Looking for Townhouse btwn Princeton & NYC (Edison, New Brunswick: for sale, real estate)

[LoveMyselfFirst]

I'm a single, childless 28 y/o woman looking for a townhouse or condo in a SAFE yet affordable neighborhood within a reasonable distance of NYC. I work in Princeton and attend Rutgers part time in New Brunswick.

Most of my socializing happens in NYC and I'd like the commute to NYC to be 45min at most.

I have long days and will be coming home at night sometimes and want to feel safe when I leave my home and when I arrive alone at night.

I have pets and need to feel okay walking them early in the morning and late at night. Any suggestions?

I was thinking of Carteret or Rahway. But, I don't know about the safety - and crime statistics only tell you so much. Is anyone familiar with these areas?

I'd prefer a 2bedroom with a $250K cap. I'll do 1 bedroom if need be.

What towns would you recommend?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[monack]

No to Carteret. We were considering it for a while, but it is a major downturning market. There are brand new townhouses sitting on Roosevelt Ave that are going to sit empty because they won't appraise for what they are looking to sell them for.

Rahway has a definite good and bad side of the tracks.... there is a guy on here who is an expert on Rahway and can probably tell you more.

[jmdurett]

I'm in a similar situation -- single, childless, 30, need to be near NYC and possibly Princeton (and I also rented in Rahway for a time.) I ended up buying a townhouse in Sayreville. Very quiet here and good access to highways/public transportation. I liked Rahway, but anything I thought was decent was out of my price range, and I had no desire to live on top of the train station.

[LoveMyselfFirst]

Thanks for the information RE: appraisals on Roosevelt in Cartaret.

I have looked at places in both Carteret and Rahway. I didn't really see much of a difference between the two places.

There are some nice townhouses behind Merck in Rahway for sale, but when I drove down the street they are a stone throw away from a "public housing authority" and some boarded up houses. I did see the downtown area by the train station - but, it seems like the revitalization is only in that small area and the bad areas are immediately adjacent to the nicer areas.

Carteret seems more suburban and I heard there is a ferry to NYC that will soon be available.

I'm primarily worried about safety. Is Rahway significantly safer than Carteret?

I don't plan to spend 20 years in my first home, so I just need a place that is convenient, affordable, with a bit of space in a decent area for a couple of years.

Is Carteret worse than New Brunswick? (the NON-gentrified parts) I'm trying to gauge the area because I've never heard anything bad or good about Carteret. It's just something you pass on the turnpike. And the crime stats online are not painting a very negative picture - so I'm trying to make sense of it.

[monack]

I think that Carteret has a lot of potential, and is up and coming. I came pretty close to actually buying there - we had an offer accepted for one of the new townhouses that are on Roosevelt Ave (kaplan properties) that they told us would appraise for $400K - we were buying for $355K. They actually appraised at $360K unfinished - and we would have to have another appraisal before we closed, and were fearful that by the time we went to closing, we would already be underwater in the house.

Roosevelt avenue to me seems to be the dividing line between the good and bad areas of carteret. We did not drive around at night, so I cannot give you an accurate description of how it felt then - but during the day I did feel safe. Others have told me that you do have to watch areas at night.

If you are planning on buying, and are not willing to invest at least 10 years into carteret, I do not believe you will see a return on your investment. That being said - once the ferry does come into being, you will see a jump in your property values. It is also, from what I understand, only a 35 minute commute into manhattan by bus, and is very conveniently located off of the turnpike. It is a blue coller area, which is not necessarily a bad thing. But it is also losing 2%/month in home values, which means it is a majorly declining market.

[SweepTheLeg]

Lovemyselffirst, I think you need to focus on a couple of things....

You commute to and from work 10 times a week. You'd commute to the city six times, if you have a very busy social schedule (Thurs, Fri, Sat.)

Even though Carteret and Rahway are closer to the city, it's going to give you massive headaches commuting to work, even to school. Route 1 would be a freaking NIGHTMARE every day.

Remember - when you're heading into the city to socialize at night, most of the Rush Hour traffic has dissolved, so distance when you're going up the turnpike isn't going to make that much of a difference. However, it will make ALL THE DIFFERENCE when you're going in to work and classes at Rutgers.

