Hastings Square or other community to live?
your opinions and experience. I am looking for a townhome. Is Hastings Square a nice community (LV schools?)? I work in the eastern part of Morris County, but not real interested in "living" there. Looking for a great neighborhood/people, playground, pool, busing, school system, etc. Any thoughts? Many thanks!
njandyou I live in Hastings Square and it's a lovely community. There are plenty of homes for sale right now too. The association fees are average, but we were just assessed a temporary increase due to excessive snow removal costs this past winter. The fees cover garbage pickup twice a week, snow removal from all sidewalks, parking areas and common areas, landscaping (which is beautiful) and the swimming pool (very crowded on weekends), tennis courts and playground. There are a lot of children in a wide variety of ages and a lot of dogs. Parking is a bit of a concern in the winter and in the patio homes, but each unit has at least one garage. Most of the community is very friendly, but many keep to themselves. You of course have the occasional inconsiderate neighbor, but you'll find that everywhere. There is a very diverse demographic of people. Single moms, young families, older couples, young couples, etc. I don't have children so I can't speak about the schools, but I know they are good in Long Valley in general. Try the Long Valley forum, there are a couple threads about the schools.
Tracy Don't know how experienced you are with condo living. Be sure to ask what, as a resident, you are responsible for. I believe in Hastings the residents are responsible for a lot of the upkeep of the homes, including roofs and siding. It keeps the monthly dues fees down, but they do force you to fix and replace things on a schedule.
PetLover105are any of the townhomes for rent? where would I be able to find any for sale or rent?
HeatherS 
Nosila 
Calico696 They are considered townhomes I believe. Long Valley schools have a good rep. Many people would prefer Long Valley and Morris Cnty in general over Hackettstown.
Firefly My former BIL used to live in there years ago and he called them patio homes. Said they were called that since his unit did not share any common walls with the other units. The thing between the units was the patio or deck. Who knows, just remember him saying that.
Calico there are patio homes and town homes. The patio homes are the ones on the outermost part of the community and the town homes are in the middle. The patio homes are larger.
I should have also mentioned what we're responsible for. Homeowners are responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the entire unit, inside and out, including the roof, concrete/brick steps, any decks or balconies, retaining walls and painting. This year my street is expected to paint the outside of our homes by the end of July. Paint colors have to be uniform, as well as any windows and doors. When replacing anything outside the home, you need permission from the board and anything new must be uniform with the community as a whole.
Heather, there are at least a few for rent that I know of. Many for sale as well.
My mother in law lives in a patio home there and she loves it! The neighborhood consists of single family homes in the back, patio homes, and town homes. The difference between a patio home and the town homes are that the patio homes do not share a wall between units, rather they share a patio (with a barrier for privacy of course).... Both are very fairly priced now a days. They also have a pool and great playground, and yes, long valley school system is very desirable.
My sister lived in Hastings square and loved living there. she lived there with her 2 small children. Lovely community, pool, playground and tennis courts. The units are affordable.
I regret not buying a place there when the units were valued at $100K! ces't la vie!
htown newbie The only negative I have heard about Hastings came from
the water testing place in Hackettown while explaining a water 'situation' for that area. For more information, go there and ask them for a read out on the water in that area. If you find the chart for various contaminants confusing, ask someone there to explain it to you. The 'situation' may be taken care of my now.
I have lived in Hasting for 5 yrs now and love living here. I highly recommend looking into the complex.
sunflower 2 I've lived here since 89 and they were never valued at $100k LOL Even when they were first built........they were more than what we paid in 89. There are definite areas where I heard of neighbors not getting along.......specifically Edinborough. But it was years ago and maybe there are enough new owners that that is not a problem anymore. There is also a BIG difference from unit to unit........some have original bathrooms, etc. Some have been upgraded beautifully. So look at many!
Hastings Resident No problem, girl.
Hastings Resident, believe me, there were some that low, or very close to it. Especially the ones in foreclosure. But they are the ones that need the most work.
We've been in our home almost three years. When we moved in, everything was original. Now we've replaced and remodeled almost everything in the house. So we're kind of stuck until the market improves because we'd never sell for what it's worth now.
HeatherS, there is one near me that's for rent with ReMax. Cynthia Ruggiero (I think) is the Realtor on the listing.
Indy mom Indy - Yes, there are single family homes as per Erin's post above. Doesn't say anything about fees for the single family homes, but one would assume there would be.
Indy, they do pay fees, but they are less because they don't get snow removal and landscaping. It's only for garbage pickup and use of common areas.
What do you think the difference is to Peachtree? Does Hastings have any kind of community things to get everyone together and to get to know each other? The patio home idea sounds like an option, does anyone commute, how is that in the morning? thank you so much for your input!
Commute where? East? If so, yes it's a real issue and you need to give yourself a lot of extra time. Any other direction would be against traffic and fine.
The commute east from either Hastings or Peachtree are the same as any east bound commute from this area. All depends on where you are going, the time that you are traveling and the routes that you take.
