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Very little of Middlesex County is "pretty" and quaint. It's either oldish, cape neighborhoods with gritty Main Streets in the northern half of the county, or bland, soul-less developments built on former farms in the southern half. In fact, the ONLY town in Middlesex I can think of with any character at all is Cranbury.
Monmouth on the other hand, while it has some of the above spread into the mix, has some absolutely breathtaking suburban towns, with stately homes with character, on tree-lined streets. Also, it's on the friggin ocean.
Middlesex is neither close to the city, nor close to the ocean. For me personally, I need to be extremely close to one or the other. Why else live in NJ?
Don't be offended.
I'm not offended, it's your opinion. I had many of my own unpleasant experiences and have absolutely no desire to go back there. When I made my choice to move here, it had mostly to do with my best friends who are in the area, and so far am very happy with the choice I've made and have not had any unpleasant experiences. I'm right next to New Brunswick, which has always been my favorite hot spot in the area. I regret not going to Rutgers.
Manalapan and Marlboro I think primarily consist of the bland soulless development on former farmland as well. The beaches in Monmouth County are just not as nice as places like Pt. Pleasant, Island Beach State Park, Ocean City, Seaside, Wildwood, Cape May or LBI. I love Ocean County, it's beautiful and much more asthetically pleasing as you get down there, and you lack the snob factor that Monmouth County has. It's impractical because of where I work, which is twelve minutes away from where I live now.
Last edited by Whoelsebutcharles; 06-20-2010 at 10:53 PM..
After reading this I would definitely have to agree:
Monmouth on the other hand is just one big desolate shore community for the filthy rich only, with new money as its specialty, aside from the white trash areas around Keansburg and parts of Middletown and some ghetto areas along the shoreline. It has literally forced out all of its middle class over the last ten years. Overall it has everything that I hate: Lowlife new money jerks, materialism, insular miserable empty-lived narrow minded SNOBS. A club for elites for the most part, in short, the snob capital of NJ. I still have friends from Brookdale in Freehold and Howell, they are struggling to make ends meet with their jobs, with no savings and are just making every bill. They're planning on leaving. Even the Turnpike just HATES to go there.
What a complete load of nonsense.
How is it nonsense? Step a mile outside Manalapan and you'll see the difference. I worked with a guy from Monroe who was a Staten Island transplant (like myself) and he hated all of NJ as he moved here in the middle of high school, while I've lived in NJ since I was nine years old. He was surprised I grew up in Manalapan since I'm a very nice guy and don't belitte people and act condescending towards people. He's like "oh your from Manalapan? Everyone I know from that area is real stuck up."
Someone else here not too long ago also referred to Monmouth County as the east coast's version of Orange County, CA.
No offense, but a town doesn't give a person alcoholism or depression. My dad's job sucks, but it is fairly steady, and my mom hasn't worked since I was born. In 99% of cases "financial problems" are due to people living beyond their means. If you can't afford a specific place, simply don't live there. I could never afford to living in Rumson, I could never afford to eat in and NYC Restaurant every night, I could never afford to go to Boston University but do I do it anyway and then cry when the bills are piling up? No.
Now you're putting words in my mouth. Depression is genetic, but has a huge effect on every aspect of your life. I say anyone who is fed up or frustrated with their surroundings truly needs to find a new place to live. Nothing wrong with the attitude of "if you don't like it, then leave." That's exactly what I did a year ago and have no regrets.
Yes financial problems come from living beyond your means. No one will be able to afford any of those towns in the next generation. My parents obviously now have money locked up in that house, that neighborhood, that town and that county, but they are always broke. Moving to Mpan in 1994 was a good investment with the increments of property value, but in retrospect that's really all it was.
If the OP is concerned about a snob factor, which I have no idea whether or not they are, I am giving a heads up and my take on it.
The average house in Monmouth County is priced over $600K, that is average. Manalapan has no rentals either aside from a few multi-families in Englishtown and a few condos bought and rented out by contractors. Is this even legal? The state mandates each town to have a certain amount of affordable housing due to the Mt. Laurel decision in the 1970's. Manalapan for one is lacking.
Last edited by Whoelsebutcharles; 06-20-2010 at 10:50 PM..
This Whoelsebutcharles character is a huge hater, I wouldn't take anything he says with a grain of salt.
I am a hater of snobs and arrogance, which that area has almost exclusively, and it is getting worse. I'm cool with anyone who is cool with me. If you're gonna stand there and talk down to me and make me feel bad about myself, then I don't need you in my life.
Just a suggestion, instead of going further South as you say, you could also check out areas near or in Union County which are closer via SI by just going over the Goethals Bridge. the usual suburban suspects, Cranford, Westfield and so on.
