Oradell, River Vale, Old Tappan, or Northvale (Westwood, River Edge: best town, houses)

[NEWJERSEY1]

What's the best town out of the four??? Or do they all suck??? (The community, downtown, education system, diversity, safety, etc)

[zhelder]

Four very nice towns. Super safe, excellent schools. Diversity? Well, not so much. Plenty of Europeans and Asians, but not too many of other groups.

Of the four, I would say Oradell is the nicest, followed by Old Tappan, then River Edge, and finally, Northvale. All four are very nice though.

[NEWJERSEY1]

Originally Posted by zhelder

Four very nice towns. Super safe, excellent schools. Diversity? Well, not so much. Plenty of Europeans and Asians, but not too many of other groups.

Of the four, I would say Oradell is the nicest, followed by Old Tappan, then River Edge, and finally, Northvale. All four are very nice though.

You mean River Vale ... not River Edge. (Look at the thread title)

[zhelder]

Originally Posted by NEWJERSEY1

You mean River Vale ... not River Edge. (Look at the thread title)

Oops. Sorry. River Vale is very nice. In fact, probably the nicest of the four towns. And although I don't think River Vale has a very big downtown itself, neighboring Westwood has a nice downtown.

Speaking of Westwood, it's also a very nice town, and a bit more diverse than the other towns (with a much larger African-American population than most Bergen County 'burbs). It's not quite as fancy as the towns you mentioned, but still very nice, and probably quite a bit cheaper than the other towns.

[EEEPNJ]

They are all pretty much upper Bergen County 'Burbs... they are all nice. All have decent schools. Of the 4 I think that Oradell is the best too. Nicest "downtown" (although not sprawling...) and it's more easily accessible to major highways. Norwood and the like are a bear to get too. I also like Cresskill and Harrington Park, but they have the same issues.

[stevemorse]

Old Tappan hands down, just take a look at whats going on!!! Its the next Saddle River or Alpine, huge lots, this is an easy question!!!! Trust me, OLD TAPPAN Oradell can't hold a candle to OLD TAPPAN!! Here is your order: 1 old tappan 2 oradell 3 river vale 4 northvale and I would stay away from Northvale!!! Drive around and you will see old tappan, now this town used to be the styx, and look at it. If you get a good lot even with a small house but huge property your eventually sitting on a gold mind!! I mean this town was nothing , and its getting like Alpine and Saddle River. THere is no doubt that this town blows the others away. Taxes are low too!!! I mean my mother in law has a HUGe property and huge house and her taxes were almost the same as my old wreck and a tiny plot in Hillsdale. This town is going to keep booming due to lot sizes. Oradell does NOT have the lot size!!

[drsmith101]

google: northvale autism

About Northvale, NJ, and Autism

About Northvale, NJ, and Autism

by Kristina Chew, PhD on June 24th, 2007
...14 out of 39 children born since 1997 to teachers at St. Anthony’s have disabilities ranging from autism to muscular degeneration

[vs-in-nj]

Every one of the towns you mentioned are very nice. You can't go wrong with any of the schools. Just check out each town and see which one fits you and your needs.

[EEEPNJ]

Originally Posted by drsmith101

google: northvale autism

About Northvale, NJ, and Autism

About Northvale, NJ, and Autism

by Kristina Chew, PhD on June 24th, 2007
...14 out of 39 children born since 1997 to teachers at St. Anthony’s have disabilities ranging from autism to muscular degeneration

Wow

[pbergen]

stevemorse is right about old tappan: it's the wealthiest of the bunch, with the biggest homes and relatively low taxes, especially compared with oradell. very good schools - northern valley regional high school at old tappan is consistently ranked among the best in nj. the school system is overwhelmingly white and asian (especially korean). although it's suburban, it wasn't all that long ago that it had some farms and more open land, so much of the development is pretty new. the town didn't even have a traffic light for the longest time.

river vale has a lot of similarities, but is less upscale. it's still a pretty wealthy town, but the homes aren't as big or impressive as in old tappan. it's also much more homogenously white (i.e. fewer asians and very few other minorities). again, very good schools, but old tappan's district might be better. the one thing i don't like about river vale and old tappan is that there isn't really a nice, developed, walkable downtown area in either. there are a couple of strip malls, but the closest "real" downtowns are in adjacent communities.

oradell is a nice all-around town, but has very high taxes. you won't find many of the huge new mcmansions that are so common around nj b/c the town is very old. many of the homes are older colonials, victorians, and tudors on smaller lots that were built decades ago. there are also some generic post-WWII ranches and split level houses, but not too many mcmansions just because the town's land was built out a long time ago. one thing that oradell has that old tappan and river vale do not is a nice, walkable downtown area. people always rave about other downtowns in bergen such as ridgewood's, but oradell's is very solid as well (if a bit on the small side). oradell's schools are certainly respected, but generally are not as highly ranked as river vale's or old tappan's. i'm not sure this means they are worse, since rankings are based on a lot of factors that may not have anything to do with the actual education a student receives. either way, i don't think you can go wrong in the town, especially if you like classic old american homes. also, the town is very homogenous (over 90% white in the 2000 census), but has a modest population of asians (again, mostly koreans) and shares a school district with neighboring river edge, which is not as upscale (although still solid) and has a lot more asians.

northvale is the least desirable town of this group, but it's probably the most affordable and is in the old tappan school district, which is a big reason why a lot of people have moved there in recent decades. homes are generally pretty old and modest-sized, but there is a decent number of prototypical split-level 1970s-style homes, too. the town is mostly white and korean and does have a shopping district along livingston st, which serves as the de facto downtown for the old tappan/norwood/northvale/rockleigh area. overall, it's the least attractive of these towns, but if schools are important to you, then it's definitely worth looking into.