Cheap housing in PA gone? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: buying a house, transfer, neighborhood)

[filmsniffer]

Is Pennsylvania getting so much growth that no houses are cheap anymore? I recently looked at realtor.com and see a lot of houses priced steeping near MD prices. The only cheap ones are cheap for obvious reasons.

Or is there a bargain still to be had? I'm considering moving to PA. Just about anywhere in rural Pennsylvania. I like isolation. Deep in the mountains where the neighbors are trees and animals would be ideal.

[openless]

try carlisle or gettysburg area, it is very nice, bordered by mountains, forests and some farmlands. i dont know what you consider expensive, but to be honest, many of the best listings done even make it to realtor.com because they are sold so fast. try finding an independent website that has their own listings, you'll find more variety and at less cost. remaxrealtyprofessionals.com might have some, they service the whole south central pa area. york, lancaster, harrisburg, lebanon and carlisle. what part of md are you from? hagerstown, baltimore, elk, cumberland westminster?

[bldginpa]

Specifically, which area in PA are you interested in? What do you consider expensive? We're building on an acre for less than $235,000. , land included. This would be in Pike County.

[digitalwoodshop]

There are a bunch of homes on the market here and have been for a while. I believe it is a buyers market here. The Pike County, Shohola, Lackawaxen, Greeley area is heavy woods for the most part. Wayne County is more open and flatter fields with rolling hills. Wayne County is Big Sky county, great for stars at night. With all the trees in Pike County it's less sky. Something for Everyone. The first 2 pictures are of the Shohola Creek in Pike County, the third is Wayne County, Waymart area rolling hills. Thought I had better pictures of the fields but couldn't find them. The wind mills are cool to me, but they really mess up TV reception.

The rest are the Hawks Nest from the NY side with NY on the right and PA on the left and the Delaware River in the Middle. A bunch of TV Car Commercials have been shot there including BMW.

AL

I sell coffee cups and plaques with the images on them at www Pocono Digital Woodshop com. digitalwoodshop @ aol. com

[bldginpa]

Once again, digitalwoodshop, great photos. You are hard pressed to find such views on Long Island, unless you live on the high-priced North Shore. However, we are tossing around the idea of windmills off Jones Beach (south shore). Not so sure it's a great idea as it will spoil a great view of the ocean.

[digitalwoodshop]

The "View" is the reason that the Cell Phone towers have had such a hard time in this area. Just got poor cell coverage last year. The complaint is the "flashing red light".... O' my goodness.... Can't have that..... The wind mills were fought very hard but lost in the end. I love them, but I don't live next to them. I have spoken to family and friends about it, living in the area, the feeling is "Why in my Neighborhood?" Same with a fire house and that darn noise, and the Trash Transfer Station, School Bus Parking, We have thirty School Busses warming up at 5 AM with Diesel Smoke through the valley, 1 mile away. We all want the Fire Truck and Ambulance to show up when called but don't want them in "my" neighborhood. It's a tuff balance.....

The big fight in this area now is a power line from Canada to New York City going along the Delaware River through the Hawks Nest on the PA Side. A big Kilo Volt DC power line. The DC line does not radiate like a AC power line and is safer, but it will pass through the front yard of the Zane Grey Museum, next to the Roebling Bridge / Aqueduct, Erected by John Roebling, the engineer who built the Brooklyn Bridge. The town of Shohola is along the railroad tracks and will loose the Lumber Company and a famous Bar Rohman's.

The alternate route is along a gas pipeline miles away so it's hard to say what will happen, but NYC needs the power and will get it. I lived north of Philly while working for Sony and this Delaware River water supplied 80% of my drinking water I saw on my water bill. Yuk.... It's clear here but not there.

Here are some pictures of the Roebling bridge, Zane Grey House, and the Rohman's Winter Olympics.. Where would we be without the many contests of the Winter Olympics from the Log Cutting, 4 Man Ski Race, Beer Keg Toss, Beer Drinking race, Golf, Horse Shoes, Bed Race and more, did I say Beer... All at about 20 Degrees.....

