Commute times to Englewood Cliffs from... (Montclair, Ridgewood: houses, living in, prices)

[jnktrdr]

I am moving to North Jersey area in the next few months and am considering towns to live in. My job is located in Englewood Cliffs and I am trying to figure out nice family towns to live in with no more than about 35-40 min. commute. I have done some basic searches on Mapquest, but my question is the times they list valid for New Jersey traffic (heard 80 is a disaster). I get to work early (be there by 7am) so I was curious about how bad traffic is in the 6am hour.

Things I have heard and read:
Ridgewood- nice town, insane prices for RE
Montclair- 35 min away according to mapquest, seems decent
Short Hills/Florham Park- is that too far of a commute?

Looking to spend about 700k-950k on house.

[Onizuka]

Originally Posted by jnktrdr

I am moving to North Jersey area in the next few months and am considering towns to live in. My job is located in Englewood Cliffs and I am trying to figure out nice family towns to live in with no more than about 35-40 min. commute. I have done some basic searches on Mapquest, but my question is the times they list valid for New Jersey traffic (heard 80 is a disaster). I get to work early (be there by 7am) so I was curious about how bad traffic is in the 6am hour.

Things I have heard and read:
Ridgewood- nice town, insane prices for RE
Montclair- 35 min away according to mapquest, seems decent
Short Hills/Florham Park- is that too far of a commute?

Looking to spend about 700k-950k on house.

Ridgewood and Montclair, I can't say for sure, but Short Hills/Florham Park or any town around there is just too far for a 35-40 min. commute. When there is no traffic, you can reach Englewood Cliffs in that kind of time, but during rush hour, no way. With rush hour traffic, I'll bet it can approach 1.5 hours on bad days.

For your price range, have you considered just living in Englewood Cliffs? Or a nearby town like Tenafly? They're both very nice towns. Both definitely nicer than Montclair, in my opinion, and at least equivalent to Short Hills/Florham Park.

I guess, though, that the Englewood Cliffs houses are pretty darn expensive, maybe even outside of your price range. There seem to be quite a few teardowns with McMansions going up in Englewood Cliffs lately, though maybe that is just a trend all over Northern NJ.