As for the difference between Peachtree and Hastings. Peachtree's association fees include all outside maintenance. This includes maintence of the siding / trim, front walks /steps, patios, roofs, driveways. Yes the amount is more than Hastings, but even at Hastings, you will need to put aside some money to build up the maintenance schedule that you are to support. For the units you are interested in, I strongly suggest you get the expected maintenance schedule so you will know how quickly you will be expected to come up with additional money to support a major maintenance item. I would then use that information in your price negotiations.
I looked at townhomes in Hastings back in 94 when I moved to the area. I purchased in Peachtree because of my personal preference for the townhome layout as well as the neighborhood layout. It was a personal choice.
I strongly suggest looking at units in both complexes. There are a few homes available in Peachtree as well as Hastings.
This is what I did when I was looking for a townhome in the area. I then made my decision based on what I liked better.
They both go to the same school system, which many people really like... so there is virtually no difference from that perspective.
Coralie Coralie. I know what you are saying about the maintenance in Hastings. Not only does the exterior have to be uniform colors of the rest of the homes but if you need a new roof or roof repair that is at the homeowners expense and any of you that have had to replace a roof know that can be a pretty costly matter. If you are thinking of buying..make sure to check how old the existing roof is and anything else exterior that may need to be replaced.
joyful Tracy - you are correct that some units have sold for close to $100K at one point. I recall when I was looking in 1994 that some of the units were on the market for around $105 - $115K and they were not reported to me as being in foreclosure. Considering that those were the listed price, I am sure that the actual selling price would have been less. The market was not that hot at that time
Peachtree has had some neighborhood get togethers in the past. However, the greatest place to meet your neighbors with children is the POOL. And yeah - it opens this weekend...
I also live in Hastings Square and I am also a realtor. I love living there. If you have a child/children you would also be in a great school system. There are quite a few units for sale and some for rent as well. Good luck and feel free to contact me if you need any help.
Laurie wow, you folks are so great! I am going tomorrow to look at both places! thank you so much for your insight, experiences and honesty.
I also live in Hastings and HATE IT!!!!! The fees go up constantly, your responsible for everything, roof, paint, patio, etc. Fee's go to snow removal and I don't know what else. There is a horrible problem with hornets and yellow jacks. I have had an exterminator out several times because of yellow jacks living in my WALLS!!! The association doesn't care and won't do anything about it after several complaints from neighbors. The builders of hastings have a horrible reputation. These townhouse were put together with popsicle sticks and paperclips. No insulation, heating and AC out the window. DON'T live here!!! Can't wait to move.
I live there too they were built lousy not insulated don't know how they got away with that but living here I see a lot of corruption they get away with
Carms We're looking to move to Hastings Square and are currently looking at properties there. One thing I can't find out though is if Hastings Square is approved for FHA mortgages - it's not on the FHA's list of approved condo developments, but maybe it's not classified as a condo development? Anyone got any insights? Has anyone bought there with a FHA mortgage?
Russ W I see a couple that closed in 2016 with FHA loans. If you need to talk to a loan officer, I can put you in contact with someone. Feel free to email me.
Nicki Cumiskey Hasting square patio homes are poorly constructed. They must have slapped them together in a hurry. They have water leaks through the sliders, the homes have many sliding doors that are so old they are difficult to open, the retaining walls rot and collapse which you are responsible for, the brick steps crumple as you can see on most units. It's a money pit. Looks pretty but poor quality in structure of buildings. I lived there for 10 yrs. paid way to much and now the units have loss there value. If you want to constantly repair your home Hastings is the place to live.
Not a hasting fan If you are looking for condo/townhouse with Washington Twp school system - check Peachtree also.
Lena Valley National bank has really cheap closing costs. No strings attached. We refinanced through them and they were great. I wish we had gotten our new mortgage through them. Just an FYI... From what I remember FHA has strict rules about the conditions of the house you are buying, it can be a real PIA at times. Good luck!!!
Jesse123 Hello- I own one of the patio homes in Hastings. I need to have the patio repaired but I cannot find a local contractor to replace the fiber glass roof deck. I am desperate to stop the water leaking into my garage. I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thank you.
Stephen D. Hastings is the place to live if you love stepping in dog crap and hearing dogs bark incessantly, day and night. Or if you love trying to take a walk and dodging all of the dogs whose owners swear their dog is "friendly" and say "don't worry" while they are tugging on its chain for dear life trying to stop the dog from lunging at you.
ReligionIsBarbaric The only saving grace for the garbage built hasting square IS the fact it is long valley school system. BTW insurance company may be able to suggest contractor to use.. And tell your insurance company of the danger they pose with those decks..this way they stop you LOL.Looked at a couple units yrs back and you could fall through them they were so bad. How they give a certificate of occupancy is beyond me...someone somwhere is getting paid off I swear! Whoever designed them should be hung.
Commenting is no longer available.