Morristown, Morris township, Morris Plains, Randolph (Dover, Rutherford: violent crime, townhomes, neighborhoods)

[Rutherford]

Hello!

I have been browsing this forum for a while and have found it to be very helpful.
I am a single woman and work from my home, and I don't have any kids.
I currently live in Rutherford, and have a small house that I am selling. I want to move to the Morristown area to get away a little bit from the urban quality of this part of Bergen County. I have been here for 6 years and think it is a great town, but I want to be closer to more parks and bike paths, and open space. Rutherford is wonderfully close to NYC and has a nice small town feel, is fairly safe, and has decent services. I have been looking around NJ for 2 years. I ruled out Sussex county because of the lack of a train line. My work would most likely require me to commute to NYC if my freelance gig ever stops. ( I work in textiles and most jobs are in NYC.)
I narrowed things down to Morris County because parts of it are still somewhat affordable, it is on a commuter line, it has a nice active walkable downtown, library, garden clubs, etc, and is close to open space via bicycle, and is close to friends and social contacts in that area.

I wanted to ask if there are any list members who are familiar with Morris Plains, Morris Township, Randolph,or Morristown itself who can tell me their opinions of these towns. I am looking to spend max about 450,000 for a 3 bedroom house. I have 3 dogs and 2 cats so townhomes won't be good.

Thanks for any input!

[ottomobeale]

450K is very doable. I know Morris Plains and Morristown better than the others.

Another close area that is nice is Denville and is even a bit cheaper and has a walkable downtown. Some very nice neighborhoods there.

One place you might want to check out is White Meadow Lakes in Rockaway. It borders on very large woods though I am not sure about use restrictions there. The day I was there looking at a couple houses I noticed the local kids coming out of the woods on what looked like a very well used path at the end of one street. The neighborhood just has a good feel to it.

The whole general area is safe though I am unaware of any area in Morris County that is prone to violent crime.

If you need a realtor I did like the one I used. If you want info just ask. If not, no biggie. I am NOT him. I just liked his No BS tell it like it is style.

[janny]

Randolph is very nice--close to the Dover train stop. We lived there before moving out of state. Mendham is also very nice---it borders Randolph.