Town By Town: Tiny town offers much
One in a continuing series spotlighting real estate markets in the region's communities. In Gibbsboro, one thrill you can find on Blueberry Hill is a pretty amazing view of the Center City skyline.
One in a continuing series spotlighting real estate markets in the region's communities.
In Gibbsboro, one thrill you can find on Blueberry Hill is a pretty amazing view of the Center City skyline.
What's also amazing is that the greenway in this pint-sized Camden County borough is a perfect place to put your brand-new bike through its paces.
Who knew that this place, about which real estate agent Val Nunnenkamp warns you shouldn't "sneeze when you leave Voorhees or you'll miss it," has so much to offer?
Gibbsboro celebrated its 300th birthday in 2014; George Matlack built his mill here in 1714. The town has many walking and biking trails, as well as sturdy homes generally ranging in price from $180,000 to $600,000, says Nunnenkamp, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors in Marlton, who lives in Voorhees and does a lot of business in the borough.
Plus, it offers popular gathering places for residents, including Kresson News on South Lakeshore Drive, "where people spend much of the day reading magazines, buying lottery tickets, and talking," says Nunnenkamp, who adds that his regular visits there brings him business.
(It seems there's enough good luck to go around: One of New Jersey's two Cash 5 winners on Oct. 17 bought a ticket at Kresson News and shared a jackpot of $939,008, the state Lottery Commission says.)
There's also Masso's Deli and Pizzeria and the Chop House, a popular dining spot on Silver Lake - a body of water that plays an oversized role in the long history of this town.
On the shores of Silver Lake in 1852, John Lucas began what would become one of the nation's best-known paint companies. The brick chimneys that remain today testify to Gibbsboro's industrial past.
If real estate sales in third-quarter 2015 can be used a gauge, Gibbsboro appears to be a place where people want to stay.
Just three homes sold here between July 1 and Sept. 30, compared with five in third-quarter 2014. There were 16 sales in the first nine months of 2015, about the same as in the previous year.
Average-priced homes go for $200,000 to $400,000, Nunnenkamp says.
Gibbsboro is compact and close-knit, "a very nice, quaint community," he says.
The borough "has one K-8 school with very small class sizes" and sends its students to Eastern High School in Voorhees, Nunnenkamp says.
"Gibbsboro has no school buses," he notes. "Kids either walk or their parents drive them."
Proximity to Voorhees means that Gibbsboro residents are close to PATCO High-Speed Line stations for commuting to Center City Philadelphia. In addition, Interstate 295 is close by, just down Route 561, Haddonfield-Berlin Road.
Currently, 42 houses are on the market here. It takes an average of 102 days to sell a house in Gibbsboro, which offers a variety of sizes, ages and styles.
Many ranchers from the 1960s and 1970s are being sought by people from both in and out of town who are seeking to downsize to one-story living, Nunnenkamp says.
Newer and larger houses can be found in the Wynnewood and Tanglewood developments. Smaller houses are in older neighborhoods such as Rambling Acres and Cameo Village, which date from the mid- to late 1950s. The bungalows around Gibbsboro predate them all.
Wynnewood was built by Pulte Homes in the late 1990s and early 2000s - Nunnenkamp says he and his team "sold about 80 percent" of the 42 singles in the development.
The four-bedroom, 21/2-bath houses sold originally for $239,990 to $263,990. One is on the market today for $414,900.
Prices, schools and location are three of Gibbsboro's chief attractions, and first-time buyers are the key demographic, Nunnenkamp says, with a few, but not many, distressed-sale homes that require much in the way of fixing up.
"Taxes are a little high, but not nasty," says Nunnenkamp, although some of the higher-priced newer homes come with annual bills of about $15,000.
Many houses on the market have been nicely renovated, Nunnenkamp says - ideal for buyers looking for move-in condition at affordable prices.
215-854-2472@alheavens
Town By Town: Gibbsboro By the Numbers
StartText
Population: 2,257 (2013)
Median household income: $94,108
Area: 2.22 square miles
Settlements in the third quarter: 3
Homes for sale: 42
Average days on market: 102
Median sale price: $199,000
Housing stock: 847 units, mostly smaller and older
School district: Gibbsboro K-8; Eastern High School, Voorhees
SOURCES: U.S. Census; Realtor.com; Val Nunnenkamp, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach Realtors, Marlton
EndText