Anyone from central New Jersey?

My sister is looking into buying a house in Jackson, Howell, Manalapan, or Freehold, NJ. How are the schools? Are there areas to stay out of? What are the towns like? And how long will it take me to get there from Nassau county?

TIA!!

Message edited 6/22/2011 8:26:11 AM.

Re: Anyone from central New Jersey?

Bumping. C'mon NJ people!

Re: Anyone from central New Jersey?

Bare with me because I am typing with one hand since dd is nursing.

I live right on the boarder of marlboro and manalapan. We moved from farmingdale and left family behind. I have been here 4 years and I never thought i would say this, but i never want to move back to LI. It is is 73 miles to my parents house in farmingdale and with no traffic it is an hour and 20-30 minutes. It never really takes more than an hour and 45 minutes with normal traffic in the summer.
Here is how I feel about the area's which by the way are all good and have good school districts:
Manalapan:
-great school district
-brand new early learning center for kindergarden
-still half day kindergarden.
-in the "hub" of manalapan you have target, wegmans, stop & shop, homegoods, best buy, marshalls, bed bath & beyond, ac moore, micheals, dsw, pier 1, best buy. These stores are either in the same shopping center or 1/2 miles apart.
-there are parts that are not sewer and have septic tanks. That is mainly in South Manalapan. You get a lot more land but I feel you are further from everything. If you look on the map and see houses by rt 537, iron ore road, rt 33, that is s. manalapan.
-There is a small section off of union hill road that is close to the englishtown racetrack so you would hear events that go on but it isnt all the time. I am probably 6 miles from it and I hear it sometimes.
Freehold:
There is freehold township and freehold bureau. You want to be in freehold township. It is the next town over from Manalapan and you get more for your money.
-good schools
-full day kindergarden

jackson:
next town over from freehold and south manalapan.
-you have the outlets there and six flags
-i believe they have a good district because a friend of mine was looking at new development there and raved about the schools but couldn't sell her house for the price she wanted.
-
howell:
i dont know anything about it

Marlboro and manalapan are going to be the closest, then freehold. Jackson and howell i feel are kinda far and i wouldn't move there.

If you go to realtor.com you can look at the listings. If you find houses, send me the link and I will tell you how I feel about it. We thought of selling to go to manalapan since that is where i always am and made friends with manalapan moms. There are certain streets i like better. You really aren't going to get a bad section in manalapan, marlboro or freehold township. It is kinda like plainview or syosset.

For a realtor I really recommend andrea and harry mesh. They are with centry 21 and even as a buyer they really look out for you. They have been here for i think 35 years now but are originally from valley stream. They are married and work as a team. They really show and give give great advice about each house. They wouldn't sell you something that they wouldn't put there children in.
I will FM you my name to give.
Any questions fm me!!

Re: Anyone from central New Jersey?

I agree with Freehold Township. Jackson is okay. Manalapan and Marlboro are much better.

Jackson is a good 30 minutes from the beach off of 195. It's longer depending on traffic.

Howell is about 15-20 minutes from the beach. When I was in HS I knew someone that lived there and her parents were well off. I can't answer much about the school district though.

Re: Anyone from central New Jersey?

Thanks for all the info!!

Thanks for the Freehold tip. I'm definitely sending that to her.

eta: I should've added that she works in Trenton, so the commute to NYC is a non-issue for her.

Message edited 6/23/2011 2:43:14 PM.

Re: Anyone from central New Jersey?

I think Jackson would be the closest if she works in Trenton. I would just check it out and spend a day driving around. Jackson is a little to rural for me and I just feel like it is far from everything.

She could also look in Middletown and Homdel.