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If I may pick your brains here for a bit. I am currently living in Brooklyn, NY with my wife, 2 boys (6 and 2) and another on the way. Looking to move to Bergen County and hoping to either build a house or buy a fairly newly built house. Budget is about 2 - 2.5 million. Schools are important and so are real estate tax considerations. I work in midtown so commute to the city is important too. Also, my parents and in-laws both still live in Brooklyn so driving to Brooklyn a few times a week is also important. Some of the towns we've looked at are Franklin Lakes, Woodcliff Lake, Saddle River, USR, and Wyckoff. We like Saddle River because of lower taxes, but there are no middle / high schools there. Should that even be a concern if the nearby towns provide those and are pretty good? Also, some say there is no community feel and less/no recreational programs offered in Saddle River. I don't really mind missing the community feel, but if i wanted to send my kids to sports, can't they just join the nearby town teams? Can't i sign them up at a YMCA at a nearby town? Why pay three times the taxes in one town if you can utilize their services for much less by living in another town? Am I missing something here? Any suggestions / comments would be appreciated.
Driving back and forth from northern Bergen County to Brooklyn "a few times each week" sounds like a soul-crushing idea. Isn't there somewhere on LI that fits what you want? (And I say this as a Bergen County partisan, I just can't imagine anyone dealing with that drive!)
For what it's worth there seem to be a TON of houses for sale in saddle river.
Also note this:SADDLE RIVER-- Police issued an alert after approximately five coyotes circled a person out walking a dog Thursday.
The incident occurred on Oak Road, where the band came within six feet of the person and tried to snatch the dog, police said. A passing motorist honked and then left the vehicle to help scare the animals off.
It is a nice area though, and some of the houses are nice (sadly many are very ugly 90s/early 2000s mcmansions, a problem in much of $$$ bergen county)
I moved from Brooklyn (Bay Ridge) to Ho-Ho-Kus 6 years ago. For me, a walkable town was most important. I liked that I could walk and get a bagel, drop off dry cleaning, get a haircut, go to post office without having to drive. My son (4yo) has played soccer in HHK, tee ball in Ridgewood and multi-sports (different sport each week) in Wyckoff through the USA sports group. When he gets older, the soccer and baseball programs are combined between the 2 towns of HHK & SR.
Do you plan on taking a train, bus or drive to midtown? The only town on a rail line you mentioned is Woodcliff Lake. Neither my wife or I use the train for our commute (I drive to the Bronx, she to Fort Lee) but it's nice to have because we go into the city quite often. Also, my mom who watches my son once a week uses it because she takes the train to get back home to Brooklyn.
As for going into Brooklyn, that all depends on when you are going. Sometimes I go through the city, other times I go through Staten Island. I pick my mom up on Monday nights and usually it takes about 50 minutes to get back to NJ leaving around 8:30pm. Weekends are unpredictable but usually are anywhere from 50-75 minutes each way.
Good luck on your search!
Last edited by HHKrunner; 09-26-2017 at 11:21 AM..
Look at alpine. Super low taxes, great k-8 then Tenafly hs. Sports with tenafly and cresskill. If you drive to midtown, palisades is better then route 4 to the Gwb.
What made you decide on Bergen county? The Taxes in other places (like Short Hills) are similar and have better commutes to midtown and shorter drive to Brooklyn (through SI).
forgot to mention that my sister lives in Bergen county and we would like to be close to her (15-20 min away) as we visit each other once a week. short hills is beautiful and nearby towns like summit and chatham are other towns we would have considered.
If your house budget is in millions, just buy one of these for just 200-250k: https://www.aerotrader.com/New-Or-Us...asc&radius=150& Then you can use any of the Manhattan's heliports and you don't have to worry about traffic...
Look at alpine. Super low taxes, great k-8 then Tenafly hs. Sports with tenafly and cresskill. If you drive to midtown, palisades is better then route 4 to the Gwb.
will be taking the bus / train to midtown and driving to brooklyn. Alpine is way out of our range as similar size houses are at least a few million more.
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moving to bergen county...
