RELOCATING TO SCRANTON AREA, help? (Dunmore, Old Forge: houses, neighborhoods, elementary school)

[tofulovinvegan]

Hi,
my parents are relocating to the scranton area sometime this year after they sell their house in ny. my dad is gonna be there though and staying with people.
what are some good areas for kids? two siblings both in elementary school. my brother is really into baseball...

how is the taylor/moosic/old forge area?

and how is minooka part of scranton? is clarks summit a good area?

typically what is a good part of scranton or near scranton within 25 minutes that is good for kids and middle class...

we're from ny and used to a walmart less than 2 mins away, a target less than 10 mins away and two others less than 20.

my dad wants a better life out there... and got a good job.

any help would be greatly appreciated

also what is a good deal on a house? what's too high?

[scrantonluna]

You should expect to spend around 150k for a 'good' house, meaning around 1800+ sf, decent sized yard, decent neighborhood. Closer to 200k if you want a ranch or split level.

Take a look here:
www.hometeamrealestate.com

CLick on 'search MLS'

[blip]

Hi, Where in NY are you moving from? My (mostly veggie) family and I moved here from NYC a few months ago, and considered most of the areas you mention.

I'm guessing that if you're into healthy foods, you're also into a walkable neighborhood. So, I'd recommend Old Forge or the West side of Scranton. Both have main streets nearby (literally the same Main St / Main Ave goes through both) with shops and restaurants.

Old Forge has much more of a small town feel, and has about a dozen Italian restaurants. One catch is that the public schools do not have the greatest reputation, though the elementary school sounds decent. And the houses are a bit expensive for what you get compared to the rest of the area-- there's low turnover among residents so supply is a little shorter.

Taylor and Moosic have really good schools, but there's no "there" there. Ie not much of a town center.

West side (Hyde Park or Tripps Park neighborhoods) is closer to the Target, Wegmans, and other big box stores in Dickson City, and it's very close to downtown as well. Schools in Scranton overall are quite good, but they vary a bit from neighborhood to neighborhood. (See greatschools.net) There's a fairly high (3.5%) wage tax in the city of Scranton, but the houses are cheaper, which can more than make up for the wage tax in many cases.

Clarks Summit is nice, but too far and suburban for our tastes, so we didn't really look there. So, others can probably tell you more about it or about other neighborhoods in Scranton, such as North Scranton or Greenridge. The town of Dunmore may also be worth checking out.

I hope this helps!

[tofulovinvegan]

thank you! it definitely does help....
i hope my parents can find an affordable nice home in old forge, or moosic. or even dunmore or minooka! i don't know, it sounds nice, just with the kids they want a suburb feel or at least an area with kids, that they can go biking down the block and my parents have 3 dogs...

[Retired Law 08]

Originally Posted by tofulovinvegan

Hi,
my parents are relocating to the scranton area sometime this year after they sell their house in ny. my dad is gonna be there though and staying with people.
what are some good areas for kids? two siblings both in elementary school. my brother is really into baseball...

how is the taylor/moosic/old forge area?

and how is minooka part of scranton? is clarks summit a good area?

typically what is a good part of scranton or near scranton within 25 minutes that is good for kids and middle class...

we're from ny and used to a walmart less than 2 mins away, a target less than 10 mins away and two others less than 20.

my dad wants a better life out there... and got a good job.

any help would be greatly appreciated

also what is a good deal on a house? what's too high?

clarks summit is an excellent area...good family community...schools nearby..
affordable,safe,very nice friendly people...stores are close by...scranton is
about 6 miles away...feel free to ask away...