Moving to near NYC (Wayne, Fair Lawn: apartments, low crime, townhouse)

[Titan127]

Okay, its been asked a million times I'm sure.. but here's my specifics:

I want a single famly house with a small lot (just some grass, even a little back yard with some space between my neighbors.)
I want to be in an area with Top schools, (not being racist) but a mostly white school and low crime.
I would pay 450,000-700,000 even if it was a small cozy older house, which i assume it will only be, since it would be in a pricy neighborhood with all my requests. At this point our initial move, we'd just pick an apartment or townhouse at 2500-3500 a month in the area.. the little ones arent in school quite yet, so we would have time to get a feel of the area first before picking a house and school.

I would be commuting to NYC (Manhattan area).. I already read that the NJ side the train goes to penn station and the MTA from upper NY and CT goes to grande central station which is a little better. But my main concern is my kids and my commute time, I dont care if the train is packed or that I have to push through people at a busy train station. I would just like to live in the subrurbs on a .25acre lot with a cozy single family house, maybe a townhouse with a train ride plus driving my car back home from the outer station in nj around 45mins-1hr

So using city-data i found a few in NJ.. your thoughts.. which one fits my requirements best.... Please feel free to add more NJ areas, lower NY on NJ side (How about these areas on the NJ side- up the hudson river into NY bear mountain area.)
-and even white plains/ CT areas. Though the train rides look a lot longer...

Pompton Lakes,
Wyckoff,
Wayne,
Warren,
Watchung,
New Providence

Last thing, is the commute in the train and car of 45mins-1hr such a bear for a family man? Should I not consider NYC.. I love the city atomsphere, but love the country side living so I know I definitely will have to deal with the commute as long as i want to work in NYC.

Thanks for your time in advance! Let the comments/opinions roll!

[distec]

Central NJ has a many upper scale towns. Westfield and Cranford are middle-upper class towns with great school systems and are right off the raritan valley train line. The Summit/Short Hills/Milburn/Chatham also has the same demographic and they have a direct train to manhattan. Warren/watchung areas are good as well, although they are a little farther from the city (1 hour train commute).

[luckyshoes]

Yes, commuting generally stinks, but people do it.

I don't know much about the other towns, but Wyckoff is a very nice town.

GL

[findinghope]

try Totowa...
drive over to wayne for the bus. you will be on 42nd street in an hour.

[d0otd0ot]

I have been researching a lot lately for places to live as well. From what you're saying, you can probably check out Summit or Chatham area. You asked for a little house with little yard and little space but .25 acres is somewhat big near NYC.

[elflord1973]

Have you considered Glen Ridge ? Top schools, and the commute is easier than the places you mention. On that budget, you should have some options. Summit also has top schools.

Some of the towns you picked will give you more house for your money, but given your requirements, I'd say GR or summit would be a better fit.

Originally Posted by Titan127

Okay, its been asked a million times I'm sure.. but here's my specifics:

I want a single famly house with a small lot (just some grass, even a little back yard with some space between my neighbors.)
I want to be in an area with Top schools, (not being racist) but a mostly white school and low crime.
I would pay 450,000-700,000 even if it was a small cozy older house, which i assume it will only be, since it would be in a pricy neighborhood with all my requests. At this point our initial move, we'd just pick an apartment or townhouse at 2500-3500 a month in the area.. the little ones arent in school quite yet, so we would have time to get a feel of the area first before picking a house and school.

I would be commuting to NYC (Manhattan area).. I already read that the NJ side the train goes to penn station and the MTA from upper NY and CT goes to grande central station which is a little better. But my main concern is my kids and my commute time, I dont care if the train is packed or that I have to push through people at a busy train station. I would just like to live in the subrurbs on a .25acre lot with a cozy single family house, maybe a townhouse with a train ride plus driving my car back home from the outer station in nj around 45mins-1hr

So using city-data i found a few in NJ.. your thoughts.. which one fits my requirements best.... Please feel free to add more NJ areas, lower NY on NJ side (How about these areas on the NJ side- up the hudson river into NY bear mountain area.)
-and even white plains/ CT areas. Though the train rides look a lot longer...

