Moving to Poconos, Honesdale, Lake Ariel (York, Stroudsburg: vacation home, neighborhood, purchase)

[bridge12]

Originally Posted by t.w.

Respectfully disagree. The cities in the northeast have been booming over the last decade, I believe. Agree 100% with the latter point though, people are fleeing the cities right now like rats from a sinking ship. Can you blame them (us)?

I live in South Philly and am considering a second home/vacation home in the Poconos because I don't have a yard. I do think that there are quite a few city folk who are reconsidering whether they want more green space and considering second homes/vacation homes now. I know some, including myself!

But the whole "rats fleeing a sinking ship" thing is just malarkey. Philadephia just approved thousands of new residential units in highrises and apartment buildings. Developers look long term and they clearly think that people are still going to want to live in cities. There are literally dozens of million dollar houses that are already pre-sold going up in my neighborhood. Houses are flying off the shelves in most places right now because of pent up demand from the pandemic.

[DavidWebb]

Originally Posted by bridge12

There are literally dozens of million dollar houses that are already pre-sold going up in my neighborhood. Houses are flying off the shelves in most places right now because of pent up demand from the pandemic.

Yeah right....must be those who are considered "FIRE" who are very few because most of the population NATIONWIDE are either broke, in foreclosure, or in the process of being evicted....

[t.w.]

Originally Posted by bridge12

I live in South Philly and am considering a second home/vacation home in the Poconos because I don't have a yard. I do think that there are quite a few city folk who are reconsidering whether they want more green space and considering second homes/vacation homes now. I know some, including myself!

But the whole "rats fleeing a sinking ship" thing is just malarkey. Philadephia just approved thousands of new residential units in highrises and apartment buildings. Developers look long term and they clearly think that people are still going to want to live in cities. There are literally dozens of million dollar houses that are already pre-sold going up in my neighborhood. Houses are flying off the shelves in most places right now because of pent up demand from the pandemic.

I guess it depends on your perspective. As a prospective buyer in the Poconos, it's certainly felt that way. With limited inventory (by city standards, at least), houses have been going in a matter of days. So while that may be a drop in the bucket compared to the 1.6M people in Philadelphia or the 8.4M across the five boroughs of New York City, it's certainly caused the real estate market in the Poconos to accelerate rapidly.

That being said, my better half owns her place in Southwest Center City PHL, so maybe we'll pass each other on the Schuykill! Hopefully you won't be the ones driving 60 mph in the left-hand lane

[t.w.]

Originally Posted by fisheye

Have you had any promising leads? And are you getting a better 'feel' for our area?

We did! We came to an agreement on a place in Emerald Lakes, a three-minute walk from one of the last - closing set for early September. Very much looking forward to it!

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by t.w.

We did! We came to an agreement on a place in Emerald Lakes, a three-minute walk from one of the last - closing set for early September. Very much looking forward to it!

Congratulations! As the crow flies that is only about five miles from where I live. You will be about six hundred feet higher in elevation than where I live; so it will be a little colder. You might want to consider a backup whole house generator as long as you are making the investment. We continue to have more power outages and we have many dead Ash trees from the emerald Ash borer. But it is not an necessity; just a possible consideration.

Pay attention to to the race schedule at Pocono Raceway. Heading west on Long Pond Road during a race event could be difficult; but they do not have that many races each year. Become familar with the back roads and you should have plenty of options to avoid problems.

Good luck to you and if you want to know anything about the area simply ask!

[t.w.]

Originally Posted by t.w.

We did! We came to an agreement on a place in Emerald Lakes, a three-minute walk from one of the last - closing set for early September. Very much looking forward to it!

LAKES. Grrr. Wish this had an edit function. Three-minute walk from one of the LAKES. That probably makes a little more sense now.

Originally Posted by fisheye

Congratulations! As the crow flies that is only about five miles from where I live. You will be about six hundred feet higher in elevation than where I live; so it will be a little colder. You might want to consider a backup whole house generator as long as you are making the investment. We continue to have more power outages and we have many dead Ash trees from the emerald Ash borer. But it is not an necessity; just a possible consideration.

Pay attention to to the race schedule at Pocono Raceway. Heading west on Long Pond Road during a race event could be difficult; but they do not have that many races each year. Become familar with the back roads and you should have plenty of options to avoid problems.

Good luck to you and if you want to know anything about the area simply ask!

Honestly, I prefer the cold to the heat. No matter how cold you get, you can always put on more clothes. If you get too hot, you can only take off so many clothes until...well, according to the HOA rules I read last night, you get a $500 fine.

