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Its nothing personal, I just need to hear birds and see wildlife where I live. In my backyard, I see cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, and regularly see foxes, deer, turtles, and the occasional black bear. I rarely hear sirens and I can't hear any highway. I wake up to birds chirping everyday in the spring/summer/fall.
I totally understand why people live in densely populated areas. Many by choice, others by necessity for work or family. I work where it is citified (not NYC) but only have to go in once a month or so. And when I do, I breathe a sigh of relief when I leave. That's just the way I'm built.
I believe humans were supposed to live in harmony with nature, and the built up environment seems antithetical to what God intended. Just my humble opinion.
But when I need groceries, I have to drive 20-30 minutes away. Also, there's no great restaurants near me. Some ok, but nothing that great. So I only cook at home, and have to maintain a root cellar for food storage. Also, internet is slow, and I barely get cell service. Power outages are common. That is the tradeoff, and I'm happy to make it.
Its nothing personal, I just need to hear birds and see wildlife where I live. In my backyard, I see cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, and regularly see foxes, deer, turtles, and the occasional black bear. I rarely hear sirens and I can't hear any highway. I wake up to birds chirping everyday in the spring/summer/fall.
I totally understand why people live in densely populated areas. Many by choice, others by necessity for work or family. I work where it is citified (not NYC) but only have to go in once a month or so. And when I do, I breathe a sigh of relief when I leave. That's just the way I'm built.
I believe humans were supposed to live in harmony with nature, and the built up environment seems antithetical to what God intended. Just my humble opinion.
But when I need groceries, I have to drive 20-30 minutes away. Also, there's no great restaurants near me. Some ok, but nothing that great. So I only cook at home, and have to maintain a root cellar for food storage. Also, internet is slow, and I barely get cell service. Power outages are common. That is the tradeoff, and I'm happy to make it.
A lot of the pro's there sound very appealing. Like you said, it's the trade-off we make. Who knows what 10 years from now brings for us (me and my girl). In the meantime, enjoy your peace and quiet before I come over there double-parking and blasting music that no one wants to hear (just kidding, that's by me )
A lot of the pro's there sound very appealing. Like you said, it's the trade-off we make. Who knows what 10 years from now brings for us (me and my girl). In the meantime, enjoy your peace and quiet before I come over there double-parking and blasting music that no one wants to hear (just kidding, that's by me )
You have a lot of patience and tolerance! I can't deal with that at all.
Well, I don't live in the area, so I have no horse in this race. Coastal Long Branch is nicer than inland and being completely built out with high end condos. Inland, its not as nice. Perhaps you can find a small 1/4 acre beat-up house under $500k but I doubt it. Even where the crime is bad, prices are high. But prices are sky-high and untouchable for most in the lower crime areas too. They're not making any more oceanfront real estate so this is probably why.
Same holds true for Asbury Park and even Jersey City for that matter. JC is high crime, but try buying something there that is not in the Greenville section. Its bonkers. I'm with you, I can't even think of living in these areas like Union City or Jersey City. Its not for me.
This is exactly what I've been saying all along. The market is going crazy and will not stabilize until new homes are built again. Since COVID hit there has been a mass exodus of millennials from cities to suburbia. Too many people fighting for the same spot. I'm glad I bought when I did or we would be priced out of our neighborhood now. I was never a fan of getting a starter home - which mine isn't, it's one of the bigger models - always said you rent for the present, you buy for the future. My wife and I went from a one bedroom, to a two bedroom apartment in a complex in Falls Twp that was decent, but there was a string of incidents there happening while she was pregnant with our son. We decided we had to be out before he was born and we were lucky to make it happen. I left NJ for PA in 2015 due to stagnant career and a variety of other reasons. 2 years later I'm gainfully employed with a better job and much more upward mobility, I meet the love of my life and now we have a young family.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VintageSunlight
I'm in full agreement that Middletown Twp, PA is a decent area. Its reasonably affordable in this market and some of those Levittown streets are nice, safe, and perfectly livable. However, it really can't be argued that its on the same level as Colts Neck, whether you like Colts Neck or not. Just saying, and I'll conclude with that. The market sets the price and most people are ok paying $1 million + to live there.
