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Where are you coming from? Long Island City, NY
Why are you moving? Family, raising a child
Where will you be working ? If NYC, what part of NYC? NYC - Midtown West
Will you buy or rent? Buy
What is your budget ? 550-600K
What kind of place are you looking for ? Updated Kitchen, Single Family Home with greens, Nicer neighborhood
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ? Spouse + child
Do you need/want good public schools? Not yet , but after 5-years for sure.
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in
(examples: families with young children, young, mature, artsy, diverse, safe, close-knit, block parties, etc)
Young families, young children, diverse, safe, community-driven
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.(examples: nightlife, outdoor activities, rural/urban, safety, downtown area, charming, new construction, proximity to XYZ, family oriented, easy parking, short commute, etc)
New construction, 1 hr commute to the city, Parks/Daycare nearby, etc.
Looking to move within this Summer. Any recommendations?
Maplewood and the sister town next door of South Orange.
You won’t get a new construction on your budget unless you are looking for an apartment! All of the commuter towns are old and established and the newer family homes are more likely to be McMansions where an old smaller home was demolished....the newer homes cost more of course.
You won’t get a home near the train station though at that budget, but I know that Maplewood has a jitney service to the train station (not sure about South Orange). Perhaps you can check with the website and forums on Maplewood Online
Maplewood and the sister town next door of South Orange.
You won’t get a new construction on your budget unless you are looking for an apartment! All of the commuter towns are old and established and the newer family homes are more likely to be McMansions where an old smaller home was demolished....the newer homes cost more of course.
You won’t get a home near the train station though at that budget, but I know that Maplewood has a jitney service to the train station (not sure about South Orange). Perhaps you can check with the website and forums on Maplewood Online
I agree,if you're willing to go out a little more try New Providence.
Might be able to find new construction in South Orange or the neighboring Gregory section of West Orange (there are jitneys from both to the train station); there's been some infill. I don't know if it would be in-budget. There's a relatively new development in South Orange near the top of the ridge close to South Orange Avenue, but it's definitely higher than you're looking for.
What time do you commute in? If you commute early (before 7am) you could check out some of the northern valley area towns (cresskill, demarest, closter). Not a ton in that price range (as others have noted, many get knocked down to put up bigger houses) but they exist, and some are even nice looking. Bus to port authority is between 45 minutes and an hour depending on how far north you go. If you go in later, forget it.
(I live in South Orange, so I can answer any questions about South Orange & Maplewood.)
Both South Orange and Maplewood have similar jitney services for their trains (and likewise, West Orange and Livingston have jitneys that go to South Orange as well).
New construction isn't common, but between the two towns it would be most common up in Newstead. And it can get pricey up there. And most properties in your price range will likely have been renovated to some extent.
Also, if you're looking to move this summer, start looking immediately. Real estate in desirable parts of NNJ is generally competitive and can get crazy from time to time, with the time for the most potential craziness in the Spring. Things haven't been quite as crazy as it was a few years ago when realtors were bussing people from Brooklyn and trying to call these towns 'Brooklyn West', but if the wind blows the right way we could be back to that easily. (Ditto for Montclair.)
Looks like majority of the folks here recommend Maplewood/South Orange.
How about Berkeley heights, New Providence, Denville, Cedar Grove etc. Aren't the commute there within reasonable (approx 1hr margin?) It looks like the further out you go, the better deal on housing cost. Specially, with the ridiculous sellers' market right now.
Any other areas, that meet the criteria? Like a gem no one has an eye on?
Looks like majority of the folks here recommend Maplewood/South Orange.
How about Berkeley heights, New Providence, Denville, Cedar Grove etc. Aren't the commute there within reasonable (approx 1hr margin?) It looks like the further out you go, the better deal on housing cost. Specially, with the ridiculous sellers' market right now.
Any other areas, that meet the criteria? Like a gem no one has an eye on?
You are searching for the Holy Grail. The towns you mentioned are all very nice but further than a 1 hour commute to the City, actually very few places are within a 1 hr commute to midtown unless you are on the midtown direct line.
Maplewood is probably the best choice for you if commuting time is the priority. Taxes are high but it is a very nice town. You won't get new construction though.
Looks like majority of the folks here recommend Maplewood/South Orange.
How about Berkeley heights, New Providence, Denville, Cedar Grove etc. Aren't the commute there within reasonable (approx 1hr margin?) It looks like the further out you go, the better deal on housing cost. Specially, with the ridiculous sellers' market right now.
Any other areas, that meet the criteria? Like a gem no one has an eye on?
There are more unicorns in NNJ than hidden gems with good commutes.
While the houses and lots might get a little more affordable/bigger as you go out further, that's because you're getting futher from the city. Sometimes significantly so. All of the alternate towns you list have almost twice the commute time of South Orange. They're really a different market and those towns are going to have progressively less and less commuters in them.
SO/Ma and Montclair tend to be popular with people that used to live in the city (or JC/Hoboken) so people might be tending towards those sorts of areas because you are coming from LIC and you mentioned 'diversity'. The other towns you mentioned are going to be less NYC-centric and a tad more like an inner suburb than like an outer suburb.
For example, the amount of time you spend on the train according to the schedule is not the actual commuting time. I live in Cranford, for example, just under the 45 minute limit. I think the only time it's ever taken me to get to Manhattan in 45 minutes is on the weekends, during the weekday, forget it. The train backup around Secaucus adds another 10-15 minutes. And that's just to Penn Station, walking or training up to Times Square is another 10 minutes.
Again, this is if your train schedule lines up perfectly, the idea that if you want to be at work by 9 you'll get to Penn by 8:50 and therefore the train from your town, 50 minutes away, would ideally leave at 8. But it's probably going to be something more like a 7:50 train. So now your commute is over an hour. Except you need to park the car and add five minutes to do that. And leave time for any traffic in town as everyone else tries to get to the 7:50 train.
So you can see that someplace like Berkeley Heights can easily be over an hour and closer to 90 minutes even though on the map it's less than an hour. There's a lot of little five minute things here and there that add up quickly that you need to keep in mind.
Everyone here keeps saying Maplewood, which shows a 30 minute commute as being about an hour away from Times Square. They're speaking from experience, it takes about an hour.
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