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Secular Jewish community - or people who celebrate the high holidays and a town that has some visible Hanukkah menorahs. Doesn’t have to be the majority but enough to make Jewish friends to celebrate holidays with.
All of the towns that would work are going to have a crazy super competitive housing market. Ridgewood and Westfield would be the two most expensive ones where you might also find to be the snobbiest as well. Summit not far behind.
Taxes will be high everywhere as well, but Montclair, South Orange, and Maplewood would indeed be the worst on that front.
With those things in mind, what kind of budget are you looking at? Also, how far out are you willing to commute from?
Cranford might be best all around for your requests (just watch out for flood zones). Madison second best from what you listed.
If budget is not a concern and you are considering Ridgewood, Westfield, and Summit, could you even do Millburn?
If willing to extend your search a little further out, Morristown and Metuchen would check all of the boxes and be just as good as Cranford.
I find this an interesting comment as I have lived in a town neighboring Ridgewood all my life, and have found people in Ridgewood to be very nice. I spend a lot of time in that town. It's lovely and the people are charming.
Thank you all! I think deep down Montclair is where my husband and I feel happiest - I'm sadly realizing unless something changes for us financially and we can afford a $1.3mm home (which even sounds ridiculous to say), it's not going to be where we end up. We love the shops, the vibe (lots of ex-Brooklynites. They even have pies from a famous pie shop in Park Slope), the old homes, walkability, friendliness. We're not in a rush, so maybe we'll somehow manage to get a home there.
We visited Chatham and didn't like it all.
Sadly our broker told us a decent (as in not a gut reno) 4bd home doesn't cost around $1MM these days...not in Summit or Montclair. But Summit is less competitive and the taxes are lower.
What are some thoughts on South Orange and Maplewood? I like that it's a lot of ex-New Yorkers. They have some cute shops and restaurants there, love the hold homes, seems friendly, very easy commute. I wasn't sure I wanted to live in SOMA before, but now I'm wondering if that's the only Montclair alternative that has a good commute.
Thank you all! I think deep down Montclair is where my husband and I feel happiest - I'm sadly realizing unless something changes for us financially and we can afford a $1.3mm home (which even sounds ridiculous to say), it's not going to be where we end up. We love the shops, the vibe (lots of ex-Brooklynites. They even have pies from a famous pie shop in Park Slope), the old homes, walkability, friendliness. We're not in a rush, so maybe we'll somehow manage to get a home there.
We visited Chatham and didn't like it all.
Sadly our broker told us a decent (as in not a gut reno) 4bd home doesn't cost around $1MM these days...not in Summit or Montclair. But Summit is less competitive and the taxes are lower.
What are some thoughts on South Orange and Maplewood? I like that it's a lot of ex-New Yorkers. They have some cute shops and restaurants there, love the hold homes, seems friendly, very easy commute. I wasn't sure I wanted to live in SOMA before, but now I'm wondering if that's the only Montclair alternative that has a good commute.
I find this an interesting comment as I have lived in a town neighboring Ridgewood all my life, and have found people in Ridgewood to be very nice. I spend a lot of time in that town. It's lovely and the people are charming.
Not so much if you have tattoos and/or dreadlocks.
it is a fairly conventional crowd.
Just my impression but I think they scare kind of easily.
Lots of pearl clutchers if you know what I mean.
But I'd love to hear that I'm wrong and it is really not that way.
Not so much if you have tattoos and/or dreadlocks.
it is a fairly conventional crowd.
Just my impression but I think they scare kind of easily.
Lots of pearl clutchers if you know what I mean.
But I'd love to hear that I'm wrong and it is really not that way.
I never got that impression anytime I’ve ever been to Ridgewood. I’ve had strangers strike up conversations. A lot of NYC transplants so I’d find it hard to believe that tattoos and dreadlocks would make them clutch their pearls. What you’re describing sounds more like Millburn.
Not so much if you have tattoos and/or dreadlocks.
it is a fairly conventional crowd.
Just my impression but I think they scare kind of easily.
Lots of pearl clutchers if you know what I mean.
But I'd love to hear that I'm wrong and it is really not that way.
That attitude still exists in the Bergen County ‘burbs, but I’d say it’s definitely better than it used to be even 25 or 30 years ago.
I worked in a supermarket for 15 years in one of dem ‘burbs. We had several people from Paterson who worked there, almost all of whom were Black or Latinx. One of the Black guys on the night crew got harassed all of the time…
the cops once gave him a ticket for speeding on his bicycle. True story.
That attitude still exists in the Bergen County ‘burbs, but I’d say it’s definitely better than it used to be even 25 or 30 years ago.
I worked in a supermarket for 15 years in one of dem ‘burbs. We had several people from Paterson who worked there, almost all of whom were Black or Latinx. One of the Black guys on the night crew got harassed all of the time…
the cops once gave him a ticket for speeding on his bike. True story.
I was actually thinking of a time I was supervising a bunch of Paterson youth in Ridgewood. At the library.
It was uncomfortable to say the least.
I was hoping times have changed.
It was a while ago.
Is Ridgewood a lot of stay at home moms or working moms? I'd prefer to live in a community with working moms.
We don't have dreadlocks or tattoos, but we have friends with tattoos and in all kinds of fields (finance, the arts, media, law, MDs), and we're not preppy. We both work in finance/finance-adjacent careers, are nerdy types who likes the arts, hiking, listening to NPR prodcasts/books on tape, read the NYTimes and the FT/WSJ...so it doesn't have to be insanely liberal, but would prefer a liberal community. I know our perfect community is Montclair, just hoping we'd find people with similar interests elsewhere.
My sense is that both Ridgewood and Summit have a lot of working professionals who commute to the city, but the community in Summit struck me as more worldy, intellectual, interesting? For instance, I didn't see one good bookstore in Ridgewood. Summit had a really cool vinyl record store, and a great coffee shop. Is that a fair characterization?
I know those things exist in South Orange/Maplewood. I'm a little worried that while they certainly seem like communities where we'd make lots of friends, they might skew a bit too progressive. And I can't seem to get an honest answer about the quality of schools there.
Not so much if you have tattoos and/or dreadlocks.
it is a fairly conventional crowd.
Just my impression but I think they scare kind of easily.
Lots of pearl clutchers if you know what I mean.
But I'd love to hear that I'm wrong and it is really not that way.
I was born in Ridgewood (Valley, returned like a salmon to give birth there 33 years later) and lived in an adjacent town most of my life. There is some snobbery but it's not as bad as some make it sound. One of the oldest NYC commuter towns, going back to the 19th century, and the train line is reliable and frequent. Best commute for downtown. (Hoboken Terminal then PATH or ferry. Easy escape to upstate New York from there, too.
Found the remark about no bookstore alarming, since Bookends has been fixture in Ridgewood for so long, so I checked. It is still there.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 02-06-2022 at 09:50 PM..
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