Possible relocation to NY NJ area

[camarochevy1970]

Looking for some guidance on a possible relocation opportunity. I may have a job opportunity that would require me to relocate from Pittsburgh to the NY/NJ region, and out of Manhattan. My wife would switch offices and work out of her Jersey City location.

I don't want to live right in town for a few reasons, including cost, and the fact that we have 6 cars and a dog that like grass.

So I am looking for areas to look at that can accommodate car lovers, and not make me so poor that I can't afford the cars.

I have done some research on various sites, however since most of those did not take a car hobby into consideration, I wanted to start by asking car people.

[City]

That's a VERY complex question to address. First off, get your dog into rehab.

Based on your brief list of priorities, your most significant issue is going to be a garage to accomodate 6 cars. So forget about all of Manhattan and most of the boroughs.

I'd search in Nassau County (close on Long Island) and most of NJ (maybe excluding the downtown areas of the larger cities). But NJ has a LOT of areas that will accomodate a car collection. Maybe look along the Palisades Parkway in towns like Englewood Cliffs and Alpine? Just hoping your budget is extravagant.

[camarochevy1970]

so good detail I should have added, I only care about fitting 3 of the cars in garages, the rest are appliances and can sit outside. And in reality, we can probably sell one to get us down to a much more manageable 5 LOL

also worth adding, we are ok doing up to an hour commute into Jersey City. I can just take the path up to Manhattan then

[whitebeard]

Ask Plumcrazy as well. He lived in that screwed up state for years.

[ViperTony]

To the extent possible, avoid the tri-state area, it's not worth it. You'll be glad you did.

[Trick]

To the extent possible, avoid the tri-state area, it's not worth it. You'll be glad you did.

Hes not wrong, run, dont walk away from NY CT NJ...

[camarochevy1970]

I hear you on the region. Unfortunately this role will never be available where I am today, so this is kind of a fork in the road point for us

[ViperTony]

I hear you on the region. Unfortunately this role will never be available where I am today, so this is kind of a fork in the road point for us

Well, there a lot of Viper brothers and sisters in the tri-state, you won't be lonely. But in all seriousness, don't move to CT. Don't even drive through it you'll catch high taxes and stupidity if you do.

[plumcrazy]

I suggest staying in Pittsburgh but if you have to move there, look in North Western nj. But be prepared to get smacked in the face with prices and taxes.

What kinda money are you willing to spend ?

If you have any northern NJ questions, let me know

[Patentlaw]

Respectfully, having lived in the NJ for over 40 years, I have to say it is very important where you buy. There are very few areas that are holding their values in the real estate market. Middlesex County in NJ is better than others. You have two job markets available to you. NYC and Philadelphia. The schools are far better in Middlesex County as well, so the values go up. You can also pick up some acreage. Princeton, West Windsor - Plainsboro, Montgomery. You can take NJ transit into Jersey City.

Real Estate taxes are going to kill you. Auto Insurance will significantly increase. Even cheap gas in NJ is a thing of the past. Drive on a road.....pay a toll.

[Topplayer]

If you want to live on long island Nassau County is about as good as it gets for garage space/close to the city. But if you are not willing to take train to work I would pass. Driving it is the worst thing in life, the traffic is insane. I was able to find a house with 2x 2.5 car garages with out looking to long. You should contact a real estate agent in each of the areas that you are considering. It is much easier for them to find houses and they get a cut no matter what anyway.
Good luck in your search. If you end up in Nassau drop me a msg, always looking for more viper guys to ride with!

[Granger73]

You might consider the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania.

[Red Snake]

There isn't enough money in the US to convince me to move there.


GLWS

[pMak26]

Having done it for years, from various cities in NJ, be prepared for a tumultuous commute into the city. It doesn't matter what method you use, train, car, ferry, they are all packed, all miserable, and all have delays. If the commute looks like an hour on paper, add 50% more time to the commute for a realistic time. I was miserable, glad I don't do it anymore.

That said, I live in the Morristown area and rather enjoy it. I'm an hour and a half away from NYC, Pocono Speedway, various snowboardable mountains, more mountain biking trails then I'll cover in a lifetime, weekly car meets (when its warm) and still have a decent slice of land to call my own.

[ACR Steve]

Budget is everything . Unfortunately that will lay the ground work to where you should look

[512BB]

Budget will be critical as this area is extremely congested. I believe the stat was if you draw a 100 mile radius circle with the Empire State Building as the center, 10% of the US population will be in that circle!

Given your requirements, I would say that NJ would probably work out best as getting to Jersey City from Long Island is just murderous and it is going to be worse in the near future as construction has started on the rail road. I have a couple of colleagues that travel to JC from LI and they are just miserable! We are consultants so other clients will come through soon. I would say keep it to within 20 to max 30 miles of JC and look at towns that fall in that. Rush hour driving will be mostly horrible as to get to the JC you have to head towards the Holland Tunnel. There are back roads, but basically there is no good answer and depending on the time of day, weather, etc. it can take from 30 minutes to 3 hours to go that distance. Trust me you will make friends with Waze. Based on that you want to be living in a town where you ideally can walk to the train station and catch a train to either Newark or Hoboken and then catch the path. Those towns that have that kind of access tend to have premium on Real Estate. Also, the parking lots get filled up very quickly.

Take a look at a map and see if you can narrow it down. I'll be more than happy to share what I know. Also, if you like want I can introduce you to a Real Estate agent that is a friend of mine. Feel free to PM with any questions about anything.

Welcome to NY/NJ area.