Nutley or Livingston (Irvington, Cranford, Watchung: homes, schools, college)

[ahomefinder]

Depends on the lifestyle you seek. They're both nice towns with good schools, but Nutley has more of a cosmopolitan lifestyle. Livingston is very isolated - no downtown, sprawling, not much to do, no train service to Manhattan.

[brookdaleresident]

Originally Posted by ahomefinder

Depends on the lifestyle you seek. They're both nice towns with good schools, but Nutley has more of a cosmopolitan lifestyle. Livingston is very isolated - no downtown, sprawling, not much to do, no train service to Manhattan.

Sorry, Livingston does have a downtown. They have a totally new shopping area with some great shops and restaurants, in addition to the existing shopping areas. I never thought of Nutley as cosmopolitan

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by marymagda

Just came out last month. Nutley is ranked 38th. Livingston is ranked 137. I rest my case.

oh for crying out loud. what case? you really believe a list that puts upper saddle river below irvington and newark?

come on. nutley's nice, but please.

[marymagda]

The rankings took alot into the computation. What killed towns like USR and Franklin Lakes etc was the huge dive real estate took there. Of course Upper Saddle River is pretty town but not a place I would live. You can't get a cup of coffee after 6pm at night and that would not be for me. I do think that a good point made is there is alot more to do in Nutley. Hey you can go dancing on a Friday night right in town. I use to live in Wyckoff and enjoyed it when my kids were small but Nutley was a better fit for me. It was more grounded and I liked the small town values. Being a walker I loved all the parks which to me are the best in NJ. Livingston is a nice town but I would never live there. To each his own.

[SPNARD1]

I agree with AnesthesiaMD....have you seen some of the list they publish on the best places to live in NJ...arguable to say the least.

I'd go with Livingston if you can afford it

Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD

Dont rest your case just yet, next year Livingston will be number 8 and Nutley will be number 175. But then the following year, Nutley will be number 1 and Livingston will be number 435, but then the next year...

It is pretty well accepted that the NJ Monthly list is a joke.

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by marymagda

The rankings took alot into the computation. What killed towns like USR and Franklin Lakes etc was the huge dive real estate took there. Of course Upper Saddle River is pretty town but not a place I would live. You can't get a cup of coffee after 6pm at night and that would not be for me. I do think that a good point made is there is alot more to do in Nutley. Hey you can go dancing on a Friday night right in town.

Wow, someone who actually thinks in this forum and doesn't simply apply his personal bias to ranking towns. Who woulda thought????

[AnesthesiaMD]

Originally Posted by marymagda

The rankings took alot into the computation.

Will you still be saying that next year when Nutley drops to number 299 for no apparent reason?

[AnesthesiaMD]

Originally Posted by kalim2008

Wow, someone who actually thinks in this forum and doesn't simply apply his personal bias to ranking towns. Who woulda thought????

Not this again.

A town isnt a good town because some magazine says it is (Especially when the magazine is so fickle from year to year). That would be the OPPOSITE of free thinking.

Here is an example of free thinking: A town is only as good to an individual as it's desirability to that individual. There may be a few individuals that think Irvington is a better town than Upper Saddle River. The majority would disagree with that. Since no town is intrinsically better than another and it really just boils down to opinion, when someone is asking which of 2 towns is better, they are looking for a majority consensus, which in this case seems to be Livingston.

Property values in a free market are another way to estimate majority consensus.

[Zarah19]

Do research Livingston definitely. There was a study done in Nutley about how they really dislike new comers. People there are closed minded and in-breeds. Warning Caution Stay Away from Nutley!!

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD

Not this again.
A town isnt a good town because some magazine says it is (Especially when the magazine is so fickle from year to year). That would be the OPPOSITE of free thinking.

Of course you can rank towns based on statistical values, so long as the methodology is applied consistently and enough data is available. The results will not be applicable to everyone however, since as pointed out repeatedly, different people may want different things (this is why i don't like people dissing big cities and comparing them so unfavorably to smaller richer towns, since each has their own advantages and disadvantages on a personal level to different individuals), but so long as the methodology is clear then the results of broad statistical studies do provide some useful information on the overall picture. This broad overall picture is not easy to get from just personal opinions of individual posters here as the sampling is too small and most likely biased based on what the poster likes and dislikes.

With regards to "property values", that obviously is affected by numerous secondary factors, and is obviously only ONE FACTOR to consider, as opposed to being the ONLY factor. Is California so much better than NJ just because property values there are inflated? Of course not, but based on your idea we might as well all move to California. Is Arizona so much better than NJ because home values there have so risen so much faster? Again, we have to consider factors BEYOND just property values before making conclusions, which is what these statistical reports purport to do. I'm not saying they are completely right in their methodology, I'm just saying they provide info that could be useful, at least better than personal, biased opinions from anonymous posters on an internet forum.

With regards to your idea about "free thinking", is it "free thinking" to think the world is flat and ignore all the scientific data that points otherwise just because it suits your personal agenda? Is it "free thinking" to think GM always builds great cars because YOUR GM car runs ok, even though broad statistical evidence seems to show GM does not build as good a product as Toyota? Of course not. You're confusing personal bias and opinion with hard evidence based on statistical data.