One Upper East Side Family on Making the Move to New Jersey
“I grew up in New Jersey,” explains Upper East Side mom-of-two Sharone Poopor. But “when we started talking to Patti (Natiss, Suburban Jungle NYC Strategist) we were just looking in Westchester.” When they first connected with Patti in November 2015, Sharone and her husband Keith believed Westchester was the right spot for their young family—then, an infant son and preschool-aged daughter. Fast forward nearly two years, and things looka lotdifferent.
“We completely switched gears,” Sharone explains. “Westchester seemed to fit, but it never really clicked for us. Then, a get-together with a long-time friend changed everything. “I got together with an old childhood friend,” she recalls. “My biggest consideration as a full-time working mom wasnotbeing able to get home quickly if I needed to—I hated that feeling of distance. Then my friend reminded me she worked from home and that she and my family and friends could be that support system I was looking for—a support system that was in New Jersey.”
When in Doubt…Call Patti!
Sharone’s next move? Call Patti. “I said, ‘do you know how we’ve been looking in Westchester for a year and a half? Well, we need to switch and look in New Jersey!” They spent a lot of time talking about their wants and needs in light of this shift and Patti helped pull together a list of towns to tour—a list that included Summit. “We went there and we loved it,” Sharone says. “We loved, loved, loved the downtown. That was something we really wanted. We wanted a train station and Summit had it. We wanted a cute downtown and Summit had it. We knew the schools were great and, after that, we fell in love with a house.” At the end of the day, though, it was a pure gut decision. “It was pretty and, really, it felt RIGHT,” Sharone adds. “It was close enough to friends so I have that support system. But, at the end of the day, it was a gut feeling.”
Now, as the family prepares to make the move from Manhattan to Summit, Sharone is eager to set down roots in her new community. Her son is 2 ½ and her daughter is almost five and will start kindergarten in Summit next fall. “It was the hardest decision,” she says, “I sweated it out and sweated it out. But now that it’s done, I’m ready to move NOW!”
The Power of Town Tours
Looking back on the last two years, Sharone says one of the best pieces of her Suburban Jungle experience was the town tours—and, of course, her “suburban shrink,” Patti. “I like the town tours,” she explains. “By the time we got to Summit, we’d town-toured a lot of suburbs in Westchester and New Jersey, so we knew what we wanted.” She advises city families to really roll up their sleeves and dive into the town tour experience. “I would encourage people who think they only want to see one or two towns to maybe add a third or fourth, just for perspective,” she says. “Then you know what you want when you see it.”
“I loved working with Patti,” she adds, “because she’s Patti! But besides that, you want the true scoop if you’re going to move somewhere. I felt like I could ask Patti if I was going to be the only working mom on the train platform—those kinds of questions were really important to me. She was so good at explaining the flavor of a town and not just the things you can look up online. She was so good at giving a description of a town’s personality—the people, the vibe. You can’t get that from an article or a town’s website.” All of this fed into Sharone’s suburban search. “Patti spent a lot of time with me because we shifted gears. After every town tour,” she recalls, “Patti would check in with me and see what we thought and what our gut feeling was. She didn’t skip a beat when we changed the whole thing. She totally rolled with it and was really so open and easy going about our change of heart. That was really great.”
Overall, “Patti made me feel like it was OK that it was such a hard decision,” to leave the city. “People in the suburbs can’t understand why it’s such a hard decision,” she says. “They’d say, ‘your apartment is small, you have to spend half an hour getting your kids out of the apartment and to the park.’ But Patti reminded me that it’s OK—this is a major decision!” And now, looking ahead to Summit living, Sharone and her family couldn’t be happier—or more ready to make the leap!
CLIENT UPDATE:
Since chatting with Sharone, the Poopors moved to Summit! We caught up with her and she had AMAZING things to say about their transition to the suburbs. “We have moved, and the transition has been a lot easier than we anticipated,” says Sharone. “The people are super friendly and while the commute is longer, it’s more way pleasant and civilized than squishing onto the 4/5 in Manhattan.” And, already, they feel completely at home. “Just last night—date night in super cute downtown Summit after our kids’ preK back-to-school night—Keith and I were discussing how much more relaxed we feel coming home weekdays and on weekends than we did in Manhattan. It’s way more tranquil.” Overall, “we are really happy with our decision.”
Suburban Jungleis an award-winning firm that specializes in moving families from urban to suburban. The company’s innovative “town first” approach helps buyers find the right suburb for their family based on personality and lifestyle, not just the house. Services are FREE and fully customized to each family and their unique journey. To learn more and to connect with a Suburbs Strategist, and find the place your family truly fits in visitwww.suburbanjunglerealty.comand clickGET STARTED.