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After going back and forth with my wife on possibly buying a 2nd home in NEPA for a while now, I've finally gotten the nod to start looking at houses this spring. Since this would be a 2nd home, there would be stretches of potentially a few weeks at a time that we would not be at the house. I have a few concerns, and would like to get some feedback from you good folks. We are not sure yet whether to buy within a HOA community or not, and welcome insight as to how this element impacts our concerns.
Security:
Our primary concern is keeping the house secure while we are not there. I was thinking that in addition to outdoor motion lights I'd install a CCTV Video Surveillance system with a DVR, which I'd potentially be able to monitor over the internet (assuming the NEPA house area has internet access). Valuables we might leave there would need to be hidden. I presume that buying within an HOA which offers security should somewhat reduce the risk of break-ins versus buying a house outside of a community and welcome feedback on this as well.
Maintenance:
Is shoveling, raking leaves, mowing lawns etc.. a concern when buying within a community? Do HOA's typically require that properties are regularly kept tidy and if not would they assess a fine? How do most 2nd homeowners handle this sort of thing?
Weatherproofing would obviously be a necessity, but how do 2nd homeowners deal with unforeseen issues such as say flood in the basement, fallen tree leaning up against the roof, etc?? Is there any advantage regarding these concerns to buying in a community versus not?
Utility Costs:
How much does broadband internet access run in the NEPA area? We would only need internet, not TV or phone.
How about electric and water costs in NEPA, considering we would not be there all the time?
Any other recurring costs I might not have considered?
Check out some of the threads on this forum for information on many of your concerns.
If you're worried about potential break-ins when you are not there, then consider buying in an HOA community with 24 hour gated access and security patrols: Hemlock Farms comes to mind.
Video surveillance won't help if your home is located in an HOA with public access. You can't monitor your property by internet 24/7 and thieves usually wear gloves and headgear, so you won't be able to identify the intruders even if they don't locate and smash your DVR. Better to have your property monitored by a company like Brinks, which will alert the local or state police if there is a break in.
2nd home owners usually don't leave valuables in the house when it's not occupied. Most insurance policies cover theft although rates may vary.
Communities have different rules regarding property maintenance. Check with their individual offices to see if they will let you have a copy.
We purchased the house that was prewired for security. We use the security company that also alerts us when temperature in the house drops below certain levels- have not happened yet- or smoke alarm goes off- fireplace did act up once. It is not expensive- around $ 25 a month. You can get much more sophisticated options for more money. The flood alarms for the basement are available if you need them. Pls keep in mind that Poconos have very high water tables. I would be hesitant to get finished basement anyway. My house has pretty dry crawl in space and we put in sump pump with back up battery pump. The back up also works from regular electrical supply in case if primary fails for any reason. Works for us. Contemporary high tech gives you all possible protection options, not to mention the smart thermostats etc. A lot of people here do not recommend gated communities because apparently there is their own crime behind the gate. We purchased in the smaller community without the gate. We are on the small township road that gets plowed constantly in winter. I'm serious, regardless of what negative people say here, the roads in Poconos are cleaned better and faster then in Philly suburbs , not to mention city itself. Sometimes township police drives by, but honestly I percieve our place as safe as it can be. A few of permanent residents keep an eye on vacation houses anyway.
In regards to maintance - i guess it depends on association. Everyone in Poconos is a "handyman' and you will get multiple offers on grass mowing or smow powing if needed. One of our neighbors calls us if they get significant snow, and plows the driveway if we are to visit on weekend.
Keeping the house warm in winter is pricy, even if you don't live there, but this is a kind of special winter too. We have oil heat, and use fireplace when we are there. Our electrical bill is decent.
Water is the well water almost everywhere- so not a lot of money here. The problem is that everyone I know has the water treatment systms- that is where you will need pay for salts, maintanence etc. I actually would not buy the house without the one. My neigbours did and that became one of thier first substancial expenses.
Bottom line- out of the few houses we owned in our lives Poconos house is the most complex to manage, partially because it is vacation, partually because there is way to many different things you need to take care of.
Internet and cable are unreasonably expensive; more expensive then in metro area. In our area we have Blue Ridge only- monopoly and the slow one.
Hope that helps.
We manage to get to our 2nd home about once a month. We have a security system that alerts police in case the alarm goes off and also us if the temp drops below 40 degrees in the house. During the winter months, we try to assume that there might be a power failure. Having said that, we shut off the water at the pump, open all faucets and flush all toilets to drain as much as possible. Then we put RV antifreeze into the bowls and traps (just pour into drains). We keep the thermostat at 57 when we are not there. This winter will be costly with electric heat...oh well. I budget $20.00 per month year-round at it has always covered the bills. We have a person we call if we need the driveway plowed and are planning to go to the house. We also have a kindly neighbor who keeps an eye on things for us. Our community is fairly lenient when it comes to outside upkeep, i.e. leaves, snow, etc. The lawn gets pretty high in the spring, but we just handle that ourselves when we get there. We do not have internet, just basic cable @ $24 per month (Blue Ridge Cable). Good enough for us. We do have motion activated lighting outside. Also, lights on timers inside the house. All in all, I feel that the home is very safe. We do not keep valuables there with the exception of the obvious house contents. Our unheated crawlspace never dropped below 45 degrees in the six years that we've been there. Our community dues (very low) cover only road maintenance & central dumpsters. The roads are plowed quickly & well. Way better than our experience on Long Island! Hope some of this information is helpful.
