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New Jersey Suburbs of Philadelphia Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, Salem County in South Jersey
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Old 05-14-2016, 01:21 PM
 
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Looking to move to southern NJ for a job in Berlin. We have two preschool aged kids, so a town with a great school district and community activities is important. Budget is about $800k and we'd like to find a 4 bedroom with a decent sized yard (quarter or half acre) in a family friendly neighborhood. After reading through this board, I'm drawn to Haddonfield, Moorestown, Cherry Hill (in Cherry Hill East section), and Voorhees. Anything I should know about the commute to Berlin each day from these places? Anything else I should be considering? Thanks!
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Old 05-14-2016, 02:30 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
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I'd change that list to Haddonfield, Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Marlton/Evesham Township and Medford. There's too much traffic in the area to consider Moorestown.
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Old 05-14-2016, 05:56 PM
 
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Voorhees would be the best commute as it borders Berlin and has Route 73 passing right through it. Marlton would not be bad either as it is the next closest town after Voorhees and actually has some parts of it bordering Berlin as well. If judging simply by commute, those would be your Numbers 1 and 2.

Otherwise, all of the towns mentioned have great schools and will be able to give you what you want in your budget. My personal tastes would lean towards Haddonfield, as it has the strongest community feel of them all (and that is something that you mentioned you would like), plus it has the PATCO to take you into Philly 24/7 for when you want to have some real fun. And honestly, that won't be a bad commute either.
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Old 05-14-2016, 06:47 PM
 
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Voorhees would probably be your easiest commute (along Route 73, as others have noted), followed by Haddonfield. The good news is you would be doing a reverse commute, relative to what most other people are doing. Moorestown would likely mean a lot of time spent in traffic. Cherry Hill would also probably be a long-ish commute, just because of the congestion on the roads during rush hour. All those towns have good schools.
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Old 05-15-2016, 02:03 PM
 
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Thank you for the feedback! Commute is not necessarily the deciding factor, but this is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Not living in the area, I don't know anything about the traffic, so it's helpful to hear about that.
Just how bad is the Moorestown and Cherry Hill traffic? It looks like the commute would take about 35 minutes from either place without traffic. How do you think that changes during rush hour?
Would you consider Medford schools to be on par with Haddonfield, Moorsetown, Cherry Hill?
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Old 05-15-2016, 08:45 PM
 
Location: Levittown
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Voorhees is really the best in this case.
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Old 05-15-2016, 09:00 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djnb123 View Post
Thank you for the feedback! Commute is not necessarily the deciding factor, but this is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Not living in the area, I don't know anything about the traffic, so it's helpful to hear about that.
Just how bad is the Moorestown and Cherry Hill traffic? It looks like the commute would take about 35 minutes from either place without traffic. How do you think that changes during rush hour?
Would you consider Medford schools to be on par with Haddonfield, Moorsetown, Cherry Hill?
While there isn't a dog in the bunch, Haddonfield schools take the prize, unless you decide to send the children to Moorestown Friends School. That is a private school which is run by The Society of Friends, Quakers, and is ranked 19th in the state.

I would expect commute time to be 2 1/2 to 3 times the number of miles driven. Accidents, construction and weather will, of course, cause it to be longer.
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Old 05-16-2016, 06:56 AM
 
Location: Mount Laurel
4,187 posts, read 11,863,694 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djnb123 View Post
Thank you for the feedback! Commute is not necessarily the deciding factor, but this is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Not living in the area, I don't know anything about the traffic, so it's helpful to hear about that.
Just how bad is the Moorestown and Cherry Hill traffic? It looks like the commute would take about 35 minutes from either place without traffic. How do you think that changes during rush hour?
Would you consider Medford schools to be on par with Haddonfield, Moorsetown, Cherry Hill?

Traffic is not good in either of the towns during traffic hours. I've learned that the trick is to get slightly before and after traffic hours. It makes a huge difference.


As far as school is concern. Medford is part of Lenape Regional at the high school level. It's a huge school district consisting of 4 high school and an Alternative Program. They are very similar to Cherry HS. It isn't really fair to compare them to Haddonfield or Moorestown because these two schools are much smaller. Test scores will show that kids in these two school are much higher because there is a smaller range in the higher scores and low scores. If you were to look at the top kids (say 1/4) from Lenape or Cherry Hill school district, they will be about the same. In choosing school, you have to see how it matches with your child and unfortunately, that is hard to determine at a very young age.
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Old 05-16-2016, 10:12 AM
 
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I think you would be happier in Haddonfield. The comuuninity feel and activities are there. The little downtown is darling. PATCO is right there so you will actually spend time in the city without thinking "ugh, I don't want to drive all that way and find parking"

The schools are fabulous. You also have Haddonfield Friends School if you want private school. HFS goes up to 8th grade then you can choose to go to Moorestown Friends or Haddonfield public schools.

Your budget will be fine in Haddonfield just keep in mind their high property taxes. You won't get as much of a house as you would in some of the neighborhoods but, you get a better small town feel.

The commute is not bad. I did Collingswood to Berlin. You will be a reverse commute for a lot of traffic. Especially shore traffic in the summer. 73 can get heavy with everyone on Friday heading East.

The down side is Haddonfield is basically, white , conservative, and lacking in diversity. If you want a quirky, more diverse community you would be better off in Collingswood.

If you want more property you can go out farther past Berlin to Hammonton. The schools are not bad. It is a very Italian catholic area so there is a high percentage of kids that go to Catholic schools. Strong community and cute downtown. Much more open space due to all of the farms in the area.

The borough of Berlin is ok, The schools are ok. Not much of a downtown. It seems the most community activities revolve around the different sports leagues. Just stay away from any property in Winslow Twp. Their schools are horrible.

Cherry Hill, Marlton, Voorhees. They are fine school wise but , to me, the area is just ugly. It's just suburban sprawl full of concrete and strip malls.
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Old 05-16-2016, 08:12 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,755 posts, read 35,956,419 times
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I think the down side to Haddonfield is the traffic. It's a lovely town which many like to visit. It's a parking lot during rush and nearly every weekend. It reminds me of New Hope. That said, if you don't live too close to Kings Highway, it won't have as much impact.

Marlton/Evesham Township and Medford are quite nice once you get off of the highway and away from the shopping plazas and parking lots. There are places that give riding lessens and board horses, a few small farms, and lovely wooded neighborhoods.

Farm Market,Bakery, Field Trips, Pick Your Own, Local Poduce, CSA

http://jenningsfarm.webs.com/

New Farm Racing is behind the Marlton municipal building. The old farm property across the street, Savich Farm, is now the Marlton soccer fields with a wooded tract which is open to the public. The former farm next to it is now open to the public.

Both townships are a Pine Barrens buffer zone. It's a lovely area once you figure it out.
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