Walkable downtown+School districts under 500/550k and 60 mins to Midtown manhattan

[masterchef1]

look at Rutherford, although new construction will be hard to find, I noticed the real estate market is in a upswing, houses near here that are priced right are being sold within a week to two weeks.

[Rollingon]

I second Rutherford but focus on East Rutherford zip 07073 and not 07070 since schools are better, taxes are comparatively lower. Good downtown, great connectivity to the city, good enough schools but not a blue ribbon school district. New construction would be extremely rare but you would come across homes that have been recently updated. Coming from London all these homes would seem good sized if not bigger than what you might be accustomed to. You also have an option of renting an apt to first check out the area before committing to mortgage.

Second option would be town home or rebuilt single family homes in Nutley 07110. It would check all other boxes except the "property taxes" would be higher ~ $12,000 a year on a town house and slightly higher on single family. If you opt for town house in that area add another $350 a month for HOA. Monthly cost for housing ~ 2800 (EMI+Tax+HOA). BUT it has fantastic parks (Valuable only if you use them on a regular basis) - Schools nothing great and certainly not bad, just meh!

[gow1980]

thanks Rollingon and masterchef1. Nutley seems to be quite nice in pictures and has a lot of inventory.commute wise you were probably suggesting taking a bus to Newark+path to 33rd+and any subway train as necessary?

[jaymoney]

Bus-wise from Nutley I'd take the DeCamp straight to Port Authority and skip Newark. I think it even runs express from the parking lot next to Route 3.

[lammius]

Nutley is a good suggestion. Most of the houses are older, but there are some newish townhouses within budget in a neighborhood called Cambridge Heights. There is a bus park-and-ride lot at nearby Clifton Commons, or you could drive a few minutes to Delawanna train station. Nutley has a very small, but walkable downtown. However, Cambridge Heights isn't very close to downtown Nutley. You could walk to Clifton Commons, but it's a very suburban-style shopping center.

[masterchef1]

the people I know in Rutherford, take the nj transit train to Hoboken, then the path to wtc,

iam sure many Nutley people do the same, just to let you know, the path trains in the morning are packed
with people, maybe not as bad as the Tokyo system where they push people in but not too far off.

[Rollingon]

From Nutley you have 3 options into the city.

1. Train from Delawanna to Penn via Hoboken
2. 199 outside Cambridge Heights or from kingsland st to Port Authority.
3. Many more bus options from Route 3.

Also route 21 is right around the corner.

So very well connected.

I live in Nutley but would rather live in Rutherford. Unless of course you love the parks and willing to pay the higher taxes