Questions on Lawrenceville? (Trenton, Princeton, Burlington: relocating, property taxes, work)

[UrbanQuest]

Hi,
My family and I will be relocating from the northern Seattle suburbs to Lawrenceville, NJ. I grew up in Yardley nearby but moved away in '89. I am curious how the township is doing nowadays. We have two young sons and the biggest concern of course is the school district. We are both nurses and plan to work in Princeton. I know Montgomery township to the north has excellent schools, although it also has sky high housing prices. Lawrenceville from what I remember has a good housing stock, and relatively reasonable prices, although it borders Trenton. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[christina0001]

Lawrenceville is like a sponge...the area bordering Trenton is ghetto, the area bordering Princeton is incredibly fabulous. The middle part is fine. As far as I know, the schools are good. The local paper has portrayed Lawrenceville school district as being proactive with dealing with gang issues, which is good. You probably already know, you and your spouse will have no trouble finding work; I work in the medical field and good nurses are in high demand here.

[UrbanQuest]

Originally Posted by christina0001

Lawrenceville is like a sponge...the area bordering Trenton is ghetto, the area bordering Princeton is incredibly fabulous. The middle part is fine. As far as I know, the schools are good. The local paper has portrayed Lawrenceville school district as being proactive with dealing with gang issues, which is good. You probably already know, you and your spouse will have no trouble finding work; I work in the medical field and good nurses are in high demand here.

Thanks so much for the prompt response. I did not know there where gang problems there now, although I've heard of wannabee gangs sprouting up in some very wealthy towns in many states. We are looking at a house in the section bordering Princeton, actually very close to the Lawrenceville school. Do alot of parents in this area send their kids to private schools?

[BahamaBlu]

If you can, try and buy into Princeton..

[BobKovacs]

Many of the folks down there send their kids to private school, but not necessarily The Lawrenceville School. We're building a new dorm there, and from what I've been told, over 3/4 of the kids are from out of state- not just out of town. A lot of the kids go to the Hunn School or Princeton Day School, but be prepared to shell out $25-35k/year for those schools.

Bob

[UrbanQuest]

Originally Posted by BahamaBlu

If you can, try and buy into Princeton..

I would love to, but the price.... Would it be more worth it to buy a smaller/older house in Princeton or Montgomery township than to buy a super nice one in Lawrenceville? Nothing against private schools, but your already shelling out a ton on property taxes there.

[jerseyj]

Todays Trenton Times:
Alex Zdan
Special to the Times
"Continual residential development through the years has brought Lawrenceville closer to "full build-out".

Christina is absolutely right, much of Lawrenceville borders on Trenton and that is not a good thing at all. The gang situation in Trenton has escalated significantly in the past few years. The areas bordering Princeton are beautiful but housing prices are 800,000+ and I suspect the folks living there send their kids to private school.
I work in Lawrence boro (across from the Lawrenceville School on 206) and it is a lovely quiet residential neighbourhood, very safe. The homes are older, well cared for and reasonably priced for central Jersey. Lawrence schools are not considered the "best" in the area but certainly not the worst. They do not come close to Princeton, Montgomery, West Windsor or Hopewell. But my sense is that kids get a solid education in that district.
Bob is also very correct, most of the kids at The Lawrenceville School are from out of State and out of Country, they live in residence and tuition alone is 25,000/annually.
Montgomery has become very popular in recent years, lots of housing and new schools, lots of money.
If you want to consider Princeton High School (without the Princeton price tag) you might consider Cranbury, a lovely little town, they bus the HS kids to Princeton.
Good luck with your search!

[ccola]

I recently relocated from Marblehead Massachusetts to the west windsor area. We are also finding it hard to decide where to live. I originally grew up in Bernardsville so I am looking for an area that is similar. Princeton is nice but if you don't want to live in a development it is very hard to find a nice home. Is anyone familiar with the area around Rider University? Is that a decent area?

[MamaBee]

If you're going to buy in Lawrenceville purchase a home in the North end, above 95...

I live in the South end and while it's not bad...if I had to do it all over again...

[nic529]

There are many nice surrounding areas you can look into. Cranbury, Hopewell, West Windsor, areas in Burlington County as well such as Bordentown, Mansfield, Chesterfield...