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My husband started a new job in Princeton and I commute to NYC. We are a family of 4 with 2 young children (toddler & infant). We're looking for a home in a town that has top schools, and is commutable for both of us. While we LOVE the charm & collegiate atmosphere of Princeton, I'm hoping someone can give me an honest answer about how it would be to live there for a middle class family. While there are several homes on the market in our range ($550-$600k) we don't want to be surrounded by millionaires, country club folk, BMW's, and stuffiness. We want to make sure we fit into a town socially -- we are down to earth, humble, friendly, middle-class people. I'm hoping someone might be able to weigh in on the demographic in Princeton specifically...
As for commute, I'd ask that you please kindly refrain from telling me my commute to NYC would be unbearable. I currently travel by train to my job which is an hour from Penn station and am fine with it, though that is my max distance. I see the express trains to PJ are the same timeframe, and have already taken into account driving to/from and parking. My work hours are flexible and I don't go in every day, so since I do it now, I know I could continue that same length on train. I'm not worried about parking either, my husband will drop me off at train.
Ideally we'd love Princeton, but again, I'm concerned how we'd fit in socially.
Other towns near Princeton we are considering are Cranbury (love the small town vibe and quaintness), Montgomery & Rocky Hill.
Other towns midway for our jobs we are considering are Berkeley Heights, Westfield, & Scotch Plains / Fanwood.
I'd appreciate anyone's advice, comments & help with any of these areas.
(Not interested in anywhere west or south of Princeton. Not interested in West Windsor, Plainsboro, the Brunswicks, Edison or Metichen. Just to get it out there!!)
My husband started a new job in Princeton and I commute to NYC. We are a family of 4 with 2 young children (toddler & infant). We're looking for a home in a town that has top schools, and is commutable for both of us. While we LOVE the charm & collegiate atmosphere of Princeton, I'm hoping someone can give me an honest answer about how it would be to live there for a middle class family. While there are several homes on the market in our range ($550-$600k) we don't want to be surrounded by millionaires, country club folk, BMW's, and stuffiness. We want to make sure we fit into a town socially -- we are down to earth, humble, friendly, middle-class people. I'm hoping someone might be able to weigh in on the demographic in Princeton specifically...
As for commute, I'd ask that you please kindly refrain from telling me my commute to NYC would be unbearable. I currently travel by train to my job which is an hour from Penn station and am fine with it, though that is my max distance. I see the express trains to PJ are the same timeframe, and have already taken into account driving to/from and parking. My work hours are flexible and I don't go in every day, so since I do it now, I know I could continue that same length on train. I'm not worried about parking either, my husband will drop me off at train.
Ideally we'd love Princeton, but again, I'm concerned how we'd fit in socially.
Other towns near Princeton we are considering are Cranbury (love the small town vibe and quaintness), Montgomery & Rocky Hill.
Other towns midway for our jobs we are considering are Berkeley Heights, Westfield, & Scotch Plains / Fanwood.
I'd appreciate anyone's advice, comments & help with any of these areas.
(Not interested in anywhere west or south of Princeton. Not interested in West Windsor, Plainsboro, the Brunswicks, Edison or Metichen. Just to get it out there!!)
I absolutely recommend Bridgewater. I work locally, & my wife has been doing the NYC commute for many years. The NYC commute is just a few minutes longer than what you mention, the drive to Princeton is about 45 minutes, and it's a great town. Highly regarded schools, many parks & playgrounds, easy access via roads & transportation to anywhere wide variety of restaurants here & in the surrounding towns. And at the moment 14 houses on the market in the specific price range you mentioned. And while no one in NJ can ever say their taxes are low, Bridgewater's property tax rates are lower than many towns in the state.
Princeton is fine. It is more diverse than you would think economically. Your budget seems kind of low for Princeton but if you can find a house there that you like, you will be fine. Make sure you are looking in the right area, there is a "Princeton" zip code that spans quite a few other towns
Cranbury is a lovely town too. They have their own school for K-8 and then the kids go to Princeton HS. To me, it feels a bit smaller than the other towns. Pros and cons to that. It's east of Plainsboro...Just wanted to make sure you knew where it was since you mentioned you didn't want to go over that way.
