First time home buyers looking for a safe neighborhood near Northeast Philly/NJ (Trenton: renting, new construction)

[newneel]

Hello,
First of all, Thanks a lot everybody for their insight.

My wife and I are working professionals currently renting in Northeast philly. We are now planning to buy a house either near Yardley, PA or adjacent NJ, PA suberbs. Due to my licensing profession, I can only work in PA state and my wife works in Mt. Laurel, NJ. That's the reason, we can't look too much east of NJ and West of Philly.

We will have be having kids in near future so, our first priority is safe neighborhood with great school system. Princeton is too expensive. Our budget is $400,000 for a townhouse or starter single family.

1. How is Bordentown, Chesterfield area ? How's the school system ? There are some good new construction available in these towns.
2. Yardley look nice but, too many old houses.
3. Mt.Laurel/Cherry hill are nice too but, prefer something north, if any other similar good suberbs are available.

We would really appreciate your help. Thanks.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by newneel

Hello,
First of all, Thanks a lot everybody for their insight.

My wife and I are working professionals currently renting in Northeast philly. We are now planning to buy a house either near Yardley, PA or adjacent NJ, PA suberbs. Due to my licensing profession, I can only work in PA state and my wife works in Mt. Laurel, NJ. That's the reason, we can't look too much east of NJ and West of Philly.

We will have be having kids in near future so, our first priority is safe neighborhood with great school system. Princeton is too expensive. Our budget is $400,000 for a townhouse or starter single family.

1. How is Bordentown, Chesterfield area ? How's the school system ? There are some good new construction available in these towns.
2. Yardley look nice but, too many old houses.
3. Mt.Laurel/Cherry hill are nice too but, prefer something north, if any other similar good suberbs are available.

We would really appreciate your help. Thanks.

Of the places that you listed, Cherry Hill is by far the best.

Look at Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, Moorestown, Cinnaminson then Mt Laurel.

[manderly6]

Look at Pennington, NJ. A bit cheaper than Princeton. Nice town. Good schools.

[frankgn87]

Moorestown and haddonfield

[newneel]

Thanks guys.

Let me ask what you think of Bordentown or Chesterfield ? How's the schools there ? I am only looking for good or great schools.

And how about Yardley, PA ? schools ? Do you think I can get a decent single family for $400k or so ?

[frankgn87]

yardley is a wonderful area. Great schools too..

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by newneel

Thanks guys.

Let me ask what you think of Bordentown or Chesterfield ? How's the schools there ? I am only looking for good or great schools.

And how about Yardley, PA ? schools ? Do you think I can get a decent single family for $400k or so ?

Why would you want to go that far north? Bordentown is considerably farther from Philly & Mt. Laurel than Cherry Hill, & the other places. It doesn't make sense to me. Bordentown is a suburb of Trenton, in a way.

We've given you nice towns that are close to where you both work. All have very good schools.

[newneel]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Why would you want to go that far north? Bordentown is considerably farther from Philly & Mt. Laurel than Cherry Hill, & the other places. It doesn't make sense to me. Bordentown is a suburb of Trenton, in a way.

We've given you nice towns that are close to where you both work. All have very good schools.

You are absolutely right and we love Cherry Hill. The only reason is that my wife works as a consultant. So, she may have to change the work locations based on where she gets the new project. The chances of getting good client projects are in the companies mostly located either in Philly, North/Central Jersey and NYC. So, we want to stay little north of South Jersey (i.e. Yardley or Bordentown etc...) so that she can have some choices and can commute to NYC or Philly if really necessary.

We just want to keep our options little wide as far as job opportunities are concerned.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by newneel

You are absolutely right and we love Cherry Hill. The only reason is that my wife works as a consultant. So, she may have to change the work locations based on where she gets the new project. The chances of getting good client projects are in the companies mostly located either in Philly, North/Central Jersey and NYC. So, we want to stay little north of South Jersey (i.e. Yardley or Bordentown etc...) so that she can have some choices and can commute to NYC or Philly if really necessary.

We just want to keep our options little wide as far as job opportunities are concerned.

OK, well, then in that case I'll give you my opinion of Bordentown.

I wouldn't live there. There's some recent housing there that seems to be popular with people from North Jersey & NY who like it because they think it's cheap.

I remember driving up to the then end of 295 on my way to a place that I went to, occasionally, in Princeton. There was usually a series of signs announcing activities such as turkey shoots. Other than stopping at Mastoris, there was nothing of interest there.

[newneel]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

OK, well, then in that case I'll give you my opinion of Bordentown.

I wouldn't live there. There's some recent housing there that seems to be popular with people from North Jersey & NY who like it because they think it's cheap.

I remember driving up to the then end of 295 on my way to a place that I went to, occasionally, in Princeton. There was usually a series of signs announcing activities such as turkey shoots. Other than stopping at Mastoris, there was nothing of interest there.

Thanks a lot for the help. Cherry Hill is one option and may be Yardley will fit better for our needs and wishes. Let's see...