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I'm familiar with Chatham and Madison. I actually use to work in Florham Park. We haven't taken the time to explore Chatham or Madison yet and yes I agree Madison does have a cute down town. How are the schools in Madison? I heard the schools in Chatham are great. If you're familiar with SI then I'm sure you heard of the horrible commute into midtown. Door to door it takes my husband an hour and 20. However, he's an early riser and is able to get into the city within 45 minutes in the morning because he leaves at 4:45. If you work downtown and commute from SI the commute is very good.
Just to add to my prior post, we have family in Morris county. Denville/Morris Plains areas and my brother in law lives in upper bergen county. They're feedback has been helpful, but still obviously unsure and trying to figure out the right town for us. By the way, where my Aunt and Uncle live in Denville we really like a lot, but realize that too could be a challenging commute. My brother in law lives in Ho-Ho-Kus, which is great. I'm just not so sure that's the town for us and it's extremely expensive.
I'd probably look more in Chatham/Madison because if your husband has odd hours the commute home to Basking Ridge can be pretty bad. There's only a few express trains at night and if you don't get one of those it can take 90 minutes just on the train. I believe Chatham and Madison have more. Chatham is also much smaller than Basking Ridge, so that might be nice.
AS a fellow escapee off "the Rock," first off congrats.....
Basking Ridge/Bernadvsille area is beautiful but a long commute. Some other towns that have been suggested would be a good fit- Madsion, Chatham, Summit are all really great towns with lots of activities, great schools, and are family friendly.
One other suggestion to look at would be Holmdel- excellent schools, a ton of wide open space, close to the beach and farm/horse country, and the bus would get you to Port Authority in under an hour that early in the AM- no need to wait for permits or trouble parking also with this route. We found Monmouth County to be a little more spread out and laid back when we were looking - again just a suggestion (plus there's a Deninos nearby- not as good as the one in SI- but close). Either way best of luck....
Thanks! I think we're going to focus on Chatham and Madison. We've looked in Holmdel and really liked as well. Our concern was/is commute into the city. Most of our family is North too. Do you work in the city? Thank you for your advice.
Thanks! I think we're going to focus on Chatham and Madison. We've looked in Holmdel and really liked as well. Our concern was/is commute into the city. Most of our family is North too. Do you work in the city? Thank you for your advice.
I don't work in NYC anymore- but I did the awful commute from SI into midtown for a while and it was killing me. I did the bus from Holmdel (PNC Bank Arts Center) into midtown for a few months recently and it wasn't too bad- 1000% better than the SI express bus model- buses are clean, quiet, plentiful, and run on time and always a seat. One thing the Academy buses have over trains is parking- in a lot of those town in the North parking at train station is a problem and there can be multi year waits.
A lot of my family is up North in NJ too- and it's just a straight shot up the parkway- much easier than when we did it from SI, which was supposedly closer. You could also look at Middletown - specifically the Oak Hill and Lincroft area as well- you'd gt a bit more house there as well.
Again- good luck- as a soon to be former SI resident you really can't go wrong with any of your choices.
Thanks! I think we're going to focus on Chatham and Madison. We've looked in Holmdel and really liked as well. Our concern was/is commute into the city. Most of our family is North too. Do you work in the city? Thank you for your advice.
All of those choices are excellent. They all have great schools and you can't go wrong with any.
Thanks! I think we're going to focus on Chatham and Madison. We've looked in Holmdel and really liked as well. Our concern was/is commute into the city. Most of our family is North too. Do you work in the city? Thank you for your advice.
Sorry, just joined and am catching up to some old threads. Yes, the commute from Staten Island to midtown is horrendous unless you live very close to the Goethals Bridge or the Ferry- and even then it is over an hour.
Holmdel will be a long commute but it is a lot cheaper to live there than Chatham or Madison. The commute from Chatham isn't bad since it is on the midtown direct line, I've heard it is impossible to park at the station though, so either buy within walking distance (tough) or you will need to drop your husband off at the train. Madison is not near a train station I don't believe and taking a bus in from NJ is generally not a good idea.
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