Quote:
Originally Posted by Kthnry
Check out East Orange near the Brick Church station. Previously pretty grim, but definitely on its way up. Excellent commute. Not much going on in the immediate vicinity, but close to several towns with great downtowns (South Orange, Maplewood, Montclair).
There's a mini-migration of Maplewood/South Orange empty-nesters selling their houses and moving to Harrison Park Towers in East Orange. I'll be joining them next month. Don't get too excited about the sales prices because the monthly maintenance is a lot higher than you would pay for a condo, but it includes all taxes and utilities and in the end it's a great bargain for living in the area. There are regular condos in the area, but I don't think you'll find anything you'd want to live in for $130,000.
(Guaranteed: The next poster will warn of certain death if you set foot in East Orange.) |
EO is a complete ***t hole. I would not recommend Eo!! The brick church station is not all that great either. Yeah, its pretty convenient to Penn station (about 22-25 mins) but it is also a ***t hole in itself. Its crawling with homeless people and creepy cab drivers. The area around the brick church station is not that great as well, S Harrison St is nice. The city reeks of mary jane if you know what im talking about, because so many people there are on it. Just spare yourself the bs and stay out of EO. It is changing however, its by no means happening rapidly. Still has a LONG way to go. Would not recommend EO (I lived in different areas of EO for years, have family there).
1. Close to NYC: Yes
2. Good public transportation and walkable downtown with amenities close by: No downtown area, the closest you’ll get is main street and central ave aka ghetto avenue. Transportation by train into penn is less then adequate because the train line sucks.
3. Condos and townhomes for around 130k or less (2 bedroom 2 bath if possible): Yes. But chances are they'll be very old, outdated and/or next to an abandoned house, etc.
4. Relatively safe areas (also schools don't matter to me since I don't have any children at the moment): Negative F
Also, the Morris-Essex train line is notorious for having problems (late trains, delays GALORE, constant crowdedness), especially during rush hour. I cannot tell you how many times they canceled the midtown direct train in and out of NYC at rush hour during the work week, outside of rush hour you're good to go. All in all, I would say don’t bother with EO. Try counties farther west, (bear in mind your commute time/cost will increase). The neighboring cities, South Orange, Montclair, Bloomfield are MUCH better but, you will not find a townhome in that price range.
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.
