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Hi all, I'm looking for ideas on which towns/ cities are good for schools and commute to NYC. We've been renting in Jersey City for a few years and love it. But with a new baby and now my parents living with us, we need a bigger space and most importantly good schools for the kiddo. I've thought about staying in Jersey City, but I can't seem to find a good middle school option. There's the Bradford elementary that's half decent and McNair High that's pretty good but not sure what to do about middle school. So I'm now looking for options outside of Jersey City. Please see below. Thank you.
Where are you coming from? Jersey City, NJ
Why are you moving? New baby, thinking about schools and need more space
Where will you be working ? NYC World Trade Center and Midtown
Will you buy or rent? Buy
What is your budget ? Up to $1m for farther commutes, up to $2 for under 30 minutes
What kind of place are you looking for ? House/ Condo/ townhouse
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ? Parents, spouse, baby
Do you need/want good public schools? YES
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in: urban/ suburban, walkable, parks, safe, diverse dinning options, Asian market nearby for groceries
List three things that are important to you in order of importance: Schools, safety, commute to NYC
The only place remotely close to your requirement is West NJ near Edgewater as there are Asian markets.
You'll have to take the ferry to NYC which is pricy but you'll get into the city in less than 15mins if you're right nearby the docks.
I expect the area to be fully walkable and has Lightrail service to JC. I would try to live as close to mass transit and Ferry as the area has really bad car congestion. There are other areas closeby with Asian markets but it will be atleast a 45min+ commute to NYC.
Edgewater is not a bad call. Most Jersey-city-like option with reasonably good public schools. Mitsuwa is there too & bus-->ferry will be cheaper than drive to ferry and faster than a train commute.
For more space & better education, if and only if you are going to only have one kid, Englewood Cliffs. More space, close in, more suburban -- you'll have to shell out for private school, but Dwight Englewood is really good and the lower property taxes will balance it out. There's an H-mart in Fort Lee and according to google maps Englewood now. If this appeals, the eastern part of Englewood one town north is a similar alternative, except much nicer physically (the east hill is gorgeous) but you won't have the low property taxes to offset the lack of a viable public school system.
If you decide you want more space and are going to have multiple kids or that education needs to be public, look at pretty much anything north of Englewood and south of the NY state line.
All that said, from your post and current living situation my guess is you will end up deciding for Edgewater, at least for a few years.
Last edited by ALackOfCreativity; 01-15-2017 at 11:37 PM..
Reason: punctuation
I lived in Edgewater (4 years) and living in Jersey city (past 4+ years now).
Key things to remember is that Edgewater commute is rough. Very rough to WTC. I can't state that enough. Because you'd need to take either bus and then subway or ferry then subway or the bus to light rail to path. Its expensive and very long, very tiring. Especially if weather is bad.
That said Edgewater has good public schools and built elementary school not too long ago. Lifestyle is quiet and one of positives for blue laws is that its veryyy quiet on Sunday so you can relax with your fam without nutty river road traffic. You also get much more housing there than in JC for $ per sq ft. You got Trader Joe, Wholefoods, and movie theatre plus Fort Lee for Korean food, Mitsuwa for Japanese. Its awesome.
Jersey City is expensive as you know and inventory is low. Especially if you are looking for say 3/2 or more. Also its slightly tricky as there is reval is going on with prop taxes. JC hasn't down proper tax reval in long time...
That said public school sucks. Few schools are good and McNair is solid but...if your kid is smart enough...and hopefully not Asian to increase your chances. Private school is pricey but do-able. Especially if you are willing to spend up to $2m.
Captain gains wise, while we shouldn't treat our homes as purely investment purposes. JC has more upside potential than Edgewater due to proximity. If I had budget up to 2m, I'd stay in JC.
Good luck. PM me if you want to know more about Edgewater, I spent 4 years of my life there!
p.s. unlike JC, you can buy townhouse by water front in Edgewater! That is one key differentiator between inventory you can find in JC vs Edgewater. Unless you want to live all the way by the Liberty state park...
For WTC I'd start by looking at the towns along the NJT Bergen/Main Line, specifically Glen Rock and RIdgewood (both have terrific K-12 school systems with great downtowns). While the commute won't get you to WTC in 30min, it's a pleasant train ride down to Hoboken, which is the last stop (~40min), where it's an easy transfer to the PATH train to go directly to WTC (~12-15min). The entire commute is also covered from weather pretty much from the time you step into the train, which is nice.
Midtown is a bit tricker, depending on where in midtown you're at. You'd get off one stop earlier at Secaucus (~30min), walk through the station to transfer to another NJT train line that goes to Penn Station (~20-25min including the walk, wait and travel time). This commute is also protected from weather, but the walk from the Bergen train to the Penn Station train is a bit longer than the walk in Hoboken to the PATH, and the train you're transferring to is often packed to the gills because they originate from far in NJ and Secaucus is the last stop before Penn Station.
Or you could take the PATH from Hoboken to 33rd St Herald Square and transfer to one of the subways there.
I put this to a poster with a similar question (maybe it was you on another post??) but if you are happy in JC, I would stay there and go private once your child is in middle school- you have about 10 years to worry about that, a lot can change- you might have another child, your jobs might switch etc.
The main reason to move to the burbs is space, since that doesn't seem to be an issue for you, what are you gaining? If you go to a place like Ridgewood the tax difference will be more than private school tuition anyway most likely.
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