Do I Go Back or Keep Looking? (Old Bridge, Middlesex: crime, how much)

[back2jersey]

Originally Posted by wileynj

Backtojersey - you have to come out my me! This area is very close to Rt. 94 or Rt. 519 or even Rt. 517 which will take you into Sussex County very quickly and we are only 5 mins from Rt. 80. Parsippany is about 25 mins without traffic. Try Warren County - Hackettstown, Allamuchy, Independence, Frelinghuysen, Blairstown, Hope. All very close to all of these major highways and you can find a nice house with level property with taxes in that range in this area.

LOL - I just replied to your earlier post and asked you which towns then I read this. Thanks. 25 minutes to Parsippany is not bad at all (I know - without traffic). I got stuck in some good old fashioned NJ traffic several times this past week.

[back2jersey]

Now that I'm expanding my search to different counties/areas, what do I do about my real estate agent. I really like working with her but her expertise lies in Sussex County. I know that she'd like me to be loyal to her and use her exclusively but would it be better to have separate agents in each area because that way they would know their own areas better. Having an agent for a specific area could save me a lot of time with running around blindly to listings but at the same time, staying with the same agent may save time too because she already knows my needs, budget, etc.

[wileynj]

Originally Posted by back2jersey

LOL - I just replied to your earlier post and asked you which towns then I read this. Thanks. 25 minutes to Parsippany is not bad at all (I know - without traffic). I got stuck in some good old fashioned NJ traffic several times this past week.

It's probably going to be closer to 45 mins with traffic which still isn't too bad. My partner left here yesterday at 7:30 and made it to Warren NJ - which is alot further, in just under an hour. I think you will like this area... regarding changing realtors, might not be a bad idea but I would run it past your realtor you have now - your price range may not be worth it for him/her and he/she may agree and they may also be able to refer you to an associate from this area. If you are still here and want to check out the area yourself, Rt. 80 west to exit 19. If you go left off of the exit, that will take you into Hackettstown. Right will take you toward green Twp. and straight over will take you by me : ) It's a nice ride - at least you can get a feel for the area(s). I have a feeling you will love Hackettstown and / or it's neighboring twp. - mansfield. Plenty of places to eat and shop. What Realty co. are you working with now?

[back2jersey]

Originally Posted by wileynj

It's probably going to be closer to 45 mins with traffic which still isn't too bad. My partner left here yesterday at 7:30 and made it to Warren NJ - which is alot further, in just under an hour. I think you will like this area... regarding changing realtors, might not be a bad idea but I would run it past your realtor you have now - your price range may not be worth it for him/her and he/she may agree and they may also be able to refer you to an associate from this area. If you are still here and want to check out the area yourself, Rt. 80 west to exit 19. If you go left off of the exit, that will take you into Hackettstown. Right will take you toward green Twp. and straight over will take you by me : ) It's a nice ride - at least you can get a feel for the area(s). I have a feeling you will love Hackettstown and / or it's neighboring twp. - mansfield. Plenty of places to eat and shop. What Realty co. are you working with now?

45 minutes isn't too bad of a commute. I couldn't stay any longer in NJ; I had to come back home and got in last night. I'll be back up in NJ either in May or over the summer again to look then I'll check out Exit 19. I haven't been out to the Hackettstown area in years so I don't really remember it. The only things I remember about it was that a classmate went to Centenarry years back and we used to go to the fish hatchery on school trips. :-)

When we weren't finding anything and I discovered that Sussex wouldn't fit my needs, I did ask my agent about different areas in either Warren or Morris - she had very different opinions which surprised me. She felt the only place in Warren that would work would be Blairstown and shook her head 'no' to Hackettstown when I asked her about it. She really steered me away from Warren County which surprised me.

Same thing with the Wharton area too in Morris. She said not to look in Dover and Wharton yet she took me to a very run down and scary neighborhood in Victory Gardens to look. That was quite a waste of time but she didn't know that area. If she had, I really don't think she would've taken me there but it ate up a lot of time. I have heard some less than stellar things about Dover but I was very surprised that she put Wharton in the same category.

It might not be worth it for her to travel so far all over these different counties in northwestern NJ. That was a lot of her own time she spent too driving and driving and driving only to get nowhere. We had more drive-by's than not there for a while because of the neighborhoods, cliffs, no yard, woods, lack of parking, etc. She didn't know the areas though outside of her area up in Sussex. That whole Wantage area she knew well.