Montgomery is also very nice. Kind of newer, I think it's a very pretty town. Rocky Hill just seems like part of Montgomery to me
Last edited by bookspage; 09-20-2017 at 06:32 PM..
I would look at Hunterdon County (mid/central/north are excellent schools - I do not recommend the southern school district if good schools are very important to you) -- for the most part the people are upper middle class, but not 'stuffy level'. There is a good commuter line to NYC from Annandale/High Bridge. Your commute will be nice, but there are not too many places where your husband's commute will be enjoyable so do try to find a location where you husband will not need to take Rt 206 -- it is a very 'small road' never made for commuter traffic -- which is usually at a stand-still, in between lights. Some parts of Somerset County will also be good for your close proximity to mass transit into the city -- but again, look at the road maps for your husband before deciding on an area. I think if you like nice living, without the stuffiness, Hunterdon is probably more in-line with your life-style compared to Somerset. From a realtor's perspective (I was - years ago - for the Somerset/Hunterdon/Warren counties - so things may have changed since then), but I think you get more value in Hunterdon than Somerset - IMO, especially if you don't mind a home that is a little older; you'll get more land and beautiful country living. If either are not in your price range, some parts of Warren County are ok -- but not as convenient to mass transit -- that area would really be a last resort.
If you are okay with the commute from Princeton, it might be best to stay near your husband's job. One of my worries, when we first thought about a move to the 'burbs from Manhattan was that if something happened to the kids, and both my husband and I were in NYC, it would take us forever to get to them. (We ended up having a surprise third child, and we made the decision that I'd stay at home with them, so no longer an issue.)
That said, we live in Berkeley Heights and I love it. It's a nice mix of former city-dwellers and people who grew up in this area and still live here. It leans somewhat conservative, from a political perspective, but even more from a traditional standpoint: one of the biggest reasons I love it. It was weird at first having a kid call me Mrs. W, rather than being on the first-name basis like in the city, but it quickly became familiar, and I realized it came with a built-in respect that can be hard to find these days. If your kid does something wrong, you're most likely going to hear about it. It's a small community. A little bit nosey, maybe, but it reminds me of growing up in UT. People watch out for each other. That kind of keeping tabs isn't for everyone, but it also can mean that your neighbors have your back.
Schools are pretty good. I don't love the way the middle school is structured, and it can be VERY hard for kids who aren't extremely organized, even if they're quite bright. The kids in kindergarten and first grade (pre-K is by lottery) go to an early-childhood school, then the kids split into three different elementaries from second to fifth. They all come back together again for middle- and high school, and the kids from Mountainside come to the high school as well.
Westfield seems to have more diversity/range in housing type and price. They have a really nice downtown area. We didn't look at more than a couple houses there, as most of those we were interested in were slightly above our budget. I know their schools are very good.
We looked at quite a few houses in Scotch Plains and Fanwood. They also have a nicer downtown than Berkeley Heights, but it can be very crowded and tough to drive through during after-school and commuting hours. My kids swam at the JCC all last year (they have great programs), and I quickly figured out how much time to leave based on what time of day their classes were. I didn't like the schools quite as well, but that's mostly impression. I did ask to tour Terrill middle school and was told "we don't do that", lol. I think we would have been quite happy there regardless. "down to earth, humble, friendly, middle-class" describes that area well, from what I've seen.
West Windsor is obviously the ideal commuting choice. I'm guessing you don't want a high Indian or Asian population around you? Which is your right to factor it in.
Monroe gets you a bus ride into the city.
Only other options do not help much with combined commute time.
If you go east of west windsor, you're not saving any time, and perhaps adding time to your commute. And your husband is also adding.
If you go north, you are saving some time, but you're husband's commute is probably going up 2x what yours is being saved.
My $0.02 would be to look in Princeton. Since Princeton is not near any major Interstate highway (like NJTP, GSP etc) commute to Princeton will involve Rt 1 or Rt 206, both of which are miserable. Since you have already eliminated anything south of Princeton and towns like WW, Plainsboro, Brunswicks etc, I think your only choice are towns along 206 and Cranbury, if you really do not want to live in Princeton. You are not going to find much in your price range in Cranbury.
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