Moving our family from CA to NJ (Elizabeth, Hoboken: condo, houses)

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by PalmBch

Stay in Southern Bergen County or Hudson County

Why?

Northern Bergen County is very nice. And I don't know why anyone is recommending Hudson County to a family with small children.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by GByeCA4

Thanks.. I've been looking on Craigslist tonight using these towns. Obviously, we won't be renting anything that is available now.. because we're not moving for quite some time. But, I'm wondering what everyone's opinions are of these areas. OP, not that I'm not trusting your judgement.. I'd just like other opinions as well!

Oh no problem! I can give you more on the towns I mentioned too..

Ramsey: Has a train station, cute little downtown, excellent schools, small town feeling
Ridgewood: Train station, very nice downtown, probably considered the nicest town in the northern part of Bergen County as far as downtowns, good location
Mahwah: Geographically big town, hilly,lots of county parks, different kinds of housing stock (everything from condos to huge mansions), excellent schools, good services (library, etc)
Hillsdale: On the northeast side of Bergen County, nice downtown
Westwood/Washington Township (07676): Also on the northeast side of Bergen County, Westwood has a nice downtown, shares a school district with Washington Twp, good location

[VeradoDan]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

Monmouth Beach would be a couple hours commute, or close to it... Further up in Monmouth would be easier. I'd recommend checking out Hazlet, Keyport, Matawan, Aberdeen area if you like Monmouth County. In those towns you're close to the beaches but far enough inland that a commute to NY is much more manageable. I believe it takes my friend about 1 hour and 20 minutes to commute from Marlboro to Manhattan, by bus.

Monmouth Beach is five minutes away from the SeaStreak ferry to NYC. If her husband took that, the commute would be under an hour. The ferry can be pricey, but it's a fast, stress-free way to get to work (no traffic delays on the water!) and it's picturesque as well.

SeaStreak > SeaStreak > Homepage

[clevedark]

There are so many towns in NJ it's hard to say what's right for the OP. I'm sure budget will be the deciding factor. Yes, you can commute daily to NYC from Princeton and Monmouth County. Many people do.

I think the OP will be very happy with the schools in NJ. From what I hear from my friends in CA the state is imploding financially--even worse than NJ--so it's not a ridiculous move at all.

OP might want to look at Middletown, also, in Monmouth County. A solid middle to upper middle class community near beaches popular with many commuters to NYC.

Good luck to the OP!

[solibs]

The OP should be a lot more specific about what she's looking for. There are what, about 300 NJ towns within commuting distance of NYC?

[clevedark]

People don't realize NJ is wall to wall towns. I had a friend in college who told me that he had a friend who lived in NJ--he told me the town and I was like, never heard of it. He paused and said, that's what everyone I know from NJ says whenever I mention one town or another where I know people.

[GByeCA4]

Originally Posted by Eric S

It's good to start the research now, but you should really look into actually spending some time in NJ before your really commit. I can't even conceive of why anyone would leave Southern CA for NJ .

-Eric

We will be spending some time in NJ, not a lot because we don't have a lot of time to spend but some.. Have you ever been to Southern CA??? We HATE it here, HATE it! It's crowded (over crowded) and there is not a town where we'd LIKE to live in, anywhere. My husband can/will be transferring to NYC, if he decides to find something new once we're there, then so be it. We want to live in an area that we can afford to live in and be happy.. after a while he'll make more money and we'll move to a house that we want to 'stay' in for the long haul. We WANT the winters, we want 4 seasons. Believe me, we've been discussing this for years now!

Originally Posted by clevedark

I think the OP will be very happy with the schools in NJ. From what I hear from my friends in CA the state is imploding financially--even worse than NJ--so it's not a ridiculous move at all.

OP might want to look at Middletown, also, in Monmouth County. A solid middle to upper middle class community near beaches popular with many commuters to NYC.

Good luck to the OP!

Thank you! I appreciate your comment. We do get a lot of negative feedback about our move. Mostly from family because they don't want us to move away, but I appreciate some positivity once in a while!

I will look into Middletown. Are there any other towns in Northern Monmouth County that you'd recommend? A good friend of mine lives in Monmouth Beach and it'd be really nice to be close to her! I do realize though that MB is very expensive, so living there would only be possible after a few years!

Originally Posted by solibs

The OP should be a lot more specific about what she's looking for. There are what, about 300 NJ towns within commuting distance of NYC?

Umm.. that's why I'm here, getting as much info and reading through the forums as much as I can. I'm not sure how much more specific I can be.

Originally Posted by clevedark

People don't realize NJ is wall to wall towns. I had a friend in college who told me that he had a friend who lived in NJ--he told me the town and I was like, never heard of it. He paused and said, that's what everyone I know from NJ says whenever I mention one town or another where I know people.

Totally get what you're saying! I can't believe how many towns there are.. that's a HUGE reason for coming here, because there is sooo much to choose from that I needed to start somewhere!

[clevedark]

I think you should stick with Monmouth County if you want to be near the beach and near your friend. As you say, you've got to start somewhere, so start at the beginning.

And since there are so many towns in NJ, I'll point out that for recreation and socialization, people tend not to travel very far at all--a few miles at most--unless traveling into NYC. If your friend is important to you, you should move somewhere close otherwise you'll never see them.

Keep in mind that Monmouth County tends to be pretty densely populated, but coming from S. CA you might find it a little countrified.... The climate is harsher than SCA, but milder than north of NYC. The ocean is really really nice. It's a nice place.

So Middletown, Red Bank, Monmouth Beach, Little Silver, Atlantic Highlands--some nice towns in Monmouth. Even if you narrow it down to Monmouth there are a bazillion towns to choose from. It's not like Texas or CA or FL where you have massive incorporated areas that are called towns--NJ towns tend to sprout from historic settlements. Our millions of tiny town governments probably add alot to NJ's incredible taxes.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by clevedark

If your friend is important to you, you should move somewhere close otherwise you'll never see them.

This is very true!

[jpanico]

The forum will not let me send another direct message until tomorrow...