Poconos retirement 2023 (Philadelphia, Chester, West Chester: real estate, 2015, car insurance)

[jake_bhoy]

Looking to re-locate and retire - spouse and I both 62+- looking for a bit more space than the south shore of Nassau County NY where we now live and are drowning in property taxes.
The info on the forums seems a little out of date - I had been looking at Stroudsburg and saw they had high property taxes in 2017 - how do they compare to NY and does PA have anything similar to the NY STAR program which reduces seniors’ property/school taxes.
I already know PA has more favourable taxation of private pensions and IRA distributions than NY.
One thing which would be very important to us is the walkability of any town as driving and car ownership is becoming more of a chore as we get older.
Not keen on 55+ communities as the thought of being in permanent proximity to “someone who does their own research” - doesn’t matter which side - horrifies me.

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by jake_bhoy

Looking to re-locate and retire - spouse and I both 62+- looking for a bit more space than the south shore of Nassau County NY where we now live and are drowning in property taxes.
The info on the forums seems a little out of date - I had been looking at Stroudsburg and saw they had high property taxes in 2017 - how do they compare to NY and does PA have anything similar to the NY STAR program which reduces seniors’ property/school taxes.
I already know PA has more favourable taxation of private pensions and IRA distributions than NY.
One thing which would be very important to us is the walkability of any town as driving and car ownership is becoming more of a chore as we get older.
Not keen on 55+ communities as the thought of being in permanent proximity to “someone who does their own research” - doesn’t matter which side - horrifies me.

First and foremost, yes, Stroudsburg is getting out of hand with taxes....I would suggest moving further north than that, if you can....into a smaller community, that is less populated....but that's just me...I don't like living around a lot of people...and please stay away from those communites that are run by the community, I forget what they call them, but no one seems to want to run or serve on those boards so all they get are retired old people who really don't know much about what they are doing...believe me, I lived in one, oh, I remember the name now, its a home owners association, stay away because if they decide to spend money to fix something, its your money that pays for it, above your yearly expenses, for example, if the community needs new roads...they divide the cost up between all the home owners....above your yearly expenses....

[jake_bhoy]

Thanks cremebrulee

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by jake_bhoy

Thanks cremebrulee

your welcome, we lived up there for 20 years and loved it.....however, at that time, NJ and NY people were flooding in, and the back roads were not equipped to handle all that traffic....so, please do your homework, go up there and stay in some of the northern communities...before moving and talk to people especially locals, ask them questions...before buying, because it's an investment, yours and you want to make certain the property value will increase and not decrease, so your return is good. And when you find a place you like, before bidding on it, talk to neighbors and ask them about the community, what they like about it, and what they don't like about it.

Lots of luck.

[Bailey340]

Real estate taxes are high in most places in PA, although not as high as NY, NJ or CT. PA does not tax retirement income as others have mentioned. I’ve found car insurance to be slightly cheaper in PA vs NJ / NY.

Some nice places to retire are in Clarks Summit, Dalton, Waverly. Demand for real estate is high, and houses in this area sell very quickly.

[jake_bhoy]

Thank you Bailey340 I’ll have a look at those areas.

[MarketStEl]

Another of those smaller Poconos towns you might want to consider is the Wayne County seat of Honesdale, which the mag I write for dubbed "The Little Poconos Town that Accidentally Got Cool."

You can still buy houses for a song in most of the Poconos, Honesdale no exception. I feature a Poconos house every Friday on the Real Estate & Home channel on Philymag.com. Some of them come with price tags as high as the mountaintop lots they sit on, but most don't.

[NSHL10]

Talk to Mathjak 107. He bought some property up there for retirement, but wound up back in Queens.

I dont know too many truly walkable towns with all of the services you would need within walking distance in the Poconos. After all it is rural so I dont know if you really should expect something like that there.

Maybe a more suburban environment would better fit your needs? The Lehigh Valley might be a better fit.

[cremebrulee]

Originally Posted by NSHL10

Talk to Mathjak 107. He bought some property up there for retirement, but wound up back in Queens.

I dont know too many truly walkable towns with all of the services you would need within walking distance in the Poconos. After all it is rural so I dont know if you really should expect something like that there.

Maybe a more suburban environment would better fit your needs? The Lehigh Valley might be a better fit.

I agree, the only area that has a lot of in town stores, are East Stroudsburg and Stroudsburg....

If it were up to me, I'd go further north, like Potter, or Allegheny County....

[TLC1957]

Jake,

Lived in rural NJ, Warren County for 30 years with few restaurants and entertainment and retired in 2015 and moved to West Chester Borough, in Chester County outside of Philadelphia, we love it. People are very friendly, the town has a community spirit, downtown is alive with always something going on, tons of places to explore, live theater, 75 plus restaurants and many shops. West Chester is a university town of about 10k students going to the state school.

If you love gardens Longwood Gardens is 20 min drive, amazing place a must see. We are members and visit many times during the year. https://longwoodgardens.org

With a tradition of horticulture going back 300 years, Philadelphia is America’s Garden Capital.
Visit more than 30 public gardens, arboreta, and historic landscapes, all located within 30 miles of the city.

I can keep going but the only downside is you will need a budget of at least $500- 600k for a home. If you buy a home at least 20 years old property taxes are low. We paid $13k a year in NJ with a well, septic and very little town services. In Pa we pay $3500 for school, city and county taxes. Pa does not tax our pension.

When we were looking to move out of NJ,we looked at Media, Chestnut Hill, Phoenixville, Doyestown and several places in Delaware including Hockessin, Newark near the University and Dover and settled on West Chester a decision we do not regret at all.


If you need more information let us know.

Tom