Appreciation markets for single family homes in central New Jersey

[Vincent Delaroche]

Hi everyone,

I currently live in Mount Holly, NJ. we own a house with $100K equity in it. I am 32.

My wife and I (and our baby boy) are looking to move to a different area. I want to buy a single family house (3+ beds, 2+ bath ish) in a market that will appreciate in the next 3-4 years. Ideally I want to use this property as a starter for our real estate investment journey (using a cash out refinance or Heloc). I am open to value add, small renovation etc..

One thing that is important: I am french, I want my kid to go the the french american school of princeton...

I did not want to spend more than $600K to keep our montly payment reasonable, but I am just realizing that a 2,000 sqft at this price basically does not exist anymore in that area. I am a little worried that houses in a 25 miles radius from there won't appreciate that much when I see how much they already cost and the property taxes in that area. But I could be completely wrong, I have no idea what I'm doing.
I do not care to be in the middle of nowhere with average schools as my kids will go to the french american school of Princeton anyway.

Any areas in particular I should be looking at? Should I completely change my plans, look at areas west of Philly (there is a french school in Bala Cynwyd) ?

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.