Princeton Townhomes (Hoboken, Somerset, Middlesex: for sale, real estate, 2011)

[Princeton_My_Home]

We're planning to purchase our first home. Looking for a townhouse in Princeton area. Heard about Princeton Walk, Princeton Landing are good. Please suggest if there are any townhomes available in the above community. Also please suggest if there are townhomes available in other other community nearby.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by Princeton_My_Home

We're planning to purchase our first home. Looking for a townhouse in Princeton area. Heard about Princeton Walk, Princeton Landing are good. Please suggest if there are any townhomes available in the above community. Also please suggest if there are townhomes available in other other community nearby.

I hope you know that Princeton Landing is in Plainsboro and Princeton Walk is in South Brunswick.

Be careful with that 08540 zip! It's not Princeton.

There are also nice townhomes in Montgomery, which has an excellent school system. It's also in the 08540 zip code, but I forget the name of the development now. There is a lot of them up there off of 206.

Good luck.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by luckyshoes

I hope you know that Princeton Landing is in Plainsboro and Princeton Walk is in South Brunswick.

Be careful with that 08540 zip! It's not Princeton.

There are also nice townhomes in Montgomery, which has an excellent school system. It's also in the 08540 zip code, but I forget the name of the development now. There is a lot of them up there off of 206.

Good luck.

Montgomery Woods, Walk, Hills, lol. Pike Run. Princeton Village. Also know (not that it matters a whole lot, well, may for taxes, not sure) that:

Princeton = Mercer County
South Brunswick = Middlesex County
Montgomery = Somerset County

All share the Princeton zip. (Not in whole though)

[Princeton_My_Home]

Thanks for the reply luckyshoes, tahiti. Just curious on the price range, what is the nearest bus / train station and how far, taxes? Are any houses on sale?

[RUNYYfan]

The closest train station in the area is Princeton Junction. Keep in mind the waiting list for parking there is extensive. There is the Dinghy that will take you from Princeton Junction to the Princeton Train Station which is a short walk from Nassau Street, but there is very limited parking around that area as well.

NJ Transit and Coach USA, but run service along Route 27 and Route 206 through Princeton. For reference, Route 206 goes through the Montgomery area. Route 206 will pass by the entrance to Princeton Walk. IIRC, there is a bus stop a short distance down Route 27 from Princeton Walk near a small shopping center when you can get a Princeton-bound Coach USA bus. As far as 206 in Montgomery, I recall there being stops along the road, but I do not know the exact route number or how far up 206 it runs.

Taxes in NJ are high. There is no getting away from that. I think tahiti had posted this link some time ago. You can adjust the settings as needed for where you are looking.

NJ Tax Records Search

As for what's up for sale, there are a variety of single-family, townhouses, etc. on the market right now. I've seen listings as "low" as $500K and as high as $15-20MM.

The Realtor.com should give you a good sense of what is available. Use "Princeton, NJ" as your search criteria.

[luckyshoes]

You'll want to check Realtor.com for the prices. You can check South Brunswick, Montgomery, Plainsboro, West Windsor for towns when you look on that site. I would not enter Princeton personally. It's too confusing. (the houses will be listed under the town/school district they are actually in). Another idea is Robbinsville.

You're looking at at least 300K-400K. Taxes, not sure, I would estimate 8-9000 just to be conservative.

[edavid944]

This is in response to many things Luckyshoes has said and hopefully helpful to some people---please contact me with any questions!!

1. Having a Princeton mailing address even if you live in Plainsboro will have an impact on selling a home. The bottom line is we live in an image-oriented society and name is important. It's also the reason anyone could buy a nice 4 bedroom house in East Windsor for $450 and not get anything close to that in the Princeton area (08540 zip code).

2. Princeton Landing is less than 5 minutes from walkable downtown Princeton, arguably closer to this desirable area than areas in Princeton proper.

3. The value of my home has not decreased despite the fact that I bought in late 2007.

4. The commute is a cakewalk when you consider how far south in NJ Princeton is relative to some Northern NJ towns. When I lived in Hoboken, I had a 40 minute door to door commute (Hoboken to NYC). I do not have a parking pass--I use the daily lot and can get there by 7am. Guess what---my commute is an hour and 10 minutes door to door from Princeton Landing!!

