<p>Not to completely ‘out’ my location, but there are plenty of great towns on NJ Transit lines that have 30-35 minute travel times to NY Penn. In NJ, you typically want/need a car for errands, however you may be able to walk to the train and/or have a cute downtown with shopping. For $300-325k, you can find 3br/1ba houses (1200-1500 sf) on 50x100 lots, there are even plenty <$300k that look like they need work. </p>
<p>Property taxes in NJ suck - no way around it. School districts are quite small (typically 1-2 towns), with eduction funded primarily by local property taxes and the state has cut funding over the years. All that said, many people move here from NYC and see housing costs decrease because of the crazy rental market in Manhattan (typically after taxes, although I know some that saw it w/o tax considerations).</p>