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Old 11-25-2008, 06:59 AM
 
Location: The Beautiful Pocono Mountains
5,450 posts, read 8,747,121 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lotus99 View Post
thanks for the replies.it was a tough decision since i loved the home.it had spacious bedrooms like 23 by 14 and few other attractive things.anyways after reading your comments,we thought over it and dropped the offer.thanks a lot.
Very VERY smart decision
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Old 11-25-2008, 08:45 AM
 
Location: Martinsville, NJ
6,175 posts, read 12,915,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lotus99 View Post
Hello friends,

Im looking to buy a home in New Jersey.I would like your views on following-

1) which areas have a resale value?
I was searching mainly in the Hillsborough,Branchburg,Bridgewater area.ARe these areas good enough?any other suggestions in Central Jersey?

2)single family or townhome for a better resale value?

we would like homes in the range of 410,000 to 420,000.Ideally a single family with 4 BD,2.5 bath.but a combination of newer homes and good neighbourhoods seem to fall in the price range of 500,000.

Pls advice if buying a townhome in hillsborough for example for 420,000$ is advisable.
Your inputs are invaluable.Thanks
Well, you've picked a nice area in general, but now need to narrow it down a bit more. Look at things like commuting and schools. For instance, Hillsborough doesn't have particularly convenient access to NJ transit trains, whereas Bridgewater is right on the rail line, so if you need to commute to NYC you might have issues with Hillsborough. How important are schools to you, and have you looked at the school systems in the areas you are considering?

Another issue is that there are very few 4 bedroom townhouses. As arule, if you want 4 bedrooms, you are going to go with a house. I ran a quick search in my MLS. I searched for all properties with at least four bedrooms, and prices no higher than $450k, in the towns of Bridgewater, Bedminster, Raritan Boro, Branchburg, and Hillsborough. There are currenty 46 properties available that meet those criteria. You can see them here.
Including three bedroom units would add 121 more properties to that list, a majority of which would be townhomes. As JerseyT719 mentioned, you can get a townhouse in Hillsborough for a good deal less than $420k.
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Old 11-27-2008, 11:05 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Keegan View Post
Well, you've picked a nice area in general, but now need to narrow it down a bit more. Look at things like commuting and schools. For instance, Hillsborough doesn't have particularly convenient access to NJ transit trains, whereas Bridgewater is right on the rail line, so if you need to commute to NYC you might have issues with Hillsborough. How important are schools to you, and have you looked at the school systems in the areas you are considering?

Another issue is that there are very few 4 bedroom townhouses. As arule, if you want 4 bedrooms, you are going to go with a house. I ran a quick search in my MLS. I searched for all properties with at least four bedrooms, and prices no higher than $450k, in the towns of Bridgewater, Bedminster, Raritan Boro, Branchburg, and Hillsborough. There are currenty 46 properties available that meet those criteria. You can see them here.
Including three bedroom units would add 121 more properties to that list, a majority of which would be townhomes. As JerseyT719 mentioned, you can get a townhouse in Hillsborough for a good deal less than $420k.
Well Thank You for the list of homes!I saw the homes and shortlisted a couple of them.I have seen few of them earlier as my realtor sent me those listings.But i loved one of the homes in your listings!!!I agree with you that hillsborough doesnt have this train station,but the fact that it was affordable and located next to montgomery and Princeton attracted me.Plus i have heard good things about the school there.This townhome that i saw had a 4 bedroom and is unlike other townhomes that i saw.Anyways Thanks once again for the listings that u sent!!I am definitely going to see some of them!
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Old 11-27-2008, 01:02 PM
 
Location: South Philly
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I had been working in that business (development) until recently. Word on the street is that the market has another 18-24 months before it bottoms out. I would take my time and look hard.

A few pointers - In thinking about resale your first priority should be to find a house that you could be happy with for at least 10 years.

Aside from that the trend is toward smaller houses closer to the job centers and close to transit. I always tell people that it's about 'location, location, access' If you read any of the trade publications or even the WSJ or NYTimes, all of the experts are saying is that the only reason gas is $2 now is because the world economy sucks and demand for oil is way down. As soon as the economy recovers we should expect $5 gas and another recession close behind it. That's going to be a driving force in real estate until our auto fleet catches up (which usually takes 15 years) and even after everyone is driving plug-in hybrids then you still have the freight issue to work out.

Household size has been shrinking since the 70's and fewer and fewer households have kids. At this point it's about 24% of households that have school aged children and it's still declining. It's not because there are fewer kids, mind you, it's because there are more people living alone (people at the beginning and end of the family cycle) and more empty-nesters. As we're just getting into the first wave of baby-boomer retirees that trend is going to last for at least the next 15 years. What you should take away from that is that townhouses seem to be the only product that's selling these days.

Even then, the era of cheap energy is over. It's going to cost more to move people and goods and to heat and cool homes and offices.

From what i've seen, at least part of the RE problems have to do with overbuilding. Developers were building the heck out of houses that not enough people wanted and in places that not too many people want to live anymore. You have a lot of young, first-time buyers who, for the most part, aren't interested in living in Warren Co. (for example) and you have too many empty-nesters who were trying to downsize now that their kids are grown and have their own houses. If you look at any of the stats, even in the places hit hardest by the real estate crash, you'll find the urbanized counties and further, the central cities, holding their value far better than the exurban towns and counties.

In short - i think you're on the right track. Just try to get closer to the train.
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Old 11-27-2008, 08:47 PM
 
Location: Martinsville, NJ
6,175 posts, read 12,915,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lotus99 View Post
Well Thank You for the list of homes!I saw the homes and shortlisted a couple of them.I have seen few of them earlier as my realtor sent me those listings.But i loved one of the homes in your listings!!!I agree with you that hillsborough doesnt have this train station,but the fact that it was affordable and located next to montgomery and Princeton attracted me.Plus i have heard good things about the school there.This townhome that i saw had a 4 bedroom and is unlike other townhomes that i saw.Anyways Thanks once again for the listings that u sent!!I am definitely going to see some of them!
Quite welcome, and good luck.
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Old 11-28-2008, 07:06 AM
 
Location: Central New Jersey
237 posts, read 1,109,398 times
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Hillsborough is a very good and stable area and has a good school system. All of these things contribute to the price of its real estate. Re your question - resale value of townhome vs free standing home - townhomes are nice and relatively maintenance free (covered by a monthly maintenance fee in addition to your mortgage payment and restrictions as dictated by the community rules and regs) but they are condos which traditionally do not carry the same resale value as single family homes.

Last edited by Viralmd; 11-28-2008 at 12:10 PM.. Reason: No soliciting
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