Considering move to Montclair- help with specifics (Bloomfield, Hoboken: sales, rental)

[BZ1212]

Hi! Always appreciate all of the advice on this forum. We are close to a big move and wanted to ask for some input

Context:
- Moving from west coast (north of of SF in wine country) to NY area for work+family, me+spouse+1 child about to start preschool
- Timeline we are solving for is the 2-3 years, and then we will decide if we stay on the east coast or move back to CA (before our kid starts grade school). As a result we're renting.
- Leaning toward Montclair vs other options (Hoboken, Brooklyn, Princeton, Manhattan, other northern NJ towns) due to the balance of some downtown + single family homes + cost (relative to BK/NYC) + commutability

We are struggling a bit with where specifically to focus our search in Montclair. We'd like to minimize commute time to NYC ideally walkable to train station (one of us will be commuting most days), be walkable to some retail, good safety, etc. We are not optimizing heavily on budget and are targeting under $7k/mo for a 3br+ house but would go up to $10k /mo for the right place.

Right now the only area that seems to fit is right around Porter Park (nice houses, near a park, and fairly walkable to downtown and Bay Street Station which seems like the only station with express trains to NYC?). This seems to be way too narrow a search area given the limited housing rental stock in Montclair so I am sure we are missing something.

Upper Montclair seems too suburban w/o a real downtown. Mountain Ave seems to have lots of nice houses with views but not usually available to rent and not particularly walkable to either downtown or train stations.

Questions:
(1) Any other parts of Montclair (besides Porter Park area) we should be looking at?
(2) Anything I said above that rings as particularly wrong / misguided? (we've only stepped foot in Montclair 2x and otherwise just relying on Google, so I am sure there is alot we are missing)
(3) For those who have rented houses in Montclair-- are there any other sources of listings besides craigslist and Zillow? We aren't seeing much there but wondering if there is some kind of local agency we should be working with

Thank you so much for the help!! This is a big jump for our family so I really appreciate the help making the plan a little more tangible

[tsek]

Since you are moving from far away the first thing I would caution you on is that you have many options in NJ to choose from. Since you mentioned Princeton and Montclair as options I imagine you are looking at a wide geographic range. Because of this I encourage you to look at the different clusters of NY suburbs and then zoom in on the one/ones that suit your commute best. For example, if you want a big downtown with very good schools, you have Ridgewood, Summit, Millburn, Madison, Westfield, Montclair, Princeton, and more. The commute from Princeton is not easy.

Montclair has sections that vary greatly and some are up against areas that are not so great (in terms of safety/crime). (This is not an issue for the other towns I listed.) So if you really want to live there, I would rent first and learn about the town. Second, Montclair and Glen Ridge have a bidding process that is unusual and from what I understand list prices are far below sales prices, especially now. Upper Montclair is a very desirable neighborhood.

$7k to $10k puts you at about $900k to $1.5M and lower in Essex county with very high taxes.

I would look closely at Summit which is the most well-rounded town, imo.

Depending on where you are commuting to in NYC, Westchester and CT also have excellent towns to consider, but also very expensive.

[nybbler]

Originally Posted by BZ1212

Right now the only area that seems to fit is right around Porter Park (nice houses, near a park, and fairly walkable to downtown and Bay Street Station which seems like the only station with express trains to NYC?). This seems to be way too narrow a search area given the limited housing rental stock in Montclair so I am sure we are missing something.

Montclair has two "downtown" sections

1) The area around Bloomfield Avenue (sometimes called Montclair Center)

2) Valley Road around Bellevue Aveneue (Upper Montclair)

There's a few other smaller retail concentrations around train stations.

Mountain Ave seems to have lots of nice houses with views but not usually available to rent and not particularly walkable to either downtown or train stations.

Yeah, I don't think the mansions come up for rent too often.

I don't think you need to get stuck on Bay Street. The express trains from Bay Street go to Hoboken, so you have to switch trains for New York. The direct NY trains make all Montclair stops.

There are of course plenty of other towns. The towns on the Morris and Essex line (South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn, Summit) have better train service and may have more rental options. Summit has the most extensive downtown of those, the others might be better on parks. Past Summit things get more suburban, but Chatham and Madison certainly have a downtown.

[zap02]

Hi. I saw your post on Next Door, as well, and commented there too. I don't know if you've found anything to rent yet, but a new listing just came on the market today in Montclair which may work nicely for you and your family. It's a single family house in downtown Montclair, so it's very close to shopping, restaurants, elementary school playgrounds and NYC transportation. The rent is listed at $6500/mo. It's 5 bedroom and 5 baths. Hope this works for you if you're still considering Montclair.

[dcb175]

I personally prefer Upper Montclair vs. the area around downtown. It's true that while there is less retail, I find the housing stock to much nicer (and I'd put that beautiful old housing stock up against just about anywhere) and it's still a generally walkable area.

On the north side of town, you also have much easier bus options depending on where in Manhattan you're commuting to. Frankly, the train options from Montclair are sloooow in general relative to other towns, especially when you consider how close it is to NYC.