Trying to decide which area is right for us (Metuchen, Fanwood, Montclair, etc.) (Newark: renting)

[LttlMichey]

My husband and I are currently renting in Hoboken. We're both 28 and sort of feel we've outgrown Hoboken. We do love the fact that we just have to step outside and we have restaurants, coffee shops and bars all within walking distance. We'd love to buy a place, though, and can't see settling down in Hoboken.
Currently we've checked out a few open houses in the areas of Metuchen, Fanwood, Scotch Plains, Westfield and Montclair. We love the Westfield downtown, but we're leaning towards Metuchen since it's right on the Northeast Corridor line. I work in Midtown, hubby's downtown. We'd like to keep the commute time to a minimum, if at all possible.
Other things we're looking for include good schools (even if we won't have to worry about that for awhile) and some sort of downtown. I'm also hoping that wherever we move to will have other young professionals in the same boat. I don't want to feel that we have to have kids asap just to meet people...

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you!

[DebsPSU]

We were in the same boat as you are now about a year ago. We moved from NYC to Scotch Plains. Don't have kids yet but will try in the next year or so. We moved here because of the schools. We looked in all the towns you did and ended up buying a townhouse in SP. Let me know if you have any questions about the towns you mentioned.

[plume12]

You have some good choices there. We ended up in Fanwood right next to Scotch Plains and 1.5 miles from Westfield. We were looking into Westfield also, I was sure we would end up in Westfield but we were outbid on 4 houses that were over $500,000 and needed work in all of them. we purchased a house under $500,000 and I'm sure we would've paid over $550,000-$600,000 in Westfield. We accidently ended up in Fanwood and I'm so glad we did. People are very friendly and the schools are great too . And we often go to Westfield for coffee. dinner etc. Good Luck with your search.

[ansky]

The problem with towns like Westfield and Fanwood is that the Raritan Valley train line terminates in Newark. So you need to switch trains in Newark to get into NYC. That would be a nightmare in my opinion so we didn't even consider towns in that area.

[LttlMichey]

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone. The commuting issue in Westfield and Fanwood is something we're a little concerned about. If we could just take a train or bus straight into the city that would obviously be preferable. Though since my husband works downtown taking the PATH from Newark to WTC would work out well for him.

[plume12]

LttlMichey - The commute is not bad at all. There's also plenty of buses in these two towns and in Scotch Plains. You won't have to worry about traffic if you do decide to take the train. Good luck!