Freehold Boro Advice - Orchard Street (Fair Lawn, Livingston: buying a house, buying, property taxes)

[RiffDiva]

We are looking at a brand new house on Orchard Street off of Institute Avenue. We are aware of the diversity in the Boro, but are wondering if that part of town is safe.

There are brand new homes (all occupied) right across the street on the Institute Avenue side and there will be a 55+ adult community going up across the street from the homes we are looking at on Orchard Street. All this building is making us think that Freehold is trying to get young, professional buyers into town to "clean it up" a bit. The homes right down the street and around the corner are obviously neglected, which makes us wonder about the safety of this part of town.

Does anyone know how safe this part of town is?
Can anyone tell me about living in this part of town?

We are a married couple in our late 30's and don't have children yet.

Any comments, advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[novillero]

I know the area, and I'll reserve judgment...

Here is what you should do: Go there at least two more times. Once on a Friday Night and once on a Saturday daytime - both in nice weather. Walk around - keep looping out further and further to see if you are comfortable with the area. If you are, then that's all that matters.

[Jettarich]

what was the results? did you buy?

Originally Posted by RiffDiva

We are looking at a brand new house on Orchard Street off of Institute Avenue. We are aware of the diversity in the Boro, but are wondering if that part of town is safe.

There are brand new homes (all occupied) right across the street on the Institute Avenue side and there will be a 55+ adult community going up across the street from the homes we are looking at on Orchard Street. All this building is making us think that Freehold is trying to get young, professional buyers into town to "clean it up" a bit. The homes right down the street and around the corner are obviously neglected, which makes us wonder about the safety of this part of town.

Does anyone know how safe this part of town is?
Can anyone tell me about living in this part of town?

We are a married couple in our late 30's and don't have children yet.

Any comments, advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[RiffDiva]

No, we did not buy. We are holding off because we are not 100% comfortable. Actually, we are holding off on NJ as a whole because the property taxes are so high!

[novillero]

Originally Posted by RiffDiva

No, we did not buy. We are holding off because we are not 100% comfortable. Actually, we are holding off on NJ as a whole because the property taxes are so high!

and just think, Freehold Boro's taxes are not as high as many many many other places in NJ.

Did you take my advice about walking the area?

[RiffDiva]

novillero - Yes, I couldn't agree more! It would be great to move to South Jersey since the taxes are just a little bit lower, however, we'd be living out of our cars because our commutes to work would be awful (Fair Lawn & Livingston). We walked around the boro a bit and we were comfortable with certain blocks and areas but found ourselves uncomforatable with other blocks and areas. Since buying a house is a major purchase, we want to be 100% sure about the house we'd be investing everything into, so we decided to take some time away from it all and figure it out.

We're thinking of moving down south... :-)