Union City (Newark, Jersey City, West New York: fit in, crime rates, buying a house)

[badumba]

Hi there,

I just spent 2 hours on this forum, and was able to get a lot of answer to my questions. Thanks you all.
We (My fiance and I) are considering buying a house in Union City. Precisely, on 19th street, not far from Kerrigan Av.
The house is great, we would need to make some renovation but it's exactly what we have been looking for since last summer (We have visited over a 100 houses in Jersey City, Union City, Weehawken and North Bergen)
The street itself seems quiet and residential. Granted, we have only been there on sat mornings for visits. I plan on commuting there (I work in Midtown) to see how it goes, and we will be driving around the area.

We do understand that Union City is not Hoboken, where we live now, but I also get the feeling from this forum that some people hate union city, and some other like it.

I have read some of you write about different areas of UC, and am curious about the area of the house I mentioned. What do you thing of that portion of UC? Any major inconvenience?

Thanks in advance, and again, great group of people here, with lots of great info!

[*Capo*]

You are looking at an easy and fairly quick commute into midtown. You can walk down to Kennedy Blvd. and take a variety of buses to Port Authority for $2.50 or $2.55 each way.

[JG183]

I know that Union City & West New York are taking great pains to gentrify the area, and it certainly will be an easy commute, but unless you're comfortable with both ethnic & financial diversity, you won't be comfortable...

[badumba]

Thank you both for that input. Much appreciated.

I do understand the point JG183 is making when talking ethnical and financial diversity. How would you say this translates in regard to crime rate, coming home late via the bus, etc. and more generally the feel of the area?

I am allergic to stereotype and idiotic generalizations, but the fact and the matter is, we would not fit in the description of the local population and I would hate to have issues for that reason.

Thanks again,
Jay

[JG183]

Originally Posted by badumba

when talking ethnical and financial diversity. How would you say this translates in regard to crime rate, coming home late via the bus, etc. and more generally the feel of the area?

if I posted a reply to that, I would get ripped to shreds in here.

I don't have the exact link, but to get close to the answers you seek, I'd google the last Census, and "crime rates by town"...

[Raven1976]

I'd take Union City over Hoboken any day. WOuldn't want to live around a bunch of stuffy yuppies.

[openheads]

"ethnical"?

[NJ Chutzpah]

why not a little north of North Bergen, like cliffside park, fort lee, ridgefield, much safer areas?

and the commute is just right over the GWB and the A train, very close

[gradstudent77]

^The house will be a bit more expensive in those areas. The commute will also be a bit longer.

I just did a brief search on one of those realty sites with crime statistics and found that union city's numbers are not that much higher than hoboken's.

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by JG183

if I posted a reply to that, I would get ripped to shreds in here.

I don't have the exact link, but to get close to the answers you seek, I'd google the last Census, and "crime rates by town"...

Why would your response get ripped to shreds? The suburbs are full of millions of people who presumably feel the way you do about living in a more urban, diverse place.

Again, the crime index numbers I saw were not that much worse than Hoboken. For context, Newark was shockingly higher than hoboken (the reason I keep referring to hoboken is it is where the op currently lives.).