I love where I live in Pennsylvania because.................... (Philadelphia, Scranton: high crime, homes)

[DavidWebb]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

well great for you and your personal experience , but these are all things anyone retiring to more rural areas needs to consider

Agreed 100%....but back & forth & back & forth & back & forth between both of you is going overboard now....everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do in life....you have yours....Mathjak107 has his....can we just agree on we all have our differences in choosing whats best for each situation??

[mathjak107]

exactly .. but not presenting the flip side of retiring in pa and the cons is certainly not bashing it and that is my argument

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

well great for you and your personal experience , but these are all things anyone retiring to more rural areas needs to consider

Of course they should and you should have too! But you didn't; you were only interested in hunting and fishing and everything else took back seat!

[mathjak107]

i said that we did not buy it initially to retire to so the thought of all these things were not in the equation nor important . it is only after we thought we might retire there we looked at all the things that were likely going to become important and decided against retiring there

[theatergypsy]

There are Country Mice and there are City Mice.

I came to northeastern PA by way of Philadelphia, Washington DC, Bucks County and I moved because the late hubs had a job transfer. We lived in Scranton for just over seven years and then moved to Forty Fort. Not the Poconos as seems to be the focus here.

This is a suburban town with bus service and sidewalks and a few places to enjoy. The two youngest kids went to school here and got married and have raised/are raising their families here. The hubs died and I remain in the house I've lived in for 48 years.

Social Security and a small retirement fund have allowed me to stay here and pay my taxes which are not overwhelming. Pennsylvania does offer tax relief based on age and income, homeowners and renters alike. Don't be fooled into thinking that property taxes will remain static. They have increased over the years and don't even consider that there won't be a reassessment that will change your millage significantly.

I live minutes away from two hospitals, both with trauma centers and one of which I chose for open heart surgery and cancer surgery. My doctors all live within minutes by car of my home and my GP is actually around the corner.

While there is bus service, it doesn't run on my street so I would have to walk a couple of blocks to ride, but if one chooses, it runs from Wilkes-Barre to Scranton and stops at places like strip malls and WalMart. I frequently see elders waiting for the bus at the supermarket. The schedule isn't robust and
doesn't run overnight. Nevertheless, people do manage who need the service.

Crime is low-level and I don't fear living here. I have friendly, helpful neighbors. My family is nearby.

The cost of living is manageable if one is satisfied to down size expectations.

Mr.Retired, you must realize there is no Utopia. You also need to understand that there is more to PA than the Poconos. No one can tell you where you will be happy.

For me, I'm a very short car ride away from a beautiful state park. Several community theaters which do a pretty good job of entertaining. All the shopping I'll ever need. Good health care.

Would I choose to live in the Poconos? Certainly not, although I have a family member who does and seems satisfied there. Would I choose to return to Philadelphia? Or DC? No longer have family there so, no.

I never had expectations of living this long so relocation never entered my mind. But I can tell you that I'm okay with where I am here in PA.

I hope you find your happy spot.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by mathjak107

i said that we did not buy it initially to retire to so the thought of all these things were not in the equation nor important . it is only after we thought we might retire there we looked at all the things that were likely going to become important and decided against retiring there

But you got what you originally came here for: to hunt and fish. You changed your mind about your needs; that is not the fault of the area you moved to.

My wife and I loved the area you bought in. At one time we also had a chance to buy a wonderful stone house on our hunting camp road over by Skytop. I could have spent many hours walking, fishing and hunting at our hunting camp. But it was far from schools, far from doctors, far from competitive shopping and, more importantly, from work. So we bought in Swiftwater instead of Skytop. Yes; there were many times I whished that we had bought that house; but it was an inconvenience for just about everything we normally had to do. Had we bought that house; it would have been our fault, that what we truly wanted, was not close to our new location.

Regardless of where people move; they need to do their homework. Not everyplace fits everybody's needs and our need change as yours did. Our needs have not and we always loved our home and area.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by PAhippo

Actually I've found their dialogue rather interesting.

The OP asked about Pennsylvania, not just the Poconos. There's more to PA than that one small area just like there's more to NYS than NYC. To respond the his question, I like living in PA mostly because it's affordable and beautiful.

but then the question is under the NE PA forum.

He's said in other posts that he's looking for walkable towns.

[PAhippo]

Originally Posted by Gerania

He's said in other posts that he's looking for walkable towns.

still covers a lot of PA besides the Poconos.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by PAhippo

still covers a lot of PA besides the Poconos.

For many of the people that want to retire in PA; they still want to go back to the city to visit. So it is natural for them to pick the Poconos first. Of course everybody is different; some don't have families and just want to be with nature and some have other ideas; like quaint towns like Jim Thorp. Some people want the warmer temperatures of the deep South and others prefer colder temperatures like Vermont. Some want a drier climate like out West. There is never one size fits all. `

We have also watched the transformation of people that came here to retire and found out that they were not aware of all their needs when they made the jump. It is one of the reasons that it is hard to make recommendations to complete strangers. I like to recommend that people rent in any area they want to buy. I also recommend that they try a commute from that area; also before they buy.

I had forgotten about this; but if somebody thinks they love nature and solitude; they can try our State's cabin rental on our State Game Lands: https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Recreation/W...s/default.aspx. If they like the cabin the can try more than just one State Park. It would be a good way to get a better look at different areas of our State.

[Gerania]

My friends and I once rented a cabin at Ricketts Glen State Park. As soon as we'd moved in, the bears started sniffing around. They were too familiar with people. They walked onto the porch and started sniffing around the windows. Two of my friends went outside to take pictures of them.