Cazmac

Hi, my husband's job is moving to his company offices in Parsippany. He has been lots of times before with work and really likes Moristown and Madison I think. I have never been to NJ and have a million questions going round my head right now. I guess the main thing is to ask for any advice any of you have on the steps to take and where to source the best information from with regards to relocating there. We will be coming over together in the next few months to start sorting things, did anyone contact any schools before moving or do you have to wait until you know your address, is it catchment based? Also could someone please explain the school system, my children will be 7 and 10 when we move! I would also appreciate any advice from personal experience about relocating to NJ from England with kids and the best sites to use for looking at renting houses? Thanks in advance, Caz

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

I lived in Morris Plains/Parsippany for 2 years in a rental then we bought a house in Mendham and lived there for 15 years. My husband worked in Parsippany and then the company moved to Florham Park. My I will help you all I can.

To begin with...there are loads of threads about NJ...you can locate them by using the BE search engine...located in the beige/pink bar above. Go to Advanced Search to find the threads. If you need help with this give me a shout. There was a new member a few months ago who was moving to NJ...her husband had a job in Parsippany.

penguinsix

Hi and welcome,

Here is our primer on the education system. Generally you'll need to know your address but once you pick a city you'll have a good idea of what 'district' you are in and what options are available for catchment schools or "school choice" (out of catchment openings)

Education: What do I need to enroll the kids in school? : British Expat Wiki

Cazmac

Thank you that was very useful to read, I will certainly make sure I check out the immunisations.

Cazmac

Thank you I will see if I can find the previous thread

Suz16

Hello! We moved to NJ just over 2 years ago with our 2 kids. My husband also works in Parsippany and we live in Mount Olive, which means about a 30 minute commute, depending on traffic.

Is your husband's company giving you any relocation support? If not then I would definitely ask for this, we had a relocation agent who helped us find a place to live, advised us on schools, neighborhoods etc and offered general support throughout the move.

As far as schools go, you really need to choose your town carefully, as that will determine your school district. There is a website called greatschools.org which gives you school ratings. We came for a home finding visit before the move and tried to visit sone schools, however they will not entertain you until you have a definite lease agreement in place.

As far as rentals go, we used Zillow.com, Realtor.com and GSMLS. If you look on here you will be able to get a good idea of what's available in your price range. We also looked at house prices in the areas we were interested in, as we wanted to make sure we rented in a town where we would eventually be able to afford to buy a house, therefore causing less disruption to our kids education. Moving towns invariable means moving schools, unless you are going private.

If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them, you can PM me if you like.

Good luck! It's a daunting process but you will get through it, we are very happy here now.

Cazmac

Thank you so much I will definitely message you

Sussex2NJ

Hi, we are going through a similar process, moving to NJ next year with children who will be 6 and 9. I have done quite a lot of internet research over the past few weeks, but it is a bottomless pit, and I have now started asking questions on this site for a quicker route - and the benefit of British viewpoints, of course :-)

I found this wikipedia entry useful for describing types of schools and the Grade levels etc:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educ..._United_States

The grade levels are one behind ours (kids start school at 5 in the US). Kindergarten=Year 1, Grade1=Year2. So I think my kids are going to complete Year 1 and Year 4 respectively and then go into Grade 1 and Grade 4 in NJ.

For schools (all levels and public/private), I have found the 'niche' website quite useful - I was directed to this by my husband's company's relocation agent - definitely worth asking for one of these - I've only had one hour-long phone call so far, but it was really useful.

Niche:
https://k12.niche.com/rankings/publi.../s/new-jersey/

Good luck !

Cazmac

Thank you that's very helpful I will have a look. It looks like our move will not be until next summer now so we have plenty of time to sort things out. Are you having any of your things shipped out there or are you planning on starting again once you are there?

Sliv

We are in the same position; moving to NJ probably January/February, my husband will also be in parsipanny (and the city some of the time).

We have 3 children who will be 7, 4 and 2.

We came over in April and quite like Basking Ridge but I'm now wondering if it's too rural and if somewhere like Summit is better.

As I understand it, you have to send the children to the school allocated to your address, which kind of makes it a bit harder house/school searching. I have been looking at Niche too.

We will have to link up and compare notes!

Sussex2NJ

We are moving next summer, too. Currently looking at Millburn/Short Hills/Maplewood areas. Not sure yet whether we will buy or rent, at first. Depends on what mortgage we can get.

Keep in touch !

Cazmac

We should definitely keep in touch and share tips and advice. We will be renting as our move is not permanent it will probably be for 2 years but we could make it permanent if we wanted to after that. The rental prices are quite high and I'm wondering if we would be better to buy then it will be an investment although I know nothing about the mortgage system there

Keep me posted

Sussex2NJ

Wow, you've got your hands full ! I am on a reccy trip in a couple of weeks. I think Basking Ridge is a bit far out for us. My husband will be commuting to Journal Square and NYC. I will be commuting to NYC I hope. We are currently thinking Short Hills/Millburn/Maplewood. I know that one of the best private schools is in Basking Ridge though - Pingry. Fees look astronomical though !

Keep in touch.

Sussex2NJ

We are probably going to rent out our house, here, unfurnished, so I think we might as well ship the lot over there -at my husband's company's expense, of course !

Jerseygirl

My daughter went to Pingry.

We always recommend renting until you have a Green Card. While you are in the US on a visa circumstances can change and you may have to leave within a few weeks. Renting also gives you a chance to make sure you buy the right house in the right area for you.