Where are you coming from?
Philadelphia
Why are you moving?
Work
Where will you be working ? If NYC, what part of NYC?
I work in Stamford, CT (near train station) - can do a driving or train commute; I need to be there 2 days a week from September-May. Other days, I work from home. Summers, I work from home.
Spouse works in South Jersey (near Atlantic City) - can do a driving commute only; needs to be there 2 (occasionally 3) days a week from September-May. Other days, spouse works from home. Summers, spouse works from home.
Will you buy or rent?
Buy
What is your budget ?
Can go as high as $1 M, however prefer to keep it around $750,000
What kind of place are you looking for ?
Seeking to buy a house
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ?
Do you need/want good public schools?
We have 2 kids (elementary school age). We would like excellent public schools from k through 12.
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in
(examples: families with young children, young, mature, artsy, diverse, safe, close-knit, block parties, etc)
We would like to be in a neighborhood with lots of families with children. Prefer it to be artsy and liberal and friendly.
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.(examples: nightlife, outdoor activities, rural/urban, safety, downtown area, charming, new construction, proximity to XYZ, family oriented, easy parking, short commute, etc)
The most important thing is schools, then our commute times, and finally, some charm would be nice
Extra Info:
The distance between our work places is approximately 2.5 hours. The midway point driving is Perth Amboy, but we don't really want to live there. We have been interested particularly in:
- Larchmont, NY
- Millburn, NJ
- Glen Ridge, NJ
If we did Larchmont, my spouse would commute down to Atlantic City area and stay for two days before returning home. It's not ideal, but if Larchmont was the best/nicest place to live, we would consider it. Especially since it would make my commute so short and I have back problems (as in my back hurts all the time so commuting is terrible for me). And as a whole for our family, our total commuting time would be the shortest of the options.
If we did Millburn or Glen Ridge, we would both return home each work day. Our commutes would take about the same amount of time for each of us (1hr45min each way for each of us). It would be nice to be able to all be home each evening although our total commuting time as a family would be longer than the Larchmont location. Luckily, we work at our remote locations on opposing days (i.e. M/W or T/Th), so the kids would always have someone nearby regardless of location.
Given these parameters, which would you choose, and for what reasons? Are there any other towns that you would suggest that we should take a look at? We were eyeing the towns along the 95 highway between Montclair, Inwood/Riverdale and New Rochelle, but couldn't seem to identify one with great schools that would have the charm that Larchmont appears to have.
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