Where to relocate to in NJ? Help. (West Milford, Maplewood: real estate, 2010)

[OnMyWayToNJ]

Looking for some advice.

I am going to be relocating to NJ in Jan 2010. Wehave four kids all under the age of 11. We are looking for all the family type of things you would look for in a community when you have these many kids.

Budget for the home is max $650k.

I will be working out of Morris Plains and NYC. We spent a week in NJ recently and looked around the Morris Plains area (Chatham, Madison, Maplewood, Roxbury, Rockaway, Mendham etc) We also went to Lake Hopatcong and Sparta.

Comnig from Florida we are experiencing the first of what I think will be many price shocks coming our way. Housing and property taxes in NJ are quite high. :-(

Given these parameters, where would you buy?

[tpajewski]

Depends on what exactly you are looking for. You will get more house for your money in Roxbury and Rockaway even Denville than you would in Mendham, Chatham, and Madison.
Randolph is also a nice area that also has a lake community. Schools in Morris County are generally very good. You can go on gsmls.com to start researching the areas as far as prices of the homes and taxes.

[Obrero]

Did you look in Mountain Lakes? Or perhaps even better (given your budget) Boonton Township?

[Appias]

Out of the towns you saw on your visit, which ones did you like/not like? Once we know your town "type" it will be easier to give more precise answers.

[ssd3]

I like all the towns mentioned, except I am not a big fan of Rockaway (just my opinion)

[OnMyWayToNJ]

Originally Posted by Appias

Out of the towns you saw on your visit, which ones did you like/not like? Once we know your town "type" it will be easier to give more precise answers.

We liked Chatham, Madison and Maplewood. However, budget wise for our size family those twons tend to be outside of our budget.

[hrjersey]

Maplewood is a nice town but the property taxes are outrageous and, in my opinion and based on the scores, the schools are just average. I don't know much about specific schools in FL but overall even our average districts seem to be better than the majority of FL schools.

Here is the link to the state website where you can compare school district performance. There are other ratings out there but this is a straightforward way to see how the students are performing.

[captne76]

Rockaway Township which is rather large and stretches for many miles has all sorts of real estate and the character ranges from suburban all the way to rural as you go north. Decent highway access, malls, etc.

[OnMyWayToNJ]

Originally Posted by Obrero

Did you look in Mountain Lakes? Or perhaps even better (given your budget) Boonton Township?

Passed by Mountain Lakes but again homes for our needs are pretty high up there.

[OnMyWayToNJ]

Any feedback on West Milford? What would the commute be like from WM to Morris PLains and to NYC?