Relocation (Westfield, Madison, Chatham, alternatives?) (Union, Wayne: house prices, public schools, restaurants)

[nj_mike]

Hi All,

This forum has been fantastic, thank you all for your time in advance. We are looking to relocate to NJ and have been focusing on Westfield, Madison, and Chatham. Could you please provide some advice? Our main criteria:

- Great public schools - We have young children.
- Smaller schools - don't want my kids to get lost.
- Safe town
- Walkable downtown
- Friendly people
- < 800K
- > 2000 sq ft

I haven't had much luck finding more than one or two homes that meet those financial and size criteria in those three towns. Here is the kicker, I don't need to be in NYC more than 1 or 2 days per week. So are there any alternate towns which have the same great schools and great downtown areas with maybe a longer commute (therefore less expensive homes)?

Thank you again for your advice.

PS. We love Whole Foods

[hdavis44]

A bit surprised you can't find something for 750k in Westfield around 2400 sq ft. House prices in Summit/Madison/Chatham are insane. If you remove the downtown criteria you'd have a ton of choices. The more western suburbs/exurbs don't really have those style downtowns though. Bernardsville might fit although its downtown is not nearly on the scale of the towns you mentioned - although its also a pretty short drive (10-15 mins) from Morristown's very nice downtown. Or you could look much further out and try Princeton, although i don't think its prices are that much cheaper than Westfield.

[Ananas87]

Maplewood or South Orange?

[CdotSmith]

Madison has a Whole Foods and Chatham and Madison are neighbors. Westfield has a Trader Joe's but the nearest Whole Foods would be in Union which is about a 10 or so ride. All three have walkable downtowns, but in my opinion, Westfield's is the better of the three. Checkout Cranford also not to far from Westfield, nice walkable downtown.

[Goldendoodle1969]

The towns with excellent schools in NNJ that don't have the insane housing prices attached to them are:

Parsipanny ( Hills Area)
Pequannock
Springfield
Wayne (hills area slightly better than valley, but splitting hairs)
Whippany
Rockaway

The only one of those with a Whole Foods close by is Springfield.

[hdavis44]

I can't speak as much for the other towns on td's list, but Springfield schools are far from excellent. I was a student there a while ago and found them lacking (particularly at the high school level), and looking at recent results they are on the decline even further. The current state report ranks the high school in the 5th percentile for test scores against peer schools (similar demos/wealth), and below the state average overall. I had teachers who couldn't find Florida on a map, who showed us tv show episodes all class long, etc. The town has always been cheap/unsupportive of its schools/students imo.

Whippany/Parsippany certainly don't have anything close to a nice walkable downtown, although Whippany is pretty close to Morristown. When property values are much lower, there is usually a reason. Whippany is definitely a nice town with alot going for it though, other than the lack of downtown.

Cranford does seem like an excellent option, it depends how you define "great" school. Its school performance is solid for its demos in NJ, which would be great compared to 95% of American schools.

[tahiti]

Cranford.

[Goldendoodle1969]

Originally Posted by hdavis44

I can't speak as much for the other towns on td's list, but Springfield schools are far from excellent. I was a student there a while ago and found them lacking (particularly at the high school level), and looking at recent results they are on the decline even further. The current state report ranks the high school in the 5th percentile for test scores against peer schools (similar demos/wealth), and below the state average overall. I had teachers who couldn't find Florida on a map, who showed us tv show episodes all class long, etc. The town has always been cheap/unsupportive of its schools/students imo.

Whippany/Parsippany certainly don't have anything close to a nice walkable downtown, although Whippany is pretty close to Morristown. When property values are much lower, there is usually a reason. Whippany is definitely a nice town with alot going for it though, other than the lack of downtown.

Cranford does seem like an excellent option, it depends how you define "great" school. Its school performance is solid for its demos in NJ, which would be great compared to 95% of American schools.

All of those schools are consistently in the Top 50 of NJ monthly and every other list out there. While your personal experience might have differed the broader stats point toward excellent. In fact statistically Springfield is one of the stronger performers of the group I listed.I don;t think any of the towns I listed have what I would call a good downtown. Personally I feel downtowns are about as useful as t**s on a bull, as long as there is sufficient retail, restaurants and community areas close by I'm a happy guy.

[RiggerNY]

Originally Posted by tdstyles

All of those schools are consistently in the Top 50 of NJ monthly and every other list out there. While your personal experience might have differed the broader stats point toward excellent. In fact statistically Springfield is one of the stronger performers of the group I listed.I don;t think any of the towns I listed have what I would call a good downtown. Personally I feel downtowns are about as useful as t**s on a bull, as long as there is sufficient retail, restaurants and community areas close by I'm a happy guy.

So if you do not consider Westfield to be a good downtown in NJ, what do you consider to be a good downtown?

[JerseyStrong1]

Originally Posted by RiggerNY

So if you do not consider Westfield to be a good downtown in NJ, what do you consider to be a good downtown?

Westfield was not in the towns he listed.