We think we might be moving to New Jersey later this year and seeing as I've never even been there, just thinking about it is really stressing me out. I'm not even sure where to start... We will be moving with a 1 year old and 3 year old and would need to find a rental in the vicinity of NYC. I guess I am wondering what neighborhoods would be family friendly? But also walkable since we will most likely only have one car? And how does the rental market work? Do I need to find a broker? How far ahead would I need to come look for a place? Ahhh...any and all advice would be much appreciated! I get a headache just thinking of the logistics of moving, let alone building a new life for us in a place I haven't been and don't know anyone... Thanks for reading!
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I will get back to you! I have to run to a meeting but don't want to loose this post. Please stand by.
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I live in Bergen County, NJ, and I think it's a great area to raise kids! There's lots of activities around, amazing amazing schools, people are friendly, and you get the suburban life + accessiblity to a big city. Will one of you be working in NYC? Do you know what towns you are specifically looking for? I commuted for many years to work in Manhattan. The bus lines go to Port Authority and are convenient. I think you could find something relatively fast in terms of a rental, but I'm not too sure about the necessity of a broker. I will be honest and say one car might be hard as we survived on one car for a while. There are plenty of streets to walk on and depending on where you live, some smaller playgrounds/smaller stores might be accessible, but for going shopping or more main-stream activties, a car would probably be needed. When would you be moving? Looking forward to potentially having another NJ bee
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I lived in Jersey City for 4+ years... Both Jersey City and Hoboken are really close to NYC and mostly walkable, depending on where you live. You definitely don't need a broker to find an apartment. There are a lot of managed buildings in Jersey City but I also used Craigslist. Do you have any idea where exactly you're looking to move? How accessible to NYC do you need to be?
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I think I found my Hoboken apartment through Hoboken Eye, directly listed by the landlord. I did use a broker as well, but I didn't have any luck there.
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@yerpie110: Thanks for your answer! DH will be working in various locations in northern NJ, so he is deferring to me on where we should live. I do a lot of solo parenting, so he said I should choose anyplace I'm going to feel comfortable walking around, taking them to parks, quick errands etc. Most likely we will not be able to afford another car, and since we might have to move again after a year, we were thinking I should take advantage of taking the kids into the city. But is this a crazy idea? I'm totally terrified of the idea of real winter with my two little tornadoes.
We will probably move in June/July/August. I'm just trying to figure out the logistics, like am I going to need to go up for a few days to find a place and then sign a lease for the beginning of the next month, or are we going to be able to all arrive and find a place we could move into a few days later? -
@LindsayInNY: I actually have NO idea of where to be. We don't need to be super accessible to NYC because we won't be commuting, but would like for me to be able to get into the city with the kiddos from time to time. Mainly I'm just looking for an area where I can take the kids to a park easily, and maybe do smaller errands during the day and then when DH is home we can do larger grocery runs etc. I'm not sure if we will be able to afford any type of preschool for my older LO, so an area that's going to be safe and maybe have child-oriented things would be nice.
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Montclair, Summit, Alpine. All really nice.
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@looch: thank you! off to google...
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@baby boy mom if you want something more urban/walkable where you will most likely rent an apartment, then hoboken. tons of young families, parks, restaurants, and very easy and quick access into NYC. 1 car would be totally fine there and you can walk anywhere. if you want something more suburban but still with a town/village/main street feel, then maplewood is a great town, as are south orange and montclair. all have access into NYC by bus/train.
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@lioneyes: thank you! That definitely sounds like what we are looking for! DH said if we do end up somewhere that requires two cars then we could "work something out" but I think I'm really just a city girl at heart and would prefer to be able to get around on foot.
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@Baby Boy Mom: If you need north jersey, I think somewhere like Edgewater would be great. There is so much great shopping within walking distance, parks, and playgrounds. Plus, it's right along the water and the paths boast amazing views. Plenty of beautiful apartment complexes with great amenities (I have a few friends who live there), and NYC is accessible by a quick ferry ride away! I wouldn't feel comfortable taking my LO (and I only have one!) alone on a bus, but I would be okay with ferry and train. The town is more expensive because of the water and proximity to NYC, and I'm unsure of your budget, but I think it could be a great place.
