A commuter town with pre-war stairs
Chatham is a Midtown Direct town and it moves like one: a lot of families arriving from apartments in the city, and a lot of houses that were built long before anyone measured a doorway against a sectional sofa. Borough and Township both run heavily to older colonials and capes near the centre, with narrow staircases, half landings and third floors that began as attics.
Coming out of a New York apartment into a Chatham house is a different estimate from moving house to house within the town. The first is a small load into a lot of space, usually quick. The second is a full house with a basement, a garage and thirty years of accumulation, and the walkthrough matters.
Access is generally kind here. Real driveways, streets a truck can work on, and few buildings with move-in rules. When there is a condo or a rental near the station, we deal with the building requirements as normal.
What we ask before we quote it
- How the staircase runs, and whether the third floor is finished
- What is in the basement and the garage
- Whether the truck can get onto the driveway
- Whether either address is an apartment or condo with building rules
