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I'll make one more Montclair comment. You need to really visit in the summer for the full impact.
Montclair is more than just the housing stock. It's the vibe of the town. For example most suburban downtowns are kinda dead with not much going on. They aren't a destination. Montclair tries to create that on a small suburban scale.
They have a stage setup on church street with musicians playing all day. So you can eat outside Al Fresco while there are bands playing. (pretty unique for the suburbs). The town has its own Film Festival in the summer as well and its pretty well known. They'll close down Church Street and have an outdoor Yoga Session. There is the Wellmont Theater which has national music acts come through the town. The movie theater downtown only shows independent movies. There is an art museum in the town. There is pretty tudor architecture in upper montclair and also nice old architecture along Bloomfield avenue. There are multiple downtowns. 1 big downtown, 1 medium sized one and a few smaller ones. It's the only town I know where the train snakes its way through the middle of the suburban landscape which is unique. There is a huge university, Montclair State which has a lot of amenities. Ice Skating Rink, cultural events etc, Awesome Parks and a bunch of them too, it's close to major highways like the GSP so it's easy to get down the shore, i think it's hillside location is an asset as you get to look down on the surrounding landscape. So a great list of positives.
Downsides are: Too Liberal (I consider this annoying but you might not), too many poor people (you might like that I think that's annoying), a ghetto element too close to downtown (Lackawanna Plaza which you experienced), houses are kinda old (old can be charming and old can just be old), taxes are out of control, town is in massive debt, magnet school(I think that's annoying you might think that's great), too many vacant storefronts (Montclair has a pretty big downtown for the suburbs and there are too many vacant storefronts), not enough liquor licenses in town (a lot of the restaurants are byob).
So it's a tradeoff. It is like Brooklyn light if you think about the cultural things going on for a suburb but there are lots of downsides as well. If the town was less ghetto and in less debt it would be close to perfect for the suburbs. However I'd be more nervous in Maplewood and South Orange as those towns directly border some real dangerous crap areas that have been bleeding over into those towns. Montclair at least has Glen Ridge (super upscale town although tiny) as a buffer to its east and all of its western border is up on top of the mountain and are sleepy suburban towns.
If Montclair can build some really good downtown ratables (which it is starting to do with Centro Verde) and cut down on its debt load it'll be going in the correct direction and I think it is.
I think if OP's moniker alludes to Seventh Ave in Park Slope then Montclair is the perfect suburban alternative. Very liberal, lively downtown, and lots going on. Nice parks and the running up against the First Watchung mtn is an advantage; you feel like you're at the edge of open country (even if you really aren't). In Park Slope and all the trendy Brooklyn neighborhoods, poor people, crime, and social problems in general are much more present than in a suburban town like Montclair. Some friends moved to Ridgewood after a mugging in Park Slope, and Ridgewood is certainly nice but not as diverse and lacks the commitment in Montclair to maintaining a racially integrated school system. As to not being impressed-- I don't know what you expect. Montclair is a lot more beautiful than the packed, flatland streets of Ditmas Park that seem to impress so many Brooklynites.
Good luck with that. Be honest with yourself as you're looking in NJ. Many folks read the trains schedule and use that as their commute time. Better to calculate your real commuting time: walking out the door, driving to a lot, finding parking, walking to the train platform (better get there a few minutes early, don't want to miss it), then potentially taking a subway (or two) to their job. If your job is near Penn Station, you're already ahead of the game.
I am posting here because this group of posters is by far the most helpful I have seen regarding relocation advice. This morning I was sent a listing for a very nice home in Montclair, and was able to pinpoint the desirability based on your very concise instructions as to the presence of homelessness, section 8, etc.
Here is our deal: My husband is going to work in Manhattan, close to Penn Station because he has been unable to find work in the Philadelphia area, since his former company relocated to LA. We have one child in college and once child in middle school, so school district is still important. My youngest attends a charter school for gifted students and works at home two days per week. She is very creative and artistic in a fashion and 3D design sort of way. We currently live in a ~million dollar home in the burbs of Philly (4500 sq feet, 5 beds, 5 baths), so you can imagine the sticker shock!
We are tossing around the following ideas:
My daughter and I stay here and my husband rents in the Montclair area.
My daughter and I get a place up Long Island and my husband rents a studio in Brooklyn.
My daughter and I get a place in Princeton and my husband rents in Montclair.
We all move to a NJ suburb like Montclair - after I sell our home.
We all move to Brooklyn - after I sell our home.
For the immediate future, we are looking for a place for my husband to rent so he can begin working and are looking in the Melburn area because of the direct train.
Now, here is the part you can all have fun with and laugh at me for
I am looking forward to downsizing - I spend most of my life cleaning and it really isn't the dream home I thought it would be when we built it!....but I do have a dream kitchen and cook/bake A LOT, so any long-term home would need to at least have the potential for an excellent kitchen.
We would like a good, safe, high school with after school activities, or the ability to maybe go to a more artsy HS, if that exists there. We have many HS options here such as performing arts, science and math charter schools, etc.
We want NORMAL, nice, down-to-earth people, not the "Jonses" who don't run deep and women who only want to go to "The Club", and talk about how much money they spent on x, y, z. I'm not judging, I just know that is not the type of neighbor I want.
We are not "republican" or "democrat", but rather, vote on the issues.
I would consider a fixer, if the money was right and there was great potential to make money on the property.
Ideally, we would like a commute within 45 minutes door to door (Penn Station area), via ONE train.
