Florida Native Ready to Expand the Horizons. (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: to rent, crime)

[DevineLove]

Hello everyone,
My name is Sheena. My family and I are looking into moving from sunny Florida to Honesdale PA.
We have no good reason to move there other than both our mothers passed away recently (within a few short years of each other), and it's really given us no reason to stay in Florida. Plus it's been in the 100's here this summer and it's only getting hotter!

We fell in love with PA in general and are not sure what the best area for us to go is, but thought Honesdale had the perfect balance of community, and kid-friendly activities.

I am a life coach, so I would like to find open-minded people who would welcome my services in the area. My husband is a Butcher or as we call it a Meat Cutter by trade. We have 3 kids ages 12, 9, and 4 and are looking for good schools or private schools that can help my kids catch up. Florida schools are way behind the other states. Sad fact but very true. Yet another reason we would like to relocate.

I would love details on some places that might work for our family. We are looking to relocate in the next 2 years.

Thank you all and I appreciate your time!

[John F S]

Honesdale is basically a 1 street town.

[sad_hotline]

Forgive my generalizations, but "life coach" sounds like a service wealthier individuals would utilize. I'm not sure if you know, but PA's economic situation is nothing like Florida's. Much of PA is economically depressed, and many people are actually leaving the state because of this. People in small, depressed PA towns across the state will probably be unlikely to utilize such a service. However, if you look slightly eastward, not too far away from Honesdale in northern NJ, you are close to NYC and some of its very wealthy suburbs. Those people I'm sure will utilize your services more. Maybe a place like [somewhere nice in NJ, apparently not Paterson, see below], will be a financially strategic choice.

If you care a lot about schools and having access to a client base, maybe consider Massachusetts. They lead the country in education.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Originally Posted by sad_hotline

Forgive my generalizations, but "life coach" sounds like a service wealthier individuals would utilize. I'm not sure if you know, but much of PA is economically depressed, and many people are actually leaving the state because of this. People in small, depressed PA towns across the state will probably be unlikely to utilize such a service. However, if you look slightly eastward, not too far away from Honesdale in northern NJ, you are close to NYC and some of its very wealthy suburbs. Those people I'm sure will utilize your services more. Maybe a place like Paterson, NJ, will be a financially strategic choice.

Please tell me you're joking. Paterson is one of the worst cities in NJ.

I agree with you about life coach being geared to wealthier individuals. Honesdale is pretty poor. If you want to stick with PA, you might have more luck further south in the Poconos or Lehigh Valley. More population and money flowing around.

[sad_hotline]

Originally Posted by ilovemycomputer90

Please tell me you're joking. Paterson is one of the worst cities in NJ.

I agree with you about life coach being geared to wealthier individuals. Honesdale is pretty poor. If you want to stick with PA, you might have more luck further south in the Poconos or Lehigh Valley. More population and money flowing around.

Apologies, my knowledge on NJ is poor. I figured if something was close to NYC, it couldn't be that awful. But I stand by my recommendations on finding wealthier areas.

[KoNgFooCj]

Yes, pleaaase. We need more open minded people in Pennsylvania.

[fisheye]

Here is a link to City-Data's information on Honesdale: //www.city-data.com/city/Honesd...nsylvania.html.

Here is a link to City-Data's information on Mt. Pocono: //www.city-data.com/city/Mount-...nsylvania.html.

The reason that I gave you the two links is for you to compare the ethnic breakdown of the two areas. If you choose an area of our State with predominately one race; then the chances are that it would not be as "open minded" as an area that is more diverse. I am not trying to push you towards one area compared to another area. Honesdale is beautiful and I do enjoy traveling through the area. I also saw no crime statistics on Mt. Pocono in the Mt. Pocono link.

Most of us, that have been on this forum for some time, do advise people that are thinking about buying and moving here to rent first. You are thinking about moving from a very warm climate to a colder climate. You have adjusted to your current warm climate; you might not adjust to our colder climate and you also have to learn winter driving skills. On the other hand you might have already spent time here vacationing? We have had those that moved here sight unseen or for the wrong reasons and then hold it against us when they realize this area is not for them. I just don't want that to happen to you. Do your homework.

[John F S]

The reason that I would never want to move to Florida, Hawaii, southern California, etc., would be because there is no way in hell that I would want it to be 80 degrees, or higher, on Christmas day.
Would a Floridian like 30 degrees, or lower, for most of the Winter months when you're used to 80. Then, of course, there is the snow and ice.
While Florida may get the occasional hurricane, we get the occasional Nor-Easter.
Would a Floridian know what to do with 30 inches, or more, of snow?

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by ilovemycomputer90

Please tell me you're joking. Paterson is one of the worst cities in NJ.

I agree with you about life coach being geared to wealthier individuals. Honesdale is pretty poor. If you want to stick with PA, you might have more luck further south in the Poconos or Lehigh Valley. More population and money flowing around.

At least he didn't suggest Irvington.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by sad_hotline

Forgive my generalizations, but "life coach" sounds like a service wealthier individuals would utilize. I'm not sure if you know, but PA's economic situation is nothing like Florida's. Much of PA is economically depressed, and many people are actually leaving the state because of this. People in small, depressed PA towns across the state will probably be unlikely to utilize such a service. However, if you look slightly eastward, not too far away from Honesdale in northern NJ, you are close to NYC and some of its very wealthy suburbs. Those people I'm sure will utilize your services more. Maybe a place like [somewhere nice in NJ, apparently not Paterson, see below], will be a financially strategic choice.

If you care a lot about schools and having access to a client base, maybe consider Massachusetts. They lead the country in education.

That's quite a broad and inaccurate generalization.

Certainly Pennsylvania has its share of not-quite-so-thriving towns, but there's plenty of areas of the state (mostly on the Eastern side) with quite robust wealth. Like literally every other state in the Union, there's a stratification of wealth and "non-wealth" between rural and urban areas.

Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and south-central PA (Harrisburg, York and Lancaster) are all metro areas of at least notable size with high standards-of-living and great public schools (according to actual income and report data, not reputational hearsay).

The standard-of-living and amount of disposable income in PA is incredibly underrated by many folks, in fact. Certainly higher than in Florida. The OP will do just fine.

Good luck!