What's the problem with this house? (Elizabeth, West Orange: job, college, diversity)

[LJeen]

$549,000 is cheap? With 7 bedrooms you'd think it would have more bathrooms. I can't imagine being able to buy a house at that price. How does anyone do it? Does everyone make 300,000 a year?? If they do why look in East Orange?

[EANJ]

Originally Posted by LJeen

$549,000 is cheap? With 7 bedrooms you'd think it would have more bathrooms. I can't imagine being able to buy a house at that price. How does anyone do it? Does everyone make 300,000 a year?? If they do why look in East Orange?

From a financial, economic, etc. perspective -- you don't need to make $300k annually in order to live in a $549k house. A $400k mortgage will cost you between (approx.) $2600 and $2800 per month (30 year fixed) -- tax deductible. Taxes and insurance . . . don't get me wrong, I am not trivializing that amount of money. However, in Bergen or Essex County $550k, in a nice neighborhood, doesn't get you a lot of house -- not at all.

[Diane Giam]

Originally Posted by LJeen

$549,000 is cheap? With 7 bedrooms you'd think it would have more bathrooms. I can't imagine being able to buy a house at that price. How does anyone do it? Does everyone make 300,000 a year?? If they do why look in East Orange?

There are some people that have sold homes that have gone up in value. They sell that house, and use the equity to buy a more expensive one.
That really isn't a tremendiously high price in NJ. The 7 bedrooms with only 1 full bath and the area is what would not make it the best investment. Alo, someone said the taxes were really high there so that would also be a minus.
It does look like a nice house, but the heat would be so expensive and older houses are so hard to heat.

Diane

[Rapture]

Originally Posted by casa carini

It could be haunted....and they are just trying to get rid of it fast.

That's funny!

Have a realtor look it up on the MLS to see ALL the details. There's agent to agent details that would not be seen on realtor.com

[AnesthesiaMD]

That same house in a nearby town like Livingston, Short Hills, Summit, Florham Park, etc... could easily cost twice that. Even with the 1.5 baths.

With 7 bedrooms, you have plenty of room to turn it into a 5 bedroom 4.5 bath. The problem is the location, not the house.

Again, why would someone spend the money for the house, renovations, and property taxes only to have to send their kids to private school?

[AnesthesiaMD]

Originally Posted by Melland

From my experience it seems like it's becoming a step up area for new families with rather significant incomes. 500K+ homes plus $1,000.00+ per month in taxes.

On realtor.com there are 35 pages of homes under 500K in West Orange and 14 pages of homes >500K. I bet the first 35 pages are selling a lot faster than the latter 14.
I have many friends in the townhouses of West Orange. None of them plan on staying once their kids are in grade school. We take our kids to visit friends at their pools in these town houses during the summer (We have been to all of them). What you see is young couples with toddlers or no kids, and elderly retirees. The most common discussion you hear is "What town are you going to move to when your kids start school?"

[susienj]

The first problem is that there are 7 bdrms. and only 1.5 bths. Why in the world would someone want that ratio? After reading the seller's disclosure, the house has had "dampness in the basement". There isn't any central air, house has steam radiators, unfinished basement, unkown flood area, unknown easements, no electric garage doors, driveway isn't paved, it's crushed stone, one or more rooms has linoleum flooring, and it's a very narrow lot. In one of the bedrooms, you'd be lucky not to hit your head on the ceiling. This house needs alot of money put into it to update it to today's standards, while still keeping the old feel of it.

[Kevin1975]

It looks like its on the corner of a main road (Gregory), that might be affecting it. I looked it up though , its not in a flood zone or anything.

[Melland]

Originally Posted by eskmd

What you see is young couples with toddlers or no kids, and elderly retirees. The most common discussion you hear is "What town are you going to move to when your kids start school?"

Interesting....We are getting different feedback from our friends who have kids in the schools of West Orange....2 are in the Gregory School & I believe the other is called Rosevelt, but not positive. They are educated people (One is a college professor at Columbia) and they have been very happy with the school system & how active the parents are involved.

The house in question appears to need over 100K in work....but the Gregory section is a beautiful part of WO.

[JERSEY MAN]

That house needs two words to describe it. "MONEY PIT"