Relocating to New Jersey
 

We are planning to relocate to NJ. My husband will be working in Manhattan and i will be working in Parsipanny. we have a 4 year old son so looking for good schools and great neighborhood. Looked at some new developments in Flanders,NJ area and love the houses they have to offer. I heard good things about morristown as well but the house for money is not that great and the neighborhoods seems a bit run down as well (maybe i am not looking at the right area). Any recomendations on best single family towns to live in ?? with a decent commute ?
willing to pay upto 800k for a house.

I would check out Madison and Chatham.

Be sure you look into property taxes. An 800k house may cost you $20k/yr in taxes.

thanks for the info. thats what i heard. the houses seems to be comparable to other states of similar areas. however the taxes seems double if not MORE !! (that's going to be a a killer). lower living standards but higher taxes sigh....

Welcome to NJ. It's the same in NY & CT...

I've seen a trend in the last few years where many people are choosing to buy smaller houses as taxes & other costs just continue to rise. I have friends who pay several thousand dollars a MONTH in property tax alone, on top of mortgage, insurance, utilities. A big house can cost $1000/mo to heat in the winter, especially if it uses oil heat at $4/gallon!

Don't forget $100-$150/mo cable/internet bill, and cell phone + data.

It all adds up...

Thanks for all your input. Yes all those things add up and generally are overlooked (note to self to add up the additional expenses). There is a 20% salary increment however not enough to cover all these costs and of cause i figure need to add a significant amount to travel time/cost too??.
We are unfortunately fordced to move with a job relocation and not being able to find any other jobs where we live :(
Get's me thinking how do average income people afford to live in NJ?!!

Where will your husband work in Manhattan - that can have a huge effect on where you decide to live. Some commutes are easy and others can be terminal (1.5 hours each way and more). Ideally you want to be near a train station (MUCH faster than bus) with good/express connections to Penn Station. Unless your husband will work far downtown.

And you should be aware that the Parsippany area is very crowded with office parks - and commuting traffic can be very rough - esp if you work 9 to 5.

We've lived in Madison for 26 years. It's a town of about 20,000 located about 22 miles from Manhattan that meets your criteria: good schools, lovely neighborhoods, viable downtown for shopping and restaurants, etc. NJTransit serves NY Penn Station and Hoboken (across the Hudson from lower Manhattan); trips vary from about 45 to 65 minutes. Parsippany is relatively nearby, maybe 12 miles by Interstate, but even at this distance from New York rush hour traffic is heavy on I-287 and I-80; alternate routes may be shorter and faster.

The job site location in Manhattan is most important. If downtown, Wall Street then live in NJ; if mid-town Connecticut or Westchester are much better, train to Grand Central.

The commute from CT or Westchester to her job in Parsipanny would be tough though, no? Living in NJ makes sense to me if one of the breadwinners will work in NJ.

Forgot the commute involved two people. So NJ it is.. You may find it better to give up on the size of the home to access better schools and commutes in what will be a. Ore expensive town. However, the pluses of good schools ar so important.

I know very little about NJ but have good friends who live in Cresskill and love it. Good schools, nice houses, very pretty, near the palisades, close to Manhattan but commute is by bus.

You will want to research schools and commute carefully, as these will have the biggest impact on which town you pick. Be aware that generally each town controls it's local schools so quality of schools can differ greatly between two towns that are right next to each other. Seems like somewhere in Morris County might be good for you (Madison and Chatham were good suggestions above). Perhaps Somerset county. Get a good realtor.

Be sure that you check carefully about potential flood zones.

When I worked in Parsiappany one new colleague nearly bought in one (working without a realtor) before some one mentioned that she needed to check carefully.

Mclaurie's suggestion of Cresskill would be fine but for the commute to Parsippany. It's not close (over 30 miles), and the rush hour traffic would be a deal-killer (45 minutes with no traffic; much longer with).

Take a look at Ramsey, NJ.

Mt Lakes School District is an excellent system and one of the highest rated. Close to Parsippany and bus routes. Not sure about trains.

You need to be careful about bus commutes. They are much more subject to delays in the winter - trains run in everything except a major blizzard - while a few inches of snow can double the time for a bus commute.

Trains are the best option, hands down. A bus commute is affected by traffic and weather plus it's harder to read or work on a bus.. Buses usually go to Port Authority on west side, 8th Ave /40-41 St.

is Flanders to far ? commute would be from Netcong