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Moving to NJ (Hoboken/Jersey City), need an apartment!


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My girlfriend and I are moving to either Hoboken or Jersey City next month for school. This is simply a post for me to see if any of my fellow collectors 1) know anybody looking to lease a 1bdr, 2) are looking to lease a 1bdr, 3) can tell me where I can spend the least on a 1bdr while living within walking distance to a path train (the girl will be commuting to NYU). I am taking a trip next week to find an apartment but I figured a thread could be helpful. Any and all help is appreciated!

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Jersey City has its spot. i would put it in the top 5 of worst places in NJ. if you stay in Journal Square you'll be ok. here is a good article about places to avoid in Jersey City. http://thepeacockpress.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/police-stay-out-of-the-red/

 

like others have said Hoboken in incredibly expensive and it's full of obnoxious people. where you'll be looking in Hoboken is where everyone wants to live, so you'll pay a premium. Hoboken also has issues with flooding, the biggest being sewage backing up into the streets. they apparently started to fix the problem, but i haven't heard anything positive or negative about said fix. i'm not even sure if they're done with the project yet given how bad the winter was this year.

 

the path runs all the way to Newark. avoid Newark at all costs, it's reputation is well deserved. there is a stop in Harrison as well, which is west of Hoboken and Jersey City but still in the same county. it's just outside Newark though but doesn't have all the issues Newark does. going there will add about 10-15 minutes on the the commute into Manhattan and it will cost a bit more too.

 

if price is the biggest concern the closer to Seton Hall you get the cheaper it will be, basically the further west and south of the Hudson you go the prices decrease. it will be tough to find a balancing act with walking to the path, decent rent and a safe/nice neighborhood. you might have to sacrifice one of those things.

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I loved living in Jersey City as have some friends so I guess you might get a different experience. If you want something a bit closer to Seton Hall and want a less Urban environment I'd suggest looking for a rental in Maplewood. It's a 35minute train ride to NYC and biking distance to Seton Hall. 

 

Otherwise some of West Orange and South Orange are nice but you need to be certain of where you are renting. The Oranges can be one block looks great and it is a warzone the next block over. That said there are some good deals to be had. 

 

Montclair is pricey but likely cheaper than Jersey City at this point and the downtown is pretty nice. Your girl can take a train and you can drive to Seton Hall. 

 

Just a few thoughts. Are you married to the idea of an Urban-ish environment? There are nice pockets that are sort of hybrid all over that area. Metuchen for example is nice too. 

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This won't sound like a great option, but may be better than one would think. You could always get a nice loft in Newark for what I'd imagine would be significantly cheaper than Jersey City or Hoboken. I've heard good things about the apartments around Market St. It's walking distance from the Path train and it's a quick ride to Seton Hall - it's a straight shot down South Orange Ave. Also, public transportation from Newark to SHU is easy by bus (if I remember correctly it's the 32 bus.) Of course, Newark isn't the safest area, but there's usually a pretty prevalent police presence around the business district where many of the apartments are. Best of luck. As a SHU alum myself, I hope you're getting a decent scholarship, it's an expensive school, and unfortunately I didn't grasp that concept until I started paying my student loans...

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if price is the biggest concern the closer to Seton Hall you get the cheaper it will be, basically the further west and south of the Hudson you go the prices decrease. it will be tough to find a balancing act with walking to the path, decent rent and a safe/nice neighborhood. you might have to sacrifice one of those things.

 

Price isn't necessarily the biggest concern. The thing that is would be that I don't want the woman to have to spend too long on the train everyday so we're trying to stay fairly directly in the middle between Manhattan and SHU.

 

 

I loved living in Jersey City as have some friends so I guess you might get a different experience. 

 

Just a few thoughts. Are you married to the idea of an Urban-ish environment? There are nice pockets that are sort of hybrid all over that area. Metuchen for example is nice too. 

 

That's great to hear! 

We're not absolutely married to it so I'll have to look into the places you mentioned. 

 

 

Best of luck. As a SHU alum myself, I hope you're getting a decent scholarship, it's an expensive school, and unfortunately I didn't grasp that concept until I started paying my student loans...

 

That's what I've been told. I'll be going to the law school on about an 80% scholarship, otherwise SHU wouldn't have been much of a consideration due to price. Thanks man, I'm pretty excited to start there.

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Finding an apartment around here is god damn frustrating. We pretty much narrowed it down to finding a place in the heights (which appeared to be relatively simple). Then we decided to take a trip to downtown and that's pretty much exactly what I'm looking for (on the cheaper end, a la $1400-$1600). This has proved to be difficult.

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