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My wife and I are currently looking for a house, but stumped on an area, and could really use your help.
We live in Bayside, Queens now, and both work in Manhattan.
We want to be close to family (Our immediate family is in Queens and Northern NJ - Pompton Plains & Wanaque)
As well- Were long term people, and are looking for a house we can raise a family in.
Deal breakers
* A difficult commute from NYC. (Ideally under an hr commute - able to walk to train station super bonus)
* An area which is too far from the family.
* Ridiculously High Taxes. (I feel like almost every area in NY Metro is a bit high. My biggest concern- Owing Uncle Sam $30K a year. As we all know- Taxes go up - not down
Must have
* Good school district
Budget -
My guess- I won't be able to go anywhere for under $750K - $900K.
We have no problem sacrificing the size of a house, for the conveniences listed above.
All suggestions and ideas are greatly appreciated.
Thanks
You really shouldn't have any problem finding a house close to NYC and Pompton Plains/ Wanaque with the price range. Taxes are high pretty much everywhere in NJ when compared to the rest of the country, but I'll suggest the following areas because they are at least on the lower end, especially when taking into account that you want a solid school system.
If you use Zillow.com, you can usually find the taxes paid info on the house listing.
Paramus: nice middle/upper middle class area, low taxes, good school system, don't know about trains.
Ridgewood- super charming, great school system, but homes are likely to be on higher end. Does have a train station in the shopping district, so you might not want to buy a home within walking distance. Taxes are a bit on the higher side
Fair Lawn- middle/upper class, train station, good school system, taxes not as high as Ridgewood but town not as charming
Wyckoff- very nice area, super close to Pompton Plains/Wanaque, no train station, don't know about taxes
Little Falls- train station, middle/upper class, decent school system, don't know about taxes
monmouth/middlesex county seems to be a preferred area. The schools are considered relatively good, and the train in matawan runs right into Penn Station. Its about an hour train ride every day to manhattan, but it may be worth a look
Depending on where you work in Manhattan, buses might be an option too, which opens up different towns and can often be quicker and easier.
Right, it makes a big difference if you work downtown or elsewhere; for downtown you want to connect to the PATH. For almost anywhere else, Midtown Direct train service or bus service is as good or better. Private bus companies are Community Coach, Decamp, and Lakeland.
Non-ridiculous tax requirements rule out any town in Essex County with a decent school district.
monmouth/middlesex county seems to be a preferred area. The schools are considered relatively good, and the train in matawan runs right into Penn Station. Its about an hour train ride every day to manhattan, but it may be worth a look
Agreed. We live on the fringes of Old Bridge, closer to the Monmouth side of things. The Matawan/Aberdeen train is about a 10 minute drive from our house. Very convient train station for my hubby who commutes into the city. He does have to take the subway into work which adds an additional 30 minutes to his commute. Some of his other jobs were a short walk from Penn Station which was nice.
Overall, we've been very happy with the school system in Old Bridge. Houses in our neighborhood are selling in the $400-500k price range and you have a nice established neighborhood. Our area still has some nice rural elements to it so you can see nice open land, horses grazing, and even a tractor or two. We like it here although we are trying to move out of state for a variety of reasons.
Only drawback for my husband was getting a parking space in the Aberdeen parking lot. We waited 5 years or so for a space to become available. He had to leave super early to get one of the pay by the day open spaces which was a pain. Many other folks take the buses to work. Seems to be plenty of options in this area.
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