Fort Lee is another town right by NYC as that's where the GWB is. There are a continuous flow of buses to NYC (and it is a VERY short ride in) and lots of apartment buildings and children's activities. Not as nice as Edgewater, but cheaper.
Englewood is a town right by me with a nice center (around Palisade Ave) where there is lots of stores, both popular chains and small mom and pop shops, and I love to take my LO to walk around there. NYC is easily accessible by bus as well.
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@Baby Boy Mom: we lived in Jersey City for a year and now live in Hoboken. What's your price range? I ask because....I don't know where you are moving from, but places here are...expensive. Are you looking for a 2 bedroom?
Of course, it depends on the particular building, but a 2 bedroom in a building with elevators is going to be in the 3000-3500 and up range. Parking is usually an extra monthly fee. You can rent a condo someone else owns, but you may indeed need a broker for that (or they may put it for rent themselves, on Craigslist or someplace, but it depends on the owners).
We lived in this building last year in Jersey City and it was nice enough--it had a gym and a pool, was walking distance from a mall, a couple grocery stores, a Target, and a really great park on the water with a playground: http://www.marbellajc.com/ AND each unit has a washer/dryer which is hard to find around here.
But we ended up moving because we wanted a 2 bedroom and we figured out it's cheaper to own than rent here. Now we live in uptown Hoboken--and I will say that Hoboken is definitely family friendly and there are a TON of mom groups, play groups, baby classes, etc---but rent is steep and space is small, so it's a trade-off.
If you aren't set on the city, I work in Bergen county and some of the towns that are nice (houses are pricey because of crazy high property taxes but renting is a lot cheaper than closer to NYC and they all have commuter trains to the city) and have walkable small town centers are Westwood, Ridgewood, and Hillsdale. I've also heard good things about Montclair but it's further southwest from where I work, so I don't have much reason to go that way.
I also have a couple friends in my mommy group here who live in West Orange/Weehawken down by the river. There are a bunch of new condos and apartment complexes on River Road that are brand new, really nice, and very family friendly. There's a ferry terminal to the city as well as the bus system and although it's not *as* walkable, there are still things within walking distance (depends on the apartment complex).
We've only lived here for 1.5 years, but we've already lived in 3 places in JC and Hoboken, so if you have any other questions, let me know!
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@yerpie110: @Anagram: Thank you both for all the suggestions! I'm going to check out all these places. Our budget is going to be "as little as possible", but in the totally serious way. I realize I'm going to have major sticker shock regarding pretty much everything, but we are coming from a developing country, so that's to be expected. Ideally we would get a two bedroom, although a one bedroom is not totally off the table since it's going to probably be short term. We have no problem with compromising on space and definitely don't need amenities, but my number one is somewhere that is going to be safe for me to walk around with the kiddos and for DH to get in late at night.
I'm going to map out these places and look around and will probably be back with more questions. At the moment I'm really just trying to wrap my head around everything and get a plan together. -
Sorry it took so long. These are some good suggestions. A few things to consider - Hoboken is notorious for having terrible parking and both Hoboken and Jersey City have had flooding issues in the past. They are great cities if you are commuting into NYC but if you don't have that I would suggest living further in the burbs. It isn't cheap but Ridgewood may be a good option for you. It is very walkable and extremely family friendly with some great parks. There is a train to get you into NYC. I live in Westwood which has a cute downtown area (voted #1 shopping district in Bergen Co this year) and we love it. Also with a cute downtown is Ramsey. These are pricy area's. Bergen County is the 2nd most expensive county in the US after Beverly Hills, CA. Please keep that in mind.
If you want to go a little more South (I see West Orange listed above) you may want to look into Westfield or Maplewood. Both are super cute towns with great family options.
