Monroe is in Orange County in NY. It is a great town with a wonderful school system to boot. Lots of shopping - Walmart Supercenter, Woodbury Commons (outlet stores galore) great restaurants, and is very close to the NJ border.

If buying I would be mindful of the property taxes in NY as opposed to NJ.

Monroe is a very nice area. Good luck to your friend with the move.

I have lived about two miles from the center of Monroe, NY for 20+ years. If you email me privately, I'd be happy to provide my personal contact info for your friend. Generally speaking, it has a very highly rated school system, great shopping, easily accessible mass transit to NYC and readily available access to major highways. That being said, real estate prices and taxes are high, but not as high as Westchester County (NY) and most areas of northern NJ. Each town in the surrounding area has its own "flavor", some artsy, some up-scale, and everything in-between. There is a decent variety of housing choices with good mixes of suburban and rural properties. Many residents are transplants from elsewhere; a lot of people commute to NYC for work. There might be some areas to be careful of....Newburgh and Middletown are larger urban areas in Orange County with the usual city benefits and liabilities. All in all, a pretty decent place to live.

Neither the Ramapo or Passic Rivers are in the Monroe, NY area. It is mountainous in Monroe and beautiful especially in the fall. Those outlet centers are fantastic!

If you ever watched Orange County Choppers with the Teutel family, Pauly Sr. & Pauly Jr. they build custom motorcycles for celebreties usually. That show is filmed about 15 miles from Monroe, NY.

They're beginning a new series of father vs son businesses that should be really kewl for their final season. It's all a show, they are not feuding any differently on the show or in real life than ever before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_County_Choppers

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/american-chopper/

Dont play link 2 with children in listening distance.

Monroe, NY is a little bit of country living.

Thank you for the replies both on the board and privately. You ladies are once again showing that Lab people rock!
Carole