Last Thursday night was the bus parade. And, of course, I got teary. 

As always, a string of school buses load up the 500 or so high school seniors who had just graduated that day, ferrying the class to some undisclosed location for a party that lasts into the morning. But first, they drive through the town. 

They say the route is a secret, and maybe at one time it was, but most everyone now knows that the caravan takes the kids past each of the seven elementary schools and two of the middle schools as they make their way out of town. 

Every year, the parade is joyous mayhem – with flashing police cars leading the pack and fire trucks tooting horns, and bus after bus carrying freshly minted grads who are hanging out the bus windows screaming and reveling and being met with screaming, reveling onlookers. 

People come out of their homes and stand at the curb, clapping for the kids, banging pots with wooden spoons, shouting and yelling at the passing bus line as if they were at a championship game and the home team just took the pennant. People gather at the elementary schools. They throw lawn parties. It’s so loud and siren-y that I often warn my new-to-town clients that it’s about to happen so they don’t think we’re in the middle of an air raid.

I don’t know of another town that does this and it feels so special to me. It’s not just for the parents of the grads, or for parents in general, it’s for everyone. 

Last year, there was no bus parade, and I really missed it. It’s my all-time favorite community event. If you’re a spectator, it lasts only a few minutes as the buses drive by – 10 maybe. But it is unbridled jubilation, and in that way it feels like 10 hours of glee. 

This year, there was even more glee than usual.  And more tears. It was really moving to see this tradition restored after our year of having to put so many traditions on hold. The bus parade isn’t just a graduation thing…it’s a community thing. One of the many ways this big, vibrant, walkable suburb feels like a family.

If you want to see the parade starting off, here's a video from our local paper.

One year ago, I watched my beloved town close down. Like everyone else, I thought it would be temporary. Like everyone else, I was worried for my family and the people I loved. Like everyone else, I had no idea what to [...]

So much joy in my town today. I had tears in my eyes when I came upon this:

https://youtu.be/VMr1AX6D150

Here we are, well into September, and it's still a bit mind-boggling what we've all been through. The parking lots in Montclair's train many stations, went from packed to empty in a day -- then stayed that way for months. There were days, early on, when I wrote about all the precautions we, in the real estate business, had adopted. I really [...]

I think I can speak for most when I say this past few months has been an incredible learning experience. From the minute New Jersey went on “lockdown,” all my colleagues and I could talk about was how will we do our jobs?

We learned how to make great use of virtual house-tour apps and what to do to make an in-person home tour safe. We learned how to get houses inspected and close under the most arduous circumstances. But maybe most important, as a society we learned to stop all our hurrying about and start to understand what we care about and value. What we want to take into the future with us.

Many of my clients adopted a more inward focus. Buyers started to care more about “comfort,” less about “image.” Grand spaces for entertaining became less important than a garage loft that could be converted into a home office. Also, short commutes to work from an apartment on the Upper West Side became less important than outdoor space.

We’ve also seen how size came to matter in a different way. Some sellers looked at their big houses as a welcome oasis, someplace where they could work and school their kids and have a little privacy from everyone else. Others began to see their big house as too much to take care of since they’d become the ones cleaning it every week.

Buying and selling decisions have become far more about “quality of life” – though not just about a person’s individual life. We’ve seen more people looking for quality of life in a community that’s consistent with their beliefs. A community’s dedication to welcoming all people has become a selling point like never before. I know as a society we still have a long way to go, but as someone raised in Manhattan, I can personally vouch for Montclair’s continued commitment to making our town feel like it’s a place where everyone belongs.

Helping people buy or sell a home has always been a very personal experience, and now it feels like an even deeper one. As always, I’m here to talk about any and every aspect of home buying or sales. Talk or text: (973) 809-5277

Earlier this month, I was on Facebook and noticed a post on the “Montclair Watercooler” page from a woman about to move to town. She asked what were people’s favorite way to be involved in the community. This woman's story was similar story to many of my clients': she grew up in a close-knit city community, hadn’t been able to find that same [...]

I just came across this photo on Facebook the other day – an illustration taken from the children’s book Reaching for the Moon, by Buzz Aldrin. I’d walked past this house hundreds of times before I knew it was the home that he grew up in. 

In the post, it recounts Aldrin once saying, "I'd climb out the 3rd floor and walk along the roof with a candle. Was I [...]

I have to be honest: when I moved from Manhattan to Montclair, a part of me worried. I’d grown up in New York City – I was, by all accounts, a City Person – and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be happy living in the suburbs. I knew it would be good for my kids to live somewhere with a yard, and my then-husband had grown up here. There were lots of [...]

Early last Friday evening, on Montclair’s cobblestoned Church Street, I met an old friend for a glass of wine at Amanti Vino’s outdoor wine café. The wine was delicious, the night was clear and cool, and we were surrounded by hundreds of friends and neighbors. 

This area can get busy on a clear summer night, but Friday pulled a crowd that [...]

You research the school system. You collect the train schedules. You drive around the neighborhood after an open house. 

Buying a house means buying into a community. So, of course, information about schools and transportation is important. However, a big part of what most of my clients are looking for is a particular vibe. And in my [...]