Morris School - Worth the move? (Livingston, Morristown: real estate market, home, to buy)
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I was hoping to get a couple of opinions. We currently reside in Morris Township, NJ and have two young children that are about to start elementary school.
My question is that we have heard many concerns about the Morris Township school district and are considering selling our home and moving to another town. We are considering Livingston, NJ and Basking Ridge, NJ.
The issue we are having is that we currently love our area and current home but are also very focused on schools.
Do you find much of a difference between the Morris Township elementary schools and the other towns mentioned. We would probably need to invest another $100 - 150k to get a similar home. We have heard many things about the high school but haven't heard a ton about the elementary schools.
Where do you both work? I notice that you're picking towns that are relatively close to your current location, so the question is that because of commute time, or because it's just what you know?
There's a number of towns in the surrounding area to Basking Ridge that have good schools (as well as Ridge itself), for example.
We moved out of Morris Twp when our kids were entering elementary school. The decision was more based on the high school (pros and cons to Morristown HS, just decided it wasn't for us). I think the elementary schools are generally pretty good though; we just ideally wanted the kids to be able to stay in the same school system through high school.
We chose Randolph and one kid is in college now and one with a couple years left at RHS. It was a good choice for us and the schools/teachers really met our expectations. Of course no place is perfect and we have friends who are less pleased so YMMV.
I've heard good things about the Basking Ridge schools. Lots of good choices in the area... what has you focused on BR and Livingston?
I have a coworker in Morris Twp and based on her property taxes, I wouldn't relocate unless the schools were really truly subpar. I'd be careful about comparing your school district to other top NJ school districts and remember that a large quantity of NJ school districts are fantastic compared to national numbers. I don't know much about Morris Twp schools though, so maybe they are not that great, but if you love your home and the schools are good, why spend another $150,000, plus more property taxes (if that's the case)? You could take that money and spend it on private school, tutoring, etc., instead.
That being said, I have friends who grew up in Basking Ridge and the school system seems fantastic. But, my other coworker's friend moved out of Basking Ridge because her son won't "shine" there. The theory being, even though the school is great, her child won't be in the top 10% of the class most likely, so they might be better off at a slightly lesser school but in the top 10% of their class....dunno if I agree with that theory, and who the heck can predict those things, but it's a different school of thought in the college admissions rat race.
We picked Livingston because we are generally familiar with the area and it is manageable for a city commute if needed. The home prices in Livingston appear much more manageable as well.
Any thoughts on Livingston? Their rankings appear to have been dropped over the last couple of years.
We picked Livingston because we are generally familiar with the area and it is manageable for a city commute if needed. The home prices in Livingston appear much more manageable as well.
Any thoughts on Livingston? Their rankings appear to have been dropped over the last couple of years.
Full disclosure...I am an educator in one of the schools ranked "middle" of the pack. Livingston is a very solid district and any student who is at least of average intelligence has the potential to blossom there. Don't worry too much about ratings ....going from AAA to AA and 3/4 is negligible and subjective. Livingston just isn't very diverse, but that didn't seem to be listed as one of your "must haves."
I have a coworker in Morris Twp and based on her property taxes, I wouldn't relocate unless the schools were really truly subpar. I'd be careful about comparing your school district to other top NJ school districts and remember that a large quantity of NJ school districts are fantastic compared to national numbers. I don't know much about Morris Twp schools though, so maybe they are not that great, but if you love your home and the schools are good, why spend another $150,000, plus more property taxes (if that's the case)? You could take that money and spend it on private school, tutoring, etc., instead.
That being said, I have friends who grew up in Basking Ridge and the school system seems fantastic. But, my other coworker's friend moved out of Basking Ridge because her son won't "shine" there. The theory being, even though the school is great, her child won't be in the top 10% of the class most likely, so they might be better off at a slightly lesser school but in the top 10% of their class....dunno if I agree with that theory, and who the heck can predict those things, but it's a different school of thought in the college admissions rat race.
Am I reading this right that your coworker's friend moved out because her son "most likely" won't be in the top 10%? The child isn't even in school yet? Wow. Just. Wow.
Folks - just to reemphasize, would you recommend moving out of Morris Twp to a better school district for the elementary school or just because of the high school rankings?
We've been driving around a lot because we'd need to buy something before February/March in order to get them in the new school district by next year.
Not sure if I am rushing here. I can't imagine that the morris twp elementary schools are that bad?
Folks - just to reemphasize, would you recommend moving out of Morris Twp to a better school district for the elementary school or just because of the high school rankings?
We've been driving around a lot because we'd need to buy something before February/March in order to get them in the new school district by next year.
Not sure if I am rushing here. I can't imagine that the morris twp elementary schools are that bad?
Thanks again for the replies.
I wouldn't. If you love the town, I'd stay put and send the kids to private school if you feel the elementary/HS doesn't measure up to your standards.
The issue with that is private school is $20k plus per student per year. Also, all the kids in the private schools are fairly well-off and I'd really like to keep my kids with folks that are in our middle class bracket.
Tough decisions to make in a bad real estate market
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