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Someone told me that Hoboken actually used to be a bad place, but over the years it seems to have underwent a renaissance and it is now a very desirable place to live in. I don't know the history of Hoboken too well, though I'm fond of the city and I visit it often. Thanks.
Hoboken was very much a blue collar industrial town. It went through various stages/changes over the years. In recent years it has become more "upscale" and popular among younger professionals.
in 1994 my friends and I went out in Hoboken and they made me drive because I had a rental car with insurance and we needed to park in the bad section (probably around 2nd and clinton). We didn't want to pay in the lots that were on the decks along the river because they were falling down
Ah ok, so it was a dump. Interesting how places can turn around. Hopefully other New Jersey cities, that have potential, can be fixed and turned around. I imagine Hoboken's location helped get it some attention as well.
I live in West Hoboken ( Union City) i worked in hoboken in years some areas are beautiful and some not very much. It used to look like a dump back in the 80s an the 90s but its now its good looking town the area you can consider a "dump " is the projects and an industrial area ( walk past shop rite and you see old run down seedy buildings and abandoned factories) other then there rest of the town is beautiful nice houses and apartments.
Yes, Hoboken used to be a dump.
When I worked for NJ's Bureau of Children's Services, back in 1967, I had occasion to visit some particularly vile, run-down tenements in Hoboken, and I can tell you that they rivaled anything in the central ward of Newark at that time.
By contrast, a lot of older Hoboken residents were still residing in townhouses that had been in their families for many, many years, and those homes were decently-maintained, but Hoboken also contained many of the incredibly-bad slum buildings that I had to visit while working for that state agency.
Somewhere around the early '70s, I read an article in New York magazine, detailing how some New Yorkers, fed up with the high cost of housing in Manhattan, were beginning to buy some of the decently-maintained townhouses from older Hoboken residents. Although the term, "urban homesteader", was not yet in the parlance, these New Yorkers were in the vanguard of that movement.
The magazine article mentioned that it was possible to buy one of these Hoboken townhouses (unrestored and somewhat primitive, but also unsullied by tacky '60s & '70s renovations) for...believe it or not...$14,000! Then, after spending...perhaps...$5,000 on repairs and renovations, someone could have a very decent home to reside in or to resell at a moderate profit.
Since my brother and I could have come up with a downpayment of at least half of the purchase price of one of these, "gems in the rough", we actually pondered whether we should buy one of these old townhouses, fix it up, and resell it, in order to make...perhaps...a few thousand $$. After thinking about this idea for a couple of days, we mutually came to the conclusion...But, it's Hoboken! How much could one of those buildings ever be worth, even if it was fixed-up?
And so, at that point, we abandoned our idea of profiting from Hoboken real estate.
As you can probably guess, one of those buildings is now worth probably about $1 million, if it is located in one of the better areas of the city.
In order to make money in real estate, you have to have vision for what something could be worth in the future, and--unfortunately--my brother and I lacked that type of vision.
Last edited by Retriever; 01-30-2013 at 05:57 AM..
Yes, Hoboken used to be a dump.
When I worked for NJ's Bureau of Children's Services, back in 1967, I had occasion to visit some particularly vile, run-down tenements in Hoboken, and I can tell you that they rivaled anything in the central ward of Newark at that time.
By contrast, a lot of older Hoboken residents were still residing in townhouses that had been in their families for many, many years, and those homes were decently-maintained, but Hoboken also contained many of the incredibly-bad slum buildings that I had to visit while working for that state agency.
Somewhere around the early '70s, I read an article in New York magazine, detailing how some New Yorkers, fed up with the high cost of housing in Manhattan, were beginning to buy some of the decently-maintained townhouses from older Hoboken residents. Although the term, "urban homesteader", was not yet in the parlance, these New Yorkers were in the vanguard of that movement.
