r/MovingtoNewJersey

Situation: Pulled over by NJ State Police on NJ Turnpike and served three offenses:

(1) NJSA violation 39:4-88A: Failure to observe traffic lanes (Fine + 2 points)

(2) Municipal violation: Careless driving with no accident or personal injury (Fine)

(3) Warning: Following too closely

Background: Clean driving record (no points). Was trying to get around a slow driver in the left lane (outer roadway). I probably should have been more patient, but was also being tailgated by another vehicle and had trucks to the right of me for a few miles.

Question: (A) Do I appear before the court to fight violation #1 to keep my record clean and minimize an increase in my insurance premium or (B) please guilty and pay the fine + add 2 points to my license?

Follow-up question: (C) If I appear before the court, do I represent myself or hire an attorney?

Any and all feedback welcome. Thanks!

I’m moving my family to New Jersey for a job in New York City. We’re used to a house and want to find one to rent for a few years before we buy. To avoid switching school districts it would be ideal to find a house in one of the areas we’d like to live.

Are there any other good sources for house rentals outside of Zillow?

Are there any tricks or tips to avoid brokers fee? (Long shot)

Lofts at Princeton vs. Avalon W Squared

Online found these two apartment complexes for rent that seemed like good options.

• Avalon W Squared - main concern is 1) train noise due to proximity to tracks
• Lofts at Princeton - main concerns are 1) separated buildings/outdoor parking for winters 2) unsure of quality of complex given smaller, regional property manager/developer vs national Avalon

Any residents with personal experience at these complexes have opinions of one over the other? Would appreciate any feedback!

Hello! I’m a 28m married with a 2 year old toddler. We’re looking to relocate from Las Vegas to NJ. My wife has family in NYC but we are wanting more space and somewhat of a quieter life. Although we have a child, we are still pretty young and don’t want to completely isolate ourselves. We still want to be around people our age but safely as we have a baby. I will need to commute to Manhattan as well for work. Any help on good areas?
EDIT: Forgot to include, we want to stay within a 3k Budget for base rent.

For people considering moving from NYC or nearby areas into NJ suburbs, Bedminster feels a bit underrated compared to some of the more talked-about towns.

Good access to both I-78 and I-287 makes commuting relatively convenient, schools are solid, and home prices still seem more reasonable than some nearby towns. It also has a quieter suburban feel while still being close to shopping, restaurants, and everyday conveniences.

If anyone is exploring Central NJ suburbs, it may be worth checking out some of the local open houses this weekend.

Hello! I'll be buying a home in Northern NJ and am looking for a great Home Inspector. Does anyone have any recommendations? The house is pretty old and we're worried about potential inspectors not catching issues.

Hello, I’ve been looking into apartments in the city of orange and they seem reasonable priced for where they’re located and fairly new. Is there something I’m missing about that area? I haven’t been able to find anything about it. Is it safe, walkable, hard to park, should I avoid it completely?
Which areas of orange are the best for apartments for a young couple, east, west?

Anyone renting out their house/ apartment in Bridgewater/ Somerville, NJ? Please dm me if so i need it to move in next week. My budget is $2000.

whats the public transportation look like in north NJ.

For example if we lived in Bloomfield but wanted to commute to Roseland, NJ for work are there buses or anything like that?

I’ve been looking in Hackensack with a budget of 800-1M. Its within a 20-30 minute drive of GWB

Ive been looking at Summit Rd which is close to highways, constantly cleaned of snow for the ambulances, close to hospitals, near restaurants, police stations, and walking distance to bus and train. Obviously Summit has traffic depending on the time of day.

Besides the taxes being a little bit high, does anyone think this is a good choice?

The road is full of doctors. I don’t need good schools! - I have no kids. If I did have kids I would out them in private schools anyways.

Its also really close to maywood, I’m not looking at south Hackensack!
I’m currently renting and my drive is 20ish minutes to the bridge with traffic. OBVIOUSLY it could range a little more depending on the time of day.

My last post got more hate than help. So I’ve reposted

I’ve been looking in Hackensack with a budget of 800-1M. Its within a 15 minute drive of NYC

Ive seen summit Rd which is close to highways, hospitals, restaurants, police stations, walking distance to bus and train

Besides the taxes being a little bit high, does anyone think this is a good choice?

The road is full of doctors. I don’t need good schools! - I have no kids. If I did have kids I would out them in private schools anyways.

Its also really close to maywood, I’m not looking at south Hackensack!

Any residents with personal experience at these complexes have opinions of one over the other? Currently considering these two apartment properties as moving from West Coast, but unsure how valid my concerns are. Would appreciate any feedback!

Avalon W Squared - main concern is 1) train noise due to proximity to tracks

Lofts at Princeton - main concerns are 1) separated buildings/outdoor parking for winters 2) unsure of quality of complex given smaller, regional property manager/developer vs national Avalon

We are looking for a likely permanent home in the Bridgewater/Hillsborough area and there are a few that my realtor brought us to in Manville that were right in our budget and looked very nice and move in ready as opposed to all of the other more expensive ones that need work that we saw in the surrounding towns.