But I appreciate the advice! We've been doing some research and found the same thing out about the Pocono Raceway. We're slaves to the GPS unfortunately - hopefully Waze will save us from that chaos when the time comes.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by t.w.

LAKES. Grrr. Wish this had an edit function. Three-minute walk from one of the LAKES. That probably makes a little more sense now.

We do have a edit function. But it might not be available to new members? I forget, it has been too many years. Even now our edit function is only available for short periods of time, but it is available. Many times I post and then I proof read, not that I am that great at it. But I do find mistakes and correct them (probably with more mistakes)

Originally Posted by t.w.

Honestly, I prefer the cold to the heat. No matter how cold you get, you can always put on more clothes. If you get too hot, you can only take off so many clothes until...well, according to the HOA rules I read last night, you get a $500 fine.

But I appreciate the advice! We've been doing some research and found the same thing out about the Pocono Raceway. We're slaves to the GPS unfortunately - hopefully Waze will save us from that chaos when the time comes.

While you can put on more clothes we worry about our pipes freezing and food spoiling. Plus it is nice to be able to take a hot shower and flush toilets and that is where the backup generators come in handy. I only have a small one, but it is good enough to run the furnace and hot water. Plus I have a septic system and not a sand mound that needs power to pump. So there are advantages to the generators, I am sorry your development does not allow them. I did help a coworker split wood for his back up wood burner there many years ago. You could check to see if they allow pellet or wood stoves for back up heat to keep the pipes from freezing if the power goes out?

Route 940 is not that far away from the development and you can buy most of what you need heading east on 940 towards Route 611. You have a Lowes up there. Auto stores. Walmart. And currently three supermarkets - Aldi's, Weiss Markets and ShopRite competing with the Walmart. There are two drug stores, Rite Aid and CVS plus Geisinger, ShopeRite, Weiss, and Walmart have drug stores. For a general practitioner in the area I use Geisinger just behind the Walmart store. I highly recommend Dr. Bolock and her two physician assistants they are really great! I also recommend 'Speed Zone' for auto repair and that is not far from you.

There is a Home Depot and Target not too many miles away. There is also the Crossings mall in Tannersville and Stroudsburg has another mall with a Penney's (as long as they stay in business).

Just ask if you want any more information. Maybe one of us can help you and good luck!

[wharton]

Relying on GPS and Waze will result in a really diminished living experience in a place like the Poconos. It's possible to spend years on the plateau, while obediently following GPS to every destination, and not realize that there is a whole world out there that you are driving right past. Gravel roads, forest roads, back roads that only locals ever travel on. Hidden springs, waterfalls, trails, small parks, lakes. ponds, walking trails, towns that few bother to visit, all kinds of interesting stuff.

The cure, you ask?


Buy yourself a copy of a Delorme Atlas & Gazetteer Pennsylvania edition. This is a large, soft cover printed collection of 80+ extraordinarily detailed topographical maps covering every single inch of the state. I have had countless conversations with folks that move in to the area and have no idea what is actually in their neighborhood, or the multiple ways to get from "here to there" because they are used to taking the way their digital brain tells them to. Lots of out of the way places near you that are beautiful, easy to get to, and virtually empty, since their very existence is outside of the realm of the screen obsessed culture that we have become.

[fisheye]

Some of the roads getting to those out of the way places can be a little challenging. Brady's Lake is not very far from where you will be located: https://pennsylvania.hometownlocator...dys%20lake.cfm. You can check it out; it is a 223 acre lake and they used to allow electric motor small boats. I haven't been there for some time, but my son likes to walk the trails and pick blueberries. It has about a three mile road into the lake and it is pretty rough; take your time and watch where you drive.

The Hypsi Gap road is another road that cuts through State Game Lands and is a road one really wants to take slow - it's full of potholes. There was a young hunter that was shot and killed there years ago so it has a soiled reputation. They never found the killer/s.

Many people will drive up to the top of Big Pocono on Camelback Road. You can get a bird's eye view of the area and there are trails to walk. That includes a trail to Deep Lake that is four and a half miles long. Keep your eyes open for rattlesnakes when hiking in that area.

Of course many also spend time on the Delaware River and there are several places on both the PA side and Jersey side where one can launch a boat. You would have to check current restrictions and regulations.

[BBMW]

Giving this a bump . Now that it's almost two years later, has anything changed in this area, for better or worse?