whats more important--area or house?! (Newark, Camden: houses, to buy, public schools)

[meameame12]

wife and I cannot stop bickering over this. wife wants her dream house, her mcmansion. we cant afford it--not what she wants. basically, those homes in Monroe--the new ones, not the garbage ones. we can afford THOSE, but not in a great area. in dumpy Monroe, sure. but not in, say, Princeton, Holmdel, Alpine, Westfield, Livingston, etc.

I however am solely interested in area. just area. of course, you dont want to live in a shoebox in princeton. of course, you dont want to live in bill gates' home in newark.

what do you all think?

we cannot reconcile at this point what is more important.

[pawel31]

Location is more important. You can always improve condition of your house.

[jerseygal4u]

Since when is Monroe considered dumpy?

if I were you,i'd ask Suze Orman through her late night talk show on Cnbc.

[meameame12]

Originally Posted by pawel31

Location is more important. You can always improve condition of your house.

good point. told wife this, her reply: you cannot get a mcmansion out of a dumpy house

[tahiti]

monroe is dumpy?

[Kevin1975]

Its the old adage....Location, Location, Location.

[Praxis]

Location is more important.

Patience is key in finding the right home at the right price in the right location.

[bbnetworking]

I like good looking houses, my wife likes good location, good schools for our kids.

She made some good points, and I sacrificed the good looking house for a average ones in a great location. We are moving Sept 1th.

If you have kids, good location, good public schools, should be top priority.

good luck.

[focus282]

I agree about location.

Proximity to the things that are most important to your day-to-day life (i.e. work, stores, restaurants, good schools, family members, etc.) is key to a happy life.

What good is a huge home if you have nothing/no one around? Unless, of course, you prefer a that.

Make a list of the places you go on a daily/weekly.monthly basis...if it will be too difficult to get to these places, then you need a better location.

Also, do you plan to sell down the road, or are you there for the long haul? If you're eventually going to move, think about the resale value. many times location is more important than the home itself when it comes to resale value...Like you said, people would be much more willing to buy a small house that needs TLC in say Westfield or Milltown, rather than a mcmansion in Newark or Camden.

[SweepTheLeg]

Originally Posted by meameame12

good point. told wife this, her reply: you cannot get a mcmansion out of a dumpy house

Your wife is clearly unaware of how to renovate a house.

A friend of mine bought a house from a crazy cat lady. It was basically something out of Hoarders. The PRIMARY reason he bought it was because of the location, NOT THE STRUCTURE. The location was in a very desirable part of NJ, and Crazy Cat Lady bought it decades before it was "desirable".

He basically razed the entire house and rebuilt his dream house on top of it.