Good home communities with in half hour drive to Princeton? (Lawrenceville: home builders, to buy)

[rawhit]

Hello all,
first post here. We are looking to buy a single family house around $500K (preferably under). From what we see all the good school communities don't have any much available in that price.
Our priorities are

• Decent schools (hopefully 7 -8 on greatschools rating)
• Community (we have young kids 6 and 1. Looking for a community where they have company without us having to drive them around)
• 30 min Drive to Forrestral Center
• Basement

From what we have looked at
West Windsor, Plainsboro, South Brunswick, Princeton, Montgomery, Hopewell houses are priced a bit above our price range or don't have basement.

Monroe was affordable till 6 months back but all of a sudden new home builders (Hallmark, KHov) have upped their prices by 50-60K and people are still paying that without second thought. Toll brothers haven't opened Monroe Chase yet (and seems like they would be priced north of $550K)

We would consider moving further South as we don't have to travel to NYC but not sure which areas are good here?
How about Heritage at Chesterfield or something in Lawrenceville, Robinsville? Any other towns to consider?

Thanks for any input.
Cheers!

[manderly6]

Have you checked out Pennington?

[jerseyj]

How about over the River in Bucks Co. Pa? Council Rock school district is supposed to be very good.

[rawhit]

Originally Posted by manderly6

Have you checked out Pennington?

I hadn't looked at Pennington till now. Are there any particular communities you would recommend? From what I know the underground water level is high so very few houses have basement.

Originally Posted by jerseyj

How about over the River in Bucks Co. Pa? Council Rock school district is supposed to be very good.

jerseyj
Didn't realize some towns in PA were within 30 mins of Princeton. Any particular community to take a look at?

Also would appreciate any feedback about Cheterfield. Apparently Heritage at Chesterfield has only few lots left as this community has been in development since 2010.

Thanks!