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My husband and I are considering moving to NJ from Staten Island. We are trying to narrow down where in NJ we would like to move and have been given some great feedback on citydata. What are your thoughts on East Hanover, Whippany and Cedar Knolls? We also have 2 children, 5 & 7. Our max budget is 800k and we would like to pay no more than 15k in taxes. My questions are the following: how are the people in the Hanover Township area? How is the commute into Manhattan(midtown).*
My husband and I are considering moving to NJ from Staten Island. We are trying to narrow down where in NJ we would like to move and have been given some great feedback on citydata. What are your thoughts on East Hanover, Whippany and Cedar Knolls? We also have 2 children, 5 & 7. Our max budget is 800k and we would like to pay no more than 15k in taxes. My questions are the following: how are the people in the Hanover Township area? How is the commute into Manhattan(midtown).*
If I were in your shoes, there are many other towns that would be much higher on my list to check out. I am not saying that there is something "bad" about those towns you mentioned, but they all do have one huge downside - your commute to NYC. None of those towns have a train station, and there is very little in the way of bus service. There are neighboring towns with trains on the Midtown direct line, so you could drive to those stations and find parking to get into the city. The problem comes in finding parking at those stations, as most towns have long waiting (years+) lists for parking permits, and some towns only sell permits to residents. As I mentioned, there are a couple of bus routes, but they are run my private companies, and reliability varies. Buses are also at the mercy of weather, traffic accidents and road construction. Bottom line is, it is much easier and more relible to stick with NJ Transit trains if you are commuting into midtown.
You are correct that for low(ish) taxes you need to be looking at Morris Co, forget Bergen and Essex Counties, as well as most of Union Co. The good news is that your housing budget is healthy and will allow you to consider towns with midtown direct stations AND top notch schools. (Chatham, Madison, Summit, New Providence, etc.) There are plenty of threads on this forum with regards to these towns, so some searching will provide you with a wealth of info.
I'd recommend looking at the sticky at the top of this forum, https://www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...residents.html and provide us with your responses. The more info we have about what your needs/wants/desires in terms of housing and what you are seeking in a new community, the better people on this forum will be able to give you truly useful suggestions and recommendations.
OP- I see you've cut your list down to these three from all the other suggestions in your previous post? Just curious as to your thoughts, might help people speak on these towns more.
All three seem nice as we were also looking at them at one point- good schools, low taxes (for NJ) and decent commute- and there's even going to be a Wegmans soon. I assume commute is either from Morristown train or possibly Madison/Chatham?
I would prefer Whippany/Cedar Knolls (Hanover Twp) as I think HS is ranked a fair bit higher than the one in E Hanover.
Scartch the HS part- just looked it up- thye both seem excellent.
I wouldn't rule out entire counties based on property taxes. You really have to compare town to town. There are towns in both Essex County and Bergen County that have lower property taxes than some towns in Morris County.
However, you will, very generally speaking, find bigger lots and bigger houses for your money in Morris County. BUT, if we are talking about the likes of Chatham, Madison and Summit (Summit is Union County, by the way), those towns are just as developed and crowded as comparable suburbs in Essex County, so it will be a wash. If a huge yard and new construction mcmansion are a priority, you're gonna want to look farther north and west in the more rural areas of Morris County.
As far as the commute to midtown is concerned, in my opinion, a NJ Transit train commute is only convenient if your house is within walking distance to the train station (but then you have to live near a train station), or a hassle-free drive to the train station with hassle-free parking, AND also if your office in midtown is withing walking distance to Penn Station. If your office is by Times Square, a bus commute to Port Authority might not be as bad as most people think it is. If your office is on the east side by Grand Central...you are screwed either way and should add an additional 30 minutes for subway struggle time (or long walk cardio time) to your commute time.
In addition to NJ Transit or the commuter bus option, you also have the option of driving to a PATH station. Most of the PATH fans in the Essex County and Morris County 'burbs drive to the Harrison PATH station (easiest drive, cheapest parking). The PATH option is best for people who are comfortable driving and would rather have more control and flexibility with their commute (with NJ Transit and a commuter bus, you are stuck on the the train or the bus for the entirety of the commute. If you are driving to the PATH, you can take as many detours as you want on the drive itself, and also within the PATH system (if there is some issue, you can get off and recalculate at the WTC, Christopher St, 9th St., 14th St., 23rd St., Herald Square).
As far as East Hanover and Whippany/Cedar Knolls (Hanover Township)...
East Hanover has the 2nd lowest property taxes in Morris County. It is also farther east (closer to Manhattan) than the other 2 options.
