Anyone move away from Htown and then couldn't wait to return?
Hi everyone
I am a Boston native, moved to Hackettstown and lived there for 7 years. Had to move back to Boston to care for an ill parent.
Boy do I miss Htown!!! I am seriously thinking about returning the northwest NJ someday.
Anyone else feel like the Hackettstown area is The perfect area to live?? We loved the small town, slower paced lifestyle.
Thanks for your thoughts :)
MissingNJ 
Brad2I moved from Hackettstown to Clearwater, Florida for five years. I was so happy when we were able to move back! Hackettstown is a wonderful place. I feel very lucky to live here.
Independence Farmer Not too far, but my husband and I recently moved to Belvidere and cannot WAIT to be back in hackettstown. We both grew up in town and it truly feels like home to us.
Katherine I miss the people and the some restaurants - don't miss taxes and some laws. That being said I do come up from NC at least once a year for 3 things - Enzo's pizza, colandras bread and Sub Shack - my goodness do I miss that place - mana from heaven. Get the macaroni salad.
skippy I have visited and sometimes stayed for lengths of time in just about every state in the USA but have lived, raised a family and been involved in Hackettstown for over 50 years. I love Hackettstown...I hope I can live the remainder of my life here...
Joyful I've visited many other places in many other States. I am always Happy to be back home in the Hackettstown area (Independence.) Taxes in NJ are terrible, and tough on retirees who would like to be able to live out their lives in NJ as we would like to do. People are friendly in this area.
MrsPipes Love it here. Can't afford to stay. Will miss it when I leave. Not enough to come back except to visit. Lived plenty of places. People are people. And I'm just a blue man living in a ref state wherever I go.
Strangerdanger I can't say I feel the same. It's a great area for those who don't need the hustle and bustle but I haven't really found that here.
iRun Born and raised in NJ. Lived in the Washington Twp, Warren Cty for 28 years, moved in 2015 when we retired to outside of Philly area to a university town. Do not miss NJ EXCEPT for pizza and bagels! Sometimes do not use the car for a week at a time, walk to everything, 50 plus restaurants, stores, doctor, etc etc. Free entertainment at the local university, plays, concerts, downtown is alive with parades, festivals, etc. can be in farmland in 10 minutes. Taxes are less, car insurance 50% less , same car, coverage and insurance company.
Not in NJ Anymore In 2007 moved 3,000 miles away from this area to southern CA. I only lived there for three months but it felt like three years. Came back and literally kissed the ground.
I'm accustomed to structure, green, 3 seasons (especially snow n autumn leaves) farmland, trees, mountains and some normalcy. Lol!
My venture was not in vain, since it really made me appreciate my true home.
positive Would love to know name of Pennsylvania university town. Sounds wonderful for my retired life. Less taxes and car insurance sure would make my retirement finances less stressful.
Curious I personally left and haven't looked back, but everyone has their own feelings on the town. I love the food though although all my friends who used to be my waiters and waitresses have since moved on to new places as well.
helpthekitty I would love to move out of N.J. I love Hackettstown, but this state is just too crooked, with their taxes. Has anyone had trouble with lining up doctors, to replace the ones that were used in NJ, in the new state of choice?
sparksjbc1964 West Chester home of West Chester University is that Pa place we moved to....
Added bonus if you retire in Pa....
Pennsylvania is one of only two states to exclude virtually every type of retirement income from taxation according to Kiplinger. Public and private pensions, railroad retirement benefits and all Social Security income are excluded from taxable income for tax purposes within the state. Pennsylvania fully exempts all income from retirement accounts like a 401(k) or an IRA.
Still have to pay federal taxes though. Going to school in Philly there was a time I was going to live in West Chester, nice place.
Change in inevitable. Whether you move or your friends, family, neighbors move nothing remains constant; you will be nostalgic from time to time whether you move or not. Cherish the good times and let the bad times go, and don't loose the lust for life to take you to other places if that's in your DNA...
iJay Depends on your insurance sparks - I know a lot of NYC retired employees here and they have a horrible time because they have EmblemHealth. If you have Aetna or BC BS not so hard
IJay
Yep, you are only around so long on earth, so enjoy it.....we moved to be closer to our kids who both work in Philly. We found West Chester via our daughter who attended the university. When it came time to retire we looked at places in DE and Pa and compared it to WC and found it was the best place for us.
Warren county was a great place to raise our kids, and do not regret moving to it from Bergen county many years ago.
We lived in NJ all of our life...........,39 of them in Hackettstown. We raised our 2 kids here and would do it all over again! However, it is time to move on. A week from tomorrow we will be relocating to Delaware ! Excited for the new house we are building, but sad to be leaving our old house in Hackettstown. Both of our kids, our 2 granddaughters and my sister are all in the Philly area so there is nothing to keep us here. Will still be checking Hackettstown Life to keep up with all the happenings. Bye Bye Hackettstown, it's been a great 39 years !
Mariann We are going to Millsboro, helpthekitty. It is about 20 miles inland from Rehobeth Beach.
Some move closer to their kids others embrace dreams. Like my uncle from Wisconsin who retired to Flagstaff. Rides his Harley all over the Southwest and has a PT position at the local university. Well off, his kids can fly in and visit (as they do).
Different strokes for different folks.
Delaware --- looking hard there, COL including taxes pretty good. My only downside is flat, flat, flat.... Do you have any hills in your area?