My side of Levittown is reasonably affordable compared to Yardley, Feasterville, Newtown, Holland etc and offers similar QOL to those places. I think Levittown is fine and gets an undeserved bad rep. It's Bristol that gets the bad rep and because portions of Levittown feed into its school system, that causes the stigma today. It's not perfect, no place is. All I can say is do better research. I for one could think of many places I would rather spend $1M than Colts Neck, even in Monmouth County alone, which I still maintain I never understood its appeal - it is driven by superlatives. When Bruce Springsteen left Rumson for it I thought it was a step backwards. I was never impressed by Colts Neck or its neighboring towns in Western Monmouth County. A lot of it looks "unfinished" for lack of a better word.
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Originally Posted by VintageSunlight
As for traffic and air pollution, its impossible to argue without boring particulate data or traffic studies which is so boring I won't bother. Everyone sees things different. I don't think of Colts Neck as a super trafficky area (compared to other NJ areas especially) but YMMV.
I am really suprised no one took that in jest. But it is true that every time I was in that area I ended up being stuck in traffic backed up at a light on a narrow two lane country road and it would take three cycles to get through it. I would consider Monmouth County super trafficky on the whole because of situations like that. It's not more densely populated than most other places, probably less, but the traffic there has outgrown the roads and those roads get traffic they aren't meant for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VintageSunlight
Abraham Levitt built Levittown by developing every square yard of that area, with some small parks of course, but its pretty well developed and high density. Colts Neck has minimum 2.5 acre zoning, so just by its very nature there will be more trees and open space. But whatever you want to believe is fine with me.
Actually it was his son, William Levitt. They also built the one on Long Island, Willingboro and parts of Aberdeen too. And while Aberdeen is considered a lower middle class area by Monmouth County standards, it too remains relatively well kept and no one in that area seems to scoff at it as much once again. There's also two very upscale developments in Old Bridge the Levitts built - Lakeridge and Lakeridge West - that are similar to "the gates" here, Snowball Gate, Red Rose Gate and Forsythia Gate that consist of "Country Clubber" models which are very large homes close to 3,000 square feet, considered to be luxury homes at that time. Granted they aren't on lots that big, at least here they aren't. But that's another thing I never saw the point in, having to own that much land because all it means is more taxes and more landscaping you either pay for or worse yet do yourself, which unless you make well into the six figure range is what you'll end up doing. I have better things to do than to spend all my time off work manicuring my front lawn so it looks like all the neighbors, or take my son shopping at some high-end store so the labels are right.
Never said Union City was dangerous or had that high crime, actually never thought it was. Just that it looks ugly. I have business clients all over Philly and deal with all those high density things there with those narrow streets there. And I drive there too since no one here who is well off uses mass transit, unlike NYC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VintageSunlight
Its nothing personal, I just need to hear birds and see wildlife where I live. In my backyard, I see cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, and regularly see foxes, deer, turtles, and the occasional black bear. I rarely hear sirens and I can't hear any highway. I wake up to birds chirping everyday in the spring/summer/fall.
I totally understand why people live in densely populated areas. Many by choice, others by necessity for work or family. I work where it is citified (not NYC) but only have to go in once a month or so. And when I do, I breathe a sigh of relief when I leave. That's just the way I'm built.
I believe humans were supposed to live in harmony with nature, and the built up environment seems antithetical to what God intended. Just my humble opinion.
But when I need groceries, I have to drive 20-30 minutes away. Also, there's no great restaurants near me. Some ok, but nothing that great. So I only cook at home, and have to maintain a root cellar for food storage. Also, internet is slow, and I barely get cell service. Power outages are common. That is the tradeoff, and I'm happy to make it.
I have parks in my area too. It's never a far drive from my house to get in touch with nature. My need is to be close to highways. I like to be on the highway from my door in minutes because then I'm moving on my way to where I need to be, as my job requires a lot of travel. Sitting in traffic on narrow roads when I'm trying to get somewhere is a waste of time for me. And there's loads of shopping close by too. Two grocery stores, Target and Oxford Valley Mall less than a mile away.
