cebubelle

My husband and I are planning to move to NJ. I am originally from Bergen County, and love towns like Ridgewood, Ramsey, Saddle River. Does anyone have any suggestions or think their NJ hometown is the best place to live?

capecodshanty

Mountain Lakes, in Morris County. Wonderful school system, gorgeous old "Lakers" (the town was built by a developer in 1911, as a summer retreat for those in New York City). Several man-made lakes for swimming in summer, and iceskating in winter. Lakers have three stories- all single family homes, but 3rd floor had been used for help, in the past. Many still have the chestnut woodwork, used throughout, for that was the year of the chestnut blight. Very friendly town, many former city dwellers, and those that work in Manhatten. Trip there for grandaughter's graduation in June was surprised to see many "new" ;larger Lakers going up, where there had been smaller homes.

fehgeddaboudit

Exit 37.

lucienne78

Hi cebubelle,

I live in Bergen County - Oradell. I couldn't be happier there. The school system is wonderful - they received a blue ribbon from the president. I'm only 15 minutes away from the George Washington Bridge. Only a few minutes away from Ridgewood (I love that town, too). It really is the perfect location.

I actually work in Ramsey and that town is really nice, too, but taxes are a lot higher.

ellen_griswold

We have friends in Basking Ridge and they love everything about it. Not sure how it compares to the towns you listed, but we visit them often and it is just beautiful.

tpatricco

Towns you've mentioned are BIG bucks (and nothing is really small bucks anymore in the Garden State).

Do you have a housing budget in mind, as that will make a big difference in the recommendations we can give.

Union-Morris-Essex county areas are very nice as well. Specifically Westfield, Summit, Millburn, Montclair, Chatham, Madison...

There are so many nice communities here...what are your criteria? Where will you be commuting to for work, etc?

Judy24

Perhaps you can narrow down your preference for which part of the state. For example, it wouldn't do any good to recommend a place like Cherry Hill if you need to commute to NYC.

Not sure if your mention of Bergen County means that's the only county you're interested in.

diann

I believe it was money magazaine recently voted Moorestown N.J. as the number one town in the U.S. Not sure exactly how or why it was picked. I work in the area. I don't live in N.J. but, I do like Princeton.

cebubelle

Thanks everyone for your responses. Here's some details regarding our move. Both my husband and I work in New York City. We are going to have a baby at the end of January, so thus the desire to eventually find a house, a neighborhood, and most importantly a school district we are happy with. Right now we live in Manhattan, so looking at homes in Bergen County seemed to make the most sense. But, based on some of your replies it sounds ike there are plenty of places in Jersey to explore. I love Jersey and it has a lot to offer minus the attitude and pretension of some other communites close to the city.

tpatricco

Towns on the Midtown direct train line might be good options to consider.

Among the ones I mentioned previously, Millburn, Summit, Chatham & Madison would be on that corridor. Makes for a quicker commute. Something I'm sure you'll want to minimize the time you spend doing with a young child at home.

Good luck in your search! Trish

lolfn

summit, madison, chatham, millburn, short hills, new providence and berkeley heights are all nice. they all have good school systems but housing is very expensive. new providence and berkeley heights being a little less expensive than the others.

the midtown direct line goes out to summit and splits. so if you live in chatham or madison you have to switch trains (it think it is those 2, not np/bh). but the trains are synched up so the wait is only a few minutes.

i used to work on the east side of wall street and it took me just over an hour to get to work door to door in the morning. i'd take the 8am express which gets into hoboken at 8:32. path to downtown and a 12 min walk.

we have friends who recently moved to ridgewood to a fabulous house but the commute is killing them. about 1:40. i think she works in the time warner building. so definitely carefully check out commuting times.

Avalon4

Hi- I would highly recommend Monmouth County. There are a variety of towns, excellent school systems and you can get to Manhattan via bus, train or even better the ferry. My husband takes the ferry- it's about a 40 minute commute. Monmouth County has great beaches, an excellent county park system and beautiful horse farms. You have very expensive areas, like Rumson and Deal, but also some lower priced areas, like Tinton Falls, Lincroft and Freehold Township which have excellent, highly rated public school systems. Good luck with your search.

lucienne78

Do you have a budget? Here are some towns in Bergen County that aren't too expensive to live in and have a very easy commute into the city.
Fair Lawn, New Milford, Waldwick, Mahwah, Northvale, and River Edge. Waldwick has a really good school system. River Edge shares the schools with Oradell, which is a great school system. Fair Lawn has an ok school system. Mahwah's school system has gotten much much better within the last 8 years.

cebubelle

Hi Lucienne 78:

We're looking into New Milford. Are you familiar with the area? What do you think of the town?

mikemo

My parents lived in Haddonfield for 50 years. I had five offers over the asking price the first w/e the place was on the market after their deaths in '98/'99.
Still a great Philadelphia area community.
M

Ryan

I purchased a home in NJ last summer here's what we found.

I think "best place to live in NJ" is a phrase best qualified by two thoughts: that is commutable for us/me and is in my price range.

If it is an area that is popular with those who work in NYC, and Wall Street, in particular, (communities such as Ridgefield, Summit, Chatham) you probably can't touch a house for less than $500,000. At that price you're probably talking about something that needs work or 3 bedrooms or less. A "nice" house in these areas start in the $700s with most houses priced at $800+.

If you're commuting into NYC, towns that are "midtown direct" are more popular. As a result, prices will likely be higher than towns which require a switch at Hoboken.

The other thing to consider is real estate taxes. As any NJ homeowner can tell you, they can be significant. Which county you are in will make a big difference. Summit, for example, has taxes that are high, but far less than Short Hills which is just next door. The difference is that Short Hills is in Essex county and their taxes are used to subsidize Newark.

If schools are an issue, I'd suggest you go to the state website which has report cards for each school in the state. Most will say their town has "great schools." That may be a subjective term to use once you find out that a nearby school district significantly outperforms on test scores. The top 10% of schools in the state, for all levels, typically have over 95% of their students performing well above or at proficient levels. The better schools will have between 25% and 30% in the top category for both English and Math.

Good luck.

Ryan

Found a link to the state report card website. Hope it helps.

http://education.state.nj.us/rc/nclb04/nclb.html

I should add that you might want to consult the train schedule for whatever line you might take. I don't regret where we purchased but in hindsight, moving 10 minutes closer in to Summit provides double the number of trains I can catch.

cebubelle

Ryan thanks so much for all your information. It's been helpful for me in organizing our home buying approach.

Thanks!

snuggles1

I'm assuming this means you don't want to live in any other county besides Bergen County. I live in Monmouth County, Hazlet to be preise. Hazlet is a great small town with a really nice school system consisting of 5 elementary schools, a middle school, a nearby parochial school, and a high school. The schools all have really well qualified teachers and homes here are not overly expensive.

allovereurope

In general, Bergen is more expensive than Essex, and takes longer (and is more expensive) to commute into NYC. I recommend looking at Maplewood/South Orange--beautiful old houses (very Riodgewood-y), town centers you can walk to for dining, cheaper prices than Bergen, and a 20 minute train ride to NYC. Also, it's a more heterogenous & diverse group of people, so if you're moving from the city it won't be such a hard transition. And 10 minutes from the Short Hills Mall!