NYC couple hosting NJ house hunt for busy New Yorkers

A New York City couple wants to make it easier for folks to move out of the Empire State and into New Jersey.

A luxury mini bus, scheduled for a Sept. 17 departure from Newark Penn Station, will feature a handful of New Yorkers who don't have the time and transportation to travel back and forth on a regular basis when looking for a home in the Garden State.

They will be joined by Jay and Maria Hassler of Washington Heights, whose Town Hopper Tours venture is making its trial run. They took time out of their own real estate hunt in order to help others dealing with similar difficulties.

The destination is Essex County. Riders will travel through Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Maplewood, Montclair and South Orange for three to four hours, seeing and hearing what each municipality and their neighborhoods have to offer.

"This is the internet come to life," Jay Hassler told New Jersey 101.5. "We're trying to get a lot of information out there in a short period of time."

According to Hassler, he and his wife are well-versed on different aspects of each town, from the history to the schools to the property taxes: a product of countless hours of research. And all riders will be given access to a password-protected website that verifies everything said on the bus and gives them even more detailed information on each community.

Tickets are still available at $149 apiece. The tour is currently scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to approximately 12:45 p.m.

And ticket sales are the only moneymaker for the Hasslers. They are not real estate agents, and they will not benefit financially from any transactions as a result of the tour.

In fact, the tour avoids active listings. The bus is scheduled to pass by homes that have sold in the past month to give riders a better idea of what they can get for their money.

Hassler said he's been invited to run a similar tour of Bergen County, but the couple is focused on this first trip and the response it receives. If all goes well, the research starts up again on another segment of the Garden State.

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Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.