening up a Dave & Buster's franchise in either Scranton or Wilkes-Barre---We have thousands of college students and young suburban families with loaded wallets and nothing to spend their money on! This area is so wonderful, yet it has so much untapped potential.

[Baltic_Celt]

Scranton -

You're full of great ideas, loads of potential, smarts, innovation & motivation. I've no doubt you'll make a wealth of difference to several communities that need a bit of life pumped into them. It can only be beneficial, in many ways - you may even bring a new source of jobs to more than a few deserving local folks.

Stop it, or you'll have me moving back to the area...

I'm sure if you're anything in person, as you appear onboard, you'll have a wonderful new partner very soon. They're just not available yet, that's the delay. Chin up, lad so you're smiling when you first meet them!!!

Have a wonderful, PA autumn & crunch a few leaves for me, please...

Cheers, then... Baltic_Celt

[Sharon R.]

SWB, you have me very interested in taking a look in your area! I am currently in the mess of suburban sprawl that is the Atlanta metro area, though I'm originally from Washington DC, which I love and can no longer afford! Your photos have me saying yes, I want to be there! Those houses are wonderful, and I want a little yard for my dogs and to be able to walk to wherever I need to go. I'm a middle aged woman, soon to be single, starting over. I'm self-employed as a petsitter. Tell me, do you think that people up there would spend money to have somebody look after their pets while they're hard at work or on vacation? Or do they just tie them up in the yard and ignore them, which is pretty big here in the South? (You can also see my post regarding Starting Over in the general section).

Can't wait to see more of your wonderful pics and hear more about the area! Thanks for giving me something to think about!

[Baltic_Celt]

Sharon -

You'll love NE PA & your interesting career might just be a great addition/option to the area. (By the way, check out yahoo yellow pages or local newspapers - find them on "newsdirectory dot com" - to see if petsitting services are available there.) I was wondering, could you perhaps invest a bit of money on a survey, prior to investing in such a big move? I posted some info on the CO board, that you can check out thru the link below, which I hope will offer some food for thought for you:

Massage Therapy in Denver feedback

I was just wondering if you could perhaps rent/purchase a local PA vet's mailing list (or email list, if they have them) & snail mail/email a brochure & short questionnaire to these prospective clients to answer directly. Questions like "Would you use a petcaring service, should one be available/affordable?" & "How many days/wk, times/mo would you need such a service?" If it's a pre-paid postcard, it would be simple & they would be more likely to take the time to fill it out & return it to you. Perhaps your info gathering will give you a better idea of how much money you could possibly count on initially, upon relocating, thus helping you decide if there's a market for you. If not, move over a town or 2 or do some research on NE PA towns where there are higher wages, for example. Scranton can help you with that, by the way. He's the online area expert & a very helpful, kind one at that!

I'm originally from the area & everyone & I mean everyone has pets, mainly dogs. People are very fond of their family pets & it is quite different from the way Atlanta folks leave pets outside year round. (I lived in Atlanta for 6+ years, too). Having always had pets that slept indoors, I never could adjust to dogs/cats sleeping outside in the freezing weather. (Yep folks, there is freezing winter weather in Atlanta.) In GA they seemed to view "animals" more as workers (home protectors, for instance), while in PA I found that "pets" were thought of more as family members. Not making judgements, just stating what I saw. I also always felt it was the flea problem that had folks keeping their pets outdoors. But, being in the biz, you'd know best.

Good luck, please check out my previous post & I hope it helps a bit. Nice to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive & well. I admire that & wish you lots of luck with your new biz! I wonder if you had a grooming license, if you could offer at-home grooming for clients, while simultaneously offering petwalking/sitting? What about older animals that need on-time meds while their "parents" are at work? Not sure if it's needed, but just thinking/wondering...

Cheers, then... Baltic_Celt

[Sharon R.]

