Place to Live (Accomodating commute to Midtown NYC and downtown Philly) (Edison: to rent, condo)

[miracleseeker]

Hi,

I got a job offer in midtown NYC and am planning to move to NJ with my fiance who currently works in downtown Philly.

I will rely on train service and hope to control the commute time within 1 hour. My fiance has more flexbile working schedule and thus could bear with a bit longer travel. He plans to drive to Trenton and then hop on a train to Philly.

Will Edison/Woodbridge in Middlesex county a good choice for us? Any other recommendations?

Thanks for your advise in advance!

[jdco]

There are many good places to look for in New Jersey, but that all depends on your monthly budget. You can also look for places in Morris County in northern New Jersey, (Parsippany, Morristown, Livingston, Florham Park...etc) many nice places, are you looking to rent an apt or actually buy a house?

[miracleseeker]

We are planning to buy a 2-3 br, 2ba condo/townhouse with budget of 350k to 400k, but as I mentioned earlier, i will be working in nyc while my fiance needs to travel to downtown philly on a daily basis.

Will Edison/piscataway/woodbridge area on the Northeastern Corridor Line be our only choice? My fiance is willing to driving to Trenton and then take the train. But I will fully rely on public transportation.

Thanks,

[royceb]

Originally Posted by miracleseeker

Will Edison/piscataway/woodbridge area on the Northeastern Corridor Line be our only choice? My fiance is willing to driving to Trenton and then take the train. But I will fully rely on public transportation.

Thanks,

The NorthEast Corridor line in the only line that runs to Trenton/Philly. You would need to go to the MetroPark station to get that train.

[Onizuka]

Why not the West Windsor/Princeton area? The train ride from Princeton Junction to NYC would be 50-60 mins.

Whatever you decide, given your situation, I would definitely recommend living somewhere along the NE Corridor line from Princeton up through Edison.

[DaSkorpion]

Metuchen is right on the NE corridor line and its a very nice place to live depending on your budget. The train station is right around the corner and its a very safe area...hope this helps just my $0.02

[LittleMissSunshine]

I would say Woodbridge is a little too north for the Philly commuter. I'd say Princeton, Plainsboro, Hamilton, Robbinsville, Cranbury, Jamesburg, West Windsor are more "smack in the middle".

[downtownjc]

I would recommend Plainsboro or somewhere close to the Princeton Junction station. From there an express train to NYC is about an hour, and you could either drive (15 mins) into Trenton to take SEPTA to Philly or just drive to Philly in about 1.5 hours (considering some traffic).

If you like a town square atmoshpere vs more suburban one, Princeton is nice. But this will making driving to Trenton more difficult (route 206 is a mess), and would add 10 min to the NYC commute.

A final option is to live somewhere nice near Trenton and just take the train together from there. It's only 1hr10min on most express trains from Trenton to NYPenn, and from Trenton you could also go directly to Philly. Some of the towns across from Trenton on the PA side of the river are beautiful and cheaper than much of NJ. I particularly recommend Langhorne, Newtown, and Yardley. Many of these towns also have their own SEPTA stop direct to Phillly.

I wouldn't really go north of the Princeton Junction area though--otherwise the commute to Philly may be extremely difficult (2hr+ each way with the traffic on 1, getting into Trenton, and taking the train).