Princeton, NJ

Princeton NJ - Places to eat - The best pizza in Princeton NJ

Giving advice about good pizza place is not easy. There are probably as many opinions about what constitutes good pizza, as there are pizza eaters, which is a lot. What qualifies me to render such opinion? Quite honestly, my credentials as a pizza critic are limited: 1. I like pizza; 2. In my twenty years in the area, I probably ate pizza at most local shops; 3. I lived in Italy and remember the taste of the “real” stuff.

My choice, at the moment, for the best pizza in Princeton is Alfonso’s Pizzeria & Restaurant located at 1225 State Road, Princeton, NJ.
The pizza is great and there is a choice of regular Italian dishes as well. They serve bread (even with pizza), and it is hot and crusty and better than in many pricey restaurants.

In addition to good food, you are always made to feel welcome. Earlier this year, for some unexplainable reason, we had a reduction in our pizza consumption and did not go to Alfonso’s for a while. We went back after several months and to my surprise, they remembered us, our usual order and that my son likes additional ricotta cheese on his part of the pie. There aren’t that many places like this left anymore.

The picture below (left) is of one of the owners after a long day. It may be a bit of an unconventional pose, but at Alfonso’s there is no need to stand on ceremony.

Alfonso’s Pizzeria & Restaurant is open daily from 10am to 10pm.

Affordability, schools and commute are serious issues and are on the top of considerations when relocating to Princeton NJ area. But what about fun? We have a lot to do and see locally, but if you want the best – New York is only one hour away.

It’s not often that my husband and I have a day off during the week together. Yesterday was such a day and we went to New York. It was surprisingly quiet on 5th Ave and the Central Park was surreally still –we are used to it buzzing with people on the weekends.

Lakes were covered with ice and the views across to the Fifth Ave and to the Central Park West were as magnificent as always. We noticed things we didn’t pay attention to before, such as monuments to a Falconer and Mr. Daniel Webster, two of the 27 monuments in the park. We saw bird-feeders that looked like milk cartons hanging from the trees, huge boulders that seemed to date to the glacier period and the little canals, being cleaned by the maintenance crews. It was incredible how clean the Park was and how beautiful. The Central Park has a $26 million dollars operating budget, 85% of which is provided by the Central Park Conservancy, which is a non-profit organization. Being a tourist for a few hours was wonderful.

It was quite chilly, so the restaurant that advertised “fireplace” seemed like a good place for lunch. New Yorkers walk and so did we - which after lunch was a real a necessity. We caught the NJ express train, which delivered us to Princeton in time for the kids to come home from school. Here are a few Pictures from out day trip.

Fifth Ave is quite empty, but beautiful as always

This is as good as it gets - the world's prime real estate

View to the Fifth Ave

Central Park landscape

View across the lake of the Central Park West. Just imagine the views from these landmark buildings.

This is not New Jersey shore. This is Central Park - the seagulls appreciate the rice lunch courtesy of a nice New York gentleman who was feeding them.

For more information about relocation and things to do consider the following articles:

Everything you ever wanted to know about Princeton

Moving To Princeton? – Here are 5 Reasons Why

Little known pleasures of Princeton

When looking for Princeton homes for sale -consider Princeton Ridge

Princeton -where is a good place to eat?

Princeton - Cool Restaurant for Adults and Kids

Princeton -great shopping -things to do

If you want to be current on the greater Princeton local real estate and places, people and events, you can subcribe using a feed reader or through the e-mail on the right side of the page. Please contact Faina Sechzer at 609-553-4175 with questions about real estate, homes for sale and/or listing your house to sell, and relocation assistance in Princeton, Montgomery Township, West Windsor, Hopewell, and Lawrenceville New Jersey. Referrals are accepted.
If you are moving out of the greater Princeton area, please inquire about the countrywide relocation program.

Copyright 2007 Faina Sechzer All rights reserved. This information cannot be copied, reproduced, transmitted, distributed, displayed or published.

Median Prices for Houses Sold in Princeton Township, Princeton Borough, Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough, Pennington, West Windsor, and Montgomery Township in 2004-20007.

The media and the press over the past year have been providing the gloom and doom information about the real estate. Some acknowledge that real estate is local, yet still aggregate it to the national level, which to buyers and sellers in the greater Princeton area has little relevance.

What is important for them is the understanding of the local market. For the period of 2004- 2007 the median house prices have increased in all of the above towns.

Granted, looking at local numbers, charts and graphs may not be very exciting, but it allows putting aside the national housing gloom and doom and looking objectively at the local real estate conditions. For the homebuyers considering whether they should wait for price declines or for the home sellers, questioning if they should wait until the market stabilizes, looking at numbers and statistics is important. It is also important for people relocating to the Princeton area and deciding on the town that best meets their needs.

