Ask Our Agent with Compass Real Estate Agent Karin Diana, Founder of The Home Collective
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We asked Karin Diana’s clients one simple question: What surprised you most about living in Montclair?
Every year, Montclair real-estate agent Karin Diana throws a holiday party that feels less like a networking event and more like a reunion. Families reconnect, kids dart between rooms, and conversations inevitably drift from mortgage rates to parking, schools, and which Ring camera alerts are actually worth paying attention to.
So naturally, we showed up with microphones.
As part of our Ask Our Agent series on The Montclair Pod, we decided to flip the script this week. Instead of asking Karin what makes Montclair special, we asked the people who know best: her clients. Many of them are former New Yorkers who traded subway platforms for tree-lined streets and now find themselves deeply invested in curb etiquette, trash schedules, and the finer points of turning right on red.
We asked everyone the same question:
What surprised you most about living in Montclair?
“It’ll hug you… and then honk at you”
Tessa moved to Montclair from DUMBO about six years ago, and while she was fully prepared for a town full of New York City transplants, she wasn’t prepared for how… aggressively familiar the driving would feel.
She laughs about the learning curve. People here, she says, still drive like they’re trying to beat a light on Flatbush Avenue. You learn quickly to look both ways. Then look again.
But what really caught her off guard wasn’t the traffic. It was the people.
She talked about how welcoming the community feels, especially the longtime residents who raised kids here decades ago and never left. There’s something grounding, she said, about being in a place where people don’t just pass through. They stay. They build lives. And they seem genuinely happy they did.
The suburban rite of passage: Ring cameras and reality checks
Eric, another Brooklyn transplant, shared a surprise that comes up again and again among new homeowners: the sudden exposure that comes with living in a house.
Shortly after moving in, his Ring doorbell lit up with alerts about car break-ins. It was jarring. Not because Montclair felt unsafe, he was quick to say, but because apartment living in New York comes with a built-in sense of security. You’re five floors up. You buzz people in. You’re buffered from the street.
In suburbia, you’re suddenly very aware of what’s happening outside your front door.
Eventually, Eric said, you learn the rhythms. You lock your doors. You get the camera. Then you turn off the notifications because you realize this stuff happens everywhere.
As Michael put it: learn the trash schedule, meet your neighbors, and stop doom-scrolling your Ring app.
Parking: harder than Brooklyn? Somehow, yes.
Kate, who moved to Montclair just this past August, raised an issue that every newcomer eventually encounters: parking.
Coming from Brooklyn, she genuinely didn’t expect it to be harder here. But between street rules, permits, and timing, it’s been… an adjustment.
That said, she and her family were also surprised by how much Montclair still feels like a city. There’s always something going on. Restaurants, events, places to walk, people to meet. The transition, she said, has felt social rather than isolating.
Parking may test your patience, but loneliness isn’t part of the deal.
“I didn’t expect to love New Jersey this much”
Amanda, a native New Yorker, admitted she didn’t see this coming at all.
What surprised her most was how accessible everything feels. Manhattan is close. So are neighboring towns. So are farms, beaches, and weekend getaways that don’t require hours of planning or traffic gymnastics.
More than that, she talked about how unexpectedly perfect Montclair has been for raising kids. The balance of space, culture, and connection caught her off guard in the best way.
We hear this one a lot.
People move here for the backyard.
They stay because New Jersey, it turns out, is a vibe.
Walkability wins hearts (and sometimes leads to baby number two)
Dan, who moved from Brooklyn with one child and now has two, summed up a surprise that may explain Montclair’s quiet population growth.
He expected car culture. He expected errands and driving and logistics.
What he didn’t expect was how walkable his daily life would still be.
Being able to leave the house on foot and get coffee, food, and community was what he loved most about Brooklyn. Finding that same ease here, with more space and a stronger sense of neighborhood, made the move feel less like a trade-off and more like an upgrade.
You can see why so many people make the trek.
The takeaway
So there you have it. From parking headaches to walkable joys, from Ring-camera anxiety to genuine community warmth, Montclair continues to surprise the people who choose it.
This town may drive like New York City.
But yes, you’re allowed to turn right on red.
And if Karin Diana’s holiday party is any indication, once you’re here, you’re probably not leaving anytime soon.
A high-touch agent known for her extensive market expertise and her unmatched devotion to clients, Karin’s success is based almost exclusively on referrals. Specializing in residential real estate in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City, she makes the experience of buying or selling property simple by combining her keen instincts, impeccable client service, and attention to market trends. Throughout the process, Karin offers a common-sense approach with sharp negotiating skills honed over the past three decades. Work with Karin | karin.diana@compass.com
