Where would you go?

canyontothesky · May 2010

This year I am thinking about buying a trailer (on its own land! I have no shame!) somewhere out of town to have as a weekend/vacation home and renovate it extensively over the years (non-believers behold: http://bit.ly/agdfNt). My budget is about $40k and I could buy it in cash, but I will likely get a mortgage just to build credit and save on taxes. We have a car, and I want it to be somewhere less suburban and more woodsy, a place to relax and do outdoor activities and call my own, and have privacy and quiet.

I want it to be less than 2-1/2 hours away and relatively near good skiing and mountains. I looked everywhere from northwest CT, to the Catskills, the New Paltz area, the Poconos, the Allentown area, the Scranton area, western/northern NJ, etc, and the only place I am really finding affordable is the Port Jervis area (Huguenot, and places near Monticello), which is an hour from the Poconos and Catskills each, though not ideally where I'd be. I don't even know the area, I just know it seems like the best I can do?

Anyway, just wondering, if you could have a vacation home within 120 miles, where would you go or suggest to look?

modsquad · May 2010

Funny canyontothesky how paths cross sometime. I spend a lot of time in Milford/Matamoras PA across from Port Jervis and would highly recommend the area. Both ReMax and Century 21 in Milford have good reputations and both have had lots with trailers or just empty lots in their listings. The court house unfortunately has yards (like in 36 inches!) of foreclosures you can scan also. Taxes are lower too. Consistently 1hour and 45 minutes to downtown Brooklyn plus it doesn't attract day-trippers on the weekends.
The downside to trailer living is that they do not appreciate in value.
Did I mention that you can buy mucho fireworks in Matamoras for your occasional foray into Times Square?

modsquad · May 2010

Addendum: Regarding skiing. I've only gone once, Holiday Mt. off 17 near Monticello, years ago. I think if you're really a skier, you have to go toward Hunter (and earlier the better), all ski places in the Poconos, lower Catskills will be inundated with kids and beginners every weekend not to mention the slopes aren't particularly breathtaking. However cross country skiing is breathtaking at Lake Minnewaska on top of the Gunks west of New Paltz.

youbetcha · May 2010

In NY Route 209 from Wurtsboro to Accord. Cheap area. Not affluent. Few yuppies. Even has trailer parks and bungalow colonies along the way. Real people. That's about 95 miles from Brooklyn . . . Nice country If you have a car there are plenty of places to go within a 30 mile radius. Hiking, biking but no lattes. . .

whynot_31 · May 2010

Green County, NY has a bunch of little towns that are pretty cheap and have nice surroundings.

...a few have lattes, just avoid them.

lnelson · May 2010

I would nix the CT fantasy anyway. I grew up in central CT (east of the river, the shitty side), and as a kid took many one-day ski-trips to Ski Sundown and whatever the other places are around there. CT really doesn't reliably get enough snow to be a good skiing state, so downhill was that icy fake snow and cross-country was unreliable.

Have you thought about Western Mass/Berkshires area? There are some expensive/nice little towns (Stockbridge, Great Barrington) surrounded by some less posh towns out there (shading from "less posh" into totally down and out Pittsfield, along Rt. 7). I don't know what real estate is like in the less-posh towns, but maybe something to consider.

scarlett · May 2010

Mobile Homes! Pennsyltucky has a ton of cheap land. I actually have friends who lovingly refer to their trailer in PA as their "country home."

xlizellx · May 2010

How is Allentown "woodsy" ?

Scarlett -- are you a Pennsylvanian? I haven't heard anyone since moving to BK call it Pennsyltucky.

I do love the Poconos -- good skiing, nice lakes for swimming/boating during the summer, outlet shopping, nice people ... and you don't even need a car! $30 to Mount Pocono on the bus!

canyontothesky · May 2010

Thank you for all your suggestions so far! When I told my mom I wanted to buy a trailer, I had to say, about 10 times before I said the word, "Mom, please don't judge, please keep an open mind," because she is so UMC, lives in yuppie suburban NJ, but surprisingly she was ok in the end. I know trailers depreciate, but the thing is, a) If I happen to lose $40k over 5-10 years of living in it, that's still cheaper than renting would have been, and I still have the land, and b) they can be renovated to some extent. For example, one I am looking at has a full unfinished basement, and a garage that could use work. And the trailer I linked above, surely that gained value once they did all of the work on it, so I'm not completely worried.

I know Allentown isn't woodsy, xlizelix, I meant more that Allentown, like Scranton, is another place that is accessible to the Poconos, and is affordable as well. I'd never live IN Allentown, but surrounding towns. It doesn't have to be extremely woodsy, but rather private and not at all suburban feeling!

There are so many foreclosures that would probably be great to look at, but you have to pay for access to those listings, right? Can anyone reccomend a place online to look at them?

I thought about MA, too (my home state, but I'm from metro west), but Great Barrington is 144 miles from BK and I'd like to keep it under 120, though it would be a neat location because it's not too far from my family in MA and in Westchester, and not far from VT, either, but I'm wary on being farther from PA and NJ because we love to shoot shotguns and rifles and would also love to be close to a range. =D

Where would you go?

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