montgomery (New Brunswick, Westfield, Rahway: relocating, travel, job)

[tesmama]

Thanks for all the replies about the commute from Clinton to Warren on RT78.
It sounds like it would be brutal. How would the commute from Montgomery to Warren be. I would think it would be better as Montgomery is South not West. Thanks for all the help. This is such a great resource!!!!

[lammius]

Eh, I forget if Montgomery is on 202 or 206 (I always get them confused), but I know they load up quite a bit on the approach to 22/287 in Bridgewater in the morning. And coming from 287 Southbound to 22/202/206 on a Friday afternoon is pretty hellacious. I used to commute down 287 toward New Brunswick and got caught up in lots of delays due to huge volumes exiting in the Bridgewater area, and those delays continue until you get beyond the big 202/206 split. Maybe someone more familiar with the area could estimate a rush hour travel time for you, but I imagine it's a lot longer than what mapquest would tell you.

It's difficult to avoid traffic altogether though. Do you have to live so far away from Warren?

[tesmama]

Thanks for the reply. No we don't need to live so far away from Warren but we are considering relocating from Bergen County to an area closer to Warren. Our #1 consideration are the schools. We also would like a new or newer 4 bedroom house. In the areas close to Warren the houses we like are 800+. We would like to stay under that number. If anyone could offer any suggestions it would be great!

[royceb]

I think Montgomery to Warren would be worse than Clinton to Warren because you would have to take Route 206 - which goes down to one lane in the Montgomery/Hillsborough area. I wouldn't be surprised if it took a little more than an hour.

Have you tried looking around Bridgewater?

[tesmama]

Thanks again royceb for your reply. No I have not looked in Bridgewater because I am looking only at towns with a HS in the top 40-50. The higher the better. We currently live in a town where we do not use the public schools esp. the HS and do not want to fall into the same trap again. It is a nice option to use your local public schools. I would appreciate any other town ideas. Thanks again!

[royceb]

I live in New Providence, NJ, about 5 miles from Warren. The school in my town and the next town over, Berkeley Heights, both have Top 40 schools in NJ according to most published articles. 4 bedroom, 2 bath colonials start at $700,000. A realtor just appaised my home at $750,000. The unfortunate truth is that if you want to be near a good school, you will have to pay through the nose for it. It gets even more expensive in the neighboring towns of Chatham and Madison.

I wouldn't get too hung up on going to only the Top 40-50 schools - those rankings are subjective. I went to Hillsborough High School, which neighbored Bridgewater and both were good schools. They may not have been Top 40, but I left Hillsborough with a full scholorship to a Top 35 University when all was said and done. If you child is driven, he will succeed at any HS. Also, a top 75 school in NJ is probably better than 85% of most schools in the country.

[tesmama]

Thanks again royceb. I actually had New Providence on my list of towns to consider. Could I please ask you some questions: How is the town? Is it family-friendly (good recreation program, town pool)? Is there a downtown? Overall is it a good place to relocate my family to? Thanks again for all of your help!

[kong0003]

I will take a job in Rahway. Is that possible to commute from Montgomery? I think driving will not be a good option. What about trains or buses? Thanks.

[lammius]

Originally Posted by kong0003

I will take a job in Rahway. Is that possible to commute from Montgomery? I think driving will not be a good option. What about trains or buses? Thanks.

If you want to commute anywhere via transit, Somerset County is not the best place to live.

[royceb]

Originally Posted by tesmama

Thanks again royceb. I actually had New Providence on my list of towns to consider. Could I please ask you some questions: How is the town? Is it family-friendly (good recreation program, town pool)? Is there a downtown? Overall is it a good place to relocate my family to? Thanks again for all of your help!

The downtown area is very small. But you have Summitt, Millburn, Chatham, Madison, and Westfield within a 10 minute drive if you want downtowns. My wife and I always go around Westfield. Very family friendly with a town pool and plenty of playgrounds. If you are looking at big parks, the large Watchung Park is right down Diamond Hill Road. I love living here for the convience for commuting to NY, the nice class of people I have met, and being able to enjoy othe great towns the surround me. I don't regret the move here for a second, save the high taxes (11,000) .

My wife and I considered moving to NC, but after comparing the surrounding area of Charlotte to our area, there was just no comparison. If you can afford, it is great.