1st time homebuyer looking for <45 min commute to Green Brook (Edison: fit in, short sale)

[Desperate Diamond]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to buy my first home, and have some pretty wacky requirements. I hope you can help me out...

First of all, I'm looking for a single-family, 900+ sq ft home on a pretty tight budget - about $200k-$220k. Unfortunately, there's not much room to stretch that.

Second, my wife and I live with my parents in a walkable, extremely safe, and gentrified neighborhood (think South Brunswick), and don't feel comfortable in many areas that are not similar to it. We're not racist or bigoted, we're just looking for something we will still "fit into" many years from now... like 5 or 10 years from now, when the student loans are paid off and I can afford a $300k-$350k home (something that will make me stay rather than "move up" to a "better area"). So basically, an area where the less fortunate can stretch their paychecks to afford a decent place, and that the more fortunate find inviting enough to choose it over more expensive areas that they could otherwise afford.

Third, I'd like a truly private backyard. I can't stand the idea of having a 2.5-story building towering over my puny 6-foot fence. So I've purposely sought out listings in single-story-only areas, or with yards that have a lot of tall vegetation, etc. If I can't feel comfortable naked anywhere in my yard (no, I'm not an exhibitionist or naturist, just trying to make a point), it's not private enough.

Anyway, here are some areas we either like or dislike:

LIKE
Franklin Twp - west of JFK Blvd
East Brunswick - west of Route 18
South Bound Brook
South Brunswick
Hillsborough
Plainsboro
West Windsor
Rocky Hill
Milltown
Piscataway - Randolphville section

Milltown and South Bound Brook seem the most inviting - maybe a small town like that is what we need? Unfortunately, areas with private lots (i.e. single-story neighborhoods) seem to be pricey and rare, and I know SBB has had flooding issues.

DISLIKE
New Brunswick
East Brunswick - east of Route 18
North Brunswick - west of Route 130 (so pretty much everything in my price range)
Franklin Twp - east of JFK Blvd and north of Hamilton Ave (ditto)
Middlesex - east of Mountain Ave
Manville
Dunellen
Piscataway
Spotswood - downtown
Monroe - Spotswood Manor
New Brunswick

Obviously, we're in Central Jersey. Obviously, our "likes" are really rich areas. But perhaps there's something not-so-rich that doesn't have that "blue collar feel"? Also, I should mention that I also don't like the "typical white collar" areas either. Parts of pretty much everything in our "likes" list have sections like that, with either [1] massive $700k+ homes crammed together (see: West Windsor); or [2] walkable and "quaint" areas where everyone drives a Tesla or Corvette and you never see anybody walking (see: The Gentry in Plainsboro).

Having mapped out various commutes, we realized that any commute that involves the Turnpike or Route 18 is over 50 minutes, so most areas south of the Raritan and east of the D&R Canal are gone (and what's left has little in our price range). We've driven through the following towns north of the Raritan, all of which have homes right at the edge of our budget; maybe one (or more) of these would be okay:

Middlesex - west of Mountain Ave (north of 28 is great, but south of it isn't bad either, though too far south and you hear the train all the time)
Edison - between Routes 1 and 27, north of Plainfield Ave
Bridgewater - Bradley Gardens (but not in a flood zone)

We're also considering more rural areas, like those farther west off of I-78 (High Bridge in particular seems to have extremely low-priced homes, so I'm thinking "what's the catch?") and north off of Route 206 or I-287. And with "rural" come septic tanks, well water, and lack of gas, which are all "no-no"s - gotta have public utilities, and a gas stove.

Also, most sort-of-urban places just west of the GSP between Woodbridge and Union don't seem bad, though we haven't actually been to any of them; they do seem pricey, though.

We've also driven through parts of Somerville and South Plainfield, and really don't know what to think. The areas in South Plainfield that we could afford seem to be uncomfortably close to Plainfield, and the homes we could afford in the areas of Somerville that aren't too run-down seem to be run-down themselves.

Whew! That's a long post. To make it easy:

TL;DR: $200k-$220k single-family home, 900+ sq ft, very private lot, inviting and super-safe area <45 minutes from Green Brook.

[Badfish740]

Check your PMs.

[jrsydevil82]

I have been living in south bound brook for a little over two years now...if you don't mind the high property taxes it's a pretty nice little town. It's very diverse and there's hardly any crime. Not much goes on here. In regard to flooding, the majority of the neighborhood is raised rather high so the only areas that flood are Canal Street near 287 entrances, the other side near the 287 entrances on Easton Ave, and of course the bridge that connects into Bound Brook. If you stay off Canal Street and stay inside the borough, you should be fine. I did not have to purchase flood insurance.

ETA: homes tend to be a bit pricier than what you are looking for, however; I had a similar budget and found our dream home, but only because it was a short sale and time wasn't an issue for us. Otherwise, we would not have been able to afford it.

[Desperate Diamond]

Sorry for the late response, it's been a tough week.

I kind of like South Bound Brook, though once you get out of the flood zones, you're kind of cramped (at least with any house I could afford). It seems everything is narrow and tall, and there's not much privacy in the backyard.

Middlesex is looking good, though the nice area we could afford (south of Ambrose Brook) might be a bit close to the train. We'll have to walk around when a big freight train rolls through and is blasting its horn at each crossing to see how big a problem it is.

After driving through Bradley Gardens and Finderne, we think we like Finderne better... but everyone always ranks Finderne at the bottom of the Bridgewater neighborhoods list?

Lebanon/Annandale/Clinton/High Bridge we still haven't gotten a chance to see, and there's not much in any except High Bridge, which is pushing it in terms of distance; but if we don't find anything we like and can afford closer to my work, we may have to go that far... or maybe we'll rent for 6 months. Which would suck, because our savings wouldn't be growing as quickly as they are now, and interest rates (and maybe home prices as well) will be going up.

[jobaba]

The whole situation is not clear, but if you have student loans to pay off, and you are going to save up to buy a more expensive house later on down the road, perhaps it will be better to rent.

Crunch the numbers, you'd be surprised how many years it takes to break even with renting when you buy a house. It's a lot.