Interested in moving to PA ( anyone help so some info)

[NURSEhunter]

Hello everyone, 

 

As much as I love New Jersey and growing up in it.   My wife and I have been considering moving to PA.  Im looking for anyone that can give me a basic foundation of starting point for area/townships to look into.  Obviously being a hunter, I am aiming more rural land / towns, but there are a few other factors.  We are planning kids soon so I would like a good school system, and not to far from civilization.  ( I have spoken to 1 realtor who took my love for the outdoors to far, she was showing me a township which i wrote down, that was about 1.5 hours from mall, 40 mins from a food store, 40 mins from a gym. and 40 mins to a high school).  In terms of relating to NJ , I enjoy towns similar to Blairstown, pitstown, upper freehold, milstone. All towns which have nice open land but still can get access to places.  I would like to stay roughly 2 hours from central NJ (for family purposes ).  We are both in the medical field and she has PA licensing so I will look for hospitals after I determine a area to research.  I would love a large piece of property 30+ acres or even a lot to build our own house on.  If anyone has any ideas about townships, areas, id appreciate it .  thank you.

[Haskell_Hunter]

You can look at places right across from Dingman's.  That area isn't too bad and you are close to NJ and Port Jervis.

 

I have friends out in Mountain Top, which is about 1h from the Gap, so I'm not sure how far away from NJ you want to go.

[mattg1500]

If your planning on kids then look at school ratings. I live in Forks twp which is just N of easton and I work in Elizabeth nj, 1hr 10min commute. Lots of schools in the bangor, east stroudsburg areas do not get great ratings. Also 30ac just into Pa is no steal, your gonna pay big $ for that just less tax than in nj. Bucks County Palisades school district is very good and it is an area with farms and larger lots but homes are older that are in my price range of under $350k. Do you want to be closer to Blairstown or Phillipsburg or Frenchtown?

[Bucksnbows]

My wife and I have been kicking around a similar move, but we're in a very different situation because we would wait at least another year and a half until our daughter is off to college and school systems would not be an issue.  Very generally speaking, the further you are from a big town, the less chance you will have of a good school system.  It is very hard to have both in PA, unlike NJ which overall has very good schools for the most part.  That said, eastern PA is building up to the point where it will look and feel exactly like most of NJ does and much of it already does.  And those folks are often driving to NJ to work, so traffic is bad.  The further west you go, the cheaper the land, but the fewer jobs and good public schools you'll find.  Again, that's a very generalized view. 

[mattg1500]

My wife and I have been kicking around a similar move, but we're in a very different situation because we would wait at least another year and a half until our daughter is off to college and school systems would not be an issue.  Very generally speaking, the further you are from a big town, the less chance you will have of a good school system.  It is very hard to have both in PA, unlike NJ which overall has very good schools for the most part.  That said, eastern PA is building up to the point where it will look and feel exactly like most of NJ does and much of it already does.  And those folks are often driving to NJ to work, so traffic is bad.  The further west you go, the cheaper the land, but the fewer jobs and good public schools you'll find.  Again, that's a very generalized view.

 

I agree. I am close to Nj and pay $7100 in taxes and have an ok school district. 30min S and taxes are half and schools are better. 1hr west and its a whole new world!

[Nomad]

The schools across the border in PA are like inner city schools.  Cheap living brought all the NY city trash out there.  Better go further/deeper into PA.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Nomad

[JHbowhunter]

if you going in that direction, I recommend just keep going until you hit a state known as "Ohio"....

[Killshot]

I grew up in Waverly, PA (Clarks Summit area) 

 

Great schools, nice people, very quaint, lots of land. 

 

Scranton is the closest city and really a shithole though as far as Cities go. 

 

If you end up in NEPA I have family all around in the healthcare industries. Feel free to PM for hospital affiliations. 

[Greenspace]

We moved to western Chester County, PA (for work) when my oldest son was a senior in HS.  Both sons ended up getting Penn State engineering degrees with in-state tuition, both married nice PA girls and both now have great jobs.  So for us, it was a life-changing move, for the better!

[Haskell_Hunter]

My wife and I have been kicking around a similar move, but we're in a very different situation because we would wait at least another year and a half until our daughter is off to college and school systems would not be an issue.  Very generally speaking, the further you are from a big town, the less chance you will have of a good school system.  It is very hard to have both in PA, unlike NJ which overall has very good schools for the most part.  That said, eastern PA is building up to the point where it will look and feel exactly like most of NJ does and much of it already does.  And those folks are often driving to NJ to work, so traffic is bad.  The further west you go, the cheaper the land, but the fewer jobs and good public schools you'll find.  Again, that's a very generalized view. 

 

All good info.

 

I ride up and down 209 on occasion and it's NJ in PA.  North part of it is real nice, right around my speed, but the closer you get to 80 the more congested it gets.

 

And really consider your commute.  If you drive out on 80W toward PA in the morning, it's a decent ride, but the other side going 80E is a parking lot.  That would be your commute into NJ and back home.  Every day.  Both ways.  Uphill.  In snow.

 

I would consider moving their myself and many people have asked why I haven't.  Two reasons:  the commute to where I make my money, and shitty Internet service (again, how I make my money).

[NURSEhunter]

great input from everyone so far i appreciate. problem with not ever living in PA or that its so large is.  When I sit down to look on websites for homes i have no idea where to start.  I plan to live and work in PA if we move out there and only commute to NJ to see family , and holidays.  I would probably do up to 3 hours away from central nj into PA.  Our budget is roughly 450k-500k.  Jersey taxes are terrible, since me and my wife bought our first in Toms River, we aren't too bad on taxes but we considered looking at my parents house or up in morris county and there taxes are almost $16,000 a year which is insane.  Good thing about us is usually people want to find jobs and then move depending on that.  since were both medical she can usually find nurse practitioner jobs out there after we find area.  There is usually a hospital within an hour or even an urgent care which hires nurse practitioners at almost 90k a year to start so thats why we are looking for area first.  

[Batsto]

I hear taxes are jumping like crazy in Pa.

[NURSEhunter]

if you going in that direction, I recommend just keep going until you hit a state known as "Ohio"....

oh trust me , i would keep going that direction even further but she doesn't want too.  I had a friend from college that graduated med school and went out to Kansas on a 100 acre lot with custom home for about the price of my parents Mountain Lakes home

[tjfslaughter]

This is a possible 5-10 year plan for my wife and I

[BenedictGomez]

 

As much as I love New Jersey and growing up in it.   My wife and I have been considering moving to PA.

 

Join the club.  I've been looking at listings as well.  

 

All of Eastern Pennsylvania could be renamed "New Jersey West" from all the people living there who "fled" New Jersey.