Reviews & Comments
Monroe township (Middlesex County), NJ
housing -
8/21/2007This area has been primarily farmland, and responsible for the NJ state motto as THE GARDEN STATE. In the last 20 years, the farmland has dwindled drasticaly and in the last ten years, we are seeing large condominium growth aas young and relatively well-off middle class families are moving here so that their children will have good schools and quality of life. Signs are everywhere offering farmland for sale, or promising new condominimm and industrial (office, for the most part) developement.
There are a number of senior citizen communities in Monroe, and except for one named Rossmoor, they are primarily Jewish. The stores, restaurants, delicatessans, even the Stop and Shop, serve a very large Jewish population.
There is quite good transportation here for Senior Citizens to a few of the malls, but you really need a car othewise. If you are working in New York, it is a least a one hour commute and expensive.
I'm a senior citizen who moved here recently, and while it's safe and peaceful here. It is also rather boring. There is not much ethnic diversity. (I used to live 5 miles from NYC before I came here, and there was much diversity in every facet of life in my town.) Additionally, everything I wanted was less than two miles from where I lived- Whether it was Costco, the latest movies, large malls, supermarkets, post office, night classes- and you could manage without a car. Here, I travel in my car between 15 and 20 miles for everything. I bypassed a movie I wanted to see recently, because I would have had to drive 26 miles (52 miles round trip!)
One of the best things about living here is that you are between two major universities- Rutgers and Princeton, where senior citizens can audit classes for free. If I had to do this over again, though, I would move more toward New Brunswick. The lack of diversity here is stifyling!