Moving to NJ from NYC, suggestions welcome! (Newark, Elizabeth: apartment, condo)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My wife and I are planning to move out of the city in the near future, tired of burning money on rent!! We're only at the stage where we are looking into where to move so nothing will be happening for about 1 year while we save up for the down payment. I was hoping to share my thought and what we're looking for, and get some feedback or suggestions.
Who we are: early 30s, no kids, no pets. Have been living in Astoria, queens for about 8 years. She works in Manhattan, I work in Dumbo, brooklyn.
Budget: max 250k
Looking for: house/condo to buy in commuting distance to Nyc. Ideally no more than 45 mins on NJT portion of commute. Safe neighborhood where I don't have to worry about wife getting to or from train when she goes home by herself.
Through online research I'm thinking some of the better places to check out are Elizabeth, Roselle park, Bloomfield, union, linden. I'd love to hear any thoughts about how realistic my desires are, and best places that fit my needs. Thanks in advance!! Cheers!
My wife and I are planning to move out of the city in the near future, tired of burning money on rent!! We're only at the stage where we are looking into where to move so nothing will be happening for about 1 year while we save up for the down payment. I was hoping to share my thought and what we're looking for, and get some feedback or suggestions.
Who we are: early 30s, no kids, no pets. Have been living in Astoria, queens for about 8 years. She works in Manhattan, I work in Dumbo, brooklyn.
Budget: max 250k
Looking for: house/condo to buy in commuting distance to Nyc. Ideally no more than 45 mins on NJT portion of commute. Safe neighborhood where I don't have to worry about wife getting to or from train when she goes home by herself.
Through online research I'm thinking some of the better places to check out are Elizabeth, Roselle park, Bloomfield, union, linden. I'd love to hear any thoughts about how realistic my desires are, and best places that fit my needs. Thanks in advance!! Cheers!
Commute to DUMBO from NJ will be quite long and pain in butt unless you live right by Path that goes to WTC.
Also although you guys have no kids so good public school isn't a criteria now. If you are planning to buy and settle down for bit 7-10 yrs. Then are you guys planning child within that timeframe? If so, then may be you do want an area with good public school.
If not. I'd say forget NJ and find a place that's got more sane commute for you to Brooklyn. Say Staten Island or look in Queens or Brooklyn.
If you plan to change job and get one in city then NJ may make more sense because you won't hate the commute.
I lived on Staten Island until 3 years ago and raised my kids there. West Brighton has some decent areas and buses to the ferry. Property tax is lower than NJ. I now live in Elizabeth (3 yesrs now) which has some decent schools (eldest graduated with honor from the best high school there, Upper Academy, Staten Island school were better but she was in a scholars Program). Eluzabeth has dome ok areas, property taxes are a little crazy. The area near the trains to NY is a little scary to me but my kids had no issues taking the trains. The Path is cheaper but a 15 min drive depending on where you are coming from. Bloomfield seems a little bit nicer. I have to say Elizabeth has some beautiful areas with property taxes to match, like 10k to 13k per year, no joke. However, they are surrounded by crime. Newark in the ironbound areas seems ok. I have friends who live there, I've only been there once. You could walk to the Path, in Manhattan in 25 min. Queens and Brooklyn are very, very expensive which is how I ended up on Staten Island.
Thanks for the info so far I really appreciate the input!
A few other reasons for the move is that we are really getting sick of city living. Not being able to have a car or a yard, walking up 4 flights of stairs to a tiny apt with no washer/dryer/dishwasher is a real drag. Its more draining on my wife than me, but she really wants to get out. Now her parents live near Philadelphia so if we were to be in Jersey then they would only be a few hours away which would be good for her sanity and in the future when we have kids it will be good to have them relatively close.
SO Queens, Brooklyn, and LI are pretty much out of the question.
As far as commuting time, I work at the first stop in Brooklyn, so a subway to Penn shouldn't take too long, figure 30 mins on the high side. If the train is then 40 mins to my stop in NJ then that's totally fine.
We do plan on having kids in the next few years so schools are a concern. Though if we layout an estimated time frame its a year minimum before we move, then another year to have a kid, then a few more years before they are actually in school. So probably 5 years before the need is paramount.
This is probably not going to be the house we live in for the rest of our lives, as first time home buyers it doesn't need to be a dream home.
Are there any more areas that I might have overlooked? Thanks again for the support, thanks!
Roselle Park is going to be outside your distance criteria, it'll be about an hour away from Penn Station, Union is going to be pushing it as well, it's the transfer in Newark that does you in. Linden is more likely, Bloomfield maybe, but these are all about 35 minutes by train and you'd have to live next to the train.
If schools are absolutely not a concern and you don't mind a 10 minute drive to the train every day, Belleville, Nutley, maybe even into Lyndhurst. You'll probably hear calls for East Rutherford as well.
Frankly, the bigger issue is that you're talking about moving in five years, so you're not really saving anything once you package up all the time and effort moving as well as all the money you spent on closing costs on the first house, the costs of selling the first house and the new closing costs on the second. Can I recommend that you find a decent apartment with those amenities in one of these towns and increasing your down payment so your first house is closer to the dream house? There are a lot of hidden costs for repairs you didn't notice or weren't important after you buy a home you're going to have to deal with and if you're talking about moving in five years anyway that's cash you're not going to necessarily get back.
My wife and I are planning to move out of the city in the near future, tired of burning money on rent!! We're only at the stage where we are looking into where to move so nothing will be happening for about 1 year while we save up for the down payment. I was hoping to share my thought and what we're looking for, and get some feedback or suggestions.
Who we are: early 30s, no kids, no pets. Have been living in Astoria, queens for about 8 years. She works in Manhattan, I work in Dumbo, brooklyn.
Budget: max 250k
Looking for: house/condo to buy in commuting distance to Nyc. Ideally no more than 45 mins on NJT portion of commute. Safe neighborhood where I don't have to worry about wife getting to or from train when she goes home by herself.
Through online research I'm thinking some of the better places to check out are Elizabeth, Roselle park, Bloomfield, union, linden. I'd love to hear any thoughts about how realistic my desires are, and best places that fit my needs. Thanks in advance!! Cheers!
Completely, totally unrealistic unless you are OK with a small one bedroom/studio condo...
South Amboy NJ is nice. Its an older town but they have a nice main street with restaurants and some bars, they built a beautiful park/neighborhood on the bay in town, and there is the South Amboy train stop. Finding a nice home with a yard for $250k should be a layup.. the other plus side is they've been talking about putting a huge ferry terminal in that town going to downtown Manhattan for a decade.. if that were to actually ever happen your $250k home would be a $450k home overnight.
Wife and I lived there for 2 years by the water and absolutely loved every minute of it, only left because we moved out of the townhouse to a SFH.
Keep in mind I think the Monthly train pass to NYC is going to cost around $350 and the train ride alone I think is like 45 mins not figuring your walk/drive to the train and the walk when you get off the train. Wife did it, only time it bothered her was when the train was delayed but thats just public trans in general.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
