Thinking of moving from NY to NJ for schools

[luckyshoes]

[quote=RKO113;10840134]I am reading some of the replies here and I just need to warn you that there are people who seem to be embellishing - RE Brokers???.
Cranford for around $400K? Maybe if you want a 1,200 sq ft fixer upper on a main road...

[quote]

I agree. I think some of the towns on this thread are way out of the price range or out of whack in other ways in the descriptions.

[BPerone201]

Since school looks like it's your main priority, I would suggest Tenafly, since it has some of the best schools in NJ BUT 400K is practically out of the question in that area... A good place to look is probably Fair Lawn because the value of homes there can get you a pretty good variety for your budget, and the schools are pretty good from what I've heard.

[icibiu]

[quote=luckyshoes;10844763][quote=RKO113;10840134]I am reading some of the replies here and I just need to warn you that there are people who seem to be embellishing - RE Brokers???.
Cranford for around $400K? Maybe if you want a 1,200 sq ft fixer upper on a main road...

I agree. I think some of the towns on this thread are way out of the price range or out of whack in other ways in the descriptions.

Seriously!! I laughed when I saw West Windsor, sure you will be at work in under an hour IF YOU ARE GOING TO PHILLY!! LOL

I did a quick search on NJMLS for places in Bergen county here are towns I would consider living in that have places under 400K:

Bergenfield (Very high taxes, better to keep mortgage low, large jewish community)
Bogota
Carlsdadt
Englewood (although houses come up in your range they might not be in the nice side of this town, you'd have to go look)
Fair Lawn
Franklin Lakes (this is a very nice town, don't get me wrong, but I was surprised to see it come up in you price range. There are 3 houses right now under 400K BUT they will definitely be the smallest itty bittiest houses on the block. You are not poor but if you move here your kids will be "the poor kids")
Hasbrouck heights
Leonia
Mahwah (kind of far but then again I'm moving to Ringwood and DH still works in NYC so it's not THAT bad)
Maywood & Rochelle Park (these two towns are SOO CUTE, but they don't have their own high school so the kids go to Hackensack HS, which is not the best but not as bad as people will have you believe. Still worth a look)
Montvale (not alot in your range but worth try very nice town. Commute is on the far side but still under an hour)
New Milford
North Arlington
Oakland (nice town but certainly pretty far)
Paramus (not a ton of houses in your range but worth a look this is a very nice town)
Ridgefield & Ridgefield Park (hmmm...I was torn about these. Great schools and close to the city BUT the houses are so on top of each other, a little like queens except the streets are narrower too so the ones across the street is close to you too. I wouldn't go for it but different strokes for different folks...)
Ridgewood (if you can find something)
River Edge
Rutherford (definitely the best commute with that suburb town feel you are looking for)
Teaneck (take a drive, there are some nice parts some eeeehhhh you might be able to find a house in the nicer part for 400K)


Did I skip some towns? Ofcourse! Are some of the ones I skipped nice towns? I don't know. Like I said I've been here for two years. I only put down the towns I have personally been to or looked at, if I never heard of a town i skipped it. All of the towns on this list are in Bergen County and pretty close to NYC (with the exception of Mahwah and Oakland but like I said *I* think it's not soo bad but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone) There are other towns in Passiac, Hudson, Essex and Union Counties which might also suite you but I'm most familiar with Bergen county so that's what I chose

Here's a couple towns *I* would NOT live in:

Jersey City
Garfield
Hackensack
Lyndhurst (I live here now but would NOT put my kids in the school system but the town is nice otherwise)
Lodi
Patterson
Newark
Bloomfield
Lincoln Park
Little Falls
Orange (can nver remember if it's east or west but one of them is terrible)
Kearny
Harrison
Elizabeth
Union City
There's more but they escape me now...

[MontclairBrooklyngirl]

I am going thru the same process. Went thru every town in Essex, Union & Bergen Counties because they are all somewhat close to NYC. Hudson County I was not that fond of. I also got the ranking for the HS's in NJ. There are 316 HS's in NJ and I figured my town had to land in the top 100. greatschools.net also helped, along with the crime, school ratings, and median price info (among other things) that city-data.com offers. I really liked SCOTCH PLAINS in Union county & the schools are very well rated. Also WESTWOOD in Bergen County. Also stellar schools, nice town center etc. Train right smack in the middle of town. Both are in your price range. West Orange & Maplewood are ok too but the schools are a little lower than the other 2 I mentioned (although still not bad). Watch out for taxes in Essex County tho! They are higher than Bergen & Union.

If you look at just the top 10 best High Schools in NJ, they are all in towns above the price point you mentioned. But try anyway! In this climate, I was able to get a home in the range you mentioned in a town that is normally NOT at that price point. Someone elses misfortune was our good luck. Schools nice, and easy commute to NYC. (And HS ranked in the 60's. Not stellar, but I'll take it!) Because the town met so many of our other needs, we jumped on it.

I made a chart and really stuck to my guns. It really helped. Just have patience and do your research. Good luck! We will be in NJ before winter...

[MontclairBrooklyngirl]

Oh! Also just saw a report on Moorestown NJ as being the "best" place to live in the 50 states, with excellent schools, and matching your price point. Personally I think its too far from NY, but I never checked to see if there is an express train which would help a lot! Worth checking out.

[Obrero]

Also consider West Caldwell.

Any town you look at within 1 hour of NYC and great schools while spending $400k is going to equal a tiny / fixer house.

