HartleyHare

That would have been great . I hear where you are coming from. We will be renting our house out and had agents in the other day. When we come back from our visit we also have to work like the clappers to get all the odd jobs done (you know, the ones ignored for months and months), have a clear out and get the house in pristine condition ready to rent. Slap bang in the middle of this is a trip to Thailand, which has been 4 years in the planning. To say I am *anxious* is an understatement. Am sipping red wine as I type....

notonuksoil

There are some excellent school districts in Lower Westchester 25-35 minute commute into NYC on the Harlem Line, Bronxville, Eastchester and Scarsdale.

When we were looking to relocate here originally in 2003 we came with OH job for two years, we also didn't ship any furniture but his relocation package included furniture rental for a 3 bed house for the 2 years - maybe worth asking about.

We looked at NJ, Brooklyn and Lower Westchester and our primary consideration was schools and we ended up in Westchester.

HartleyHare

Yes, for LA I agree. My brother lives there and when we went for a visit years ago I knew I would never be able to live here without a car.

As a yogi, "going bananas" is all in the mind......

notonuksoil

BTW if you can bring over a shipment of Frazzles I'd be happy to give you the tour of Lower Westchester

HartleyHare

Westchester is also on my radar if NJ does not work out. Do you know Pelham?

HartleyHare

Ahhhh frazzles, they're sooo bad they're good

notonuksoil

Yes, very well its 5-10 minutes from where we are. Also a good area but I'm not as familiar with the school district. You need to be careful though as the school district borders Mt Vernon and you could have a house that has a Pelham zip code but falls into the Mt Vernon school district - which you wouldn't want!

le10

I moved to Mendham (just outside Morristown) 2 years ago.

It meets all your criteria in my opinion (rental of $3000 might be a little low though).

However, in my opinion, it is next to impossible to live in the "nicer" areas of NJ unless you can drive.

I realize that "nicer" is extremely subjective (and I apologize in advance for this :-) ).

You have to remember that most streets do not have pavements unless it is a downtown area, shopping precinct, or is a major town.

Paul.

slummymummy

This area sounds great! Bet houses to rent are expensive though if the commute is that short and the schools are good? (We might be looking to move to the NYC area so I can get a job.)

le10

Also....summit (good town)...it's always really busy here catching the train in the morning..

If you can, and it makes sense, look at towns earlier (west) on the line.

Like shorthills, chatham, madison etc.

It's a slightly longer commute (15 mins) but otherwise it can be a struggle getting a seat in the mornings.

Paul.

HartleyHare

Again, thanks for all the replies. Others towns/areas that have been suggested to us are Tenafly, Englewood and Leonia. We will certainly have a lot to look at.

Jerseygirl

Have you looked at posts by Englishmum? She used to live in Milburn and has posted loads of good info about the area and the commute to NYC.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/member.php?u=1486

notonuksoil

Bronxville is expensive as its the closest to the city and has what is considered one of the best school districts in the state.

It also has lots of rich people and famous people including the NFL commissioner whose daughter plays soccer with my youngest and any number of investment banker type people but it also has lots of nice "normal" people too

Good rental properties in all three districts go very quickly and you have to be in a position to just go for it if you want it there and then. We couldn't find the right house so looked at houses that were for sale and asked the broker to approach them and see if they were interested in renting out their houses and got lucky.

slummymummy

Good for you! We might try that too. Rentals are difficult to find, we got lucky here in FL with a house but it might be harder elsewhere. Definitely not ready to buy.

digbydog

The no driving is going to be an issue at many levels.

We live in Millburn, NJ and you could live near downtown (which is quite nice) for your budget and according to everyone that lives here we have the best school system not just in NJ but quite possibly the whole world Now I am drinking the Millburn koolaid...

Seriously Millburn is fine and the train is fast into NYC.

p.s. If you come to our house it looks like an Ikea catalog.... furnished the whole house in one weekend of Ikea madness..... You will become very familiar with Ikea in Elizabeth and Paramus....