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Introduction
My wife and I will move from Europe to the Princeton, NJ, area in mid-2011 for a job. After a 10-day area exploring / house hunting trip this month, we are currently seriously considering New Brunswick as the place to live.
Reasons for NB:
1. urban with bars & restaurants & shops etc. (although downtown didn't seem as alive as, e.g., Nassau Street in Princeton)
2. decent size which should make it easier for my wife to find a job / build up a social life (as compared to Princeton, for instance)
3. reasonable commute to NYC using public transportation in case 2 is invalidated
4. reasonable commute to Princeton using a car
We would like to live in an apartment building such as the Colony House, The Harrison, etc., because of views, privacy, quietness (at least from street noise) and being less-prone to burglary. I've read in some old posts (2006-ish) about (parts of) NB being not very safe. One post mentioned gangs in Franklin, which seems awfully close to Buccleuch Park. We have driven through many streets of NB, and some seemed a bit less maintained, but I did not feel unsafe. My wife did feel unconfortable in some streets however.
Also, when we were in NJ last month, we heard different stories about the safety, the different buildings and laws for renting. That's why I would like to ask a few questions here.
Questions:
-- Is it safe to live, e.g., in the Colony House, and for my wife to bicycle/walk from there through the park etc. towards the train station? (I'm also talking about evenings.) We did a Rutgers bus tour, and the guide said 'some parts' of NB are definitely shady, but he didn't have the time to explain what he meant by that, and which parts he referred to.
-- Which areas of NB should be definitely avoided for women at night? (We live in a big city in Europe with the usual city crime, so we are street wise w.r.t muggins and where not to go at night etc. but not so wise yet w.r.t gangs and whatnot and where not to go in NB.)
-- Is it correct that there is a NJ law (or NB law) that prevents landlords to increase the rental lease rate by more than 3%?
Many thanks for your opinions!
paul.
Background:
Moving with spouse in mid-2011 from Europe to Princeton, NJ, for a job. Will be initially renting with a budget of 1500-2000 USD (excl. gas, water, light etc.) Like safe and quiet neighbourhood within a walking/bicycle distance from a safe and lively/urban neighbourhood. Location must have relative potential for my wife to find employment / get a social life.
Well, it's not walking/biking distance to New Brunswick ... more like 10-15 minutes by car. But Hidden Lake in North Brunswick is an excellent community. It's in your price range, and the 3% rule applies there (as a matter of fact, it's NEVER, in the 8 years we've rented there, even come close to that).
It's got a cute towne center with shops, and a nice community center with a gym. There are two pools and six tennis courts, and the entire area is diverse and always busy with people jogging, cycling, and walking with their pets. Some of the apartments have fireplaces, and all have at least one covered balcony or patio.
It's a very picturesque neighborhood, with about 24 individual buildings scattered around about 2 square miles. Each building is only 2-3 stories high, surrounded by ornamental trees and shrubbery, wooded areas, gardens and ponds. There is ample parking, and the maintenance is pretty dependable.
It's about a 20-minute drive south on Routes 1 or 27 to Princeton. There's a bus to NYC that stops at Hidden Lake on Route 27, which takes about 1 hour. There's also an NJ Transit Station within a 5-minute drive.
If you decide to check it out, feel free to DM me. I'd love to give you further information, and/or a tour of the place.
Location: Splitting time between Dayton, NJ and Needmore, PA
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Both the Colony House and Harrison Towers are in safe areas of New Brinswick. Areas of New Brunswick to be aware of are more toward Suydam Street, Joyce Kilmer Ave., Remsen, Throop, and the industrial areas heading out Rte. 27 toward Franklin.
As RUNYYfan said both the Colony House and Harrison Towers are in fine areas. Downtown New Brunswick is great for restaurants/bars/theater etc. You will have no real safety issues walking/biking from downtown to the train station or Buccleuch Park. As long as you stay close to downtown and Rutgers U (i.e. - George St, College Ave, Easton Ave, etc.), safety will not be much of a concern.
There are many apartments off Rt 18 around Paulus Blvd, including some new towers closer to Albany St near the Hyatt, but those will be very expensive. Most of the neighborhoods in the better side of town consist of Rutgers housing, and I doubt you really want to live with a bunch of college kids.
There is nothing wrong with the neighborhood around Buccleuch Park, some nice houses on Lincoln Pl and those streets back there, but if you are looking to rent that probably wouldn't be an option. I honestly don't know anything about Harrison or Colony House, but that area is fine. Very pretty and scenic, right on the water.
The bad side is down on the other end of George St, heading toward Livingston Ave. Remsen Ave is still a bit shady between Sandford and Welton, but it is better there now than it used to be. I run over there in the daytime and have never had any problems, and I'm a scrawny white dude. Don't think I'd live there though. I would say avoid anything close to Rt 27 and/or Somerset St south of the whole Robert Wood Johnson vicinity because after you pass through the territory known as "Little Mexico" 27 becomes a line between New Brunswick and Franklin. That area is called "The Ville" and is pretty nasty. Franklin is the one place around here everyone stays away from. I don't think it is all that bad, but whenever I see news reports about crime in this general area it is ALWAYS in Franklin.
Have to agree with pvs, Hidden Lake is a very nice area, a bit far from the city limits if you want to be close IMO. In my area you can look at North Village along Cranbury Cross Rd which is a bit closer.
Hello! My husband and I were in a very similar situation 3 years ago, though we only moved from Chicago to New Brunswick to be close to Rutgers University. We looked at many of the cities surrounding and decided it had a central train station, and enough of a city feel for us to still feel urban yet be 30 miles from the city.
Princeton is a very safe, protected area with a seemingly wealthy population. We've enjoyed visiting there, but the housing wasn't an option for us due to cost. After much consideration, we bought a house in New Brunswick. It's clear to us now that "New Brunswick" has quite a reputation with locals; it must have been a dangerous place to be back in the 60s/70s. We live in an area that someone earlier in this string called "Little Mexico". If you're afraid of being in a working class hispanic neighborhood with a bunch of old hungarian people, then new brunswick might not work. It is urban and multicultural.
That said, there's a pretty cool Hungarian Fest every June on Somerset Street. If you're in town for it, you should check it out.
OK, and for apartment buildings - I've never been inside either, but the Harrison House is right up against Buccleigh Park. You'll love the park! There are a zillion tennis courts and they're open all the time! That's a decent little walk to the train, but not bad.
I like the look and location of these two apartment buildings:
Skyline Towers: [url=http://www.apartments.com/skylinetowers]Apartments for Rent in | Apartment in *[/url]
Highlands at Plaza Square: [url=http://www.apartments.com/thehighlandsatplazasquare]Apartments for Rent in | Apartment in *[/url]
Another place to look for homes might be [url=http://www.academichomes.com]AcademicHomes.com - Sabbatical homes for rent, for sale, for exchange, or for sitting.[/url]
Lastly! You seem concerned about your wife having a social scene. It's tough to make friends here. I've recently come across a pretty cool Meetup.com group called 20s 30s Social and Rotaract Club: 20s 30s Social and Service Club (a.k.a. Rotaract) (New Brunswick, NJ) - Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/rotaract-club-of-new-brunswick/ - broken link)
It's a group that gets together to do volunteer stuffs, nature things and socialize. This saturday we're going to a free lecture at the Princton Plasma Physics lab then grabbing lunch.
Best of luck to you!!!
Meg
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