[luckyshoes]

[quote=icibiu;10846100]

Originally Posted by luckyshoes

[

Seriously!! I laughed when I saw West Windsor, sure you will be at work in under an hour IF YOU ARE GOING TO PHILLY!! LOL Yeah, Philly if you drive and leave at 6 am

I did a quick search on NJMLS for places in Bergen county here are towns I would consider living in that have places under 400K:

Bergenfield (Very high taxes, better to keep mortgage low, large jewish community) I think the schools in Bergenfield are iffy.
Bogota
Carlsdadt
Englewood (although houses come up in your range they might not be in the nice side of this town, you'd have to go look)
Fair Lawn This is a good option, might be the best one with these criteria.
Franklin Lakes (this is a very nice town, don't get me wrong, but I was surprised to see it come up in you price range. There are 3 houses right now under 400K BUT they will definitely be the smallest itty bittiest houses on the block. You are not poor but if you move here your kids will be "the poor kids") I agree, Franklin Lakes would suck if you were in the 400K house, I would do Oakland instead. People have mad money in Franklin Lakes.
Hasbrouck heights
Leonia
Mahwah (kind of far but then again I'm moving to Ringwood and DH still works in NYC so it's not THAT bad) Mahwah is a great one if you can make it work, but under 400K is going to be hard. You're looking at a townhouse, maybe, or a small house in West Mahwah (the least nice part, not "bad," but not as nice as the other parts.
Maywood & Rochelle Park (these two towns are SOO CUTE, but they don't have their own high school so the kids go to Hackensack HS, which is not the best but not as bad as people will have you believe. Still worth a look) Yeah, high school is a problem here
Montvale (not alot in your range but worth try very nice town. Commute is on the far side but still under an hour) I would say out of price range.
New Milford
North Arlington
Oakland (nice town but certainly pretty far) There are buses to Port Authority that are not so bad (Coach USA). Good schools, and good value for your money.
Paramus (not a ton of houses in your range but worth a look this is a very nice town)
Ridgefield & Ridgefield Park (hmmm...I was torn about these. Great schools and close to the city BUT the houses are so on top of each other, a little like queens except the streets are narrower too so the ones across the street is close to you too. I wouldn't go for it but different strokes for different folks...) RP is one of my faves in Southern Bergen if you're in the under 400K price range.
Ridgewood (if you can find something) Under 400K, the house is going to stink in Ridgewood.
River Edge
Rutherford (definitely the best commute with that suburb town feel you are looking for)
Teaneck (take a drive, there are some nice parts some eeeehhhh you might be able to find a house in the nicer part for 400K) Not a fan of Teaneck

Good post. I wrote my comments in.

[Appias]

Yep, Cranford. And not on a main road. At least not according to realtor.com (I'm not a realtor if I was I would have access to the MLS and wouldn't have to rely on realtor.com.)
I'm not really into school rankings as I think there are better indicators of a school's direction. For example any town that has recently had an influx of educated and upwardly mobile people is going to have a lag in scores. Maplewood was only "discovered" in the last 10 years so all the really proactive parents (many seemingly from Brooklyn especially Park Slope) have young children. The schools are good and getting better. One was recently included in a PBS show profiling innovative schools across the nation. The property taxes are rough, but if you pay less for your house it balances out.

[NJ07035]

[quote=icibiu;10846100][quote=luckyshoes;10844763]

Originally Posted by RKO113

I am reading some of the replies here and I just need to warn you that there are people who seem to be embellishing -

Did I skip some towns? Ofcourse! Are some of the ones I skipped nice towns? I don't know. Like I said I've been here for two years. I only put down the towns I have personally been to or looked at, if I never heard of a town i skipped it. All of the towns on this list are in Bergen County and pretty close to NYC (with the exception of Mahwah and Oakland but like I said *I* think it's not soo bad but I wouldn't recommend it for everyone) There are other towns in Passiac, Hudson, Essex and Union Counties which might also suite you but I'm most familiar with Bergen county so that's what I chose

Here's a couple towns *I* would NOT live in:

Jersey City
Garfield
Hackensack
Lyndhurst (I live here now but would NOT put my kids in the school system but the town is nice otherwise)
Lodi
Patterson
Newark
Bloomfield
Lincoln Park
Little Falls
Orange (can nver remember if it's east or west but one of them is terrible)
Kearny
Harrison
Elizabeth
Union City
There's more but they escape me now...

Why would you *NOT* live in these towns? It's a wide-ranging list you cited; is it because they are not in Bergen County? Being a proud and active resident of one of these towns, I'm curious...

[icibiu]

Well, most of them on that list are because of the crime factor, I'm pretty sure those are obvious. Some are just too densly populated if I wanted to live somewhere with a population of 5K ppl, I would have stayed in NYC. Some don't have the best schools systems. And atleast one on there have major flood zone areas, when you have a small budget and you look in a town with a flood zone guess where that house is going to be?

I didn't want to offend anyone when I created the list I was just giving MY personal opinion, I'm sure there are many people happily living in each one of the towns I mentioned, different strokes for different folks. I'm sure some people would be absolutly miserable living in the middle of the woods with a 15 minute drive to the store but that's where *I* am moving to because it made sense for me and my family. The beauty of City Data is that you can go to the main part of the website and get the cold hard facts, the numbers and statistics for each town BUT because living in a town is not so black and white, you can come to the forum and ask about the gray areas and get people's opinions. I was just giving mine.

You sounds like you are happy in your town, why not suggest it to the OP? Give your opinion, maybe it's the right choice for her.