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Oh you’re in Larchmont? Forget it. Outside of Bronxville, Larchmont offers the best commute for Best housing stock basically in the tri-state area. The trains are 30-35 min to Grand Central. From what I’ve pieced together your house is 1.1ish mm with taxes in the high 20s. I’m assuming that’s about a 2000 SF home.
The reality check is that a comparable upper tier town in NJ with excellent schools, same size house, will only be maybe 100-200k less. And taxes will be only a few k less. And instead of a true 30-35 min train through grand central that you could practically set your watch to, you will have a 35-40 min NJ train “on paper” which will really be 40-45 min w minor delays everyday, 1 hr with major delays 2x a month, and a straight up cancelled train 2x a month. Finding a “real” 30-35 train in NJ with excellent schools doesn’t really exist. Which is why towns like Larchmont come at a premium
We compared Larchmont to Glen Ridge and instead of getting a nice starter home in Larchmont with 25-30k in taxes, we were able to get a full size house in GR (again with 25-30k tax, which are effectively higher). We relied on a comparable 35 min train, and thought we got a bargain. But that 35 train is really 40 min on good days, and is just horrendous on bad days. Penn station by comparison to Grand Central really puts a damper to how you start you day. NJ transit is a bit like false advertising. A 35 train town in NJ, could effectively be 40 min, or 45 some days. Compare that to Westchester, and now you’re talking about towns like Harrison, not Larchmont/Bronxville, which cost 200k+ less...In hindset I suppose it was foolish to think we found a hidden gem of a deal in NJ. There are no stones unturned around NYC, and all values are set relative to the larger market. We effectively traded value for commute, but just didn’t realize it until after we started commuting.
I’d say if you want to save on taxes and housing stock you better off tacking on an extra 5-10 min to your train time and moving very slightly north from Larchmont. To towns such as Harrison. It will have a comparable real door to door to Chatham, etc after factoring in NJ Transit. After commuting regularly on Nj Transit via Penn, versus MetroNorth via Grand Central, you will quickly realize why houses/taxes are less in NJ. But nice towns like Millburn Chatham Summit will not be at a 25-40% discount you were hoping for. More like 10-15%. And will come at a penalty on commute....look, we live around a very dense city, with people cross shopping the tri-state area regularly, every town has its trade off. The market is balanced (whether you’re in Westchester of NJ), and prices are set accordingly. The category you fall in now in Larchmont is at one extreme end of the spectrum - which is the highest premium on price/taxes to get the best/shortest commute with nice housing stock and good schools. You’ll be trading commute for value by coming to NJ.
If I misread this, and you are not coming from Larchmont, then disregard this.
JaRuss01, your feedback is beyond helpful - its precious.
Yes we are in Larchmont, our situation is very similar to your shopping here vs Glen Ridge. We had exactly the same logic -commute to NJ didnt look as bad as what you're describing so these areas seemed comparable with the exception of getting more for our buck in NJ.
We cant take penalty in commute that you described above. I'm a full time working mom with two kids - younger is under 1 - and I'll go nuts if my commute gets longer than what it is now... I do find Westchester trains very nice and reasonably reliable.. What I dislike is on top of Metro North, I am adding full 30 mins on a local subway to get Downtown... maybe the solution is to look for a job closer to GCT...
Not to pull you back in...but my wife works near WTC. She drives 20-30 min (depending on traffic) to the furthest out PATH station (Harrison) to a 25 min PATH. Her real door to door is about 50 - 65 min. But that’s largely due to her working right near WTC (no subway needed). It is stressful given occasional standing room only on the PATH and driving through traffic. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. But she also likes it since the PATH runs very regularly like a subway and she could get home quickly in event of kid emergency. there are certain shortcuts to downtown when you live in Nj...your husband will still have to deal with what I described through Penn station however. Again, coming from Larchmont transpo you may find this all pretty unappealing
Not to throw another idea out there but we went in a completely different direction. We looked at houses all over the place and just weren’t psyched about any of them for what they cost. Instead of buying the $1mm+ house in any of the areas discussed, we bought a 3000 sq ft house in Wayne that was completely updated for about $650k with less than $17k in taxes. Because our potential housing nut was cut in half my wife was able to quit her job and stay home with our little ones like she always wanted to do. I do have to take the bus to the city everyday but my door to desk is clockwork at 1:10 minutes. That was 6 years ago and we couldn’t be happier. If she goes back to work in a few years we’ll really be set
Not to throw another idea out there but we went in a completely different direction. We looked at houses all over the place and just weren’t psyched about any of them for what they cost. Instead of buying the $1mm+ house in any of the areas discussed, we bought a 3000 sq ft house in Wayne that was completely updated for about $650k with less than $17k in taxes. Because our potential housing nut was cut in half my wife was able to quit her job and stay home with our little ones like she always wanted to do. I do have to take the bus to the city everyday but my door to desk is clockwork at 1:10 minutes. That was 6 years ago and we couldn’t be happier. If she goes back to work in a few years we’ll really be set
Really, on a bus? I found this somewhat unlikely from my experience. Can I ask when you usually take the bus? I assume you work close to PABT?
These posts annoy me somewhat. People should not be advertising their bus times to non NJ residents without adding a major asterisk of what times they need to take the bus. Someone looking for advice on a 1mm can get lured over with short bus times, then realize they need to leave for work at 6am...or need to sit in traffic for 90 minutes if they are timing up rush hour traffic with picking up their kids at day care closing. Etc. the bus timetables widely vary and are very time specific. This is even moreso impactful when a bus only town is recommended to two full time NYC commuting parents. If there an emergency at Home at say 5pm, youre screwed.
Granted the advice above was for one working parent not two. But you know where I’m getting at
Really, on a bus? I found this somewhat unlikely from my experience. Can I ask when you usually take the bus? I assume you work close to PABT?
Yes I work on 8th and 37th. I leave my house at 6:50am and am at my desk at 8am. Sometimes earlier sometimes a few minutes past. I drive to the rt 23 transit center and take the express bus from there. Unless they close the xbl which does happen maybe once a month or every other month the ride is pretty smooth. Been doing it daily for 6 years.
These posts annoy me somewhat. People should not be advertising their bus times to non NJ residents without adding a major asterisk of what times they need to take the bus. Someone looking for advice on a 1mm can get lured over with short bus times, then realize they need to leave for work at 6am...or need to sit in traffic for 90 minutes if they are timing up rush hour traffic with picking up their kids at day care closing. Etc. the bus timetables widely vary and are very time specific. This is even moreso impactful when a bus only town is recommended to two full time NYC commuting parents. If there an emergency at Home at say 5pm, youre screwed.
Granted the advice above was for one working parent not two. But you know where I’m getting at
Odd thing to be annoyed at and no asterix needed. Seems like you would like more information so here it is.
I leave my house at 6:50am. I arrive at my desk at 8am. My office is on 8th ave close to PABT.
I leave my office around 6pm. I’m usually pulling into my driveway right around 7-7:15.
The buses Home to the transit center leaves every 20 minutes during rush hour. And it seems like every 5 minutes on the way in from the transit center to PABT
I have taken this route approximately 1100x over the last,almost, 6 years.
My wife stays at home with the savings we had from not buying the $1mm house. She does all the pickups and drop offs and let’s me not have to ever stress about the occasional traffic jam.
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