This past Sunday, 50 families joined together at Washington School’s gymnasium in Summit New Jersey to participate in the 6^th Annual Architectural Workshop recreating downtown Summit out of LEGO blocks.  Truly unbelievable to think of a huge map of downtown Summit highlighting streets and historic buildings and over 50,000 colorful LEGO squares and rectangles being assembled to replicate this beautiful town.  Each one unique and truly a work of art!

The event is organized as a fundraiser for the Summit Historical Society, a membership organization created to preserve and disseminate information about Summit’s rich heritage.

I can’t think of a better way to raise money than by bringing families together building community spirit and camaraderie.  Summit is a special place and its downtown offers residents and visitors some of the area’s best restaurants, boutique shops and galleries.  Don’t miss an opportunity to try one during Restaurant Week, February 17 -26 – it’s great fun.

And for all those LEGO fans — young or old — and appreciators of fun art, you must visit The Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ and see the amazing “Art of the Brick” exhibit by artist Nathan Sawaya, who creates large scale sculptures out of LEGO blocks.  The exhibit ends February 20 and also includes some interactive workshops for children.  It is truly inspiring.

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The dog days of winter are here!!  But I’m thinking spring– longer days, green lawns and the first signs of budding trees and flowers.  It’s such a pretty time here in our New Jersey Midtown Direct communities.  It makes me think of all the great spring and summer resources like our fabulous farmer’s markets, summer concerts and festivals.  And come to think of it, summer is only 5 months away and many parents are now combing through the yellow pages and kids resources for the best area summer camps.

For some, camp is a way for generations of the same family to share similar memories.  And for others, camps provide kids with a chance to take a break from school and winter routines and have a few weeks of good old-fashioned fun.

There are plenty of good traditional camps in New Jersey.  I can personally speak about Stonybrook Day Camp in Randolph, NJ and Meadowbrook Day Camp in Long Valley, NJ where my daughter, Abby Seitchik, worked as a counselor for many summers and loved them.  A few other very popular area day camps include Camp Riverbend, Camp Harmony, Jeff Lake Camp, Gesher Day Camp, Willow Lake and JCC Camps.   Some favorites for toddlers include Mini Camp at Far Brook and The Connection.  I have heard hundreds of wonderful, fun-loving stories from friends, neighbors and clients about how many of these camps were monumental in the development and growth of their children.  Oh, I wish I were a kid again!!

Today, many camps specialize in one particular area like sports camps, art camps (Creative Hands Art Studio, The Messy Artist, The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Montclair Art Museum Summer Camp) girl scouts, drama camps (Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts, Acting with Emily), computer camps and the list goes on.  Ultimately, it comes down to the right fit for your child, location, timeframe and structure.  So do a little research, take a visit and you will be amazed at the wonderful choices right here in New Jersey.

Believe it or not, many have application deadlines coming up very soon!  With so many good ones to choose from, it’s hard to know where to begin….

Hoping this provides a little help from someone who’s been there many times.  Happy camping!!

Sue Adler

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I’ve been fortunate to speak at several major real estate conventions over the years, but this time, I was lucky to have the King of Video, Kenn Renner, on stage with me because he filmed our whole panel!

Ben Kinney and Cary Sylvester interviewed us about how we have dominated our local markets with our web strategy and use of videos. I discussed my community videos and how they attract relocation buyers who will be working in NYC, want an easy commute to work and great schools. The reason buyers stay on sueadler.com typically more than 5 minutes,  is because the site gives the real estate buyers and sellers the information they are typically researching –   commute, schools, home sale stats, restaurants and shops, recreation, community blog posts, seller blog posts with staging and pricing tips, and of course listings with floorplans and tons of photos. But it’s the community videos that make our buyers fall in love with our towns and make them want to come in and see it all in person. Do you agree?

We also discussed SEO and the fact that only after a couple of months, my new website is at the top of google for most of my towns, which is pretty cool considering how new it is.  BTW, if you’re on google plus, go ahead +1 the site if you like it. Thanks  I also do pay per click advertising for my www.LatestNJlistings.com site, which is my NJ home search site. I made a point to the Realtors in the audience that they need to make sure not to just throw money at pay per click advertising unless they have a website that has “stickiness” with great content that people won’t just click out of. Also, they need to have a great long term follow up system in place or they are just throwing money out the window.

