Calling everyone who knows about Oil city, PA (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: real estate market, condo)

[TNMale37]

Originally Posted by LiveinPA

You are looking at a very long drive to go anywhere and in PA's 8 month winter that is not going to be easy.

I'm sorry but I have to correct you on that statement. Winter, which I define asthe time of year with snow on the ground, is not 8 months in PA. In my 20+ years of living in Venango County the average would be from mid-December through mid-March with snow. Most years there is a few snows in November as well but it normally does not stay on the ground until December.

I did dislike the Winter but only once I was an adult and no longer a child enjoying sled riding.

I would suggest buying a snow blower as they are so much less back-breaking than shoveling snow and not too expensive. If one really has some extra money, a 4-wheeler quad with a snow plow is also a nice toy to ride in the warm months and the sometimes hot Summers.

[MrTudo]

The first thing they need to do is get high speed cable internet or be relegated to 4th world status forever.

The 2nd thing they need is someone to run for mayor on a campaign to CHANGE THE NAME of the place

[Need_affordable_home]

Can anyone take pictures of Oil city and upload them here so me and others can see what Oil city is like? Also can any of you check out houses for sale and let me know the condition of the interior. This can possibly save me the $1000 itll cost to visit Oil city myself(plane ticket, car rental, motel for 7-10 days duration) Most of you are saying Oil city is a "dump" and that ill be making a big mistake. Well lets see about that, pictures speak a thousand words!

Additionally, can anyone tell me if the crime is on the rise(its still very low) and if theres any other signs of depression in Oil city, a supposedly depressed area. What makes Oil city depressed? Lack of jobs? Any other reason besides that? Lack of jobs are a nonissue as im self employed.

To those who used to live in Oil city, why did you leave? Did you have a good reason, were you rich enough to afford a house in an expensive location, did you want a job instead of being self employed? I want to learn about Oil city as much as possible. I refuse to count Oil city out so fast. I realize its not perfect but my judgement is premature till I obtain more info and pictures.

No city is perfect in reality. I already decided to leave Florida unless house prices halve in the next few months. I dont want extreme heat nor cold and I obviously cant afford some other expensive state like CA, HI, NJ, DE, MA, RI and a few other states. Additionally, I cant afford an expensive city like NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Orlando, etc.

Its very hard to find a city that meets most or all my needs. Everything is a compromise. I dont have the money to visit every city in America. Ill be visiting one or two cities and drive to nearby surrounding cities and towns.
I would like to visit Oil city but if I see pictures that show Oil city in a bad light, I might just decide to cross it off my list then and save the $1000 on visiting Oil city and instead visit some other city that gets more reccomendations than Oil city. Knoxville, TN came highly reccomended by someone. That city is great except the crime is triple of Oil city. Theres affordable houses that are nice for under $50k and theres tons of shopping and entertainment. The weather is better than Oil city as well. I hear the state of Georgia and NC are popular as well, anyone know good, affordable cities in those states?

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by chinenjim

What's your fixation on Oil City? If I was in your position I would look into the Sarver / Buffalo TWP area. It is beautiful and housing is affordable. Rt. 356 connects the Sarver area with rt 28, which is a main artery into Pittsburgh. So your close to the city, yet out in the country. The roads around Sarver are very well maintained and the schools there are good. Check it out. Screw Oil City. That place is a dump. It's run into the ground from the death of the steel industry. Never recovered. Sarver might be a little pricey compared to Oil City, but not near what you are paying in the swamp.

I think anywhere you settle here will be 1000 times better than where you are now. I hate Florida. My wife and I looked into moving down to Tampa a few years back, but forget it. Way too much crime, insane people and wreckless drivers. Florida is a magnet for maggots. It seems like it attracts all of the scummy hippie lazy pothead amateur-burglar types from the rest of the country. Bunch of no good Parrot Heads (people who smoke pot, don't work and listen to Jimmy Buffet all day).

Checked Buffalo TWP and not a single affordable house. Many of them are over $100k. Cedar Rapids, Iowa would be a good choice for me. Most of you dont think highly of Oil city. I have never visited Oil city so I cant judge from experience. Theres other affordable alternatives besides Oil city anyway such as Cedar Rapids which already sounds better than Florida in everyway except the winters.

[outaPA]

Listen Affordable..., you are young and the best advice I can think to give you is this: (as a former Floridian and former graphic designer) make a wish list of things you desire in a place to live, pick the town with the MOST desirable elements, visit it first, and then go for a RENTAL for a year or two and THEN purchase a home. You really can't get a feel for a place until you have lived there a year or two. If you went in blind to someplace, just basing your decision on statistics, you will more than likely be sorely disappointed as well as losing a lot of money on the move and maybe not even getting your money back out of the home purchase. Especially a place like Oil City. Culturally, you will be pulling your hair out in a matter of months and probably take a nose dive into a depression. At least I would. In fact, you couldn't PAY me to live there. The culture in this neck of the woods is not what you are thinking it is. People are generally NOT that friendly to outsiders. I could go on but I won't on that topic.

