(URGENT) Looking to move from South Jersey up North with family? (Opinions on list and suggestions needed) (Westfield: houses, neighborhoods)
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Hello,
My family and I are looking to move from South Jersey up North. We have come to find that our children are not receiving as many opportunities where we live. We moved down here 6 years ago from the Upper East Side in Manhattan, and the two cities are worlds apart. Granted, it is beautiful, but we are looking to provide our children with more educational opportunities, social opportunities, and more. I want my children now to receive the same benefits that my other children had who spent their childhood in Manhattan.
We are looking for a good community, a place with good schools, and a myriad of opportunities for the children as well as my wife and I, who are both surgeons. Our children are ages 15, 6, and 3 months. We are willing to spend the premium amount of money on a nice house in a nice neighborhood, preferably a family oriented town. We would prefer to spend no more than 1.5 million on a home, but we are willing to spend more, up to 2.5, if absolutely necessary.
We would prefer to be North because we are closer to the city where 2 of our other children live.
ALL of these locations are beautiful towns where you can find a family home that meets your needs.
I would prefer Chatham township, or Madison. There are lovely homes with charm and a little more breathing room. Love madisons downtown, chathams is smaller. Good schools.
Easy commute to NYC via midtown direct.
ALL of these locations are beautiful towns where you can find a family home that meets your needs.
I would prefer Chatham township, or Madison. There are lovely homes with charm and a little more breathing room. Love madisons downtown, chathams is smaller. Good schools.
Easy commute to NYC via midtown direct.
Best of luck.
Thank you! Are there any nearby attractions in Madison that my children would enjoy? Especially for teenagers? I'm very unfamiliar with the area, and we plan on visiting soon, but for now, I am fishing at the Forum. :-)
This ny times article is 6 yrs old but gives a good overview of madison.
I'd recommend walking the downtown.....eclectic shops, restaurants, tiny movie theatre....
We live in nearby town but often visit madison. We love The Garlic Rose restaurant on main st.
This ny times article is 6 yrs old but gives a good overview of madison.
I'd recommend walking the downtown.....eclectic shops, restaurants, tiny movie theatre....
We live in nearby town but often visit madison. We love The Garlic Rose restaurant on main st.
Thanks for posting this article, musicmomnj! My husband and I met as students at Drew University and this brings back good memories. The article doesn't mention the great used bookstore (the name escapes me) in Madison. A favorite pastime of ours was walking into town for a treat at McCool's.
OP, I would second Madison for your needs. It's a beautiful, safe town with roughly an hour train ride to NYC. Since there are two universities close by, there are also cultural things (concerts, plays) open to the public that are close to home, and of course Morristown is popular. You could easily afford a nice home in Madison with your budget.
All of your choices are great towns and will provide you with what you are looking for...schools, community, train and family oriented. I do think that you need to take a Sunday drive and take a peek at the neighborhoods.
Some of the towns will have smaller lots, houses with character and a walk able town. Others will have larger lots and be a little more spread out. All will have relatively close at hand opportunities for your kids outside of school, whether they are into sports, outdoors or the arts. Basking Ridge for example has several art programs, and is surrounded by nature preserves and wildlife educational centers. There is also a riding stable where you can take lessons and/or board your own horse...one mile from the center of town.
Madison and Chatham run into each other and have nice down towns to shop and browse around. Very close to Morristown where there is a childrens museum, tennis centers and a theater aswell as lots of restaurants. Summit is a wonderful town too with a lovely center and the train is right in the middle of town.
All have access to large YMCA's for after school programs, swim lessons/pools in some of them and library programs around all these neighborhoods are great for kids.
You can't really go wrong with any of them in all honesty, so it may come down to the style of home you prefer, amount of land you would like and the kind of neighborhood you would like to live in.
Westfield has a excellent reputation as well. Personally I would look in monmouth county. Rumson, Fairhaven, Littl Silver etc.....Close to the beach as well and you can take the Seastreak Ferry to NYC....
Thanks to everyone who has offered a detailed response in regards to our listed cities! We love the small town, close-knit, community aspect of Madison and that it is close to many amentities. I do feel like you definitely get more for your money in the other cities though, and we do prefer a modern feel to a home, but we would prefer a great community for our children and ourselves with an older home over a newer home in a secluded community with distanced amenities. That being said, we do like something about all of the cities we have listed, but so far, Madison has stuck out to us the most.
Could anyone give me a short synopsis of each city and what is offered as far as community life goes or things that we not be able to find elsewhere online? I would I appreciate any information given, especially for Westfield, Summit, and Scotch Plains, since we don't know very much about those particular cities. We are planning a visit soon!
Last edited by dmarty37; 10-20-2014 at 08:43 AM..
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