What is going on in Fair Lawn? (Paramus, Ridgewood: homes, theater)
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It's not time consuming, literally njmls.com , zillow.com etc give a very simple list of the houses sold. Niche is not a valid source to use. lol they rated fair lawn as 2nd best in bergen county? HAHAHAHA! u have to be blind or a fool to believe that. look up test scores, graduation rates, etc. And yes property taxes being low helps bring up the value in Paramus, but people are also paying that much because of the schools and the amount of resources they have. People investing that much money don't just buy for the sake of it. Fair lawn is a good town, especially for lower middle class - middle class. But it's not a good return on value if you are upper middle class, especially if you want to sell your more expensive house down the line (with taxes only going up and up) . it comes down to which class level a person or family is in. People that bought houses for 800k in 2007 in fair lawn are only losing money selling it today because of the 20k taxes on them now.
It's not time consuming, literally njmls.com , zillow.com etc give a very simple list of the houses sold. Niche is not a valid source to use. lol they rated fair lawn as 2nd best in bergen county? HAHAHAHA! u have to be blind or a fool to believe that. look up test scores, graduation rates, etc. And yes property taxes being low helps bring up the value in Paramus, but people are also paying that much because of the schools and the amount of resources they have. People investing that much money don't just buy for the sake of it. Fair lawn is a good town, especially for lower middle class - middle class. But it's not a good return on value if you are upper middle class, especially if you want to sell your more expensive house down the line (with taxes only going up and up) . it comes down to which class level a person or family is in. People that bought houses for 800k in 2007 in fair lawn are only losing money selling it today because of the 20k taxes on them now.
Agree that Niche is pretty suspect. I have more faith in greatschools and schooldiggwe.
I’m not sure what “good returns” for “upper middle class” people means. Sounds like you are mostly focused on effective tax rates for larger houses? By that metric I imagine Ridgewood and Glen Rock also provide poor returns?
It's not time consuming, literally njmls.com , zillow.com etc give a very simple list of the houses sold. Niche is not a valid source to use. lol they rated fair lawn as 2nd best in bergen county? HAHAHAHA! u have to be blind or a fool to believe that. look up test scores, graduation rates, etc. And yes property taxes being low helps bring up the value in Paramus, but people are also paying that much because of the schools and the amount of resources they have. People investing that much money don't just buy for the sake of it. Fair lawn is a good town, especially for lower middle class - middle class. But it's not a good return on value if you are upper middle class, especially if you want to sell your more expensive house down the line (with taxes only going up and up) . it comes down to which class level a person or family is in. People that bought houses for 800k in 2007 in fair lawn are only losing money selling it today because of the 20k taxes on them now.
Fair Lawn does have its flaws, but I still believe it’s the best value town in Bergen County.
And c’mon... the difference in school quality between Paramus and Fair Lawn is marginal, and the difference in median HHI isn’t that much either. In fact, the recent 2013-2017 Census data puts Fair Lawn’s median HHI higher that that of Paramus:
Now Census/Shmensus, I don’t believe for a second that Fair Lawn has a higher median HHI than Paramus, but I do believe the difference is relatively small, and shrinking in recent years.
Yes, Paramus is a bit prettier than Fair Lawn (in the residential areas, anyway). Yes, Paramus has more high-end housing options than Fair Lawn. Yes, Paramus has lower taxes than most other Bergen County towns.
And, yes, Fair Lawn’s tax rate is pretty high. But that $400,000 house in Fair Lawn with the $10,000 taxes will likely cost you $575,000 in Paramus with... $10,000 taxes..
for a slightly prettier, slightly more affluent, marginally better school district town.
Show me another town in Bergen County that has the moderate housing prices of Fair Lawn with schools of comparable quality... Maybe Rutherford comes close... but the town has slightly higher housing prices, slightly less affluence, and the schools aren’t quite as good as Fair Lawn’s. (Although, to be fair, Rutherford’s commuting options are a little better.)
Show me another town in Bergen County that has the moderate housing prices of Fair Lawn with schools of comparable quality... Maybe Rutherford comes close... but the town has slightly higher housing prices, slightly less affluence, and the schools aren’t quite as good as Fair Lawn’s. (Although, to be fair, Rutherford’s commuting options are a little better.)
Show me another town in Bergen County that has the moderate housing prices of Fair Lawn with schools of comparable quality... Maybe Rutherford comes close... but the town has slightly higher housing prices, slightly less affluence, and the schools aren’t quite as good as Fair Lawn’s. (Although, to be fair, Rutherford’s commuting options are a little better.)
Other than Rutherford, it ain’t exist.
Probably Midland Park and Waldwick. Westwood and Washington Township, perhaps.
Probably Midland Park and Waldwick. Westwood and Washington Township, perhaps.
All significantly more expensive than Fair Lawn...
unless you live in the “hood” (LOL) of Westwood on Sand Road or in one of the Route 17 houses in Waldwick. (Not an easy thing to do, I did for seven years.)
Agree that Niche is pretty suspect. I have more faith in greatschools and schooldiggwe.
I’m not sure what “good returns” for “upper middle class” people means. Sounds like you are mostly focused on effective tax rates for larger houses? By that metric I imagine Ridgewood and Glen Rock also provide poor returns?
People are willing to pay the higher taxes in Ridgewood and Glen Rock . Houses still sell for a lot in those towns. But people are not willing to pay $820k and 20k taxes for Fair Lawn. That's why many houses bought in fair lawn in that range from years ago are basically selling at a loss today.
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