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Old 11-18-2006, 10:53 PM
 
2 posts, read 9,157 times
Reputation: 11

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I am looking to buy in the spring and want to stay in mercer county. I can't afford over $125K and when looking for homes in E. Windsor and Hamilton I noticed some homes $89-100K in Trenton. The people I work with all grew up in Trenton and say there are some safer areas. A little background I am a smaller mid 20's single female and need to feel safe. I have know alot of people who live in New Brunswick and felt safe there (division streat, alexander, oak street areas) are there any places like that in Trenton or am I dreaming? Thank you for your help...any leads on small affordable homes in this range in Mercer would be great. Please don't turn this into a NJ bashing thread. I agree its expensive and have all intentions of moving out of state when I finnish school in around 5 years but can't bring myself to toss all that money away on rent in the mean time.

If there are better areas in Trenton would anyone know the zip codes? It seams there are a lot of them there; 08618, 08638, 08609, 08611?

Last edited by tkapalski1978; 11-18-2006 at 11:13 PM.. Reason: edit
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Old 11-19-2006, 12:09 AM
 
Location: Hopewell New Jersey
1,398 posts, read 7,690,861 times
Reputation: 1069
Default Not safe in my opinion

I know I'll get flamed for this but I wouldn't let any SF I cared about live in Trenton. I've lived my 1st 40 yrs. In Ewing Twp (ajoins Trenton) and have seen Trenton become a DMZ iIMHO. Once the malls came into being and the "department stores" moved out of Trenton no one in their right mind goes into Trenton. Chambersburg,North Trenton area (Ital & Polish) respectivly) used to be considered safe but that too is no longer the case. I personally know 2 homeowners that stayed too long in the "burg" as it's locally know and now owe more on their mortgage than they can get for their house. !! So much for the idea of home ownership as an investment. Living (and that's a stretch) in Trenton should not be considered an option. look at Mercerville,Hamilton Twp Ewing Twp areas ...if you can't find anything there...rent... perhaps share rent with another student. You've got your whole life to amass your fortunes...don't put yourself in harms way .
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Old 11-19-2006, 12:14 AM
 
2 posts, read 9,157 times
Reputation: 11
Thanks Jbrown. Thats what my family and friends have been saying. I read about the neighborhoods on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trenton,_New_Jersey and it looks like there really isn't a safe area. People at work were talking about the Mill Hill area but I can't seam to even figure out where that is. Most of what I saw on real estate websites weren't too inviting. I am seeing rented propertys for 800 for sale and the bldg is only 60K, showing a possitive cash flow. Maybe I should buy as an investment and continue to rent. It's tempting with these prices.
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Old 11-19-2006, 02:48 PM
 
Location: Missouri
6,044 posts, read 24,026,361 times
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I live 15 miles outside of Trenton, in Robbinsville, and work in Trenton. No, it is not safe, not any area or district. Chambersburg does have a handful of blocks where for the most part, the residents have lived there a long time and keep trouble out. Mill Hill is a very nice, upcoming area with a lot of new townhomes and such, but it is just around the corner from a lot of trouble. If you are really curious about Mill Hill, you take Rt. 206/Broad Street north to the Market St/Rt. 33 East intersection, and turn right (east) onto Rt. 33. The side roads to both your left and right are the Mill Hill area. Try taking a right onto Mercer Street - it's adorable down there, and is considered safe, but it is just too close to trouble IMO. If they can get Trenton cleaned up a bit, Mill Hill would be a great area to invest in.

ditto Jbrown; look elsewhere if possible. Also be cautious of the sections of Ewing, Hamilton, and Lawrenceville that immediately border Trenton. West Trenton is nice for the most part. $125k is hard to do, but it is possible.
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Old 11-28-2006, 05:11 PM
 
1 posts, read 4,578 times
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You can get an efficency apartment style condo on Avon Drive in East Windsor for $85-99 K...with 200 Mo condo fee. Area is OK.
Dont move to Trenton. I love my ole hometown but it needs help.
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Old 12-01-2006, 11:52 AM
 
276 posts, read 744,841 times
Reputation: 96
It seems you have a problem. (btw i was born and raised in ewing back in 73.)

on the one hand you want to remain near the city. on the other, you have limited money (and you are not alone here--welcome to the club). the problem is, look at what has happened to ewing in the past 15 or so years. former residents of trenton wish to, naturally, escape, and with creativity of home mortgages, were able to do just that. but they work in the city (those who do work , that is, and dont collect). as the trenton residents moved into ewing, the ewing residents moved away. the complex of the suburb changed radically. and this is the consequence of any suburb on the border of a city. we sold our house about 4 years back in ewing and it went for 85k.

that is one problem.

the second one that i see is the crux most of us are in: if you move to a suburb thats nice (read: safe and not populated with over 100 year old homes) you will probably have the least expensive home on the block. which is a good thing--never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood--the lless expensive ones are elevated by the more expensive ones. but the problem that you do have is that you have to reside amongst those with a similar socio-economic status and 150k is nothing nowadays, nothing at all. thus you will be confined to a lower socio-economic neighborhood.

my best advice--get out of nj, move right across the river and start looking. as far as im concerned, nj is ruined. and the funny thing is, we did it to ourselves by a) flipping like crazy and b) importing high-tech, high-industrial, high-income earning wage workers from countries like India and Asia. they are fiscally prudent, but swallow up the most expensive real estate like water, and this created the excess demand that we all now see. Furthermore they come over here iwth no debt due to state or govt. subsidization and thus, what they make, they keep. corporations who sponsor hi-b's all get tax breaks since it is consultncy work. and those salaries r high. those who get crunched are those like you and i who are starting out.

i used to work for the nsa and make a grand annual of 46000. called quicken loans and asked how much i qualified for, and they said around 90k. (after i remitted debt loans, etc.). i woke up, moved back here, and now am a comp. consultant. but im seriously considering relocating to pa. but even then id probably have to live in amish country to afford this crap.

those who can now afford to buy are in 2 categories:
a) excessive income w/litle to no debt
or
b) flippers who kept substantial equity and are looking to move $$ from A to B

no one in their right mind can afford the median price of 500k. how the heck can anyone get 5 percent down even? thts 25,000 + closing costs of about 15 k. so 40 k upfront.
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