Wayne County PA: A Home in the Country For You

Wayne County: A Pennsylvania Home in the Country

If you are looking for "off the beaten path", this is just the home for you. If you are looking for quiet surroundings, pastoral scenery, and the soothing sound of rushing water nearby, you can stop your search.

This is God's Country. It's secluded - without leaving you isolated. Believe it or not, it's within a 15 to 20 minute drive of everything you could need (to some of you city dwellers, with a Walgreen's and Wal*Mart around every corner, 15 to 20 minutes seems long, but it really is not. You are in the country now!)

For fishing enthusiasts, nearby you will find White Oak Pond, a 175 acre lake, which, according to the PA Fish Commission, is home to several species of fish: largemouth bass, chain pickerel, bluegill, pumpkinseed, black crappie, brown and yellow bullhead, and yellow perch.

Another nearby pond is Long Pond (also known as Alden Pond) - which has traditionally been stocked for winter fishing.

15 minutes or so will take you to Honesdale (the county seat for Wayne County, and the biggest town in the county as well), where you will find shopping, Home Depot, movies, fine dining and fast food, a full service hospital, dentists, family doctors, specialized health care, and lots of small town charm.

Go 15 minutes in the other direction and you can hit the slopes at Elk Mountain Ski Resort, one of the leading ski facilities in the area. In the Waymart Boro, you will find more health care services and some other necessities. Scranton & Dickson City PA is just a little further out (roughly 40 minutes or less) and has absolutely everything you could want - there are two malls (Steamtown and Viewmont) with stores like Macy's and Old Navy...in Dickson City you will find Target, Home Depot, and Lowes...tons of national chain restaurants. My favorite movie house is the Cinemark by Montage..(and of course, there's Montage Mountain for skiing as well..)

Many of my clients who initially are looking for a home in the Lake Wallenpaupack area are sometimes surprised at how close together many of the homes are. This very well maintained bi-level home on Creek Drive in Waymart (Mount Pleasant Township, just past Prompton & Aldenville) is perfect for those who are looking for an affordable home with a large yard and lots of space. With about 2 acres of land, you can do a lot of things - plant a garden, do some decorative landscaping, swim in the pool, romp in the grass with kids or pets...or just sit on the deck and enjoy the view.

Across the street, the Lackawaxen River (West Branch) babbles on toward its terminus nearly 40 miles away in Lackawaxen, PA - the last time I was at this property I stood for about ten minutes listening to nothing but the sound of the river. No distracting traffic, no "city sounds." It was almost like a mini-vacation.

The virtual tour of this home speaks for itself. The house is clean and turn-key - ready for you to make it your home. Call me to set up an appointment - it's a slice of heaven, waiting to bring you home.

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group Independently Owned and Operated

Karen E. Rice is a real estate agent working in Pike & Wayne County of Northeastern PA in the Pocono Mountains. Lake Wallenpaupack is one of Pennsylvania's most popular destinations for vacations, retirement, and purchasing a home.

Tips for Smokers Selling Their Homes

Smoking does more than kill your lungs - it can kill the sale of your home.

I grew up in the home of not one, but two chain smokers. I was so used to the smell of cigarette smoke, that I had no idea why kids on the school bus told me I smelled - I could not smell it. I never understood until I went to college, and the RA demanded to know who was smoking in my room!

Smokers, and the people who live with them, can't smell it anymore. My daughter brought home a cupcake from a birthday party at school - she said "I don't want to eat it..." even though it was all pretty, pink frosted with sprinkles. I could smell why - it smelled like an ash tray. But the birthday child and her mom probably had no clue how disgusting their "treats" were to the outside world.

Sure, it's your home, your life, you can do what you want. HOWEVER - when you are putting your home on the market, while it is technically still YOUR home, you are trying to convince someone else to make it THEIRS. And chances are, a great deal of your potential buyers will be non-smokers who stop at the door and refuse to enter once they catch a whiff of your Marlboro's. Nothing will kill a deal faster on a home sale than a stench that makes you want to cover your face upon opening the door. Smokers may think non-smokers are overreacting - after all, the smell doesn't bother you! That's because you're used to it.

I imagine that even prolonged exposure to skunk smell would make it less offensive over time to the point that you don't notice it anymore either.

Apart from having only buyers who smoke express interest in your home, or handing out respirator masks at the door, there is hope.

Some fixes are easy, but most will require a lot of elbow grease and dedication, especially if there is years of buildup:

1. Stop smoking in the house once you put it on the market. Yes, it's a pain to go outside, but you want to sell your house, right? Get rid of all traces of smoking inside - no ash trays sitting around!

2. Professionally clean carpets & upholstery. I suggest using a company that cleans homes after fires - and have everything cleaned, including all upholstered furniture. All the cleaning and staging in the world is not going to help if the couch still stinks. Here is a list of cleaning services near Hawley, PA.

3. Clean everything else - and I mean everything, from the ceiling down to the floors. Nicotine gets EVERYWHERE. When I brought an oak dining room set from my parent's home to mine, my husband wouldn't let me bring it in the house until it had been thoroughly cleaned - it took at least 4 good cleanings before the rinse water stopped turning YELLOW.

4. Repaint - after scrubbing the walls, apply a good primer, such as KILZ, to help block odors and repaint your walls and trim in neutral shades.

5. Declutter and remove extra knick knacks which are collecting nicotine and smoke odors...especially items such as books and magazines which can not be cleaned.

6. Get an air purifier or filtration unit. I took an Alpine Air purifier to my parent's home when my mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Within a day or two, the air smelled noticeably cleaner and fresher. I am unsure if it actually removed the odor, or merely masked it, but it did make the house smell clean, like the outdoors after a rain. (By the way, my dad died of congestive heart failure...wonder how much smoking had to do with their diseases?)

Sure, this is a lot of work and costs money, - but you want to get top dollar for your home, don't you?

All the marketing in the world by the best real estate agent on the planet will not sell your home if buyers won't go inside.

I previewed a nice home for sale the other day. Just cute as cute can be. Fresh paint outside. Nicely situated on a large, landscaped lot. Tons of curb appeal. Price seemed reasonable, perhaps a tad high, but not out of the ball park...why has this house been on the market for over a year?

Could it be that the home reeked of cigarettes once I went inside? Ya think, maybe?

There were overflowing ash trays on every table. Even I was grossed out - in spite of the fact that I grew up with two smokers. I've been out of a smoky environment for 12+ years and man, I can't handle it!

I expect that any buyers who DO get past the front door will make their offer much lower, when they consider all the cleaning that will have to be done after the closing.

Why not beat them to the punch, and get that cleaning done NOW - and get a better offer on your home? And perhaps - sell it?

Additional Reading on Selling a Smoker's Home:

Smoke Gets in Homebuyer's Eyes - by Douglas Brown, Denver Post

On Tobacco Road, it's A Tougher Sell by Antoinette Martin, New York Times

Getting Rid of Smoke Odors - Active Rain blog by Rick Bunzel

WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Paupack Group "Independently Owned and Operated"