ABE hits Forbes Ten Rising-In-Value Real Estate Markets (Philadelphia, Allentown: sales, crime)

[SouthernMomto3]

From Forbes:

Percolating local job markets get some of the credit. (In fact, the more resilient property markets tend to be in places with above-average job growth.) Technology has been a driver in booming real estate markets like Spokane, Wash., and Salem. Sales and service sector jobs are revving up growth in Allentown, Pa.

Ten Rising-In-Value Real Estate Markets - Forbes.com

Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J.

Median Home Price: $274,500
One-Year Increase: 12.8%
Turning adversity to advantage, Bethlehem is converting an old steel mill into a casino, and an abandoned, fire-ravaged silk mill into townhouses. The former industrial powerhouse is attracting bargain hunters from New York and New Jersey, leaving advocates worried about affordable housing for longtime residents

[SteelCityRising]

This comes as no surprise to me at all. The Lehigh Valley is quickly becoming one giant suburb of NJ, NY, and Philadelphia, as are the Pocono Mountains. On the way home from visiting a friend in Bushkill today I drove down Route 209 between that community and I-80 near Stroudsburg, and I simply stopped counting at 150 license plates in the oncoming lane from NY or NJ! The Poconos and Lehigh Valley are just becoming giant suburbs now, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton is the next area in line. Hopefully our elected officials will plan ahead and steer as much of this residential growth as possible into our existing core communities so our urban sprawl issues don't continue to deteriorate.

[sunsetcliff]

Trouble is the newcomers demand the services they had in Jersey. That costs money. Locals are forced out by higher taxes. It isnt fair to the locals. Anyone who comes needs to ask- can they make due with lessor snow removal, old schools, primitive highways. If not- do all a favor and stay put. [the cat is out of the bag tho on it..]

[Summering]

I was reading a Fork Pa article just recently. The town on the border of NJ is in debt.
It built a shiny new police station, and that was quite expensive. But.........
The worst thing is how are they going to build a high school. They will need this school for all of the kids who moved into the town which once was fields of wheat and corn.
The people are complaining of the high taxes now. There is no room for further taxing for this school.
How a town can be in debt with all the new property taxes coming their way is amazing to me.
Not only that........this town has an Industrial Park with quite a few companies located there. Why don't those taxes help pay for a new school?Or at least keep the homeowner taxes, at a decent percentage.
I think there is much in the Lehigh area to compare with NJ, surely shopping wise.
The snow removal is another thing. Most towns in New Jersey have the logistics of that downpat. Many towns in Pa. don't........

[sunsetcliff]

I might have sounded mean. Let me clarify abit. An oldtimer taxes went thru the roof. Here as it turned out- a busy body examined/searched what each home was paying in tax. Weeded out all the homes who she felt should pay more- and made it happen. I suppose it can happen anywhere. The fact is that public infastructure and services cost money. Not everyone can afford to become a giant suburb. In places out west- they figure a new home impact fee assessment. So any new house then pays its fair share of the building of improvements- that then is needed.

PA as a rule doesnt do this.

My general area has recoginized growth is coming. Seeing what happened in the pocanos- we seek to control it- and plan for it. SO that we dont have the growing pains they have there. ie -a 20 year plan.

[Summering]

Originally Posted by sunsetcliff

I might have sounded mean. Let me clarify abit. An oldtimer taxes went thru the roof. Here as it turned out- a busy body examined/searched what each home was paying in tax. Weeded out all the homes who she felt should pay more- and made it happen. I suppose it can happen anywhere. The fact is that public infastructure and services cost money. Not everyone can afford to become a giant suburb. In places out west- they figure a new home impact fee assessment. So any new house then pays its fair share of the building of improvements- that then is needed.

PA as a rule doesnt do this.

My general area has recoginized growth is coming. Seeing what happened in the pocanos- we seek to control it- and plan for it. SO that we dont have the growing pains they have there. ie -a 20 year plan.