Baltic_Celt, thanks much for the suggestions, I will definitely give them some thought. When I started my business here in GA a couple of years ago, I still had a full-time job, which then went to part-time while building the business. There are a lot down here with the mentality of their dogs being nothing more than lawn ornaments, but there are also a lot of folks -- mostly transplants I'm sorry to say -- that love and care for them the way that I do, so there's a pretty big need for my services down here ... and a lot of other petsitters too!

I also have portable office skills and a computer so I can always find something to do while building the business. I would like to try to live below my means, especially being self-employed, so I'm looking for something under $100K, hopefully! I've gone onto realtor.com to take a quick look at properties, and there are a number of houses that are adorable, but it's really the neighborhood that counts. Looking forward to finding out more!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Sharon R.

Baltic_Celt, thanks much for the suggestions, I will definitely give them some thought. When I started my business here in GA a couple of years ago, I still had a full-time job, which then went to part-time while building the business. There are a lot down here with the mentality of their dogs being nothing more than lawn ornaments, but there are also a lot of folks -- mostly transplants I'm sorry to say -- that love and care for them the way that I do, so there's a pretty big need for my services down here ... and a lot of other petsitters too!

I also have portable office skills and a computer so I can always find something to do while building the business. I would like to try to live below my means, especially being self-employed, so I'm looking for something under $100K, hopefully! I've gone onto realtor.com to take a quick look at properties, and there are a number of houses that are adorable, but it's really the neighborhood that counts. Looking forward to finding out more!

I'm actually unaware of any other local business in the region that provides the same services which you hope to materialize, so you may just be the heroine entrepreneur to rush into an untapped market and solely reap the benefits that come from it. There aren't really even that many commercial kennels in the area; our pooch's former kennel, "Pet Care Associates" in the Back Mountain area of Luzerne County was recently put out of business by a disease that unfortunately killed quite a number of the owners' dogs earlier this year! (At least all dogs go to heaven though, right? )

I think your best markets in the region for this type of business would be one of the three major suburban areas (The Abingtons, Back Mountain, Mountain Top), where dually-employed, upper-middle-class professional couples would be more than willing to pay someone to look after Fido or Fluffy so that they could be at ease at work or on extended vacations or business trips, knowing that their dogs aren't roaming around their homes alone and unattended. As Baltic said, many local residents consider their pets to be parts of the family; you wouldn't dare consider leaving your toddler to fend for himself/herself for excessive periods of time, so why should man's best friend be any different? I also think more people would be inclined to want to leave their pets in a more intimate setting than a commercial kennel, so your business idea may just take off around here!

[Sharon R.]

That's great news! Well, not the part about the kennel owner's dogs dying, that must have been heartbreaking. Very exciting and yes, that is exactly the kind of clientele that I'd be looking for. However, as a petsitter I go into people's homes, do a lot of driving around and need to stay close to my home in order to save gas and time -- plus when I have a 6AM or 10PM visit to make, I don't want to have to go far. So if I'm targeting the affluent, but am not affluent myself, where would I be looking to live? How far are these areas from Scranton-Wilkes Barre? Which of course keeps me in my adorable little old house in my great old neighborhood

Thanks muchly!!

Sharon

[MrTudo]

Great pictures! Thank you for sharing those! I'd personally love to be offered one of those old Victorians. I had an apartment once in Westfield NJ way way back around 1973 or so that took up the whole top floor which was a converted attic I guess. Was quite a cool bachelor pad for an 18 y.o. then

What do you think this "Wall St West" idea will do to the area???

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Great pictures! Thank you for sharing those! I'd personally love to be offered one of those old Victorians. I had an apartment once in Westfield NJ way way back around 1973 or so that took up the whole top floor which was a converted attic I guess. Was quite a cool bachelor pad for an 18 y.o. then

What do you think this "Wall St West" idea will do to the area???

