Advise about Essex County: Nutley, Verona, the Caldwells, Cedar Grove (Montclair: real estate, houses)

[New2NewJersey]

Hi all. My wife and I are planning to relocate to NJ (we are from NY and plan to commute to NYC for work).

We are looking at Essex County, specifically Nutley, Verona, and the Caldwells. We are looking for great schools (as my wife is expecting) and good living environment.

Can people shed some light into those particular areas, particularly school wise, like which is better and why? Which would you recommend to us to focus on?

Also, what are the differences between the Caldwells? Is one a "bad" Caldwell? How about Cedar Grove? How does it comapre school wise to the other 3, which have been getting good comments from the threads I have been reading. Couldn't find much comments about Cedar Grove.

I hope you guys can shed some light for me, as it is a big decision for us. We have looked at houses in each area, and we like what we see, but now we like to know the nitty-gritty!!!!

THANKS!!!

[chrismaya]

You can't go wrong in W. Caldwell. You might want to check out Fairfield, too.

[findinghope]

i would go with Verona or Cedar Grove. excellent school systems and close to transportation to NYC....Montclair for that matter would be worth looking in to

[elflord1973]

Originally Posted by New2NewJersey

Hi all. My wife and I are planning to relocate to NJ (we are from NY and plan to commute to NYC for work).

We are looking at Essex County, specifically Nutley, Verona, and the Caldwells. We are looking for great schools (as my wife is expecting) and good living environment.

Can people shed some light into those particular areas, particularly school wise, like which is better and why? Which would you recommend to us to focus on?

Also, what are the differences between the Caldwells? Is one a "bad" Caldwell? How about Cedar Grove? How does it comapre school wise to the other 3, which have been getting good comments from the threads I have been reading. Couldn't find much comments about Cedar Grove.

I hope you guys can shed some light for me, as it is a big decision for us. We have looked at houses in each area, and we like what we see, but now we like to know the nitty-gritty!!!!

THANKS!!!

A list of the top high schools in New Jersey by rank-www.njmonthly.com

I think these are all pretty solid, but Glen Ridge's schools consistently do better in the rankings than the others on your list (and GR has better access to NYC transportation).

Nutley is quite a long way down, but then, it's not as upscale as the other towns in your list.

[Spincycle]

I think schools are great in all towns. My main concerns would be high taxes, real estate costs, character of the town, and transportation into NYC (bus or access to the train nearby). You did not say where in NYC you will be working (e.g. downtown, midtown 33rd, midtown 41st). Of the Caldwells I'd probably say North Caldwell is too pricy. Between CG and Verona I'd go with Verona b/c I think it has more character. I'm not sure if Nutley's taxes far exceed Caldwell/Verona and if there schools are a notch lower. In Nutley you can easily drive to delawanna station in nearby clifton for the train.

[twista6002]

Originally Posted by New2NewJersey

Hi all. My wife and I are planning to relocate to NJ (we are from NY and plan to commute to NYC for work).

We are looking at Essex County, specifically Nutley, Verona, and the Caldwells. We are looking for great schools (as my wife is expecting) and good living environment.

Can people shed some light into those particular areas, particularly school wise, like which is better and why? Which would you recommend to us to focus on?

Also, what are the differences between the Caldwells? Is one a "bad" Caldwell? How about Cedar Grove? How does it comapre school wise to the other 3, which have been getting good comments from the threads I have been reading. Couldn't find much comments about Cedar Grove.

I hope you guys can shed some light for me, as it is a big decision for us. We have looked at houses in each area, and we like what we see, but now we like to know the nitty-gritty!!!!

THANKS!!!

I don't know much about the schools but I know all the Caldwells are pretty nice, as are all the towns you mentioned.

[Ellwood]

Essex County taxes are extremely high. You might consider Whippany or Morris Plains, which is Hanover Township, and have lowest taxes in Morris County. Easily commutable via bus, park and rides into the city.

[USER876]

Cedar Grove has low taxes

[iagirl]

I live in Nutley and the #1 thing it has going for it (imo) is convenience. The commute into NYC has been pretty great for us using DeCamp buses. Also, there is now a jitney from the other side of town to the Delawanna station. The hubby's trip average is 60-70 minutes door to door (to Park Ave South). If he comes home post-rush, it can be less than an hour. It's also convenient to a Target, a movie theater and at least 3 grocery stores, so that late night diaper run is pretty easy to pull off.

Our daughter is about to start kindergarten at Spring Garden and from what we've heard from friends who are a year ahead it's a great school. There are before and after-school care programs right in the schools and I think the parks and rec department has camp during school vacations, both of which are a huge relief to working parents.

I haven't heard great things about the middle school and high school, but I sense the town leaders would like to improve, so maybe when she's ready to move on there will be improvement.

Nutley has its own little "downtown," but we truthfully spend more time in the Montclair areas, which are just a few minutes away. I think taxes are ridiculous, but about the same as other Essex county towns, maybe even a little lower? I'm not sure. Taxes here are crazy. Hope that helps.

[FrmlyBklyn]

Originally Posted by iagirl

I live in Nutley and the #1 thing it has going for it (imo) is convenience. The commute into NYC has been pretty great for us using DeCamp buses. Also, there is now a jitney from the other side of town to the Delawanna station. The hubby's trip average is 60-70 minutes door to door (to Park Ave South). If he comes home post-rush, it can be less than an hour. It's also convenient to a Target, a movie theater and at least 3 grocery stores, so that late night diaper run is pretty easy to pull off.

Our daughter is about to start kindergarten at Spring Garden and from what we've heard from friends who are a year ahead it's a great school. There are before and after-school care programs right in the schools and I think the parks and rec department has camp during school vacations, both of which are a huge relief to working parents.

I haven't heard great things about the middle school and high school, but I sense the town leaders would like to improve, so maybe when she's ready to move on there will be improvement.

Nutley has its own little "downtown," but we truthfully spend more time in the Montclair areas, which are just a few minutes away. I think taxes are ridiculous, but about the same as other Essex county towns, maybe even a little lower? I'm not sure. Taxes here are crazy. Hope that helps.

Spring Garden and Radcliffe have good reputations. I haven't heard bad things about the middle school or high school for that matter. In fact, fellow commuters say the opposite, that the schools are fantastic - academically-wise. I hear they have new computers, new science labs, all the schools have been or are in process of having face-lifts structurally wise, after all the years of prior neglect. That is one of the reasons for the huge jump in taxes, $50 million of capital improvements and the lack of industrial tax base, main industrial payor is Roche pharma. Taxes, are the main negative for the town.

The town has nice parks, a great rec program run by parks department. The main shopping store is Shop-Rite on Franklin. People are generally nice. If taking the train at Delawanna and driving, recommend getting there no later than 7:15am, or all the spots will be gone. Otherwise, there is a jitney to the station for a buck each way, although it mainly operates in Yantacaw section.