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My wife and two (teenage) children may be moving to New Jersey from Texas in the next month or so (I'm still undecided). I would be working in Newark, NJ, but will be looking to commute (one hour, give or take 20 minutes). I'm hoping to find a 3-4 Br home (would consider townhouse, apartment or condo- IF NECESSARY) to rent in the $2000 to $3000 (MAX) range. I will be making approximately $80k per year. My wife is a Nurse, so I'm assuming she will find work rather easily and make between $40-$50k (info about any good places for her to work would be a great help too). I would like an area with a good school district, low crime, and good accessability to public transportation, nice restaurants, markets, shopping etc. I have looked at a few places such as the Brunswicks, Cherry Hill (appears to be too far), Plainsboro, W. Windsor, Cranbury, Princeton, Edison etc. Are there any BEST suggestions? Priority rankings are: 1) School district; 2) safety; 3) commute; 4) affordability ($3000 per month-MAX). I know the East coast is far more expensive than Texas, but will my family be stretched and unable to live comfortably with the requirements and salaries we will make?
I know...I'm asking for a lot!
I appreciate your thoughts/opinions and look forward to hearing from you!
PS- please forgive the long-winded post, but I'm trying to give responders as much info as possible to get the most helpful responses!
My wife and two (teenage) children may be moving to New Jersey from Texas in the next month or so (I'm still undecided). I would be working in Newark, NJ, but will be looking to commute (one hour, give or take 20 minutes). I'm hoping to find a 3-4 Br home (would consider townhouse, apartment or condo- IF NECESSARY) to rent in the $2000 to $3000 (MAX) range. I will be making approximately $80k per year. My wife is a Nurse, so I'm assuming she will find work rather easily and make between $40-$50k (info about any good places for her to work would be a great help too). I would like an area with a good school district, low crime, and good accessability to public transportation, nice restaurants, markets, shopping etc. I have looked at a few places such as the Brunswicks, Cherry Hill (appears to be too far), Plainsboro, W. Windsor, Cranbury, Princeton, Edison etc. Are there any BEST suggestions? Priority rankings are: 1) School district; 2) safety; 3) commute; 4) affordability ($3000 per month-MAX). I know the East coast is far more expensive than Texas, but will my family be stretched and unable to live comfortably with the requirements and salaries we will make?
I know...I'm asking for a lot!
I appreciate your thoughts/opinions and look forward to hearing from you!
PS- please forgive the long-winded post, but I'm trying to give responders as much info as possible to get the most helpful responses!
You gave good info, good job, thanks for that.
I think your wife will easily make what you are estimating, good possibility she'll make more.
I'd say out of what you listed forget about Cherry Hill, way too far. Windsor, Plainsboro, Princeton are also too far and a very long commute, plus I think they're priced out of your range.
I'd say go with Edison or the Brunswicks, preferably East Brunswick. Also, look at Highland Park. All have good schools but particularly East Brunswick. You will have a nice middle class area, not to uppity but not poor at all, lots of conveniences, close to Newark, close to lots of hospitals for your wife to work, close to NYC, close to Rutgers, close to the shore. Based on what you've given I think East Brunswick is perfect. Also, consider Sayreville, Aberdeen, Hazlet, Keyport in Monmouth County.
All those towns have great schools, but I have heard East Brunswick has the best of that group. All are very, very safe. NJ is extremely safe except in the few inner city areas we have (and even some of those aren't all that bad, really).
My brother commutes from Hazlet to Roseland and it takes less than an hour, by car, so to Newark should easily be less than an hour from any of those places.
Look in Rutherford , Ramsey , Glen Rock , Clifton , Summit , Edison , Rahway , Raritan , Hackensack , River Edge , Emerson , Westwood...... Fits most of your requests , all those towns listed are on Railways that feed into Newark or near Newark. There very nice towns , some of them have improving or reinvesting Downtowns like Rahway , Hackensack and Emerson. Schools are good in all those towns form what ikno. 80k is very doable in this state , for a small Family. The Brunswicks and Cherry Hill are ok , but further south and commuting by Rail is more expensive or in the case of Cherry Hill takes 2hrs.
