Moving from the UK to New Jersey!

[Richardedwardhood]

I am moving to to New Jersey in July with my wife and two children. We need help deciding which part to move too. My wife will be working in Franklin Lakes so we would like to be close by. We also need somewhere with good Elementary schools for the kids. I prefer it to have a good selection of things to do (restaurants, parks, cinemas, pools, etc.) Does anyone have any recommendations? Or advice? Thanks in advance!

OP, I have sent you a private message.

Did you find anywhere OP? What is your budget?

If you have a decent budget, look at FL itself, Wykoff and Ramsey. I love Ramsey. It has a great downtown, plenty going on, a cute little old fashioned cinema, good restaurants, great schools. It's also only 15 minutes drive to FL. Franklin Lakes is nice but too showy for me.

Haven't decided yet, going out beginning of May to have a look at a few places, wycoff has been recommended to us by someone else too, so will definitely give it a look thanks! Also had Montclair recommended, particularly for its nightlife, restaurants and cafes etc. However it seems to have wildly varying views on its schools! Any advice?

Tbh, I don't know Montclair as much as I know some of the other NJ towns, but I hear their High School isn't great. I guess it depends on if you're moving over permanently or just for a set amount of time.

Another town worth looking at is Ridgewood. That's got a great downtown, excellent schools and some lovely parks. It's really close to Paramus for more regional shopping and has a bit more of an urban feel than the nothern Bergen towns like Ramsey, Wykoff and Mahwah. If I was moving over again, I would have looked at Ridgewood. Just don't get put off by the terrifying Route 17!

Feel free to PM me if you need any specific advice. Also, once you're over here and have chosen the town, go on Facebook and join the towns Mom's page. We all have them. They are a wealth of information and are great for reaching out to people before you get here. Good luck!

Montclair is known as a town of two halves. One part is very nice (Upper Montclair maybe?), then you walk through the town and it's not long before you're in some really sketchy areas so you'd have to be careful.

Whereabouts in the UK are you moving from? Montclair is twinned with a London borough and they have a very active society so could give you some good first hand experience and possibly put you in touch with some people.

I'm in NJ and looked at Montclair. We ran for Hoboken! I concur with looking at Frankin Lakes, ridgewood, Wykoff and Ramsey. All great towns and close for work. You definitely need two cars and get AWD.