Living in Pheasant Meadow
Pheasant Meadow sits off Quail Hill Boulevard on Pheasant Meadow Drive in Smithville, Galloway Township, tucked between East Moss Mill Road and Cardinal Way at the western edge of the Historic Towne. The buildings date to the mid-1980s and run two stories, and the homes are two-bedroom, two-bath layouts on a single level, generally around 820 to 1,030 square feet. It is a quiet pocket of the Smithville area, close to Route 9 without sitting on it.
Two things about these homes are worth knowing before you compare listings, and both hide in the details. The first is heat. Some homes here run natural gas forced air and others run electric, and that is a real difference in what you pay every month through a South Jersey winter, on homes that otherwise look identical. Ask what heats the specific home. The second is the ceiling: upper-floor homes carry vaulted ceilings, and in a home this size that changes the feel of the whole space. If two listings are close on everything else, the top floor is usually worth the stairs.
On the money, the figure you see on a listing is two fees combined — one to Pheasant Meadow and a separate one to the Historic Smithville association for the master amenities. Ask for the split rather than the total, since they are billed and governed separately. Worth knowing too: the Pheasant Meadow portion has moved recently, so ask what it is today rather than working from a number on an older listing, and ask whether anything further is planned. A fee that has risen once is worth a direct question about why.
What that fee covers here is better than most: maintenance, management, trash, the pool, the amenities — and snow removal, which is stated outright and which almost no other community in this township puts in writing. On a February morning that is the difference between leaving on time and not. Through the Smithville association you also get two pools, a fitness center, a clubhouse and club room, tennis and sports courts, a playground and walking paths, plus the Historic Towne of Smithville itself, with more than sixty shops and restaurants and year-round festivals a short walk away.
The homes carry more than the square footage suggests. Wood-burning fireplaces appear throughout. The primary bedroom typically has a walk-in closet and its own bath, and in many homes private sliders to a balcony — a genuinely nice thing to have off a bedroom rather than off the living room. Kitchens in the updated homes run granite, shaker cabinetry and stainless appliances opening to the living space. In-unit washers and dryers, attic storage in the upper homes, central air, assigned exterior parking with no garages. Pets are permitted with restrictions; confirm the current rules for your own animal.
Condition varies widely and that is what moves value here, since the floor plans do not. Some homes have been fully renovated with hardwood or laminate flooring, newer windows and updated ductwork; others are closer to original. At forty years old, get the age of the heat, the air conditioning and the water heater on anything you are serious about. You are minutes from Stockton University, AtlantiCare and the Garden State Parkway, with the beaches and Atlantic City a short drive. To compare against the other Smithville communities, see Fox Chase, Hunting Run, Lake Victoria and Mallards Landing, or work through every attached home in the township at once on the Galloway Township condos page.