I've said it before, taking a 9 hour work day and turning it into 12 vs 10 or 11 really dampens your overall QOL. I need to be close to amenities to get things taken care of. I don't like driving 1/2 hour to get groceries when there's perishables involved.
I am really suprised no one took that in jest. But it is true that every time I was in that area I ended up being stuck in traffic backed up at a light on a narrow two lane country road and it would take three cycles to get through it. I would consider Monmouth County super trafficky on the whole because of situations like that. It's not more densely populated than most other places, probably less, but the traffic there has outgrown the roads and those roads get traffic they aren't meant for.
Didn't want to quote the whole post, just this part. I'm pretty sure I know what you are talking about here: It's the light where 537 intersects with 34. There is always traffic backed up there, and there was construction there over the past couple of years to boot.
This gives the impression that the whole town is like that, when in fact there are roads off 537 where you feel miles away and there are hand-written signs advertising fresh eggs at the end of a driveway.
There's some truth to eastern Monmouth County having outgrown its roads. I moved there in 2009, and I've seen golf courses become developments and building going on everywhere, and the traffic has indeed increased in the past decades. Some of it is people fleeing SI and Brooklyn, and others are probably people like me who lived in Bergen County but escaped because Monmouth, believe it or not, was more affordable yet still commutable to the city.
I decided one day to go somewhere that required me to take 35 through Eatontown. It was around 4:30 and 35 was bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to 36. I thought there must have been an accident or something, but no. A couple of days later I left around the same time and encountered the same traffic, and then I came to realize that's just how it is every day at certain times, probably from Red Bank to 36. It reminded me of 17 up north.
But Monmouth County does have an excellent park system. They even got national recognition. I noticed right away when I moved there that Monmouth had been smart enough to set aside more land for parks than Bergen County did when it was developing like mad in the 80s and 90s.
This is exactly what I've been saying all along. The market is going crazy and will not stabilize until new homes are built again. Since COVID hit there has been a mass exodus of millennials from cities to suburbia. Too many people fighting for the same spot. I'm glad I bought when I did or we would be priced out of our neighborhood now. I was never a fan of getting a starter home - which mine isn't, it's one of the bigger models - always said you rent for the present, you buy for the future. My wife and I went from a one bedroom, to a two bedroom apartment in a complex in Falls Twp that was decent, but there was a string of incidents there happening while she was pregnant with our son. We decided we had to be out before he was born and we were lucky to make it happen. I left NJ for PA in 2015 due to stagnant career and a variety of other reasons. 2 years later I'm gainfully employed with a better job and much more upward mobility, I meet the love of my life and now we have a young family.
My side of Levittown is reasonably affordable compared to Yardley, Feasterville, Newtown, Holland etc and offers similar QOL to those places. I think Levittown is fine and gets an undeserved bad rep. It's Bristol that gets the bad rep and because portions of Levittown feed into its school system, that causes the stigma today. It's not perfect, no place is. All I can say is do better research. I for one could think of many places I would rather spend $1M than Colts Neck, even in Monmouth County alone, which I still maintain I never understood its appeal - it is driven by superlatives. When Bruce Springsteen left Rumson for it I thought it was a step backwards. I was never impressed by Colts Neck or its neighboring towns in Western Monmouth County. A lot of it looks "unfinished" for lack of a better word.
I am really suprised no one took that in jest. But it is true that every time I was in that area I ended up being stuck in traffic backed up at a light on a narrow two lane country road and it would take three cycles to get through it. I would consider Monmouth County super trafficky on the whole because of situations like that. It's not more densely populated than most other places, probably less, but the traffic there has outgrown the roads and those roads get traffic they aren't meant for.
Actually it was his son, William Levitt. They also built the one on Long Island, Willingboro and parts of Aberdeen too. And while Aberdeen is considered a lower middle class area by Monmouth County standards, it too remains relatively well kept and no one in that area seems to scoff at it as much once again. There's also two very upscale developments in Old Bridge the Levitts built - Lakeridge and Lakeridge West - that are similar to "the gates" here, Snowball Gate, Red Rose Gate and Forsythia Gate that consist of "Country Clubber" models which are very large homes close to 3,000 square feet, considered to be luxury homes at that time. Granted they aren't on lots that big, at least here they aren't. But that's another thing I never saw the point in, having to own that much land because all it means is more taxes and more landscaping you either pay for or worse yet do yourself, which unless you make well into the six figure range is what you'll end up doing. I have better things to do than to spend all my time off work manicuring my front lawn so it looks like all the neighbors, or take my son shopping at some high-end store so the labels are right.
Never said Union City was dangerous or had that high crime, actually never thought it was. Just that it looks ugly. I have business clients all over Philly and deal with all those high density things there with those narrow streets there. And I drive there too since no one here who is well off uses mass transit, unlike NYC.
I have parks in my area too. It's never a far drive from my house to get in touch with nature. My need is to be close to highways. I like to be on the highway from my door in minutes because then I'm moving on my way to where I need to be, as my job requires a lot of travel. Sitting in traffic on narrow roads when I'm trying to get somewhere is a waste of time for me. And there's loads of shopping close by too. Two grocery stores, Target and Oxford Valley Mall less than a mile away.
I've said it before, taking a 9 hour work day and turning it into 12 vs 10 or 11 really dampens your overall QOL. I need to be close to amenities to get things taken care of. I don't like driving 1/2 hour to get groceries when there's perishables involved.
Depends how you view traveling. Many people view commuting as extending their workday. I'll spend hours finding good books on Audible, podcasts, music playlists, etc, and truly I never mind commuting anymore. Even in traffic. I'm literally getting an education while I drive. I even find that it makes me less angry when people cut me off and have road rage. I just ignore them and move on.
But I'm generally not in a rush to do anything. I have no real set hours and as long as the job gets done, its fine whenever I do something. Other people have more structured lives with kids and appointments more often than I do.
And I agree on big lots, they're generally a waste of time. I have a small, in-town lot at my house, about 1/4 acre (a bit less) and I can do whatever I need to. I will say, if I was house shopping now, I would want a larger rural lot, but not one that is manicured like you'd find in Colts Neck. Just a treed lot on a south facing ridge for good sunlight and trees between neighbors. But for now, what I have is what I can afford and its small town country living, which is nice. A lot of people out there who can't get anything to live in right now, so I think you're blessed if you are lucky enough to live anywhere comfortable, affordable, and safe.
Didn't want to quote the whole post, just this part. I'm pretty sure I know what you are talking about here: It's the light where 537 intersects with 34. There is always traffic backed up there, and there was construction there over the past couple of years to boot.
This gives the impression that the whole town is like that, when in fact there are roads off 537 where you feel miles away and there are hand-written signs advertising fresh eggs at the end of a driveway.
There's some truth to eastern Monmouth County having outgrown its roads. I moved there in 2009, and I've seen golf courses become developments and building going on everywhere, and the traffic has indeed increased in the past decades. Some of it is people fleeing SI and Brooklyn, and others are probably people like me who lived in Bergen County but escaped because Monmouth, believe it or not, was more affordable yet still commutable to the city.
I decided one day to go somewhere that required me to take 35 through Eatontown. It was around 4:30 and 35 was bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to 36. I thought there must have been an accident or something, but no. A couple of days later I left around the same time and encountered the same traffic, and then I came to realize that's just how it is every day at certain times, probably from Red Bank to 36. It reminded me of 17 up north.
But Monmouth County does have an excellent park system. They even got national recognition. I noticed right away when I moved there that Monmouth had been smart enough to set aside more land for parks than Bergen County did when it was developing like mad in the 80s and 90s.
Select areas can be terrible at times most areas are not.
Select areas can be terrible at times most areas are not.
Agreed. I work around rush hour times when I'm there, and during summers, I know how to get to the beach in Long Branch without sitting on 36 for an hour.
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