Where to live around Glassboro? (Bellmawr: moving, farms, town)
New Jersey Suburbs of PhiladelphiaBurlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, Salem County in South Jersey
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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bellmark
Deptford is close to Glassboro and is in the lower tax rate compared to the region.
Yes there is traffic around the Mall.. but Deptford is a big town and has many regions to choose from
I wouldn't recommend Deptford. The schools aren't very good & even if the OP doesn't need them that's a selling point.
I wouldn't recommend Deptford. The schools aren't very good & even if the OP doesn't need them that's a selling point.
I "get" that Mullica Hill for example is on the premium end of the scale with better schools, homes, and educated residents.
But regarding resale selling and maintaining value, the impacts of a school district are already "baked" into the original buying price. If a town's homes sell 15% lower than some other's, than you should have purchased at 15% lower and its mostly a wash at resale.
i.e. If you buy a home in Haddonfield for $600,000 but it resells 5 yrs later for $550,000 while someone else buys in Deptford for $180,000 but sells 5 yrs later for $205,000... who made more money?
anyway...
So with Glassboro as the starting point (from the OP), I suggest Deptford as it is a better school district than Glassboro, and as I mentioned... taxes are typically lower (especially compared to Glassboro)
All that being said, school districts are a factor in home purchases.
To help assist an out of stater from the education standpoint
The NJ District Factor Groups break school districts down into categories based on many socio-economic factors such as; income, % of degreed adults. It helps guide state funding.
In the chart in the link (from the state education web site) look at Gloucester county. A is worst and I is best. A is for Abbot school districts like Camden which receive special state funding. http://www.state.nj.us/education/finance/rda/dfg.shtml
(I tried pasting in but this forum cant handle)
Data is from 2000. Latest I could find on the state site
Glassboro is B
Deptford is CD
Pitman is an impressive FG
I'd argue that any difference between CD-DE categories are negligible from the student perspective. A good student will find their way to success in these districts.
Logan Twp could be a sweet spot, as it has a high factor group and probably the lowest (or close to it) taxes in the county.
So then its a matter of house price, tax rate, school district... and available income.
An interesting exercise would be add in medium home sale price (in OP's category?), tax rate and distance from job as additional columns. Possibly add a weight factor of "this is important to me" and see how it totals.
Again to my example of Haddonfield (Camden county); yes with no budget in mind its a sure-fire win in a best community to buy for schooling, but who wants to pay $18,000 a year in taxes for a 4 bedroom 1970s house?
I still like Deptford (its why I moved here ) as for me that balance is right on the money. Like OP, I have no kids in schools. That wont change for me, but for OP maybe it does.
My 2 acres with swimming pool and private tennis court at $245k purchase and under 7k taxes is providing me a LOT of enjoyment and when I sell in 10 yrs I will make a profit,.
Last edited by bellmark; 11-19-2014 at 07:27 AM..
Reason: grammar
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellmark
I "get" that Mullica Hill for example is on the premium end of the scale with better schools, homes, and educated residents.
But regarding resale selling and maintaining value, the impacts of a school district are already "baked" into the original buying price. If a town's homes sell 15% lower than some other's, than you should have purchased at 15% lower and its mostly a wash at resale.
i.e. If you buy a home in Haddonfield for $600,000 but it resells 5 yrs later for $550,000 while someone else buys in Deptford for $180,000 but sells 5 yrs later for $205,000... who made more money?
anyway...
So with Glassboro as the starting point (from the OP), I suggest Deptford as it is a better school district than Glassboro, and as I mentioned... taxes are typically lower (especially compared to Glassboro)
All that being said, school districts are a factor in home purchases.
To help assist an out of stater from the education standpoint
The NJ District Factor Groups break school districts down into categories based on many socio-economic factors such as; income, % of degreed adults. It helps guide state funding.
In the chart in the link (from the state education web site) look at Gloucester county. A is worst and I is best. A is for Abbot school districts like Camden which receive special state funding. http://www.state.nj.us/education/finance/rda/dfg.shtml
(I tried pasting in but this forum cant handle)
Data is from 2000. Latest I could find on the state site
Glassboro is B
Deptford is CD
Pitman is an impressive FG
I'd argue that any difference between CD-DE categories are negligible from the student perspective. A good student will find their way to success in these districts.
Logan Twp could be a sweet spot, as it has a high factor group and probably the lowest (or close to it) taxes in the county.
So then its a matter of house price, tax rate, school district... and available income.
An interesting exercise would be add in medium home sale price (in OP's category?), tax rate and distance from job as additional columns. Possibly add a weight factor of "this is important to me" and see how it totals.
Again to my example of Haddonfield (Camden county); yes with no budget in mind its a sure-fire win in a best community to buy for schooling, but who wants to pay $18,000 a year in taxes for a 4 bedroom 1970s house?
