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I've lived in Westfield for almost my entire life and it has never been diverse. It is a great town, but not very diverse. That being said, I don't think you've be even close to the only Asian person in your neighborhood. And I LOVED having a downtown that I could walk to. I still love walking in and around the downtown of Westfield.
Sounds like you live in Westfield. So, I wonder if you can tell me - there are so many 50s and 60s homes on the Westfield market. There are also (super expensive) tear downs. What is the perception among people, regarding value of these 50s homes...say 10 years from now. They would be amidst much newer rebuilds.
On the one hand, we are learning how to offer. On the other hand, is it too much and its just better to walk away?
Ceteris paribus, Westfield homes will hold their value better than most places. You need to find a realtor you trust who can tell you what the market rate is for a given home. In this seller's market, and in this seller's town, the market rate may be fluid, but with an upside bias. In other words, the market rate might increase when one buyer wants to pay more than the so-called market rate. Market rate can be defined as the amount of money that one SHOULD pay for a given home, or it can be defined as the amount if money that one WILL pay for a given home.
You can find a nicer home if you buy in a less desirable town. You have to decide the relative weight of the coefficients in the formula.
Where does the house fit in on the block? Some say that it is better to have the cheapest house on the nicest block. If it is the cheapest block on just about any non-main road in town, the value will hold up swell over the next 10 years.
I much prefer the older WF homes, i.e colonials from the turn of the century houses (that have been renovated) than the 50s to 70s bi-levels/split levels.
Sounds like you live in Westfield. So, I wonder if you can tell me - there are so many 50s and 60s homes on the Westfield market. There are also (super expensive) tear downs. What is the perception among people, regarding value of these 50s homes...say 10 years from now. They would be amidst much newer rebuilds.
On the one hand, we are learning how to offer. On the other hand, is it too much and its just better to walk away?
Any house that is worth it to the builder to tear down and build, will get torn down. You cannot compete with them. They would rather build what they want and sell it than deal with a person who has "ideas"
Then there are the older homes that are not "worth it" to tear down. Basically a person will buy that and totally redo it to their standards.
There have been 3 tear downs on my block in the last year. Granted they are really needed it (super small, 900 sqft, 1 story, neglected for decades, ...), but it does happen a lot
When a builder can buy a place for $650K, and replace the home and then get $1.5M, I am pretty sure there is some profit in there. In that case, the land was worth $700K, and the house -$50K (since they had to remove it).
I think a bunch of the older homes will be gone in the next 10 years or so. Of course the really nice ones will still be there, but in MOST cases, they are being replaced with something that makes the street look better.
The only way to know what to offer is to check out others that have already sold. Learn what makes a house "better" (i.e. closer to the train, better/closer grade school/middle school, less busy street, high school kids parking, ...)
The smaller homes in town are being sold to builders by older residents that raised their families and are now moving on.
The homes are usually not updated, and young couples/ families moving in from Hoboken, Jersey City and NYC want
everything 'done' and move-in ready, i.e., stainless appliances, granite counters, hw floors, central AC, etc. 30-40 years ago, people moved into a home and redid things as they could afford it, small updates little by little.
The builders buy these homes for 300-500K, tear them down, and put up mini mansions that are selling quickly for 1-1.5Million with taxes of 18K-22K per year. All of the 6 elem. schools feed into the 2 middle schools which feeds into the 1 HS, so the curriculum is the same and your children will be on the same educ. level as anyone else no matter which school they attend.
The 'feel' of the town has changed since the downtown went to almost 80% chain stores from indep. owned ones in the 1970s and 1980s. This happened because the 4-6 landlords that own most of the downtown buildings raised the rents so high that only major chains could afford it. Lots of outsiders come there to shop, eat out, walk to the festivals and markets, etc.
The town will hold its value because of its beauty, access to NYC, shops, and schools.
I see this post is kind of old. I grew up in Westfield, and graduated in 2008..so relatively recently.
So combining elementary, middle, and high school I can think of 3 Indian students in my grade level...and I graduated with I think around 450 kids. Westfield is not diverse at all, if you were told that someone is deceiving you! In my graduating class there were a handful of asian students (most of whom are 1/2 white) maybe 10, 3 hispanics, and 10 black students. This is me guessing but it was around that.
Westfield is a white town and I am certain that the residents here want to keep it that way. I had a wonderful education and seeing the wealth and privileges my classmates had has inspired me to work hard and seek out more in life. I feel I grew up in a bubble because Westfield is pretty much perfect. However as a person of color I would NEVER raise my children here. I feel that being the only minority did harm my self-esteem, and self-worth growing up. Especially in middle school, when you want to fit in all I did was stand out.
I see this post is kind of old. I grew up in Westfield, and graduated in 2008..so relatively recently.
So combining elementary, middle, and high school I can think of 3 Indian students in my grade level...and I graduated with I think around 450 kids. Westfield is not diverse at all, if you were told that someone is deceiving you! In my graduating class there were a handful of asian students (most of whom are 1/2 white) maybe 10, 3 hispanics, and 10 black students. This is me guessing but it was around that.
Westfield is a white town and I am certain that the residents here want to keep it that way. I had a wonderful education and seeing the wealth and privileges my classmates had has inspired me to work hard and seek out more in life. I feel I grew up in a bubble because Westfield is pretty much perfect. However as a person of color I would NEVER raise my children here. I feel that being the only minority did harm my self-esteem, and self-worth growing up. Especially in middle school, when you want to fit in all I did was stand out.
I play raquetball at the Westfield Y. I see almost as many Asian kids going to the swimming classes as Caucasian kids. Are you including Chinese, Japanese, ect (east asian) in your numbers?
Have you never gone to the y? Have you not gone lately? There are definitely a good number of East Asians here, compared to the American population. I agree that south asians are rarer, but take a look at the Y and you will find them.
I thouht you just wrote that it was perfect here? Is it perfect or harmful to your self-esteem? Did anyone actually say anything hurtful to you or was it in your head? And I got news for you - everyone feels out of place in middle school for some reason or another. So if you grew up in a town you call perfect today, I think you had it pretty good. Why would you want to raise your kids in an imperfect place?
And I said this before, but i will say it again. In WF, you will be judged on who you are, not your color.
Last edited by GiantRutgersfan; 04-13-2016 at 10:14 PM..
Reason: Rant
How are these people coming over from India and able to afford 750k houses? Something is wrong here.
What? India's not some podunk country that uses leaves for currency.
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