Just Listed in the Poconos: Dutch Colonial in Pocono Pines

This 1940s Dutch Colonial cottage looks pretty modest on the outside, but on the inside, it looks really sharp thanks to a relatively recent renovation. And it has room for your relatives, too! You’ll find it in Lake Naomi, at 215 Route 423, Pocono Pines, PA 18350 / Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors MLS images via HomeSmart Realty Advisors

Do you have a large family?

Or would you like to invite your aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters and their families, or your friends, to stay with you when you make your Poconos getaway?

Or would you like your second home to pay for itself when you’re not using it?

If you answered “Yes” to one or more of these questions, then you want to give this Pocono Pines Dutch Colonial house for sale serious consideration.

With five bedrooms, this nicely updated house can accommodate a decent-sized horde — up to 10 people (more or less) comfortably. And it can entertain them, too.

Built in 1948, this handsome Dutch Colonial is one of the older houses in Pocono Pines. While it was built more than 50 years after brothers Thomas and Rufus Miller dammed Tunkhannock Creek to create Lake Naomi, it predates the resort community ringing the lake by 15 years.

But since it sits right across Route 423 from the lake, and since the community surrounds it, you have the option of joining the family-friendly Lake Naomi Club to take advantage of the facilities it maintains on and around the lake.

Fire pit

Even if you don’t join the club, though, you have several nice recreational facilities on your own property.

Front patio and hot tub

The outdoor facilities include a fire pit, front patio and hot tub. These might not see much use right now, but they’ll be there for you and your guests when the weather gets warmer.

Home theater

Home theater

Indoors, you will find a home theater with three tiers of seating and a huge projection screen in the garage next to the house. The unfinished basement may have fitness equipment, if I understand the property specification sheet correctly.

Main living area

The main floor consists of an open-plan main living area, three bedrooms and a bathroom. Huge picture windows offer views of the house’s wooded surroundings.

Living room

The living room includes an electric fireplace and built-in shelving.

Kitchen

The eat-in kitchen has plenty of cabinet space, modern stainless-steel appliances and room for a table that seats eight.

Sun porch

A sun porch sits off the kitchen.

First-floor bedroom

First-floor bedroom

All five bedrooms have ceiling fans that help the climate control system work more efficiently. The three on the first floor are compact.

First-floor bathroom

The first-floor bathroom has a tile-lined tub and shower.

Second-floor bedroom

Second-floor bedroom

The two second-floor bedrooms are more commodious. Both have dormer alcoves with seating and study nooks with desks.

Second-floor bathroom

The second-floor bathroom, however, is plainer, with a one-piece shower stall.

(If you have all five bedrooms filled, however, you might experience traffic jams in the morning if everyone decides to get ready to face the day all at once.)

Since so much has been packed into this Pocono Pines Dutch Colonial house for sale, you may not feel the need to join the Lake Naomi Club. But if you want to sunbathe on its beaches, go sailing on the lake, use its tennis courts, golf course and community center, or dine and drink at its clubhouse, you will need to. If you don’t, however, there are plenty of places nearby that offer recreational activities galore, including state game lands just up Route 423.

And when you and yours aren’t spending time here, you can help pay off its mortgage by offering it for rent as an Airbnb — that is, if you get things right with Tobyhanna Township and the Pocono Pines Community Association first.

Monroe County property records list this as a three-bedroom house, not a five-bedroom one.  This is based on the capacity of its septic system — and that “septic system” consists of a cesspool installed under the side patio when this house was built. Most neighboring properties have upgraded to septic tanks, and if you really want to earn income from renting this property out, you should do the same.

Until then, township ordinances governing short-term rentals limit you to the number of bedrooms the sewage system can handle — three. In addition, you will need to join the Lake Naomi Club in order to offer your guests access to the lake and its amenities, and the Club limits how many temporary memberships you can offer to visiting guests.

But if you do get things squared away, you can earn some income on the side. And the seller is willing to sell you the furniture you see here. That would make this a turnkey second home and rental property.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 5

BATHS: 2

SQUARE FEET: 2,128

SALE PRICE: $565,000

OTHER STUFF: An $860 annual homeowners association fee covers safety and security patrols and a capital reserve contribution; Tobyhanna Township maintains the roads. This, however, is separate from the membership fees for the Lake Naomi Club. Consult the membership section of the club website for information about application and membership fees. If you rent this house to visitors, the Lake Naomi Club also offers temporary memberships that you can extend to your lodgers, but as stated above, you must join the club in order to make those temporary memberships available.

215 Route 423, Pocono Pines, PA 18350 [Josh Messinger | HomeSmart Realty Advisors via Zillow]

Updated Jan. 9th, 2:47 p.m., to add the restrictions and conditions that attach to renting this property on a short-term basis to travelers.