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Thank you all for the great responses, this is tremendously helpful to us. We've decided to rule out Bloomfield for now -- the high taxes, the downtown being so far from the northern sections, less walkable, less community feel... We considered compromising on these when we saw the value we could get house-wise (more space, more updated, better layouts). However, the questionable school system was really the "make or break" issue for us.
So we're off to see more houses in Nutley and Rutherford this weekend... If you don't mind my following up with another question, I looked over the NJ Monthly HS rankings that elflord1973 posted, and was just a tad disheartened to see my two "top towns" more than a few scrolls down the list (Rutherford #72 and Nutley #141!?). I know these rankings shouldn't be taken too seriously, but I'm wondering if there are any towns that fit my criteria & price range that I'm missing.
Are there any towns further up on the list that have a similar commute to midtown New York (by train or bus, not driving)? We've looked in Livingston, Verona and Cedar Grove, but they were a bit too far. And I think Glen Ridge's home prices plus taxes take it above our $375k upper limit. Any ideas?
Thanks again for all your help!
Also consider South Orange/Maplewood (Columbia high school on the list I showed you)
Or you could wait for the real estate shake down to run its course
Or you could buy in Bloomfield for now and worry about high schools later when house prices are back to normal.
Or go through the schools near the top of the list that are on the njtransit line, starting with Millburn(!) and see if you can find a place within budget.
Thank you all for the great responses, this is tremendously helpful to us. We've decided to rule out Bloomfield for now -- the high taxes, the downtown being so far from the northern sections, less walkable, less community feel... We considered compromising on these when we saw the value we could get house-wise (more space, more updated, better layouts). However, the questionable school system was really the "make or break" issue for us.
So we're off to see more houses in Nutley and Rutherford this weekend... If you don't mind my following up with another question, I looked over the NJ Monthly HS rankings that elflord1973 posted, and was just a tad disheartened to see my two "top towns" more than a few scrolls down the list (Rutherford #72 and Nutley #141!?). I know these rankings shouldn't be taken too seriously, but I'm wondering if there are any towns that fit my criteria & price range that I'm missing.
Are there any towns further up on the list that have a similar commute to midtown New York (by train or bus, not driving)? We've looked in Livingston, Verona and Cedar Grove, but they were a bit too far. And I think Glen Ridge's home prices plus taxes take it above our $375k upper limit. Any ideas?
Thanks again for all your help!
I agree with a previous poster, as i was looking into Bloomfield as my starter house. If you have young children, you can stay in Bloomfield and move before high school. Montclair has a good school district, you'll have to sacrifice the size of your home, to fit budget.
I agree with a previous poster, as i was looking into Bloomfield as my starter house. If you have young children, you can stay in Bloomfield and move before high school. Montclair has a good school district, you'll have to sacrifice the size of your home, to fit budget.
People generally dont want to move their kids once they are in school if they dont have to.
People generally dont want to move their kids once they are in school if they dont have to.
yeah, tradeoffs, tradeoffs.
Moving around needn't be so bad if you're not moving far though. For example, a move from Bloomfield to Glenridge or Montclair would be negligible in distance.
However, if it were my choice, I'd be content to either take a very modest housing option in a good school district, or go with a decent if not exceptional school district (e.g. like Bloomfield or Nutley) instead of getting caught in a game of "keeping up with the Joneses".
I think the whole "good schools" thing is misleading anyway -- because most measures look at outcomes without establishing a meaningful baseline, which means the results say more about the socio-economic status of the neighborhood than the effectiveness of the educational programs in question.
But that's not really an apples to apples comparison -- Nutley is similar (in terms of property values, incomes, demographics) to North Bloomfield. I wonder what percentage of kids in the Oakview and Brookdale districts go on to 4 year colleges ?
We moved out of Bloomfield 14 years ago after living in Brookdale section. Both children graduated Bloomfield High and have gone on to receive Masters. The high school was headed down hill then, with problems with gangs, kids living outside Bloomfield attending the high school, over crowding, etc. I lived and was educated in Nutley and at that time it was a great town to live in. Recently I have heard the education system is also suffering.
You might check into Cedar Grove.
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