[wileynj]

Originally Posted by back2jersey

45 minutes isn't too bad of a commute. I couldn't stay any longer in NJ; I had to come back home and got in last night. I'll be back up in NJ either in May or over the summer again to look then I'll check out Exit 19. I haven't been out to the Hackettstown area in years so I don't really remember it. The only things I remember about it was that a classmate went to Centenarry years back and we used to go to the fish hatchery on school trips. :-)

When we weren't finding anything and I discovered that Sussex wouldn't fit my needs, I did ask my agent about different areas in either Warren or Morris - she had very different opinions which surprised me. She felt the only place in Warren that would work would be Blairstown and shook her head 'no' to Hackettstown when I asked her about it. She really steered me away from Warren County which surprised me.

Same thing with the Wharton area too in Morris. She said not to look in Dover and Wharton yet she took me to a very run down and scary neighborhood in Victory Gardens to look. That was quite a waste of time but she didn't know that area. If she had, I really don't think she would've taken me there but it ate up a lot of time. I have heard some less than stellar things about Dover but I was very surprised that she put Wharton in the same category.

It might not be worth it for her to travel so far all over these different counties in northwestern NJ. That was a lot of her own time she spent too driving and driving and driving only to get nowhere. We had more drive-by's than not there for a while because of the neighborhoods, cliffs, no yard, woods, lack of parking, etc. She didn't know the areas though outside of her area up in Sussex. That whole Wantage area she knew well.

No to Hackettstown but yes to Wharton! I'm thinking she isn't too familiar with the areas out here! If you need a referral for someone in this area, let me know. Wharton has alot of section 8 - welfare receipients living there. Hackettstown is good ole lower middle class working folks. The college is still there as well as the fish hatchery : ) My brother and I use to fish there as kids...at night of course when no one was around : ) If you are white : )) Oxford has some great bargains! I actually like Oxford. Some will chime in and say they have an active KKK but no one from this area has ever actually seen it! A friend of mine lives there and she loves it. She bought a nice 2 bdrm, 1.5 bath - recently renovated for 249 - has a flat backyard for her pups and she said her neighbors are great! White Twp. has the lowest tax rate for this area and some very nices houses. I say do some shopping on gsmls.com and if you see something you like, let me know as I probably know exactly where it is : ))) What types of interests do you have? what sort of things would you like to have close by for fun or socializing?

[Thankheaven]

It's ironic I read this. We are trying to move down south to VA. The homes is Jersey have come down a little but not much. It's the taxes that are killing NJ. I think people that can't afford them are putting them on the market while others know that the market is not a sellers market and are holding out. I just sold a house and took a $100,000.00. The homes are way out priced for what you get and then when you add the taxes on forget it. Everything is getting out of hand. Unless you are making a decent salary & I mean decent stay down south. This is the main reason we are trying to get away from here. You just can't get ahead. If you really enjoy it here, the only place that may still be kind of reasonable with "low taxes" is either in Sussex, like you said, out west before you enter into the Pennsylvania border (Alpha, Harmony or Washington) or down south in the shore area (Ocean county or farther). Good Luck.

[marye711]

Thanks heaven you sold a house for only $100k? Where was that? Thats unheard of. Not for nothing but I live in Sussex county and the taxes are NOT cheap as you might think.

[newgirl1983]

What does everyone think of Old Bridge,nj? I am moving there soon to an apartment complex. The area look really nice but I was wondering about crime and gangs if any in the area? Where Im living now is a disgrace and I want something safer.

[Thankheaven]

Hi Marye711.,

Maybe I was incorrect with what I said. I had the house on the market @ 378,000.00 which was very low for the area. To get rid of it I had to come down to 278,000.00. It was a great home with nothing wrong with it. Also, I do agree that the taxes up in Sussex are high. I guess what I was trying to say that if you are going to take all of Jersey that you would probably find the areas I mentioned had the lowest taxes. I think all of jersey is to high.

[newgirl1983]

Hi I am new to this, but I am moving to old bridge and was wondering about the town. Ill be right by south amboy. The area I live in now has alot of crime and I was wondering about the safety of old bridge and south amboy?