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Morris County is one of the wealthiest counties in America, they have several train stations, why is the county's population not growing like Bergen, Union, Middlesex and Burlington?
You're probably right. I happened to look up a house in Mendham a few weeks ago on Zillow and they noted the market as "cold" and being a buyer's market. Where I live in Essex County most of the towns are noted as "Hot" and being in a seller's market. I believe the reason is pretty simple. People want to live closer to the job centers of NYC, Newark, and Jersey City. There are miles of delays on route 80 every morning and afternoon. People don't want to deal with that. I work in Essex County and have a few co-workers from Morris and they constantly complain about the commute. The trend is for people to move back to urban areas and "inner ring" suburbs. This is especially true for people moving out of NYC. They want the house and suburban lifestyle without being too far from the city. That's why towns like Montclair and Maplewood are so incredibly popular. Most people realize they don't need a 2500 sqft house on half an acre out in the boonies.
Is it not growing? Morristown has luxury condos/townhomes going up everywhere. They also just started development on 200, $750k+ townhomes at the old Colgate site in Morris Township.
I do think when people move to New Jersey, Morris County is usually not a place on the radar because its a bit further out from NYC than Essex and Bergen counties.
Last edited by DannyHobkins; 10-04-2019 at 10:19 AM..
You're probably right. I happened to look up a house in Mendham a few weeks ago on Zillow and they noted the market as "cold" and being a buyer's market. Where I live in Essex County most of the towns are noted as "Hot" and being in a seller's market. I believe the reason is pretty simple. People want to live closer to the job centers of NYC, Newark, and Jersey City. There are miles of delays on route 80 every morning and afternoon. People don't want to deal with that. I work in Essex County and have a few co-workers from Morris and they constantly complain about the commute. The trend is for people to move back to urban areas and "inner ring" suburbs. This is especially true for people moving out of NYC. They want the house and suburban lifestyle without being too far from the city. That's why towns like Montclair and Maplewood are so incredibly popular. Most people realize they don't need a 2500 sqft house on half an acre out in the boonies.
Yes, this.
Mendham, Chester, are too far away from NYC, Newark and Jersey City.
A lot of people want to move closer to NYC, Jersey City, Newark, Philadelphia.
A reason why Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, Sussex's population is declining.....too far, the Route 80 commute is too hectic, too stressful to deal with.
Every town in NJ should have a bus stop or a bus hub/park and ride to get to the main job hubs.
Well, Mount Arlington is booming. 5038 people in 2010, 5868 est. in 2017. The population will likely be over 6,000 by 2020. The train station woke up the town a bit, I guess.
Morris County is nice, but does have some flaws. As mentioned, traffic is brutal on 80 during rush hour, and there aren’t the local road shortcuts like Bergen County has. The towns, especially in the Western half, are “sleepier†compared to Bergen and Essex suburbs, and the towns don’t have the unique identities that most of the Bergen and Essex towns have. (In other words, there’s not too much distinguishing Rockaway from Mount Olive or Roxbury.) Finally, shopping and restaurant options are more limited compared to Bergen and Essex. (Although Parsippany and Denville are booming on that front.)
For me, while I miss Bergen County, I was plenty happy saving $200,000 on the purchase price and $5,000 a year on taxes on my townhouse compared to what I could have gotten where I lived in Bergen County. I’m making it work!
Well, Mount Arlington is booming. 5038 people in 2010, 5868 est. in 2017. The population will likely be over 6,000 by 2020. The train station woke up the town a bit, I guess.
Morris County is nice, but does have some flaws. As mentioned, traffic is brutal on 80 during rush hour, and there aren’t the local road shortcuts like Bergen County has. The towns, especially in the Western half, are “sleepier†compared to Bergen and Essex suburbs, and the towns don’t have the unique identities that most of the Bergen and Essex towns have. (In other words, there’s not too much distinguishing Rockaway from Mount Olive or Roxbury.) Finally, shopping and restaurant options are more limited compared to Bergen and Essex. (Although Parsippany and Denville are booming on that front.)
For me, while I miss Bergen County, I was plenty happy saving $200,000 on the purchase price and $5,000 a year on taxes on my townhouse compared to what I could have gotten where I lived in Bergen County. I’m making it work!
Morris is too far away.
If I live in Morris one day, I'd live in The Hanovers, maybe Florham Park or probably Madison.
There is an incredible amount of development going on in my area. Morristown, Madison, Morris Twp, Florham Park. It's crazy. Rents are high, new apartment buildings are everywhere. I don't know who these people are who are buying super expensive townhouses in huge developments on main roads where some are not walkable to anything but apparently enough are to keep on building. I can't speak for the northern part of the county but judging by the traffic on 287 north and 80 west during the afternoon rush hour, it's a hot place to live. Luckily, I don't have to deal with that.
You're probably right. I happened to look up a house in Mendham a few weeks ago on Zillow and they noted the market as "cold" and being a buyer's market. Where I live in Essex County most of the towns are noted as "Hot" and being in a seller's market. I believe the reason is pretty simple. People want to live closer to the job centers of NYC, Newark, and Jersey City. There are miles of delays on route 80 every morning and afternoon. People don't want to deal with that. I work in Essex County and have a few co-workers from Morris and they constantly complain about the commute. The trend is for people to move back to urban areas and "inner ring" suburbs. This is especially true for people moving out of NYC. They want the house and suburban lifestyle without being too far from the city. That's why towns like Montclair and Maplewood are so incredibly popular. Most people realize they don't need a 2500 sqft house on half an acre out in the boonies.
I work with wealthy clients. Clients who are selling their high end homes in areas like Mendham, Chester, etc are seeing a stagnant market. One has been on the market for over 2 years with many price drops. Who is looking to buy a rural Mendham home in the $1,000,000 range and $30k worth of taxes? It's a pretty specific buyer. One who doesn't mind a long commute to their job that pays enough to afford that or one who makes good $ working from home. Someone who doesn't mind having to drive 20 minutes to get anywhere to buy things. Gen X isn't rushing to buy that type of home and obviously neither are millennials (I'm one!). This is a trend across the country and there are many articles about Boomers struggling to sell these types of homes. It's not a Morris County or even NJ phenomenon.
We are seeing the same type of popularity in Morris County towns that are like Montclair and Maplewood that you mention. Towns with stuff to DO and walkable town centers are growing.
Morris County is one of the wealthiest counties in America, they have several train stations, why is the county's population not growing like Bergen, Union, Middlesex and Burlington?
According to the census Growth percentage 2000-2010
Bergen 2.4
Union 2.7
Morris 4.7
Burlington 6.0
Middlesex 8.0
Guess we will know better after the 2020 census.
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