Need serious help!! Cannot find where we "fit" in NJ. Considering Westfield & Cranford but also Oradell. Help me compare (Newark: to rent, townhome) - City-Data Forum

Tanisdrew · 02-29-2012, 06:43 PM

Hi all,

Im seriously losing my sh*t over this decision. We (like many) are moving out of Brooklyn and selling our house (SCARY!!) to move to NJ. We had thought we made a decision to look only in Westfield and Cranford (tw places we love!) but now, after looking for some time are feeling we arent getting much for our $550,000 budget. My uncle lives in New Milford and keeps telling us to check out Oradell or River's Edge. Im soo confused and need help.

here's what we'd like in order of priority:

1)- Schools!!! We have two young boys so i want all of the schools from elementary thru HS to be amazing.

2)- Safety!

3)-A great downtown area.

4)- Great commute to NYC (midtown). Train line, bus, etc... preferably direct to manhattan but a transfer is ok, too.

Any advice/ info would be greatly appreciated!

C

Magic78 · 02-29-2012, 07:11 PM

Bergen county has some great areas. We have friends who live in Oradell and love it. We have another set of friends who are moving from Summit to Bergen County because they can get more for their money there.

We live in a townhome in Livingston and are looking for a single family home in the area. We absolutely refuse to deal with Bergen County traffic and their Blue Laws. It isn't even a consideration for us.

Mightyqueen801 · 02-29-2012, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanisdrew

Hi all,

Im seriously losing my sh*t over this decision. We (like many) are moving out of Brooklyn and selling our house (SCARY!!) to move to NJ. We had thought we made a decision to look only in Westfield and Cranford (tw places we love!) but now, after looking for some time are feeling we arent getting much for our $550,000 budget. My uncle lives in New Milford and keeps telling us to check out Oradell or River's Edge. Im soo confused and need help.

here's what we'd like in order of priority:

1)- Schools!!! We have two young boys so i want all of the schools from elementary thru HS to be amazing.

2)- Safety!

3)-A great downtown area.

4)- Great commute to NYC (midtown). Train line, bus, etc... preferably direct to manhattan but a transfer is ok, too.

Any advice/ info would be greatly appreciated!

C

Look at Westwood. School ranking is decent. Has a little downtown, and has a train station (you'd switch at Secaucus for midtown, but it's not a big deal), and is in your uncle's neck of the woods.

Also look at Ramsey. Many more trains per day on that line, too.

2010 Top High Schools in New Jersey | High School Rankings | High School Ratings

The thing with "amazing" schools elementary through high school is that unless you've got a magic 8-ball, you have no way of knowing if the amazing high school of 2012 will be the amazing high school of 2020 when your sons gets there. Some towns, of course, are consistently up there; however, sometimes they swing wildly. My daughter graduated from her high school in 2009. In 2008 it was ranked #44. In 2010 it was ranked #116. No gangs moved into the sleepy little town in those two intervening years or anything, and generally speaking the school system was very good.

Bergen County overall is expensive, and as someone pointed out, it has blue laws and so its many malls and shopping areas along the highways are closed on Sunday. There really is a lot of traffic, also. Bergen has reached almost complete build-out and the roads set up long ago for small towns and local farms are not necessarily sufficient for the suburban sprawl it has become. Coming from Brooklyn, however, this might not faze you.

Another idea is to look at eastern Monmouth County, which is central NJ at the point where the bay areas end and the ocean begins. You will get more for your money than you will in north Jersey, and geographically it's desirable because of the access to the ocean and more rural parts of New Jersey, but the tradeoff is a longer commute. Still, there is good direct-midtown service on the North Jersey Coast Line, as well as buses and ferries.