Let me know what you like and if you want more southern options I will give you some of those as well. I moved to NJ as a teenager and have lived all over the state plus went to College here. I love NJ and am a Jersey girl with pride!
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I think we need a northern NJ bee meetup. I had no idea there were so many of us!
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@Anagram: I would be up for that!
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Suburban towns in north Jersey that are walkable and have a direct train into Manhattan: Montclair, Summit, Westfield.
Ridgewood is also walkable but, like most towns in Bergen County you will have to transfer trains at Secaucus or Hoboken which will make the commute into midtown longer and more annoying.
Hoboken and JC are more urban. We live in Hoboken primarily for the short commute and walkability. I am resisting the move out to the 'burbs, though in the long run it's probably inevitable once our son is in elementary school. Since we both commute to Manhattan we only use our car on the weekends. We share one car and pay about $200/mo for a spot in a garage since we don't have parking in our condo.
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@Ms.SK: @ElbieKay: Thank you both! I actually have a bunch more questions, but I have two sick kiddos at home today, so I will try to get on when they are napping!
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@Baby Boy Mom: Sure. I grew up in Short Hills, lived in Hoboken for 2 years after college, then spent 9 years living and working in Manhattan before my husband and I moved to Hoboken in 2011 after we got engaged. I really value walkability and short commuting time, especially now that we are about to have a baby. Montclair and Summit were the only two towns I was willing to consider due to those two factors. (Westfield is a nice option too but we'd be 5 minutes from my parents instead of 20, and that has too much potential to drive me crazy.)
Summit will have higher housing prices but Montclair has ridiculous property taxes and is more economically diverse.
I am four days overdue, so if you reply later I may or may not be able to respond immediately!
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@Baby Boy Mom: ask away! Better yet, come house hunting!
@ElbieKay: 4 days overdue - you must be dying! Good luck!
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So I'm pretty sure I caught whatever it is the kids have....and my brain is not working at all right now, but I will be back.
Just wanted to pop in and say good luck @ElbieKay !
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@Baby Boy Mom: oh man, hope you feel better! i am also in jersey so feel free to reach out if you have any questions. As pp pointed out Hoboken and Jersey City are more urban and very convenient (walkable, lots of supermarkets, restaurants, parks, close to nyc) but pretty pricey. Other nice areas I know of are Westfield, South Orange, Summit, Maplewood, and Millburn. We are actually house-hunting now and looking at areas in Bergen County - Ridgewood, Englewood.
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Ok, so I have been studying google maps like crazy, and after talking to DH I think we are going to prefer living somewhere more urban. I think that the suburbs might be too isolating when we are potentially only going to be there for one year. I guess if we stay longer we would move again since we would need to consider schools and such but with the kids being so little it doesn't seem as important. Right now we are thinking somewhere between Hoboken and Fort Lee. Is there any specific area I would need to avoid? Or will it all be sort of similar?
Another question, regarding driving/roads my understanding is that many are toll roads? Are there highways that are better/worse? My thought is that if DH is going to have mountains of tolls that's another thing that's going to dig into the budget...
Also, like a month ago I read this article about carjackings, specifically in Hoboken...This kind of freaks me out…
I've been trying to sort of imagine what our day to day would look like, and I'm not really sure how we are going to deal with winter? For example, now when the kids are bored or acting out I just take them outside to the grass and problem solved, but if it's snowy?! I dunno, I'm probably over- thinking this, but I feel like it might help me decide on what factors are going to be must-haves for a place to live...so if you have any insight that would be much appreciated.
That's what I have so far this morning...I'm sure more to come, but feel free to reply to any of my ramblings
@Jellyfish: @Ms.SK: @ElbieKay: @Anagram: @yerpie110: -
@Baby Boy Mom: Where is your husband's office going to be? If he'll be working in Manhattan then he should plan on using public transit to get to work (unless he will be driving at non-rush hour times and can afford to rent a parking spot near his office, which would probably be $400-500/month).
