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Dear Friends,
Its my first post ever and moving from Michigan to New Jersey. I might take up a position at J&J in Raritan and might need to travel once a week to SpringHouse,PA. So it probably makes sense to stay between Raritan or SpringHouse ? Have a 3 yr old and looking to buy house in a good school district and safety is the most important. What are the counties that you suggest to find the balance between good school district and commute. Thanks so much for your help. We plan to sell our current home(4 bed, 3bath) are also planning to buy a house ( possibly new construction). Budget is 500K and I understand that may get a small house but its perfectly fine given NJ's high cost. Any suggestions would be enormously helpful and make our move smooth.
I'm an Asian descent so counties with diversity is enormously helpful. I dont' want to restrict to counties with 90% chinese or 90% Indians, Mix of everything will be good for kids to grow up and appreciate life.
Where are you coming from? Ann Arbor, Michigan
Why are you moving? New Jersey
Where will you be working ? If NYC, what part of NYC? Raritan , NJ
Will you buy or rent? Buy
What is your budget ? 500K
What kind of place are you looking for ? Good School District & Families with Kids
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ? Spouse and 3 yr old
Do you need/want good public schools? Yes
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in
(examples: families with young children, young, mature, artsy, diverse, safe, close-knit, block parties, etc) Need a diverse Neighborhood with Safety, Good School District and Families with Kids being important
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.(examples: nightlife, outdoor activities, rural/urban, safety, downtown area, charming, new construction, proximity to XYZ, family oriented, easy parking, short commute, etc) Safety, New Construction(Possibly, not a priority) , family oriented, decent commute (30min) .
That's not a bad area at all since trends are the further way from NYC area the better quality and lower costs, generally speaking.
You have a lot of varied suburban to rural areas between Raritan, Bridgewater Somerville area and say the Lambertville NJ /New Hope PA area along the Delaware River.
A plus seems that you don't need to spend another hour or more getting into more congested travel areas.
Between Raritan and to the west towards the Delaware River state border is mostly all suburban to rural.
Large tracts yet there are towns with apartments etc.
Sorry I couldn't be more specific but if you mention more specific items others can advise. Overall mostly scenic area
I would take a look at Flemington. Fairly diverse both ethnically and socio-economically, and their high school is ranked #62, which is pretty decent. I know your child will be elementary school level. There are fewer ways to rank elementary schools, but they have a good teacher:student ratio, and you don't break the top 100 high schools unless the lower grades are preparing the kids well.
Raritan is mainly made up of Spanish/Italians, lots of smaller older homes. Elementary schools are small but feed into the Bridgewater-Raritan district which is HUGE especially at the HS level. Somerville is smaller, has a nice downtown with smaller and older homes and lot of rentals, elementary schools are ok and feeds into the Somerville High school which is small if you prefer that over the large regional HS.
Flemington is another option with a very large HS, as well Readington which is a town between Somerville and Flemington. Branchburg is another decent option with lots of housing options in wide ranging price range, small school district and very involved community.
Why would that matter given OP’s criteria of being in a truly diverse town?
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