Middle Class in Rumson??? (Red Bank, Lincroft: best neighborhood, sales, rent)

[Metsfan53]

Thanks for the financial advice. Getting back to the original topic- does anyone have any input form experience?

[Metsfan53]

bump

[OysterCatcher]

I started another similar thread Fair Haven vrs Rumson. I actually did a tour of both towns yesterday and here is what I found;

Fair Haven can be broken into three sections. The first section is the West side which borders Red Bank, modest size homes, some taken care of well, some not so much. The second section is the East side which borders Rumson (realtors call this section River Oaks). Here the homes are generally expanded ranches, added on to or torn down and large homes put in its place. This section is considerable more affluent. The third and most expensive/affluent area is the homes to the North of River Rd, bordering the Navesink River. Here you can expect prices to be in the millions.

Rumson on the other hand has two sections really. The first is a modest neighborhood and streets surrounding the downtown/business district and schools. Here you can find many different style of home, cape, ranch, colonial, arts/crafts even victorian. These homes look mostly like 50's built and earlier. I found even though the homes were generally small on small lots they were all meticulously cared for. A look on Zillow showed many sold in the 300K-500K range over the past two years. The second section is everything else which are generally gated mansions along the rivers and main roads.

Of course Rumson is very affluent, however it seems a large portion (main area) of the town is made up of these modest homes. From this area everything is walkable within reach, schools, reastaurants, shops. The beach is a mile away, the schools are tops and the taxes are low. I say go for it. It seems like a great place to live. I may follow you there.

[Metsfan53]

Thanks Osyter.
I saw your post and was thinking of replying as well to jump start the conversation-as we seem to be in the same boat.

I really like Fair Haven as well- except the taxes are much higher. We seem to be looking in river oaks section- however even in that area there are some less desirable homes mixed alongside nicer ones.

It seems many available homes are outrageously priced- even for Rumson/Fair Haven and that there is very little inventory at this point.

I'd love to move to either- if we can find the right home- it seems that eventually many of homeowners come to realize proper values and then the homes sell, but in may cases we are seeing homes 100K+ overpriced. It makes it tough to scout out what we want when pricing is in fantasy land- the well priced ones move quickly.

There are many homes that are more modest - under 650K as a reference=- however many of those under 500K are awful- and seem to be shacks that people owned many years ago and are trying to "cash in a lottery ticket" at unreal prices. I know 500+ is not much in these towns- but these homes are still 100K+ overpriced. I see homes under 1400sf with no updating on blocks where zillow (whatever its use) showing surrounding homes for 300K, asking 600K for similar- its insane. Hopefully when we are 100% ready more volume comes to the market at realistic prices.

I just wish residents or people in the know would share their thoughts on middle class in rumson or fair haven- I have seen many residents from those towns post on here- hopefully they will be kind enough to share in the near future....

[OysterCatcher]

Originally Posted by Metsfan53

Thanks Osyter.
I saw your post and was thinking of replying as well to jump start the conversation-as we seem to be in the same boat.

I really like Fair Haven as well- except the taxes are much higher. We seem to be looking in river oaks section- however even in that area there are some less desirable homes mixed alongside nicer ones.

It seems many available homes are outrageously priced- even for Rumson/Fair Haven and that there is very little inventory at this point.

I'd love to move to either- if we can find the right home- it seems that eventually many of homeowners come to realize proper values and then the homes sell, but in may cases we are seeing homes 100K+ overpriced. It makes it tough to scout out what we want when pricing is in fantasy land- the well priced ones move quickly.

There are many homes that are more modest - under 650K as a reference=- however many of those under 500K are awful- and seem to be shacks that people owned many years ago and are trying to "cash in a lottery ticket" at unreal prices. I know 500+ is not much in these towns- but these homes are still 100K+ overpriced. I see homes under 1400sf with no updating on blocks where zillow (whatever its use) showing surrounding homes for 300K, asking 600K for similar- its insane. Hopefully when we are 100% ready more volume comes to the market at realistic prices.

I just wish residents or people in the know would share their thoughts on middle class in rumson or fair haven- I have seen many residents from those towns post on here- hopefully they will be kind enough to share in the near future....

Yeah you're right about that, but just like everywhere else 5 years ago those houses did sell for that much. So they have to come to terms with today's market. Since the area is so desireable there will never be many houses (inventory) to choose from. Your best bet it seems is to find one you like (or at least could live with) or fix up, then wait them out until the seller accepts what it's worth. That's what I think and feel it would take to move there.

[OysterCatcher]

I do feel there are some good options on the market right now in Rumson. Here is my rundown;

Ridge Rd - Farm House asking 549K, if you get at 500K good buy
Ave Two Rivers - Colonial asking 529k decent property, way overpriced expect it to sell at 450K
Center st - spilt ranch - nice house except no backyard and only 1 1/2 bath asking 519K should sell at 460-480K
Rosalie st - small ranch asking 499K should sell around 420K
1st st 475K big house small property will sell at 450K
Bingham st - Victorian asking 375K BEST BUY IN TOWN, as long as there are no major problems with it

[OysterCatcher]

No response yet for OP's original question?

[Metsfan53]

It looks like there isn't!

[OysterCatcher]

I did a drive through last weekend it seems there is plenty of middle class (white collar types) within the business district area and around the schools. Homes are mostly small on small plots of land around the 500-600K budget. You really don't get alot of house or land for your money. What you do get is the great schools, prestigise zipcode, proximity to beach (1 mile) and walking neighborhoods.

Also what I did feel is the area b/w the schools and downtown while nice would be tough to park on the streets as they are very narrow. Many homes have little to no yard space. You did have lots of action and people walking around and it seemed nice, clean and safe but somewhat tight and crowded. I felt like the further you got away from that part the bigger the homes, the bigger the yards and quieter it got.

I also toured Fair Haven more closely than I have before. I feel this is a nice well rounded town. Here you have a good mix of middle class, upper middle class and some upper class. If you look at homes for sale in both towns, you'll see some homes along the Navesink in the 1 to 2 million range but that's about the upper limit. In contrast, Rumson has many more homes in this range, but also many homes into the multi millions up to 10 million. I also felt the main street in Fair Haven was more family oriented and had more to offer.

In conclusion while there are some blocks in Fair Haven I felt were not attractive, Fair Haven would be a better choice if your price range is around 500K. You'll get more house, more land and a better middle class family experience than the neighbor to the East.

[Metsfan53]

Thanks-
The problem we've noticed is that the taxes are much higher in FH than Rumson. We love FH-it was our original choice but taxes will only go up- and the difference in price for a 2K sqf home with 3 br and 2 bth on 1/4 acre are not enough to justify the difference- unless we want to live on the less attractive streets like Jackson for example.

650K seems to be the sweet spot for FH a bit out of our range- but most of the homes in the 500-575 range are grossly overpriced. For the same monthly all in I can go to 6 in rumson w/o the tax burden - and the 600K homes in rumson are much nicer than the 550K homes in FH. There are a handful of homes in FH in River Oaks section which is beautiful for the most part- over by the pond, that we are watching and if they get realistic in price we'd be in on- but that assumes a 50-100K drop in price- which is realistic based on recent sales on those blocks for similar homes.