Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think West Orange and Fair Lawn are six of one and half a dozen of another. They are both on the "blah" side for the most part. Since you have no kids, I would choose the shorter commute. Long commutes are a death sentence so if one is 15 minutes shorter than the other, that's the one that gets my vote.
I lived in Radburn for 17 years. When I left, there was a big fight over what the head person in charge of Radburn did. She sold a park that belonged to Radburn without telling the home owners. The plan was to build high density low income apartments. There became a big fight and lots of money spent on lawyers. From my friends who still live there, there continues to be fighting, even though the head person left and a new head hancho is in charge. Some underhanded deals went on and it split alliances within Radburn residents.
When my kids were little, they attended the various programs (summer camp, basketball lessons, etc). The camp sucked because the camp counselors sucked. No one supervised the camp counselors and some were downright mean. They have slowly gotten rid of any kids programs and they keep raising the Radburn dues. Other than having 2 nice pools and a few small parks for the kids, it isn't worth buying into. The homes are very old and in need of constant repair. Unless someone has updated the electric, plumbing, kitchen, bathroom, etc., etc., the homes are a money pit and they tend to be very small.
Radburn elementary school was very nice. I liked most of my girls teachers. The Board of Education is very accommodating for special needs.
Outside of Radburn, Fair Lawn is a very boring place to live. The homes are boring, not much activities for kids and adults. Radburn is very close to the train station. You hear the trains whistle blow as late as 12:45 am and as early as 5:00 am. I never really got use to it, even after 17 years.
That would be along Saddle River Road. The most desireable part of Fair Lawn with big houses. Not many capes there. Nothing there for $400,000 & they attend Milnes.
There are plenty of rich people in Fair Lawn. That's why there are 23 banks in the town. More banks than there are in Ridgewood.
LOL!! Never knew there was any correlation between the two. Alpine must be dirt poor :-)
Is it possible to permanently get rid of termites once they have been treated and "supposedly" removed? We are looking at a house that has had termites but am concerned about possibe reinfestation or dormant ones that will resurface. We are first time home buyers so do not know anything about termites.
I lived in West Orange during most of my childhood and I still go back and visit. I have friends who live in Fair Lawn but I have never lived there. If you want parks, you did not mention that South Mountain Reservation is mostly in West Orange. There are some great hiking trails and picnic areas. Plus, you have the Turtle Back Zoo which was recently improved, as well as the skating arena. Personally, I think West Orange is a much more attractive town. Leafy, green streets, except maybe not so much on the main streets, like on Pleasant Valley Way. The side streets are still quite lovely and I always loved the Upper Gregory section- very charming. When I go to Fair Lawn I feel more hemmed in- as stated in posts above there are lots of cape cods. But Fair Lawn is in Bergen County and might be a bit more convenient for NYC access. West Orange is in Essex County but I think their transport system to NYC is really good. Taxes seem to have gotten out of control in West Orange but you just have to be sure to get a good deal on your house purchase price. There seem to be plenty of homes to choose from right now in W.O. Good luck!
West Orange is very nice....the Pleasantdale section near the high school is very nice....Schools are not
bad, true Livingston has better school system...It's not that far from West Orange so Livingston should
be considered....my daughter commutes from WO to Berkeley Heights every day to work....she takes
the back roads...she doesn't mind the commute at all....
Overall, a good description. Just a couple of things though. Montclair is extremely diverse, and not just black and white.
The other thing is safety. I think you just need to qualify the statement a little. "Up the hill" may be just as safe as the surrounding suburbs, but down the hill it gets more dangerous, especially the closer you get to the orange/east orange border. Overall, West Orange has quite a bit more crime than Livingston or Verona, and a whopping 3.5X the crime rate of Roelsand, according to NJ.com, but I would imagine it is mostly confined to the valley though.
i'm curious - what do folks consider "up the hill" and "down the hill"? is gregory the cutoff? i live just off of gregory, a few houses down, and i think it's perfectly safe. you really need to go all the way down to orange, and even there doesn't seem that bad to me.
i'm curious - what do folks consider "up the hill" and "down the hill"? is gregory the cutoff? i live just off of gregory, a few houses down, and i think it's perfectly safe. you really need to go all the way down to orange, and even there doesn't seem that bad to me.
Most people consider Gregory to be the cut-off.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
