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Moving to southern Ocean county and would love to know if these are the places to go. I've done a lot of research on schools, etc. Barnegat seems like the better choice for schools but just saw someone mention on a thread that one should "avoid Barnegat". Why?? Looks like a pretty place - what's the hidden risk?
Why is the Manahawkin elementary school rated do awfully bad?? The middle school and high school look decent. Scary!!!
Any insight welcome.
And what's the deal with AC airport?? Will it ever expand to new carriers so it's a viable choice for travel? Currently it's ridiculous to try to get anywhere from there and Philly and Newark are both over 80 miles from Barnegat-Manahawkin. Ugh!!
My inlaws live in Barnegat. I like the area, it is growing, but still has a lot of land left.
It has a lot of 55 plus communities, so the tax burden should be getting lower as they get more older folks moving in.
I'm not so sure I understand your logic there- if anything, the tax burden is GREATER for those outside the age-restricted communities, as they don't pay into the school portion of property taxes.
One of the big draws to the 55+ communities is that the taxes are lower. Certain towns cut deals with the developers of these places that allow them to exempt residents from paying into the school tax, on the obvious presumption that they're not "using" the schools. What this does now is disproportionately allocate the entire school tax to just those outside the 55+ communities.
While some say "well, that's fair- they don't use the schools", that's like me saying "well, I don't want to pay into Medicaid funds because I don't use those programs".
Bob you cant be more right!!! Tax burden? the residents of 55 and older here in jackson are up 11k a year in taxes in westlake...baragat taxes like ive said before will go up as more population moves to the area and these builders continue to build, There will not be a particualr area anymore that will be affordable for taxes, because with all the adult communities and new construction these schools will suffer so someone has to pick up the tab...
I would love to live somewhere where they didn't tax me for education. My kids aren't going to go to these pathetic public schools when they come of age.
The town is also growing with mcmansions on every street, so those will provide more then enough taxes to their schools.
I've lived equally in southern and central New Jersey all of my life. While living in Ocean County (Tuckerton or Little Egg Harbor they are the same town really) for ten years, I've seen the area along with Manahawkin (where I worked) develop incredibly fast. I'm familar with all of the surrounding areas too. Manahawkin is 15 minutes north of Tuckerton, LEH area. Manahawkin is also 15 minutes south of Long Beach Island which is a very expensive summer resort town with very very expensive summer homes on the north end. Barnegat is a neighboring town which I'd stay away from...I used to call it Barneghetto growing up......cheaper yes..but dreadfully boring and the high school had a lot of drug usage. I attended Pinelands Regional in Tuckerton which is a nice school, but could've been better - Piney town or hickville some people referred to the area....though safe...not a lot for kids to do unless they have a car. With the influx of taxes the area is improving rapidly though and housing developments/condos are EVERYWHERE.
I now live in Atlantic County in Mays Landing. I LOVE it here but its expensive still. I pay $1100 (most units that have better upgrades and finished basements are $1400 or so) rent for a two bedroom 1 1/2 bath townhouse with unfinished basement in one of the nicer community developments for this area....my particular unit goes for 195K.....affordable. Homes are pricey...base price for most houses that aren't in the 55+ areas start at about 230K. Some of the reasons why I LOVE this area are:
1.) I live on Hardings Highway which is parallel to Route 40. I live literally 2 minutes from EVERYTHING. The Hamiliton Mall, Acme Supermarket, Walmart are two minutes down the road. Just to mention there are two different malls within 15 minutes of eachother Hamilton Mall and Shore Mall. From my house there are several shopping commons areas with every single store you can think of and a wide variety of dining areas too. In front of the mall I can jump on the expressway and in 10 minutes be in Atlantic City. I can also get to Philly from the expressway too and be there in about an hour or less. The expressway also gives access to the Parkway which is the main highway throughout New Jersey untill you reach the Turnpike in northern New Jersey. The Parkway is used to reach all shore points like Wildwood, Ocean City, Cape May if your headed south, if you go north it takes you all the way into north jersey etc. Traffic around here isn't bad like major cities, our expressway and parkway's are only two lanes. I also attended high school here for 2 years. Great school in my opinion...lots of activities and tax money well spent...education was better at this school than Pinelands Regional H.S. in Tuckerton in Ocean County where I had also attended for 2 years.
Lots to do here..shopping, eating, entertainment galore....shore points have tons of clubs..the boardwalk...and Smithville which is 20 minutes away is a historic beautiful town with antique shops, landscaped little shops with duck ponds...colleges, hospitals...whatever your looking for.
I have lived here for 17 years. I moved here in 1990 - even before I had children, because the schools were good and the community was comfortable. We just went through a townwide re-valuation, so our tax rate should be dropping to about 1.30-1.40 range. While that seems great, you must realize the values are high. A nice ranch or bi level will be between 225,000 to $300,000.
We are also dealing with some growing pains, as the sudden building and growth has created the need for more focus on infrastructure and police - but all in all, the kids are great, politics here are like any where - some you like, some you don't.
We have a great Chamber of Commerce, Historic Society and others who run alot of family and community events every year.
I'm looking at toms river to move summer/spring. emerald apartments seems like a nice place, ar least on-line I haven't visited yet. anyone have any info/skinny??
I'm thinking of moving to toms river from brooklyn ny. Emerald apartments looks like a nice garden complex, at least on line. Anyone have any infor/skinny???
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Barnegat's a good family place too.
Toms River??