While no one has the crystal ball to predict the future of the real estate market, the statistics give us a better sense what the local real estate market is. Keep these numbers in mind when making your real estate decisions.

In my last post I covered the average prices and how they changed from the 2004 to 2007. This post is about the median prices and how they changed through the same period. The median is a better reflection of the prices then the average in towns like Princeton where there is a big spread between the least expensive ($250,000) and the most expensive ($3,700,000) house sold in 2007.

The good news for the period of 2004 to 2007 is that all the towns had increase in the median price:

• Princeton Township, Princeton Borough, and Hopewell Borough -27%
• Hopewell Township: 18%
• Pennington: 6%
• West Windsor: 3%
• Montgomery Township: 8%.

Following the biggest increases in 2005, and across the board declines in 2006, 2007 was a mixed bag for different towns of the greater Princeton area. While Princeton and Hopewell showed median price increases, Pennington, West Windsor, and Montgomery Township showed declines:

• Princeton Township: 10%
• Princeton Borough: 7%
• Hopewell Borough: 7%
• Hopewell Township: -11%
• Pennington: -6%
• West Windsor: -19%
• Montgomery Township: -6%

For more information on the Princeton NJ real estate market read the following articles:

Princeton NJ real estate -Average price of houses sold

Princeton NJ real estate market - How Expensive? Housing prices by category

Princeton real estate market - How Long To Sell? Inventory and Days On Market report

Trend MLS data considered accurate, but is not guaranteed. The prices are for houses and does not include condos.

Please contact Faina Sechzer at 609-553-4175 with questions about real estate, homes for sale and/or listing your house to sell, and relocation assistance in Princeton, Montgomery Township, West Windsor, Hopewell, and Lawrenceville New Jersey. Referrals are accepted.
If you are moving out of the greater Princeton area, please inquire about the countrywide relocation program.

Copyright 2007 Faina Sechzer All rights reserved. This information cannot be copied, reproduced, transmitted, distributed, displayed or published.

Average Price Of Houses and Condos Sold in 2004 – 2007

The prices of homes and what is happening in the Princeton real estate market is always on the minds of the homeowners. It is even more so now, given the economic uncertainties of the effects of the sub prime mortgage fall out and the possible recession. The price of the homes sold is one of the indicators of the real estate market.

Looking at the period of 2004-2007, the news for Princeton is still positive - 17% increase in the average price of houses sold over the period. The biggest inverse occurred in 2005, followed by a slight decline in 2006 and 3% increase in 2007.

Hopewell showed an increase for the 2007 of 4%, West Windsor – decline of 4%, Montgomery Township –decline of 3%, and Pennington – decline of 15 %.

The charts below lllustrate the differences in the trend for the other areas in the greater Princeton real estate market.

The increase in the average price in Princeton does not necessarily indicate the increase for the 2008. The concerns about the economy and the general perception of the public that real estate prices will be going down is keeping many buyers from entering the market. On the other hand, there are still buyers that need to buy because of their circumstances and houses priced competitively will continue to sell.

* Data is based on the Trend MLS and is not guaranteed.

Please contact Faina Sechzer at 609-553-4175 with questions about real estate, homes for sale and/or listing your house to sell, and relocation assistance in Princeton, Montgomery Township, West Windsor, Hopewell, and Lawrenceville New Jersey. Referrals are accepted.
If you are moving out of the greater Princeton area, please inquire about the countrywide relocation program.

Copyright 2007 Faina Sechzer All rights reserved. This information cannot be copied, reproduced, transmitted, distributed, displayed or published.

• Not surprising that there were only 2 houses sold in the lowest price category of less then $500,000.

• There were 13 houses sold in the highest price category of $2,000,000 and up with the most expensive home sold for $3,700,000

• The largest number of the homes sold - 160 -was in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 price category.

The chart bellow illustrates these statistics in more detail.

To learn more about Princeton real estate house prices you may be interested in reading the following articles:

• What is it like to live in Princeton?

• Princeton Real Estate - What does $300,000 buy?

• Princeton Real Estate - What You Get for less than $500K
  

• What is Going On In The Princeton Real Estate Market?

• When looking for Princeton homes for sale -consider Princeton Ridge

Please contact Faina Sechzer at 609-553-4175 if you have questions about real estate, homes for sale and/or listing your house to sell, and relocation assistance in Princeton, Montgomery Township, West Windsor, Hopewell, and Lawrenceville New Jersey. Referrals are accepted.
If you are moving out of the greater Princeton area, please inquire about the countrywide relocation program.


Copyright 2007 Faina Sechzer All rights reserved. This information cannot be copied, reproduced, transmitted, distributed, displayed or published.