Another member, "Home in West Pittston", had insider information right from the heart of Manhattan's financial sector, where she works, and from what she told me we shouldn't be too optimistic. Yes, firms are planning to establish duplicate, satellite firms in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but she says that each facility will employ very few workers and mostly be self-sustaining. The top story on the local media radar yesterday was of images of helicopters being used to fly Manhattan corporate executives around Monroe County to view new business parks and to be "wooed" by local economic development officials, and the developer of a project in East Stroudsburg says he already has one tenant lined up for 2007. Media reports indicated that there are expected to be 18,000 new jobs created in the region, which directly clashes with "New Home in West Pittston's", claims, so I'd take a gander that the true number will be somewhere nearer to the middle of those ranges, perhaps in the 8,000-10,000 new employee range. (Which is still phenomenal news for an area with very few college-level opportunities!) I'll be graduating from King's in 2009 with an Accounting degree, so I'm hopeful that one of these new firms will snatch me up! After all, I'd rather commute 45 minutes between Scranton and Stroudsburg vs. two hours to NYC!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Sharon R.

That's great news! Well, not the part about the kennel owner's dogs dying, that must have been heartbreaking. Very exciting and yes, that is exactly the kind of clientele that I'd be looking for. However, as a petsitter I go into people's homes, do a lot of driving around and need to stay close to my home in order to save gas and time -- plus when I have a 6AM or 10PM visit to make, I don't want to have to go far. So if I'm targeting the affluent, but am not affluent myself, where would I be looking to live? How far are these areas from Scranton-Wilkes Barre? Which of course keeps me in my adorable little old house in my great old neighborhood

Thanks muchly!!

Sharon

Personally, I think you'd love such towns as West Pittston, Forty Fort, or Kingston, all of which have many leafy neighborhoods, sidewalks, and historic homes. (West Pittston is decidedly Victorian while Forty Fort/Kingston tend to be more traditional, cape-cod, and tudor styled). All have nearly non-existent crime rates (Kingston has a bit of a drug problem), and all are convenient to the suburban areas. The Back Mountain, with a population of about 30,000, is located roughly ten minutes away from Kingston/Forty Fort via Route 309 (North Cross Valley Expressway), and about twenty minutes away from West Pittston via Route 11 (Wyoming Avenue) to Route 309.

If your interests lead you to the Abingtons, which are among the wealthiest parts of the state, (some neighborhoods have median household incomes around $100,000!), then I'd recommend you check out homes in the Green Ridge or Upper Hill neighborhoods in Scranton or the Hollywood section of Dunmore. All are about fifteen minutes from the Abingtons via the North Scranton Expressway or I-81, and you're also very convenient to the Dickson City shopping district (all of Scranton's chain stores). I'd suggest you talk to someone at the Semian & Gress Real Estate agency if you're interested in either Scranton or Dunmore, as this agency, while only about a year old, is fully-staffed with people like me (Under 35, optimistic about the region, etc.), and I also want to refer people to them before any other agency because they "took the plunge" and invested in a beautiful corner building in Downtown Scranton at a time when most other real estate firms were "following the money trail" to the Abingtons, shuttering their in-town operations. As a person who hates seeing what sprawl is doing to our countryside, that downtown commitment meant a lot to me personally. They also tend to specialize in homes in these Scranton and Dunmore neighborhoods (along with the brand new Weichert Realtors, also downtown).

Finally, while Mountain Top doesn't even have any kennels that I'm aware of to serve its growing population, it's also a hike from neighborhoods with the "adorable little houses in the great old neighborhood" which you desire. It's about 25 minutes from Kingston/Forty Fort, and about 20 minutes from some of the leafier neighborhoods surrounding Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, but the added commute time may be worth it if the people in Mountain Top embrace this service.

Overall, I'd still consider targeting the Abingtons first as my potential market; people up there also seem to be more "progressive" to new ideas (the main town of Clarks Summit is full of health food stores, yoga instructors, exotic gift shops, etc.), so a service such as your may be embraced quite well in the Abingtons.