Moving to New Jersey

Old Sep 16th, 2014, 10:32 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Moving to New Jersey

I've lived in Alaska the last 30 yrs. wanting to move to move to the east coast to be closer to my daughter thats lives in Manhattan. NYC is too busy for me... Thinking of NJ? Any suggestion? I'm nearing retirement, in about 4 years. I would like a nice peaceful neighborhood with a good high school. I still have one child that will be in HS by then.
Mdntsun64 is offline  
Old Sep 16th, 2014, 11:15 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 6,476
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If your daughter lives in Manhattan, one consideration would be to live near a train stop of NJ Transit, so you can easily get into the city. There are also buses, but they are not as convenient IMHO. Like all large areas, towns vary substantially in cost of housing and the quality of the school system.

Have you checked the price of housing?

Besides NJ, there is Westchester and Putnam counties north of NYC and Nassau and Suffolk counties which are part of Long Island which to the east of NYC, where the prices also vary substantially.

One other possibility is Staten Island which is part of NYC geographically but very different otherwise.

We had friends that moved from NJ from AK and one went to Putnam country and the other Morris county.
IMDonehere is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 12:33 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,169
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You need to look at the tax situation in the two states, not just property taxes and income taxes, but sales taxes and taxes on fuel, etc. Gasoline in New Jersey is about 50 cents per gallon cheaper than in New York.

Otherwise. Putnam County and Morris County both have lovely areas. Good bus connections to the City can be as important as trains, but weekend service may be poorer. In some ways it depends on where your daughter lives in NYC.

In any case, this will be a huge change for you, and I would strongly advise renting for a couple of years before making a permanent decision.
Ackislander is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 03:20 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,904
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Don't just look at NJ, check out the areas in NY north of the city and in CT east that are on/near the train line and easy to get to the city.
emalloy is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 03:28 AM
  #5  
J62
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 11,923
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
A friend of mine lives in Bergen County and loves the local schools. I forget the exact town, but he says real estate taxes in his town are about $30,000 per year.
J62 is online now  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 03:35 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 42,601
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Connecticut has no state income tax as I recall. THAT an issue for you?
Dukey1 is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 03:38 AM
  #7  
J62
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 11,923
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Uhhh... Last I heard CT does in fact have state income tax.
J62 is online now  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 04:06 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 5,904
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yes it does have an income tax, but the OP didn't mention that, and many of the towns near the train have excellent public schools, and peaceful neighborhoods which were on the list of wants.
emalloy is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 04:51 AM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 57,890
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You may want to consider living in some of the more suburban areas of NYC - some of which have excellent schools. Look at neighborhoods like Riverdale in the Bronx and or nicer areas in the far end of Queens. While the city does have income taxes the property taxes are much less than in suburban areas (but yes, their services are better outside the city).

Suggest you start shopping in terms of your real estate and tax budget (I have no idea of prices for anything in Alaska) as well as the quality of local schools - which varies tremendously. The NY Times has a series of articles on neighborhoods all around the city and there are web sites with detailed school info as well as summaries on neighborhood (safety, housing costs, transit options, etc).
nytraveler is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 05:31 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 27,868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What about a job? That would be first concern as far as determining area. Cost of housing/living east coast vs Alaska may be factor, along with salaries. Not sure what kind of price tag shock you are in for, but check it all out.
DebitNM is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 05:49 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Ridgewood, NJ has one of the best public high schools in the state, along with a quaint main street filled with shops and restaurants, and convenient transportation (train or bus) into the city. It is expensive though, in terms of real estate. Also, conduct an online search of Emerson, Harrington Park, Norwood, and Northvale. I lived in Bergen County for 25 years after relocating from the city to raise my children in a suburban area, and I never regretted it. It was the best of both worlds. Other towns to look into are Closter, Demarest, and Cresskill.
cjap is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 07:15 AM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,561
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
>

C'mon now, that's just lazy. A five-second google search disproved your statement. Connecticut has SIX tax brackets and the lowest income level to start getting docked is at 10k.

I wouldn't limit to NJ only. Just about every actual city in NJ is a bloody pit (Camden, Jersey City, Trenton, Newark), so you need to establish yourself in suburbia somewhere. And NJ is the most densely populated state - a far cry from Alaska, even downtown Anchorage.

Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties are all around NYC but not in it. If you live north of the city, as long as you're on the right (read: east) side of the Hudson, you'll have easy access to Metro-North trains that give a straight shot to the city. If you live on the Island, you'll have LIRR access to Hell's waiting room Penn Station.

