for display only
Big Blue Interactive The Corner Forum  
Back to the Corner

Archived Thread

NFT: Any BBI'ers living in Mercer/Burlington county NJ?

Sean : 2/17/2017 2:55 pm
Wife & myself are looking to purchase a home in the suburbs of Trenton.

This would be our first home and we would love some walkability & safety is a big factor as well. Schools are not a factor for us, but it does matter regarding re-sale value down the line. We just want to get out of the rent bubble and own finally. We prefer a single family home.

EWING/HAMILTON: there is some Trenton spillover and no downtowns. Just a big suburban sprawl. Taxes are reasonable though. Not overly enthusiastic about it here.

HIGHTSTOWN/ROBBINSVILLE: both have solid downtowns, but taxes are higher than we would prefer.

BORDENTOWN: we see a lot of promise here. Short commute to Trenton & a nice downtown. Seems to be low crime & solid schools. Reasonable taxes as well.

MT. HOLLY: we enjoyed the downtown. Being craft beer fans there are a couple breweries downtown and houses have value. Taxes low. I've read the schools are bad though and re-sale worries me. Is the area particularly safe?

We also looked as for south as Collingswood/Haddon Twp but that commute to Trenton is too much.

And before anyone suggests the PA side, that isn't an option due to NJ residency requirements with the job.

Thanks so much!
We live in Hamilton Square  
jlukes : 2/17/2017 2:58 pm : link
and absolutely love it. Is is the east most portion of Hamilton (right next to robbinsville). Very nice area with reasonable taxes. Not much in terms of a "walkable downtown area".

Have you looked into Allentown NJ? Just east of robbinsville and has a small but very nice little downtown area
Not much of downtown areas in Mercer  
giantsfan44ab : 2/17/2017 3:02 pm : link
Unless you go to Princeton. Some nice breweries and restaurants there. Only 15-20 minutes away from parts of Trenton.
^^^^ yup  
jlukes : 2/17/2017 3:03 pm : link
we are less than 15 minutes from downtown princeton so that is where we generally go when we want to go walk around a beautiful downtown area
RE: We live in Hamilton Square  
Sean : 2/17/2017 3:04 pm : link
In comment 13364429 jlukes said:
Quote:
and absolutely love it. Is is the east most portion of Hamilton (right next to robbinsville). Very nice area with reasonable taxes. Not much in terms of a "walkable downtown area".

Have you looked into Allentown NJ? Just east of robbinsville and has a small but very nice little downtown area


Yes. I should have included that. We actually do like the location of Allentown. Super quick commute to the beach as well.
Yup - the entire area is easy to get to the shore from  
jlukes : 2/17/2017 3:05 pm : link
either hop on 195, or if you are heading down south more you can jump right on 539.
jlukes  
ThatLimerickGuy : 2/17/2017 3:11 pm : link
Did you wind up wifing up that hot redhead that you posted that time like 10 years ago?
I would not buy for good schools  
Deej : 2/17/2017 3:11 pm : link
to maintain re-sale value down the road. 1, you're probably just going to end up paying a lot more in property taxes, and 2, you cant necessarily predict the school issue 20 or 30 years out, if that is your time line (and if you're <7 years, probably dont buy).

If I was not worried about schools, I'd be flocking to the South Bronx (e.g. Mott Haven) right now. You can buy fixer upper townhomes for a song. Cheap enough that it actually makes financial sense to buy and gut renovate. Restaurants starting to open there as chefs get chased out of Manhattan and BK due to rents. 7 minutes by subway from the upper east side.
RE: jlukes  
jlukes : 2/17/2017 3:13 pm : link
In comment 13364451 ThatLimerickGuy said:
Quote:
Did you wind up wifing up that hot redhead that you posted that time like 10 years ago?


Haha no we split up within a year - the Barney Stinson Hot/Crazy scale was very accurate on her. I learned after a few months of living together that she fell squarely in the "Date her" box

Kind of in the same boat  
10thAve : 2/17/2017 3:15 pm : link
my wife and I are down to two final homes in Robbinsville, hopefully deciding between the two over the weekend. We are looking in the Town Center which does have walkability within itself, as well as to the row of shops and restaurants right there on route 33.

Allentown is very nice, especially the downtown area, but inventory there is pretty low.

You can also check out Chesterfield, it's a bit closer to Trenton than Mt. Holly, and many fairly new walkable neighborhoods of single family homes.
10thAve - the ability to walk to both Dolce & Clementes  
jlukes : 2/17/2017 3:16 pm : link
and Delorenzos would be absolutely awesome
chesterfield is nice - but the town itself is in the middle of nowhere  
jlukes : 2/17/2017 3:17 pm : link
lots of beautiful homes, but not much else in the area
I can vouch for Hamilton and Bordentown  
GiantGolfer : 2/17/2017 3:20 pm : link
Grew up in Hamilton and live in Bordentown now. Love it.
RE: 10thAve - the ability to walk to both Dolce & Clementes  
10thAve : 2/17/2017 3:27 pm : link
In comment 13364460 jlukes said:
Quote:
and Delorenzos would be absolutely awesome

Indeed. Papa's would be pretty close too (have heard good things about there too).
Thank you for all the responses..  
Sean : 2/17/2017 3:46 pm : link
I have also found that inventory in Allentown is low. Hamilton Square is an area I will look into further.
Hamilton has one of  
giantsfan44ab : 2/17/2017 3:50 pm : link
what I assume to be like 4 total Chick-Fil-A's in NJ. Shouldn't be overlooked.
RE: RE: jlukes  
ThatLimerickGuy : 2/17/2017 6:14 pm : link
In comment 13364457 jlukes said:
Quote:
In comment 13364451 ThatLimerickGuy said:


Quote:


Did you wind up wifing up that hot redhead that you posted that time like 10 years ago?



Haha no we split up within a year - the Barney Stinson Hot/Crazy scale was very accurate on her. I learned after a few months of living together that she fell squarely in the "Date her" box



Funny how I remembered that. I'm sure you went up anyway to gf/wife from there.
Back to the Corner