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You should be happy you live in a town with that much retail. Where I live in West Orange we don't have much retail and that puts a higher tax burden on residents. We had residents bending over backwards to fight a friggin' Quick Check from coming into town. People are so clueless. They fight this stuff but then will complain that the town doesn't attract businesses to ease the tax burden. Everyone wants retail...unless it's within a 10 block radius of their home...then it's no good...
It will still be higher tax burden on residents in a way because it is the locals who will spend money there. Its not a tax burden but you still need to spend the money in order to keep those businesses in business or they close down and you are back to square one.
There is no mystery, it's not just the quantity but also the type of retail. You can have 100 small mom and pop stores that wont do much for tax revenue vs 1 popular large chain store like walmart, bed bath beyond etc... Look at edgewater, paramus, secaucus..etc all with multiple popular large stores, and those towns all have the lowest taxes (by comparison to rest of NJ). Meanwhile look at ridgewood and montclair which also has large amount of shopping, but all mostly mom and pop small stores, and their taxes are still very high.
Of course how much the town spends on schools etc..also matters. But in general, towns with many large scale department/chain stores always have lower tax rates.
Don't those towns also have poorer residents too? The poor people cant afford anything other than the big box stores whom they probably also work for in some form or another, and don't get paid much by them. It is a never ending cycle.
The rich people can afford more novelty things, and that is the only kind of mom and pop that can compete against the big box.
Don't those towns also have poorer residents too? The poor people cant afford anything other than the big box stores whom they probably also work for in some form or another, and don't get paid much by them. It is a never ending cycle.
The rich people can afford more novelty things, and that is the only kind of mom and pop that can compete against the big box.
What you say is true to a great extent, but--on the other hand--I save money by buying some of my weekly food order at Whole Foods. My favorite yogurt--Siggi's--costs ~.40 less per container at Whole Foods than it does at Shop-Rite. Also, the organic Half & Half is about $1.00 less at Whole Foods, as compared to Shop-Rite.
Similarly, my favorite non-cured, non-preservative-laden sliced ham--Applegate Organic--costs $1.25 less per package at WF, as compared to Shop-Rite. Even the house brand 365 mayonnaise at Whole Foods costs $1.00 less than the comparable product at the--supposedly--cheaper Trader Joe's.
Those who think that everything at Whole Foods is more expensive have obviously not done any price comparisons for quite a while. Yes, WF's prepared foods are quite pricey, but if you are shopping for...staple items...in many cases, you can actually save money by going to Whole Foods.
Would it be better if that property just sat empty?
According to suburban NIMBYs, yes. Then they wonder why their kids and grandkids are in Brooklyn. They don't realize that the suburbs have basically made modern living illegal. Very few people under the age of 50 want a high maintenance older property on a big suburban lot, with high taxes and far from services.
The things people actually want today (walkability, mixed-use, etc.) are basically illegal under Parsippany zoning. They're still living in 1970.
According to suburban NIMBYs, yes. Then they wonder why their kids and grandkids are in Brooklyn. They don't realize that the suburbs have basically made modern living illegal. Very few people under the age of 50 want a high maintenance older property on a big suburban lot, with high taxes and far from services.
The housing market says otherwise. If you like a 350sqft apartment in a rowhouse on a 12x50 lot next to the Gowanus Canal, feel free to move there.
The housing market says otherwise. If you like a 350sqft apartment in a rowhouse on a 12x50 lot next to the Gowanus Canal, feel free to move there.
I agree, there was a time when I didn't mind living in a 500 square foot apartment. But then I got married, and had 2 kids. No more apartment living for me. Half the people in my West Orange neighborhood moved out of Brooklyn and other parts of the city for this reason.
The housing market says otherwise. If you like a 350sqft apartment in a rowhouse on a 12x50 lot next to the Gowanus Canal, feel free to move there.
Uh, actually no. Sprawly areas like Parsippany are dirt-cheap compared to more urban and transit-oriented areas. Let me guess, you are one of those NIMBYs that thinks that Parsippany benefits from blocking Whole Foods and townhouses, in the misguided view that development lowers property values?
Anything near the Gowanus Canal is much more desirable than anything near Parsippany, hence the much higher prices. A two bedroom condo near the Gowanus will start around $1 million these days. In Parsippany, $1 million basically buys you a mansion. Forty years ago, the opposite was true. That's why people are so befuddled at why their property values are lagging, and why their kids and grandkids are living somewhere else. They don't get it.
The fastest appreciating real estate in NJ is in walkable, transit-oriented, denser, mixed use communities like Hoboken, Montclair, Summit, etc. That's what people want these days. The lagging real estate is in places like Parsippany. People want rail, downtowns, multifamily housing, etc. They don't want acre lots and highways and no sidewalks.
I agree, there was a time when I didn't mind living in a 500 square foot apartment. But then I got married, and had 2 kids. No more apartment living for me. Half the people in my West Orange neighborhood moved out of Brooklyn and other parts of the city for this reason.
You're contradicting yourself. You could only afford a 500 square foot apartment in Brooklyn, and can afford far more in West Orange. That's exactly my point.
The people in your West Orange neighborhood moved there because it was more affordable. 30 years ago, Brooklyn was more affordable than West Orange. People moved to NJ because they got a promotion and had more money to spend. Now they move to NJ because they can't afford Brooklyn.
West Orange is a somewhat urban suburb, though, which means property values are probably a good long-term bet. At least there's some transit and walkability.
Uh, actually no. Sprawly areas like Parsippany are dirt-cheap compared to more urban and transit-oriented areas.
Certainly cheaper per square foot. But the ridiculous idea that no one under the age of 50 wants to live in the suburbs is belied by the fact that houses are still selling for around $400k; there aren't enough over-50s to drive the prices up that high.
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Let me guess, you are one of those NIMBYs that thinks that Parsippany benefits from blocking Whole Foods and townhouses, in the misguided view that development lowers property values?
Naa, I think they're idiots for blocking Whole Foods.
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Anything near the Gowanus Canal is much more desirable than anything near Parsippany, hence the much higher prices.
It's a bubble, and when it bursts it's going to smell extremely bad
The fastest appreciating real estate in NJ is in walkable, transit-oriented, denser, mixed use communities like Hoboken, Montclair, Summit, etc
East Orange, Paterson... oh, oops, guess not.
Anyway, Montclair and Summit are not transit-oriented; they have transit for the commute, but if you want to get around the town, you mostly drive. Hoboken you mostly walk; it's small. Or swim
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