Considering a Move to Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg (Greenville, Monroe: transplants, to rent)

[fisheye]

You might want to have a look at this link: Select a County - PA School Performance Profile. City-Data also has a link: http://www.city-data.com/. The PA Dept. of Education's web site is very easy/quick to use and you can very easily see the school districts that you might be interested in. Both websites are helpful for any place in the State.

[jtab4994]

Also check the Philly forum on city-data for people with knowledge of specific developments in Newtown. Good Luck!

[ecoscape]

Good for you Limelight, many people made wrong decision "paying KIA prices and expecting Mercedes like amenities"

[Limelight1000]

Thanks!

From our initial research, it seems like Council Rock North is the "best" school in the area, at least based on grades, etc. Council Rock South is quite good, too.

Pennsbury School District to the East in Yardley area seems a little too big/congested for our tastes.

My guess is that we will end up in the Newtown area, maybe looking for a house near town.

The only casualty in this analysis is that home prices in that part of Bucks County really are Mercedes prices. I don't think we'll find a home that suits our liking for less than $700k, which is unfortunate. I had hoped to have no mortgage. With a $700k house, and $11k+ / year taxes, our cost of living doesn't go down much...

[Wells5]

You've picked a time when housing prices in desirable areas have matched or exceeded the highs reached just before the housing market crash of 2008. Before deciding on Newtown, you should consider other areas in PA.

Quakertown, Upper Bucks. Much cheaper R.E. prices than Newtown and close to the ABE Airport. Well regarded school district. 95 miles to Manhattan.

Milford (Pike County). Small upscale village. Pretty good school district. Village homes are expensive but most people live in the private developments that have proliferated in Pike County, where there are lots of foreclosures. Most of the population is from NYC and vicinity. 72 miles to Manhattan. Bus and train (from Port Jervis) if you don't want to drive. Newark Airport is less than 2 hours away.

Clarks Summit area. Best academic public school district in NEPA. Lots of professionals like you to socialize with. $500,000 will buy a mini estate on acreage. Close to WB Scranton airport. 125 miles to Manhattan. 1 hour to Binghamton.

[Southern Star]

I know nothing about Newtown but we have visited Doylestown and it is lovely. You could look in or around this fine town. The area around Saucon Valley is also lovely. It is right off 78 and as long as you stay south of Allentown you will be fine.

[ctrlaltdelete]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

4. My feeling is that crime greatly diminished over the last few years. There was a lot of upheaval in the area, with a flood of people moving in and houses & schools being built at breakneck speed in the mid-2000's. With the crash of 2008, a lot of the people and their problems seem to have gone away.

this is great to hear.. most of what Ive read here about crime are outdated..
lookin to move to the area from the same area as the op... particularly CCOP community and send the kids to ND
was concerned about the crime.. im a telecommuter btw so the kids wont be left alone during the day due to a long work commute..

[mrsfixit99]

Originally Posted by ctrlaltdelete

this is great to hear.. most of what Ive read here about crime are outdated..

Yeah, ok... lol

I tell you what- take a nice walk on Main Street in Stroudsburg around 2am and get back to me. Take a trip to Walmart in the middle of the night and get back to me.

I watch the local news every night. We have it all- drive-by shootings, murders- lots of murders, drugs, rape, home invasions, robberies. It's become the norm. If you didn't know you were watching local news you'd think you were watching the news from Detroit, or Cleveland.

What you fail to realize is that yes- many people have fled the area. However, the ones that left were the families, and the working people, and the seniors. You know- the decent people.

While they left for greener pastures, a lot of what got left behind is the trash that moved here, the kind surviving on section 8 and welfare. The kind that makes their living holding a gun to your head and demanding your wallet. Crime is high.

You really are a babe in the woods. You have no idea what it's like here. If you have any sense whatsoever do yourself a favor and rent a house for a year so you can see firsthand what I'm talking about.

Wow- you really are starting to remind me of a lemming. You are just determined to jump off a cliff! lol

[ctrlaltdelete]

you went from being helpful to being rude..
im just stating what ive read... im not the one who posted that crime diminished..
it was the most recent comment ive seen at that point on crime for the area....
it would have been easier for you to just dispute that post than insulting this lemmings comment..

your statement of decent people leaving and youre still there... go figure
startin to smell like a local with a purpose of scarin away outsiders...

still appreciate your info... now go get some manners..

[Gettingouttahere]

ctrlaltdelete, I've lived here since 1999. We've had two kayaks and a canoe stolen from our backyard and some vandalism done to a picnic table set in our yard. Our backyard is six acres of woods, though, and to be fair, our stuff was not locked up and thus accessible to anybody that roamed around the woods -- and our property isn't easily identified as private, though it should be pretty obvious. In two out of four of those cases, we caught the person in the act (they were neighbors who'd lived here longer than us).

Yes, they were crimes, directly committed on our property, but do I feel at all threatened here? Not one bit.

If you watch the news, yes, you'll get a different impression. "If it bleeds, it leads." That's never been an accurate representation of everyday life for most folks.

(My mom, who's practically homebound and is 82, also has a "world has gone to hell" type of perspective. She lives in Florida and has never been the victim of a crime, but to hear her talk, there are gangs of thugs poised outside her front door, just waiting for her to ease up on her vigilance.)

Like most sane people, I try not to put myself in questionable areas - yes, there are some - and so I don't witness any crime to speak of. You will be safe here.

Don't be easily alarmed. It's not worth the agita.

That said, I would rent for a year before buying in a region in which I had no personal living experience. I understand you've already made an offer, so I'm guessing it's too late. But a lot of people don't like it here because it is remote or because there's too much traffic or because the cost of living is higher than they thought or because the schools don't please them...then they're stuck with a house they can't sell.