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-Coming from suburban Alabama and everything you assume that is
-Moving for a job, Sales job commuting to NYC calling on architects mostly doing presentations ect.
-I want to rent till we are comfortable committing to buy
-$5000 per month MAX
-I know this will be a lot different in every way than what we are use to, but some type of transition neighborhood that gives us a little slice of home would be great
-I have 4 young children (10 yrs and younger) and a good chance my parents move with us. I might even consider paying a little more if I found a home with multi-generational setup. We also have 2 small dogs and a cat
- We Homeschool our children so school system is not make or break
-We need a yard, some type of storage all the things you would think a family this size needs
Three Things important to us
1. Safety, we are from the south and my wife assumes that living anywhere in the north is the same as living in Falluge Iraq
2. Commute, I am the sole provider and do not need to waste time with massive commute times. I would like to be able to commute to NYC and be mobile when I get there. I have no idea if it is best to take a train in then take cabs/uber/subway/walk around or if I need to drive in. The parking and driving around NYC seems crazy, difficult, and expensive to me but I have no idea. I need more help in this than anywhere else any outside sales people commuting into NYC that could offer advice would be helpful
3. Youth SPorts. We homeschool and our social activity center around church and sports. I coach wrestling and football. A strong youth sports community would be great!
How long is a massive commute time? Over an hour? (you will want to say over an hour, but I'm telling you you should say 75 minutes door to door, it's the only reasonable way to make it work with a house the size you're talking).
Where in NYC will your office be? Commuting strategies/options (bus vs. train) can vary based on destination. (But breathe deeply and accept that a 75-90 minute door-to-desk commute is likely what you'll be looking at)
Safety - anywhere suburban that will give you the kind of house//yard that you describe will be safe.
1. Most places in New Jersey, particularly the suburbs where you will want to live are safe. I guess that's just something your wife will have to learn by being here. And many people in NJ would be terrified to find themselves in Alabama.
2 & 3. Taking a train is best. The city itself is the easiest place in the world to get around, once you're there. But save yourself a lot of heartache and grief and accept right here and now that there is no secret quick commute that you will magically discover that the other several hundred thousand New Jerseyans who work in the city somehow missed. You're going to a huge city on a small island. There are a finite number of ways to cross the water, and everyone is doing it at the same time.
I suggest Rutherford for a shortish commute; add 10 -15 minutes, and Fair Lawn is a larger town with lots of sports programs. The town is known for a large Jewish population, but it has an active Baptist church (Yes, I'm making an assumption, hehehe.)
Also, in that part of northern New Jersey, check out Hawthorne Gospel Church, where you might feel at home. Big, very active bible church.
You have a decent budget, so you have lots of options. You need to fly up here for a weekend with your wife and explore--there are a ton of beautiful areas here that you all will love, with train lines/bus to the city. You will not want to drive to the city (at least, I would never want to). Riding on a bus or train is passive time and you can watch shows on your phone, podcasts, send emails, surf internet. Driving yourself and sitting in traffic all day just sucks. Take it from someone who drives to work for an hour each way (and I have a reverse commute!)....I don't love it. Plus tolls into the city are expensive (something like $14 now?) and parking is insane in NYC.
You can sometimes find multifamily houses or houses with a "mother-in-law" suite in the basement or something. You'd just have to get a realtor and look. But NJ suburban towns have a lot of stuff for families--town pools, town YMCAs, lots of local programs and classes for kids. If you homeschool, then you have even more options.
We moved here from Texas and love it here. But home is wherever you are, you know? You make your own happiness. My mother lives in super-small-town southern GA and loves to visit us here. She knows NYC better than I do at this point. She's 70 years old and just goes off exploring on her own every time she visits.
Notice the large map that has a lot of green in NJ and a lot of red in AL.
Point out Newark as #15 on the list of dangerous places.
Then show her #11.
This may result in you sleeping on the couch, but she should know that anyplace you're looking at spending 5K a month on rent is going to be safer than most places anywhere in the US.
Notice the large map that has a lot of green in NJ and a lot of red in AL.
Point out Newark as #15 on the list of dangerous places.
Then show her #11.
+1
It's just incredibly ironic that so many folks from out-of-state are anguished about the...supposed...dangers of living in NJ, but when hard facts and reliable statistics are introduced, it almost always turns out that The Garden State is far safer than their current state of residence. And, given the reality that our schools are light years better than the public schools in Alabama, perhaps they might decide to avail themselves of the superior public education that is available in almost every suburban town in NJ.
It's just incredibly ironic that so many folks from out-of-state are anguished about the...supposed...dangers of living in NJ, but when hard facts and reliable statistics are introduced, it almost always turns out that The Garden State is far safer than their current state of residence. And, given the reality that our schools are light years better than the public schools in Alabama, perhaps they might decide to avail themselves of the superior public education that is available in almost every suburban town in NJ.
Still baffled why everyone thinks NJ is so dangerous.
Still baffled why everyone thinks NJ is so dangerous.
+1
I can't figure out why or how that type of misinformation seems to be so prevalent among out-of-staters from locales that are almost always FAR more dangerous than our state. Is this the result of TV shows like The Sopranos?
If media overexposure of hackneyed NJ stereotypes is responsible for that type of misinformation, I have to wonder...
Do out-of-staters also assume that most NJ residents have undergone lap-band surgery, but are still morbidly obese--like our media-obsessed governor?
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