And southwestern Fairfield County in Connecticut has transit connections to the city just as good as the NY counties mentioned above because it's on the New Haven Metro-North line (http://web.mta.info/mnr/html/mnrmap.htm). Plus it's on the good side of the Yankee/RedSax divide so you don't have to deal with as many interbred Bostonian wannabes.
BigRuss is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 08:05 AM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,052
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Russ, I assume you've lived in NJ, thus you are able to make such definitive statements virtually discounting the entire state.
LouisaH is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 09:29 AM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 7,561
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Louisa, what is the phrase about what happens when you "assume"?

Tell me what I said about the "entire state" of New Jersey. I discussed its cities. There are plenty of fine places like Princeton (30k) and Morristown (18k residents). And there are dumps galore (Camden #1 in violent crime in 60-100k cities and #2 in all cities in the US with > 40k people, Trenton #5 same category, Paterson and Newark - each with crime rates more than 60% higher than NYC).

And New Jersey is the most densely populated state. This is a fact.
BigRuss is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 12:55 PM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,158
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
There are many lovely communities described above, however, think you'd best start w/ amount you would be able to pay; look at real estate in towns mentioned above which will provide you w/ tax figures and see what you can get. Compare similar dwellings in various counties, NJ/NY/CT are all very high; (our daughter is in Bergen County and our son in coastal southern CA, about the highest, so we are all used to big numbers). NYT Sunday Real Estate provides interesting weekly feature w/ pictures, prices, what you get and what it cost, perhaps you can get it online. Alot of Morris County is served by the Midtown Direct train, just about all of Bergen County is not, most commuters drive or take bus. We love being on the train line and access midtown in 60 minutes from Morristown. We like being one hour from the city, one hour from the beach and less than one hour from the mountains. We also love being 20 minutes from an international airport and travelling pretty much anywhere nonstop! Do rent first for as long as you can before buying, you're going to have a huge culture adjustment.
aliced is offline  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 07:05 PM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,014
Received 42 Likes on 2 Posts
Ok, I'll speak a bit about NJ. I live 10 mins from Trenton and drive on the boarder of Trenton everyday to work. I agree while I would never say go live there, Camden is a lot more scarier in my opinion, there are very nice areas not far too away that fall under "Trenton". The truth is the further north you go in NJ the higher real estate and taxes are. Maybe not all areas but pretty much so. I'd actually say maybe you look into Connecticut.
sassy27 is online now  
Old Sep 17th, 2014, 07:10 PM
  #17  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 999
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You might make contact w/ some of the larger real estate firms. Weichert, Douglas Elliman, Sotheby's etc. Look in the real estate section of the Sunday NY Times. Look at the Bergen Record RE ads.
330east is offline  
Old Sep 18th, 2014, 01:33 AM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 23,138
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Agree with cjap above- look in Bergen County, NJ. Probably lots of other places, but also very familiar with these towns. Many have small town feel (some with populations around 6,000 with regional high schools that are excellent) but within an hour of NYC. Mostly bus service for public transit into NYC. Cost of real estate and property taxes are major drawback.
gail is offline  
Old Sep 21st, 2014, 06:37 AM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 674
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
We've lived in Madison, NJ, for 27 years. With a population of 16,000, it's a college town/bedroom community with direct train service to NYC, about :45 to 1:10 away. Newark Airport is :25 away by car.

Madison has a distinct and, despite the presence of nearby shopping malls, vibrant downtown, with many shops and restaurants. Drew University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and The College of Saint Elizabeth are located in or near Madison.

We live one mile from downtown Madison and one mile from The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, the largest non-tropical swamp on the East Coast, an amazingly tranquil rural outpost only a little over 20 miles from the heart of Manhattan.

Madison High School is very highly thought of, though it seems to have a lower USNews rating than it ought to: http://www.usnews.com/education/best...h-school-12626

Have look at the Borough's website: www.rosenet.org. Incidentally, the reference to roses (the Borough is still called "The Rose City") stems (pardon the pun) from Madison's history in the late 19th and early 20th century as one of the largest rose-growing areas in the United States, significantly enhanced by the presence of the railroad for transport of roses to New York and beyond. Importation of foreign-grown roses with the dawn of jet age spelled the end of that once preeminent industry here. Not a single greenhouse remains; our home was built on the former site of one.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia article on Madison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison,_New_Jersey
bspielman is offline  
Old Sep 21st, 2014, 06:51 AM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 42,601
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Big Russ, why would I bother to Google something when YOU are hanging around making a show of correcting me?

Lazy? How could I possibly be that with you watching my ever move?
Dukey1 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -