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We all know house prices will likely only go down from here, and while no one has a crystal ball, I’m looking for perspectives/opinions from long time NJ natives or folks more plugged in to local politics than I about towns to move to that are likely to remain desirable and retain a decent value.
My husband and I moved to a certain Monmouth County town in 2012 knowing nothing about the area (he’s from north Jersey and I’m from Long Island). Due to changes here, we feel pressure to move very soon before the neighborhood degrades, home values in our neighborhood plummet, and before we’re likely to disrupt our small children’s’ lives too much with a move.
We moved to our current town for a decent sized family home at a great price after looking at many parts of Middlesex and Monmouth counties. While we do have a much larger budget for a home now, we’re not wanting to become “house poor” and trying to be mindful of keeping taxes on the lower side and home price under $900k. We’re not afraid of renovations and feel Colts Neck or Holmdel would be a great investment if we could find an older property with good bones, but with inventory so low, we’re looking to expand our search. Not sure what the future holds for Freehold Township, Manalapan, Marlboro, and Morganville, but they’d be contenders if outside forces don’t change the landscape too much. That’s where your inside info and perspectives could help!
We’ve also started looking at towns like Millstone and Monroe. Can’t go too far outside Monmouth because we have family that moved to be close to us in recent years and don’t want to totally desert them. Any guidance on towns to pursue searches in that are peaceful, family-friendly, and likely to remain desirable for years to come would be much appreciated!
If it's just about property value I can't see Colts Neck, Holmdel or Millstone dropping. Crime is on the rise in Colts Neck and Holmdel and I don't think there's going to be anything that stops it. I don't know about the schools in Millstone. My friend moved from there recently and it's beautiful, but her kids went to Catholic school.
Thank you! Yes, retaining value is a big concern because we know we’re going to be overspending as it is if we’re moving soon. But we do care about being in a place where schools are good, people are more welcoming than cliquey (if possible), and of course finding a good size home and property that we’ll be happy in for many years to come since we don’t want to be moving again before our little ones finish high school.
Very much appreciate your perspective on CN, Holmdel, and Millstone having good staying power. Any thoughts or intel on the other towns mentioned?
I’m not convinced prices will go down by any significant amount. Can’t think of too many people who would sell their house with a 3% mortgage to go buy a new one with a 6% mortgage.
Yeah unfortunately we’re in the boat of having to trade mortgage rates in that direction. Not happy about that.
Let’s take home values out of the equation for a moment though. I’d love perspectives on peoples’ quality of life in the towns were tossing around as well. How content are you if you live in one of these towns?. I’m also curious about whether people know of any factors that would disrupt reputation or desirability of these towns in the next ten years or so. Overbuilding, over crowding, schools, general behavior of people who tend to reside there, etc.
I agree with HudCo regarding home values due to what they said plus the high cost of new builds keeping inventory low for a while. I don’t agree that prices will only “likely go down”.
Ok, thanks. Regardless of prices, the info I’m really looking for is what towns are likely to remain desirable places to live. Of the towns I mentioned, I’m curious if anyone has concerns about them changing for the worse over the coming decade.
I don’t know much at all about the towns you mentioned. I’ve always assumed that suburbs in NJ always stayed the same or improved, and only cities go from good to bad (high crime). I’m sure there are exceptions, but I can’t think of any or perhaps I’m just not old enough to have seen the changes. Curious for other folks to chime in
Maybe OP should be more clear about exactly why their neighborhood is on the precipice of "degrading." Otherwise it makes zero sense to move towns just because you have a hunch that home values in one town might hold of better than another town.
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