Relocating to Woolwich/Glocester?

[RMON]

One more question. I was viewing some homes in basically the same area (Mullica Hill region) and I was trying to get a feel for why the taxes at one place would be in the 8 grand range and another in the 12? It didn't seem to be directly related to having a pool or square footage necessarily. Is it because one's in a better school district from the other? Is one over some sort of commercial air route or something weird like that?

[MoorestownResident]

I don't know there is a material difference in the towns. Could be recently builts schools, reassessments, who knows. There is no commercial air route that would affect property value. I believe Woolwich is a larger town, typically larger towns have lower taxes but not always, just spends on the local budgets, schools, etc.

[FlyersFan]

Originally Posted by RMON

One more question. I was viewing some homes in basically the same area (Mullica Hill region) and I was trying to get a feel for why the taxes at one place would be in the 8 grand range and another in the 12? It didn't seem to be directly related to having a pool or square footage necessarily. Is it because one's in a better school district from the other? Is one over some sort of commercial air route or something weird like that?

It could be due to having to build new schools due to the influx of people into the area ?

[RMON]

Noticed that there could be quite a difference in some of the taxes between homes in different sections of Mullica Hill. The amenities and sq footage did not really correlate with a difference of one being 8K and the other close to 13K. Is there something I should know about, i.e. one's in a better school district, one part of the town is downwind from a refinery??

[RMON]

Sorry, didn't realize the last post went through. Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what the realtor says and let you know Mon.

[PANJ]

Our situation is similar to yours. My husband and I spent the past year researching and scouting out S. New Jersey communitities. I live in Philly - husband moved here from DC but grew up in a PA suburb. I was a city kid but want to relocate to NJ.

Here's what our extensive searching has found:

PA suburbs - only a few good school districts close to center city where I work - taxes are much lower/houses not as roomy - most are old. I need to drive to work so the commute would be awful . Ruled it out immediately.

NJ - we decided on NJ and started going to a different community every weekend.

Our favorite was Haddonfield but the taxes were high and we would have to spend 500+ to get a home that was big enough and modern/not in need of repair. The schools are THE best but our budget is along your lines so it would be struggle to keep up with this community.

Collingswood - cute little town going thru a complete renovation. It borders Camden and houses we looked at were in need of work. I can't understand why towns so close to the city are in such sad shape. Camden could be a waterfront town and it's the worst city in the US in terms of crime. Bellmawr is also very close but these Camden County areas have not been redeveloped. So we pretty muched passed on this area.

Cinnaminson - great schools - homes we looked at were old - neighboring Riverton was a great little town but houses in our price range required work and the yards were small.

Washingtown Township - it's high school is ranked 10 and houses are affordable - but this area is a tad crowded for us. It's still on our list though. There are developments in Sewell that we really like but some didn't give us the amount of back yard we want (looking for half to an acre).

Woodbury - could be great town - neat downtown area and a section with beautiful homes. Schools are ranked very low. We found parts of the town very undesirable.

Mt. Laurel, Marlton, Cherry Hill, Voorhees - professional areas and some have great schools but were too over developed for us. Voorhees had a wonderful shopping plaza. The houses we saw in our price range had small yards and a lot less house unless we went with really older models. On the weekends 73 was a traffic nightmare - I can't image how it would be commuting into the city every day by car. We ruled this area out even though we have many friends who live in these areas. They commute by train and love the area. It's just not our thing - we want more space.

Swedesboro / woolwich- nice downtown area - it's schools are ranked a little above average on greatschools.com. - I think this area has growth potential. many people from philly are looking at it. Most developments are not overdeveloped and come with adequate yards. There are plenty of farms left in the area so you don't feel crowded. Driving from Washington Township to this area - even though it's only minutes away - feels like day and night. I can see these areas getting better in terms of shopping and schools as people push their way down to these areas. We can afford some of the developments here and get our back yard. It's high on our list.

Mullica Hill - my friends said they loved the little downtown area but I found Swedesboro to have more charm...maybe I'm missing something. I do like the area and the houses. Ryan homes is building a development here that is very appealing to us - in fact we are going to go look at it this weekend. Schools are good although the elementary school only ranked 4. This area is very high on our list.

Mickleton - this one was new to us but it seems to be up and coming. My husband and I pick out houses on the internet that we like, load them up in the GPS and ride around. We've been doing this the past year and within the last 6 months - a lot of new housing has been appearing here. It's up there on our list as well.

So ....for us we are definitely leaning towards the last three on the list. I can get into the city 3 different ways - the Commodore Barry bridge via 95 has proven quicker on some of our drives. Swedesboro is right off this route so it's another option when traffic is heavy.

Hopefully, we'll find something soon - we are in no rush and are waiting until we find the house that suits us best....right now we're starting to think new construction but will have to see how that goes. good luck!!

[MoorestownResident]

Just keep in mind that Burlington County ranks #1 or #2 in the nation in the number of acres preserved as open space. It is not likely to be dramatically overdeveloped like some areas of Camden County. Gloucester county has been developing at a rapid clip with little to no preservation of open space that I am aware of. It could eventually be a much more crowded than you wish, you already see that around Wash Twp. Medford has top schools, larger lots/open space and great housing stock. It's not as far as Gloucester County getting to center cirty. It's a higher profile version of Mullica Hill and it will be more expensive.

[soulsurv]

PANJ, I LOVE Mickleton, as it is surrounded by farms and country roads, I pray that they don't develop it too much. You may also want to check out the neighboring communities of Clarksboro and Mount Royal: All three are in East Greenwich township.

[RMON]

Thanks for the further info all! A family issue came up and we were not able check out houses this past weekend as planned and we already had plans for a weekend getaway this one, so the scouting will have to wait until next weekend. I will look into Mickleton and was very happy to hear from PANJ that the 2 I was seriously interested in were in her top 3 (much thanks for the detailed posting). Moorestown makes an excellent point about the deveopment aspect of the region. The town we currently live in is going to have a massive development go up probably in the next year that will increase the size of our town by 50% !!!!!! We own a 2 family house and were counting on that being a chunk of our retirement, but if they start pushing taxes up too much and the area becomes congested I might have to cut it loose. Also, our town has been forced by the COHF too provide quite a few low income housing properties.I spoke with the gentleman at Ryan homes and he said that Mullica Hill enacted an ordinance that any further development has to be on minimum 2 acre lots. I will definitely start looking into the zoning and development plans for these towns. I should have looked into the future plans for our current town. The last thing I want to do is have to move again to get away from this situation. Good thing for me is that I can probably just as easily work in Willmington DE, so I don't necessarily have to be close to Phily.