Still no economy to support the increase in home prices, so needless to say we got hit pretty hard in the Crash...Other drawback to the area since there is a shortage of Economy up here, would be the Commute time up and down the Cajon Pass, 4000' elevation climb in just a few miles, " the Pass" has been know to ruin a brand new car before you are even done paying it off, so figure in a new car payment if you are thinking about commuting to work from here...  

Latest estimate I saw was $150/sqft to build not including the land.

As a former New Yorker who was a realtor in both NY and PA (Orange Co, NY and NEPA) I learned a lot about North Eastern PA which includes the Pocono Mtns and Scranton-Wilkes Barre area.

I live in Ca, this property includes a liquor license.  

There are safe financing choices for real estate ventures, including seller financing, hard money loans, private loans, government-backed loans, crowdfunding platforms, and traditional mortgages.

The rent needs to be 1800-2000 to break it even ( including maintenance and PM). 

The other options include: -moving into the property for a year to qualify for loan products such as FHA or conventional.

If a hilltop home was a potential purchaser's goal these are some estimates we got for professional work:Getting power to the hilltop will cost about 50-60k according to the local power company. 66k for overhead lines, 52k for buried (not including trenching). $3600 for a septic permit & design about 50k for sitework (very long driveway), though foresters have noted the potential for NRCS funding for road improvement and invasive species management (i.e. clearing the 8-acre area which has blackberry bushes galore) which we are in the very early stages of looking into. 

You have to run your own numbers but compared to a 203k loan the NACA lower rate and no closing costs were a slam dunk even including the potential 25k.

Does your lease agreement include verbiage that holds them accountable for issues like that?