To all who relocated from NJ to Pa: Are you happy with the move? (Scranton: living, cost)

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by margeaa

My husband and I are retired and currently living in South NJ. We're thinking of making a move to PA, not sure where but am considering the Milford area. I want to be somewhat close to my children and grandchildren who live in central NJ. I'm somewhat nervous about making the move and wanted to hear from others who have already relocated to PA from NJ. Any advice or suggestions? We're open to other areas in PA too. Thanks in advance.

Its not too often that someone moves from South Jersey to NE PA. South Jersey, outside of the immediate Philly area, seems to me to be a nice, relaxing place to live. If it wasn't so expensive, I would like to live in South Jersey, with a short driving distance of the shore. North Jersey, on the other hand, has pretty much been completely taken over by NYC, which is why lots of people are fleeing from there to PA.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by margeaa

My husband and I are retired and currently living in South NJ. We're thinking of making a move to PA, not sure where but am considering the Milford area. I want to be somewhat close to my children and grandchildren who live in central NJ. I'm somewhat nervous about making the move and wanted to hear from others who have already relocated to PA from NJ. Any advice or suggestions? We're open to other areas in PA too. Thanks in advance.

Hello!

I'm not originally from NJ (although I do saw "wooder" from time to time instead of "water!" LOL!), but from what I've experienced working in the home improvement/retail industry I've chatted with a lot of NJ transplants in Luzerne County who are happy overall with their decision to come to NEPA.

Just be wary of your surroundings. I once had a couple from Brooklyn that asked me where the nearest IKEA was and then threw a mini-hissy-fit when I told them the Philly 'burbs. How you could move here WITHOUT first knowing that is beyond me.

Milford is a nice town, but it can be crowded in the warmer months with tourist traffic from NY/NJ. There's basic shopping in neighboring Westfall Township (Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.), but your nearest indoor shopping malls will be in Downstate NY (Middletown), Stroudsburg, or Scranton, all of which are 30-50 minutes away.

You might want to check into Moscow. This is a small country town (pop. 2,000-ish) about 15 minutes southeast of Scranton right along I-380, not far from I-80, for an easy 45-minute ride to the Delaware Water Gap. This town more or less serves as the "buffer zone" between Scranton and the Pocono-related sprawl in Monroe County. Greentown is a nice area as well, and it is very near to Lake Wallenpaupack if you are interested in living near a lake. The only downside to Greentown is its relative isolation; you'll have to drive a good haul to Matamoras, Scranton/Dickson City, or Honesdale for regular shopping besides your day-to-day needs (the town does have gas stations, Dutch's Grocery Store, banks, etc.) Hawley, which sits roughly midway between Honesdale and Matamoras via Route 6, would be another quaint small town option near to Lake Wallenpaupack. Jim Thorpe is nice as well with a lot of beautiful architecture, surrounding scenery, and proximity to the Lehigh Valley, albeit it is economically-depressed.

[Retired Law 08]

Originally Posted by margeaa

Coartest: I looked at the map to see where Clarks Summit is and it looks much farther than 12 miles from the Milford exit. Am I wrong? Thanks

my mistake, I was going by the exit on 380 that says milford/84

[GENO-777]

Originally Posted by margeaa

Coartest: I looked at the map to see where Clarks Summit is and it looks much farther than 12 miles from the Milford exit. Am I wrong? Thanks

I think she meant New Milford that is 12 miles from Clark's Summit, Milford is just over the NJ NY line on RT.84 and that is about 40 miles from Scranton.

[Chefkey]

Originally Posted by MrKrabs

Its not too often that someone moves from South Jersey to NE PA. South Jersey, outside of the immediate Philly area, seems to me to be a nice, relaxing place to live. If it wasn't so expensive, I would like to live in South Jersey, with a short driving distance of the shore. North Jersey, on the other hand, has pretty much been completely taken over by NYC, which is why lots of people are fleeing from there to PA.

I lived around there for years. It has nice points but the traffic is gridlock murder on 70 or 73 and the area in general is just really really populated. Everything you plan to do there, give yourself extra time. Even the shoreline north of Barnegat Bay gets super crowded. I would consider living in my old hometown of Wall Township if the area hadn't got so crowded and my parents house they bought in 1976 for $55,000 now sells for $350,000.

To sum it up, I fully understand why Marge would be interested in moving.

[memoriesbre]

We lived in South Jersey and I hated it. I felt like I was down south. We are loving living in NEPA!

[nyctransplant]

Clarks Summit is pretty close to scranton. The expressway from downtown scranton to clarks summit is less than ten minutes.

[DavidWebb]

I've been coming out here to NEPA since '96 and finally moved out here in November '07. Bought a 2 bedroom ranch house in Saylorsburg for $118K on 1/2 acre corner lot. House sits in lot away from corner so no traffic noise but that may also be due to I live in an ungated private community and the road is a dirt road. So we don't get much traffic up here. Don't know much about the area you're referring to but if you drop ScranBarre a direct and ask him he knows the northern part better than I do and can give you a honest truthful answer. But most areas up there are very nice, clean, and reasonable as far as real estate is concerned.

[margeaa]

Wow....I just saw this post and realized I started it over a year ago! Time really does go by so fast. I haven't been on this website in awhile. But we finally got off our butts and put our house up for sale in NJ and now need to start seriously thinking about where to move. Of course, with the market the way it is, I don't think our house will sell fast.

When we were in the Poconos this past winter, we met with a realtor in Milford, saw some beautiful houses, but came home thinking that maybe we shouldn't consider that area because we felt there was a lack of good healthcare. My husband has several health issues, and we need to be close to good doctors and hospitals.

So we went back to thinking we would only consider NJ. I really want to be close to my son and daughter and our grandchildren. We've been thinking about either remaining in the southern Ocean County area, or going to the southwestern area of NJ, such as the Medford area.

But yesterday, at a party, we met someone who has family that moved to the Lake Wallanpaupeck area and the Scranton area, and he kind of ignited our interest back to Pa. He said there are good medical doctors and hospitals in Scranton.

I still don't want to be too far from the kids, but as my husband said, we're the ones that go to visit the kids most of the time because we're retired and can make the drives. So maybe being 3 hours from them is not so bad.

My husband has the opinion that this should be "our" time to enjoy and live where we want, and not be limited to being near the kids.

So anyway....now Pa. is back on the list of possibles!

[bldginpa]

We too will eventually be moving away from our children, unless they want to relocate with us. This seems unlikely. However, being 2-1/2 hours away will be okay. If we're retired, we'll have the time to travel back and forth to see them and it also gives them a place to visit when they come to see us.