No you didn't sound mean at all........
Wow, someone actually did that, compared taxes, complained, and the wheels started turning. I guess it can happen...........
I really think that in Forks ( for example ) the builders should have been made to do the same thing. For every home made, a fair share for all that is needed to educate and serve the new influx. They are going to be lacking a high school for this huge amount of kids heading in that direction in a few years.
Further North in Pa they putting a school up right now. This was started before the voting came through! I guess they are use to it in Pa as usually there is no vote on whether a school is built or not.
This would not have happened in New Jersey. It is vote it in, or out.
Nothing gets started beforehand. It would of made the major television shows if it did.
There is a lot of poor planning going on in many towns.
There is nothing to stop it from getting out of hand. Just a few groups, that seem to be unheard at the town meetings.

[Icy Tea]

I got into it with somebody on another board who complained about Pa not being up to par with suburban NJ and philly. They wanted supermarkets and restaurants and bars within easy walking distance, and then complained about how taxes were going up as was crime. Hello??? Taxes go up because more people mean more sewer lines, new schools, improved roads, more police and services. Crime increases were from criminals from these same areas he was from moving from that moved here to. As for restaurants and supermarkets, they are there and better than what he had, but yes, you do have to drive a few miles to get to them. This is the COUNTRY, isn't it? You moved here for lower taxes and cheaper houses, so why complain when it isn't what you were leaving behind, and why complain when it starts to become what you left behind?
We also had some yutz research property taxes and complain that people living here 30, 40 or 50 years weren't paying the same taxes as somebody who just built a new home. Poor baby.

[CosmicWizard]

sunsetcliff Wrote:

Trouble is the newcomers demand the services they had in Jersey. That costs money. Locals are forced out by higher taxes. It isnt fair to the locals. Anyone who comes needs to ask- can they make due with lessor snow removal, old schools, primitive highways. If not- do all a favor and stay put. [the cat is out of the bag tho on it..]

While I hate seeing anyone lose their preferred lifestyle, I've always thought that it is a silly notion for someone to believe that simply becasue they already live somehwere that they are more entitled to live there than somone who moves in from out of the area. This entitlement mentality has no basis in reality. In reality our bodies have 2 feet. By continulously putting one foot in front of the other we can move from place to place. In fact, mankind has been doing so for a long, long time. I don't think it's gonna stop anytime soon just becasue some people have resisitance to others moving into their area. For better or worse, these who cry It ain't fair, simply won't accept reality and they lead frustrated lives as a result of their resistance to change.

BTW, I'm not saying that these changes are good or bad. They just are.

blessings...Franco

[toobusytoday]

Our school board always sites a figure of each student costing the district $3,000 more then what is paid in school taxes. The people in the rural part of our district like to say that cows don't go to school and that it makes sense to freeze taxes on farmland so they can afford to keep farming. If it's true about costing more then what we're taking in then why would we want new people coming in and overburdening our schools? I understand SWB's suggestion of new people moving to already established area's. I know he is talking about cities but I think that could also mean any house that is already built instead of building a new one. We moved into a house that was 10 years old and replaced their family of five with our family of five. I sometimes hesitate to post about how much I like my town because I don't especially want it to change.

NewAgeRedneck, your post makes no sense. Icy Teas point (which I thought was very clear) was that if you move somewhere then you should be moving to a place that you want to live in as is, not want to change it into the place you moved from. What does that have to do with entitlement?

[CosmicWizard]

toobusytoday wrote:

NewAgeRedneck, your post makes no sense. Icy Teas point (which I thought was very clear) was that if you move somewhere then you should be moving to a place that you want to live in as is, not want to change it into the place you moved from. What does that have to do with entitlement?

I was responding to a post written by sunsetcliff, not to IcyTea. I think it'll make more sense to you if you read it in that context. Let me know it you're still confused and I'll do my best to clarify further.

blessings...Franco