West Orange? South Orange? Elsewhere? (Newark, Irvington: to rent, crime rate, broker)
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We are narrowing our search for our upcoming relocation, and have been looking at properties in South Orange, West Orange and Maplewood.
SO and M seem to be the ideal -- 'safe' bedroom communities with about a 30-45min commute to Manhattan (depending on how you go.) We are looking for a SFH to rent, and inventory is quite limited in those areas, so we are broadening our search.
We found a home in WO that is right up our alley in terms of design/layout. I've been reading things on here that have me concerned about the location. It's on Valley Road, a stone's throw from CVS. If you send me a DM, I'll give you the address. Some here seem to think WO is fine, other's say some areas have a lot of crime, particularly on the same street that this house is on. I don't know if the house is in the location they are talking about though.
Any other suggestions for locations in New Jersey where we can rent a SFH for $3K or under, 3/2 or 4/2, older home (1940 or earlier), finished basement? One broker has told us to look along the line that South Orange is on: Milburn, Chatham, Madison, etc. Not finding a lot.
Montclair seems like it would work, but it's a bit far out.
We need to find something very soon, move will be in December or January.
Crime is not high in West Orange, but Valley Rd. is probably the least desirable area of town. People who think crime is high here are not familiar with the town. I've lived here for several years and never even remotely had a problem with crime. South Orange and Maplewood actually have higher crime rates than West Orange, particularly because they border Newark and Irvington. You can look up crime rates right on this website:
West Orange: 132.2
South Orange: 244.8
The Maplewood crime numbers seem to be missing right now, but as you can see, the crime rate in SO is significantly higher than WO (national average is 319, so both towns are very safe)
Crime is not high in West Orange, but Valley Rd. is probably the least desirable area of town...
Can you define 'least desirable'...?
It didn't look great on googlemaps, I have to admit, but it didn't look totally dumpy either. Hard to say from GM though... the inside of the house is amazing...
We found a home in WO that is right up our alley in terms of design/layout. I've been reading things on here that have me concerned about the location. It's on Valley Road, a stone's throw from CVS. If you send me a DM, I'll give you the address. Some here seem to think WO is fine, other's say some areas have a lot of crime, particularly on the same street that this house is on. I don't know if the house is in the location they are talking about though.
Assuming you're talking about the CVS on South Valley near Orange Heights, it's kind of near Orange, but I think the crime issues there are overblown. The actual problems are more around Washington Street.
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One broker has told us to look along the line that South Orange is on: Milburn, Chatham, Madison, etc. Not finding a lot.
Yeah, Millburn, Chatham, and Madison are pricey.
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Montclair seems like it would work, but it's a bit far out.
If you're near a train station it should be fine (Montclair line has a Midtown Direct also), but Montclair has its not so nice spots too.
Note that from the West Orange location you're talking about you'd probably take the jitney to the South Orange train station, and it takes a roundabout route. Unless you get up really early in the morning, there's no parking available at South Orange or Orange stations; you could walk to Highland Avenue but there's few trains there.
It didn't look great on googlemaps, I have to admit, but it didn't look totally dumpy either. Hard to say from GM though... the inside of the house is amazing...
By "least desirable" I mean that most other parts of West Orange are nicer. If you drive through different parts of town you'll see what I mean. It doesn't mean Valley Rd. is bad. But the Valley Rd. area is right next to Orange, which has higher crime.
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