I would focus on Southern Middlesex and Northern Mercer county. Towns like Plainsboro, North Brunswick, South Brunswick, East Brunswick, certain sections of East Windsor. This will give you great access to both school and work, and you're right on access to the Turnpike to get to the city.

[SweepTheLeg]

(it's also a darn shame that your cap is 250. There's a place I know if that is a great townhouse, but it's 300...)

BTW, are you looking for a townhouse (2 floors or more) or a condo (1 floor). I can't recall ever seeing a townhouse with just one BR, but maybe that's just me. A townhouse is a lot more expensive than a condo, but I'm not sure what your exact needs are.

Also - if you have safety concerns, you do know that Rahway is home to one of the bigger prisons in NJ, right? It's where they filmed "Scared Straight".

[LoveMyselfFirst]

@SweeptheLeg: I have thought about the southern part of Middlesex county and I'm not interested. I definitely do not want to live in Mercer county either. My goal is not to work in Princeton forever - so I plan to be working in NY & finish my program at Rutgers within 2 years

I also can work remotely sometimes, so I won't be commuting 10 times during a week. I'd also be going into the city about 8 times a week. I'm sure about the area of NJ that I'd like to buy my first home, unfortunately, I'm not sure about the safety of the area.

I'd prefer a townhouse to a condo - but i'm not opposed to a condo. And I actually have looked at a couple of 1 bdroom townhouses but thought they were too small.

Yes, I am aware there is a prison in Rahway and I believe there is one in North Brunswick, too. I'm not really worried about criminals who have been caught already; the ones who are roaming freely are a cause for concern.

@Monack - Thank for your responses - they have been very helpful and insightful. I'm sorry to hear about the sale that fell through. Did you still end up purchasing in that area?

I haven't driven around Carteret at night either - but I think I should do that before making any major decisions. I, too, felt like it has a lot of potential to be an up and coming area. I know what New Brunswick looked like 15-20 years ago and it's completely different now - gentrification/revitalization can work.

I think the addition of the ferry will be a major plus. The market is declining, but so is everywhere else. The economy sucks all around and when everything turns around, I'm sure Carteret will too.

I guess I need to go visit the area at night to determine what it's really like. I'm not worried about the school system and the location is what I'm looking for. I just don't want to have to constantly worry about burglaries/ theft/ gangs/ assault, etc.

[lammius]

Little known fact, East Jersey (Rahway) State Prison is actually located in Woodbridge Twp.

OP, don't hold your breath for a ferry. Almost every town in Jersey with a piece of waterfront is "planning a ferry" to NYC. In most cases, they're not coming. Also, if you're going to NYC to "socialize," a ferry that runs during commuting hours (NJ-NY ferries don't run nights/weekends), probably won't help you much.

I'd choose Rahway before Carteret. Have you lookied into Metuchen? They have some nice townhouses near the train station and it's a very nice town. Prices might be a bit high there. Also look near Edison train station. Mostly single family homes nearby but there are some townhouse complexes around, many of them have jitney services to the train station.

[SweepTheLeg]

North Brunswick's jail is more of a holding facility, for people on trial. The majority of the real estate in front of the jail is used for playing fields for kids.

I've never really heard great things about Rahway or Carteret. I'm curious to know what your reasons are for rejecting Northern Mercer/Southern Middlesex.

To be honest, you may not care about the school system, but the person who is buying your place after you get a job in the city might. That's something you have to take into consideration.

I crunched some numbers. For some reason, Carteret seems to be a hotbed of sexual assault. There are some spike numbers compared to the rest of the state.

Here's the issue:

If you plan to finish at Rutgers in 2 years and start looking for a new job, there is no guarantee that we're going to be out of this mess. The areas I mentioned before will hold their value and ease of resale a lot better than the off chance that questionable areas in Rahway and/or Carteret will.

Seriously, if you are planning to not work in Princeton forever, and you're in love with the idea of working in the city, YOU SHOULD NOT BE BUYING RIGHT NOW.

I'm totally serious. If you're trying to finish school and then move on, and you're going to be doing in two to four years, you're going to lose money on this deal.