Kearny NJ, or West Orange, NJ? Thoughts on leaving Brooklyn. (Newark: transplants, real estate market)
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Hey guys, lets get it out there, I'm the walking cliche, getting priced out of Brooklyn. I've been living in Brooklyn for over 10 years, in that time I got married, had kids and inherited a Mother in Law. We are currently in Bed-Stuy. As the boys approach middle school age, and we look at what we've paid in rent in the past 10 years, we figure it's time to get a house.
I've been trawling citydata for comments on areas that I've been looking at and, with a budget of $350K, I've somewhat narrowed it down to Kearny or West Orange.
Pros and cons for each town are pretty well documented (commute to lower Manhattan, bang for buck, schools etc.) on other threads in the forum, I guess I'm just looking for some deeper insight into these places or any others I've overlooked.
I need a somewhat walkable area, as the mother in law does not drive (you can all be thankful for that.) but she is very active for her age. The wife's side is Panamanian and I'm off the boat Scottish, so somewhere with a degree of cultural diversity would be attractive. Any native NJ or recent transplants opinions would be welcomed.
at one time Kearny was a Scottish town, I believe Stewarts meat market and the Scot-American club are still there, the town now is like the united nations nowadays so you will find diversity there for sure.
I do not know west orange well but Kearny is on the side that's closer to north Arlington more residential, and it gets more city like the closer you get to the Harrison side, I believe there is no rail in Kearny but you could drive to path in Harrison, iam not sure how much it is to park by path station but it's probably close to $10 a day, so something to be looked at.
Two very different towns. If price is a big factor for you, you should consider the taxes you'll pay in West Orange. Even a house of ~350 will land you annual taxes of 8-12K. Would that be a problem?
Kearny is very diverse, so that fits your mold. Not sure how much you care about school rankings (of course you care about the schools themselves with kids your age, I just mean the rankings) - neither town has elite schools, but Kearny has some very poorly rated schools so I'd look into those. west orange has good grade schools I think, not sure about the high school.
My wife and I looked in west orange. Very lovely and big town, lots to do. The taxes scared us away though. Don't know much else about Kearny unfortunately.
Hmmm, there's not a ton of comparison between these areas.
Kearny/Harrison (and we'll include tiny tiny East Newark) both sort of blend together. Harrison is probably more walkable. Harrison is pretty urban and Kearny more of a working class suburb. (I go to Red Bulls games all the time, so I've picked up a bit about the area as a result of the time spent around there during the past few years. Also, East Newark has a really good diner, Tops.)
Parts of West Orange (most specifically the Gregory section) sort of sit as a crossroads between what I'd call a 'true suburban experience' and the more city-centric suburbs like Montclair and South Orange/Maplewood. Those areas area great (full disclosure: I moved to South Orange a little over a year ago) but it's also a popular post-NYC/Hobobken/Jersey City destination so the real estate market is competitive and expensive. Taxes are also very high, so they have to be seriously taken into account when budgeting.
All of this can vary depending on the exact property of course. It can take a little while to decode Jersey, and what everyone looking for tends to vary enough that it can take a while to find the right fit.
I lived across the river from Kearny in Belleville and I'd say they both suffer from the same issue of a decided lack of public transit. If you're going into New York every day you're on a private bus line that comes once an hour. If you're cool with that, it's a nice little town.
I would recommend that you get out of the car and see how walkable it is for the MiL however, there's a lot of stuff spaced out along the main drag, but it might not all be walkable. And if there is a certain area that interests her than another you'll want to find a place within her radius.
From my experience, they are two very different towns. I have friends who live in WO, and all of them really enjoy it -- from some older houses, to some newer ones, to some very nice townhouse developments, shopping, accessibility, centrally located, etc. I like it -- it's a nice area -- and when I go to visit friends, spend time there, etc., I enjoy it. Not to say anything about living there, but JMO, LOL.
I grew up in Kearny and as all the previous posters said, Kearny and West Orange are totally different towns. Over the last decade, Kearny has gotten a lot worse and I'd say a huge part of the population is Hispanic/Latino now, not nearly as dominantly Irish/Scottish from twenty or thirty years ago. If MIL doesn't drive, then living on Belgrove Dr that puts her within walking distance to Kearny Ave and the Kmart/Shoprite shopping centers on Passaic is what I'd recommend. The 39/76 bus runs along Kearny Ave and takes you to the PATH station.
But, very blue collar working class and the school system is pretty abysmal. Also public works is lacking. My friends in Kearny were snowed in right along with Newark folks due to lack of plows last winter. I mean cars snowed in for like two weeks bad.
I don't think Brooklyn is that expensive yet, the OP has priced him/her out of selected spots in Bklyn. There are still many spots that are reasonably priced and not as popular or well known.
If you're commuting to Lower Manhattan, I would stay near the Path Train, so Kearny should be an alright area for what your looking for. It has the diversity and walkability you desire.
Not sure on your comfortability with commuting via bus vs train (some people get hung up on the "waiting on the side of the road in the winter" part), but you may want to look into a town with a train station or PATH station. Have you considered Bayonne or Secaucus, or like another poster said, Rutherford/East Rutherford?
Keeping in mind you're from Brooklyn and probably still desire the urban convenience, I would stay in an area of New Jersey with other NY transplants, transit and walkability. Those areas above have that. West Orange is somewhat walkable in certain parts but it's a car dominant town overall.
I don't think you can go wrong with Secaucus, Rutherford or East Rutherford. Kearny, Harrison, East Newark and Bayonne are also good options for the price but the school districts are not rated as high for the pretentious (I'm an "if there's a will then there's a way" type, so the education statistics I take with a huge grain of salt ).
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