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Great guys !!! good info, I am glad I joined this forum.
Yes, these TH are highly priced because of current demand in that area. Some points below made them
1. Park and Ride (5 mins) to Port Authority and Wall Street
2. Good Schools
3. Brand New factor***
Premium is coming up to $3500/month (Principal + Interest + Tax + Insurance + HOA)
Similar layout homes in neighborhood:
1. Princeton Junction (13 year old) - $575K
2. West Windsor - $480K (13 year old)
3. Plainsboro - Rarely you find homes with basement and age<20 years
4. South Brunswick - $470K (20 year old)
All this is making me crazy. Are there any predictions that housing prices will come down once interest rates go up?
One more thing driving me crazy is:
Monthly Premium with Interest Rate 4% for a Home $550K and 20% down is $2000
Monthly Premium with Interest Rate 6.5% for a Home $550K and 20% down is $2600
If there is prediction that home prices go down in another 2 years I would rather wait.... are there any rumors?
That seems high for that particular area (8A is Monroe and for some reasons beyond my comprehension, that area is selling new overpriced (IMHO) homes like hotcakes). I've heard because the demographic prefers new...but what happens when the new construction slows? I see a drop in prices in that area at some point. That's what my crystal ball says. Bottom line, I'd never pay that much for a TH.
i think a lot of them are chinese buyers who share the same view on how schools should be structured and also built a community there (just like the indians did in edison). So this in turn attracts more chinese buyers, many with cash on hand and all prefer new constructions instead of dealing with "used" houses. Many are blind to the price factor (500k vs 700k doesnt really mean a lot to them) and the commute is a second thought.
My chinese coworkers ( i am asian too if you cant tell ) have pressured me to move to that area many times, stating the great "value" of the houses there (big new construction for fraction of cost), good schools, and the chinese population. I just told them i will never move to a place that requires 1.5 hours commute each way and a 20 minute drive to a supermarket. That ended the conversation quick.
But, any place in NJ with good schools and good commute to NYC are a minimum $650K (Single Family) and $480K (Town Homes). And average commute from these town/cities is about 1 hr and 15 mins.
There are few cities that have better commute but home prices are much more than indicated above.
I like to be challenged on this....please tell me I am wrong.
That sounds extremely expensive for the area. I find that area very out of the way, but I guess if you work near there it is OK. Not a great commute into the city.
I'm surprised you said prices are way up in that area, I don't follow the prices that closely there, but from my understanding suburban NJ realestate has been pretty flat in general.
nj007, you can do considerably better than 650K for an SFH or 480K for a TH but you will not get a new or nearly-new house -- more likely something built in the 1960s or 1920s or a townhouse in the 1980s -- and it may be smaller than you'd like. Good bets at $550K would be the "usual suspects" on this forum: South Orange, Maplewood, Montclair, Rutherford, probably some others.
Unless you're absolutely set on having a new house for some reason (e.g. you're 7' 2" and need those high ceilings), your best bet is to buy an older house in a closer town. Your new house won't provide much enjoyment if you spend more time on New Jersey Transit than at home. Also, the older single-family houses won't have HOAs, which saves you some money.
Gazing into my crystal ball, I would not expect housing prices to come down in near-to-NYC NJ towns any time soon. You might see a little bit off those new townhouses in central NJ, but probably only enough to match the interest rate increases.
after doing the njtransit communte for many years, i am a big fan of living as close to your job as you can, unless you work in a really crappy town/city. some of my younger coworkers live in hoboken and jersey city and commute to our basking ridge office. they leave at around 630 to get to work and leave work at 6pm+ because of traffic. i leave my house at 8:15 ad leave work at 5. to me its not worth it the 1-2 nights a week they might go out vs the 5 days of certain longer than needed hours and commute times.
the asians/south asians pay a premium for new construction. For whatever reason, they want nothing to do with older homes. Thus you get builders like khov etc saying, why build 700k sfh when we can build 550k TH's on same lot. More money in the bank for them.
You can spend 350 on a TH/SFH in any number of towns up the NEC, spend 100k to gut the kitchens and bathrooms and still be 100k ahead of someone who buys one of these townhomes. I don't get it. But to each their own.
It all depends on the market value of the townhomes- which depends on number of bedrooms, baths, square footage, style, then they take into consideration the upgrades that have been done to the home.
The homes that you researched around the area that were selling for the same price, where they single family homes or townhomes as well?
Tracy
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) have pressured me to move to that area many times, stating the great "value" of the houses there (big new construction for fraction of cost), good schools, and the chinese population. I just told them i will never move to a place that requires 1.5 hours commute each way and a 20 minute drive to a supermarket. That ended the conversation quick.
