How's Carbondale???? (Scranton, Nanticoke, Pittston: for sale, real estate, apartment)

[Jungle George]

Hi!! I'm George & currently living in Stuart Florida (hurricane capital of the world!!

I am thinking or re-locating and have seen a beautiful old victorian house for sale in Carbondale Pa for next to nothing and was wondering if anyone out there in the area could give me some info on Carbondale....(I only trust real estate info sooooo much)

Down here the cost of living is going thru the roof!! Taxes (still only 2000.00 a year total), insurance (my house insurance tripled this year even though I had no damage whatsoever from the 4 hurricanes we got hit with), food (almost doubles in the winter when the "snowbirds" come down) and jobs available are paltry with no benefits. The houses they are building (on every square inch of available space) are what we call "starter castles" and not affordable by the everyday folk.

My partner & I are pushing 50 and I thought if I could find a decent house cheaper in a small-town sort of area, I could sell my house & the condo I inherited recently here and actually invest the money to live off of and retire early....

My questions are....how are the property taxes in Carbondale?? My other half is an ER trauma tech...are there any hospitals in the area??? Being a gay couple, are there still white sheets running around the area??? (My grandparents & mom lived in Nanticoke and I still have relatives in that area so I've heard stories from years ago)

People say I'm crazy to go from a place where it's sunny & bright 90% of the time with a median winter temp of 72 to a place that's cold and cloudy....the way things are going though, since I was born good-looking & not rich economics may give me no option...

Thanks for any help & info you could offer & have a wonderful Holiday!!! (We've trimmed the palm trees with lights so we're all set...

Take care!!
George

[SteelCityRising]

Carbondale, in all honesty, is just a mediocre town. The crime rate is very low, and the people are generally friendly, but there's just not a whole lot "to do" in town. The town was a former hotbed for the anthracite coal mining industry, and when the mines shuttered, the town's economy took a turn for the worse. The town's homes are older---with some more well-kept than others. (There's a large concentration of elderly homeowners who aren't able to afford to adequately renovate their homes, but then great deals arise as these older folks die off and the estate heirs sell cheaply to get the property out of their hands).

The town is home to a YMCA, churches, parks, and enough stores to be relatively self-sufficient for day-to-day concerns, but much of your entertainment, nightlife, and big-box shopping needs will be met about 25-minutes southwest of town via Route 6 in Scranton. Honesdale, a community about 20 minutes east of town, is a Victorian showplace with a "Bedford Falls" type of charm to it with annual festivals and lots of civic pride.

The people of Carbondale generally have a lot of civic pride, and they want nothing more than to see their old, "Rust-Belt" town be restored to its former grandeur. Mayor Justin Taylor seems to be a hip twenty-something with great ideas for downtown revitalization; I hope the generally older community embraces them. Carbondale, in my opinion, is just stuck in a time warp---Honesdale just to its east has transformed itself into a cutesy little tourist mecca for NY/NJ folks, and Scranton, just to the southwest, is becoming more and more of a cosmopolitan city with every new restaurant, loft apartment, and boutique that pops up.

Also, speaking as one gay man to another, this area truly doesn't warrant the "homophobic" reputation it has. When I came out back in high school a few years ago, I only had one peer who had a problem with my orientation; in fact, my popularity SPIKED as everyone thought it was apparently "trendy" to have a gay friend. Now that I'm in college, I likewise notice that people are just indifferent towards one's sexual orientation. The same can be said for most local residents. Initially, they may be a little "up in arms" about a gay or lesbian couple moving in next-door and might give you the cold shoulder, but eventually they'll warm up to you and your partner. The GLBT scene in NEPA is growing, albeit it rather slowly. Most locals are still "in the closet", and there are only a few gay-oriented clubs/bars in the Scranton area. People in Carbondale won't embrace you and your partner, but they won't abhor you either. Overall, they'd kind of have the "Don't bother me, and we won't bother you" mentality. I say this from experience as I have a lesbian co-worker at Lowe's who lives in Nanticoke, which is very similar in character to Carbondale. She and her partner don't endure any sort of tensions whatsoever from their neighbors. Trust me, the GLBT population in the Scranton area is actually quite large for a city of its size---This area's heavily-Roman Catholic roots, however, tend to force many to repress their same-sex feelings for the church and their families.