We manage to get to our 2nd home about once a month. We have a security system that alerts police in case the alarm goes off and also us if the temp drops below 40 degrees in the house. During the winter months, we try to assume that there might be a power failure. Having said that, we shut off the water at the pump, open all faucets and flush all toilets to drain as much as possible. Then we put RV antifreeze into the bowls and traps (just pour into drains). We keep the thermostat at 57 when we are not there. This winter will be costly with electric heat...oh well. I budget $20.00 per month year-round at it has always covered the bills. We have a person we call if we need the driveway plowed and are planning to go to the house. We also have a kindly neighbor who keeps an eye on things for us. Our community is fairly lenient when it comes to outside upkeep, i.e. leaves, snow, etc. The lawn gets pretty high in the spring, but we just handle that ourselves when we get there. We do not have internet, just basic cable @ $24 per month (Blue Ridge Cable). Good enough for us. We do have motion activated lighting outside. Also, lights on timers inside the house. All in all, I feel that the home is very safe. We do not keep valuables there with the exception of the obvious house contents. Our unheated crawlspace never dropped below 45 degrees in the six years that we've been there. Our community dues (very low) cover only road maintenance & central dumpsters. The roads are plowed quickly & well. Way better than our experience on Long Island! Hope some of this information is helpful.
Like you, we try to get to our home once a month, sometimes two. We keep our heat a tad lower than you do without draining the pipes and so far so good. When we are up there, I use a wood stove to keep the house nice and toasty along without having to use too much electric heat. You have been lucky with your budget of $20 a month, we pay that just for public water and we have already spent over $300 for electric since Oct. May I ask how long you have had basic cable for? I was just wondering if that was just an introductory offer that lasts for only the first year. Do you get ABC, CBS and NBC with it? Right now we have only had our TV hooked up to an antenna(in our closet) and all we get is 2 lousy channels .
We do not live in a community so we have no dues and we're glad for that.
we found the biggest issue was winter. we would have an auto dialer call us if the temperature in the house fell to 40%.
it would call at 1:00 am and being 135 miles away now what?
is it the heater crapped out ? is it a wide spread power failure ? is it just my power like when a limb fell off a tree in an ice storm and knocked my service off the house.
i can't tell you stress we had many times. even though we turn the water off the residual water in the system and hot water heater could be devastating.
the constant stress all winter was one of the many reasons we decided to sell the house. being a long distance owner can have so many problems.
Part of the reason I want to buy a 2nd home in NEPA is not only for vacation purposes, but also to set ourselves up to possibly retire there in 12-15 years or so. I have NO desire to retire and continue living on Long Island, or anywhere within NYS for that matter. I would actually move tomorrow, if not for my wife's teaching job (I telecommute) and family concerns.
I seem to recall having read about a way of using an air compressor to blow out residual water sitting in the pipes, after shutting off the main. Does anyone here happen to use this method?
we didn't drain the pipes because we used the house all year. you do not want to go through that every other week, nor do you want to drain the water heater.
just my 2 cents . we live in queens and bought the home thinking we would retire there.
boy were we wrong.
more and more we realized all the things we would want in retirement were lacking.
no public transportation if we couldn't drive.
everything was a 20 minute drive
very little to do all winter which are long ,icy and cold.
once we we did everything in the area over the five years we were there we were bored.
very limited medical specialists and facilities.
if i wanted to work there is little that isn't at or near min wage or very low pay.
we loved it there but we realized there is nothing like being where we are 20 minutes from manhattan .
with nothing but time on our hands in retirement we couldn't see us ever having enough to do in nepa especially in winter.
while nepa is beautiful you may want to rethink retiring there ,especially coming from long island.
all i saw when we bought the house was hunting and fishing and some skiing . what could be better than that. but as retirement thoughts came into play we realized that for us this was a mistake.
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-26-2014 at 06:17 PM..
In regards to winter worries- one of our neighbours/ handymen/ association board members has a key/security code. So we can call him if we have an alarm, or he can call us if the tree is down. Honestly it is pretty safe to trust people there except may be if you are really in the lousy area. We also keep an eye on our neighbour house when we are there and they watch hours. They are from Delaware and we are from Philly south suburbs. We have an access to their house if needed and vice versa.
mathjak107...I hear what you're saying about the hassle of draining pipes and we understand about nothing to do in the winter. Our plan is to sell the LI house when we retire and buy a house down south for the winter but keep the Pa house as a summer home...then we will drain the pipes
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