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Need help Looking for a place in NJ not far off NYC...

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dayg

Senior member
Hi All,

Anyone lives near NYC and looking for a place? I'm a first time buyer, and need some pointers or sites. I'm in the process of finding a new place in NJ but close to NYC. No more Apartments, I'm looking to buy a 1BR or 2BR Condo/Co Op/house under $200K. Here are some of questions I have:

1. Which Real Estate(s) I should contact? and what are their rates?
2. Which real estate area/county I should be looking/focusing? I am buying it to live-in and as an investment.
3. How do one buy a place with little or no money down?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
how about a place in Staten island? I think they are still pretty cheap, but prices are going up ever since they capped off the landfill.

rich
 
richardycc,
Which area in staten Island? Is commute to NYC a problem? Also, do the resident there get a break on toll bridges?


ThePresence,
As long as I can get into the NYC in about an hour by public transportation. Anything more than 1 1/2 hours is just too much for me. What do you have in mind? 🙂

 
ThePresence,
As long as I can get into the NYC in about an hour by public transportation. Anything more than 1 1/2 hours is just too much for me. What do you have in mind? 🙂
Click to expand...
This.
Also check out Passaic and Clifton. Closer to NYC, some really nice and quiet areas there.
 
check out Hoboken and Newport in NJ. Both are good quality neighborhoods and 25 min from Manhattan.

Hoboken is more of a party town with mostly young professionals as residents, but also a little more expensive then Newport.

Both have gorgeous views on the island of Manhattan though.
 
You might consider Rutherford/East Rutherford/Carlstadt/Woodridge/Hasbrouck Heights area. Decent commute, decent neighborhoods, cheaper than Hoboken. A quick check of realtor.com shows 1 br condos starting around 75K. Take the bus from port authority to downtown rutherford and look around.

There are also a lot of commuters in the Teaneck area (Bergenfield, etc) house prices may be a bit cheaper but I don't know it as well. I commuted for years from East Rutherford. Lived there without a car for quite a while, too. Not as easy as NYC without a car, but possible.

Good luck!

 
Bad market right now. I am looking too (in Manhattan and Brooklyn) and the prices are out of control.
 
I live in rutherford. It's kind of expensive here in relation to the cost of places in the sourounding towns but it's really nice. The sourrounding towns are pretty ghetto, thats why its cheaper. East Rutherford is ok if you stay close to the rutherford border. Rutherford if a 20 minute express bus ride (#190) form the 42nd street and times square port authority. and we have a train, but I've never taken it to the city before. the local bus takes about 40 minutes to get to the city. There's another bus that goes to some where else in the city but I've never taken that one so I don't really know. <15 minute drive from NYC.

secacus is also decent.
 
Theres several trains that go in and out of NYC from NJ so you can live in alot of places in NJ.

If you wanna live close by, you can live in hoboken, newport area in jersey city or the downtown area in jersey city. all three provide trains and ferries to nyc. travel time is about 15-30mins.

otherwise you can live anywhere on the northeast corridor as we call it here. thats there the northeast nj transit train runs. www.njtransit.com for more info. the corridor runs from nyc south to all the way down to princeton, nj - by train its about 1 hour from princeton and less as you head closer to the city. i, myself, live in edison, nj and its about 40mins on the train to get into penn station nyc.

you can also live fairly far out west and take the other nj transit trains in. almost all trains take under an hour to get into the city so just make sure you are near them.

you can also live along the river in nj above hoboken etc in west new york, edgewater, fortlee - they all have buses that will take you into the city.

i would suggest that you first move here, rent an apartment and live in nj for a 6month lease then go house shopping..


 
Hoboken kicks ass! My friend used to live off 5th and Washington until he was forced to move into Manhattan. Hoboken has the most bars per capita of any town in the USA, and LOTS of hot women (saw them jogging around in the spring/fall all the time!) Actually, I think 85% of the population of Hoboken is between the ages of 21-28.

Oh yea, to get to NYC you can either take the PATH train or the ferry. My friend worked inside World Financial Center until 9/11, and he took the ferry to WTC/WFC every morning. You can't beat a 20 minute commute to work in Manhattan!!! I wonder if that ferry is running again...

Oops almost forgot. Hoboken is geared more towards renters, but they have many more short-term lease options than what you'll find in NY I believe. I would go with what someone already said--rent first and then buy...
 
Thanks all for the info.

gotsmack, it would seem that Rutherford might be an ideal place to live in. I like express bus/train in/out of the city for fast commute and yet affordable. A friend of mine told me recently that Passic county and Burgen county are the hottest area. Real Estates are shooting through the roof. Can anyone second that? I was thinking about Fortlee and Edgewater...but too damn expensive. Also Hoboken are just outright expensive and like some of you already mentioned...its a party town.

Mwilding, thanks for the links. However, I've been in Hoboken many times...nice place to live-in, great night-life, very close to the city. Just one thing, can't afford it. I refuse to live in a closet space Co-Op/Condo for $180K if not much more. 😀

How about some good links out there for condo/house? Anyone?
 
Anyone knows any good site that clearify the advantage vs disadvantage of owning a condo vs co-op?
 
I'll take a look in the paper for prices of condos in my area. I'll post more later

what is the difference between a condo and an apartment? When I think condo I think of the entire floor of a building
 
Originally posted by: dayg
Hi All,
I'm in the process of finding a new place in NJ but close to NYC. No more Apartments, I'm looking to buy a 1BR or 2BR Condo/Co Op/house under $200K. Here are some of questions I have:
1. Which Real Estate(s) I should contact? and what are their rates?
2. Which real estate area/county I should be looking/focusing? I am buying it to live-in and as an investment.
.
Click to expand...

Well, I know my area pretty well... for under $200k, you might be strapped to find a good place in my county (Bergen) even though we're just right across from the GWB. Fort Lee/Edgewater has lots and lots of new condos, apts, whatnot on the riverfront that would be good investments if it weren't for the generally crappy (rushed) build quality of the newer places. If you do find one, it would be a solid investment though since property values still continue to skyrocket. My friend's 3BR family apartment went from like 100k to well over 200k since the late 80s. Forget trying to get a house in NJ for under $200k... it's the truth when people say NJ has the highest property values in the US. Even higher than Hawaii. Expect to pay about a quarter million for a decent house.

I agree that Passaic is probably a better place to look. The commute is a tad longer (about 20min or so) but the Wayne/the Caldwells are are really nice. I know a lot of friends that live in Bloomfield (further south) as well. Of course, ALL these areas have skyrocketing values as well. You can try Orange county on top of Hoboken & Jersey City. (BTW, the Caldwells area are where the some of the mafiosos are. Same with a section of Fort Lee. Mafiosos = low crime)

My suggestion about real estate agents/brokers is try to find someone that won't screw you over... ie a family member/friend/etc. Otherwise, be prepared to be royally screwed on broker fees. Check NJOnline or North Jersey.com for some housing classifieds. Hope this helps...
 
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