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My husband and I are looking to buy in a cute NJ town - we'd like to find a nice house, at least 3-4 bedrooms, for under $800,000. Must be within 1 hour's commute of Manhattan for my husband's job. We have young children, but we do not care about public schools - we will be homeschooling. Would love to find a place with nice housing stock and a nice walkable town center that we can afford. Suggestions for places to look where the taxes might be lower, with a poor school system, that are still safe and proximate to a cute town center or nice neighborhoods? We would really like the house to be walking distance to some amenities (library? playgrounds? the train station?) - which seems to really limit our options. Any help is appreciated!
Honestly, you have a pretty nice budget. But it's hard to define "lower taxes" that close to Manhattan. Just to throw a few names of towns with nice parks/walkable centers: Summit, Millburn, Maplewood, Madison, Morristown, Upper Montclair, New Providence, Basking Ridge, South Orange/Maplewood... Some of these places have higher taxes than others. Some of these school systems are great -- some I've never really paid attention to. All of these have access to NJ Transit which goes straight to New York Penn Station and are located generally within an hour or so from Manhattan.
Honestly, you have a pretty nice budget. But it's hard to define "lower taxes" that close to Manhattan. Just to throw a few names of towns with nice parks/walkable centers: Summit, Millburn, Maplewood, Madison, Morristown, Upper Montclair, New Providence, Basking Ridge, South Orange/Maplewood... Some of these places have higher taxes than others. Some of these school systems are great -- some I've never really paid attention to. All of these have access to NJ Transit which goes straight to New York Penn Station and are located generally within an hour or so from Manhattan.
I hope this helps!
I also meant to mention Cranford, Garwood, and Westfield. Also Kenilworth, but there's no train station there. Some areas of Union are really nice but the train doesn't go directly into NY.
Lower- Atlantic Higlands and Red Bank via ferry ($700 per month but heaven in you can afford it)- great downtowns,restaurants, shopping, other amenities, and parks in that area
in NJ poor schools =/= low taxes most of the time- in fact lots of times it's the opposite
If you're looking for low taxes i suggest morris county (e.g. Hanover Twp/Whippany/Cedar Knolls and even Rumson - but you won't get much for 800K- still a nice house- but nothing crazy like many other parts of NJ)
It's more than an hour to Manhattan, but bordentown has a gorgeous town center and mediocre schools. I imagine your dollar would go a long way if you can snag a nice Victorian.
I also meant to mention Cranford, Garwood, and Westfield. Also Kenilworth, but there's no train station there. Some areas of Union are really nice but the train doesn't go directly into NY.
Lower- Atlantic Higlands and Red Bank via ferry ($700 per month but heaven in you can afford it)- great downtowns,restaurants, shopping, other amenities, and parks in that area
in NJ poor schools =/= low taxes most of the time- in fact lots of times it's the opposite
If you're looking for low taxes i suggest morris county (e.g. Hanover Twp/Whippany/Cedar Knolls and even Rumson - but you won't get much for 800K- still a nice house- but nothing crazy like many other parts of NJ)
Red Bank is a wonderful place -- I wasn't aware that they had a ferry that goes into the city! Otherwise, I would agree with places like Hanover Twp as decent on taxes, I'm just not sure about public transit.
Thanks for the input so far. We've driven through some of these towns, not all.
Summit would be our absolute ideal place to live, but it seems out of our budget - I've been browsing there a while and never seen anything within decent walking distance of the town center (20-25 min walk max) that looks nice and is under $800,000. Am I wrong about that?
Westfield also really appeals to us, and I have seen houses there that we could afford. But switching trains in Newark seems like a pain. I noticed one poster said a 1-hour commute from there is definitely not possible?
Job is in Midtown-east. So places like Madison are intriguing, but are pushing it just a bit on commute time.
If I tightened it to a 40 minute commute to NY Penn Station...any thoughts? The walkability factor is REALLY important. So we're looking for the rare place that has beautiful houses and neighborhoods right in close to town. We prefer a really idyllic looking town to something a bit bigger and more happening - for instance, South Orange looked ok, but didn't blow us away.
Thanks for the input so far. We've driven through some of these towns, not all.
Summit would be our absolute ideal place to live, but it seems out of our budget - I've been browsing there a while and never seen anything within decent walking distance of the town center (20-25 min walk max) that looks nice and is under $800,000. Am I wrong about that?
Westfield also really appeals to us, and I have seen houses there that we could afford. But switching trains in Newark seems like a pain. I noticed one poster said a 1-hour commute from there is definitely not possible?
Job is in Midtown-east. So places like Madison are intriguing, but are pushing it just a bit on commute time.
If I tightened it to a 40 minute commute to NY Penn Station...any thoughts? The walkability factor is REALLY important. So we're looking for the rare place that has beautiful houses and neighborhoods right in close to town. We prefer a really idyllic looking town to something a bit bigger and more happening - for instance, South Orange looked ok, but didn't blow us away.
I would co-sign montclair, however you would be looking at longer than 40 mins.
Thanks for the input so far. We've driven through some of these towns, not all.
Summit would be our absolute ideal place to live, but it seems out of our budget - I've been browsing there a while and never seen anything within decent walking distance of the town center (20-25 min walk max) that looks nice and is under $800,000. Am I wrong about that?
Westfield also really appeals to us, and I have seen houses there that we could afford. But switching trains in Newark seems like a pain. I noticed one poster said a 1-hour commute from there is definitely not possible?
Job is in Midtown-east. So places like Madison are intriguing, but are pushing it just a bit on commute time.
If I tightened it to a 40 minute commute to NY Penn Station...any thoughts? The walkability factor is REALLY important. So we're looking for the rare place that has beautiful houses and neighborhoods right in close to town. We prefer a really idyllic looking town to something a bit bigger and more happening - for instance, South Orange looked ok, but didn't blow us away.
You will not find a town with low taxes by any standard within a 40 minute commute of Manhattan. Montclair, Maplewood and South Orange seem to best fit your criteria.
Englewood is another town that has ****ty schools but nice houses, though it doesn't have a train line. The commute by bus or car is not bad. With no traffic you can drive into midtown in 20-25 minutes.
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