If I were you, and had some money saved like you said you did in a different post, I would get a small apartment where you are now, just to get your father off your back and have some piece of mind. Live frugally and save some extra money to take mini-vacations to some of the places you are interested in. Pick one of those places in a year or two or three after traveling around and go rent for awhile. If you don't end up liking the place in a few years, move on. There won't be anything (like a house) holding you there.

Just don't move somewhere you have never been to before just because their housing costs are lower. There is much more to a "home" than the structure itself.

Please think about this before you jump from the frying pan into the fire.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by outaPA

Please think about this before you jump from the frying pan into the fire.

As someone who is currently watching in horror as throngs of NY/NJ residents are moving to PA simply because "it's cheaper", I must applaud you for that statement. Many of these newer transplants to the Pocono/Scranton area see nothing but the instant savings on housing and taxes, but then they pay for them dearly with lengthy commutes to Manhattan and much less in the way of entertainment options, which puts their children into a "culture shock."

Just because an area is "cheaper", doesn't mean that it's necessarily "better for you." I'm so sick and tired of hearing whiny NYers griping that we don't have an IKEA or a Duane-Reed! That was something that could have been researched very easily before moving to PA! Personally, I love our beautiful state, but do NOT come here for all the wrong reasons!

[outaPA]

ScrantonWilkesBarre,

Culturally, Pennsylvania is very different from one side of the state to the other. Western PA does not have that much in common with your neck of the woods. It is closer, culturally, to the Midwest than to the East. Southwestern PA also has a little bit of Appalachian mentality thrown into the mix as well.

I guess it is human nature to think when you move to a new place that people are people and they will have the same frame of reference as you. But it really couldn't be further from the truth sometimes. There are people who will end up having a completely different WORLD VIEW. That is hard to explain to others. Especially, transplants from NYC are not going to expect such big cultural differences. Or also transplants from "out west." I really think a lot of people assume that locals in their new place will be the same as where they left, just different faces.

[dcris]

I've been a Berks County resident for a bit over a year. I "escaped" NJ and knew, for the most part, what I was getting into. I don't mind the farm smells, and other "different" facets of the area. "Cheaper" is part of the reason for the move, another was to leave the overbuild mentality of the area of NJ, Ocean County, where I lived. Of course, I didn't expect the wages to be the same as NJ, but I was hoping to do better than I am now wage-wise.

I didn't feel "culture shock", but "culture-change". And I don't regret it a bit. But I do miss my friends.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by dcris

I've been a Berks County resident for a bit over a year. I "escaped" NJ and knew, for the most part, what I was getting into. I don't mind the farm smells, and other "different" facets of the area. "Cheaper" is part of the reason for the move, another was to leave the overbuild mentality of the area of NJ, Ocean County, where I lived. Of course, I didn't expect the wages to be the same as NJ, but I was hoping to do better than I am now wage-wise.

I didn't feel "culture shock", but "culture-change". And I don't regret it a bit. But I do miss my friends.

I'd welcome someone like you as a new neighbor with open arms. I'm not talking about transplants like you; I'm talking about the ones, mostly from NYC, who let greedy Pocono realtors and housing developers "woo" them into Monroe County without stopping to consider the gravity of their decision. There are so many people now moving to NEPA who don't have the slightest clue about just how different Stroudsburg is from Manhattan that it frightens me! I'd NEVER sell my home, pick up my family, and basically move to another state that I didn't thoroughly research, as many are doing around here. It sounds like you did your "homework" before you left NJ; many others aren't.

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

As someone who is currently watching in horror as throngs of NY/NJ residents are moving to PA simply because "it's cheaper", I must applaud you for that statement. Many of these newer transplants to the Pocono/Scranton area see nothing but the instant savings on housing and taxes, but then they pay for them dearly with lengthy commutes to Manhattan and much less in the way of entertainment options, which puts their children into a "culture shock."

Just because an area is "cheaper", doesn't mean that it's necessarily "better for you." I'm so sick and tired of hearing whiny NYers griping that we don't have an IKEA or a Duane-Reed! That was something that could have been researched very easily before moving to PA! Personally, I love our beautiful state, but do NOT come here for all the wrong reasons!

Maybe they had no choice? I am having no choice but leave Florida and frankly theres alot of things I dont like about Florida either. If they commute to Manhattan, whats the problem? They can get entertainment in Manhattan without paying the half million for a studio! Yes 2 hours plus commute each way has to suck but its either that or rent/buy a tiny studio to cram your entire family into! So they dont have a choice! They got priced out of NYC and NJ! They shouldnt be griping they got a nice big house for $100k instead of a tiny studio for $500k!