Moving to Eastern Orange, Putnam or Southern Dutchess County...need help! (Albany: renting, houses)

[retkin]

Hi;

My husband, myself and our 1 year old twins need to move. My husband got a new job and will be in sales. His territory includes, Rockland, Sullivan, Orange, Westchester, Putnam, Duchess, Ulster counties in NY (up to Kingston) as well as Fairfield county CT (Danbury area).

We currently live in Cranford, NJ which is lovely with an adorable town center and a great sense of community. Westifeld, NJ is one mile away and has an even nicer town center and is a tad more upscale. We're very centrally located and withing 10 minutes of everything we need. And, there are excellent schools here.

We're confused about where to look! He wants to be centrally located and more in the southern part of the territory which really eliminates Ulster and the Catskills. We were thinking that Eastern Orange or Putnam/ Southern Duchess would be best. My parents live in Wyckoff, NJ (in Bergen County right near the NY border) and we'd ideally like to be within one hour of them (we need babysitting!). And, lastly, we're Jewish - not super religious but would like to not be the only Jews in the neighborhood.

I've heard nice things about the Monroe/Woodbury area which is a possibility.
We'd love something with that same sense of community (town center, good schools, nice neighborhoods, nearby shopping, festivals, parades, etc.). And, we don't want to live in the middle of nowhere.

Any recommendations are appreciated. Please help!!!

[retkin]

Hi all,

I haven't received any posts and we really need some help. Any advice is appreciated!

[OCNYISHOME]

Originally Posted by retkin

Hi all,

I haven't received any posts and we really need some help. Any advice is appreciated!

I suspect realtors are not answering your posts due to the nature of your questions. Any direct answer pointing you to a "Jewish Community" would be a violation of Fair Housing Laws and just what a "tester" would relish hearing. Demographics are available on line...........suggest you search worship communities and work backwards.

[retkin]

Thanks for your reply - that's good information!

If that's the case, then please reply barring the information regarding religious information. I have a lot of other criteria that we're trying to meet and we need help please! Thank you.

[mom2gurls]

South Dutchess Hands down..I am familiar with the wykoff and have freinds in westfielf. and dh commutes to bergen. So I can tell you south dutchess is 45 minutes to woodbury commons and then 20 minutes to allendale. Its about an hour.

Arlington Schools is the way to go in south dutchess. Not alot of towns have the city center like allendale does..but you do have everything on route 9 (like route 17).

As far as the jewish community. There is a VERY active JCC in poughkeepsie which is in south dutchess. You will have no problems fitting in. I am not Jewish, but south asian..and have friend that take their swimming lessons at the JCC and love it.

JCCDC Home Page

If you need anything from a "mothers point ofview" you can always ask.

[deedah12]

Carmel Ny in Putnam County is a small town wth a friendly feel and great schools and sense of community. check that area out if you want something closer to NJ and NYC also anywhere above Dutchess is real country, pretty much until Albany

[retkin]

Thanks for the advice!

[tambre]

If your wealthy, Tuxedo Park may be what your looking for.

[lk1616nyc]

Don't know if you've found a place yet, but I would suggest the Putnam County town of Cold Spring. It is a lovely town right on the Hudson. It also has a MetroNorth station for those trips into the city (which are 1 hr. 20 min., by the way). Cold Spring has many amenities - supermarket, banks, etc. - right in town, and there are numerous shops and nice restaurants. It's really charming and has a nice, small-town feel. There's definitely a sense of pride among the residents, as many houses and older buildings are very well maintained. And of course the views from the Hudson River can't be beat!

It's a great place to live, especially in summer! I've lived here almost a year and am happy to call it home. Of course, I'm renting so I don't know what the cost to buy would be. My guess is it's expensive in the village itself, but the outlying areas are beautiful and have a nice country feel. Also, I've been told that the school district - Haldane - is a very good school district. It's small, but since I don't have any kids I can't tell you from personal experience if the district lives up to its reputation.

To my knowledge, there are no temples directly in town, but the Philipstown Reformed Synagogue is somewhere in Cold Spring's outlying areas. There are also congregations in nearby Beacon and Putnam Valley. You can visit Welcome To Cold Spring Living to get a sense of the town and its amenities.

[retkin]

Thanks for the info on Cold Spring. I was actually just there last weekend as my sister coincidentally got married at the Garrison. We stayed at the Garrison, but most of the guests stayed in Cold Spring. And, the rehersal dinner was in CS as well.

It's very charming (adorable actually), but it's so small. I think it might be smaller than what we're looking for. We need to be close to shopping, etc. And, especially food stores and all major conveniences with small children. And, as a stay-at-home mom, I am looking for clubs/groups that I could get involved in to keep myself busy. I think it's a great place to visit and do some antiquing, but sadly, I don't think it's what we're looking for.

I could totally see why people would want to live there though. If I were single or newly married I'd love it there!