We discuss my new chat feature that we just  added for everyone who is browsing the site. If  my team and I can be there to answer someone’s questions while they are on my site, I’ve found that people are so appreciative, especially in this day and age where everyone has ADD  and would also like to stay anonymous.

If you have any suggestions for the site, I’d love to hear. Are we missing anything?

Aside from all of the  national and international referral business I get from speaking ( which amounts to 4 or 5 new clients a week) , this is what makes it all worthwhile: My favorite tweet:

Want to follow all of the other twitter chatter?  Enter #kwmc in the search bar.

Thanks Keller Williams for allowing me the opportunity to share, and learn from the other top agents in our amazing company. Believe it or not, when I spoke at my first Mega Camp back in 2006, I was so terrified of public speaking that I would have rather jumped out of a plane, but now I really look forward to it!

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10 Reasons why you should move from Manhattan to our awesome New Jersey towns….

1. NJ Transit- Midtown Direct Train gets you into New York Penn Station in 25-50 minutes from South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn, Short Hills, Summit.  After Summit, the trainline branches off to: Chatham, Madison, Convent Station…  and the other branch heads to New Providence and Berkeley Heights….   If you click on link above, you will see parking options whether you live in one of these towns or one of the surrounding towns. Need to commute to downtown to the financial district? Just take the train to Hoboken, and then the path or ferry.

Oh, did I mention that there is valet parking at the Millburn train station, and that there is a jitney bus to get you to and from the Maplewood & South Orange train stations during morning and evening rush hours?

Great Schools

2. We have great public schools! 2010 New Jersey School Report Card

3. Our towns are absolutely charming and beautiful. They are SO not like the New Jersey stereotype. Each town has its own personality(and different sections within each town do as well), and you’ll find that living here you will frequent all of the surrounding towns for different things from shops to restaurants to theatre to fitness centers to art, piano or karate lessons.

Town Tour Videos

Town Tour video of Millburn & Short Hills

Town Tour video of Maplewood & South Orange

Town Tour video of Summit

Town Tour video of Chatham

Town Tour Video for Livingston

4. There are very active Newcomers Clubs in each of our towns. A great way to meet other newcomers & put the “bourbon back in suburban” is to attend the Octoberfest or Spring Formal. My husband and I STILL go to the monthly wine tastings at the Millburn/Short Hills Newcomers Club because we’ve made so many new friends at this event. Newcomers Club Sample Activities, Activities with Children

5. We have lots of Golf Courses in New Jersey . Prefer tennis instead? There is the Racquet’s Club in Short Hills or the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange. You can join for tennis or just get the social membership. There are always tons of activities going on. But the cherry on the top is- each of our towns has its own town pool, a relatively inexpensive and popular option.

6. Contrary to Manhattan real estate, in New Jersey, we have a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), so ONE realtor can show you all of the listings in the Garden State MLS.  Search all MLS listings now

7. Cars today have navigation systems, so you can wander around our beautiful winding tree-lined streets and not get lost if you move here.

Short Hills Pond

8. We have beautiful parks, arboretums, the South Mountain & Watchung Reservations, and local dog parks in Millburn and Livingston. You can go to Millburn Deli and stroll through their parking lot into Taylor park to eat, and relax to a concert or movie in the park as well during the summer.

9. We have a variety of great restaurants!

Scalini Fedeli in Chatham, La Focaccia or Fiorino in Summit and Bascilico in Millburn are my favorites for Italian. For Asian/Thai food, I recommend Khun Thai or Samuri Sushi in Millburn or Monster Sushi in Summit.  If you love a juicy steak, Roots in Summit is really great ( reserve early!), and for Happy Hour, there is Winberries in Summit, and Martini’s Bar and Bistro in Millburn, or head over to Toro Loco in South Orange. If you would like to add your favorite restaurants to this post, please comment!

