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Hey Chelsea,
Thanks Sara, I Work in Freehold and can assist you if you would like..Just PM me and I Can certainly answer your questions regarding the areas...
I was born and raised in Freehold Boro back in the 60's and 70's. Went to school in both the Boro and Twnship High schools while the Boro high school was getting a face lift. In the old days Freehold Boro was a little more countrified. It used to be all poultry farms back in the day and went more residential later on. The Twnship was more on the city side and got alot of "overflow" from N.Y.
I personally prefer Howell, because it's slightly less built up. Rt. 9 is atrocious and it is worse in the Freehold area. However, all 3 towns are very nice. FYI Freehold Boro has a large number of illegal immigrants....if that is going to bother you, it's probably not a good choice for your family.
Freehold Boro: 80% illegal immigrants, 20% people looking to get out. The immigrants live 10-12 people per apartment. I've seen a few apartments- wall to wall mattresses. Illegal immigration is a BIG problem here. As soon as the town tries to do something, like limit the number of people that can live in one apartment, there is a massive protest on the town hall steps and they drop the issue. There is an area off Throckmorton St. where huge hordes of day laborers wait for work, hundreds of people.
Freehold Township: Expensive, mostly huge new homes on treeless land that was once poultry farms, horse farms, dairy farms. Think wealthy families living in 5,000 sq. foot homes with three garages, but only two or 3 people live there. Thats most of Freehold Township.
Howell: Nice town with far less McMansions than Freehold. Slightly cheaper. Mixed white collar and blue collar. Lots of trees and open space. Its a nice place to live but not cheap anymore. Issues with raising taxes recently.
I've lived in Freehold Boro, Freehold Twp., and Colts Neck and was also a realtor for the area.
What Phish Head said is true although the statistics of 80/20 seem off. I know that two years ago, the paper had said 60/20. Has it changed that much? The Boro HS is very good, but I suspect that will change in a few years.
Every school in Freehold Twp. has high test scores, and most do in Howell. If you buy in some parts of N. Howell, the children will go to Colts Neck schools (which are great as well).
The whole area is very nice, very convenient to everything, lots to do. Good parks and recreation.
Freehold Twp. is filled with a lot of "mcmansions" but there are some nice subdivisions that have been around for 20 or more years that have a more established feel.
Good luck with what you decide! If you are thinking of Freehold Boro, take a drive by the schools at 3pm. That's pretty much the make up of the town. A lot of illegals there. It's a huge problem for Freehold, unfortunately, as it's a beautiful, historic town.
I sent you a PM regarding this. Check out Upper Freehold Township. Lots of little towns with a much better reputation than Freehold Boro.
The previous posts are very much on the money with the description of Boro. I can head over there right now with an empty truck, a fist of cash and my best Spanglish. I'll have my entire yard landscaped by the end of the day.
North Howell goes to Freehold Twp Now, and some of Howell High School...It used to be where they went to colts neck but they were rezoning schools because of the population growth and other resaons...North Howell has alot of MCMANSIONS as well and taxes are very high compared to freehold twp...we lived in Manalapan, moved to Millstone twp schools were awful and now we are in jackson Im on the Freehold and Millstone Twp Border and I love the schools here....anyway thats all folks!!
good luck
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Freehold Boro vs Freehold Twnship
Good schools
