Opinion: House on semi-busy street (stoplight nearby) in Piscataway. Buy or not? (best neighborhood)
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This is mainly to any folks who know the Piscataway area, but anyone's thoughts are welcome!
We saw a house online on Hoes Lane West in Piscataway (not the crazy busy Hoes Lane East). Nice house, huge lot. The problem is Hoes Lane. We've driven by the road and it's not hugely busy, but there's a stop light at the corner and Hoes Lane East is a busy road with cars going pretty fast. Thoughts? If you happen to live in P-way or know the area -- what's that road like?
I don't know the area or the road in question but ask yourself this: Is this house considerably cheaper than other similar houses in the same neighborhood? If so it's probably because of the road that it's on. You're here asking if it's a problem and most other buyers are probably having similar thoughts.
There are pros and cons to a house with a location like this. The pro being: The house is cheaper. Only pro I can think of but lets face it $$$ is a big deal.
Now the cons: If and when you ever sell this house you are going to encounter the same problem. You will have to list lower than other houses in the neighborhood because of the location. Again back to resale, you can not make too many improvements and expect a good ROI since again you have to list lower than the average. Another downside is if you have kids, is this a safe place for them to play? Sure most times they will play in the back but once they get older you can't keep them in the backyard forever. Is this a safe street for your kids to walk home from school on? Wait outside for the bus? (I mean safe as in is a car going to come zooming by and possibly hit your child not getting mugged or something). Does traffic get backed up there? Are you okay with traffic outside your house? How do you feel about people speeding in front of your house? Another thing, living on a busy street has the possibility of increasing the cost of your car insurance, are you okay with this? Have you built that into your budget? Also depending on how busy your street is you many feel more disconnected from your neighbors than you would on a small quiet side street (ofcourse some may see this as a huge plus).
There are many things to consider and I'm not saying that you should or should not be okay with these things just that you should consider them and be sure you know what you are getting into so that when they come up you are not caught surprised or left wishing you'd never bought the place.
I live in Piscataway. Is this that big white house at the corner of Hoes Lane and Hoes Lane West? If its by the traffic light, yes, it gets busy......there is a traffic light there! Hoes Lane West eventually leads to UMDNJ in Piscataway. There is a neighborhood just off of that street but those houses are mainly bilevels/ raised ranches....I live near there.
If you are looking for a home in Piscataway where you have a nice neighborhood where your kids could play with other kids, I don't think that location is ideal. Your kids would be isolated there....that could be good or bad depending on the person.
Personally, that was one thing I insisted on when purchasing our house. Having children, I refused to buy a house off a main road, but that's me.
We do live off another main, busy road in Piscataway, Metlars Lane, but we are in a subsection and I am not concerned about the kids safety due to how far off the road we are.
Not being a Realtor, I was concerned about re-sale if we were to buy directly on a main road, in addition to the kids safety. I can't imagine anyone with kids wanting to be on such a busy, most times noisy street!
I am currently looking for a home to purchase and I am staying away from any house off a main road, especially if it has traffic lights. i do not have kids yet or plan on any in the the near future (maybe like 5 years or so from now), but i want to be ready for when i do have kids. I don't see anything appealing about living directly off of a main road.
This is mainly to any folks who know the Piscataway area, but anyone's thoughts are welcome!
We saw a house online on Hoes Lane West in Piscataway (not the crazy busy Hoes Lane East). Nice house, huge lot. The problem is Hoes Lane. We've driven by the road and it's not hugely busy, but there's a stop light at the corner and Hoes Lane East is a busy road with cars going pretty fast. Thoughts? If you happen to live in P-way or know the area -- what's that road like?
You would generally expect it to list at a discount relative to a place on a quiet dead end street or a side street.
Whether or not it's worth it for you depends on whether you are more willing to pay for a quiet street than other buyers.
One thing that's important when buying a house is to carefully think through your priorities. Generally, it's best to have "the best" everything -- best school district, best commute time, best neighborhood, best downtown, best lot, best floor plan (e.g. plenty of space). If money is no object, everyone will tell you to take the more desirable object.
But when your financial resources are finite, you need to start thinking of tough choices. For example, is it more important to be in a more upscale neighborhood, or is it better to be on a quiet street ? And I think that answers T_woww's comment about there being "nothing appealing" about living on the main road. If living on the road makes the difference between a good versus a mediocre school district, a good versus sketchy neighborhood, or a detached house versus a condo, that is certainly "appealing" to a number of buyers.
Sure, if you have children, you don't want to live in a busy street. But are you prepared to raise your children in a worse neighborhood, a smaller living space, or a lesser school district to avoid that busy street ?
Isn't route 18 going to be extended thru that area ? That might be your reason right there.
It already is for awhile now. Rt 18 North ends/ turns into Hoes Lane in Piscataway. It used to turn into Metlars Lane at the intersection at River Rd. Traffic used to be horrible...back in the day.
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Something else to consider beyond what has already been noted is this:
In the Fall of each year Rutgers has six or seven home football games, most with start times either in the late afternoon or early evening. While most will be on Saturday afternoons, there may be some that will be on Thursday or Friday nights.
Traffic leaving the area from the lots on Busch Campus are fed out Frelinghuysen Road to Hoes Lane West, right on Hoes Lane West and out to Hoes Lane East to get out to Route 18 and 287. The number of vehicles heading out that way is significant, on the order of 400 to 500. The police will stop the traffic flow for upwards of five minutes to clear out the traffic on Hoes Lane East during this time.
Just saying it may be a fairly big negative.
Route 18 actually ends at the light on Hoes Lane East at Hoes Lane right now. To get a sense of what is planned for the Route 18 extension out to 287, I'd recommend looking at this link which is a PDF file of the project plan map as it currently stands. The full site for the project can be found here.
I hope this helps somewhat.
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