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Hi - We, family of 3 (me, spouse and 5 yr old) have been renting an apartment located in Rutherford area for past 5 years, have decided to vacate due to exorbitant rent increases. Plan is to find a town that fits our criteria (mentioned below) and start renting there, so that we can eventually buy our first house when the time is right, intention is to find and settle down in a town, to provide continuity for our 5 yr old.
Would appreciate your suggestions and inputs. Thanks in advance.
Where are you coming from? Rutherford, NJ
Why are you moving? Trying to find a town with good schools and under 60-70 mins commute, once found planning to rent first and eventually buy our first house.
Where will you be working ? If NYC, what part of NYC? Downtown NYC
Will you buy or rent? Rent for 2 years and then buy, sooner if we find the right fit.
What is your budget ? upto 2.5k per month and about 600k when we buy
What kind of place are you looking for ?
Apartment buildings preferably, single family or multi family houses are fine too. but prefer to be close to the transportation center.
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ? Yes, Spouse and 5 yr old, no pets
Do you need/want good public schools? Yes
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in: Family friendly safe town with good schools, with decent diversity (I am Indian, do not want our child to be out of place.). Would want to keep my commute time under 60-70 minutes.
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.
1. Good Schools
2. Short Commute
3. Safety
Why do you want to start out by renting? Are you trying to save more money for a down payment? If not, then you're basically just throwing away money towards rent that could be applied to your mortgage.
If you're cool with that commute time and if that is your budget, I would look towards Middlesex County if you want an Indian population and good schools. Maybe East Brunswick
Fair Lawn (near Radburn station) or River Edge would be good bets given pricing constraints, commute and rent/buy budget. Wildcard is Leonia, but only if you're ok upping your monthly commuting budget by $100-200 and taking the Port Imperial Ferry, in which case you could potentially cut the downtown commute significantly and spend more time with your child.
Not sure about whether the apartment building is exempt from rent control, they have increased the rent consistently 7% year on year. or may be it's just that I wasn't expecting it.
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