Housing Prices in America’s Top Town: Moorestown, New Jersey
They came back to be with their families, to become a traditional family unit with grandparents, siblings, cousins and more living, playing and working in the same area. While this is a wonderful fact and a wonderful stable, serene way in which to raise a family, it’s also worth taking a look at current real estate prices to see if indeed it is the most economical way to go. (Quite often, native Moorestonians move back because they are purchasing the family home, with their parents moving into one of the ten or so assisted living or long-term-care facilities located within the township or a few miles or so away. These relocating families are buying their relatives’ homes at very good, below market prices so as to keep these beautiful old homes literally ‘in the family’.) For others not so fortunate to have a ‘family home’ to come back to, real estate prices in Moorestown can be quite a shock.
Based on allegedly dated real estate statistics, Money Magazine gave the median home price for Moorestown in the $250,000 price range. As of this writing, nothing could be further from the truth. For a period of time following the accolades of being named “Best Town”, houses in the township sprung up with “For Sale” signs like dandelions on your lawn. At that time, late summer to early fall, the resale housing market was still booming nationwide, and Moorestonians made the most of it. Houses that would have (or should have) sold in the $700K to $800K were now $1,000,000 and up. And some houses sold at those inflated prices as well. Suddenly, as fall turned into winter, the residential resale market swung in the opposite direction; the bloom was off the rose, even for America’s top town. The statistics that Money Magazine should have included in their article (and in their overall decision in selecting the ‘top town’) should have stated that the median price of Moorestown housing was in the $350,000 to $450,000 price range. In speaking with several realtors, they found that they suddenly had buyers from ‘across the river’ (Philadelphia and its suburbs) as well as folks from New York, Delaware and nothern New Jersey flocking to our town in hopes of finding that delightful updated Victorian home for $250,000 or so. That home just didn’t exist; perhaps it hasn’t existed in over five years, at least.
What those buyers did find were stately homes listed at $1,400,000 for a vinyl-sided colonial on two acres with a pool. They found waterfront houses for $2,500,000, for $2,800,000, and even a wildly contemporary white stucco waterfront home listed at $4,400,000 (the sellers, aware that Terrell Owens had paid $4,000,000 for his home on the same street 18 months earlier felt that their home was ‘superior’ to his. The house is still sitting on the market, now listed at $2,200,000 – and it continues to sit.) ‘In town’ houses averaged $750,000; their proximity to town, their historic designation, the homes’ quaint charm driving prices upwards. Houses in Moorestown in the $250,000 to $450,000 were always the fastest to sell. Now, dozens of them in that price range languish in a buyer’s market.
What happened? Were prices ever that reasonable in Moorestown? (No, they weren’t. Moorestown is considered, along with its Camden County neighbor Haddonfield) to be the ‘premier’ town in southern New Jersey. Over the years, I have met dozens of families who grew up in neighboring townships – Cinnaminson, Delran, Delanco, Riverside, Palmyra – whose dream had always been to ‘make it to the big time’ and move to Moorestown. It was that group of buyers who pushed prices up over and over again throughout the years.
