Jersy, Help me to be your good neighbour (Union, East Brunswick: crime, house prices)

[webuser]

I am IT professional lived in Midwest for 10 years. Both of us working and with a 2y old. We are planning to move to NYC to share big apple with you beautiful new yorkers. Your help would be greatly appreciated....

Manhattan is most preferable work place but anywhere around NJ/NY would be possible. We are looking for following in our next move for long run.

1> Easy access(at most 1hr train) to software bound jobs. Should able to commute to any IT job possible.

2> Safe place to raise toddlers(has to be minimal crime when you are cautious)

3> Affordable safe house around $500K for town home and $600K for single family homes.

4> Good public/private schools for kids.

5> Not to discriminate but, personally Possible more Asian-Indian or white community but not a mandatory.

6> Place close to NYC TV/Film industry and not a mandatory.(one of us work in that area occasionally)

We are willing to live in NY/NJ area and should able to commute for 1hr for IT job.

Hope your information will be helpful to many people who dream for big apple life. Please help and you lunch on me...may be: )

[LeandraCat]

I live in Montville, which has a train station to NYC in Towaco, 2 minutes drive from where I live. The schools are rated some of the best in New Jersey, everything is close by - shopping, major highways, etc...
The community would be to your liking...as you described. The house prices are not cheap, but it's possible to find in the price range you specified.

Personally, I love the area and I am very happy to be raising my daughter here, and soon to be raising my new baby

[JazzyHorn]

East Brunswick is a very good place to live. Excellent schools, very safe, very family oriented, nice diversity, 1 hour by bus from NYC.

BTW I don't consider a $500K townhome "affordable". You can get a good 3-BR townhome in East Brunswick for around $300-350K these days.

As for proximity to IT and software jobs - there is no specific area where IT and software jobs are located, they are spread out all over the place. I work for a mid-sized software company in Union NJ. There are many IT-related companies in NYC and all around the NY/NJ/CT area.

Since you have a child, you may find it better for your quality of life to work and live in NJ and commute by car, instead of taking train or bus into NYC each day. Telecommute if possible, that's the best. Commuting to/from NYC ends up eating a lot of your day. I did it for 2.5 years, and saw very little of my son during that time, he really didn't know me. I was able to spend much more time with my child, and develop a good father/son relationship, only after I gave up the big Wall Street bonus and found a job in NJ.