I checked the FEMA map and it isn't classified as a flood risk and the previous owners all said that there haven't been any instances of floods. I am a little wary since one of them has a finished basement that we would be using as a living room, but there's no signs of water damage.

I grew up in central NJ and I've heard a lot of hate for Manville but it doesn't seem any worse than other towns like Sayerville, Jamesburg, most shore towns around Keansburg, Piscataway, North Brunswick, etc. I've lived in North Jersey as well, and it seems nicer than most towns in the Dover/Denville, Boonton area, nust with much less of a downtown. We've toured one of the houses and the area was reall quite. It could be just that area of Manville that the houses are in.

Edit to add: We're not concerned with schools, no kids and will not have any, and I'm typically not a "good walking around town" type. If i want to go out I'm fine going to Bridgetwater or somewhere else not too far.

My husband and I are considering a move within NJ and would love some insight from people who know different areas well.

I grew up in Monmouth County and still love a lot about it, but over time it’s started to feel more congested than what we’re personally looking for long-term. We’ve realized we’re happiest in areas that have more of a country/small-town feel without feeling isolated. One of the biggest things we’re looking for is a true downtown/main street area — walkable restaurants, coffee shops, community events, bookstores, farmers markets, etc. We love places with a vibe similar to Princeton or Lambertville/New Hope.

A few logistical things make the search tricky:

• I own a pediatric private practice, so we do need an area with families who could realistically support private-pay services.
• My husband works in NYC 3x/week, so ideally his commute would stay around ~1 hour or so.
• We also spend a lot of time in the western Catskills, so being within ~2–2.5 hours of that area would be ideal too.

We’re open to exploring western/northwestern NJ, Hunterdon County, Morris County, etc., but would love hearing from people who know the state well. Areas with an actual downtown/community feel are especially important to us.

Any towns or areas come to mind?

Thanks so much!

Partner just got approved to transfer to New York office. We want to move to Jersey City or Hoboken & commute into NY. We're planning to pack all our stuff and road trip across the country. Any tips or advice to make this entire process as smooth as possible? Any personal accounts of people who have done the same? Anything is appreciated really. Thank you!

Edit: Want to add that we're looking for a studio or 1-br w/ in-unit washer & dryer with a budget of $3K/month. Idk if that means anything but figure it's worth adding.

I find it odd that there are such few reviews online about a building that has been there since 2019. For anyone considering a move there, does anyone have a detailed POV?

We're an East Asian American family with two young kids trying to decide between staying in Edison (we're in the JP Stevens school zone) or moving to Metuchen. We've spent a lot of time on the data - school rankings, demographics, tax differences, commute - and we're roughly stuck because both look defensible on paper.

What we're really trying to understand is the lived experience side. Hoping people who've lived in one or both can weigh in:

For families who've raised kids in either town:

• What's the social environment actually like day-to-day?
• How does the school pressure culture in North Edison compare to Metuchen's smaller-school feel?
• How welcoming is each town to families that don't fit the dominant demographic?

For East Asian families specifically:

• Has your kid found community? Felt included?
• Any race-related issues, and how were they handled?

For anyone who moved from one to the other:

• Would you do it again? What did you underestimate going in?

Happy to take honest answers, including hard ones. DMs welcome if anyone prefers privacy. Thanks in advance.

Hello! Can anyone please share their honest opinion on Summit ? We are a family of 3 and have a rising kindergartener, so schools are important. I’m curious to hear people’s experiences with fitting in - we are a mixed family (white and Asian), we do not work on Wall Street or in tech, so we don’t make a ton of money. I don’t think we will ever be able to afford a house there because everything is just 1.3M+. Our only option is to rent and I found a place that’s close to the train station (5 min walk) and it’s within our budget as we are currently renting in Hoboken for much more. I also don’t think we are in a position to buy at all anywhere with good schools and good commute, so maybe I’m just coming to terms with an idea that home ownership is not realistic for us. So… would that be a bad idea to move to summit knowing we won’t be able to buy so it will be just rent. Worried about how rich everyone is there so we will feel out of place.. thank you

Hi everybody! I have a list of apartments that we are considering to move into if you know of them, have lived there, or know someone that has please please please share your experience and thoughts!

Kearny, NJ: Vermella West

Orange, NJ: Essex & Crane

Parsippany, NJ: Partridge Run Apartments

West Orange, NJ: Eddison Lofts

Maplewood, NJ: Avalon Maplewood

We’ve been looking for a house for a while as I’m sure many other people here have. I originally wanted a town that had an easy commute to NYC as I commute 3 times a week and good schools.

We were originally looking in the Caldwells, Fairfield and Wayne but with our budget of $1.1-1.2M that seems impossible.

Any other town I should look at? What’s Montville like? What about Parsippany or East Hanover? How’s the commute from Denville or Randolph? Are homes going for $300k over in those areas too?

And Is there any other town I should consider?

Edit: looking for 4 bedrooms