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Old 08-23-2010, 02:49 PM
 
13 posts, read 27,622 times
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Hi ya,

We have looked around several towns now in Essex county and Bergen but we are either getting dissappointed by the commute (realistically) or the taxes, so far we have looked into:

Maplewood, Summit, Berkely Heights & New Providence (good but commute is almost 1.5 hrs to 47th Street W, 10th Av. )

Rutherford, Lyndhurst, Clifton, Nutley (good towns and upto 1 hr commute to PA or 47th W but taxes high or houses very old)

Livingston (my favourite!) but commute too long.

Bloomfield (Agents suggests go for this but don't like the schools)

Is there anyone else we can look with good schools, upto an hr commute and low taxes(max 7K) ? We have been suggested Bayonne, wonder how it is commute wise. We have a budget upto $400K and would like 3 bed/2 bath with good schools, can't afford private.

Many Thanks,
Meghna
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Old 08-23-2010, 02:55 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,329,541 times
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i'm confused. what's long about the commute from livingston? have you looked into the Community Coach USA bus? from West Orange, it took me 55-65 minutes to get from the Arena to my Office on 42nd and Lex. I think that bus starts in Livingston - can't be more than 10 minutes more?

what do you consider an "old" house? do you mean old as in condition, or you want something built more recently?
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Old 08-23-2010, 03:13 PM
 
1,471 posts, read 3,435,239 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meghna View Post
Hi ya,

We have looked around several towns now in Essex county and Bergen but we are either getting dissappointed by the commute (realistically) or the taxes, so far we have looked into:

Maplewood, Summit, Berkely Heights & New Providence (good but commute is almost 1.5 hrs to 47th Street W, 10th Av. )

Rutherford, Lyndhurst, Clifton, Nutley (good towns and upto 1 hr commute to PA or 47th W but taxes high or houses very old)

Livingston (my favourite!) but commute too long.

Bloomfield (Agents suggests go for this but don't like the schools)

Is there anyone else we can look with good schools, upto an hr commute and low taxes(max 7K) ? We have been suggested Bayonne, wonder how it is commute wise. We have a budget upto $400K and would like 3 bed/2 bath with good schools, can't afford private.
Many Thanks,
Meghna
OP, did you ever watch The Bernie Mac Show? There was an episode where Bernie expands his mansion. The contractor shows Bernie a triangle. One corner of the triangle says "CHEAP", the second corner of the triangle says "FAST" and the third corner of the triangle says "GOOD". The contractor tells Bernie he can pick two of the three.

The same concept applies here. You're going to have to pick two out of your three choices. Good town, good commute? High taxes/house prices. Good town, moderate taxes? The commute's most likely gonna be brutal.
You are not going to find any town with good schools and a commute with under 7K taxes in Northern NJ. If you can handle a tax bill in the low to mid 8s, Fair Lawn, Rutherford, and Nutley might be good choices, but don't expect anything fancy for 400K. Bloomfield and Clifton do have some nice sections, but the schools are not great, and unfortunately, in both towns they seem to be getting worse.
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Old 08-23-2010, 03:39 PM
 
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@Bradykp: This is good news that commute is not too bad on the bus from Livingston. We have been reading on this forum that buses are not always reliable due to accidents etc. We will reconsider. By old yes I mean houses which are over 30 yrs old and would require lot of repair from time to time.
@Zhelder: Thanks for the info on Bloomfield it has never excited me. Are the towns you suggested diverse, we are Asian INdians in orgin and were wondering if grocery would be hard to find in these towns?
Thanks again for your prompt help.
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Old 08-23-2010, 03:53 PM
 
1,471 posts, read 3,435,239 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meghna View Post
@Zhelder: Thanks for the info on Bloomfield it has never excited me. Are the towns you suggested diverse, we are Asian INdians in orgin and were wondering if grocery would be hard to find in these towns?
Thanks again for your prompt help.
There is some diversity in the towns I mentioned, but not a huge Asian Indian population in any of them. There are some, though, in Rutherford and Fair Lawn. I don't think you would feel uncomfortable in either of those towns. Nutley is a little less diverse.

If you prefer a larger Asian Indian population, you may want to check out Edison or the Iselin section of Woodbridge in Central(ish) Jersey. Prices and taxes will be a bit more moderate, but the commute will be longer (not terrible though).

As far as grocery shopping, it isn't a problem here. There are plenty of markets with foods from a wide variety of cultures/ethnicities.
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Old 08-23-2010, 05:04 PM
 
13,011 posts, read 12,955,020 times
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The Community Coach bus is fairly reliable. From Livingston to Port Authority, count on 1 hour. Could be a bit more on a particularly heavy traffic day, but that is pretty rare.

Livingston has a relatively large asian population, but it seems to be mostly Chinese/Korean rather than Indian. This is simply my anecdotal impression from seeing people on the streets, not any in depth population study.

As zhelder said, you can have inexpensive taxes, or proximity to the city. Not both.
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Old 08-23-2010, 05:06 PM
 
431 posts, read 939,870 times
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Leave the area, commute by bus is brutal and will be late OFTEN.
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Old 08-23-2010, 06:43 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
87,991 posts, read 83,805,998 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zhelder View Post
There is some diversity in the towns I mentioned, but not a huge Asian Indian population in any of them. There are some, though, in Rutherford and Fair Lawn. I don't think you would feel uncomfortable in either of those towns. Nutley is a little less diverse.

If you prefer a larger Asian Indian population, you may want to check out Edison or the Iselin section of Woodbridge in Central(ish) Jersey. Prices and taxes will be a bit more moderate, but the commute will be longer (not terrible though).

As far as grocery shopping, it isn't a problem here. There are plenty of markets with foods from a wide variety of cultures/ethnicities.
Edison and Woodbridge also have good commuting choices by train. The trains have problems from time to time but not nearly as much as the buses do. They aren't subject to traffic problems, and the trains are running in the snow when the highways aren't moving.
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Old 08-23-2010, 08:29 PM
 
Location: West Orange, NJ
12,546 posts, read 21,329,541 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meghna View Post
@Bradykp: This is good news that commute is not too bad on the bus from Livingston. We have been reading on this forum that buses are not always reliable due to accidents etc. We will reconsider. By old yes I mean houses which are over 30 yrs old and would require lot of repair from time to time.
@Zhelder: Thanks for the info on Bloomfield it has never excited me. Are the towns you suggested diverse, we are Asian INdians in orgin and were wondering if grocery would be hard to find in these towns?
Thanks again for your prompt help.
the buses are fairly reliable. no less reliable than the trains (track issues cause delays on the trains also).

i worked with a guy who took a DeCamp bus from Bloomfield. He pretty much got to work on time 95% of the time. I never had an issue, though only did the commute for 3 months before i switched job.

as for asian food - there's a good asian market in East Hanover on rt 10. there's a great korean market (h-mart) near little ferry. there's lots of asian grocery stores out here in the burbs.
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Old 08-24-2010, 07:37 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
87,991 posts, read 83,805,998 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801 View Post
Edison and Woodbridge also have good commuting choices by train. The trains have problems from time to time but not nearly as much as the buses do. They aren't subject to traffic problems, and the trains are running in the snow when the highways aren't moving.
Laughing, because I posted this yesterday and this morning all the trains on the Northeast Corridor are cancelled due to Amtrak problems.
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