Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Northeastern Pennsylvania
 [Register]
Northeastern Pennsylvania Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 02-14-2021, 10:23 AM
 
3 posts, read 3,342 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Hello,

Now that it seems like my job will be reliably remote for the long run, I am expanding my home search beyond the NY/NJ area to northeast PA. I would like to move to a place where I can do my hobbies or work on my car without my nosy neighbors complaining to the super if i try to change my oil in my own garage -_-


Was looking at Pike and Monroe counties. It seems Pike is a bit more rural except for Milford and Matamoras. I'm looking for a place where I can get at least 1+ acres, but not be so far away from town that I can't get high speed internet. Also would like to be near highways so I can get back to Rockland/Bergen/NYC in ~1.5 hrs if need be. Pluses would be relatively peaceful but still near hospitals and shopping, low taxes and not overly strict laws/zoning (would like to build a garage/workshop). Definitely don't want a HOA telling me what I can and can't do. Low crime as well, but I mean is there anyone prefer a place that has high crime lol.

A few towns with houses that I was interested are Milford, Dingmans Ferry, East Stroudsburg, Saylorsburg and Bartonsville. What's life like in these places? Is it a buyers or sellers market right now? I notice a few foreclosures in the area, I'm guessing it's from people who are affected by the economic downturn. How are these areas handling it? Not that I'm happy people are losing their homes, but I'm seeing a bunch of houses with prices that almost seem too good to be true, so hoping I can get a good deal on a house now instead of waiting and hoping for house prices to go down in a few years, if they even do that... Also considering buying land and building a new house, how are the contractors in the area?

Here's the questionnaire from the FAQ:

==============================

When are you moving? - not sure, maybe within the next year
Where are you coming from? - Bergen County NJ
Why are you moving? - Buying a house, tired of living in an apartment
Where will you be working? - Remotely
Have you been here yet? - Not in 20 years
If you will be working in NY or NJ, where do you currently work (city/town)? - Remotely, but occasional in person visits to Jersey City
Will you continue to commute? - See above

Will you buy or rent? - Buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? - House, up to $400k
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? - N/A
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? -N/A

Are you married or single? Do you have children? - Not yet married but potentially marrying soon (thanks COVID ), no kids at the moment but probably within the next 5 years
Do you prefer public or private schools? - Private
Do you have pets? - No
Do you want or need a yard? - Yes
Are you keeping a car? - Multiple vehicles
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? - Calm and quiet but still near town, hospitals etc

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Shopping
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Nightlife
Near Bus stop? Please note that there is NO rail service in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area.

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? - Not terribly important as long as people aren't downright violent/hostile.

Favorite beverage? - Water, or if this is referring to alcohol, then bourbon
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-14-2021, 04:12 PM
 
Location: Saylorsburg, PA
1,935 posts, read 3,141,385 times
Reputation: 1420
If you want to be able to work on your cars without anyone snooping on you and reporting you to the HOA committee (there is no supers out when you buy your own home) then I would highly suggest you don't buy in a gated or any community which has an HOA. I would suggest you look in Saylorsburg b Brodheadsville which has shopping (ShopRite & Weiss), banking (Wells Fargo, and others), McD's, Burger King, Taco Bell/KFC, Pleasant Valley Elementary & High School (highly rated), and other businesses.....


Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-14-2021, 05:35 PM
 
5,297 posts, read 6,172,002 times
Reputation: 5480
You won't find an acre of land in Milford or Stroudsburg. Most of Pike County is rural, hilly and forested and most of the houses are in HOAs. Your best bet would be northern Wayne County, where there are small farmettes on a few acres. That area is not close to Rockland or Bergen Counties or NYC.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-15-2021, 08:31 AM
 
3 posts, read 3,342 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidWebb View Post
If you want to be able to work on your cars without anyone snooping on you and reporting you to the HOA committee (there is no supers out when you buy your own home) then I would highly suggest you don't buy in a gated or any community which has an HOA. I would suggest you look in Saylorsburg b Brodheadsville which has shopping (ShopRite & Weiss), banking (Wells Fargo, and others), McD's, Burger King, Taco Bell/KFC, Pleasant Valley Elementary & High School (highly rated), and other businesses.....

Yup, I have zero interest in buying a house that's in a HOA. I'm sure it works out great for plenty of people, but not what I'm going for. Thanks for suggesting Brodheadsville, I'll keep a lookout in those areas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wells5 View Post
You won't find an acre of land in Milford or Stroudsburg. Most of Pike County is rural, hilly and forested and most of the houses are in HOAs. Your best bet would be northern Wayne County, where there are small farmettes on a few acres. That area is not close to Rockland or Bergen Counties or NYC.
Sorry, I guess I meant I'm not particular about having a house specifically in those places, but rather in the general vicinity those places as I assume they'll have all the grocery stores, hospitals etc. FWIW I do have houses with >1 acre showing up in my searches, but definitely moreso in Monroe county than Pike, though at first I thought the opposite would be true. I seems a lot of homes in Pike really do have HOAs and my no HOA filter is getting rid of them. When I disable the filter, a lot more homes come up.

Wayne County seems a little bit further out than what I would like, but maybe I'll look into buying additional land there to build a cabin/firewood/recreation in the future, thanks for the suggestion!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-15-2021, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Saylorsburg, PA
1,935 posts, read 3,141,385 times
Reputation: 1420
Also there is Blue Ridge Estates Winery which is also very close to Brodheadsville....if there were sidewalks I could walk to it and in that area there are some houses for sale....some are foreclosures, some aren't....


Last edited by DavidWebb; 02-15-2021 at 08:54 AM.. Reason: corrections made
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-15-2021, 12:18 PM
 
Location: Shawnee-on-Delaware, PA
8,050 posts, read 7,419,522 times
Reputation: 16305
Quote:
Originally Posted by 14.313 View Post
FWIW I do have houses with >1 acre showing up in my searches, but definitely moreso in Monroe county than Pike, though at first I thought the opposite would be true. I seems a lot of homes in Pike really do have HOAs and my no HOA filter is getting rid of them. When I disable the filter, a lot more homes come up.
If you enter zip code 18356 into Zillow you'll get houses in the Shawnee area, which is part of "greater East Stroudsburg". The zip for East Stroudsburg is 18301 which includes Shawnee and other areas, but I would recommend the Shawnee area for its semi-rural feel but with proximity to the DWG bridge, supermarkets and medical facilities. I live on a state road with no HOA in sight.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Northeastern Pennsylvania
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:54 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top