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I was hoping to get some pointers towards town that I can consider while look for a town.
The missus and I (late 30s) are parting ways. I work in the hanover / morristown vicinity and have to occasional go into the city for work. I am looking to rent and eventually buy in a town :-
1) which will be a decent commute ( hence was considering Essex county ) to work
2) Not too far from the missus - Little south of bridgewater (coz I will have my little one every other weekend )
3) School district - Not a concern
4) Safety - I am not the venturing out late at night kind and do take precautions to stay out of trouble. So am not overly worried.
5) Looking to buy a smaller (not more than 2-3 bedrooms) single family home with a decent-sized back yard
and hoping to not pay a lot
6) Looking to pay less property tax
7) Looking for the house to be an investment as well ( Prefer a locality not the best but trending towards better )
Summit / Milburn / Maplewood / South Orange didn't seem too bad. But are way too expensive and taxes are high
I believe from a property tax perspective Union county isn't too bad
If you don't have to regularly commute to NYC, why not Morristown itself, or Morris Township, or Whippany or even East Hanover? No point in paying for an Essex County train town if you're only occasionally going into the city.
Decent Commute -> I was looking for less than 40 minutes
Also in terms of buying I was looking at a 3 bed / 2 bath with say 8,000 sq ft lot for 350 K or under and tax in the 7K vicinity. If I am being unreasonable I just need my expectations reset
I was hoping to zero in on a town / rent for a year and then buy. So was looking on help to zero in on town. For a good part I used to live in Jersey City and then moved to Edison, NJ. So not familiar with many places outside of those.
I was looking at west of Hanover as well (Mt Olive township) but taxes seem high. Given that there's quite a few things to consider (flooding / crime / commute / property tax / house prices / resale value expectations) I am a bit lost !
Like nybbler suggested, East Hanover / Cedar knolls don't look too bad. I hear part of morristown(close to train station) are less desirable.
there are a few places you could look along the midtown direct train line. However, a 40 minute commute from any of the areas you described is unlikely with the exception of Maplewood and the taxes on the higher side. East Hanover, Whippany, Florham Park, Morris Plains, Berkeley Heights, New Providence... there are a number of places that you can go in the area, but your commute to the city is going to be longer that your requested time allotment. Generally the farther out you go, the taxes are likely a little less in the nice area. You have also spoken about renting and buying. I think you have to come to the determination as to what you want to do and when.
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