Moving from Dallas, TX to NEPA (Milford, Monroe: real estate, 2014, apartment)

[vrwl]

Here's our particulars and I'll ask my questions below:

When are you moving? Spring/Summer 2014
Where are you coming from? North of Dallas, TX
Why are you moving? Get closer to aging parents
Where will you be working? He telecommutes from home, she has an ecommerce business she runs from home
Have you been here yet? Briefly this summer, we cruised around Milford area

Will you buy or rent? Buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? House, amount spent depends on what scenario we choose to do from a couple of different options
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend?
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married, no kids, just pets
Do you prefer public or private schools? Doesn't matter, no kids
Do you have pets? Yes, 3 cats
Do you want or need a yard? Don't need a "yard" with grass, but we'd like some space between neighbors
Are you keeping a car? 2 cars
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? A bit of both, we want the option of activities but we also want the ability for peace and calm when we feel less-than social

What do you want to be closest to?
Work NOT AT THIS TIME
Shopping SOMEWHAT
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.) YES
Nightlife NO
Train or subway stations NO

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? It really doesn't matter to us either way, we can be friendly with most anyone

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? We like hockey, but could care less about football or baseball

Ok, we've been primarily looking in Pike County and Carbon County for a home to purchase. Because we want amenities and the option to participate in year round activities (we're in our late 40's early 50's), we have become quite interested in Saw Creek Estates for a year-round residence. We definitely want a community atmosphere and even the property restrictions that go with it. Right now, in Texas, we live out in the boonies where there are no restrictions and we've historically had problems with neighbors and their junk in their yards and we're ready for some rules and restrictions controlling that aspect of things. I have read the restrictions for Saw Creek Estates and we have no problems with any of it except 1 thing.... the number of pets allowed, which is a total of two.

We have 3 cats that we have had for years. We are not interested in giving one of them up just so we can move into a house in that community. The cats are INDOOR ONLY animals, they never go outside, and so I was wondering if there was any sort of waiver we could get to allow 3 cats instead of two. If there are any Saw Creek residents who might know the answer to that, I'd really appreciate it.

I'm originally from New Hampshire and my spouse is originally from New Jersey, so we are well acquainted with living up north, snow, etc. Unfortunately, we just ended up in Texas for 20+ years and it's high time we got back to our original area of the US, the NORTH.

We have considered a couple of different options for purchasing a home there. We have enough equity in our house down here where we could potentially pay cash for a smaller house. However, we'd prefer to have a house with more square footage due to the business being run out of the house (no customers coming to the house, just mailing/shipping small boxes from the house). There are a few houses in Saw Creek Estates that would work with the larger square footage needs, but because there are so few, we have thought about purchasing a lot (there's one in particular we're looking at) and then purchasing a small house. We could live in the smaller house while we decide if we really NEED the greater square footage. If we find we're too cramped, then we could find a builder to build a larger house on the extra lot we purchased. After the new house is done, we could either try to sell the smaller house or turn it into a vacation rental.

So those are the options we're looking at. Before we make any kind of decisions though, we need to find out whether we can actually keep our 3 cats and also whether it's realistic to think we can continue the home-based mail-order business from our home in that community (the rules/regulations don't say anything about working from home or home-based mail-order businesses on my first pass through the documentation). If UPS and USPS can pick up mail/packages and deliver mail/packages there, that's all we would need. We currently have this business running from our house and the only thing the neighbors notice is that the UPS truck stops at our house every day and the mail carrier picks up outgoing packages when they deliver the mail. Other than that, there's no disturbances or comings and goings from our house other than the two of us.

Oh! And because of the nature of our work, it is IMPERATIVE that we have high speed internet access. Does Saw Creek Estates have that available to their residents?

So there's no need to try and talk us out of going with a community, that's what we want (I've been reading a lot here in these forums and it seems that there are some people who only want to bash community living). We're also fine with having to drive 15+ miles each way for groceries or shopping. Been there, done that, works just fine. We just recently got a Walmart out here in the Dallas "north 40" but prior to that, we had to drive quite a distance for just about everything. But if you have any knowledge about the number of INDOOR ONLY pets or restrictions regarding home based businesses or our thoughts about building on a lot (names of good, reasonably priced builders would be helpful), we'd sure appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

[Wells5]

Where do aged parents currently reside?

[vrwl]

Originally Posted by Wells5

Where do aged parents currently reside?

They are in New Jersey, around the Morristown area.

[vrwl]

One other thing.... I'd welcome opinions regarding Saw Creek Estates specifically. I read old forum post about some problems there in the past, and also old news from the Pocono Record, but haven't seen any recent "bad press". Does it appear the problems have been cleaned up from previous years?

[sausages]

we moved up from Dallas/Frisco if you would like to pm me I can tell you all the pros and cons.

Thanks

[Wells5]

Originally Posted by vrwl

They are in New Jersey, around the Morristown area.

Are aged parents able to get along on their own? If you need to be close by to answer a distress call or to help them with shopping, doctors' appointments, etc., then the private communities in the Monroe/Pike area are just the ticket. You should be able to find a home that fits your requirements without too much difficulty. Blue Ridge Cable has fast internet available in most communities in Pike County, so your businesses should be OK.

The big question is the human environment in these communities. And the folks on this forum can help you with that.

By the way, if you don't need to be in close proximity to aged parents, there are still a lot of house bargains in your native New Hampshire, especially in Sullivan and Cheshire Counties. It's about a 4-5 hour drive to Morristown from southwestern NH.

[vrwl]

Sausages, thanks for the offer, I'll PM you shortly.

Wells5, we promised the parental units that we would stay close (but not too close). Basically not more than 1.5 hrs away during non-peak driving time. PA was the answer for a variety of reasons... lower income taxes (we don't have any in TX, so that will be a shock), lower property taxes than NJ and with us getting closer to retirement age, no income tax on retirement income. Thus the decision to give PA a very close look.

[bloominscranton]

Good luck and welcome back east! I really do not have anything to offer, I just wanted to say howdy. My daughter is a Texan and I so miss the Lone Star; but not enough to move back!

[odessa3]

Best wishes with your move! I love Pike County. My husband and I have a cabin there. Milford is a nice little town. There are many housing communities in the area, but I can't offer first-hand experience on them. Just want to extend a warm welcome, ahead of time!

[quiet life]

Not much to add. You have done some great research. Of all the communities in Bushkill, I would put Saw Creek at the top. Good amenities to go with their HOA price. Plenty of foreclosures in there so I woul think you would have the pick of the litter in terms of real estate options. I live in Bushkill but not in Saw Creek. My suggestion is to look in the Milford/Shohola/Masthope area if you are considering Pike County. Carbon County is an even better option since that would be closer to the NJ line.