10. You are not, I repeat… ARE NOT… allowed to pump your own gas in New Jersey. Is that great or what?!?

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Just released : the 2010 New Jersey School report card  

 Our local NJ schools continue to be strongly ranked - Millburn, Livingston, Chatham, Madison, Summit, Berkeley Heights, New Providence and others are among the top ranked New Jersey public  schools.   So listen up all you suburbia-phobic New Yorkers – come in for the town tours, and visit our great schools….. OK, ”free” may be arguable since you’re paying for it in your taxes,  however, it’s still less expensive than New York private schools, and only a 25 to 45 minute direct train into midtown Manhattan.

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NJ top High School rankings 2010 – Our commuter towns of Millburn, New Providence, Chatham, Madison, Livingston , Summit, Berkeley Hts are all top 25!  So if you’re moving from NYC to NJ for an easy commute and great schools, this article is for you!

We all know how important Schools are to our communities and to home values. NJ Monthly analyzes  data on NJ’s High Schools and summarizes the results. The Top High Schools list is based on data reported by the schools to the Department of Education for the 2008-2009 school year.

 NJ MONTHLY’S ENTIRE ARTICLE

Click on the links below to read NJ Monthly’s  Top High Schools rankings in the categories listed:

Full 2010 Top High Schools rankings (pdf)

2010 Top High School rankings (alphabetical)

2010 Top High School rankings (by county)

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Where The Boys Are
By Robin Benjamin, Buyer Specialist – Sue Adler Team

In my last blog I “sang” The times they are a changin’.” In this one, it’s “Where The Boys Are.”No, I’m not going through a mid-life crisis, or reminicing about the “good old days.” While the nation debates school vouchers and the decline of public education, I’m reflecting on the kids that graduate from the Millburn/Short Hills school system. Not only has our system been rated as one of New Jersey’s best, but most of our kids graduate with something that only a great educational environment can provide. Character. As a mother of two Millburn graduates – one a scholar the other a scholar/ athlete, but neither perfect – I constantly see proof of this character as I run into kids I’ve known for years. Good kids. Polite kids. Confident kids. And often very loyal kids.

On a recent foray into NYC to watch a football game with my youngest son, a Penn State graduate, I dreaded sitting by myself in his favorite pub. That dread soon turned to joy as one Millburn graduate after another walked in to greet me and support my son and his beloved Nittany Lions. The boys were not only from his graduating class, but from the class that graduated with his older brother. It felt like old home week, surrounded by kids displaying a loyalty and bond that was formed in the classrooms, halls and playing fields of our wonderful school system. An anomaly you say? Hardly. The next day, I found myself cheering at a Millburn soccer game. Just a few seats away were several boys, all Millburn graduates, cheering on their alma mater right along with me. Trust me, while certain parts of my body froze, sitting on those aluminum bleachers, my heart was never warmer.

While many parents worry about their kids once they leave the nest, I can tell anyone who moves to the Millburn/Short Hills area that you’ll know “Where The Boys Are.” They’re in a good place, taking care of themselves and supporting the town and school that helped make them into the young men that they are today.

Joining me were from the class of 1995 ; Tim Milton, Josh Rossoto, Neil Smaldon, Neil Halinan, Steven Sarpi, and missing was my son Tyler, who’s living in London . We all sat together cheering on the Nittany Lions until the last 6 seconds . I was in my glory.

Sue Adler Team

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NJ Monthly’s Top New Jersey Schools for 2008 (out of 316 Schools)

And The Winner Is…….Millburn High School!
Click here to read article.

Other Top Ranked Local New Jersey Schools Mentioned:
#4 Mountain Lakes
#5 Glen Ridge
#10 Chatham
#15 Governor Livingston (Berkley Heights)
#17 New Providence
#20 Livingston
#22 Summit
#24 Ridge ( Bernards Twp- Basking Ridge)
#27 Westfield
#29 Cranford
#35 Madison
#36 Bernards ( Bernardsville)
#38 West Morris Mendham
#48 Essex ( North Caldwell, Essex Fells)
#49 Watchung Regional
#53 Verona
#57 James Caldwell ( West Caldwell)

For the entire 2007 NJ School Report Card, click here.

For School Comparisons, click here.

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Congratulations to the Students, Parents & Faculty of Millburn High School for being named a National Blue Ribbon School for 2007!

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