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Where are you coming from?.........Queens
Why are you moving?..........Better schools, sports and more room for our three young kids
Where will you be working ? If NYC, what part of NYC?.......for commute purposes, all of Bergen county is ok
Will you buy or rent?...........Buy
What is your budget ? ..........750-800k (but not willing to spend 18k++ on property taxes)
What kind of place are you looking for ?...spacious home, anything 3000sq ft or more, big yard...but we don't need acres of land.
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you ?...we are a family of 5 with 3 children ages 6 and under.
Do you need/want good public schools?.....great schools are our top priority
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in .....nice middle class neighborhood, families with young children, accessible to shopping , down to earth people
(examples: families with young children, young, mature, artsy, diverse, safe, close-knit, block parties, etc)
List three things that are important to you in order of importance.(examples: nightlife, outdoor activities, rural/urban, safety, downtown area, charming, new construction, proximity to XYZ, family oriented, easy parking, short commute, etc)............schools, a town with nice amenities such as town pool ect., and space! space for my kids to play, and a decent size home.
Mahwah might be a decent place to start. Schools are good, homes are generally newer than some other Bergen County towns, and the lots are a decent size. It has a town pool, parks, etc. Mahwah doesn't get the same level of reverence as say Ridgewood, but it carries a more down to earth reputation. Taxes are lower in Mahwah than much of Bergen County: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxa...t/gtr13ber.pdf
There is a train station and parking garage in Mahwah, so commuting is relatively easy. Depending on where you're ending in Manhattan though, you can expect it to be over an hour in each direction.
When you are buying a house of 3000 sqft and a value of 800k what do you expect your taxes to be ? Free ? Lol, if you want all that and in a good area get ready to pay for it.
When you are buying a house of 3000 sqft and a value of 800k what do you expect your taxes to be ? Free ? Lol, if you want all that and in a good area get ready to pay for it.
Yes...I was going to say that you can't expect to move to Bergen County and not have to pay high taxes (or actually move to ANY desirable town in any county in New Jersey and not have to pay high taxes), but I don't know exactly what the taxes would be. That's something the OP would have to learn while researching properties.
I know the taxes on my mother's house in nearby Midland Park are around $12K, and it's a nice town to raise kids in, but they are too small to have the good sports programs the OP is seeking. There's a lot for the elementary school age kids, but they don't have a HS football team anymore. The kids who want to play football transfer to Bergen Catholic for high school.
When you are buying a house of 3000 sqft and a value of 800k what do you expect your taxes to be ? Free ? Lol, if you want all that and in a good area get ready to pay for it.
MiaMia I have seen many homes in my range in parts of Jersey & CT where the taxes are around $14k for my criteria. I am just not willing to spend close to $20k. That's what I was referring too.
I don't do this much and hate to be the guy that advocates his own town but I would recommend Wyckoff. You'll get a 3000 sq ft home in that range and the taxes will be around $14k. Homes in my neighborhood are going for low $700k and the taxes are $12-13k, all with about .75 acre. Wyckoff has great schools, athletic programs and a private town pool at the YMCA called spring lake.
Ramapo high school is always in the hunt for county and state titles in various sports: soccer, football, tennis. etc.
As for the demographic, most are upper middle class to affluent but the snob factor is more subdued. At least that's how it feels like to me having interacted with a lot of people in town in the past few years.
I don't do this much and hate to be the guy that advocates his own town but I would recommend Wyckoff. You'll get a 3000 sq ft home in that range and the taxes will be around $14k. Homes in my neighborhood are going for low $700k and the taxes are $12-13k, all with about .75 acre. Wyckoff has great schools, athletic programs and a private town pool at the YMCA called spring lake.
Ramapo high school is always in the hunt for county and state titles in various sports: soccer, football, tennis. etc.
As for the demographic, most are upper middle class to affluent but the snob factor is more subdued. At least that's how it feels like to me having interacted with a lot of people in town in the past few years.
Wyckoff is a great town. I was going to suggest it, but I thought the taxes would be too high. Thanks for setting that straight.
You may want to check out towns like Paramus (Low taxes, great schools and by the shopping malls and closer to NYC); some new development have larger lot size and newer homes. It's middle class with mix of wealthier people.
Waldwick, Ramsey, Mahwah, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River are also good choice. Mahwah has the beautiful Ramapo mountain view which is hard to beat, but it is slightly long commute to NYC and the shopping of Paramus.
Your house sticker-price budget is beyond your tax budget for most towns in the area. One way to deal with that is to look in the towns with a really strong business tax base (like Paramus mentioned above) or the towns in the northwest part of the county (again, people have given good advice on towns specifics above) where taxes are lower because they are pretty much uniformly affluent places with large houses and lots and relatively lower school budgets compared to the tax base.
Another option would be to buy a cheaper house in a more average tax rate town to get the cost there down, or to budget more for taxes and less for sticker price. A good rule of thumb is that the markets tend to return about 5% after inflation, reduce by 0.5% for fees even on index funds and a bit of a volatility discount to 4.5% and use that to price the taxes as a perpetuity -- ie value ~1K/year in taxes as equivalent to 22K in sticker cost. So then if let's say your limit is $800K and $14K/taxes then you would be spending the equivalent amount buying a house at $712K with $18K taxes......you're really equally well off either way as long as you still keep the equivalent value of the taxes in mind so you don't bust your budget going to $800K and $18K, which opens up looking anywhere you particularly like and lets you make good comparisons between total costs with towns of significantly different tax rates.
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