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Do people believe Bergen County really is a status? Sure there are some nice towns and that may have true back in 1975 but many towns are overbuilt, small lots, heavy traffic and the laundry list of other complaints.
Most of NJ is overbuilt. I'm just going by what I knew for the two or so years I lived up there during college. Sure you can argue the bud gets off the rose, but has real estate value declined in that regard? I think not.
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Originally Posted by DannyHobkins
Morris and Hunterdon counties are in the top 10 wealthiest counties in all of America and by all standards are much more desirable and prestigious places to live.
Morris definitely. It has places like Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and a few others that are probably as prestigeous it gets in North Jersey. Hunterdon though I have a hard time believing it has anything on that level. I think Hunterdon makes the list simply because it is the only county in NJ with no impoverished areas to balance out the rich areas. It's very rural. And it has some quaint river towns like Lambertville, Milford and Stockton that aren't that different from New Hope on my side of the river. Flemington is the county seat and even that is not a poor area or low income area, doesn't even have the disparity that Morristown, Dover or Wharton has apparently.
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Originally Posted by DannyHobkins
Monmouth is certainly most up and coming as you can see by their housing prices moving up quickly more than most other places. Monmouth does have some wealthy parts, McMansion developments but also is more blue collar, and has its mix of bad towns. You are right though, if you're not living at the beach, it's heavy traffic and a long drive in the summer to get to one of the better beaches which are farther south. Ideally, if you didn't have the leash of having to be by a train you would want to live in Ocean County for the beach.
From what I see of especially Western Monmouth County listings these days is that they go on the market for a high price and the sellers always end up having to come down before the closings are finalized. A lot of it is still underwater and hasn't yet gone back to the pre-2008 crash values. Holmdel itself I would say is fairly wealthy. Beyond that the only true wealthy areas in Monmouth are some of those shore towns like Rumson, Spring Lake, Avon etc. I agree there is no shortage of bad areas and that seems to be a giant elephant in the room that Monmouth County residents try so desperately to ignore. They say Asbury Park these days is "untouchable by anyone but the wealthy" yet it still has the second highest crime rate in NJ, behind Camden. You get away from the beach it is still ghetto.
Most of NJ is overbuilt. I'm just going by what I knew for the two or so years I lived up there during college. Sure you can argue the bud gets off the rose, but has real estate value declined in that regard? I think not.
Morris definitely. It has places like Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and a few others that are probably as prestigeous it gets in North Jersey. Hunterdon though I have a hard time believing it has anything on that level. I think Hunterdon makes the list simply because it is the only county in NJ with no impoverished areas to balance out the rich areas. It's very rural. And it has some quaint river towns like Lambertville, Milford and Stockton that aren't that different from New Hope on my side of the river. Flemington is the county seat and even that is not a poor area or low income area, doesn't even have the disparity that Morristown, Dover or Wharton has apparently.
From what I see of especially Western Monmouth County listings these days is that they go on the market for a high price and the sellers always end up having to come down before the closings are finalized. A lot of it is still underwater and hasn't yet gone back to the pre-2008 crash values. Holmdel itself I would say is fairly wealthy. Beyond that the only true wealthy areas in Monmouth are some of those shore towns like Rumson, Spring Lake, Avon etc. I agree there is no shortage of bad areas and that seems to be a giant elephant in the room that Monmouth County residents try so desperately to ignore. They say Asbury Park these days is "untouchable by anyone but the wealthy" yet it still has the second highest crime rate in NJ, behind Camden. You get away from the beach it is still ghetto.
Yeah, Asbury Park is like two completely different towns in one. Friends of mine bought a three-family house with Section 8 tenants back when people were first talking about "gay Asbury" and how that was going to make the prices go up. I know we were working at the World Trade Center when they bought it, so it was that long ago. They both worked overseas for years, then returned to the USA a few years ago, lived in the city for a while while working there, and now they are in Asbury Park living in and remodeling this house that is now worth well over a $1 million. All the houses on their street and those surrounding are above the one-million mark, some a lot more. But you literally go to the other side of the tracks and people are shooting one another on a regular basis.
Yeah, Asbury Park is like two completely different towns in one. Friends of mine bought a three-family house with Section 8 tenants back when people were first talking about "gay Asbury" and how that was going to make the prices go up. I know we were working at the World Trade Center when they bought it, so it was that long ago. They both worked overseas for years, then returned to the USA a few years ago, lived in the city for a while while working there, and now they are in Asbury Park living in and remodeling this house that is now worth well over a $1 million. All the houses on their street and those surrounding are above the one-million mark, some a lot more. But you literally go to the other side of the tracks and people are shooting one another on a regular basis.
The time to have bought in Asbury was 15 years ago, those who risked it were heavily rewarded. Though I don't know if id feel comfortable living in a home on a nice street where across the tracks teenagers are shooting each other for the shoes they are wearing.
What was not expected was the rest of the shore going up in value the way it did. Between Covid and the AirBnB rental market, the entire shore is unaffordable for anyone who has income on a W2. A million dollars will get you a 2 or 3 bedroom literal shack needing a significant amount of work, several blocks from the shore. We stopped at a real estate agent as we were looking to browse to buy a few weeks ago, the literal words "do not buy now, its overpriced" but if something good comes up we will let you know. Who knows, maybe the other side of the tracks in Asbury might be the next opportunity, for everyone else will have to wait for a Sandy event to throw a wrench into the Shore housing market.
The time to have bought in Asbury was 15 years ago, those who risked it were heavily rewarded. Though I don't know if id feel comfortable living in a home on a nice street where across the tracks teenagers are shooting each other for the shoes they are wearing.
What was not expected was the rest of the shore going up in value the way it did. Between Covid and the AirBnB rental market, the entire shore is unaffordable for anyone who has income on a W2. A million dollars will get you a 2 or 3 bedroom literal shack needing a significant amount of work, several blocks from the shore. We stopped at a real estate agent as we were looking to browse to buy a few weeks ago, the literal words "do not buy now, its overpriced" but if something good comes up we will let you know. Who knows, maybe the other side of the tracks in Asbury might be the next opportunity, for everyone else will have to wait for a Sandy event to throw a wrench into the Shore housing market.
Well, as I said, my friends bought at least 23+ years ago (before the WTC went down, just because I remember that's where we were working when they were talking about it) and they aren't anywhere near those tracks. But it's the same town. They had Section 8 tenants, so the place was rundown, and it only cost them a couple hundred thousand at the time. The wife is an architect and the husband an engineer, and they're remodeling the whole place.
Yup, someday the wrong side of the tracks will likely be hot property, too. Hey, I had a friend, now deceased, who, after getting sober, once took me for a ride to show me the row of abandoned, boarded up houses where she had lived when she was homeless and drinking. It was this blighted area right by the ocean, which to me seemed really weird at the time.
That's now the site of Pier Village, where Jared Kushner built an upscale, mixed-use community and where along with Extell is putting up jillion-dollar condos all along the Long Branch waterfront.
Look at Harrison, NJ. Watch what's going to happen in the South Ward of Newark.
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