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My family will be relocating to NJ from Missouri soon and we're looking at possibly buying in Bridgewater. The township encompasses a pretty large area--are there sections to avoid?
The southeast section in particular--between Somerville and Bound Brook. Is it OK?
Bridgewater is a very large and diverse township.
the term "bad" is very relative
Bridgewater, in general, is a very safe township.
I think you are referring to the Finderne area.
Finderne is more industrial, in that a large number of retail shops and centers are in this area, as well as minor league baseball stadium
There are several large rental apartment building complexes there.
Are you proposing staying in one of them?
What type of housing are you looking for?
single family home, own - rent ?
condo, townhouse, apartment ?
My family will be relocating to NJ from Missouri soon and we're looking at possibly buying in Bridgewater. The township encompasses a pretty large area--are there sections to avoid?
The southeast section in particular--between Somerville and Bound Brook. Is it OK?
thanks
The first thing I would do is to make sure the places you are looking at are not flood prone...much of the area does regularly flood, and flood BAD. (you can do a quick google of "Bound Book" and "flooding" to find out much more) I know the area is more reasonably priced than other areas, but there is a reason for that price difference.
Thank you for the reply. We are looking to buy a SFH and, as Koala says, that area is more reasonably priced, but still in B-R schools. I figured there was a reason, but I wanted to get more informed opinions on why. I will look at the flood maps too--that's a real good point.
As others have said Bridgewater is a very large twp.
The two least desirable areas are Finderne and Bradley Gardens with Finderne being the least desirable. (lots of apts. and older small homes) No real flood threat in Finderne as the residential areas are not in the flood zone.
The Bradley Gardens area is adjacent to the Raritan river and some streets there could be in the flood zone.
None of the other areas of Bridgewater are located in flood zones.
FYI
Bradley Gardens is sort of split, half older homes (smaller lots built 20's/30's and on) and newer homes (bigger lots built 70's on).
You could look at Raritan Bourough, mostly a bed room community, small (like 2 sq mile) town, Bridgewater encircles it.
Raritan and Bridgwater are the same school district, so the 2 towns share all the schools. There is a elem school in Raritan, after that they go to one of the 2 middle schools that are actually in Bridgwater.
Just to give you idea of size, one high school for district, I think they are up to 2600 kids in the school now.
so it is a big district,
Flooding is not really an issue in BG, except with direct hits from hurricaines
In between these areas is the town of Somerville, a mix of homes, has their own school district. heading west, Finderne, Somerville, Raritan, Bradley gardens
(Note - stay away from Bound Brook, east of Finderne)
Yes--probably a poor choice of words. That's good to know--any area of Bridgewater is OK. Some are just better than others.
The area I was looking at appears to be in Finderne--I'd heard some negative things about Bound Brook so I didn't know if it was kind of sketchy too...
Yes--probably a poor choice of words. That's good to know--any area of Bridgewater is OK. Some are just better than others.
The area I was looking at appears to be in Finderne--I'd heard some negative things about Bound Brook so I didn't know if it was kind of sketchy too...
As others have mentioned, Finderne is the least desirable area of Bridgewater. There is more crime in that area than in surrounding areas, it is the "poorer" area of town. The area generally looks a bit sketchy and run down. That being said, "bad" is all relative...we are not talking Newark or south Bronx bad.
I do have to ask, is there a particular reason you are looking only at areas in the Bridgewater/Raritan School district? There are several other (nicer) communities with as good, or better schools in the area, and which also have more reasonable housing. (and if you are working in the area it will be within a reasonable commute)
That being said, "bad" is all relevant...we are not talking Newark or south Bronx bad.
KoalaNJ
Did you mean to say that "bad is all relative"?
That would make a whole lot more sense in that context.
I think that the OP needs to know that, while the crime rate might be a bit higher in Finderne than in other parts of Bridgewater, it is not "high" in the true sense.
Finderne is just...let's say...more blue-collar than most other parts of Bridgewater. Overall, there is nothing "bad" about Finderne.
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