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Hello All , I need some help and I am sure this group will be able to give me some leads. Thanking you all in advance .
Myself and my husband (Both mid 30's) no kids yet are moving to NJ from Virginia. My husband is starting his job in an investment banking firm in Midtown NYC and I will be remote for sometime (wfh). We are looking for renting in NJ and have shortlisted some places. But we are keen to have some suggestions on what places would you recommend for renting a townhome with preferably Indian neighborhood. Our price range for rent is within 3000$. We do not have kids yet and hence want to be in a community which has mixed group (Young Indian couples with kids and non kids). It would be good to find a townhome for rent that has some amenities that will help in socializing as well.
Our long term plan is to buy a home once we have explored the area but for now we want to start of by renting in a good neighborhood. My husband has lived in new port , jersey city before and hence we do not want to look at those areas for now. We also do not want to consider Edison for now
We are ok with a door to door commute of 1.20 mins at max. Your valuable inputs would be greatly appreciated and it will help us with a easier move.
Where are you coming from in Nova? My gut says that Edison is right up your alley. Very large Indian community, solid schools, good amenities. The only downside is that your husband might learn to hate the commute, but I think 1 hour 20 minutes is doable by train.
Thankyou for your comments. I am coming from NOVA.I do have Secacus on my list for renting. Edison not sure yet. But why do you say my husband will hate the commute? Are the train service bad. I am seeing direct trains from edison and metropark station reaching NY Penn in 45 mins max. But i dont know if north east corridor line is an issue ?
So far I have shortlisted these places. My only criteria was to look for 50 mins and less train ride to Penn station and Indian population . Let me know what you think
1. Metropark Station (Iselin)
2. Avennel
3. Secacus
4. Sayreville
5. Colonia
6. North Bruinswick
7. Piscataway
Thankyou for your comments. I am coming from NOVA.I do have Secacus on my list for renting. Edison not sure yet. But why do you say my husband will hate the commute? Are the train service bad. I am seeing direct trains from edison and metropark station reaching NY Penn in 45 mins max. But i dont know if north east corridor line is an issue ?
So far I have shortlisted these places. My only criteria was to look for 50 mins and less train ride to Penn station and Indian population . Let me know what you think
1. Metropark Station (Iselin)
2. Avennel
3. Secacus
4. Sayreville
5. Colonia
6. North Bruinswick
7. Piscataway
Thankyou
Iselin and Secaucus are fine. Secaucus is better if looking for a better mix of couples without children and a shorter commute, while Iselin will be more family oriented. But Iselin has an actual downtown dedicated to Indian culture.
All too often when people specify "x minutes max" for their commute, they think only of the actual time on the train or bus, and they forget about the amount of time that it takes to drive or walk to the train station or bus station. I mention that factor because some of the towns you mentioned (Colonia, North Brunswick*, Piscataway, Sayreville) do not currently have a train station. When you factor-in the time needed to drive to the nearest NJ Transit station and then to find a place to park, the commute time will be at least 60 minutes--and probably more.
*North Brunswick is slated to get an NJ Transit station at some point in the future, but that is probably at least 2 years away.
Great point. We are factoring in the drive time from home to car park outside of the commute to NY Penn. Thats why i dont want the NJ transit time to be more than 50 mins max. I really liked north bruinswick area but the only problem there is not having a train station and we will have to drive to New Bruinswick. While staying close to work and renting an apartment is the last resort we just want to experience living in the sub urb because our long term plan(next 2 years) is to buy a home and sub urb will be the only option then. So we thought to start experiencing it now.
I will research to see if there are any townhome in the areas recommended. Please do share any more thoughts that you may. Thankyou so much for recommendations so far
But why do you say my husband will hate the commute? Are the train service bad. I am seeing direct trains from edison and metropark station reaching NY Penn in 45 mins max. But i dont know if north east corridor line is an issue ?
As another poster mentioned, there's more to the commute than the train, but depending on where your husband is working, he may have to take the subway as well. Too many times my wife would race out of work to catch the last bus or train to our town, but miss it due to being stuck in the subway. The stress just wore on her. If train service is limited in your area, missing one train might mean your significant other has to drive somewhere to collect you. NJ Transit is not as reliable as the Metro.
OP is assuming that its a cakewalk to drive from home and park in the station. Several of these places , e.g. New Brunswick doesn't have any parking available, unless he/she wants to pay $25 for full day parking. Several of these places, daily parking lot gets full by certain time so you need to be play the lotto everyday to get parking or start really early. Several (e.g. Jersey Avenue - station closest to North Brunswick) would have several months wait to get commuter parking and I am not sure of the situation for private parking availability. And Metropark(Iselin) is going to be story of its own when you would spend an average of 20 min to park and about 20 min to just get out from the parking lot to the main road and push through the crowded roads. The lifestyle and commute is much different from a place like Ashburn VA (which is all picturesque) with large lane streets. NJ is going to be shocking to you. Since you mentioned your husband is going to work in, I would suggest you few towns (which are going to be costlier than NE Corridor) with much easier commute (comparatively) to WTC. The options in my preferred order are:
1) You should try for a town which has easier connection to Hoboken Path (Summit, Milburn/Short Hills, Montclair, Wood-Ridge) or Hoboken, Newport, Exchange Place itself (in one of those high rise, you cant beat this commute in any way)
2) Pick towns which has easier drive to Harrison Path (e.g. Livingston, and all the towns listed above which are in Essex county) and take PATH from there. You would never get a seat in Harrison PATH while going to WTC
3) Pick towns which has express connection to Newark Penn Station (e.g. Metropark, Westfield, West Windsor) for an onward journey to WTC via PATH. Remember this commute wont be civil anyway and its a musical chair game to find seat in Newark-WTC path. For Westfield the changeover to PATH is not very pretty going over the underpass and trying to catch the PATH.
Anyway, you would learn all of this when you are here.
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