pocono country place - The good, the bad - it's all here! (Jersey Shore: theater, utilities)

[Sarge621]

Well Rose is doing her thing God Bless her. She seems like a great lady. I doubt Debbie got all the energy her mom has, I doubt any of us do lol. If I live to be her age and have 25% of her fire I'll be a happy old man.

[TechieTransplant]

I have never heard of Pocono Country Place until I saw this thread. My wife and I love to come to the Poconos, but reading about the crime infiltration really sickens me. I knew there was a high relocation rate of NY/NJ residents moving there, but didn't realize that gangs had moved in to such a beautiful area. I have lived in PA all my life and spent many years of my childhood dreaming of living in and fishing a lot of remote areas of this commonwealth. It sickens me how crime has infiltrated some of the most peaceful areas.

[J5K5LY]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

I have never heard of Pocono Country Place until I saw this thread. My wife and I love to come to the Poconos, but reading about the crime infiltration really sickens me. I knew there was a high relocation rate of NY/NJ residents moving there, but didn't realize that gangs had moved in to such a beautiful area. I have lived in PA all my life and spent many years of my childhood dreaming of living in and fishing a lot of remote areas of this commonwealth. It sickens me how crime has infiltrated some of the most peaceful areas.

Some of the Poconos still is nice. You need to be outside commuting distance of NY and NJ. When I left PCP, I moved to Pocono Lake near Blakeslee and didn't have to deal with the PCP crowd. Shopping and work were in Wilkes-Barre. I guess there is crime there too but not that I encountered.

My sister lives in Catawissa- much further west of the Poconos and it is absolutely gorgeous out there. I have no idea what people do to earn enough to live there but my brother-in-law said alot of them are in the health care fields. They retired off of LI and live on the river (crick to Pa people) that runs through Knoebels. It's a different world and I love it.

[Sarge621]

I guess I'm a real city folk. I want to say I hate NY. I always hated NY. I never partied there as a younger adult, I shopped on occasion but was always happy to get back to the other side of the river. Not to say where I am from doesn't have their crime. Maybe its even worse then NY in my general area. Maybe my piece of heaven is different then most because of where I grew up and where I'm from. My friend in PCP is moving back to NY (QUEENS) on FEB 1st. I met him this summer in PCP and really in just a short amount of time we really have gotten tight. He had some bad luck with car issues and being from a place where you can hop on the subway or a city bus that runs every 15 minutes all night long he feels trapped in PCP. He told me even if he had the $3500 to fix his truck he is still going to leave. In some ways I'm not going to lie this concerns me. I'm I eventually going to go crazy and long for the congestion and blunt criminal activity that goes on around me everyday? Its a little retarded to make such a statement maybe but I know my friend suffers more from loneliness. He is very too himself. He never got involved with the community or really anyone but me in his 4 years there. I mean have a girlfriend that I live with but she is much younger then myself and will not move anywhere in Pa. So when I go I am going alone. A place like Catawissa sounds beautiful to me. I mean I do love to go to peaceful places and admire nature and the stars. I mean I didn't have anyone show me that growing up. I mean a trip here and a trip there but my parents had 6 children and don't know how they did it. What do I do when there is no one else around me and I'm all I got? Would a place like Catawissa give me as much cabin fever as PCP? I'll probably get the same feelng in both lol. I mean I like PCP cause it is close to NJ. The taxes are high only because the property values are so low. But they are no where near Jersey taxes. I mean I saw a house in Penn Estates for asking $76k but the property tax was over $9k. Your taxes would be 3x's more then your mortgage. I don't have all the answers because once politics get involved everything gets messed up. But anyway back to what I was saying in the event I get cabin fever I have an escape in PCP. If I buy a house there and later say it's not for me , though I would take a loss it wouldn't be a $300k loss. 'm concerned with me adjusting to country life. Maybe moving into PCP where there are people can better relate to in a country enviorment. Riverside cut me off cause I know i'm babbling but do you understand the point am trying to make? I go up there often and I love it but will i love being in Pa when I'm not just visiting anymore. Not a question anyone can really answer but I guess time will have to tell. How much do properties go for in Catawissa? And just how far of a commute is it back to Newark NJ? I have all my famly n this area. Can you post pictures on here?

