Morris, Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Union Counties (Wayne, West Orange: house, movie theater, high school)
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Moving from South Jersey (Cherry Hill area) to North Jersey. I plan on commuting to NYC and found that those counties all have reasonable traveling distance. It is me, my wife, and my son. We are looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom house with a price of $200k-400k. We are looking for a nice suburb that has a decent amount of amenities. We don't want to be in a REAL city, just looking for a nice suburb that has the basics: bars, movie theater, couple mini-shopping malls, major resturants (Applebees, PF Changs, etc).
Topography wise we love hills, trees, lakes. Flat and open is bad We are young parents raising kids so we also don't want a town that is too rural. We'd rather a town with a decent amount of recognizable places to eat than a bunch of small mom & pop places. A real mall within a half hour is also ideal.
So far we have found good homes for good prices in places like West Milford, Wayne, Scotch Plains, Rockaway, Morris Plains, Mt Arlington, Butler, and Denville. However, it is hard to get a true feel for the town. Anyone familiar with Cherry Hill would understand that it is not a real "city" but there is tons to do in the center, but outside the center it is nothing but nice developments. We are aiming for middle class-upper middle class areas, and would rather a "newer" town with updated buildings. Really not trying to sound snobby.
Most of the towns you mention are somewhat similar, except West Milford and I am not too familiar with Mt Arlington. West Milford is (I think) the largest town in New Jersey, and with a commute to NYC you could be looking at spending a lot of time getting to and from work. You can get a very nice house there, but you are going to be far from almost everything else. I haven't heard the best things about the Butler school system, but I live in Parsippany, and I have heard bad things about Parsippany that just aren't accurate.
How long are you willing to commute and what part of the city would you be working in? Some of the towns you mentioned would likely have a trip of 2 hours each way. As I'm sure you've noticed already, much of the area closer to the city is not what you're looking for and the homes are more expensive than in South Jersey. $400k doesn't put you in middle class in some of these areas and probably not upper middle class in any.
From what you've provided, I wouldn't recommend making this move, but if you're really set on it, I'd probably recommend Rockaway and to prepare for a very long commute. The other towns are either even farther, out of your budget, or don't really have the chain stores and new buildings that you're looking for.
From what you posted Wayne is your absolute best bet. You'll be at the very top of your budget to find a 3BR not in a flood zone but decent commute, good schools, lakes, hills, and just about every kind of food and retail establishment in the US has a home somewhere in Wayne or within a 5-10 minute drive of Wayne.
Thanks for all of the replies guys. I was looking to keep commute under 2 hrs, either driving just outside the city and taking the path or finding a train that goes directly to manhattan. I will certainly look into Wayne, Parsippany, and Rockaway. Thank you!
Chain stores? You drive to them, that's what suburbs are all about. Closest-in you could get on that budget is West Orange; hills, trees, bars, mini-shopping mall, TGIFridays, and two malls (Short Hills and Livingston) in easy driving distance; most chain stores are on Rt 10 in East Hanover. Downsides: taxes are high, high school is not so good, there's no train (in some places there's a town jitney to a train), and town is not "new".
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We are young parents raising kids so we also don't want a town that is too rural. We'd rather a town with a decent amount of recognizable places to eat than a bunch of small mom & pop places. A real mall within a half hour is also ideal.
