AilsWallace

Hello Folks!

We will be moving over for my husband's work and he will be based in New York...I know, that cuts it down a bit. Current commute is about an hour. A few colleagues who have moved out there have suggested New Jersey as a place to live but I was hoping to get some advice on where might be best.
No kids and don't want an apartment/flat. Would prefer a house and, ideally, with garden even if only a small one. We will be renting for ourselves with help finding it from his work.

Any and all help appreciated

Aileen

The Horticulturalist

I can't help you with the New Jersey recommendations for a house but here are a couple of questions that may help others answer your questions.

What is your budget for housing? Current commute is an hour, are you ok with that time or are you looking for a shorter commute? Your husband will be working in New York, will that be in Manhattan?

AilsWallace

Hello!
I'm pretty sure it is Manhattan, commute can be the same, think we are looking in the region of about £800 a month but that will hopefully be able to go up a bit. Good questions! Will try to be more precise..not very good at that

The Horticulturalist

That doesn't sound like anywhere near enough per month to get a house anywhere within commuting distance to the city, you wouldn't get a rental house where I live in Mississippi for that.

In fact, I'd hazard a guess that it may not be enough to get a poky apartment in Hoboken, but others with more local knowledge will give you more realistic prices for renting homes.

AilsWallace

I had a funny feeling you might say that. Thanks for replying, any and all help appreciated

AlphaTangoMike

You may need to revise your housing budget significantly. I suggest having a look at one of the property sites such as zillow.com. That should give you an idea of the average rental prices for the area that you are interested in. The 1 hour commute to Manhattan really pushes up the prices. Good luck with your move.

Jerseygirl

There are many past threads about the best commuting areas from NJ to NYC. Particularly look for threads/posts by Englishmum. Try the BE search engine to search the US forums for the threads...give me a shout if you need help with this.

AilsWallace

Will have a look. Thanks for the help :-)

AilsWallace

"Shout!" BE search? Help?

The Horticulturalist

Try these threads to get you started:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=commute+NJ+NY

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=commute+NJ+NY

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=commute+NJ+NY

Jerseygirl

Click on the 'Search' tab...located in the pink bar at the top of the page. Go to Advanced Search. Go to Search Thread Titles...type in New Jersey or similar. Make sure you highlight the US forums in your search. This should then bring up the threads with NJ in the title.

AilsWallace

Much appreciated!

AilsWallace

Thank you! That helps me a lot

rpjs

If you can find out exactly where in Manhattan your husband will be working, then you can work out which commuter rail lines are closest and look along them. So for instance if he's going to be in Midtown East near Grand Central look along the Metro-North (I commute in to Grand Central from Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow on the Hudson Line). If he's going to be nearer Penn then look at New Jersey or Long Island. If he's going to be in the financial district then he won't be particularly close to either commuter rail terminal but there are plenty of subway connections to there. There are also good commuter bus links from NJ to the Port Authority Bus Terminal near Times Square.

One thing to factor in re New Jersey is that he'd need to submit two state tax returns - one to New York where he works and one to New Jersey where he lives (you only actually pay one set of state taxes though). On the other hand, if you're considering buying a house ultimately, property taxes in NJ, whilst high, are generally lower than in NYS where they can be quite eye-wateringly high.

AilsWallace

His work are in the process of opening a new office so until they do that we won't know precisely where he will be based. Cor, it's all a bit complicated! Thanks for the advice on commutes.