I totally agree with this post. If you have to commute to BK, I'd look into westfield, cranford, etc areas. Commute time could determine your quality of life since you could spend up to 3-4 hrs a day (assuming traffic) in your car just to get to work if you lived in either Monmouth or Middlesex counties.
Never said that, now you are putting words in my mouth. I was making a statement that I liked Monmouth better than Middlesex, and gave my experience/ reasons why. Sorry, I don't believe in school rankings, I feel as if they are based off nothing and people's experiences count more than rankings ever could, so I was sharing mine. If you cared to read the rest of my post you would see that I said this was my personal opinion, never claimed it had to be yours or anyone elses. Obviously EB is better than Asbury, but with all the people praising EB I am wondering when EB became the best schools ever? My cousin works for EB schools and is actually a PTA president or VP, not sure which and they have many, many issues with their schools.
As far as Spottswood, yes, my friend lives there and they have had a lot of problems with Gang Activity and crime. And Spottswood Shoprite isn't exactly the place to be.
I agree that Hazlet is very nice, probably the three nicest places for your demo would be Manalapan, East Windsor, or Hazlet. If money was only a small object (not no object, because if it was no object I would get a giant beach house) and I was trapped in NJ I love Millstone, and parts of Colts Neck, although if someone didn't like BIG but old homes with a lot a lot of land I can see why you wouldn't like it. This is my PERSONAL OPINION and is not meant to express the views of any other user
And I agree, having lived in Middlesex, and having many friends in Middlesex it wouldn't be a place I'd want to go, ever again.
How am I putting words in your mouth? You said:
"For me personally, Monmouth is much better than Middlesex as far as schools"
I didn't say it so don't cry foul when someone calls you out on it.
As far as your other ramblings, I don't live in or near either county so it means nothing to me.
The Rt 18 construction was horrific when i was there. Its a much better highway now. I remember that left turn from Commercial Ave onto 18 was an absolute disaster at 5PM.
LOL that's still a left-hand exit. Now they have those express lanes to get to Piscataway bypassing all the New Brunswick exits.
Talk about Rt 18 though, that entire road needs to be rebuilt, from where they redid it all the way down to Wall IMO. And how about they finish BUILDING the highway for six more miles like it was originally intended.
I totally agree with this post. If you have to commute to BK, I'd look into westfield, cranford, etc areas. Commute time could determine your quality of life since you could spend up to 3-4 hrs a day (assuming traffic) in your car just to get to work if you lived in either Monmouth or Middlesex counties.
Naturally so. My uncle lives in Scotch Plains and commutes to Morristown area and has no complaints about that. I think they love it there but my one cousin isn't too happy with her high school experience there at SPF. She is currently looking at schools outside the state for the most part. Then like me, she had her own snags growing up.
Aside from Scotch Plains and parts of Clark (the parts you have to go through to get to SP from exit 135) I'm not all that familiar with Union County. I do agree it would be a much easier commute, but some of the towns here are very expensive too. Scotch Plains, Westfield, Cranford, Berkeley Heights, Summit etc all come with a price tag. Clark and Union I think are cheaper, but Clark I've heard is a bit insular. Union borders Elizabeth, but it's the good side of Elizabeth - the bad side is down near Linden and the Roselles - on the other hand it also borders Irvington. Given a choice I wouldn't go near that.
Springfield from what I hear seems like a good balance. It's west of Union on Rt 22, but seems to be congested. Anyone?
For the record, I was also going to suggest parts of Passaic County - Clifton, Little Falls, Totowa, Wayne, Woodland Pk - but that is impractical if you work in Brooklyn. It might work if you're in Manhattan, but not Bklyn. My other uncle who still lives in Bklyn commutes to Fairfield everyday, but I don't know HOW he does it. The good thing about Rt 46 (which runs through this area) is that it has no lights.
Last edited by Whoelsebutcharles; 06-21-2010 at 10:25 PM..
"For me personally, Monmouth is much better than Middlesex as far as schools"
I didn't say it so don't cry foul when someone calls you out on it.
As far as your other ramblings, I don't live in or near either county so it means nothing to me.
As I general statement I stand by what I said??? I still believe I am right. I shared one experience, but I believe Monmouth schools are generally better than Middlesex and compared two comparable towns in each county. You then said about Asbury being better than EB, which WAS putting words in my mouth. I compared Manalapan and Old Bridge, two towns that are somewhat the median of each county (both have towns much better, and much worse in their county). Comparing Asbury and EB is like comparing apples and oranges (One being the lowest of lows in Monmouth, one being it the high ranks in Middlesex. ), while comparing Manalapan and Old Bridge is like comparing Bananas to Plantains, they have some differences but they are in the end a very similar fruit
My other "ramblings" weren't ramblings at all, they were comments answering specific people, my entire response wasn't directed at you
and we spend maybe $30 a week on groceries for 3 people.
Are you serious? If so please tell me your secret. The four of us go through 30 a day.....
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