Moving north vs south of Johnsonburg (State College, Bradford: for sale, rental market, cheap house)

[plaidninja]

After 9 months of looking, my fiance and I are both taking jobs at the mill in Johnsonburg. Housing is the next big question. We would, of course, prefer to rent first, but the rental market is pretty skimpy, especially with pets involved. We will jump in headfirst and buy a house if we have to; might be an absurd hill to die on to some, but everyone in the family is coming with us, no matter how many legs they have.

We have no problem going rural, most of our activities surround playing outside with the dog. My one wish is a grocery store within 20 minutes.

I have lived in the area, working for the mill on an internship this winter; I lived in Saint Marys, and visited a friend in Dubois pretty often.. Saint Marys didn't really do much for me; oddly cramped for such a big area, and the houses for sale have a huge cost gap-- They are generally either below 70k or above 225, with no land to speak of. Dubois was nice, we are looking there, but that drive got pretty treacherous on snowy days. There are some pretty, affordable homes in Kersey and Brockway, but I had zero cell reception through all of Brockway. Dead spots are one thing, but I'm not going to get a landline because my phone is a paperweight in my house.

What about north of Johnsonburg? I never went up there, but there are nice homes in Mt Jewett and Bradford. Are there more services, since Bradford is close to the NY border? How are those towns? By my estimate, the time for Bradford to Buffalo is similar to Dubois to State College, and I have family in Buffalo.


Also: Being from Maine, I can't believe how many houses are being listed as "wood heated." Since they don't say pellet heat, I assume it's with logs. How is that even possible?

[ki0eh]

Verizon Wireless works pretty well in Brockway area, I'm thinking you must be on AT&T which is usually a bad choice in rural PA. The municipally owned Brockway cable TV/internet and water systems serve out into Brockport (Horton Twp/Elk County) and even up the south side of Boot Jack Hill where there seem to be cheap houses with some land. Still not too far out from shopping in DuBois, or the St Marys strip (such as it is), or Rt 153 that cuts over to I-80 eastbound.

The further north and west you go the closer you are to the real snow belt.

The area while cold for PA doesn't have the extreme number of degree days of heating one finds in Maine. If the property you're on doesn't generate enough firewood there usually are informal networks of obtaining it. Especially nowadays clearing for pipelines and gas well pads generates a good amount of hardwood not quite good enough for any sort of mill. It may be possible to get firewood cutting permission from managers of large tracts - PA State Forests have an organized permit process. Or, gas utility distribution lines go fairly far out in NW PA (much further out of town than in the southcentral), and perhaps pass properties you might be interested in even if the former owner never hooked up.