Seeking new NJ town to live in. (New Brunswick, Hoboken: school district, living)
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Lets switch for a moment from theoretical real estate math to the real world.
I did discuss the "real world". My "real world" examples were Jersey City and Hoboken. Terrible school districts, but turned out to be pretty good "investments". I know people who bought in JC in the '90s and they would be pretty much priced out at todays prices.
I have a relative who bought several years ago in Fair Haven, NJ (good school district) for 465K reassesed just recently at 425K, loss of about 9%.
I also have a neighbor (bad school district) who just sold their house for 200K, who bought for 300K back in 2005. Loss of 33%.
You tell me which is the better investment?.
You haven't provided enough information to answer that question for a number of reasons:
You didn't mention when the fair haven home owner purchased their home.
An "assessment" is not a sale. We don't know what it would sell for.
It's pretty clear that anything that loses 33% that quickly is not a good investment. It's much less clear how much of this is due to extremely unfortunate market timing.
Isolated anecdotes don't prove a whole lot anyway. To really make your case, you need to show that buying in better school districts produces a better return on investment. I haven't crunched the numbers very carefully but this doesn't really jump out at me. The best investments in hindsight were the places that were bought at distressed prices during some extraordinary event. For example, New York in the early '80s.
I did discuss the "real world". My "real world" examples were Jersey City and Hoboken. Terrible school districts, but turned out to be pretty good "investments". I know people who bought in JC in the '90s and they would be pretty much priced out at todays prices.
You haven't provided enough information to answer that question for a number of reasons:
You didn't mention when the fair haven home owner purchased their home.
An "assessment" is not a sale. We don't know what it would sell for.
It's pretty clear that anything that loses 33% that quickly is not a good investment. It's much less clear how much of this is due to extremely unfortunate market timing.
Isolated anecdotes don't prove a whole lot anyway. To really make your case, you need to show that buying in better school districts produces a better return on investment. I haven't crunched the numbers very carefully but this doesn't really jump out at me. The best investments in hindsight were the places that were bought at distressed prices during some extraordinary event. For example, New York in the early '80s.
You are right Jersey City and Hoboken turned out to be good investments despite the fact they are in bad school districts. The cities cleaned up, built newer buildings and made certain parts of town very attractive to the young urban professional.
But please stop trying to argue that a young family wouldn't be better off buying in a town with a good school district. It's just making you look more foolish.
You are right Jersey City and Hoboken turned out to be good investments despite the fact they are in bad school districts. The cities cleaned up, built newer buildings and made certain parts of town very attractive to the young urban professional.
But please stop trying to argue that a young family wouldn't be better off buying in a town with a good school district. It's just making you look more foolish.
I never argued that. We're discussing a young lady and her live in boyfriend. I'm not arguing that "a young family" should be indifferent to the school district.
Wow, Jabis, this thread seems to have devolved quickly from your OP!
Everything covered thus far speaks to North Jersey or Middlesex County. While there's not a lot of nightlife here in Hunterdon County (aka "God's Country"), it does have the best school system in the state (one of the best in the nation, in fact) and, if you plan to have children, you're right to make that a very important component in your search. In the meantime, nightlife can be had at a very reasonable distance in several directions.
We are a mix of suburb and ruburb (rural 'burbs'). Yes, it's spectacularly beautiful and quiet. My nearest neighbor is a horse, yet food, gas and shopping are still convenient. A recreational reservoir for kayaking & sailing and a park for hiking and picnicing are right across the road and there's another one not far away. There are also at least two dog parks where my Lab mix loves to go and play with his dog-friends. I'm about equidistant to NYC and Philly--roughly 50 mi. from NYC and about 30 mi. from Princeton. To NYC, my preferred way is the Trans-Bridge commuter bus out of the picturesque little town of Clinton (yes, it carries communters from PA to NYC daily--yikes!--and my NYC born and bred husband has come to prefer the bus as well), but there're also at least 3 NJ Transit train stations heading into the city. Easiest way to Princeton is about a 35-40-min drive. (I typically take the back roads... prettier and there's generally less traffic.)
Just thought you might want to consider some less-congested areas like Hunterdon or even some parts of Somerset. It may be too far for you, but we have many people here who work in the city and consider this area to be their refuge/reward. Good luck to you both in your search!
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Last edited by Hey Jude, na na na na; 10-16-2011 at 07:27 PM..
Where are you coming from? Jersey, the Woodbridge are
Why are you moving? We want to start a new life together
Where will you be working ? Manhattan, and Princeton..but with Princeton I'm only staying long enough to gain experience in my field and wish to move someplace else.
Will you buy or rent? buying
What is your budget ? 200-250k
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ? The boyfriend and our 65 lbs pup
Do you need/want good public schools? It would be a plus but no a decision maker
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in
young, mature, safe, close-knit, most import though is a place where we can take out pup for a walk and eat at an outside bar/ restaurant.
Hoboken and Jersey city aren't out of the question because they're similar, they are just to pricey and we aren't city people.
Jersey City is nothing like Hoboken. I don't understand why the two are always lumped together. It's like saying Maplewood and Irvington are not for us. Not trying to get on your case just can't stand when people do this.
Uh, no not at all. Your comparison is way way off. JC does have some similarities to hoboken for sure.
Jersey City is nothing like Hoboken. I don't understand why the two are always lumped together. It's like saying Maplewood and Irvington are not for us. Not trying to get on your case just can't stand when people do this.
I'm still puzzling out why Metuchen would ever be lumped in with the other two!
Just because a poster presents a list of towns that are out of the running, doesn't mean they are being lumped together. There could be completely different, unrelated reasons that the OP rejected each town. What is the big deal?
Just because a poster presents a list of towns that are out of the running, doesn't mean they are being lumped together. There could be completely different, unrelated reasons that the OP rejected each town. What is the big deal?
It's no big deal, but saying "Something along the lines of a town like Metuchen, Hoboken and Jersey city aren't for us" does sound as if they are being lumped together.
So, a small suburban town, a small city with a young yuppie-ish crowd, or a larger city with either ghetto or high-end choices, aren't for the OP, but she wants quiet with some nightlife. Two of them have the shortest commute, and one has more than an hour's commute. What does that leave, exactly, in NJ? A rural area with hoedowns on Saturday night with a short commute to the city? OK, the last sentence wasn't necessary, but it amused me. And, of course, no such place exists.
Uh, no not at all. Your comparison is way way off. JC does have some similarities to hoboken for sure.
Aside from the fact that they have the PATH and SOME similar housing what else is there? They have completely different demographics and feeling.
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