Then there is the Rohman's "Set your own pins Bowling lanes".... A shame to loose a piece of history.... Progress.

Here are some links to the area. Back to the topic. I believe that buying a house in this area is money in the bank.... It is a buyers market at the moment.


This first link is hours of viewing pleasure. http://www.shohola.com/township/

Coal started out in the Scranton Area went by the FIRST Gravity Railroad to Honesdale, then down the Cannel's and OVER the Delaware River in the Roebling Aqueduct and down to the markets of NYC and Philly. A great place to explore with kids in the summer.

http://www.lackawaxen.org/

http://www.hawleywallenpaupackcc.com/

I am quickly using up my Photo memory space... Hope you all enjoy the pictures.

I love the area, was gone 27 years playing Navy, working and seeing the world, and I am glad to be home.

AL

[bldginpa]

Once again, great photos! I think I saw that gas line running through Hawley. Is this the same one you mentioned? It's huge. And, from what I understand, with all that natural gas flowing, none of the local areas are served by it. People use propane instead. Go figure....

[digitalwoodshop]

Pipelines, Good... Clean energy. Evil.... Land use restrictions, ATV's.


We have a Gas pipeline going through our property installed in 1955. We get nothing from it. It limits the property, as you can't build close to it and you can't plant anything on it and it makes for easy access to ATV's on your property. People think that the pipe line is public property and they are free to ride it but in fact it is private property. When they get hurt on your property, they will be the first to sue you even though you never let or wanted them on your property. Private Property Posters.... Didn't see it..... The people that bother me with ATV's are the ones that don't have any property, but own 4 ATV's and think it's thier right to ride in your backyard.

They added a pumping station in the town of Lackawaxen a year ago to increase the pipeline pressure, make more money with it..... The snow now melts on top of the pipeline from the increased heat from the gas compression. Old pipeline - Higher Pressure..... Watch for us on the news.... We are about 2 miles from the pump station.

The town of Milford area taps into it and offers gas service to the town around the area. A good thing.

Another gas pipeline near Waymart was tapped with a 10 mile off shoot to the new Federal Prision. That line is burried in the front yard of the house I grew up in along the road.

Here are some pictures when they dug up the 18 inch line for testing in our back yard in 2001.

AL

[filmsniffer]

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate them!

Openless: Carlise and Gettysburg sounds okay, I might look into them. I love the Carlise auto show every year. I need to achieve financial control, so living below my means is an absolute necessity. The cap is $100k. The lower the better! I'm not from any of them. I reside in Gaithersburg, MD as of the moment.

bldginpa: I'm interested in almost any area. South Central, Central, Erie, some northeastern/southwestern. I don't want to be anywhere near Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. $235k is way too high for me. Land is also a necessity, but buying an old fixer upper would suit me better.

digitalwoodshop: Great pics! That's where I want to live, somewhere in these mountains! I don't want to be close to NY...well, depending on where in New York. The farther from New York City, the better. Hey, I like that the windmills inferete with cell phones. I HATE the damn things!!

Interesting to see talk about the ATVs. I didn't realize it could be a problem. I would like to own an ATV, but I do respect the land. Thus my wanting to buy some soil to play in my own.

I can't fathom why the areas don't use gas with the big vein running dead center through. Oh, well. I still like gas, natural or propane.

[filmsniffer]

All: The max cap for buying is $100k. No higher. Fixer uppers are great, give me something to do in a quiet little town. I'm open to buying a house or some farmland, but I'm afraid farms wouldn't come cheap...

I don't require to live near a town with businesses, chain-store retail places, etc.

What kind of blue collar jobs are available out there?

It sounds like Pike County, Shohola, Lackawaxen, Greeley, Wayne County are right up my alley. "Buyer's market" piqued my interest.

Why Poconos, though? Isn't it a big resort area with drug problems (or so I read)?

digitalwoodshop, thanks for the Shohola link.