Pompton Lakes,
Wyckoff,
Wayne,
Warren,
Watchung,
New Providence

Last thing, is the commute in the train and car of 45mins-1hr such a bear for a family man? Should I not consider NYC.. I love the city atomsphere, but love the country side living so I know I definitely will have to deal with the commute as long as i want to work in NYC.

Thanks for your time in advance! Let the comments/opinions roll!

[BergenCountyJohnny]

Originally Posted by elflord1973

Have you considered Glen Ridge ? Top schools, and the commute is easier than the places you mention. On that budget, you should have some options. Summit also has top schools.

Some of the towns you picked will give you more house for your money, but given your requirements, I'd say GR or summit would be a better fit.

I completely agree w/ elflord, and was also going to suggest Glen Ridge. I also want to suggest Fair Lawn, because:
- it has many older, "cozy" (small-ish) homes with small yards, many very nice homes but not as ostentatious as other Bergen County towns
- one of the best school systems in Bergen County, which is saying quite a lot.
- It's near to major highways (17,208, 4, GSP, I-80, even PSP and Tpk aren't too far) but is suburban, calm, and quiet
- it has a rail line, the commute won't be more than 1 hour by train (probably less) to NYC; even by bus it's a quick commute
- has plenty of supermarkets and shops in town or nearby in Paramus.

Also, I'd recommend Paramus, if you fiind one of the smaller homes in Paramus. Other similar towns to Fair Lawn, but a little smaller/more dense, are Maywood, Rochelle Park.

Further north in Bergen county I'd recommend Dumont, Demarest, Bergenfield, Westwood, even Hillsdale.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Titan127

Okay, its been asked a million times I'm sure.. but here's my specifics:

I want a single famly house with a small lot (just some grass, even a little back yard with some space between my neighbors.)
I want to be in an area with Top schools, (not being racist) but a mostly white school and low crime.
I would pay 450,000-700,000 even if it was a small cozy older house, which i assume it will only be, since it would be in a pricy neighborhood with all my requests. At this point our initial move, we'd just pick an apartment or townhouse at 2500-3500 a month in the area.. the little ones arent in school quite yet, so we would have time to get a feel of the area first before picking a house and school.

I would be commuting to NYC (Manhattan area).. I already read that the NJ side the train goes to penn station and the MTA from upper NY and CT goes to grande central station which is a little better. But my main concern is my kids and my commute time, I dont care if the train is packed or that I have to push through people at a busy train station. I would just like to live in the subrurbs on a .25acre lot with a cozy single family house, maybe a townhouse with a train ride plus driving my car back home from the outer station in nj around 45mins-1hr

So using city-data i found a few in NJ.. your thoughts.. which one fits my requirements best.... Please feel free to add more NJ areas, lower NY on NJ side (How about these areas on the NJ side- up the hudson river into NY bear mountain area.)
-and even white plains/ CT areas. Though the train rides look a lot longer...

Pompton Lakes,
Wyckoff,
Wayne,
Warren,
Watchung,
New Providence

Last thing, is the commute in the train and car of 45mins-1hr such a bear for a family man? Should I not consider NYC.. I love the city atomsphere, but love the country side living so I know I definitely will have to deal with the commute as long as i want to work in NYC.

Thanks for your time in advance! Let the comments/opinions roll!

Pompton Lakes, Wayne, and Wyckoff are all nice towns, suburbs with lots of trees. I'm just not familiar with the other three. However, of those only Wayne has a train station. Wyckoff and Pompton Lakes have bus service to the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 42nd Street, and you can walk or take the shuttle across town to Grand Central. One more thing--you are underestimating your travel time. The likely commute is not 45 minutes to an hour, but more like an hour and 20 minutes or an hour and a half. That said, lots of "family men" and women do the commute every day. It's reading time for many--some do work on the trains. Some nap.

[captne76]

Out of the towns you mentioned originally I would look at New Providence. I believe there's a train station right in New Prov and it gets you away from that whole congested Bergen county area up North.

[Titan127]

Everyone Thanks!

So I'm starting to see Chatham, New Prov, and Summit as my target area. I see nice apartments in Florham Park to the northwest of these areas.. Ok for now, this area still ok? So commute is 1hr -1.5hr from theses areas.. Is that by bus in or train in, or both about the same?

How is westfield and cranford area for schools, density, and commute?

Thanks so much!