25 male moving to North Jesery (Jersey City, Edison: cheap apartments, rentals, neighborhoods)

[MDP28]

I'm a 25 y/o male moving to the North Jersey area for work and am looking for an area where other twenty somethings live. I've heard Hoboken, Jersey City, Morristown, New Brunswick, and Red Bank are all good areas but need some more input. Looking to find out what the general vibes are of each place and what each town has to offer has far as nightlife, culture, arts, etc. If I have easy access to NYC I'm going to take advantage of it but I can just as easily be a neighborhood bar / coffe shop kind of guy.

Here are some other logistical things about my move.
- I will have a company car, a large SUV to be specific
- That car is also my office and will be used to drive all over the tri-state area
- Travel to NYC by car will happen from time to time as well as other major surrounding cities

Also I'm hoping to only have to spend about $1000 on rent/utilities/etc a month. Living with roommates is fine.

Thanks

[MJJersey]

That's going to be a little tough. I think you definitely need to room on that budget. Your SUV and budget rule out Hoboken, the safer areas of JC, and Morristown. You might be able to find something in New Brunswick, but parking is going to be hell. I am not too familiar with Red Bank but I don't think your budget will go a long way there either. You could try one of the surrounding towns in those areas like Edison, Woodbridge or Bayonne. As a general rule, the closer you get to Manhattan the more you will pay in rent, and it will be more difficult to deal with your SUV. Also, you need to budget for tolls if you are going to be doing a lot of driving (if your company does not reimburse). I recommend getting an ezpass if you do not have one.

[slope95]

$1000 on rent/utilities/etc on a month is very hard for the ny metro area. you could try kearny, i looked on nj.com and found some apartments for rent at $750/month. kearny is near newark/new york, and right on i-280. you could look at rahway, nj. right on route 1 and near the parkway and turnpike. there is a train station in rahway, i found rentals at $850/mo. also check out hackensack, nj. it is near the parkway and palisades and has a few train stations. one other idea is union, nj, which is on the parkway, route 78 and route 22. i found rentals starting at $650/mo.


other nj ideas: fair lawn, nj, has two train stations, on routes 4 and 208, and 15 min. drive to george washington bridge. i found rentals for 825/month.

you cannot get anything that cheap in morristown or hoboken, jersey city might have something, but it may not be in the safest of areas. forget red bank.

have you looked within nyc itself? there are some cheap apartments in staten island, but tolls on and off the island are very high (the vnb is 15 dollars!)

[lammius]

Originally Posted by MDP28

I'm a 25 y/o male moving to the North Jersey area for work and am looking for an area where other twenty somethings live. I've heard Hoboken, Jersey City, Morristown, New Brunswick, and Red Bank are all good areas but need some more input. Looking to find out what the general vibes are of each place and what each town has to offer has far as nightlife, culture, arts, etc. If I have easy access to NYC I'm going to take advantage of it but I can just as easily be a neighborhood bar / coffe shop kind of guy.

Here are some other logistical things about my move.
- I will have a company car, a large SUV to be specific
- That car is also my office and will be used to drive all over the tri-state area
- Travel to NYC by car will happen from time to time as well as other major surrounding cities

Also I'm hoping to only have to spend about $1000 on rent/utilities/etc a month. Living with roommates is fine.

Thanks

If you're looking at Jersey City and Hoboken, the biggest problem is going to be the big SUV. Street parking is a pain, and you'll likely want to rent a parking space ($100-200/mo depending on where and whether it's a lot or garage). So consider that in your budget.

For $1000/month a 1-bedroom for yourself is nearly impossible unless you're ok with really shabby neighborhoods. Going in with a roommate, you can get a nice 2-bedroom in Journal Square, which is an "up and coming" (read between the lines) neighborhood in Jersey City. I think it's possible to find a 2-bedroom near Grove Street PATH (nicer area of JC) for $2000, but they're few and far between, and will likely be very old--walk-up, no laundry, no AC, etc. And more likely than not, an advertised "2-bedroom" for $2000 in the Grove St. area will really be a 1 bedroom plus den/office/big closet. Also, misleading/"bait-and-switch" ads and outright scams are very common on craigslist, lovely, etc. so be careful.

I think for your budget you'd have the best luck in New Brunswick and Red Bank. Morristown, as I recall, is pretty expensive.

You might want to add Montclair to your list. Generally a very suburban town, but the downtown area, Montclair Center, has a lot of restaurants, bars, and young people. Long time since I've checked, but I think you'll find decent 2-bedrooms in your price range.