About eight years ago, the face of Moorestown changed dramatically and forever with big home builder Toll Brothers making its mark on hundreds and hundreds of acres of township farm land. Farmers were only too eager to sell their pristine land to Toll at high prices; in turn, Toll Brothers added thousands of homes which equated to a minimum 25% increase in the township’s overall population. Schools were overcrowded, traffic dramatically increased, the need for basic services surged as transplants to the town moved into Laurel Creek and Moorestown Hunt. These developments offered ‘estate’, ‘carriage’ and townhomes to a small town which had previously prided itself on its charming ‘intown’ neighborhoods. Prior to Toll Brothers march on Moorestown, the two largest neighborhoods were Northwest Estates (where houses a year or two ago commanded prices of $850,000 to over $2,000,000) and Stanwick Glen, where a true ‘family home’ with four bedrooms and two and a half baths fetched its seller $500,00 or under – yes, under! When we had first moved to Moorestown, we looked at lovely Tudors and colonials – and there were several of them – in Stanwick Glen which were priced at $285,000 to $400,000 (those $400K homes in Stanwick were the best of the best!) Northwest Estates, many of whose homes were built by the township’s native son and premier builder, Dubrow, was considered ‘the’ executive neighborhood in which to live. Currently, some of its older homes are sitting on the market, listed in the low $800K range, although there are several smart-looking homes priced at $1,000,000 to $2,400,000 for what is best described as the ‘ultimate’ house in terms of amenities (heated floors, heated driveway, English gardens, all imported brick exterior, etc.) In Stanwick Glen, homes continue to sell in the $500,000 to $650,000 price range, and most of them are well-built homes on .50 acre lots. Northwest Estates is the place realtors take thier executive relocation buyers first; they then turn their eyes on the properties in Stanwick Glen. Both have their own charm but both appeal to different types of buyers.
As for the Toll Brothers developments, watching the resale market there is quite interesting. Basically, the interiors of the larger homes in Laurel Creek are all exactly the same! Exteriors may differ, some buyers may have opted for extras like sunrooms and screen porches, but once inside, they are the same layout over and over and over again. As for Moorestown Hunt, this is commonly known as the ‘starter’ family home; although some houses have been listed at $850,000 or slightly higher, these are the houses on the largest lots in the development with the most upgraded interiors as well. Lots in the Hunt are small, one-third acre for the most part. From conversations with friends and acquaintances there, the feeling in the Hunt is that it’s a great place to buy your first home in Moorestown, that families should be rather open-minded in dealing with their neighbors because you can ‘literally spit from your driveway and hit the house next door’, that there are tons and tons of young families with young children residing there, and that the ultimate goal for Hunters now is to move out of the community as their children grow and into a house in another part of Moorestown! Laurel Creek has, according to some residents, become a very transient neighborhood, with families coming and going at quite a high rate. Built around an impressive golf course, the highest priced homes in Laurel Creek are those that are adjacent to the golf course itself. My family looked at several re-sale homes there; while they featured granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, soaring (oh, and certainly not energy efficient!) ceilings and two-story foyers, the inside of the homes – again, that same floor plan – was pretty basic. No six panel doors, inexpensive wired shelving in pantries, no walk in closets, hardwood floors (and not the expensive kind) on the first floor, and a lot of cosmetic coverups overall made them disappointing. One home, which was then priced at $1,200,000, sat so close to the golf course that on an early Sunday morning, we sat at least five ‘parties of four’ playing golf whizzing past the breakfast area glass doors only a dozen or so feet away. I had a hard time imaging relaxing on the patio off of the breakfast area while golf balls – and the strangers hitting them – were in such very, very close proximity. There have also been grumblings from Laurel Creek residents that the vinyl siding on the sides of the homes was inferior and that the builder’s response to numerous repair requests was slow in coming and often inadequate.
One more thing to keep in mind if you’re considering purchasing your next home in Moorestown: our tax rate. We currently pay annual property taxes of $16,400 on our home. (Our home has 5 bedrooms, an au paire suite, 3.5 baths, 3 fireplaces, sits over slightly over two acres with a fenced inground pool, has an unfinished basement, cedar siding and stucco, ahd is 4,000 square feet; it’s also listed for sale right now!) Over the course of the dozen years we have lived here, we would have taken the sum and parcel of property taxes paid and purchased a very, very nice second home. The current town council has (again) raised property taxes for a 13.4% increase! It is not uncommon now to hear of older residents who are selling (at whatever price they can for their older homes) and moving to other parts of southern New Jersey because they literally can’t afford the property taxes. While houses in New Jersey overall are certainly less expensive than their Main Line neighbors, keep those property tax numbers in mind! They can make – or break – what might seem to be a very good deal.
