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Not going to get one. After fixes and such, your taxes will go up and fixes costs money too. Even fixer upper you do yourself. So why not just rent for a while and try to save more for larger down payment rather than focusing on buying. Especially when you are new the NJ and don't know the area which you admitted yourself.
As for school districts, if you google, you can easily find out rankings of NJ public education system. If you spend bit more time doing more thorough job on googling or just searching on city data NJ. You can find more info about individual schools as well.
I still don't understand why you say you have family in NJ yet they can't help you point to a town that fits you. If I had to guess, they're probably telling you same thing but you maybe are not listening.
Personally, this is borderline troll thread so good luck if you aren't troll and if you are. Good job doing a borderline believable stuff.
I have seem homes in New Milford, Fair Lawn,Ridgefield Park, Rutherford, Westwood, Coster, Norwood, Leonia, Mahwah, Hillsdale & Maywood. I am new to NJ, with over 70 municipalities, I don't know which one has the most bang for the buck. I don't want to make the wrong choice.
OP, that's a good list. In fact, it's too good. I'm finding it hard to believe that you've seen livable houses in many of those towns for 300K and 9K taxes.
Closter, Norwood, Leonia, Mahwah, and Hillsdale are great towns with great schools. Westwood's a very good town. But unless you're looking at a mobile home or a tiny condo in Mahwah, your budget is unrealistic for these towns.
Fair Lawn and Rutherford are good towns with good to very good schools. You have a looooooooong shot of finding something modest within your budget in one of the less affluent sections of these towns. Prepare to work real hard, and plan to fix a lot of stuff up.
Maywood and New Milford are also good towns, but not as good as Fair Lawn or Rutherford. Schools in both towns are probably on the low end of good, with one major exception: Maywood students go to Hackensack High School, which is not known as one of Bergen County's finest. It's a major detraction for a lot of people in an otherwise nice town. You have a semi-long shot of finding something in these towns.
Ridgefield Park is a step below Maywood and New Milford. It's not a bad town, but the schools aren't as good as in the other towns. They're not bad, just average. This is the only town of all of them where you have half a shot of finding something within your budget.
If you're willing to live in a tiny old fixer-upper house right on top of Route 17, you may have a longshot at finding something in Waldwick, which is a very good town with very good schools.
On your budget, realistically, you may have to settle for modest housing and average schools, or wait until your budget gets to 500K and 10K taxes. If you have to stick to the 300K/9K limits, I'd recommend checking out Saddle Brook, Bogota, Bergenfield, and perhaps Dumont (Dumont may be a stretch on your budget) in addition to the above towns.
Good luck. I know it stinks buying houses in this area because of the ridiculous prices. Blame the yuppies who blew prices up in the 90s and most of the aughts.
I know that a house around the corner of us just sold for maybe 300k. 6k taxes. Nice little house on a quiet street in Midland Park. 50x100 and no garage but you can't have it all for 300k.
If $9,000 for taxes is your range then Fair Lawn might work (you can find some less expensive smaller homes - not sure about hitting the $300k mark). The schools are excellent; so are the schools in Paramus. Perhaps a foreclosure in one of these towns. Fair Lawn has the train and buses to NYC. Anything else with a short commute and your price range will not have great schools.
Not sure why people are making it out like $300,000 is a paltry sum of money, especially if this person is willing to buy a fixer upper.
My 2 cents are that you should settle for a "good" school system, because imo the difference between good and great is not much at all. Anywhere that is considered to have a "great" school system is going to be more of less the same thing, but twice as expensive and full of snobs.
All of the towns below are all nice places to live with good school systems. Do the research, search them online weekly, and something that is a good fit for you will pop up in one of them sooner rather then later.
Ridgefield Park
Wallington
Dumont
Carlstadt
Fair Lawn
Midland Park
Hasbruck Heights
Little Ferry
Waldwick
Oakland
Moonachie
Saddle Brook
Hawthorne (Passaic county, but feels like Bergen)
Not sure why people are making it out like $300,000 is a paltry sum of money, especially if this person is willing to buy a fixer upper.
My 2 cents are that you should settle for a "good" school system, because imo the difference between good and great is not much at all. Anywhere that is considered to have a "great" school system is going to be more of less the same thing, but twice as expensive and full of snobs.
All of the towns below are all nice places to live with good school systems. Do the research, search them online weekly, and something that is a good fit for you will pop up in one of them sooner rather then later.
Ridgefield Park
Wallington
Dumont
Carlstadt
Fair Lawn
Midland Park
Hasbruck Heights
Little Ferry
Waldwick
Oakland
Moonachie
Saddle Brook
Hawthorne (Passaic county, but feels like Bergen)
I agree that Hawthorne is a good suggestion to add to the mix. OP, you should check that out--might find a possibility there.
Some of those towns on your list do not have a reputation for having good schools.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GiantRutgersfan
Not sure why people are making it out like $300,000 is a paltry sum of money, especially if this person is willing to buy a fixer upper.
My 2 cents are that you should settle for a "good" school system, because imo the difference between good and great is not much at all. Anywhere that is considered to have a "great" school system is going to be more of less the same thing, but twice as expensive and full of snobs.
All of the towns below are all nice places to live with good school systems. Do the research, search them online weekly, and something that is a good fit for you will pop up in one of them sooner rather then later.
Ridgefield Park
Wallington
Dumont
Carlstadt
Fair Lawn
Midland Park
Hasbruck Heights
Little Ferry
Waldwick
Oakland
Moonachie
Saddle Brook
Hawthorne (Passaic county, but feels like Bergen)
This is going to be harder than I thought. What would be the top 5 towns in order that are the closets to Palisades Park(my aunt lives there) & that would be my best choice based on the info below??? Some of the towns mentioned are too far from Palisades Park.
1. Good school system(kids are 3 & 13)
2. Low taxes(I know they are high but some areas of Bergen aren't that high)
3. Home needs to be under $300K(dont mind a fixer up er/foreclosure)
4. Prefer short commute to NYC
5. Good area to raise the kids
6. Would love a downtown area, small town feel with small shops, parks & entertainment
7. Best BANG for the BUCK
8. Humble people/middle class...Don't llike the snobby factor
9. Elbow room...Would love a backyard & some front lawn too
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