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A cousin who grew up and went to school here posted this on her Facebook page and I thought for anyone who lives there they might appreciate it. My mom grew up and went to school here & my grandparents lived here for over 50 years and I still have family here now. I think this pretty much sums up why I like this town so much. If only it were affordable.
A cousin who grew up and went to school here posted this on her Facebook page and I thought for anyone who lives there they might appreciate it. My mom grew up and went to school here & my grandparents lived here for over 50 years and I still have family here now. I think this pretty much sums up why I like this town so much. If only it were affordable.
It's because of all these ex-NYers that any decent town in the NE quadrant of NJ is unaffordable. And the housing crash hasn't affected these towns much. It's maddening for true middle-class people trying to buy a house in the area.
From the article: "After visiting places like Chatham, Madison and Maplewood, they found their dream home, a $560,000 Colonial in Cranford with four bedrooms and 1 ½ baths. Some of the elimination process boiled down to economics."
Does anyone else find it insane to pay well over 500K for a place that does NOT even have 2 bathrooms? And this is considered a BARGAIN? It is absolutely insane.
The taxes in Cranford are considered "more reasonable". That = 15,000 a year instead of 25,000. Ludicrous. And we are talking about a hour to 1.5 hour commute to NYC here.
Do not mean to "diss" Cranford... it is a nice spot, but NYC suburbs are a rough deal.
It's because of all these ex-NYers that any decent town in the NE quadrant of NJ is unaffordable. And the housing crash hasn't affected these towns much. It's maddening for true middle-class people trying to buy a house in the area.
Most of these NYers would have stayed in NY if they had not gotten priced out of NY themselves. If you had the choice of either buying a tiny 2 bedroom apt with a lousy school district vs buying a big house with a good school district for your family, which are you going to choose? Moving to NJ is the best available solution for a lot of NY families. Where do you really except these people to go? Do you really expect them to not move to NJ just because you don't want them here?
Most of these NYers would have stayed in NY if they had not gotten priced out of NY themselves. If you had the choice of either buying a tiny 2 bedroom apt with a lousy school district vs buying a big house with a good school district for your family, which are you going to choose? Moving to NJ is the best available solution for a lot of NY families. Where do you really except these people to go? Do you really expect them to not move to NJ just because you don't want them here?
I understand your point. But where are the middle-class people who have lived in NJ there whole lives and now can't afford to stay supposed to go?
Northern NJ was never a cheap area in which to live. But the fact that a small group of obscenely wealthy people have caused the housing prices in this area to more than double over the course of a decade drives me crazy.
Housing prices doubled all over the country, not just NJ (except for a few areas, like some places in the midwest and Philadelphia, for some bizarre reason).
Thank yo for posting this article! We are building a new house in Cranford, and it calms me down to know that someone else who lived in the city appreciates it.
THIS is the kind of place that no one wants to leave. And those who do often find themselves angling to come back.
The Alexo family provides a good example. Ken Alexo Jr. grew up in Cranford but left after getting married: he and his wife, Alexandra, bought a house they could afford in Clark. Last October, eight years and three children later, they moved back to Cranford. Ms. Alexo said they had considered 30 or 40 houses, but only in Cranford. They “never looked anywhere else,” she said.
Ms. Alexo described her husband’s obsession as a “sickness” — but one she has come to empathize with. “It’s such a great place to grow up. You get attached; your roots are here. People just love it.”
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NY Times article (Oct 2010)
