mountain top pa (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Nanticoke: for sale, crime rates, new home)

[robrose]

My husband and I just looked in Mountain Top,pa for a new home We are from rockland county new york and are sick of the cost of living there. Can anyone tell us about the area. ..are the schools ok?crime rates?things to do?Any other suggestions on places to live possibly closer to Jersey border.We are interested in new developments only with a couple acres at least.

[ScranBarre]

Nice to meet you, RobRose! ;o) I happen to live just a few towns north of Mountain Top (The other side of Wilkes-Barre), and I can tell you that this community is VERY safe. It's never mentioned on the local news for anything other than car accidents, of which there are a lot of due to the huge influx of newer residents who aren't familiar with having to drive slowly on the windy, mountainous roads. The Crestwood School District is routinely the second-best school district in the entire metro in terms of SAT scores, state exam results, truancy rates, etc. (Behind Abington Heights in Clarks Summit, north of Scranton). Mountain Top IS a great place to live, but it does come at a price. Then again, I realize that $300,000 for a new home here in a housing development on an acre lot may seem like a bargain for someone coming from NY...LOL! There is a new development in Mountain Top called "The Ice Lakes", which is an exclusive community of higher-end homes in the $350,000-$650,000 range with minimum lot sizes of two acres on two private lakes, which may be of interest to you. ;o) Other than that, the housing developments in Mountain Top generally range from $200,000-$400,000, but the lot sizes are NOT what you were hoping for---Typically half-acre to 3/4-acre lots.

As far as entertainment is concerned, Wilkes-Barre, home to minor-league hockey, minor-league football, a 90-store shopping mall, a 14-screen movie theater, etc. is only fifteen minutes away, and there is even more in the way of urban conveniences a bit further north in Scranton (minor-league baseball, another 20-screen theater, skiing, two major malls, and a NYC-style "lifestyle shopping center" under construction). In Mountain Top you can have deer walk right up to your back deck while your kids look on in amazement. ;o) At the same time, you can be just a fifteen minute drive from Wilkes-Barre (pop. 43,000) and thirty minutes from Scranton (pop. 75,000). As far as higher-education is concerned, Wilkes-Barre is getting a new law school and Scranton is getting a new medical school to complement the large array of public and private institutions in the region. ;o)

Granted, as an anti-sprawl person myself who is actually in the market for a downtown home, I'm not too thrilled that you aren't interested in anything other than a new development. However, I'd still be more than happy to help you out in your housing search!!! (I can swallow my pride...LOL!) A helpful hint: Check out www.1800theland.com (Landview Properties) for a peek at several new, large-lot developments in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Pocono area. This same company just completed Laurel Brook Estates in Bear Creek (Along Route 115 off of I-80), and Harmony Hills in Moscow, (Midway between Scranton and Mt. Pocono). Both communities feature beautiful homes on large lots with sidewalks, curbs, lush landscaping, etc., so I know this company is very reputable.

Good luck, and keep me in mind if you have further questions.

[Polaris]

For me Mountaintop is the worst place to live. The area is pretty but the people are very unfriendly. Biggest mistake of my life was to move here.
And if you want a few acres you better have a very good job. But you are going to shell out alot of bucks. I know because I have over 5 acres here.
And the taxes are very high.
And remember to get to work you will probably have to drive down the mountain and believe me its a living hell driving it in the winter time. I do it every day.
I know when we retire we are leaving this hell hole.

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

Hey Robrose,

I'm a Rocklander. Lived there all my life and have been up here for 5 years. My house is going up for sale. I am 5 miles from Milford. I do not know Mountaintop. I am close to 84 and to major transportation even Port Jervis where you can get a train into NY. Most of the people that live in our community commute to NY and NJ. Actually from where we are we can get anywhere we need to including Rockland where we have family. If you need a good agent let me know. Good luck in your house hunting!

[DeLorean]

A lot of people whom I have talked to that live in Mountaintop seem to resent the high prices. Not really sure why so many people want to live there if the prices are so high when there are plenty of affordable communities all within 5-10 minutes of Mountaintop? I have been up there several times myself, I like the amount of "open space" between houses, and there are plenty of nice places up there but the downside to this is everything takes longer to get to and you pretty much HAVE to use a car to get anywhere. Did I mention the high prices? For the price of a nice house in Mountain top, you could buy about 4 in Nanticoke... granted if you bought 4 in Nanticoke, you would still probably own less land than the single in Mountaintop, but that's how it goes...

[sunflower53072]

We enjoyed living in Mountaintop for about 8 years until we were transfered to Ohio. We had small children at the time and loved the play groups that the Welcome Wagon offered. The only drawback was that many of my friends were constantly being transfered as well. One of the issues of a community where people are moved in and out due to work.

[DeGoateeCoffee247]

What is the air quality like in Mountain Top? I'm from California. I often hear that the air quality back east is poor bacause of the coal mining and other industrial air pollution?

[gemkeeper]

We lived in Mt. Top for 4 years and absolutely loved it. My son was served very well by the Crestwood school system as an LD student.

We built our home there and found the prices much more reasonable than those in MI where we lived prior to Mt. Top. The cost of living will be significantly lower for you if you are coming out of NY.

There was virtually no crime in Mt. Top, with the exception of some underage drinking and the like. I worked for the area newspaper and we had many more recipes in the Family Section than we had crimes in the News Section of the paper.

We felt immediately welcomed by all in town, not just our neighborhood, but everyone that we met. Some of my closest friends to this day are residents or former residents of the area.

It is true that Mt. Top is a transient area of Wilkes-Barre, but I would attribute that to the fact that it seems to have several executive neighborhoods where folks get transferred every few years within their companies.

I would suggest the Stroudsburg area or Phillipsburg if you are interested in being closer to New Jersey, but I am not familiar with the status of things in either of those areas.

I hope that you find an area in PA that you and your family will enjoy for years to come.