PA ---- man, don't get me started.....You are lucky. But how's getting to the city from where you are? The PA retirement income exclusions are nice and I think fair --- the fed should think about some of those. Property taxes can be high depending, however, against NJ --- even the high ones look low. A few years back, I closed out a family estate there and PA really whacked us. On top of the egregious tax on money already taxed, it was not self-serve, you literally were forced to have a lawyer. Take a breath, they changed a lot, might even be self-serve now, but for your income tax relief, your heirs will get hit with 4.5% for direct heirs. Other beneficiaries can be 12-15%. Might want to think about that --- it's $500 out of every $10,000 of inheritance. Family compound is on the Main Line just east of you. Love the area. But before you think I am Main Line snooty, we arrived there before the Main Line and it just developed around us. Land is worth more than the compound :>)
Most important is that you hit the nail on the head ---- retire somewhere where there's lots of free stuff during the summer months. Vacation land, DC, college towns, ----- all good spaces. Added bene is these places offer part-time or limited engagement jobs that seniors can handle in case you are looking to spend time that way too.
Moved away from NJ in my early 20's - hit Colorado, California, Oklahoma, back to California, back to Colorado, back to NJ, NY, back to NJ landed in hktwn --- every place I lived has had it's pluses and minuses - the pluses of NJ and Hackettstown in particular far outweigh the minuses.
When it comes time to retire, downsizing is definitely on the table so we can stay in NJ if we want. But we're lucky, we already have a NJ Summer place so we can easily snow bird if we so choose to.
trekster3- We moved to Charleston, SC (Summerville) suburbs in September 2014 from Hackettstown. Let's just say at first it seemed great but I slowly realized that I am a true jersey girl. Listed our our house in Summerville on 12/15/15 and it was under contract within 10 days. Packed the house up and we were back in NJ by 1/22/16! Didn't shed a tear leaving SC.
While the Charleston area was beautiful, the extreme slow pace! The education system is so disgraceful and forget it if you have a child in special ed. Medical care was a joke too.
Mommyof3 My assumption Mommyof3 is that your husband works and returned to NJ with equal or greater pay then when he left? I doubt many people come back once retired and moved to another state. Special Ed is very costly so only urban areas offer great programs. I have a relative in San Francisco that will not leave for many years due to the great special ed program. His housing cost is very high but when you consider the special ed benefits he is getting a bargain.
Again, you need to look at your individual circumstances, your budget, your likes, dislikes, need to be close to family, etc.
I'm looking at Delaware too. Only issue is unless you want a 200k mortgage everything seems to have lot rent. I don't want to "buy" a place and then pay rent every month. Ugh. Unless I buy the land and then build my own house or park my own trailer.
RAS I love Charleston to visit. Wouldn't ever live there for many of M3's reasons although much of that usually gets removed in urban areas trying to develop and grow.
When I lived in the "real South" which I am defining as an area where being Northern is out, it did take a bit to acclimate. Especially if you push against it. Once you go with the flow, the masks get removed and low n behold --- people are people. For example, they may seem slow but amazingly seem to get things done at the same pace of us Northerners. Just without all the extra words. But sometimes it's bad enough that I would not live there and put up with it. Easier to move.
So I am sure you could have stuck it out but probably better to move. Doubt I would have come back to H-town (or anywhere I have lived) because why not try something new?
I have also have been looking at Delaware. I would love to live near the coast. I can't believe those lot rents! Some $800+ per month. I am looking at the west coast, also. Oregon or Washington, looks nice. Moving is so stressful, and I would love to retire in Hackettstown, but since most companies did away with core pensions, (not 401k)years back, I don't know how I'm going to keep up with the high cost of N.J. It's frustrating, when I have to do a separate Google search for HOA or other fees, when looking at real estate. Since I'm not seriously moving, yet, I don't want realtors involved.
Thanks for your earlier replies, "Skippy" and "not in NJ", regarding medical insurance.
Coworker retired to the flat marshland of Delaware. Good price for a new townhouse. But he didn't look the fact that there was nothing around the development and his sump pump constantly running. He moved back to NJ, not ready for the "quiet" life yet...
Yea looked at DE not much for us. What is nice about where we live we are 15 min to the DE border home of no sales tax and cheap gas.
We are 40mins to Philly via train when we turn 65 the train will be free! As well as the entire philly transit system, another plus living in West Chester.
We received a flyer in the mail the other day about 1/4" think , magazine size of everything going on in West Chester for the summer. It was from the recreation dept from West Chester. Amazing what the have planned all free!
I would recommend the following for a nice little art excursion, long day trip from Hackettstown:
http://www.brandywine.org/museum
I personally really like the art of Andrew Wyeth
And to round out your trip, 10 minutes down the road is Longwood Gardens....beautiful
https://longwoodgardens.org
And stop in downtown West Chester for a bite to eat, 20 minutes from Longwood.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g53951-West_Chester_Pennsylvania.html
And for folks checking out DE, check out these places...if you like art, museums and gardens.
https://www.visitwilmingtonde.com/plan-your-trip/blog/post/top-things-to-do-this-spring-in-wilmington/
Thank you, IJay. Looks like a really good collection over at The Brandywine River Museum as well as a fun day trip.
Oh my, we lived in Htown from 2009-12, started raising our kids here and then hubby thought we should move out to PA, lehigh valley area, and that lower taxes and overall slightly lower cost of living would be worth it; well, it's been nearly 5 years and I just really miss Htown! We are listing our house here in Pa in a few weeks and hoping to buy or rent out in Htown again. Miss the friendlier people and bagels!! Grass definitely isn't greener on the other side.
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