@Bob Roach
Whats the end-game? Is it an appreciation play? Is it a long term buy and hold? It sounds like you want to purchase a turn key investment at market rate and hope that it would be a good investment. Is that an accurate assumption? At $200 K it doesn't seem like it would cash flow after principal, interest, taxes,insurance,maintenance, utilities, ,management and vacancy. Do you know what the market rents are for a studio in West NY, NJ? Without knowing the numbers for those expenses its hard to tell if its a good investment. Are you paying cash?
You could buy a 4-5 unit multi unit property in certian parts of NJ that would cash flow significantly better than a $200k studio IMHO.
@Darren Sager makes some points about the transportation. West NY NJ has some good entry points between NY and NJ but they are not necessarily fast. When I travel occasionally on business to the Newport station from 33rd st in Manhattan its all local stops but that's where my commute ends. That's a 40 minute ordeal from my office at 39th street. Someone who lives in West NY NJ probably has to add another 15-20 minutes to that commute. PIA if you ask me but the commuting commentary is probably best left to someone who has actually traveled the to and from commute from West NY NJ to NY.
I've seen some nice 1bd/1ba with Hudson River views on Boulevard East that are being offered in the 165K-199K range that look like they would be nice rentals. I just don't see where the value gets created in the purchase if your buying for market rate unless you are paying all cash.