Husband Relocated To Cranbury (Cranford, Point Pleasant: rentals, house, elementary school)

[mckfam7]

Please help me NJ residents!
We are a family of 7, kids from 1yr to 9yrs, originally from Yonkers, NY. My husbands job was relocated to Cranbury. Right now we are renting in West Windsor. I really miss been able to walk everywhere, playgrounds, there is no downtown area in West Windsor as such. The schools are good but they are so big - I'm used to about 300 in a school that goes to grade 5. Are all the schools in NJ as broken up as they are in West-Windsor?
Can somebody help me , recommend a real town where you can walk places and a smaller community school. Oh, and I need to mention that my 9 yr old is in special ed. My husband is willing to commute up to 45 min. People have mentioned Pennington, Hopewell and Princeton(but I do not know if we could afford there). Also what about Cranbury? And we would not mind living in a shore town, love Point Pleasant- know nothing about the schools.
Also Highlands and Brick, Spring Lake? Our lease is up soon and I 'm not sure if I want ot renew it. We will probably do another rental as we have not sold our house yet. Sorry for been so long winded.

[AnthonyB]

Cranbury itself is really nice, has a little village at the center and good schools. Expensive though. It IS very suburban. Princeton is more walkable, but more expensive. Hopewell nice but more rural. If you want a busier, more urban feel with more walkable amenities and a little more affordable, look maybe at Metuchen, your husband should have a reverse commute down Route 1 which would be bearable. Or Highland Park, which has a very walkable downtown and some lovely housing stock. It is a very small town and a fair portion are Orthodox Jews who send their kids to private schools so the public ones are pretty quiet.
I'm not as familiar with the shore. The Atlantic region or Matawan might work. The commute might be a little long though.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by AnthonyB

I'm not as familiar with the shore. The Atlantic region or Matawan might work. The commute might be a little long though.

I would say she should do a lot of research on traffic and what way people are commuting during morning and rush hour. He might get lucky but he might not.

Since summer is coming, my guess is anything going south will suck. Hubby drive the turnpike south past great adventure and hates to work Fridays.

[jerseyj]

I think AnthonyB summed it up pretty well.
What you might want to do is prioritize your needs/wants. If schools are near the top, Pennington, Montgomery, Cranbury and Princeton are solid options. But as AnthonyB mentioned pretty expensive areas. I did a quick check on realtor.com and there are few rentals in those districts.
Cranbury actually has just one SF for rent and they are asking 6K a month. Beautiful looking house though! Cranbury is a great town, cute, but limited downtown, lots of parks and a nice "community" feel. It has one elementary school (600 students K-8) and then the kids are bussed to Princeton HS (1100 kids).
Montgomery and Princeton have limited and pricey rentals.
You might want to start looking at web sites like great schools, there are lots of them out there, then check out the towns.

For great schools and a great downtown Princeton would be my choice but housing prices and taxes there would gag a maggot!
Good luck with your search!

[AnthonyB]

Originally Posted by Roselvr

I would say she should do a lot of research on traffic and what way people are commuting during morning and rush hour. He might get lucky but he might not.

Since summer is coming, my guess is anything going south will suck. Hubby drive the turnpike south past great adventure and hates to work Fridays.

You're right, a southbound homeward journey in the summer is a nightmare, I still recall hitting the GSP out of Cranford to head home on a Friday and hitting a parking lot, every time.
A northbound journey might not be bad though, or West-East. Would want to try it out first.

[Viralmd]

The schools in West Windsor might be larger than you're used to, but they're excellent. Hopewell and Pennington are lovely towns, but don't have much in the way of rentals. Again, I think you're going to need to readjust your thinking about the schools. Most will be larger than what you've become used to - there's a big population in NJ! And I'd venture to guess most of the schools are better than the public schools are in Yonkers.

[mckfam7]

Dear Helpful New Jersey Residents,
Many thanks for all your replies. The consencus seems to be Princeton. I've started looking at rentals there. Right now as far as I'm concerned we're overpaying - $2700 for a 3bdrm 2bthrm house in West Windsor. I've actually come across a few for less than that in Princeton. I know you've said high taxes but the way I look at it - I have 5 children, if we stayed in Yonkers, they would be going to Catholic secondary schools at probably about $10,000 each. Would the taxes on a moderate size house be $20,000? And Mr. Moderator, the Yonkers school system gets a bad rap. Most of the primary schools are fine, I was very lucky to send my children to one of the best. It was a small school, most of the parents immigrants like me, great support system and great community. Unfortunately the secondary schools leave a lot to be desired, but they are trying to improve.
Again thank you all.

[Viralmd]

Yes, the taxes aren't far from $20,000 for a moderate-sized house in that area. Welcome to New Jersey.