Maplewood? (Irvington, West Orange, Montclair: house, buying, high school)

[Citygal2008]

Hi, this is my first post as I am new to this site. My husband and I are looking at areas in NJ that would be about an 1 hour commute to Midtown and someone suggested Maplewood. Can anyone provide any comments on this area? I see that it borders Irvington and know that that is not the best of areas.... Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[tandcookies]

I'm not familiar with Maplewood but you will find there are a lot of great posts on here if you do a Maplewood NJ search.

Good luck!

[kungfulou]

it's a dump

[veuvegirl]

We have lived in Maplewood for over ten years and love it. It is a wonderful community with many commuters. Do a search as tandcookies suggested. There are several threads on this.

If you need a realtor I highly recommend Maggie Callister Re/Max. She is wonderful.

[doerayme]

Can't say enough great things about Maplewood. When we were looking for a house, we absolutely fell in love with the town. The dowtown is great and the town has loads of charm. Funny enough we ended up buying in West Orange because we found a house we fell in love with at our price range but I still can't rave enough about Maplewood.

[kaday]

It is a really nice little Mayberry with a whole lot of personality. You can't go wrong.

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by kaday

It is a really nice little Mayberry with a whole lot of personality. You can't go wrong.

Unless your kids attend the high school. Or you compare your taxes with a comparable town in another county. Or you take a wrong turn at night and stumble into Irvington.

[Alex07860]

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned Montclair, Ridgewood or Hoboken.

[bluetobe]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Unless your kids attend the high school. Or you compare your taxes with a comparable town in another county. Or you take a wrong turn at night and stumble into Irvington.

Yes, taxes are high.....but whether it's in the price of the home, or the taxes....if you want to be in a nice town that is a reasonable commute to the city....you're going to pay either way.

Borders.....I worry about those a bit too....but again if you want to be close to the city in a somewhat affordable town, rough borders are often the case. It will be an adjustment, but the positives for us outweigh this negative.

Columbia High....a little concerned about it but since my kids are really young, I'll worry about it more later. There is a new superintendent in town and locals are really excited about his plans for changes...it could be a different school in 5 years.

The town though has amazingly nice, warm people who are proud of their town. Diversity is the norm and from what I could tell, perceived as a positive by the community.

We just bought a house in Maplewood and had all the same concerns but they were outweighed by everything else we loved about the town...easy commute, down to earth people, civic pride, good school. And I know I may get some flack for this....but we preferred Maplewood over Glen Ridge even. Glen Ridge was wonderful too, but we just liked the "feel" of Maplewood.

Hope this helps!!

[kaday]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Unless your kids attend the high school. Or you compare your taxes with a comparable town in another county. Or you take a wrong turn at night and stumble into Irvington.

Take it from someone who has lived there and has dozens of friends with children who have graduated from Columbia (and also some with kids still attending). Columbia is a fine highschool. Maplewood is a very nice place to live. Taxes are high anywhere in Northern NJ. You pay less for a house in Maplewood than other upscale Essex County towns but your taxes are more.

It is artsy, diverse, with well educated down to earth people. It is a beautiful town to raise a family in.