3-BR IN EAST STROUDSBURG, $149,900: Townhouse across the street from Shawnee Mountain is 2,010 square feet, with three bathrooms, kitchen with granite counters and stainless-steel appliances, living room with fireplace and an indoor Jacuzzi. The property has been completely renovated. Agent: Rick Golden, USA Realty, 570-517-2428
If you were born before the 1970s, the Pennsylvania Poconos likely conjures up memories of a cheesy honeymoon destination with heart-shaped bathtubs and mirrored ceilings at the “beautiful Mount Airy Lodge.”
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Nearly all the Catskills-style resorts are gone. The Mount Airy Lodge was replaced by the sleek Mount Airy Casino Resort. And New York and New Jersey second-home seekers know that the glacier-carved, lake-dotted mountainous region in northeastern Pennsylvania — about 2 1/2 hours from Manhattan on Interstate 80 — is an affordable paradise for outdoor enthusiasts.
Though it’s not gentrified, upstate-cute or steeped in culture, like some second-home areas around New York, the Poconos lure the kind of people who love to commune with nature by day and with family by night.
For Jonathan and Andrea Mosenson from Plainview, LI, the Poconos is where they’ve gathered for Thanksgiving every year for 22 years, no matter what. After owning a townhouse in the Northridge development at Camelback (best known as a skiing destination) for more than a decade, the couple bought a piece of land in the same development and built a 3,000-square-foot, five-bedroom house.
“My girls are grown, but they keep coming back to spend time here with the family,” Jonathan says. “I’m looking forward to the day when my kids have kids, and I can teach them to ski.”
Ski hounds gravitate to townhomes clustered around Shawnee Mountain in Shawnee or Camelback Mountain Resort. A three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot townhome at Northslope at Shawnee, minutes from the mountain, goes for $150,000, according to Rick Golden, owner/broker at USA Realty in East Stroudsburg.
More upscale options are found around Camelback. Townhomes at the Village at Camelback range from $139,000 for a two-bedroom to $349,000 for a ski-in, ski-out three-bedroom with a family room and mountain views.
At the luxurious Northridge at Camelback, you can get a two-bedroom townhome for $149,000 or a four-bedroom home for $349,000. Privacy-seekers might prefer Cobble Creek on Sullivan Trail, which offers Contemporary and Colonial homes on nearly an acre, ranging from $199,000 to $270,000.
The “lake people,” as the summer crowd is known, gravitate toward communities such as Lake Naomi in Pocono Pines, 15 minutes west of Camelback, where a three-bedroom, 1,900-square-foot house on one-third of an acre is between $200,000 and $300,000.
“Prices are down 5 percent from last year and 30 percent from 2007 [throughout the Poconos],” says Golden.
The average sales price in Monroe County, which includes Camelback and Shawnee, fell from $163,232 in 2010 to $152,370 last year, according to Pocono Mountain Association of Realtors data.
Twenty minutes east of Camelback and 15 minutes west of Shawnee is Stroudsburg, the Poconos’ only quaint haunt. A tree-lined Main Street boasts 30 ethnically diverse restaurants, plus galleries and clothing stores (including the iconic Dunkelberger’s Sports Outfitter). The town stays vibrant thanks to students from the neighboring University of East Stroudsburg.
Other area attractions include the Mountain View Vineyard and Winery, Crossings Factory Stores outlet mall and the Pocono International Raceway. Then there’s the Mount Laurel Pocono Performing Arts Center in Tamiment, an hour from Camelback. This outdoor amphitheater has hosted Kiss and the Beach Boys — which just goes to show, you can’t completely get away from the 1970s in the Poconos!