I would not worry about carjackings. I don't even know anyone who has been carjacked.
I don't have a baby yet, so it's hard for me to comment on your question about winter. In general people do shovel and plow, so other than the day that it's actually snowing you can still get out and about, though you may have to watch out for ice patches. I have lived here for so long that I don't really let the cold stop me from going about my day. You just bundle up and head out. If you think your kids are going to need space to run around when it's really cold, you can also look for facilities like a Gymboree or something. One benefit of the suburbs is that it would be easier to find places for outdoor winter activities like sledding.
It's a little harder to find, but even in an urban area you may be able to find a garden apartment with a backyard, or a building with a common backyard. Hoboken also has a lot of parks. That's what I am planning to use with our baby once he is big enough since my condo doesn't have access to private outdoor space.
If you want someplace urban and walkable on the west side of the Hudson, then Hoboken and Jersey City are your best bets. You will need a car to get around places like Edgewater and Fort Lee.
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@Baby Boy Mom: re: areas. Between Hoboken and Fort Lee, you have Weehawken, West New York, Guttenberg, and Edgewater. Basically, the nicest areas are the ones on the Hudson (look at any apartment complexes on River Road/Port Imperial Blvd).
Weehawken and West New York are kind of split into two areas: up on the cliff and down by the river, and you probably want the down by the river section, just because it's more white collar, newer, more young family, etc.
West New York has a little shopping area called the Shops at Riverwalk Place, surrounded by apartment complexes that are pretty nice. That area is full of young families (skewing asian but diverse overall), so most of the apartment complexes have pools, playgrounds, etc. and the shopping area has a supermarket, couple of restaurants, nail salon, starbucks, etc.
Edgewater is definitely more driving friendly (but has some areas that are very walkable) and also has a nice strip mall shopping center called The Promenade with all kinds of shops (gap, Ann Taylor, carter's, movie theater) and then just down the road a Trader joe's, Whole Foods, Target, other grocery stores, etc.
I *think* both West new York and Edgewater have direct ferry service to Manhattan, as well as bus service to Manhattan. But I haven't been on them, since I live in Hoboken and we have our own ferry terminals/bus stops.
I live in Hoboken and feel extremely safe here. It's extremely walking friendly, so people are out and about walking until late in the night. Haven't heard anything about carjackings, but our building has a parking garage and I really only drive for work. On weekends, we walk mostly.
Winter: This took a little adjusting for me (and a LOT of adjusting for my raised-in-a-tropical-climate-husband) but the world does not stop during winter. EVERYONE still walks outside and goes about their life in winter, even with their babies and kiddos.
Even on the coldest, snowiest days you see people pushing their strollers. Get a good stroller blanket (I have the new Jjcole Polar adjustable size stroller bunting) and a windcover and your little ones are set.
Your kids will need winter gear---good news is, there's a very active "Hoboken mommies group" (dads are welcome there too) on Yahoo groups where people constantly post used gear and clothing, so you can for sure get stroller blankets, kid snow boots, etc. used on there. I've gotten a ton of my baby stuff for cheap through that group.
If you are looking at Hoboken in particular, it's a small town (with high population density) so location wise, you can't really go wrong. I prefer my area (back of uptown) because it's walking distance to my fave grocery store and with a baby, I find myself going there a lot. But I have friends who live downtown and everywhere and between and everyone likes where they live.
Toll roads.....you can avoid them, but if they are the fastest way to go, you'll probably want to use them. I-95 is a toll road, but in some areas it isn't (confusing, I know) and Garden State Parkway is a toll road. Those are the only ones I've had to use and I often use them to get to and from work--but I can also avoid them and sometimes I do to spend less $$ on tolls--it just depends on the traffic.
I wrote a book, sorry! But we moved here from Dallas, and I had so many of the same questions, so I know how it is.
