Suburban Living in Hoboken

When Kathy Zucker's family outgrew their Hoboken two-bedroom condo, they found that a South West Hoboken four-bedroom provided an excellent alternative to the suburbs.

Backyards. Open spaces. Swing sets. Swimming pools. Each child in his or her own bedroom. Perfect high schools with tons of funding for sports, music and art. Sounds like a suburban nirvana, right? I have all that in Hoboken. Okay, not the high school (yet). But I also don't have property taxes at the level of Montclair (easily double the $11,000 I currently pay in annual property tax). For an additional $14,000 per year, I could send a kid to the Hudson School and still break even. Sure, we have to share the backyard, swing set and swimming pool, but socialization is good for kids. I would have to supervise them even if we had a private backyard, and the Sky Club pool is much nicer and far less dangerous than a private pool would be. …

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Kathy Zucker

12:52 pm on Friday, October 21, 2011

One of the joys of being a homeowner is diagnosing & repairing appliances. My wonderful handyman has repaired my washer & dryer many times for $50-$100 a shot, but this time I'm out of luck. Fortunately I had a plan for rendering big scary home repairs painless. More at http://bit.ly/momappliances   more ›

Mile Square Parenting

Starting a Family in a Hoboken Two-Bedroom

Kathy Zucker and her husband moved into a Hoboken two-bedroom and had two children. She discovered the many charms of raising a family in Hoboken but also found that their second child arrived with an expiration date on their two-bedroom.

My husband and I moved to Hoboken because it is similar to Park Slope, Brooklyn, one stop on the PATH train to Manhattan, and has an abundance of large new two-bedroom condos with a second bathroom and parking. We moved here to get more space, but once we had that second bedroom, we rarely used it for anything except storage (wedding dress, golf clubs, books, random furniture). When I became pregnant with our daughter, it was imperative to clear out the second bedroom to make room for baby gear. A few trips to Ikea provided ample storage, and we set up a combo baby/guest room complete with queen bed (convenient for all-night feeding sessions).  Our daughter slept in a bassinet in our bedroom for the first six months and then moved without …

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