The magazine article mentioned that it was possible to buy one of these Hoboken townhouses (unrestored and somewhat primitive, but also unsullied by tacky '60s & '70s renovations) for...believe it or not...$14,000! Then, after spending...perhaps...$5,000 on repairs and renovations, someone could have a very decent home to reside in or to resell at a moderate profit.
Since my brother and I could have come up with a downpayment of at least half of the purchase price of one of these, "gems in the rough", we actually pondered whether we should buy one of these old townhouses, fix it up, and resell it, in order to make...perhaps...a few thousand $$. After thinking about this idea for a couple of days, we mutually came to the conclusion...But, it's Hoboken! How much could one of those buildings ever be worth, even if it was fixed-up?
And so, at that point, we abandoned our idea of profiting from Hoboken real estate.
As you can probably guess, one of those buildings is now worth probably about $1 million, if it is located in one of the better areas of the city.
In order to make money in real estate, you have to have vision for what something could be worth in the future, and--unfortunately--my brother and I lacked that type of vision.
Was hoboken that of a dump in the mid 60s ? In the 80s from what i heard hoboken had fires in apartments everywhere just like the bronx is burning.
I mean, some could still argue that Hoboken still is a huge dump. You can only hide the toxicity of the grounds that these new lofts are built on so much
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retriever
Yes, Hoboken used to be a dump.
When I worked for NJ's Bureau of Children's Services, back in 1967, I had occasion to visit some particularly vile, run-down tenements in Hoboken, and I can tell you that they rivaled anything in the central ward of Newark at that time.
By contrast, a lot of older Hoboken residents were still residing in townhouses that had been in their families for many, many years, and those homes were decently-maintained, but Hoboken also contained many of the incredibly-bad slum buildings that I had to visit while working for that state agency.
Somewhere around the early '70s, I read an article in New York magazine, detailing how some New Yorkers, fed up with the high cost of housing in Manhattan, were beginning to buy some of the decently-maintained townhouses from older Hoboken residents. Although the term, "urban homesteader", was not yet in the parlance, these New Yorkers were in the vanguard of that movement.
The magazine article mentioned that it was possible to buy one of these Hoboken townhouses (unrestored and somewhat primitive, but also unsullied by tacky '60s & '70s renovations) for...believe it or not...$14,000! Then, after spending...perhaps...$5,000 on repairs and renovations, someone could have a very decent home to reside in or to resell at a moderate profit.
Since my brother and I could have come up with a downpayment of at least half of the purchase price of one of these, "gems in the rough", we actually pondered whether we should buy one of these old townhouses, fix it up, and resell it, in order to make...perhaps...a few thousand $$. After thinking about this idea for a couple of days, we mutually came to the conclusion...But, it's Hoboken! How much could one of those buildings ever be worth, even if it was fixed-up?
And so, at that point, we abandoned our idea of profiting from Hoboken real estate.
As you can probably guess, one of those buildings is now worth probably about $1 million, if it is located in one of the better areas of the city.
In order to make money in real estate, you have to have vision for what something could be worth in the future, and--unfortunately--my brother and I lacked that type of vision.
Some of my immediate family was born and raised in hoboken. They sold an apartment on 8 or 9 and Wash. back in the late 1980s for 300K. Actually not a bad price for the 80s, but now it's probably worth almost a mill.
Hoboken was different even as close back as 10 years ago. I used to go there to visit my grandmother back in high school. It was as "hot" as it is today, certainly less crowded, more laid back and less guido and bro bars.
Of course don't ever get my dad and my grandmother started on the "gold old days" in hoboken during a family dinner. You'll eventually want to gauge your eyes out with a knife. They never shut the hell up about this family who owned this building, snackenbergs bakery, the old factories, the random deaths by people they knew, the flooding, the riots, Ugh, I always have to remind them that Hoboken is not the center of the universe and most people don't know or care about it.
In the early 80's it was definitely a major dump. Not necessarily dangerous, but a total dump. It started to re-gentrify in the mid-90's.
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