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The meaningful difference is West Orange and South Orange versus East Orange and Orange (where E.O and Orange are by far less safe and less nice). After that, you have to look at individual areas within the towns. For instance, the Gregory section of W.O. is nicer than the area of S.O near Seton Hall, but the Montrose section of S.O. is nicer than the Valley section of W.O.
The consideration as said by nybbler is W.O. vs. S.O. The other 2 towns aren't even in the running. South Orange has a nice walkable downtown and the train station as well as the gas light lined streets. West Orange does not have any of these. I grew up in S.O. so I'm sort of partial although I don't love the school district in either town.
Well EO is in the revitilzation process but still wouldn't recommend it. OP I would also recommend Maplewood since you mentioned the Oranges. In fact the term South Orange/Maplewood comes up a lot.
there are some homes at great prices in WO. unfortunately the taxes are CRAZY. it's like adding on 1k to the mortgage and that amount never goes away even when the house gets paid off. in fact it might get higher.
there are some homes at great prices in WO. unfortunately the taxes are CRAZY. it's like adding on 1k to the mortgage and that amount never goes away even when the house gets paid off. in fact it might get higher.
I agree, not sure why the taxes are do darn high!??!! What is that town providing that others don't? It's not like WO has the best school district or libraries or anything else in the state...then why such insane taxes?
I agree, not sure why the taxes are do darn high!??!! What is that town providing that others don't? It's not like WO has the best school district or libraries or anything else in the state...then why such insane taxes?
Well, in South Orange and Maplewood home prices are higher than WO and taxes are about the same as WO, if not higher. Schools are about the same in both towns. Crime in SO/Maplewood is higher. So you're still getting the better value in WO. I'm basing this on my own experience when we were looking for houses. The only advantage SO/Maplewood has is there is a train station in town, which may or may not be important to you.
Agreeing with those who said you really only want to consider West Orange or South Orange (East Orange and Orange are not nice areas to live in.) Within WO and SO there's nice areas and then not so nice areas. Downtown South Orange is really nice but you don't want to live near Seton Hall which is by the Newark border. The side of West Orange that's hilly and near Livingston / Roseland is pretty much indistinguishable from the nice areas of those towns but the side of WO near the East Orange border is like night and day. West Orange is a seriously weird town in my opinion - one half is your yuppie West Essex enclave full of McMansions but you go down the hill and you're in a completely different demographic. South Orange is a little like this too but it always struck me more driving through West Orange when I lived up that way.
The side of West Orange that's hilly and near Livingston / Roseland is pretty much indistinguishable from the nice areas of those towns but the side of WO near the East Orange border is like night and day. West Orange is a seriously weird town in my opinion - one half is your yuppie West Essex enclave full of McMansions but you go down the hill and you're in a completely different demographic. South Orange is a little like this too but it always struck me more driving through West Orange when I lived up that way.
A nit: WO doesn't have an East Orange border. South Orange, Livingston, Orange, Montclair, Verona, Roseland, Essex Fells (though I don't think any streets cross the border), and Millburn, but not East Orange. West Orange is a lot bigger than South Orange so it's not surprising it's more diverse in character; there's more than the two you've mentioned.
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