Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What about areas nearer to Secaucus (albeit not in Secaucus itself)? Whenever we visit the city we park at Secaucus Junction and take the train right to Penn Station in Midtown in about 10-15 minutes. Normally we have to stand on the train, but we don't mind. Lyndhurst seems nice and isn't that far away.
Parking at SEC is way too high priced for work commutes for most. $28 a day for parking.
That said, Lyndhurst has free parking and it's only a couple minute ride on the train to transfer at SEC, you just have to have a schedule that works with the Main Line (or some other close in stop on one of the other lines).
Really need to tell what the desired commute time will be...some of the cities people are mentioning are over a hour long commute to Manhattan - I sure wouldn't want to spend 800k and still have to waste 3 hours on trains on my daily commute
MOST commutes are more than an hour. If you know of these great towns that fit the description for the OP with less than an hour's commute, by all means name them.
I'm throwing Little Silver into the mix. I don't live there but I commute from there. 15 minutes to the beaches, Red Bank next door for the best downtown in Monmouth County, lots to do. It's on the outside fringe of your commute time, but nice town, community-minded and well located. Lots of trees, small-town feel. And a train station with a huge parking lot and no waiting list, unlike Middletown.
You could try Rutherford; it's one of the nicest towns close to NYC. The train will get you to Midtown (transferring at Secaucus) in 30 minutes, and there are lots of buses too.
I'm throwing Little Silver into the mix. I don't live there but I commute from there. 15 minutes to the beaches, Red Bank next door for the best downtown in Monmouth County, lots to do. It's on the outside fringe of your commute time, but nice town, community-minded and well located. Lots of trees, small-town feel. And a train station with a huge parking lot and no waiting list, unlike Middletown.
I think your family need to ultimately decide what is most important- a shorter commute or more space. There are several towns which have nice or decent enough downtowns and at your budget all the towns will have good schools.
IF you want a quicker commute- Madison,Summit, Chatham, Westfield would be your best bets - you will get a nice house but nothing spectacular. All have nice downtowns and and good train/bus commute (under an hour or just about). I have family here and they love it and could never imagine living anywhere else- all the kids are grown/growing up and are good kids getting into good schools.
Whippany/Cedar Knolls,Florham Park are nice but commute is from Morristown I think so it's a bit further- but you get more for your $$ and lower taxes. For my family the commute was too much from west Morris County and Union County felt like too much of an extension of NYC to us- just our thoughts- might work for your family- it does for most- look at the prices....lol
If you want more space and a more laid back enviornment- central NJ would be the place- commute would go from 60-90 min but much more pleasant than the express busses- they actually run on time and at a realistic schedule with free parking esp at the hour your husband leaves, the train is available too from Little Silver (plenty of available parking and you can even look within walking distance in both LS and Shrewsbury unlike up north with multi year waits) and Middletown. In that case look at Holmdel, Oak Hill section of Middletown (more suburban) Lincroft section of Middletown has a small downtown with a good place for pizza. Shrewsbury, Little Silver, Fair Haven would be the stretch the commute towards the longer end but you get great small town community fell (think LS is biggest town w ~6K people) and close to the beach as well. Shrewsbury downtown is along 35 but you have grove for shopping a the Grove, best bagels in the area, and a ton of salons, post office, trader joes, dry cleaner, etc while still having big box amenties nearby. LS and FH have a much more defined "classic" smalltown downtown which are both very charming and more mom and pop places.
Maybe take a week staying in each area for a few days and get a feel for it, your husband can try the commute as well. The good news is you most likely will be very happy wherever you chose- just get of SI already...trust me- you won't believe how you made it as long as you did there.
For $800k I rather go back to Brooklyn. Low property tax and a chance for even greater return on investment.
NJ home prices are flat, especially those high end ones. You mostly lose value when you sell because of fees. I've never seen any high priced homes in NJ return 30% even after 6-8 years. Meanwhile some corner house in Brooklyn sold for $550-600k 5 years ago is worth over $750k today.
For $800k I rather go back to Brooklyn. Low property tax and a chance for even greater return on investment.
NJ home prices are flat, especially those high end ones. You mostly lose value when you sell because of fees. I've never seen any high priced homes in NJ return 30% even after 6-8 years. Meanwhile some corner house in Brooklyn sold for $550-600k 5 years ago is worth over $750k today.
Income tax plus private schooling alone negates any property tax savings. Also- while anecdotal at best- anyone i know that held a house 5+ years in a top tier NJ town made money net of fees. A decent brownstone anywhere in a good part of Brooklyn is more than 800+ (crown heights doesn't count yet).
Also to many people a home is more than an investment- OP seems to want to experience suburban life for their family- don't think hopping on the 5 or the R to get to the grocery store is what they are looking for.
We narrowed our choices first by schools (our kids are 7, 8 and 10). Next priorities for us were property taxes and commute times. We're coming from the Upper West Side, and my husband will commute to midtown for work. One factor for us was that my mother-in-law lives in Harrisburg, PA, so we started our search around the I-78 area.
We liked Summit, Chatham and Madison, but were priced out. You would do fine there with $800k, but you're not going to get a lot of house or yard for that price. Schools are well rated and commute is good. We found New Providence, Mountainside, Berkeley Heights, Watchung, Scotch Plains and Warren to be close to what we wanted, so we spent some time driving around those towns, playing in the parks, eating at the restaurants, lurking past the schools, lol. It was hugely helpful.
From there, we narrowed it. I wasn't crazy about the physical space of the middle school in Scotch Plains (though there was nothing really wrong with it - just a vibe), and taxes are on the higher end. Warren was nice, but the least "commutable". Mountainside had the shortest commute - by express bus - and nice homes in quiet neighborhoods, but after driving along Rt. 22 three or four times....
Our first choices ended up being New Providence, Berkeley Heights and Watchung, and we're under contract now for a house in Berkeley Heights.
One last thought - we happen to be Catholic, and it seems most of these areas have a large Catholic population. This wasn't a factor for us, but if it would bother you or appeal to you, it's something to consider.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
