Rural areas in South PA?

OLM-Medic · Aug 12, 2012

Not moving anytime soon, but I'm brainstorming ideas.

Where are some areas in South PA that are somewhat rural? I want a house that has a good amount of land and just not around people in general. The last thing I want is a populated neighborhood. Any ideas?

MDMOUNTAINEER · Aug 12, 2012

I had 5 acres in Dover (northwest of York), 3200 sq ft house, 3 car garage, decently rural and I only paid 180k in 2003 (but 15 miles away from York proper). School taxes SUCKED!!!!!!!

Curmudgeon · Aug 12, 2012

I wasn't born and raised here (in fact we moved here from White Marsh in 2005) so I am still learning my way around the state... it's a big state!

From my Baltimore County perspective on what would constitute 'rural', look at most anything in the southern end of Lancaster County or anything a mile or 2 outside of the larger towns in Adams County.

As for York there is still plenty of rural land still available, like the areas between Shrewsbury and York, especially as you go farther from I-83. Also, as tss1004 has said, there is much in the way of rural land to the northwest and northeast of York. You would also want to avoid the area straight north of York.

By example, we bought a house built in '42 that is about 3 miles straight east of York city. It's a little rural, but still a neighborhood of sorts, and probably not what you're looking for. However, I only need to go another 1/2 mile east and it becomes very scattered and rural all the way to the Susquehana.

Southern PA is kind of the opposite of Baltimore county in this way: in BaCo, you have much suburbs with little pockets of rural sprinkled here and there, getting a little more thin in Northern BaCo. In York, Adams, Lancaster, you have much rural areas with little pockets of urban sprinkled about. Any halfway decent real estate agent should be able to assist you. Unless you are looking for the kind of acreage that will allow to uncork a .50 BMG and have the bullet fall from the sky in your own back yard, you should easily find plenty to look at.

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Inigoes · Aug 12, 2012

tss1004 said:
I had 5 acres in Dover (northwest of York), 3200 sq ft house, 3 car garage, decently rural and I only paid 180k in 2003 (but 15 miles away from York proper). School taxes SUCKED!!!!!!!

Yes, school taxes are definitely a pain. Just paid mine last week as a matter of fact.

The trick is to buy in the middle of nowhere. Look more westerly, you might find a good deal away from urban influences.

OLM-Medic · Aug 12, 2012

The goal is to be close to MD. If i can be on 83 and back in MD in no time, moving there is no big deal.

Curmudgeon · Aug 12, 2012

OLM-Medic said:
The goal is to be close to MD. If i can be on 83 and back in MD in no time, moving there is no big deal.

To give you a real-world idea, I still work in Maryland also...
Ours is exit 18 and a 3 to 3.5 mile drive east of the interstate. I can comfortably be in Hunt Valley in 30-40 minutes, and just north of Towson State in under an hour, typically 50-55 minutes. When you consider that it used to take 30-45 minutes for the same destinations from White Marsh I really haven't added much to my commute.

I hear a lot about the dreaded PA school taxes, and yeah, they're big. But PA state income tax is nothing compared to MD. On balance I have seen reports that MD to PA taxes are just about a wash, with PA coming out lower by mere tenths of a percent. This was 7-8 years ago and anything could have changed since then. Truth be told, neither state ever saw a tax they didn't like. o_O

Where do you work (area)?
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Rural areas in South PA?

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