回复weandwe的评论:Thank you so much for all the information and it is very helpful! Please keep in touch. You sounds like an expert in that area. I may have more questions to ask you .
weandwe 发表评论于
回复BeautyinAutumn的评论:
You can ask relocation staff to take your family to see more towns in Morris county next time. I don't think you should only focus in Essex county.
When I moved to NJ from NY, the relocation also took me to see the houses in Essex county. But after I drove around myself, I was so shocked to see the neighbor towns of Livingston and Millburn were in such terrible shapes and I don't want to live in a town which can be invaded later when I have to sell my house. And I don't want to pay the taxes most of which went to support those towns. That is why I choose to move to Montville which is surrounded by all the upper middle-class towns.
It take same time driving to Livingston or Millburn as to some towns in Morris County. My company's CEO lives in Morristown. Many middle level directors live in Montville, Baskingridge, and Bernardsville.
I don't suggest Bergen county at all. $900,000 in Bergen can only buy a small old house. $700,000 -$800,000 in Morris can buy a very good house in an upper middleclass community.
weandwe 发表评论于
回复BeautyinAutumn的评论:
Regarding to the house prices in NJ:
From 1994-2000, the house prices in North Jersey basically were not changed much as those years were just after the ned of one bubble. From 2001 to 2007, there were a big jump. Summer of 2006 to spring of 2007 are the peak time.
Most houses in North Jersey have fallen to 2003 or 2004's price level at fall of 2008. Taken several same year and similar style houses I persoanlly knew in Montville as examples, $490,000(not upgraded) in 2001, $650,000(not upgraded) in 2003, $810,000(not upgraded) in 2006, $700,000 (totally upgraded) in 2008. I don't think the price will fall below 2001's level. So if you are buying now or next year, it is a good time.
weandwe 发表评论于
回复BeautyinAutumn的评论:
North Caldwell and Exssex Fell are both very nice towns in Exssex county. Caldwell and West Caldwell are also very nice. West Caldwell's highschool is very good. I like West Caldwell better. Fairfield is a all-white town, but many houses in Fairfield are in the flood zone.
Personally I like Morris county better than Essex county. Essex county has too many poor and unsafe towns and tax are way too high. In Morris county, you can use all the local libraries. But in Essex county, you only can use your own town's library. Most higher level managers live in Morris county.
All the towns after passing Willowbrook Mall along Rt 46 are very nice. On the north side, Fairfield is an all-white town. On the north side, West Caldwell is very good. Next is Montville which was in the top 20 towns in Money magazine 2006. The next town Parsippany, which was also in the top 20 in 2007's Money magazine, is the second largest town in NJ. Parsippany's school is not as good as that of Montville. Parsippany has a large Chinese Church with more than 1000 people worshiping every weekend. Parsippany also has a very good public golf court.The next town Mountainlake is an old-money town, with every houses over million dollars and 80% male residents are CEOs.
You can check school report, tax, recent houses price trend and many other NJ local information at:
http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/
You can check the current available houses in NJ MLS website and realtor.com websites.
http://new.gsmls.com/publicsite/
You can check the tax information and sold price information(change to the county and town you want and enter street name, you will see all the houses on the street with tax and sold price information) :
http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/prc6.cgi?&ms_user=monm&passwd=data&srch_type=0&adv=1&out_type=2&district=1421
BeautyinAutumn 发表评论于
回复weandwe的评论:Thank you very much for the information.During our last trip to NJ, The Realtor showed us houses in 4 towns in Essex county including Livingston, Millburn,North Calldwell and Essex Fells. Of the four, we liked North Calldwell and Essex Fells better, which have much larger lots and houses. The streets are lined with lots of trees and gave us a feel of up-scale neighborhoods. But Livingston and Millburn's schools are better. What do you think of these 2 towns?
weandwe 发表评论于
Livingston and Millburn are the two best towns in Essex county, but they wanted to get out this county a few years ago because there are so many poor and unsafe towns, such as Newark, Orange, East Orange, South Orange and Irvington, in this county to push the taxes so high. Livingston is very nice, but the houses are very small and old.
Montclair is close to Nutley, but only upper Montclair is decent. If you go to Montcliar's high school, you will see too many black kids hanging around. I don't suggest Montclair.
I suggest Montville in Morris County. It is about 25 min drive from Montville to Nutley by Rt 46 and RT 3. There is a train station to NYC. You also can drive 10 min to park at Rt23 or Willowbrookmall to take non-stop express bus (only 35 to 40 min) to NYC. The school system is one of the best in NJ. You can buy a 3000 sqft central hall colonial( 0.5 AC land, built around 1970-1980, with all hardwood floor, and full-finished basement) with $700,000-$750,000 in today's market, which fell to 2003 's price level. The tax is around $11,000-$13,000 with such houses.
I lived there for 10 years before I moved to East Brunswick.
17 Brittany Rd was just listed and asked for $745,000.
你看的地方不太适合年轻华人居住，如果上班在曼哈顿的话，看看Edgewater, Englewood Cliffs 或 Fort Lee, 这三个Town 很好。第一个view 很好，后两个地区好，到哪里都很近，小孩上学的话，后两个学区好。不过价钱都在80万以上。
BeautyinAutumn 发表评论于
回复nicehigh81的评论:悲观了一点儿了。Cheer up!
nicehigh81 发表评论于
Another woman's sickness, but thanks for sharing. Wish you never hate ploughing the snow and sweeping the leaf; most important, save your lifes on the car driving and Chinese food shopping.
Good luck.
BeautyinAutumn 发表评论于
回复毛虫儿的评论:你说得很有道理。家的意义就是全家人在一起，无论怎样。记得陪女儿小的时候看一个动画片《lilo and Stitch》里说的：Family means nobody's left behind. 我们也在思考这个问题。谢谢你的提醒。
