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Old 08-24-2018, 02:22 PM
 
90 posts, read 144,216 times
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hi All,
is it worth moving to NJ from Westchester NY? my husband's job in upper Westchester brought us to where we are, but he changed jobs and now we both commute to Downtown and Midtown.

What we are hoping to get:
- about 25% cheaper homes -it looks like for ~$850K we can get home similar to what $1.1M will be in Westchester good school districts
- about 40% reduction in taxes - e.g. instead of $25-$30K in taxes, we'll be ~$15K
- similar commute on the train (hoping for under 1h 15 mins door to door)

is there a flaw in this reasoning? also what school districts should we look at, for best schools and easiest commute? From our preliminary quick search, looks like Millburn or Chatham may work, any other places?

thank you!!
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Old 08-24-2018, 03:09 PM
 
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Your taxes will not be reduced by much.
Chatham will be a longer commute. Millburn will have small lots. I am suprised you can get downtown in 1.15 from upper Westchester. Is that just the train?
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Old 08-24-2018, 04:05 PM
 
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This post proves that NJ property taxes are not the worst in the tri-state area. Compared to Westchester county the taxes we pay are a bargain...
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Old 08-24-2018, 06:00 PM
 
Location: Central NJ and PA
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Originally Posted by DefiantNJ View Post
This post proves that NJ property taxes are not the worst in the tri-state area. Compared to Westchester county the taxes we pay are a bargain...
Depends. If you're in Montclair or Maplewood with a house that expensive, you're looking at similar taxes. I'm sure there are other towns as well, but those are the two I'm most familiar with.


OP, you're going to have to stick to places with a direct train into the city to have that short a door-to-door commute.
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Old 08-24-2018, 07:19 PM
 
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We cross shopped Westchester and Glen Ridge. For 1.00mm you could get a full size 3000+ sf home in this area (montclair/GR) Taxes will be around 30k. The direct train will be 35-45 min. The town is shifting greatly. Houses are notoriously priced low and many sell for 50-250k over ask. It’s an odd thing in Montclair and Glen Ridge. But to give you a quick low down. Our house was asking 900k we purchased at 1mm in 2016 with 23k in taxes. If we were to list our house for sale today, it would probably be listed for 999 and sell for 1.15mm The town understand this. our taxes have reset to almost 28k for the forward looking year. While our taxes are high on a percentage basis, our house would likely be 1.5 in Larchmont or more in rye with similar to slightly higher taxes.

All that being said you could get a nice move in ready 2500 Sf house for 900k today with 25k in taxes and a 35 min train with excellent schools. You can’t get that in Westchester.

In short. I would compare these towns to Pelham. High 3.0% tax with more w reasonable home value...considering...but the commute reliability and cancellations does create some frustration

The taxes you mentioned would be applicable to very boring McMansion towns such as Wayne. Where you could get a 4/5 bedroom 80s construction with less than 20k in tax for under 800k. The schools are fairly good but the housing stock is very mundane and your commute will be a park and ride bus. Which, from someone who grew up in Westchester, I can assure you will hate after commuting via train from lower westchester.

Shopping direct train towns in nj such as montclair or Glen Ridge you will get more home value but pay more taxes. Towns like Chatham or summit have slightly lower taxes on a percentage basis but higher property value. Factoring in all the above it is still slightly less than lower Westchester

As a rule of thumb I’d say factor 350 PSF for montclair/Glen Ridge at 3.0% effective tax rate. Versus Chatham summit at 400-450 PSF with 2.5% effective tax rate

Last edited by JaRuss01; 08-24-2018 at 07:47 PM..
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Old 08-25-2018, 01:46 PM
 
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Also. I would not compare a commute in Westchester Hudson line to comparatively empty Grand Central with NJT commute to horrendously crowded NY Penn or even Hoboken PATH. Westchester commute is most likely a lot more pleasant and reliable. But on the other hand, there are only two train lines in Westchester so probably it is hard to live walking distance from the train...
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Old 08-27-2018, 09:00 AM
 
520 posts, read 981,581 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NYfamily77 View Post
hi All,
is it worth moving to NJ from Westchester NY? my husband's job in upper Westchester brought us to where we are, but he changed jobs and now we both commute to Downtown and Midtown.

What we are hoping to get:
- about 25% cheaper homes -it looks like for ~$850K we can get home similar to what $1.1M will be in Westchester good school districts
- about 40% reduction in taxes - e.g. instead of $25-$30K in taxes, we'll be ~$15K
- similar commute on the train (hoping for under 1h 15 mins door to door)

is there a flaw in this reasoning? also what school districts should we look at, for best schools and easiest commute? From our preliminary quick search, looks like Millburn or Chatham may work, any other places?

thank you!!
What about the next job change? What if the next job location suits Westchester more? Better to stay in one place. From Grand Central you can take subway.

I commuted via Hudson line from Tarrytown for 3 years. Number of times the trains had issues was probably 3 or 4. When I moved to NJ and started using NJ Transit, within first 3 months already had 3-4 train issues.

However in terms of towns, in general I felt NJ to be be younger or more vibrant than Westchester towns which in general felt very lonely or in need of a fresh coat of paint. Maybe I felt it that way because there were lots of estates around where I lived like in Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Phillipse Manor and the like. Or maybe because apart from White Plains malls were hard to find.
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Old 08-27-2018, 07:24 PM
 
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I don't think you can get that much reduction in house prices and in taxes at the same time. But if you're commuting to both downtown and midtown, the Morris and Essex line towns are certainly a good place to look. If you want door to door under 1:15 to Midtown, you probably don't want to go beyond Summit (unless you're working literally in Penn Plaza). But if you can tolerate a bit more, the nearer Gladstone Branch towns (New Providence, Berkeley Heights) are quite nice.
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Old 08-28-2018, 06:42 PM
 
90 posts, read 144,216 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shet View Post
in general I felt NJ to be be younger or more vibrant than Westchester towns which in general felt very lonely or in need of a fresh coat of paint
that's how we feel, too! Most of Westchester feels really quiet, empty, and in need of repairs. I wonder where our taxes are really going... I dont feel we get much value out of what we pay to live here.
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Old 08-28-2018, 06:44 PM
 
90 posts, read 144,216 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foodyum View Post
Your taxes will not be reduced by much.
Chatham will be a longer commute. Millburn will have small lots. I am suprised you can get downtown in 1.15 from upper Westchester. Is that just the train?
1.15 is from lower Westchester (Larchmont). my husband used to work in upper W, and he drove up there
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