As far as the commute to midtown is concerned, in my opinion, a NJ Transit train commute is only convenient if your house is within walking distance to the train station (but then you have to live near a train station), or a hassle-free drive to the train station with hassle-free parking, AND also if your office in midtown is withing walking distance to Penn Station. If your office is by Times Square, a bus commute to Port Authority might not be as bad as most people think it is. If your office is on the east side by Grand Central...you are screwed either way and should add an additional 30 minutes for subway struggle time (or long walk cardio time) to your commute time.
All good advice. Many people on this forum brush off towns that don't have train stations within their borders. Much of Whippany is within a 5-10 minute drive to Convent Station, even during rush hour. Convent Station is one of the easier stations in the area to park at. I'm not sure about the availability of permits, but there is daily parking. That being said, the commute from Whippany isn't great. Where in midtown your husband works is important. If it's near Penn Station, he's looking at a door to door commute of 75-90 minutes from Whippany.
And the people in Hanover Township are awesome... I'm not sure what kind of information you're looking for here. They're probably not as snobby as the people that live in the wealthier towns nearby, but I find it hard to generalize about an entire town.
The commute from SI into midtown with traffic is about 90 mins door to door. Even though we're about 16 miles from Manhattan the commute is terrible. We're focusing on Morris County because we want more space and feel like we can get a little more for our money. We're very down to earth and not stuffy by any means and want to be surrounded by people like us. My husband doesn't mind driving to the train/bus. If it's a 5/10 minute ride that's okay.
Hanover Township (includes Whippany and Cedar Knolls) would be my choice over E. Hanover. While both have plenty of retail development the Rt 10 corridor in E. Hanover is a traffic nightmare on a daily basis (and worse on weekends). You can have access to it only minutes away from Hanover.
Hanover Township is a very stable community. As far as I know it is the only municipality (at least in northern NJ) that has no long term debt. This is a good sign that the municipality is well managed from a fiscal standpoint. While long term municipal debt is not necessarily bad Hanover is unique. Their school district can't say the same but in NJ school taxes will be ~ 60% of your tax bill in most places.
With your budget you can look at some other nearby communities but realize that the further east you go (especially along the train corridor) the higher the cost of real estate and the lower the monthly rail pass cost. You might look at Morris Township and consider the Convent Station train station right off Madison Ave.
I wouldn't rule out entire counties based on property taxes. You really have to compare town to town. There are towns in both Essex County and Bergen County that have lower property taxes than some towns in Morris County.
good point. also, my taxes aren't "low" overall, but i paid substantially less than $800,000 and my taxes are 20% below the OP's max. granted, I realize given the towns she's looking at, she won't get the house she wants in WO for $800k and 15k taxes, but she also won't get the NYC commute that West Orange enjoys.
all because people have these arbitrary "rules" about where taxes are "high".
If I were in your shoes, there are many other towns that would be much higher on my list to check out. I am not saying that there is something "bad" about those towns you mentioned, but they all do have one huge downside - your commute to NYC. None of those towns have a train station, and there is very little in the way of bus service. There are neighboring towns with trains on the Midtown direct line, so you could drive to those stations and find parking to get into the city. The problem comes in finding parking at those stations, as most towns have long waiting (years+) lists for parking permits, and some towns only sell permits to residents. As I mentioned, there are a couple of bus routes, but they are run my private companies, and reliability varies. Buses are also at the mercy of weather, traffic accidents and road construction. Bottom line is, it is much easier and more relible to stick with NJ Transit trains if you are commuting into midtown.
You are correct that for low(ish) taxes you need to be looking at Morris Co, forget Bergen and Essex Counties, as well as most of Union Co. The good news is that your housing budget is healthy and will allow you to consider towns with midtown direct stations AND top notch schools. (Chatham, Madison, Summit, New Providence, etc.) There are plenty of threads on this forum with regards to these towns, so some searching will provide you with a wealth of info.
I'd recommend looking at the sticky at the top of this forum, https://www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...residents.html and provide us with your responses. The more info we have about what your needs/wants/desires in terms of housing and what you are seeking in a new community, the better people on this forum will be able to give you truly useful suggestions and recommendations.
KoalaNJ
That map from NYT is useful, but people need to check the actual schedules (and real life experience) before depending too much on the times. For example, the map seems to show that you can get to Morris Plains in the evening rush in 55 minutes (solidly under the 60 minute radius on the map). But there is only one train, at 4:18 pm, that achieves that time, with all of the other 'express' choices taking more like 65 to 68 minutes.
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