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I've taken a job at American Express, which is headquartered in the financial district. I have a family of five with children ages 6,4,2, and my wife is a stay-at-home mom.
As the position pays around 100k I'm wondering what most fathers in my situation would be, where can I live that has decent public schools (can't afford private), somewhat reasonable housing (guessing a 3 bed-2 bath for less than 2k a month) and a palatable commute.
I've done some cursory research on surrounding cities near NYC (Jersey City, Elizabeth, Union City) and father away (East Hanover, Livingston, etc.) I'm not sure what would be best blend of the above criteria. I would greatly appreciate your help in refining my search as the options seem overwhelming.
Are you looking to rent or purchase? $2k/month would be about a $300,000 mortgage with not much left over for insurance and property taxes. Maybe out towards Parsippany?
I'd look at towns such as Rutherford, Clifton, Wayne. I think you'll want train access to Hoboken ( NJ TRANSIT Rail Lines Map ), and you can grab PATH downtown from there.
I've taken a job at American Express, which is headquartered in the financial district. I have a family of five with children ages 6,4,2, and my wife is a stay-at-home mom.
As the position pays around 100k I'm wondering what most fathers in my situation would be, where can I live that has decent public schools (can't afford private), somewhat reasonable housing (guessing a 3 bed-2 bath for less than 2k a month) and a palatable commute.
I've done some cursory research on surrounding cities near NYC (Jersey City, Elizabeth, Union City) and father away (East Hanover, Livingston, etc.) I'm not sure what would be best blend of the above criteria. I would greatly appreciate your help in refining my search as the options seem overwhelming.
Your budget is too low to be anywhere near easy mass transit to NYC for desiring 3BR. Plus many towns with what most people consider to be easy mass transit (Path/Light Rail) have crappy public school district.
With your budget and need for family friendly town plus quality of public school district. You'd need to look further out. Your commute will be more than a hour each way (door to door) for sure. Best bet is to look pretty far out in areas like Parsippany, Denville. 2k for 3BR in good school district with mass transit to NYC is pretty tall order unless you go much further out.
Yes, there are rentals within your price at towns like Union City but it is not family friend and public school sucks. Rule of thumb is if its close to city and has good transit, why is it cheap? Because town sucks, school district sucks or both. Otherwise everybody would live there.
I've taken a job at American Express, which is headquartered in the financial district. I have a family of five with children ages 6,4,2, and my wife is a stay-at-home mom.
As the position pays around 100k I'm wondering what most fathers in my situation would be, where can I live that has decent public schools (can't afford private), somewhat reasonable housing (guessing a 3 bed-2 bath for less than 2k a month) and a palatable commute.
I've done some cursory research on surrounding cities near NYC (Jersey City, Elizabeth, Union City) and father away (East Hanover, Livingston, etc.) I'm not sure what would be best blend of the above criteria. I would greatly appreciate your help in refining my search as the options seem overwhelming.
Sorry to tell you, but you're in for a rude awakening. $100k a year, commuting to Manhattan, and have to care to three children, your wife and yourself....good lord. You're going to struggle and you're not going to be happy with where you will end up living in order to find something that you can afford. Good luck.
I've taken a job at American Express, which is headquartered in the financial district. I have a family of five with children ages 6,4,2, and my wife is a stay-at-home mom.
As the position pays around 100k I'm wondering what most fathers in my situation would be, where can I live that has decent public schools (can't afford private), somewhat reasonable housing (guessing a 3 bed-2 bath for less than 2k a month) and a palatable commute.
I've done some cursory research on surrounding cities near NYC (Jersey City, Elizabeth, Union City) and father away (East Hanover, Livingston, etc.) I'm not sure what would be best blend of the above criteria. I would greatly appreciate your help in refining my search as the options seem overwhelming.
Family of five here similar situation with you. We moved to NJ about 10 years ago because Brooklyn priced us out. We are looking for a decent home with good yard space for the kids and our dogs and we settled in Union, NJ. The commute to the city is about 45min to 1 hr typically by NJTransit.
With your budget, take a look at Linden, Union, Rahway area. You can rent or buy around these more affordable areas. Once you pass these towns it can get pricey.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MiamiLIFE
Sorry to tell you, but you're in for a rude awakening. $100k a year, commuting to Manhattan, and have to care to three children, your wife and yourself....good lord. You're going to struggle and you're not going to be happy with where you will end up living in order to find something that you can afford. Good luck.
I disagree, $100k is more than doable than some families making only $50-70k, I've done it when I was making less than $100k and today I make a lot more than that. They key thing is to select the right area not get too chosey about must be around the best area. There are lots of quiet areas that have cheaper rents and lower taxes because they're not well known.
If the OP wants to contact me directly I'd be happy to share some real info about finding the right area.
I agree that a $100k income for a family of 5 in the NYC/northern NJ metro area is going to make things dicey.
Yes, you can find places to live that will be w/in your budget, but you probably wouldn't want to send your kids to the schools in those towns. And, the closer to NYC that you get, the higher the housing costs. If you can't afford private schools, then you have to rule out Elizabeth & Jersey City, even if you were able to afford the rents there.
Livingston has a great school system, but housing will be far beyond your means.
I think that the suggestions for Rutherford and Parsippany are good ones, but even there, finances are going to be tight, IMHO. Overall, the OP should be aware that commuting expenses and the cost of car insurance are both likely to be far higher than what he is used to.
Sorry to have to provide some discouraging information!
I think people should give the OP information about $100K in NJ, but don't be overly pessimistic about it. The fact is, plenty of people live in NJ on similar salaries or less. It is 100% doable. Be honest with people, but stop flat out discouraging people. Things aren't as expensive as people portray, if you're a smart consumer.
2 vehicles, one with a turbo, my annual auto insurance for full coverage is $1,600.
Yea, that picture is fairly accurate. I live in Union and it's within 30-45min into the city. Decent commute except for all the delays into Manhattan at the tunnels.
$100k is more than what a lot of folks in my neighborhood makes. I know my neighbor makes less than that because his profession would never pay more than $70k tops. The key is getting your costs down and there are a lot more options in NJ than in NYC.
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