My wife and two (teenage) children may be moving to New Jersey from Texas in the next month or so (I'm still undecided). I would be working in Newark, NJ, but will be looking to commute (one hour, give or take 20 minutes). I'm hoping to find a 3-4 Br home (would consider townhouse, apartment or condo- IF NECESSARY) to rent in the $2000 to $3000 (MAX) range. I will be making approximately $80k per year. My wife is a Nurse, so I'm assuming she will find work rather easily and make between $40-$50k (info about any good places for her to work would be a great help too). I would like an area with a good school district, low crime, and good accessability to public transportation, nice restaurants, markets, shopping etc. I have looked at a few places such as the Brunswicks, Cherry Hill (appears to be too far), Plainsboro, W. Windsor, Cranbury, Princeton, Edison etc. Are there any BEST suggestions? Priority rankings are: 1) School district; 2) safety; 3) commute; 4) affordability ($3000 per month-MAX). I know the East coast is far more expensive than Texas, but will my family be stretched and unable to live comfortably with the requirements and salaries we will make?
I know...I'm asking for a lot!
I appreciate your thoughts/opinions and look forward to hearing from you!
PS- please forgive the long-winded post, but I'm trying to give responders as much info as possible to get the most helpful responses!
Look at towns right along Rt 78, such as Bedminster, Basking Ridge, Bridgewater, Warren, Martinsville, Green Brook, Long Hill & Berkeley Heights. All are great places to live, with excellent school systems. All are less than 45 minutes to Newark, on Rt, 78. and all along the NJTransit line, so you can take the train into Newark instead of driving. Your $3,000 will let you pay off a 30 year, 5% mortgage for up to about $370k, including $10k per year for taxes and $2k per year for insurance. The big question is the amount of cash you have for a down payment. If we assume that the mortgaged amount of $370k is 80% of th total purchase price (the ideal situation, to avoid PMI) then $90k is the remaining 20%, for a total purchase price of about $460k. In the towns I listed, using the very basic criteria of 3+ bedrooms, 2+ baths, I show 137 properties listed for sale, 49 of them townhomes or condos, the remaining 88 single family homes.
I would recommend East Brunswick for the schools, safety, proximity to hospitals for your wife to work and the ease of getting to and from Newark and other towns. Other possibilities might be Piscataway or Highland Park, as mentioned. Be wary of New Brunswick and North Brunswick, lots of turnover in the education area in the last few years, although North Brunswick has a new Principal so there is potential for great things to happen there. South Brunswick would be a little further south and the commute would most likely be an hour on a good day, more likely longer.
I don't have much to offer in the area of suggestions but I thought I would chime in and mention that I'm in the same boat. I live in Grapevine (just up 121 from you) and am in the process of looking in the Hoboken to Ft. Lee area for my own upcoming move. Good luck on the process!
Why you moving from a no tax state to the highest tax state in the nation? I don't know how is the cost of living is in Arlington, but for a good school town in NJ, it is very expensive.
My recommendation is stay in TX. I'm only starting here because all my family are live in NYC.
Why you moving from a no tax state to the highest tax state in the nation? I don't know how is the cost of living is in Arlington, but for a good school town in NJ, it is very expensive.
My recommendation is stay in TX. I'm only starting here because all my family are live in NYC.
I would say anyt town along 78 would be best. Bedmisnter, Basking Ridge, Warren, Summit, Berkely Hieghts, etc. They all have top notch schools, low crime, mass transit and easy drive to Newark (about 35min without traffic).
My wife and two (teenage) children may be moving to New Jersey from Texas in the next month or so (I'm still undecided). I would be working in Newark, NJ, but will be looking to commute (one hour, give or take 20 minutes). I'm hoping to find a 3-4 Br home (would consider townhouse, apartment or condo- IF NECESSARY) to rent in the $2000 to $3000 (MAX) range. I will be making approximately $80k per year. My wife is a Nurse, so I'm assuming she will find work rather easily and make between $40-$50k (info about any good places for her to work would be a great help too). I would like an area with a good school district, low crime, and good accessability to public transportation, nice restaurants, markets, shopping etc. I have looked at a few places such as the Brunswicks, Cherry Hill (appears to be too far), Plainsboro, W. Windsor, Cranbury, Princeton, Edison etc. Are there any BEST suggestions? Priority rankings are: 1) School district; 2) safety; 3) commute; 4) affordability ($3000 per month-MAX). I know the East coast is far more expensive than Texas, but will my family be stretched and unable to live comfortably with the requirements and salaries we will make?
I know...I'm asking for a lot!
I appreciate your thoughts/opinions and look forward to hearing from you!
PS- please forgive the long-winded post, but I'm trying to give responders as much info as possible to get the most helpful responses!
How about...NORTH ARLINGTON?
(New Jersey did have an "Arlington" once, but it was renamed Kearny in honor of a Mexican War/Civil War hero from that town. Only North Arlington remains).
I don't know about the schools there one way or the other, but the location, public transportation, and budget range probably fits.
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