[Sarge621]

Enjoy Tobyhanna State park 1/4/12 and Dresser Lake APCP 1/4/12
Tobyhanna State Park 1/4/12 (http://newjersey.craigslist.org/com/2785224682.html - broken link)
Tobyhanna Pa (http://newjersey.craigslist.org/com/2785235960.html - broken link)
TSP Pa (http://newjersey.craigslist.org/com/2785242844.html - broken link)
APCP
APCP1 Lake Dresser 1/4/12 (http://newjersey.craigslist.org/com/2785250256.html - broken link)
APCP 2 (http://newjersey.craigslist.org/com/2785257842.html - broken link)

[Sarge621]

I'm shocked it actually worked Hope it brings back one or two good memories. There still isn't a better place to star gaze that I know of anyway...

[theatergypsy]

Sarge, I can't (won't) comment on APCP since I've never been there. I will tell you that I understand your dilemma. Every Summer, we go to the shore. We love it. I always said I'd like to live there. One of my sons insists I'd hate it once Labor Day rolls around and everything shuts down. Actually, I think that's when I'd like it best. But then I realize that all my children and grandchildren are here in NEPA and I'd miss them. Especially the really little ones, whom I see quite often. Were it not for that, I do think I'd be happy at the beach.
I'm glad that you have given thought to the possibility that living here is not going to be the same as visiting your buddy.

Maybe you could rent his house from him when he moves back to the city and see if being there alone changes your feelings.

[talloolla]

Great pictures Sarge...makes the fire tonight feel even cozier!

[Sarge621]

My friend rents in APCP and pays $950 a month. It wouldn't be bad if the house he was renting probably in todays market there wouldn't even get $45k. He can own for less then half of what he rents for. And he pays his own utilities Water, electric ect ... Renting in APCP cost more then owning right now, maybe it will change but no time soon. But I'm glad someone undersood what I meant thx Gypsy. At one tme I wanted to live by the ocean at the Jersey Shore but the summer traffic was horrific and the crowds got rowdier and rowdier. I actually love it down there in the off season you can actually hear the ocean cause in the summer you really can't lol. Every New Years Eve I would go to Seaside Heights check in at the Sunburst Motel- The owner waited for me every year lol and at midnight I would sit on the boardwalk and find a light from a boat on the horizon and kind of sort out my year there. It was peaceful and it was time I always took to myself and I was only in my late teens and early 20's. I was never a drinker or partier really so it never bothered me to not be with my friends that night. Off season is better by far Gypsy
Talloolla- it is a beautiful place Tobyhanna State Park is so peaceful, the whole town by the army base is like a place everyone forgot about. I rarely see any signs of life when I drive through there. Even the army base itself seems all but forgotten. All the homes on the base look un lived in but they still guard the gates. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures...

[J5K5LY]

I know exactly what you mean, Sarge. It's great being in the country but at the same time it is very isolating. I loved visiting back on LI cuz I felt alive and part of activity again but then at the same time, once I hit the DWG on my way back, it was a sigh of relief to leave that behind. I was always torn. I moved back to LI to be near my adult kids and the grandkids that were coming into the world. I do love going back to Pa to visit but don't think I would want to live there again. I suppose, if I were rich, and could have houses in both places (not PCP but Pa) and have the leisure time to visit at will, I would be happy. But I am not rich (boo-hoo) so it's one or the other. Renting in PCP is just ridiculous. I watch house prices there and even recognize some of the homes for sale. The prices- well, they are just giving some of them away and for what they are worth, that's about right. When the rents are high like that but property so low, it is an open invitation for section 8 landlords and those landlords attract people from the sewers of NYC. I found most of the decent folk there were the ones that were older and had owned from the time it was just a summer community.
I would be happy to post a few pics of Catawissa when I figure out how. Duh me. Catawissa is, I think, about another 60 miles west of Stroudsburg. There is a sign when you are on Rt 80 entering Stroudsburg giving you the miles to Bloomsburg. Catawissa is just a tad further. My nephew makes it there from East Northport, LI in about 4 hours with no traffic but seldom is there is no traffic going through NYC.
Thanks for the pics, Sarge, They were really nice to see. Spent alot of time at the park and my son worked at the Army Depot for a time. His friends live right near there and work there still.