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@Baby Boy Mom: I guess it depends on where you live in certain towns? I disgree about Edgewater and Fort Lee not being walkable. It may not be AS walkable as Hoboken or Jersey City, but depending on where your complex is located, and how far/close it is to the center of town, to me, it is most certainly walkable, Edgewater especially. If you're along the water, or close to it, you'd have so much available to you. In Fort Lee, if your apartment is by Main Street, you won't have too much of an issue either. I've walked around both towns with my own LO and I have friends who have lived in both areas without cars without much of an issue.
I think the question is, how walkable do you need a location to be? I live in a pretty suburban town, and my first nanny did not have a car. When it was colder out, I would arrange playdates for her with friends within walking distance of me and that's mostly how the winter was survived. I imagine in an apartment complex, you would have be neighbors with other children and find play dates that way. This winter has been much harsher than last year, but I just tell my new nanny to bundle her up and head on out! She does have a car, but I have her take her on walks some days, even if it's chilly out (40 degrees and above).
There are tolls on the garden state parkway and nj turnpike, I believe. I used to take 80 for work, no tolls there. I don't know the rates though, unfortunately. I don't think they're outrageous? You can find out here:
http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/toll-rates.html
I don't think carjackings are too common of a problem around here. There was one recent heavily publicized one, but outside of that, it shouldn't be too much of a concern, unless you are considering living in Paterson or Newark or something.
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@ElbieKay: DH is actually going to be working in a few different locations in northern NJ, so we were thinking this way he would be driving against traffic? He actually suggested that we could live in NYC and he could revere commute but that seems like it would be an expensive option with the bridge/tunnel tolls?
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@Baby Boy Mom: It's probably best to come here for a visit and explore first hand. Are you all planning on a trip like that?
The other option is to get a temporary rental and live here a month or two, get to know the area and then look for something more permanent. When we first moved here, we found a 2 month sublet on Craigslist (a couple moving to a bigger place because they were having a baby, but still had 2 months on their old lease)--which is how we ended up in Jersey City the first year.
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@Baby Boy Mom: I'm sure some people live in NYC and commute to NJ, but I would never do it by car. First, tunnel/bridge traffic sucks unless you only travel during non-peak hours, secondly, the tolld are $9-13 to take a car in and out of the city, depending on if you are using cash or toll tag.
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@Baby Boy Mom: Gotcha. Depending on the time of day you may still hit some traffic.
Reverse commuting from NYC would be a pain if he would have to drive, especially on the way home at the end of the day.
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@Anagram: thank you so much! All the details are really helpful! My DH is also originally from Texas.
I lived in New England so I know "life goes on" but haven't been back in a long time...and certainly with kids there are a lot more things to think about.
Also, I meant to write you this earlier, but I clicked through to the building you linked above, and I realized I stayed there one night with family like 10 years ago when I came to NYC. Not only that, but all night I had food poisoning and then the next day ended up meeting my (future) DH. Basically I feel like we've come full circle. Small world huh? -
@yerpie110: ok, gotcha! I figured I shouldn't put too much weight on a ny times article, but for some reason that stuck out in my mind...also I appreciate the different views, I feel like it's helping me get a more complete picture of the area.
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Wow i had no idea so many of you lived in Jersey! I grew up in Bergen County (River Edge, right between Hackensack and Paramus), worked in Fort Lee for a year out of college and moved to Point Pleasant when I got married 4 years ago (I now commute to NYC from PP - ugh!).
I can't give any more info than what's already been given - my mom still lives in Palisades Park (a town bordering Fort Lee) so I'm still up there quite frequently. I can attest to parking being difficult in more urban areas of North Jersey, especially when there's snow - it's been a complete nightmare up there with the snow accumulation. You'll like Jersey! I love it here!
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@chibee: thanks for chiming in!
@Anagram: I'm not sure about how we are going to handle the logistics. We still need confirmation that this is definitely where we are going. Then, I'm not sure...
I also wanted to thank you all again, I've gone from feeling very overwhelmed to feeling like it's all going to work out just fine.
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