Overall, you'd probably enjoy Carbondale. It's an inexpensive, quiet town a little off the beaten path. The downtown is a bit run-down, but so are most Rust-Belt cities at this point after years of neglect. The housing stock, overall, is older and generally well-kept; you don't have to worry about living in the "slums." As I said, the town itself is BORING, but it's still reasonably close to all sorts of entertainment and shopping needs.

Property taxes, on average, would probably be similar to that $2,000 annually you're paying now for a typical 3 BR, 1-2 BA Carbondale single-family home, give or take a few hundred dollars in either direction. Now that the state has just legalized gambling, property taxes are supposed to nosedive in the upcoming years (We'll see what Governor "Fast Eddie" Rendell has in store for us).

If I can be of any help at all, please let me know!
-Paul

[Jungle George]

Hi Paul!!!

Thank you for all truthful (and articulate) Carbondale info!! I have been searching for homes in the Nanticoke/NE Pa area since it has "close" access to NYC (my hometown) and the Hudson Valley in NY (where most of my friends are).

I can't afford the prices in NY, but it would be nice to be within driving distance! The one thing I DO dread about moving up there is the cold!! Down here when it gets below 65 I put on a coat!!!

The house I saw needs a lot of work (hence the low price), and I need to sell the condo down here first before I can actually do anything, but it's always good to do the homework!!

Thank you again and have a wonderful Holiday!!!
George

[imright]

Carbondale is not a good town for gays. Try San Franciso.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by imright

Carbondale is not a good town for gays. Try San Franciso.

I must respectfully disagree. People say the same thing about my hometown of Pittston, yet we probably have one of the largest "closeted" population of GLBT individuals per capita in the region, as seemingly every other person I graduated with is "coming out" now that they're miles away in college. Just because our area, overall, is poorly-educated and non-diverse doesn't mean that it's an anti-gay free-for-all! In fact, with the exception of just one individual, as well as my own parents, I have yet to meet anyone who has a problem with me as an openly-gay male. I became popular overnight in high school when I came out. My friends respected me more for trying to "hide" it for so long. My friends' parents appreciate my polite courtesy, and none of them keep their children away from me just because I might have some sort of "AIDS cooties."

We don't all wear tiaras, have limp wrists, have lisps, work as fashion designers or interior decorators, and sleep with a different mate every evening. Some of us are so masculine that you couldn't pick us out from a crowd of metrosexuals! LOL! In fact, I work at Lowe's, drive a Ford, enjoy getting my hands dirty, love the outdoors, work out (still working on the six-pack), like hockey games, baseball games, and playing golf. I'm also very good, apparently, at pretending to "check out hot chicks" at work with the other straight guys to keep myself in the closet there (With all of that straight macho-ness running rampant in there, you never know when the wrong person may find out about me). Then again, I'm, by far, not the only gay/lesbian employee there (Homo Depot has many too, much to the chagrin of some of you "Built Ford Tough" type of guys). We're amongst you all more than you may think; if we've co-existed for this long without any sort of conflicts, then why let them arise now?

Wow! Sorry about the rant! LOL! I'm just accustomed to having to defend myself from bigots on the AOL Boards.

[Jungle George]

Thanks for the lowdown on the "gay-friendly"ness of the area!! My partner & I live here in the "bible-belt" and have gotten nothing but friendliness from even the "good ol' boys" here!!

We also are "average" men....I am a landscaper and have no problem digging holes and toting around 300 lb palm trees or running New Holland/bulldozer equipment and my partner is a trauma tech (car wrecks/gunshots/knifings/etc) at one of the local hospitals. (I don't think even the most bigotted individual would not want him to hold their guts in/reset their broken bones etc) because he's gay!!

It's sad that some people still think in such a negative way and would probably be shocked at who in their "circle" WAS gay!! My friend's boyfriend works for NASCAR and he doesn't have a clue that his best buddy/hunting fishing partner/driver/mechanic is gay!! He was as bigotted as they come til he met me and realized we ALL (as you said) are not swishing limp-wristed girls!!!

And as to the individual that wrote to try San Fransis(c)o....there's too many **** there!!!

Thanks again for the info & have a great Holiday!!!