
The few I found here, and farther north closer to Jonas were in small, non-gated communities with small private lakes, which isn't ideal but I guess Beltzville would be the nearby lake we use the most. Kunkletown: Close to Philly is an obvious plus, and also close to the AT for hiking and Beltzville for kayaking. Please tell me where my impressions of these areas is wrong: Here are my impressions so far for the areas we have been looking. With all that in mind, the first big decision is to decide where specifically to look. One concern I have in looking at all of these communities on the map is that I don't want to end up surrounded by other private communities that I don't belong to, so I end up driving 45 minutes to go hiking and wondering why I didn't just stay in Philly and spend more time in the Wissahickon. It seems like even the un-gated ones have private lakes that only residents are allowed to use, right? The "residents only" part isn't really a selling point for me - I'd still be sharing it (which is fine) but since I'm just kayaking I am not necessarily going to want to float around the same little lake every weekend - I'd rather go explore different, bigger ones. I take it some are gated and some aren't though, right?Ĭommunity lakes.

If I want to let a friend use the cabin one weekend that we're not using it, I'd prefer that to be as simple as telling them the combination to the lock box and where we have it hidden, not needing to call the security gate or whatever else you need to do in a gated community. I visited one once (more on that below) and it didn't seem great. I'm just not at all familiar with this as I not no friends of family have ever lived in one. There is a lot that confuses me, just looking online:Ĭommunities.

I've been looking online in the $75-$125k range and a few have popped up that seem like they would meet our criteria: small house/cabin with a nice deck or outdoor area to enjoy summer evenings, less than 2.5 hours (preferably 2 hours) from Philadelphia, and close to hiking and kayaking (driving a bit more for skiing would be fine). If you don't feel like reading it all here is one direct question: if we want to spend a Saturday driving around and looking at different areas, will we be permitted in private communities without a real estate agent, or do we need to be looking at a specific house for sale there? My wife and I live in Philadelphia and are thinking about buying a vacation cabin in the Poconos, so we can have a place to go for the weekend that is near outdoor activities - namely hiking, kayaking, and skiing.
