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Just found this great website while googling. Young families with young child currently live in Jersey city for the proximity to NYC downtown. We plan to move to a better school district in this fall or next spring. Have been looking at properties in Westfield, Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Summit.
We are looking to buy a single family house with a budget of $600K to $750K. Easy commute to the city (downtown, close to WTC) is most preferable.
Westfield seems to be nice but the school district seems not as good? Also I heard it is quite a long walk to transfer from NJ rail to Path at Newark Penn Station. On the other hand Summit/New Providence doesn't offer trains to downtown.
are you serious? a long walk to the path? usually it is on the next track at newark penn, rvl trains are on track 5, and you just walk downstairs, and walk back up on the next stairwell. the westfield schools are very good, and westfield is a good town, it might be a very good option for wtc. summit is also a great town, and like westfield, it has a nice downtown and great schools. and there are trains to hoboken from summit, and once in hoboken, you can just take path to downtown. or, take the train to ny penn and take the e to wtc. new providence is also good, great schools, town west of summit, the downtown though is mainly shopping plazas. however, most trains from new providence and murray hill run to hoboken, which might be good for you.
ridgewood, like summit and new providence, has a train to hoboken, where you take the path across the hudson. note that ridgewood does not have direct service to ny penn though to get there you transfer at secaucus.
For Westfield: It's not a long walk at all, it's in the same station. You get off your train, walk downstairs, and then go up another set of stairs to the PATH. It's ~2 minutes of walking. Then PATH inbound to WTC.
For Summit/New Providence: You take a Hoboken-bound train, then transfer to the PATH there. New Providence has significantly less service, as it splits into 2 lines West of Summit. That said, it's probably still fine for you, and Summit isn't exactly far away if you want to catch the train in Summit instead.
If you do not work a consistent schedule that works with the train schedule (take a look at them), then things become different. Both the Gladstone Branch and the RVL become MUCH less frequent off-peak hours, and if you're not going to be sticking close to peak hours, you may want the increased service of Summit.
This is more of a problem for your commute home. Going in-bound, you can look at the schedule, and wait a few minutes to leave your house to catch the next one, not really an inconvenience. But coming home, you're liable to get stuck waiting in Hoboken/NWK Penn for a while for the next train. All my opinion of course.
Both are good areas, neither is going to be a "wrong" choice in that sense. All depends on what you're looking for, what you find in housing, etc. I don't know prices, so I won't comment on that aspect.
Someone mentioned Ridgewood. Don't know the area, that's also going to be inbound to Hoboken, then PATH.
RVL (Westfield) will be 50min-1hr according to the schedule, Summit/New Providence and Ridgewood are both mostly more on the side of 1hr-1:10min. Not a huge difference.
For Westfield: It's not a long walk at all, it's in the same station. You get off your train, walk downstairs, and then go up another set of stairs to the PATH. It's ~2 minutes of walking. Then PATH inbound to WTC.
For Summit/New Providence: You take a Hoboken-bound train, then transfer to the PATH there. New Providence has significantly less service, as it splits into 2 lines West of Summit. That said, it's probably still fine for you, and Summit isn't exactly far away if you want to catch the train in Summit instead.
If you do not work a consistent schedule that works with the train schedule (take a look at them), then things become different. Both the Gladstone Branch and the RVL become MUCH less frequent off-peak hours, and if you're not going to be sticking close to peak hours, you may want the increased service of Summit.
This is more of a problem for your commute home. Going in-bound, you can look at the schedule, and wait a few minutes to leave your house to catch the next one, not really an inconvenience. But coming home, you're liable to get stuck waiting in Hoboken/NWK Penn for a while for the next train. All my opinion of course.
Both are good areas, neither is going to be a "wrong" choice in that sense. All depends on what you're looking for, what you find in housing, etc. I don't know prices, so I won't comment on that aspect.
Someone mentioned Ridgewood. Don't know the area, that's also going to be inbound to Hoboken, then PATH.
RVL (Westfield) will be 50min-1hr according to the schedule, Summit/New Providence and Ridgewood are both mostly more on the side of 1hr-1:10min. Not a huge difference.
note that the new providence train station is on the summit/new providence border. new providence has another station in the murray hill section.
Just found this great website while googling. Young families with young child currently live in Jersey city for the proximity to NYC downtown. We plan to move to a better school district in this fall or next spring. Have been looking at properties in Westfield, Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Summit.
We are looking to buy a single family house with a budget of $600K to $750K. Easy commute to the city (downtown, close to WTC) is most preferable.
Westfield seems to be nice but the school district seems not as good? Also I heard it is quite a long walk to transfer from NJ rail to Path at Newark Penn Station. On the other hand Summit/New Providence doesn't offer trains to downtown.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!!
Don't know where you're getting this business about WF schools not being strong - they're strong in just about everything. (Academics and athletics.) I'm surprised you haven't been lampooned with such a silly statement. Do a search for a recent thread on rankings. There was a blurb in the Star Ledger describing WF HS as historically being one of the best high schools in the state.
The towns are similar. Westfield has a edge for commuting downtown, and Summit has one for midtown (but who knows where you will work in 5 years). The towns have a slightly different feel, but that is hard to explain in words. You need to visit both
note that the new providence train station is on the summit/new providence border. new providence has another station in the murray hill section.
Yes, although it doesn't matter as far as commute time, as Summit is the splitting point of the line. (Where it splits into the Gladstone Branch and Morristown Branch).
New Providence station vs Murray Hill station has no difference other than 1-2 minutes of running time.
This did remind me of something important for OP though: You NEED to look into what the parking situation is at all of these stations if you are planning on driving instead of being dropped off/walking/biking. I believe all of these stations are permit parking, and may have waitlists. I am also unsure if the Summit parking deck fills up or not.
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