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Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
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Old 03-20-2012, 11:40 AM
 
28,164 posts, read 25,305,403 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PA_Dutch_Love View Post
Well off college students?

one grand split between two people is only 500 a month. not that pricey for upper middle class and higher students.
Perhaps.

$1K for rent seems so high around here.

 
Old 03-20-2012, 12:23 PM
 
Location: Drama Central
4,083 posts, read 9,097,857 times
Reputation: 1893
Quote:
People do need to begin home ownership someplace. I wish that the city would offer incentives to singles and others for whom a 3 br 1 bath home would begin the path to stability and equity.
The older smaller homes could provide just that! Instead of letting them rot or be rented by slum lords, use them! They are part of our history, and built a lot better than most newer construction.
I think that president Clinton is the one that said that EVERYONE should own a home......

Pretty much set the country up with the housing crisis that we experienced in the last several years and record breaking foreclosures all over the nation that still continue to grow even today.....

Not everyone should OWN a home and if you cannot afford to buy a home then you shouldn't own one, period.

Incentives lead to problems because essentially your allowing those that can't afford a home to buy a home. Incentives and tax breaks, etc.. don't last forever, never mind for a 20 or 30 mortgage...

So when the incentives, breaks run out THEN WHAT?

As far as construction I hope your kidding when you say that the older homes in the area are better built then new ones......

Obviously you haven't really torn into the guts of an older home.... Knob and tube wiring, or out of date cloth romax. Poor electrical panels, screw in breakers, out dated furnaces, dried and crumbling mortar in stone foundations, no drain fields, no weeping tile, dampness, NO INSULATION.

By the time your done, it is always better to buy new because in the long run you have to have disposable income to throw into a money pit older home..

TRUST ME I am currently living in my second older home and have been redoing, rebuilding, etc.. for over a decade. If I didn't own the home outright I would be doing it.......

The electrical alone is a mountain of money to rewire an entire home to be safe, up to date and proper....................

If your not handy, knowledgeable and capable of doing the work yourself, you are screwed because to pay others will break you.....
 
Old 03-20-2012, 12:35 PM
 
210 posts, read 381,238 times
Reputation: 200
Quote:
Originally Posted by Magritte25 View Post
Perhaps.

$1K for rent seems so high around here.
Is it?

Several years ago I considered moving here, an apartment complex near Kirby Park(can't think of the name) was charging around 750 a month for a two bedroom. They were nothing fancy either. generic brick apartment complex with a pool. The only plus is they were next to the park.
 
Old 03-20-2012, 01:37 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,936 posts, read 36,359,395 times
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Yes, it is. I know someone who rents a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom with a yard and off street parking on South Street in the Heights for $700. It was romodeled -new kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, carpeting, roof, etc.- before they moved in.
 
Old 03-20-2012, 01:53 PM
 
210 posts, read 381,238 times
Reputation: 200
But the Heights is the "ghetto". If 750 is ghetto pricing, than I can't see a grand being expensive. Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things.
 
Old 03-20-2012, 08:38 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,617 posts, read 77,614,858 times
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$1,000/month split by two roommates is $500/month per person. Nobody is going to be able to find a 1-BR apartment on their own, even in Wilkes-Barre, for $500/month that has the amenities that this new project features---stainless steel appliances, hardwood flooring, high ceilings, intercom and security systems, parking, etc. $1,000/month is very reasonable for units like the ones presented in the article.

As far as "Who the heck can afford these?" is concerned bear in mind not everyone in the Wyoming Valley is impoverished. $1,000/month is much less than the mortgage on a typical newer home in the suburban areas (i.e. Back Mountain, Mountain Top, Abingtons) and some people would prefer to live where they could walk to work, shopping, dining, parks/recreation, nightlife, etc. rather than live a 20-minute drive from everything.
 
Old 03-20-2012, 08:46 PM
 
28,164 posts, read 25,305,403 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteelCityRising View Post
$1,000/month split by two roommates is $500/month per person. Nobody is going to be able to find a 1-BR apartment on their own, even in Wilkes-Barre, for $500/month that has the amenities that this new project features---stainless steel appliances, hardwood flooring, high ceilings, intercom and security systems, parking, etc. $1,000/month is very reasonable for units like the ones presented in the article.

As far as "Who the heck can afford these?" is concerned bear in mind not everyone in the Wyoming Valley is impoverished. $1,000/month is much less than the mortgage on a typical newer home in the suburban areas (i.e. Back Mountain, Mountain Top, Abingtons) and some people would prefer to live where they could walk to work, shopping, dining, parks/recreation, nightlife, etc. rather than live a 20-minute drive from everything.


While I appreciate that not everyone in the area is "impoverished" (I prefer the terms lower middle class/middle class/blue collar but whatever), I still think that $1K+ per month is very high for our area. I also don't see what shopping is available in the downtown WB area nor do I see an abundance of work opportunities on Public Square or its neighboring streets.
 
Old 03-20-2012, 09:23 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,936 posts, read 36,359,395 times
Reputation: 43784
The Heights is a pretty big neighborhood, covers a lot of ground. Some areas are gritty, blighted, just nasty. Some sections are actually pretty decent.

The family in question wanted to rent a SFH so that the children would have a yard in which to play. Incidentally, with the landlords permission, they installed a small pond and an above ground pool.
 
Old 03-20-2012, 10:09 PM
 
4,526 posts, read 6,087,058 times
Reputation: 3983
1000 a month is high here--for that price one can get a 2br 2 bath villa in a complex with a pool,gym in clubhouse in other states
 
Old 03-31-2012, 11:00 PM
 
Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pa
144 posts, read 223,224 times
Reputation: 103
People don't realize how cities come back. Nobody had any faith in NYC when it was coming out of its period of impoverishment during the 70's, nor did they in Philadelphia as it climbed from its filth & debt problem of the 80's, but look at the two cities now. Wilkes-Barre is gigantic for a little city & it has 10 times the income of any city in the area. More than 40,000 people work in the 16 blocks of downtown W-B. Just look at the downtown skyline & mind that the city has less than 50,000 residents. Wilkes-Barre is a special & unique city with tons of potential. The only people who ever knock either never lived here, or have never lived anywhere else, but everyone who leaves comes back. It will take many years to recover from the decades of bad economic choices, but I would go so far as to say that I have faith Wilkes-Barre will again be an A-Class city one day. If you've been gone fore a while, you'll come back & find a new world.
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