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My wife and i are relocating to the Philadelphia area and one town we are considering is Cherry Hill East. We find the price points reasonable, the school district to be very good and the homes to be newer/modern living. We must have 4 bedrooms due to visiting family so the housing stock gives us everything we want and some of the developments are quite nice with old growth trees and nice land etc. We can get over no actual town and are ok with the 30-40 min commute.
The real problem we are having is the homes seem to not appreciate in value compared to say, Haddonfield, Moorestown or PA side Main Line areas. With such vast urban sprawl and so many of the same model of home, we wonder if we would ever see a return on the investment of purchasing here. We see home after home go through tens of thousands of dollars in price reductions, some even as much as $100k and still can't sell. I wouldn't want to buy a home, live in it for 10 years and have it barely appreciate in value enough to pay a realtor to sell it. It seems like getting in is easy, but getting out is a nightmare. Am i not seeing this clearly?
My wife and i are relocating to the Philadelphia area and one town we are considering is Cherry Hill East. We find the price points reasonable, the school district to be very good and the homes to be newer/modern living. We must have 4 bedrooms due to visiting family so the housing stock gives us everything we want and some of the developments are quite nice with old growth trees and nice land etc. We can get over no actual town and are ok with the 30-40 min commute.
The real problem we are having is the homes seem to not appreciate in value compared to say, Haddonfield, Moorestown or PA side Main Line areas. With such vast urban sprawl and so many of the same model of home, we wonder if we would ever see a return on the investment of purchasing here. We see home after home go through tens of thousands of dollars in price reductions, some even as much as $100k and still can't sell. I wouldn't want to buy a home, live in it for 10 years and have it barely appreciate in value enough to pay a realtor to sell it. It seems like getting in is easy, but getting out is a nightmare. Am i not seeing this clearly?
South Jersey is still rebounding from the bubble. For the past 5+ years, people buy in this area does so because they don't look at it as an investment. Ask yourself this, does it make it a good investment when you are paying $10K+ property tax a year? If you want to invest, buy in the city and stay for 2+ years and sell. Your chance of being to make some money is better than buying in the suburb.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by cwwajm
My wife and i are relocating to the Philadelphia area and one town we are considering is Cherry Hill East. We find the price points reasonable, the school district to be very good and the homes to be newer/modern living. We must have 4 bedrooms due to visiting family so the housing stock gives us everything we want and some of the developments are quite nice with old growth trees and nice land etc. We can get over no actual town and are ok with the 30-40 min commute.
The real problem we are having is the homes seem to not appreciate in value compared to say, Haddonfield, Moorestown or PA side Main Line areas. With such vast urban sprawl and so many of the same model of home, we wonder if we would ever see a return on the investment of purchasing here. We see home after home go through tens of thousands of dollars in price reductions, some even as much as $100k and still can't sell. I wouldn't want to buy a home, live in it for 10 years and have it barely appreciate in value enough to pay a realtor to sell it. It seems like getting in is easy, but getting out is a nightmare. Am i not seeing this clearly?
Cherry Hill homes do increase in value.
Here's a clue on real estate in Cherry Hill, having lived there over 40 years. It used to be practically a company town for RCA. That hasn't totally gone away except now it's Lockheed, which has taken over RCA. Historically, when there's a layoff at RCA, now Lockheed, a lot of houses go on the market & it does have an effect on price. There was a layoff at Lockheed about a year ago. If you're in it for the long-term you'll see a profit.
If you want a quick profit, as was already said, look in the city.
Interesting. I know of Lockheed Martin in Moorestown so what you say makes sens. We're not talking of buying this house as an "investment" as you would think of a rental property or city property where the goal is to make money...the point here is more about being comfortable about investing money in a house and a neighborhood. It's very rare people stay in homes for 30-40 years now and see houses go from $60,000 to $600,000 as they did in my parents day. So the concern is buying in a town that has solid value and that conservatively in 10 years, if we have to move again, the home will have appreciated in value to cover realtor, moving etc and actually make some profit...otherwise, why buy at all? May as well just rent a home and keep money invested in other things.
Interesting. I know of Lockheed Martin in Moorestown so what you say makes sens. We're not talking of buying this house as an "investment" as you would think of a rental property or city property where the goal is to make money...the point here is more about being comfortable about investing money in a house and a neighborhood. It's very rare people stay in homes for 30-40 years now and see houses go from $60,000 to $600,000 as they did in my parents day. So the concern is buying in a town that has solid value and that conservatively in 10 years, if we have to move again, the home will have appreciated in value to cover realtor, moving etc and actually make some profit...otherwise, why buy at all? May as well just rent a home and keep money invested in other things.
That's not to say the if you buy something now and sell in 10 years, you will be able to sell it for 10%-20% more but it's hard to say. Again, houses in the area are finally priced closer to what they were 10 years ago so if you were to take your scenario, people who purchase 10 years ago are looking to break even if they are lucky. People bought 15 years ago.. they are on the plus side. Also remember that whenever you sell after 10+ years, there are renovation cost.
Why buy at all? Yes.. that's a question you need to ask yourself. I have neighbors that are renting for $2500+ a month. One may think that doesn't make sense but if you account for the $1000+ a month in real estate tax, than it makes perfect sense.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cwwajm
Interesting. I know of Lockheed Martin in Moorestown so what you say makes sens. We're not talking of buying this house as an "investment" as you would think of a rental property or city property where the goal is to make money...the point here is more about being comfortable about investing money in a house and a neighborhood. It's very rare people stay in homes for 30-40 years now and see houses go from $60,000 to $600,000 as they did in my parents day. So the concern is buying in a town that has solid value and that conservatively in 10 years, if we have to move again, the home will have appreciated in value to cover realtor, moving etc and actually make some profit...otherwise, why buy at all? May as well just rent a home and keep money invested in other things.
Real estate took a huge dump in 2008. Some markets have recovered, some have not, & some are recovering.
In Cherry Hill I'd look at Barclay & Erlton (south of rt 70) with extra scrutiny. Very different neighborhoods with different dynamics, but those houses are solidly built.
One other area we are looking at is Moorestown. The housing stock varies a lot as does the home type/size & price but we like the feel of the town and intimacy of it. Does anyone have any argument that Moorestown holds value better? The thing we see in Cherry Hill is the homes are mainly developments, so there are maybe 10 or more of the exact same home, making it hard for one to go up beyond others. We do see individual developments being valued more or less than others which makes sense. Moorestown seems to have less of that, so my feeling is things are priced more individually on their own merits as opposed to what the same model sold for 1 block over.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cwwajm
One other area we are looking at is Moorestown. The housing stock varies a lot as does the home type/size & price but we like the feel of the town and intimacy of it. Does anyone have any argument that Moorestown holds value better? The thing we see in Cherry Hill is the homes are mainly developments, so there are maybe 10 or more of the exact same home, making it hard for one to go up beyond others. We do see individual developments being valued more or less than others which makes sense. Moorestown seems to have less of that, so my feeling is things are priced more individually on their own merits as opposed to what the same model sold for 1 block over.
There is a fair amount of variance in home prices in the developments. Many are from the 60s. updated homes go for more. Many have additions. Have you spent time in Cherry Hill or are you looking online?
We've seen a number of them (developments as well as individual houses) in person. There are definitely certain developments which we are drawn to more than others and they tend to be the more high priced ones.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by cwwajm
We've seen a number of them (developments as well as individual houses) in person. There are definitely certain developments which we are drawn to more than others and they tend to be the more high priced ones.
Barclay & Wexford Leas were built by Bob Scarborough. He was a quality builder. Barclay was built first so it will be less.
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