My home cost approximately $375 and I project it will sell for around $415 when I sell it in 2011. In 2011, the new Princeton Medical Center will open up and there will be lots of doctors looking for a pied a terre.....

I welcome dialogue as I consider myself well researched on Real Estate in this area after having rented in NYC for 8 years. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by edavid944

This is in response to many things Luckyshoes has said and hopefully helpful to some people---please contact me with any questions!!

1. Having a Princeton mailing address even if you live in Plainsboro will have an impact on selling a home. The bottom line is we live in an image-oriented society and name is important. It's also the reason anyone could buy a nice 4 bedroom house in East Windsor for $450 and not get anything close to that in the Princeton area (08540 zip code).

I don't know about the home value thing. Definitely not something I would pay more for, and and expect to make more on in the future. Your example of East Windsor is kind of apples to oranges; the school district in EW isn't as good as the other towns with the 08540 zip (SB, Plainsboro, WW, Montgomery).

I like where Princeton Landing is too though. I think proximity to Princeton downtown is a bonus.

[sholden]

Originally Posted by edavid944

This is in response to many things Luckyshoes has said and hopefully helpful to some people---please contact me with any questions!!

1. Having a Princeton mailing address even if you live in Plainsboro will have an impact on selling a home. The bottom line is we live in an image-oriented society and name is important. It's also the reason anyone could buy a nice 4 bedroom house in East Windsor for $450 and not get anything close to that in the Princeton area (08540 zip code).

But since you pay more to start with, that ends up a wash.

2. Princeton Landing is less than 5 minutes from walkable downtown Princeton, arguably closer to this desirable area than areas in Princeton proper.

3. The value of my home has not decreased despite the fact that I bought in late 2007.

Lucky you, the rest of your ZIP isn't so lucky:

Though if there's no winter decline all will well, but there will be.

4. The commute is a cakewalk when you consider how far south in NJ Princeton is relative to some Northern NJ towns. When I lived in Hoboken, I had a 40 minute door to door commute (Hoboken to NYC). I do not have a parking pass--I use the daily lot and can get there by 7am. Guess what---my commute is an hour and 10 minutes door to door from Princeton Landing!!

Do you work at Penn Station of something? The just after 7am train takes 57 minutes (if it runs on time) to get to Penn Station. It's a 5 minute drive if all goes perfect to the train station, it takes a few minutes to get to the car at both ends and you don't want to arrive exactly when the train is pulling out, assume you are very fast and 10 minutes total will do.

You now have 3 minutes to get to your work door, which I assume is on the train platform?

My home cost approximately $375 and I project it will sell for around $415 when I sell it in 2011. In 2011, the new Princeton Medical Center will open up and there will be lots of doctors looking for a pied a terre.....

I welcome dialogue as I consider myself well researched on Real Estate in this area after having rented in NYC for 8 years. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Note, I live in 08540 and like it, I'm not trying to criticize the area.

[edavid944]

Agree that overall of course the market is trending down, but Princeton Landing seems to have been bucking that trend (so far, fingers crossed). I don't necessarily agree that it is a "wash" (per Luckyshoes) because I'm paying more. If I'm projecting (and of course none of us right now know the outcome) that I will make 8-10% over a 4-year period (assuming FSBO)---worst case scenario 5% then I don't understand how it is a wash.

Also, what I forgot to mention was the intangible of the safety of the community. When I first moved in, I saw a young girl on a bike at 10pm and lots of people walking around the community for an evening stroll. That feeling of safety---you can't put a dollar amount on it, and that will be one of my number one selling points when I do move. Sadly, I don't think there are much safer communities that Princeton Landing--consider the cost to live there and the fact that the property is landlocked to Route 1, you will almost never see any crime there (just google "Sayre Drive" to see).

Finally, regarding my commute--which admittedly has lengthened by about 5 minutes recently on NJ Transit. I leave the house at 6:50 and am parked and on the platform by 7 (takes 5 minutes to get there even if I hit 1 red light; I am coming southbound on Route 1). 7:03 train gets in around 7:55 or so and I have a 5 minute walk to work. On a worst-case-scenario day, my commute CAN be 1.5 hours, maybe 2 days a month.