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So my husband and I along with our two kids, 3 year old and 9 month old baby are considering moving from Princeton, NJ to Monmouth County. The prices in Princeton to upgrade our home are way too expensive. We are looking to move to a nice family town with great schools. Our budget is low $600k. We would not
mind a town with a downtown or even close to Redbank - close drive to the beaches would be nice too. Any suggestions?? Thanks for any information!
where is your commute for work? How long would you consider tolerable for commute? What are your housing expectations? What size lot do you need? Do you need top 20 HS or is top 60 HS ok? Does diversity matter? Assuming public schools?
Do you need to be close to a church, close to shopping, walkable to schools, walkable to downtown?
Hi there - thanks for responding. I am a stay at home mom and my husband travels weekly out of an airport. I believe Newark airport is about an hour from this area correct? We would like a 3-4 bedroom single family home larger than what we have now which is 1,400 square feet! Yes we would like our kids to attend good public schools and we would prefer walkable schools. I am not familiar with the rankings you note above but a good school district is a priority A home walkable to downtown is not as important as being in close driving distance to let's say Redbank or somewhere similar or the ocean versus a nice home in a good school district within our budget.
Let me know what you think and thanks! Also if you know anything about Brick, NJ let me know.
Hi there - thanks for responding. I am a stay at home mom and my husband travels weekly out of an airport. I believe Newark airport is about an hour from this area correct? We would like a 3-4 bedroom single family home larger than what we have now which is 1,400 square feet! Yes we would like our kids to attend good public schools and we would prefer walkable schools. I am not familiar with the rankings you note above but a good school district is a priority A home walkable to downtown is not as important as being in close driving distance to let's say Redbank or somewhere similar or the ocean versus a nice home in a good school district within our budget.
Let me know what you think and thanks! Also if you know anything about Brick, NJ let me know.
Have a great day! Andrea
Andrea - I'm from NJ and moved out of state in 2007. I lived in Atlantic Highlands prior to moving but also lived in Union County and Middlesex County. My husband also travels to EWR for work. I'm chiming in because ever since moving from MC, I have missed it greatly. I can name several towns that would be great but the things I would check are: school ratings, crime, closest to GSP or another hwy that gets your husband quickly and easily to the airport.
Monmouth County is great. I really loved living there and there are many great towns. I really like Red Bank and used to go there all the time but mostly to hang out at restaurants/bars and shop. Some parts are not so great and maybe someone else can say what side to stay away from. My friend lives there and I think she said stay away from west side? Not sure but I was also looking to move there. I am moving back (finally) but to Laurence Harbor. My budget is smaller, my husband wasn't as willing to travel as far so the house we found is in an ok town but we don't have kids. I was a Realtor so usually with kids the schools and crime are mostly what people ask about.
If you Google "rate schools" a couple sites come up that you can check ratings.
Most towns around there are safe, in fact Red Bank may have more crime then the surrounding towns.
Little Silver is nice, Rumson, Tinton Falls, Lincroft but when looking at houses online you can map how close to Parkway or train station.
If looking down hwy 36 there are some nice towns but harder or longer to get up north. Also keep in mind since Sandy a lot of towns are now considered flood zones and flood insurance can be very high. I just went through all of this so make sure you ask about flood zones.
If you travel a little further north from Red Bank up hwy 35 is Middletown and most of that area is ok also to check out. Holmdel even further north is very nice. All of these towns are close to beach, NYC, trains, shopping...this is why I loved it so much. Wishing you best of luck on your search.
Last edited by Global Friend; 09-13-2015 at 03:34 PM..
At your budget I would recommend Shrewsbury and Little Silver, possibly Fair Haven. Both have great grade schools, and nice neighborhoods. LS is split into two schools, the younger school is in a more $$ area than the middle school. The middle school, Markham Place is indeed walkable and right near the little downtown of LS with a few restaurants including Zoe, Little Szechuan (best chinese in area), a pizzeria& the original Turning Point I believe. (great bkfst brunch spot). Also the town grocery store, 2 drug stores, dry cleaner, and a nice wine shop among other things are nearby. LS is more $$ than Shrewsbury so house would be smaller/less fixed up but closer to the water as well but still a nice house.
Shrewsbury would give you a bigger house in your range, certain areas have sidewalks and one in particular is walkable to the town school (K-8), Bagel Masters (best bagels around the area) as well as a nice park, post office, and the Grove(nice higher end outdoor shopping facility). There's a little public open space cut--through that extends this to a cpl more "neighborhoods" too. Shrewsbury is a bit further from ocean (12 min to as little as 8 or so in LS) but Shrewsbury has Trader Joes, Panera, is closer to Red Bank, and shopping in Eatontown like A & P, Lowes, reasonably priced gas stations, and the entrance to the parkway. Would give you biggest house- 4BR prob 2.5-3 baths fixed up in good shape.
