Which is Better (Pittsburgh, Scranton, Lancaster: Valentine's day, credit, broker)

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

C. Looks better and better , SWB any idea why so many of those victorians and other larger homes are on the market in Scranton? There is close to 500 homes for sale in the city right now, thats kind of a large number don't you think.

Actually, the Scranton MLS only lists 210 or so. Even if you allot some leeway for "For Sale by Owner" properties, I think that number will still only be around 300. For a city of 70,000, that's really not "out-of-line." I will agree though that in the past year there has been a surge in the number of historic homes in Green Ridge and The Hill that have come onto the market. Wilkes-Barre currently has 190 homes on the market as well with the Wilkes-Barre MLS, yet it has 30,000 fewer people than Scranton, meaning that, per-capita, more people are moving out of Wilkes-Barre than are moving out of Scranton. Scranton and Wilkes-Barre have each been declining in population for decades, and they'll continue to shed people for at least one more decade. At some point though that drop will stagnate, and people will start moving back into each city. The high wage tax in Scranton is a whammy that Wilkes-Barre doesn't have to cope with, but, at the same time, Wilkes-Barre's overall property tax burden is higher than Scranton's, so they tend to balance each other out in the "overtaxed" category.

I realize the house I posted is "extravagant" by every account, and I'd even be happier with a historic home in the Hill for 1/3 of that price and size (even if it needed a bit of TLC). However, it never hurts to dream!

[jdhall1]

Downtown. I'm waiting for a particular style unit in a townhouse community to be available for sale or depending on the price, a new unit in a large complex that is starting construction in a month. I could walk to the library, the entertainment district, an ice arena, dining, and a farmers market in the summer.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

C. Looks better and better , SWB any idea why so many of those victorians and other larger homes are on the market in Scranton? There is close to 500 homes for sale in the city right now, thats kind of a large number don't you think.

Oh here we go...the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

But don't worry, Joe Pilchesky and Janet Evans will save us all! (maybe if Janet becomes mayor, she can get some more taxpayers-funded jobs for her family).

[weluvpa]

Is the Scranton MLS the ONLY listing service? As well what about the other smaller agencies that do not use the MLS. I have MLS listing 208 and 103 in real estate classifieds and a additional 185 homes litsed exclusively with coldwall banker and era. Thats close enough to 500 to prove my point and they are not selling, I have seen the same houses on the market for over a year. My friend is trying to sell his house and move out of the city and he is not asking alot and its in a nice area, but no takers. 4 open houses and not one offer. The reasons, taxes are rising too fast, wage tax, lack of jobs. He isn't going anywhere and his wife is pissed. Conorsdad what the hell does Janet Evans or MR. Pilchesky have to do with the increasing number of homes on the market in Scranton.??? Townhouses on Greenridge St. are still empty and not finished this is over 2 years now.

Jdhall1 I'm not sure what project you think is starting in a month downtown but not one has gone before planning commission or zoning board. I am serious there has not been one downtown project cleared by the boards or planning and they do not move without zoning and planning approval. If your thinking the 500 blk Lackawanna I have talked to council and Mr. Piccolion and they have come to a agreement and will not anytime soon. Mr. Rinaldi has put the project on hold pending the letigation on the emient domain issue there. Not to mention that city council has publically come out and said that they will not approve or pass any legislation that has to do with that project till Buona's is taken care of and gets what they want. In a nutshell that menas that no $$$$$$$$ will approved for that project till they say sooo. Lets talk about demo permits and contracts out to bid???? NONE so what you do not realize is that we are years away from anything happening right now, not a month. the red tape and paperwork are at least 4 months till done. maybe

[jdhall1]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

Jdhall1 I'm not sure what project you think is starting in a month downtown but not one has gone before planning commission or zoning board. I am serious there has not been one downtown project cleared by the boards or planning and they do not move without zoning and planning approval. If your thinking the 500 blk Lackawanna I have talked to council and Mr. Piccolion and they have come to a agreement and will not anytime soon. Mr. Rinaldi has put the project on hold pending the letigation on the emient domain issue there. Not to mention that city council has publically come out and said that they will not approve or pass any legislation that has to do with that project till Buona's is taken care of and gets what they want. In a nutshell that menas that no $$$$$$$$ will approved for that project till they say sooo. Lets talk about demo permits and contracts out to bid???? NONE so what you do not realize is that we are years away from anything happening right now, not a month. the red tape and paperwork are at least 4 months till done. maybe

It is not in Scranton, but in my area of southwestern CT.

[weluvpa]

ok sorry about that, it sounds great and hopefully when we can our debt down we can develope our downtown as well. Feel free to contribute anything you might have on the funding or construction, any info that could help us here is welcome.

