Moving to NJ, need some advice (Teaneck, Ramsey: sublet, apartment complexes, rentals)

[SATiger]

I will be moving to NJ (from TX) in January to work at Mahwah, NJ. I (male) would like to share an apt/room with some one until my family be able to relocate in 8 months.

Questions:

1. Is it safe to pick a rental from Craigslist (without seeing the place)?
2. Is street parking common in NJ? How safe ?
3. How is the place/neighborhood Teaneck, NJ?
4. Any suggestions on places closes to Mahwah, NJ?

Appreciate your responses.......

[SweepTheLeg]

Originally Posted by SATiger

I will be moving to NJ (from TX) in January to work at Mahwah, NJ. I (male) would like to share an apt/room with some one until my family be able to relocate in 8 months.

Questions:

1. Is it safe to pick a rental from Craigslist (without seeing the place)?
2. Is street parking common in NJ? How safe ?
3. How is the place/neighborhood Teaneck, NJ?
4. Any suggestions on places closes to Mahwah, NJ?

Appreciate your responses.......

1) Absolutely not. I don't trust Craigslist for apartments at all. Too many scams.

It would be easier to find a large complex that is professionally managed, especially since you only want to be in a small apartment for 8 months. It would be a lot easier to get a month-to-month lease with a professionally managed place than it would be an independent landlord.

2) It depends on where you live. I can't speak for Teaneck or Mahwah, but plenty of apartment complexes have parking.

3) Not sure, but I do recall that there's a very large orthodox Jewish community there, I could be wrong though.

4) Ringwood, Pequannock, Wanaque, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by SATiger

I will be moving to NJ (from TX) in January to work at Mahwah, NJ. I (male) would like to share an apt/room with some one until my family be able to relocate in 8 months.



Questions:

1. Is it safe to pick a rental from Craigslist (without seeing the place)?
2. Is street parking common in NJ? How safe ?
3. How is the place/neighborhood Teaneck, NJ?
4. Any suggestions on places closes to Mahwah, NJ?

Appreciate your responses.......

1. NO WAY. Scams galore. If you're looking for a roommate or a share situation, you'd be better off looking in The Record, the area newspaper. www.northjersey.com

2. Varies by municipality

3. Nice town

4. Why not Mahwah itself? It's the largest town in area in the county, has a lot of apartment complexes and condo/townhouse complexes. Also look at Ramsey and Suffern, NY, which are adjacent to Mahwah, two towns also with a number of apartment complexes.

[vfrex]

1. Craigslist is the primary way I look for apartment listings. There is no way I'd sublet or do any sort of room share though without being able to look into it in person.

4. No reason not to live in Mahwah. It covers a lot of area and there are 8 or so sections in the town, some more suburban than others. Great school system, train line to the city. Surrounding towns are similar. Ramsey, Allendale, Waldwick, Franklin Lakes are all good places to live as well. Any specific preferences?

[RUNYYfan]

Originally Posted by SATiger

Questions:

1. Is it safe to pick a rental from Craigslist (without seeing the place)?
2. Is street parking common in NJ? How safe ?
3. How is the place/neighborhood Teaneck, NJ?
4. Any suggestions on places closes to Mahwah, NJ?

Appreciate your responses.......

Answers:

1) No way would I use CraigsList for rentals of any type, apartment or house. As others have said, there are too many chances for scams.

2) On-street parking in the cities is rather common. However, most garden apartment complexes will have lots for parking.

3) Teaneck is generally pretty good. You would need to give cross streets so we could figure out exactly how safe the locale might be.

4) I don't know personally of any apartment complexes around Mahwah, but I would recommend looking at Upper Saddle River and Ramsey, NJ. Also check out Suffern, NY.

[SATiger]

Thanks for all the responses, appreciate it.

Since it is the first time I will be moving to NJ (Nort East), the information provided here is very useful.

I don't have any specific preference to location except I want that to be closer to my work place. Thus trying to minimize the winter driving . Talking of winter, does cars have to be 'winterized'?. I use full syntectic oil 5w-30. It is a front wheel drive Lexus car.

I will start looking for apts in the areas mentioned here.

[SATiger]

Forgot to mention, my work location is at 287 NY border.

If I rent in NY, how does state tax system work when I work in NJ?. Do I have to file zero income tax return with NY ?

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by SATiger

Forgot to mention, my work location is at 287 NY border.

If I rent in NY, how does state tax system work when I work in NJ?. Do I have to file zero income tax return with NY ?

You would have to file income tax in both states. I do the reverse--live in NJ and work in NY, so in my case, since NY income tax is much higher than NJ income tax, the NY tax zeroes out the NJ. However, I don't know if that would be the same for a NY resident working in Jersey.

As for your car, make sure you have anti-freeze in the cooling system!!!! Lots of garages offer "winterizing" specials.

Also wanted to mention--Mahwah is known for having a lot of condo/townhouse complexes (until about 25 years ago, it was full of hugely undeveloped, wooded land and sparsely populated and then the townhouse boom began). A lot of the condo owners rent them out. You can often find these rentals on realtor.com, which will give you an idea of the prices. Remember that housing in Jersey is very likely more expensive than where you are coming from.