Majj

I am still struggling to pick an area that has good schools in NJ and has a reasonable commute into NYC. COuld anyone name some decent towns or neighbourhood I should check out?

I did look at Princeton Junction, it seems to have good schools but seems miles out.

I'm not very keen on Jersey City, where I am staying at the moment.

Many thanks.

ukmumsie

Check out this website -I have used it when moving within the States to check out schools and communities.
http://www.homefair.com/find_a_place...orts/index.asp
Good luck

Englishmum

The best schools are in towns where housing costs are high. My husband works in Times Square and takes the NJ Transit MidTown Direct trains into Penn Station, but on the same track you can take trains to Hoboken and then take either the ferries to lower Manhatten or the PATH trains. :

You might want to check out tons served by the Morris & Essex branch of NJ Midtown Direct: Maplewood, Millburn & Short Hills (same school distriwct - Millburn), Summit, Chatham and Madison.

Maplewood is very picturesque and is very diverse; 33% black population and large gay community raising their children. Many media types there; writers, journalists, TV and film producers etc. Commute on express trains to NYC is about 25-30 mins. Schools not as good as the other towns listed. Check out http://www.maplewoodonline.com

Millburn & Short Hills has one of the best school districts in he US....housing v. expensive in some parts of the town. Large Jewish community. Crime rate very low. Professionals such as managers, attorneys, bankers, surgeons etc. reside in the township. I live in the Short Hills section. Commute approx 30-45 mins. http://www.millburn.org

Summit; somewhat larger town; becoming more diverse with growing Hispanic community, quite a lot from Costa Rica. Interchange for NJ Transit trains.

Chatham and Madison: mainly white middle-class communities...true suburbia.

For housing inc. rentals:

http://www.burgdorff.com

http://www.weichert.com

If you go to the Wikipedia.org website and list the towns on the search facility you should be able to find more info.

Bob

bit general and might not help, but i've found it a great resource for getting an idea on the palce - http://www.epodunk.com/

Majj

Thanks for this very helpful. With the kids and wife though, I am looking at Rutherford. The schools seem ok, the town too seems reasonable and it has a link into Manhatten. As a starting point it might be a acceptable balance.

Englishmum

Not too familiar with Rutherford (although my friend delivered a baby at the hospital there) but it seems OK. If you plan to visit NYC during the weekends do check that there is actually a train service; I know that the Montclair line has no weekend service into the city, not sure if that would also include Rutherford.

Majj

I only really need to get into NYC Mon to Fri for work, 42 st Grand Central. Worse come to the worse, I could always drive down to a Path Station for the weekend. Rutherford is on the Bergen COunty main Line.

Glen Rock seems to have good schools as well, but that might be going out a bit too far at the moment.

But thanks for the tip anyway.

Rete

Didn't we just do this for you a few weeks ago? Or was it someone else?

Majj

Possibly, but I wasn't in the US then.