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I'm hoping to get some help here. My husband and I are looking for a good neighborhood to buy a house. Ideally, with an easy NYC commute as we both work in the city. We are also expecting our first child, so I would like a safe quiet neighborhood to live in.
We currently live in North Bergen, but I just feel the neighborhood is too congested. I would like a quieter place with more property space.
We have been looking in areas such as Clifton, Bloomfield, and Teaneck.
Does anyone have any suggestions on where else to look? I would love a good school system, and just a safe friendly neighborhood, where we can walk around at night and feel safe.
Teaneck is drastically different from Bloomfield/Clifton. Teaneck can be very ritzy and expensive for the most part- There's really slim pickings in Teaneck if you want something below 400K, it also has a strong Hasidic Jew community. The puclic schools aren't all that good.
Bloomfield overall is nice, but the burden of having EO as a neighbor has been somewhat of an issue, nothing too serious. The majority of the city is nice, especially the western end of the city. The public schools aren't all that good or bad, but better than Teaneck and Clifton.
Clifton is the biggest of the 3. It's not great, but it has some really nice areas. The Paterson/Passaic areas tend to be shabby, but nothing extreme. Clifton's public school system is the worst of the 3- I know the HS there has over 3,000 students.
Well, I am in the same boat as you and I am considering Hasbrouck Heights, Rutherford, Secaucus, and Fort Lee. All with above average (Secaucus) to great school systems (Rutherford, HH, Fort Lee). Commute in each of the areas is at or below an hour.
For under 400k, you might be able to find a 2 bedroom townhome and/or duplex in some of the above areas.
Used to live in a great little town, Waldwick, NJ. Most homes at/under 400k, great city center, commute to NYC by car, train or bus. Surrounded by more upscale towns of Saddle River, HoHoKus, Ridgewood, Wyckoff. Checkout www.njhouse.com
Have you taken a look at Metuchen? It is still possible to find homes for under $400k, the town itself is nice, commutible to NYC (approx 1 hour - and most homes are "walkable" to the RR station), w/ a really good school system (and the town itself is very family friendly).
Nutley. We expect to move either there or Rutherford. Nutley is a bit quieter and greener and definitely more affordable. It has a downtown and a fair number of restaurants. You'll find plenty of houses with yards in the 300s and 400s (often with a pool). It has buses to NYC and is close to the Delawanna train station, Lyndhurst too depending on where you are.
Rutherford has trains and buses but it's very hard to find anything affordable close to the train. Most of the affordable homes in Rutherford need a LOT of work and have small yards. I did just see one affordable home with a yard that's pretty well renovated - DM me if you want details. But there's a lot of good stuff about the town. If we could find a nice place within a 15-min walk of the train, we'd go there. Otherwise we'll probably end up in Nutley.
Thanks for the quick response.
My husband would like to purchase a house under 400k, since it would be our first house.
I am open to other neighborhoods as well, just want an easy commute to nyc.
I keep looking at other neighborhoods, but it seems impossible to find a decent house under 1 million dollars.
Thanks again
a lot of essex county towns will have houses in your price range, but taxes may break your budget. west orange, south orange, livingston, verona, etc. and they won't be fantastic houses, just good houses.
how about fairlawn? i hear that's a decent commute to the city, it's near paramus, don't know about school system
Used to live in a great little town, Waldwick, NJ. Most homes at/under 400k, great city center, commute to NYC by car, train or bus. Surrounded by more upscale towns of Saddle River, HoHoKus, Ridgewood, Wyckoff. Checkout www.njhouse.com
Wonderful area. Even though I am now in NC, I grew up in Franklin Lakes and have such fond memories. These towns are just a hop, skip and a jump from Franklin Lakes.
Ramapo, class of 76.
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