Family moving to New York
#16
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 315
Re: Family moving to New York
Haha! It is like a NJ cheer squad has taken over this thread!!! We are in Somerset County in Basking Ridge. We didn't need the direct train for commuting so decided on a bigger and newer house slightly further out but 20 mins from Summit so still go there for the train and for the lovely restaurants! I did love all those towns thou!
#17
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
Re: Family moving to New York
There are many many suburbs of NYC and each has its own particular flavor and so you have to be careful to end up in the right one for you. Some towns may have great elementary schools, but not such great middle schools. Some are great for buying, but lousy for rentals. I've heard of people using a company called Suburban Jungle Realty and I think it would be well worth using a consultant or real estate agency to help you find the right town and property.
I live in Brownstone Brooklyn and am very happy there, but a lot of people do make the move out of the city. Popular towns for families are Montclair and Maplewood in NJ.
I live in Brownstone Brooklyn and am very happy there, but a lot of people do make the move out of the city. Popular towns for families are Montclair and Maplewood in NJ.
To the O/P: I live in the next township over, but the Millburn township schools are not as 'relaxed' in vibe as the Maplewood schools. You say you're bringing your dog - there is the huge South Mountain Reservation which skirts South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn and West Orange; it has hiking trails and there is a dog park (a great way to meet other dog owners). Also adjacent to the reservation is the Turtle Back Zoo, treetop trail, mini golf course, play park, restaurant/bar and a boating lake.
I know a very nice expat from Wimbledon who is a realtor in the Maplewood/South Orange/Millburn & Short Hills area (her spouse commutes to Manhatten). She has two websites; one for properties and the other is her expat blog...a wealth of information for new expats to the US and info pertinent to NJ:-
www.the-british-agent.com
and www.njexpatguru.com
Hope this helps!
W
Last edited by Englishmum; Sep 30th 2017 at 1:22 am.
#18
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 79
Re: Family moving to New York
Just to throw ideas into the pot, we just moved to Bayside in Queens and it's a truly delightful place. We pay $2900 for a two bed, two bath, two balcony apartment on a quiet leafy street that's a four minute walk to the LIRR. That gets me into Penn Station in 20 minutes on the fast service. The train I get goes to Great Neck, which might be an option for you.
I would strongly recommend getting the app Citymapper on your phone (you may already use it if you're a Londoner as I was!) and try out some of the commuting options on that. It uses live and predictive data from all the public transport services and - in my experience - has been overwhelmingly the most accurate predictor of commute times vs just using Google Maps or equivalent.
I would strongly recommend getting the app Citymapper on your phone (you may already use it if you're a Londoner as I was!) and try out some of the commuting options on that. It uses live and predictive data from all the public transport services and - in my experience - has been overwhelmingly the most accurate predictor of commute times vs just using Google Maps or equivalent.
#19
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,848
Re: Family moving to New York
There are express trains from NJ suburban towns too in peak hours am and pm (my spouse takes these trains quite often). The lines and timetables can be found here for the trains, ferries, PATH subway trains and buses:
New Jersey Transit - Home
New Jersey Transit - Home