We would like proximity to a good hospital.
We have been married for 20 years and are in our late 40s early 50s, so this would be a five to ten year gig.
I think I answered everything one would need to know, but if not, ask away!
I am looking for advice....just first gut impression....of where you'all think would work best for our family. There are many choices, and I need to start somewhere, so I am hoping for some pattern of consensus to develop from those familiar with all of the areas.
I am posting here because this group of posters is by far the most helpful I have seen regarding relocation advice. This morning I was sent a listing for a very nice home in Montclair, and was able to pinpoint the desirability based on your very concise instructions as to the presence of homelessness, section 8, etc.
Here is our deal: My husband is going to work in Manhattan, close to Penn Station because he has been unable to find work in the Philadelphia area, since his former company relocated to LA. We have one child in college and once child in middle school, so school district is still important. My youngest attends a charter school for gifted students and works at home two days per week. She is very creative and artistic in a fashion and 3D design sort of way. We currently live in a ~million dollar home in the burbs of Philly (4500 sq feet, 5 beds, 5 baths), so you can imagine the sticker shock!
We are tossing around the following ideas:
My daughter and I stay here and my husband rents in the Montclair area.
My daughter and I get a place up Long Island and my husband rents a studio in Brooklyn.
My daughter and I get a place in Princeton and my husband rents in Montclair.
We all move to a NJ suburb like Montclair - after I sell our home.
We all move to Brooklyn - after I sell our home.
For the immediate future, we are looking for a place for my husband to rent so he can begin working and are looking in the Melburn area because of the direct train.
Now, here is the part you can all have fun with and laugh at me for
I am looking forward to downsizing - I spend most of my life cleaning and it really isn't the dream home I thought it would be when we built it!....but I do have a dream kitchen and cook/bake A LOT, so any long-term home would need to at least have the potential for an excellent kitchen.
We would like a good, safe, high school with after school activities, or the ability to maybe go to a more artsy HS, if that exists there. We have many HS options here such as performing arts, science and math charter schools, etc.
We want NORMAL, nice, down-to-earth people, not the "Jonses" who don't run deep and women who only want to go to "The Club", and talk about how much money they spent on x, y, z. I'm not judging, I just know that is not the type of neighbor I want.
We are not "republican" or "democrat", but rather, vote on the issues.
I would consider a fixer, if the money was right and there was great potential to make money on the property.
Ideally, we would like a commute within 45 minutes door to door (Penn Station area), via ONE train.
We would like proximity to a good hospital.
We have been married for 20 years and are in our late 40s early 50s, so this would be a five to ten year gig.
I think I answered everything one would need to know, but if not, ask away!
I am looking for advice....just first gut impression....of where you'all think would work best for our family. There are many choices, and I need to start somewhere, so I am hoping for some pattern of consensus to develop from those familiar with all of the areas.
THANK YOU!!!!
You'd do better by starting a new thread with your info...
Have you tried looking in the Caldwells ... North Caldwell upscale very family oriented good schools.
Same for west Caldwell not as upscale but great for families
We heard lot of about Montclair and Maplewood as good towns that many ex-Brooklynites have moved to. So last week, my husband and I drove out to Montclair and Maplewood to check them out.
Honestly we were not very impressed. Did we miss something? We went by ourselves, not with any realtor so maybe we missed the good areas?
At a gas station, near the Lackawanna Plaza in Montclair, my husband couldn't use the bathroom because a homeless guy was in there.
We drove by some houses for sale we found online. A lot of houses don't have much of a backyard. I didn't realize that Montclair is quite hilly, in some cases the lack of backyard was driven by geography. We saw huge mansions in Upper Montclair and some tiny houses that were very shabby but not very much in between.
We found more houses to our liking in Maplewood. But the picking was slim (however, it is winter time when few houses are on the market.)
What's going on? (We are thinking about visiting Westfield next, hope that will be a better visit)
you're going to have to post a general idea of what you're looking for. It's entirely possible that Montclair and Maplewood just aren't your cup of tea. Montclair has some beautiful older homes, both huge and normal size. Maplewood is kinda the same, but with slightly newer homes and I would venture a guess that they have smaller lots. both are very large towns.
Were you in downtown Montclair at all? What about downtown Maplewood?
i like how some people are really interested in all of my thoughts. im happy to respond. its hard for me to know exactly what montclair is like since i havent been here. but ive read bits and pieces from people on here and while they usually offer it as another semi-urban place with diversity alongside hoboken, their posts have led me to believe it lacks the more high end stuff like stores, restaurants, nice places to walk around where you wont get knocked out, that you would have in a hoboken experience.
but thats just the "sense" ive gotten. if i am wrong, then its the fault of people here who have talked about it.
Church street has a great wine and beer snob store (Amanti Vino). Anthopologie is there. a few great restaurants. A cupcake place. a trendy yogurt place. There's a nice photography store around the corner. It's a really nice downtown area. I like Montclair quite a bit. It's not quite as hobokeny as Morristown, but I could see why some people would compare it to a Hoboken type of place.
Church street has a great wine and beer snob store (Amanti Vino). Anthopologie is there. a few great restaurants. A cupcake place. a trendy yogurt place. There's a nice photography store around the corner. It's a really nice downtown area. I like Montclair quite a bit. It's not quite as hobokeny as Morristown, but I could see why some people would compare it to a Hoboken type of place.
Absolutely. There is that cool Doin Dishes shop right on Church where kids can make their own pottery.
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Close to Montclair
