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Old 10-14-2006, 10:35 PM
 
8 posts, read 26,950 times
Reputation: 15

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Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming! I went out to Middletown on Friday to look at a place. It turned out to be unsuitable, but I wish now I'd taken the opportunity to go on a little further and looked at Red Bank!

RE my budget...yes, I know it's low, but as other posters have said, Nancy is heavily over-dramatizing! Most areas I've looked at occasionally have places for rent within my budget, if you're prepared to wait. Sometimes people have a different motivation than money for putting a room up for rent, so will keep the price low (having been a landlord in the UK, I have firsthand experience of why us "crazy" people would do this!). Other times, rooms come up in rent-controlled or old buildings which are well below the usual market rate. Incidentally, a room came up recently in Red Bank within my budget, so it can be done! (Unfortunately I was too slow.)

Since I have until June before I *have* to move, time is a luxury I have. Also, I'm perfectly prepared to sacrifice a *nice* place for location. I don't have much stuff so need very little space and have never been at all bothered about decor. A small room in any structurally sound house is fine by me.

Just give me some suggestions and let me worry about whether I can get there for the price I want.

Last edited by random50; 10-14-2006 at 10:47 PM..
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Old 10-14-2006, 11:26 PM
 
1,248 posts, read 4,051,916 times
Reputation: 884
{{{{{No one I know pays more than $1600 a month for an apartment, and none of them live in horrible areas. If willing to share, you can find places where your share of the rent will be well under $1000, utilities included. New Jersey is expensive but it's not as awful as many people make it out to be.

et's not over-dramatize it, please- there's enough people here on the NJ board doing that already.

While I'll agree that the cost of living in NJ is high, it's not as bad as you make it sound. There are plenty of places that you can rent for far less than $2,000 that aren't in "slum cities", and last I checked, I was making far less than $200k/year and my family is doing just fine.

I will say that the OP's request for a rental for $650 in a place that's safe and in walking distance to transit, shopping, etc., may be a stretch, but you're taking things to the other extreme.}}}}

No, she is being realistic. North / Central Jersey which is part of the NYC metro area (or north of Exit 7 on the NJ Turnpike) has become horribly expensive and is now a haven for the wealthy and six & seven figure earners.

What is the point of living in this part of the country if you are priced out of everything. The ones who love living here are all making in the mid six figures or the seven figures.

It is laughable the amount of rent that is being asked for most apartments listed on Craigslist especially in Hudson & Bergen County. Sure, you can pay $1,000 a month if you don't find living in someones basement in the Greenville section of Jersey city or Bayonne but a nicer apartment WILL cost close to if not over $2,000 a month. Of course rents (and the cost of EVERYTHING) rises exponentially the closer you get to Manhattan.

Even though home prices may have slowed (but certainly not dropped) the rental market resembles the housing market of 2003-2005 with the same mania.

In Bergen or Hudson county you are going to pay close to $2,000 a month in rent for a one bedroom apartment or closer to $3,500 a month for a two bedrdoom. Don't forget about heat/hot water/gas & parking --- luxuries that are never included in the rent.
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Old 10-14-2006, 11:28 PM
 
1,248 posts, read 4,051,916 times
Reputation: 884
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nancy Lynne View Post
With all due respect, and the honest of answers, there is absolutely no place you can live in NJ or even rent for those kinds of places. I have very poor cleaning people who have moved from other countries and are very nice people, but even they are paying close to 2000 to live in a slum city and in a slum city. That is why I am moving out.. NJ is absolutely not a state where the middle class call make it, unless you are making at least $200K at a minimum.. It is a very sad state of affairs.

Nancy

pls let me know if I can offer any additional advice,
What is worse are those who think that everything is rosy and that something is wrong with you if you are not making that $200,000 a year salary in some hellish corporate office job with 12 hour workdays and that there are tons & tons of apartments in Bergen & Hudson counties for less than $1,500 a month in rent ( a complete fallacy)
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Old 10-14-2006, 11:31 PM
 
1,248 posts, read 4,051,916 times
Reputation: 884
Quote:
Originally Posted by dullnboring View Post
No one I know pays more than $1600 a month for an apartment, and none of them live in horrible areas. If willing to share, you can find places where your share of the rent will be well under $1000, utilities included. New Jersey is expensive but it's not as awful as many people make it out to be.
Can you actually give concrete suggestions on where to look to find these 'coveted apartments' in non horrible areas. Checking Craigslist one bedroom apartments typically rent for $1,600 and up (hot & hot water never included) and going to a realtor to inquire about rentals is 5 times worse than going to a used car dealer not knowing what you are looking for.
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Old 10-14-2006, 11:53 PM
 
8 posts, read 26,950 times
Reputation: 15
Can't this go on a "NJ is too expensive" rant thread somewhere? I'm sure there are plenty of them!
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Old 10-15-2006, 04:44 AM
 
Location: Jersey Shore
1,574 posts, read 4,746,418 times
Reputation: 1016
Random,
People in NJ are so fed up with the cost of living, I guess some just can't contain it. It is true, that finding a place under $1,000 is tough. What makes is more difficult is the fact that you don't have a car.

You could check out Matawan. There is a train station, and not a real "downtown" feeling, but definitely a main street with lots of shopping, eating choices. It's pretty self contained. There's also Freehold Boro, which has a charming downtown with street fairs, outdoor dining, shopping, etc. and a bus stop if not train. You can get a place there in a condo development called Briarwood for about $1300. The plus there, is that they are 2 bedrooms, allowing you to get a roomie. Downside (for some) is they have a problem with illegals. Still, a nice town-and since you have no kids in school I think you'd enjoy it.

