Moving to Northern New Jersey (Jersey City, Union City: houses, neighborhoods, buy)

[JDino]

Can you all help me with some insight, I've been offered a position in NYC. We currently live outside of DC. We would probably have a budget of up to $650k for a house and here is what's most important: Good Schools (1 and 3 year old), Good Community, no more than 30 min commute into the city, office would be in mid town area, 4 bedrooms, would LOVE to walk to public transorpation. Any ideas where I could find that?

[wileynj]

Originally Posted by JDino

Can you all help me with some insight, I've been offered a position in NYC. We currently live outside of DC. We would probably have a budget of up to $650k for a house and here is what's most important: Good Schools (1 and 3 year old), Good Community, no more than 30 min commute into the city, office would be in mid town area, 4 bedrooms, would LOVE to walk to public transorpation. Any ideas where I could find that?

Hummm...30 mins from NYC doesn't leave many "great" towns. I live in the sticks but maybe someone else can help you. Until then, take a look at www.gsmls.com. Try Bergen County area first. This will give you an idea of areas and home prices. It's a little slow in here usually around this time as people are in their cars and heading home.

[majesty318]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. If you mean the train or bus time 30 minutes, yes, people here can suggest towns. If you mean door-to-door time 30 minutes, that's really only Jersey City or Hoboken - maybe Weehawken or Union City - but they do not have good schools.

[EEEPNJ]

If you want a 30 min commute... I'd say Bergen is your way to go and there are a lot of good towns there. The prices are high though. If schools are also a Oradell, Tenafly, Hillsdale, for starters.

[tahiti]

where in NYC is your job? door to door in 30 minutes is darn near impossible, even living in places that are 2-3 miles away. coming from DC, this shouldn't be impossible to believe ....

tell us where you're working and we can suggest areas to focus in on.

oops - i need to comprehend better. you probably want to move somewhere with transport to Penn or the PABT. Westfield, Chatham, Summit, Madison, Millburn. But unfortunately all are more than 30 minutes, but meets all your other criteria. If you pull out a map and find these places, keep in mind you probably don't want to move any further east if you don't want to compromise schools, community, etc.

[EEEPNJ]

Originally Posted by majesty318

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. If you mean the train or bus time 30 minutes, yes, people here can suggest towns. If you mean door-to-door time 30 minutes, that's really only Jersey City or Hoboken - maybe Weehawken or Union City - but they do not have good schools.

Exactly - if you go there, you are looking at private schools. Will you be uptown or midtown or downtown NYC? That will make a difference too.

[JDino]

I saw some homes in Tenafly and like the looks of them - how long is the commute from there ... door to door - to midtown area?

[JDino]

Also - Should I consider NY neighborhoods?

[EEEPNJ]

I've never done the commute from Tenafly, so I can't say... I can ask a few friends though. They may have. I will let you know.

When you say NY do you mean NY City or NY State?

I'm not that familiar with how long the commute from Westchester County in NY would be, but 30 min is pretty tough. Don't consider LI because although it is geographically close, it will take you forever to get into the City.

If you want to consider neighborhoods in the 5 boros, again, you are not going to get top schools unless you go the private route and you won't get 4 BR's and would definitely be priced out at $650K.

[ira]

Originally Posted by JDino

I saw some homes in Tenafly and like the looks of them - how long is the commute from there ... door to door - to midtown area?

I doubt you can buy a nice 4 bedroom house in Tenafly for $650K. Did you see those houses in person or online? Smart realtors know how to take good pictures :-)

Commute from Tenafly is by bus only and it's hit-or-miss, depending on the bridge traffic. On a good day (we have few of those when it comes to traffic), it could be 30 min, on a bad day it could be over an hour or worse.