RiggerNY · 03-01-2012, 04:50 AM

Tanis - The number of options can be overwhelming. I know exactly how you feel as my wife and I moved out of manhattan to NJ after our first child a few years ago. We spent literally 2 years trying to find the right town/house. At the time, I commuted into the city so a reasonable commute was important as well. We considered Ridgewood, Montclair, Summit, Westfield, Cranford, and Chatham. Cranford/Westfield were most appealing to us and we finally settled on cranford. I do think you could find a nice house in your budget if you're patient for the spring market

bogonj135 · 03-01-2012, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanisdrew

Hi all,

Im seriously losing my sh*t over this decision. We (like many) are moving out of Brooklyn and selling our house (SCARY!!) to move to NJ. We had thought we made a decision to look only in Westfield and Cranford (tw places we love!) but now, after looking for some time are feeling we arent getting much for our $550,000 budget. My uncle lives in New Milford and keeps telling us to check out Oradell or River's Edge. Im soo confused and need help.

here's what we'd like in order of priority:

1)- Schools!!! We have two young boys so i want all of the schools from elementary thru HS to be amazing.

2)- Safety!

3)-A great downtown area.

4)- Great commute to NYC (midtown). Train line, bus, etc... preferably direct to manhattan but a transfer is ok, too.

Any advice/ info would be greatly appreciated!

C

My brother lives in Cranford and I live in Paramus. I would focus on Cranford or Oradell. Someone mentioned Westwood. This doesn't compare to Oradell or Cranford.

First, Schools - both offer great public schools while Oradell has local Parochial options that are better than Cranford like BC, Bosco and St. Joes

Second - Safety- both are excellent suburban towns

Downtown - Cranford has excellent culture, shopping and lcoal entertainment. Oradell has nice shopping and right next to the number one retail shopping zip code in the country, Paramus

City commute - Neither city commute is super easy. If I'm not mistaken neither are direct. cranford connects through Newark Penn to get to NY penn and Oradell goes through Secaucus Junction.

Traffic - both have it. Cranford has the Parkway in the summer and Oradell has Paramus shopping with Rt4 and Rt17. Personally, I like Oradell due to it's proximity to city, shopping and restuarants.

Good Luck - BTW - both have excellent athletics for the boys through HS

HalfFull · 03-01-2012, 07:12 AM

I think it would help if you also describe the kind of house that you expect to get.

You have an aggressive wishlist - amazing schools, safety, great downtown, good commute to NYC - and you want it for a $550K budget. The truth is that you aren't likely to get all of those things and get an awesome house in perfect shape for under $550. What are your minimum requirements in a house for size and condidtion? Which of your 6 criteris (4 above plus house plus budget) are you most willing to be flexible on? And what defines a 'great commute'? If it just the amount of time or degree of difficulty / driving?

joe moving · 03-01-2012, 07:26 AM

you should go on njtransit.com and see how long it takes to get from point A to B and decide if those are going to be OK. i thinkit's going to be around 75 min +/- a few?

i like ramsey and westwood too for what you are looking for.

RiggerNY · 03-01-2012, 09:04 AM

Tanis - If it's helpful at all to know where you "fit" in, we have been meeting many young families that have moved from Brooklyn to Cranford. Seems to be a lot that have moved from Bay Ridge for some reason and I know that Maplewood is a favorite amongst Park Slopers. We went to an Open House in Cranford last month and looked at the sign-in list, there were several from Brooklyn and A LOT from Staten Island.

griffith22 · 03-01-2012, 12:47 PM

I can totally relate to how you are feeling. We just recently moved this summer from Staten Island to Westfield and we love it. I was hestitant with Westfield because of people saying it was really snobby and i was fearful of not fitting in. We are so happy with our descision I have met some great people..It is a really tight knit community that people are very proud of. We loved Cranford too..We actually got out bid on two houses in Cranford. Three weeks after we moved hurricane Irene hit and Cranford got hit pretty bad. It was bad everywhere but i think Cranford took the brunt of it so becareful of flooding. I have kids in elementary school and they love it..They transitioned really well. You can not go wrong with Westfield or Cranford they both have excellent schools and towns. I used to live in Dumont years ago which is right next to Oradell. Oradell is a nice town as well with good schools but i think you would love living in Cranford or Westfield..Good Luck!

Tanisdrew · 03-01-2012, 01:40 PM

thanks all, for the advice. we are seeing more houses on the market these past few days but they go fast. we arent looking for a mansion or anything fancy, just 3-4 bedrooms and a backyard. we arent afraid to do work bec weve done it before. lets hope theres something out there soon or else we will have to rent!

Hope to meet some of you on the streets of NJ soon!

C