Again, good luck with your search. It certainly is not impossible to make it in NJ-and although the song is written about NY, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!
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Old 10-15-2006, 01:06 PM
 
Location: In exile, plotting my coup
2,408 posts, read 14,373,128 times
Reputation: 1868
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickL28 View Post
Can you actually give concrete suggestions on where to look to find these 'coveted apartments' in non horrible areas. Checking Craigslist one bedroom apartments typically rent for $1,600 and up (hot & hot water never included) and going to a realtor to inquire about rentals is 5 times worse than going to a used car dealer not knowing what you are looking for.
Perhaps you're not using Craigslist correctly as there are plenty of one bedroom apartments offered for under $1600. Just doing a quick search right now and limiting it to the first results, apartments popped up in Morristown, Newark, Union City, West Bergen, Paterson, North Bergen, Palisades Park, Highland Park, Teaneck, Vernon, Hamilton, Fairview, Elizabeth, Newark, Harrison, Nutley, and East Rutherford, among others. I can't offer concrete suggestions on apartment complexes and specific cross-streets where my friends who rent apartments live because I simply don't know or remember, but can say that they live in the following cities: Rahway, Highland Park, North Brunswick, Fort Lee, Clifton, Bayonne, Woodbridge, Deptford, Vineland, Edison, Scotch Plains, Hackensack, Newark, Ocean Township, Freehold and Princeton.

It can be done and quite frankly, I don't understand your repeated insistences that a person can't live in the NYC area if they make under six figures. There have been plenty of people to contradict you when you say such a thing, saying that they themselves survive on incomes that you deem to be poverty-level (under $50,000), and you just simply ignore that and continue to insist that such a thing is impossible, that you can't rent apartments even in the ghetto for under $2,000 and can't survive making less than 100K, which is just ridiculous. I know that this post isn't going to make you think otherwise either. I've even given a detailed description of one of my buddies' monthly expenses to show how he survives on a 30K income and honestly, I would like to see a layout of where exactly your money goes each month to understand why it is that you think such a thing is impossible considering you've disclosed your considerable income on here. If a person has credit card problems or subscribe to the "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality (which I'm assuming given your constant reference to "fitting in with the culture of New York), then those problems will follow you around everywhere, whether it be New Jersey or North Dakota. People should live within their means.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. New Jersey is expensive, but you can make it work if you want to, especially if you are renting and have no dependents to support. Obviously, if you are looking for that perfect home or have a family, things will be more difficult. And I'll say it again; there are cab drivers, waiters, supermarket cashiers, maintenance men, housekeepers, substitute teachers, construction workers, and so forth in New Jersey who DO live there and these people do NOT make great money. It can be done.

Last edited by dullnboring; 10-15-2006 at 01:29 PM..
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Old 10-16-2006, 08:35 AM
 
1,363 posts, read 5,919,369 times
Reputation: 892
Quote:
Originally Posted by NickL28 View Post
Can you actually give concrete suggestions on where to look to find these 'coveted apartments' in non horrible areas. Checking Craigslist one bedroom apartments typically rent for $1,600 and up (hot & hot water never included) and going to a realtor to inquire about rentals is 5 times worse than going to a used car dealer not knowing what you are looking for.
I can. Glenwood Apartments on Rt. 516 in Old Bridge, NJ-Middlesex County. I pay $1250 for a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath apartment-2 walk in closets (one in the living room and one in the master bedroom) a storage room on the balcony and linen closet in the hall. Huge master bedroom and nice living space. Private entrance and hardwood floors. Heat & hot water included. If need be, I could walk to the grocery store and there are a slew of bus stops within walking distance as well. Across the street are Brynwood Apartments which are nice as well and I believe they charge less. On Rt. 18, also in Old Bridge, is the PineGate Apartment complex and they charge a similar rent for comprable apartments. And if you know anything about Old Bridge, this is so not a slummy town.
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Old 10-16-2006, 04:13 PM
 
Location: Missouri
6,044 posts, read 24,051,154 times
Reputation: 5182
Don't use a realtor for renting an apartment; a realtor will only have expensive rental listings. I would think the local papers would be your best bet.
I live in the 'burbs between Trenton and Princeton, nice area, and we pay $855/month (utilities not included) for a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom apartment in a nice complex. If you wanted to rent in Princeton, you would have to pay $1200 - $1500 for a 1 bedroom. Three years ago my cousin and I rented a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom condo for $950/month (utilities not included) in Brick, in a nice complex.
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Old 10-16-2006, 05:30 PM
 
49 posts, read 276,573 times
Reputation: 43
Here's some apt. listings from the Daily Record of Morris County, just to show that not all rents are over $2,000.

Boonton 3BR, gar $1400 + Utils

Boonton-1 rm & pvt bath for one person. $550.

Budd Lake 2BR apt $1200 AVAIL IMMED

Hopatcong -lg 1BR, + lg office, new cond, tile kit, bath, $1175 + low util.

MORRISTOWN- Mint 4rms+ wd, 1 blk RR. $1199

Newton - 1BR with character $895 H incld.

Center Grove Village
100 Center Grove Rd.The apartment homes at Center Grove Village feature an array of modern amenities and many extras for your convenience. more >>
Randolph, NJ
07869 $995 - $1220


Mt. Arlington
48 Henry Ct. $915-$1340

Vail Gardens
Parsippany, NJ
$850 - $1090

Brentwood Gardens
Wharton, NJ
$920 - $1055
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