Ideas for nice rentals to downsize in New Jersey with close train ride to NYC?

Parent Cafe
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<p>to add about Montclair, I’m not sure how frequent the trains run on the weekend, but there are frequent direct buses to Port Authority.</p>

<p>If you want less price-y, Bloomfield nearby has been refurbishing its downtown and a transit village is going up next to the train station. It’s not at all an upscale town but very, very near Montclair. A lot of young professionals I work with are renting there rather than their preferred Montclair because of the price difference.</p>

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<p>@“Cardinal Fang”, unless there was a discontinuation of service, there is a train from Summit to Penn Station (via Newark only) with a limited number of stops. That was why it was called the MidTown Direct. Here are a couple of listings: <a href=“http://midtowndirecthomes.com/summit-nj/”>http://midtowndirecthomes.com/summit-nj/&lt;/a&gt;, <a href=“Summit - (New Jersey Transit Midtown Direct Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch) - The SubwayNut”>http://subwaynut.com/njt/morristown_line/summit/&lt;/a&gt;, and more dispositively, <a href=“http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/R0040.pdf”>http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/R0040.pdf&lt;/a&gt;. But, it looks to me that people can get on the train before Summit. There are a few trains, where it stops in Summit, then South Orange and then Penn Station. Anyway, the fact that many trains stop in Summit may drive up RE prices. So, I have no idea if the town is affordable to the OP.</p>

<p>There is also the train to Hoboken and then Path either to the WTC or lower Manhattan including a stop a block from Penn Station.</p>

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<p>You’re right, Shawbridge. I didn’t know about that; it’s new since I lived in NJ.</p>

<p>Summit is an expensive place. Lots of people in finance live there.</p>

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<p>$2500/month minimum and living next to railroad track noise? Maybe rent a place in Florida for less than $1000/month and fly back and forth to NYC on weekends.</p>

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<p>If the kids are launched and you don’t need a lot of space, skip the burbs altogether. You can still get a reasonable rental in Battery Park City if you look around. It has a real neighborhood feel, plenty of services and you are in the city. </p>

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<p>My folks live in Bayside in Queens. 1BR co-ops there are going in the $200k range. City Buses run every 15 min to Flushing. The area is very quiet and liveable.</p>

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<p>Hmmmmm Battery Park City and Maplewood sound very interesting…</p>

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<p>Thanks for your feedback!</p>

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<p>If you want to reduce taxes and pay reasonable rents, stay away from Essex County and Manhattan. There are a lot of nice towns in Bergen county especially along the Hudson River and you can have a view of Manhattan.</p>

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<p>Which towns in Bergen County along the Hudson would you recommend?</p>

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<p>Look carefully at Bergen County - I think real estate taxes/rents, cost of living, will still be high in those towns.</p>

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<p>Be aware the Bergen County still has blue laws…no shopping on Sunday’s! </p>

<p>I might look into Red Bank in Monmouth County. It’s a farther trip into nyc, however you are near the beach and there’s a vibrant arts community. It is, however, a town with contrasting economic realities. Also, much, much cheaper than Essex County. </p>

<p>The underlying problem w NJ property taxes is the way education is funded. It’s 80-90% local property taxes. For towns without a meaningful commercial base, </p>

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<p>My aunt and uncle are in Paramus in Bergen county, they like not having congested traffic in town Sundays with stores closed…they seem to like getting the taxes though the big malls though to help keep their real estate taxes a little lower. Uncle commuted by bus into Manhattan for work his entire adult life. My mom is from little town of Lodi in Bergen…she could see Manhattahan skyline from her bedroom window. Bergen county is seemingly almost a borough of NYC in some ways.</p>

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<p>Isn’t Lodi the town that gets flooded everytime a storm rolls through the area?</p>

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<p>Just asked my mom about Lodi flooding…she said Lodi has had flooding over the years but if you really want a town that floods go to Pompton Lakes, N.J. Housing in Lodi is fairly modest in pricing compared to other towns in Bergen.</p>

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<p>Aren’t you looking at 5k + per month in Battery Park City? Plus parking if you want to keep your car? That’s ok, I guess, if you’ve got it and want to be there instead of where you can move around more freely? </p>

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<p>^^^
Depends on what you want - you can do better than $5000 for a 1BR down there. Just don’t expect the Statue of Liberty views and a lot of space - but that’s anywhere in NYC. Gateway Plaza is probably among the most reasonable rentals down there right now. May do better going directly through an owner who needs to cover costs. Tons of rentals in BPC. Yes, keeping a car in the city is an expense.</p>

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<p>No, that’s the price in most of Manhattan. It can be much cheaper in the outer boroughs.</p>

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<p>Yikes, I looked up that building. Two bedroom 1200 sq feet for $5,500. That will downsize your savings account rather quickly. NYC area is expensive, I know. </p>

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<p>I remember looking at condos in the Summit/Chatham/New Providence area and we couldn’t imagine cramming ourselves and our stuff into the small units we were looking at while still paying $8k or $9k (at the time) in property taxes… so we moved to North Carolina. :)</p>