Both feed into Red Bank Regional HS which is very good, and has a bit of diversity to it. It offers IB program, AP, and has a renowned performing arts academy. Mounmouth County also has the Monmouth County Vocational district which requires top grades and an entrance exam to place, but several among the schools are routinely named among the tops in the county, High Tech High and Biotech usually.
Both are great family towns with plenty to walk to, friendly people, lots of parks and rec activities, things like Easter Egg hunts, or town fairs/parades, etc.
Fair Haven is a great town but at 600K it would be somewhat shocking what you get housewise. If you can live with a smaller house (3BR 2 bath under 2K sq ft) or living in the least desirable part of town (keep in mind its still in FH and still nice) its worth checking out- great tradition where kids bike to school, nice parks, firemans fair, etc. The HS is Rumson-FH whihc is usually top 20-25 in NJ -but rumson kids also attend obv- may not be an issue- but Rumson is among the wealthiest towns in the US- so things like kids getting a BMW on 17th birthday may be present- just an FYI- some people dont care, some do- just worht pointing out.
Either way- you cant lose with all three towns- come for a drive, hang out and get a feel now that the "Bennies" have left..I kid....WE moved here a cpl years ago and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
Thank you both so much for the high level of details in both your responses! I find both of your emails extremely helpful and will refer to them throughout our search process. Thanks again and hope you both have a great evening!!
At your budget I would recommend Shrewsbury and Little Silver, possibly Fair Haven. Both have great grade schools, and nice neighborhoods. LS is split into two schools, the younger school is in a more $$ area than the middle school. The middle school, Markham Place is indeed walkable and right near the little downtown of LS with a few restaurants including Zoe, Little Szechuan (best chinese in area), a pizzeria& the original Turning Point I believe. (great bkfst brunch spot). Also the town grocery store, 2 drug stores, dry cleaner, and a nice wine shop among other things are nearby. LS is more $$ than Shrewsbury so house would be smaller/less fixed up but closer to the water as well but still a nice house.
Shrewsbury would give you a bigger house in your range, certain areas have sidewalks and one in particular is walkable to the town school (K-8), Bagel Masters (best bagels around the area) as well as a nice park, post office, and the Grove(nice higher end outdoor shopping facility). There's a little public open space cut--through that extends this to a cpl more "neighborhoods" too. Shrewsbury is a bit further from ocean (12 min to as little as 8 or so in LS) but Shrewsbury has Trader Joes, Panera, is closer to Red Bank, and shopping in Eatontown like A & P, Lowes, reasonably priced gas stations, and the entrance to the parkway. Would give you biggest house- 4BR prob 2.5-3 baths fixed up in good shape.
Both feed into Red Bank Regional HS which is very good, and has a bit of diversity to it. It offers IB program, AP, and has a renowned performing arts academy. Mounmouth County also has the Monmouth County Vocational district which requires top grades and an entrance exam to place, but several among the schools are routinely named among the tops in the county, High Tech High and Biotech usually.
Both are great family towns with plenty to walk to, friendly people, lots of parks and rec activities, things like Easter Egg hunts, or town fairs/parades, etc.
Fair Haven is a great town but at 600K it would be somewhat shocking what you get housewise. If you can live with a smaller house (3BR 2 bath under 2K sq ft) or living in the least desirable part of town (keep in mind its still in FH and still nice) its worth checking out- great tradition where kids bike to school, nice parks, firemans fair, etc. The HS is Rumson-FH whihc is usually top 20-25 in NJ -but rumson kids also attend obv- may not be an issue- but Rumson is among the wealthiest towns in the US- so things like kids getting a BMW on 17th birthday may be present- just an FYI- some people dont care, some do- just worht pointing out.
Either way- you cant lose with all three towns- come for a drive, hang out and get a feel now that the "Bennies" have left..I kid....WE moved here a cpl years ago and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
600k, good schools, Marlboro/Manalapan area is definitely what you are looking for. You can get to ewr in 40 mins, but with Jersey driving maybe even sooner. 15-20 minutes from the shore on a good day. The school system here is superb. But check out rumson and oceanport if you want to really be close to a beach.
600k, good schools, Marlboro/Manalapan area is definitely what you are looking for. You can get to ewr in 40 mins, but with Jersey driving maybe even sooner. 15-20 minutes from the shore on a good day. The school system here is superb. But check out rumson and oceanport if you want to really be close to a beach.
Marlboro and Manalapan are indeed nice places to live (Despite what some on this board say) but it is not anywhere 15-20 min to the shore from there. Sea Bright for instance is a good 30-40 min from Marlboro let alone Manalapan; Red Bank is nearly 30 min.
Rumson at 600K is not going to give the OP what they are looking for houswis; Oceanport is prone to flooding, and the schools are not as good as the other towns in the discussion.
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A home walkable to downtown is not as important as being in close driving distance to let's say Redbank or somewhere similar or the ocean versus a nice home in a good school district within our budget.