I still like Deptford (its why I moved here ) as for me that balance is right on the money. Like OP, I have no kids in schools. That wont change for me, but for OP maybe it does.
My 2 acres with swimming pool and private tennis court at $245k purchase and under 7k taxes is providing me a LOT of enjoyment and when I sell in 10 yrs I will make a profit,.
I know someone who taught in Deptford for over 30 years. The schools used to be better than they are now. They are not improving. If you make money in 10 years, good for you. I am aware that there are a lot of empty properties in Pitman right now because of the closure of the Sony plant. That combined with better schools & being adjacent to Glassboro makes Pitman seem like a better option than a township with declining schools, plus a lot of the new construction in Deptford is on former pig farms.
plus a lot of the new construction in Deptford is on former pig farms.
Pig farms is a non issue. Poop and slop quickly turns to fertilizer and makes for greener grass.
I would have thought the Kinsley landfill proximity would be a bigger concern.
But Pitman has its own, the Lipari which won the award for the worst toxic dump in the US and was #1 on the Superfund list.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by bellmark
Pig farms is a non issue. Poop and slop quickly turns to fertilizer and makes for greener grass.
I would have thought the Kinsley landfill proximity would be a bigger concern.
But Pitman has its own, the Lipari which won the award for the worst toxic dump in the US and was #1 on the Superfund list.
I never saw an article "Residents fear pig poo causes ovarian cysts and birth defects"
Doh!
Maybe you haven't been around the former pig farms when there's rain. It's offensive. That was my point. I didn't mention Kinsley because I was only pointing out what could effect resale, not knowing if the OP is looking for long-term or short-term ownership. Trust me, I could post some other stuff about Deptford but, unlike you, I'm not trying to be ugly.
Enjoy your long-term investment.
ETA: The leak into Alcyon Lake was repaired & the lake was cleaned up years ago.
Last edited by southbound_295; 11-19-2014 at 11:48 AM..
Being a former NJ resident, you realize we have a crazy property tax problem here and its a HUGE factor in determining where to live (like I mentioned if cost meant nothing we'd all be living in Haddonfield. ha)
As a real world example, assuming all towns in the county have had recent reassessments (I believe they have), the taxes on a few of towns based on a $200,000 purchase
$3000 diff from the lowest to the highest here... on a $200,000 home
keep in mind that premium communities such as Wash Twp and Pitman typically have higher price values for comparable homes in a region so that $200k may not go as far there (along with higher taxes)
So now you have factual information on schools (Pitman is better than Deptford)
And factual information on tax rates (i.e. on a $200k home, Deptford could be about $2,000 cheaper than other town's, like... say...Pitman)
If you compare school rankings, with tax rates.. you can probably find a great balanace of house value, favorable taxes, and decent schools, which will probably be....
Mantua looks like a good contender, and um...
(S295: You open with "the schools aren't very good", and follow up with "new construction on pig farms" when there are 10,000+ other homes not impacted by that. You don't consider that a stretch to find negativity? I only went "Lipari" on ya to prove a point that you were really reaching deep to find negativity in Deptford. cya!)
Being a former NJ resident, you realize we have a crazy property tax problem here and its a HUGE factor in determining where to live (like I mentioned if cost meant nothing we'd all be living in Haddonfield. ha)
As a real world example, assuming all towns in the county have had recent reassessments (I believe they have), the taxes on a few of towns based on a $200,000 purchase
$3000 diff from the lowest to the highest here... on a $200,000 home
keep in mind that premium communities such as Wash Twp and Pitman typically have higher price values for comparable homes in a region so that $200k may not go as far there (along with higher taxes)
So now you have factual information on schools (Pitman is better than Deptford)
And factual information on tax rates (i.e. on a $200k home, Deptford could be about $2,000 cheaper than other town's, like... say...Pitman)
If you compare school rankings, with tax rates.. you can probably find a great balanace of house value, favorable taxes, and decent schools, which will probably be....
Mantua looks like a good contender, and um...
(S295: You open with "the schools aren't very good", and follow up with "new construction on pig farms" when there are 10,000+ other homes not impacted by that. You don't consider that a stretch to find negativity? I only went "Lipari" on ya to prove a point that you were really reaching deep to find negativity in Deptford. cya!)
I didn't reach deep. There are other factors that I know because I know someone who taught in Deptford for over 30 years. As I said, right now there are empty houses in Pitman because of the Sony plant closure. Those are opportunities to buy into Pitman that won't be there long-term. Empty houses tend to be a bargain. I don't live in Pitman & never have. I stand to gain nothing by recommending Pitman.
Yeah because Philly smells like roses especially on I-76 around Center City.
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) as for me that balance is right on the money. Like OP, I have no kids in schools. That wont change for me, but for OP maybe it does.