[new2pa]

Paul that house is GORGEOUS!!!!
Actually we have seen many beautiful Victorian homes for sale in the Hill and Green Ridge Sections of Scranton and we would have gladly looked at those if it hadn't been for the school district issues.
As for the OP's post, I vote for a) -- city living but in a nice, older neighborhood.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

ok sorry about that, it sounds great and hopefully when we can our debt down we can develope our downtown as well. Feel free to contribute anything you might have on the funding or construction, any info that could help us here is welcome.

Our downtown will bounce back; it's just going to take a little bit of time. I'm glad to see this reply from you. From the way you usually talk, Scranton is just an overtaxed, declining dump that won't bounce back in by either 2010 or even 2110! The city was financially-solvent several years ago (pre-Doherty), but the downtown looked like garbage. Now that has "flip-flopped." I'm having a difficult time finding anyone who doesn't think downtown looks better today than it did pre-Doherty, but that came with an overburdening price tag. You and I can BOTH agree that political ineptness and financial mismanagement from the current administration has lead us down an undesirable path, but I just wish you'd take more of a "Can Do" attitude every once-in-a-while when it came to the city instead of "The sky is falling." Yes, the city is a financial mess right now, but it will NOT be that way forever. There is an increasing amount of interest in Scranton from outside investors that should help turn the tables before we know it, and I'm excited that I'll be moving to Scranton in a few years when I think inspiring things will be happening downtown.

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

Conorsdad what the hell does Janet Evans or MR. Pilchesky have to do with the increasing number of homes on the market in Scranton.??? Townhouses on Greenridge St. are still empty and not finished this is over 2 years now.

And likewise, how is it the current administration's fault? If the townhouses aren't finished yet, I would look at the contractor, not the government.

I think Janet Evans may have a lot to do with it (not too many people like to hear her condescending painful dissertations at the "konsil meadins.") If she ever became mayor, my home might go on the market. But I don't think enough people, outside of the couple dozen at the DD.com cuckoo's nest would vote for her as mayor.

[weluvpa]

Well ok then. Paul lets first start with Why is it always the downtown?

"I'm excited that I'll be moving to Scranton in a few years when I think inspiring things will be happening downtown."

Why do you feel that all the effort has to be in the downtown??? What about the neighborhoods, the neighborhoods are where our residents live and we need to continue to take care of our residents that have faithfully paid taxes and supported this city only to be ignored in leiu of the downtown, WHY? Why should the residents suffer for the hope that someone will come.

Conorsdad check the ballot totals for the last Mayoral election. Mayor Doherty recieved just over 14,000 votes for his seat as mayor and Mrs. Evans received over 18,000 for her seat on council. If she runs for mayor or she ran she would have and will beat him down big time. 18,000 votes is a bit more than DD could produce. People like her, whether you like it or not.

The current admin is solely responsible for our present situation 100%. Mayor connors left us with a surplus budget, now we are over $300,000,000 in debt and our taxes are increasing and the wage tax and the fact that the mayor put the Recovery plan to the public for referendum and they voted it in but the mayor has violated his own recovery act with new hires and consultants, he has violated it with soo many jobs for friends and the dept of public saftety which PEL took away from mayor Connors to save money due to the fact that we were Distressed. What has changed???? Why sooo much cutting under Connors??? Its funny that Connors cut and cut and left with a surplus when we were distressed and now we cannot account $22,000,000 in various projects and no nid contracts. The city controller cannot account for all these that total up to $22,000,000 missing!!!!!!! Where did it go? $180,000 for the geenhouse repairs in Nay Aug, never done but $$$ is gone. $75,000 fence around the rose garden, where's the fence? $1,700,000 for the fish pond at Nay Aug. its green and cannot support life, but we had to dig it out and restore it to its former glory, well back then it had fish and could support life. My pride is restored. $18,000 for paving on Arthur ave but no paving done on the street, yet the park office parking and path was paved out of the city budget but not Parks and Rec. because the Parks and rec budget took a $1,500,000 hit when the ok'd a no bid contract to a compnay from Wilkes Barre to do the landscaping at the park. not much done but check was cut. Conorsdad I have tons of these and could get you more. 100% Mayor Doherty's mess without question. If you live here how in the hell can you defend him, whether you like Janet or DD.com, how can you support this man when he has literally sunk our city in sooo much debt that we will never recover. Your Pride restored yet. Paul I want this city to grow but we have to climb this mountain of debt first and thats going to take longer than 2010. Remenebr the new mayor will have only been sworn in in January of that year. 2020 is more likely. Hopefully