Best commuter town for young family, specs included, I read the sticky😀 (Union: real estate)

[Ilsalmi]

Hello we are typical story: Young professionals with children looking for house in NJ.
We currently rent a great 2 bedroom with deck in downtown JC, but that is becoming very expensive anymore. We end up paying 3500+ with parking and utilities, and have no W/D. I work (drive into ) in Kenilworth NJ and husband takes Path and then walks to Union square area.
1 child 1 year old, but want another asap.
We love the vibe in DJC, would like a town that has downtown with shops and restaurants and is walkable, ideally husband would take the train or bus to Hoboken ( and then Path) or train to Penn station. Diversity is important, we are white, Czech and American couple, but enjoy the diversity of JC and want kids to have multicultural experience. Galleries, museums not so much, we like to go to NYC. Outdoors would be desirable, state park nearby, river canal for jogging and biking or large playground/ water park would be great.
1 hour commute max, good/ great elementary public schools are very important, we want to stay. If the taxes are lower, than great catholic elementary school would be ok as well.
Looking for 3 bedroom single family with a yard for under 450K, with move in ready condition, no major renovations.
We considered renting in other sections of JC for few more years, but feel that with each year we are loosing options to buy, the Maplewoods etc are way out of our price range anymore. What is your opinion?

[nykstevenyg]

Gregory section of West Orange. You can easily get a move in ready house for under 450k but the taxes will make up for it. Easily in NYC within an hour either take free jitney to South Orange station or just drive to Harrison and take the path. While West Orange doesn't have a viable downtown that neighborhood is close to South Orange's downtown so its a moot point. You get diversity and a good elementary school.

Otherwise I would recommend Springfield and the Scotch Plains/Fanwood area.

[lovethybaker]

My husband is selling a house in Maplewood for $300,000. Tuscan school. 3 bedrooms.

[Ilsalmi]

Thank you, there are actually surprisingly quite a few affordable homes in Maplewood search in that section, but is that walkable to the train station? Or do you take a bus there?

[lovethybaker]

You take the jitney or you can get the park down by the train station.
If you want more info feel free to pm me. The house is going on the market this week or early next week and it will probably go quickly.

[qrysdonnell]

Your description pretty much fits the profile of people that move to South Orange/Maplewood. The only downside we found when looking (we moved to South Orange from Washington Heights in February) is that the real estate was a tad more competitive than we were expecting. Also houses aren't cheap and taxes are formidable.

South Orange/Maplewood are two neighboring towns that share a school district. The high school is on the border between them and generally act as the same community. Generally, unless you know what to look for (there are gaslights in SO) you're not going to realize you've gone from one town to another.

You can definitely find three bedrooms in your price range. Lot sizes are often not terribly large on houses in that price range as well, but shouldn't be too tiny. Cheaper homes are also likely to be out of date as far as style of the interior.

Good luck in your search. If you have any questions I'd be happy to help!

[jaymoney]

You can also look outside Essex County, Cranford and Westfield can put you in a 3BR for 450. Direct train isn't there though, which drives up the commute time. We liked Maplewood a lot but just couldn't find a house that was walkable into town for our budget.