What is going on in Fair Lawn? (Paramus, Ridgewood: how much, new house)
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Have you actually been to Fair Lawn and know anyone who lives there? Many Fair Lawn residents are updating their/renovating their homes inside. It is hard to do too much with the outside of the houses since most of them are either brick or siding and can not be easily refreshed without ripping them out. IF more houses had stucco than it can be repainted.
Radburn area practically has vary few cape codes. As is mentioned in the post below, the appeal of Radburn communities is walkability to the parks/pools and elementary school. Although it has been compromised somewhat with the new soft border school selection.
Times are changing there, real quick. It may be the hottest market in Bergen County right now. Honestly, I always thought the town was somewhat underpriced (compared to other Bergen County towns, anyway) considering the quality of town services and schools. (But boy, oh boy, do they need to remodel the library. It looks exactly the same as it did in the 60s when it opened.) Anyway, the secret’s getting out now.
There are plenty of 700K+ houses in the town now. In fact, there are a few going for over a mil in the Radburn and Milnes sections.
so true...the bang for the buck town in Bergen county is no more a secret. one is going to see further surge in price once the school soft border goes away next year, since the 25 million referendum to build additional space was approved a few months back. If there is anything holding back the town, its the temporary soft border policy until 2019 where you are not guaranteed the elementary school even if you are close to one.
so true...the bang for the buck town in Bergen county is no more a secret. one is going to see further surge in price once the school soft border goes away next year, since the 25 million referendum to build additional space was approved a few months back. If there is anything holding back the town, its the temporary soft border policy until 2019 where you are not guaranteed the elementary school even if you are close to one.
I thought the soft border policy was adopted for three years in 2017. So it will be 2020 when it expires. Also, I believe the soft border policy will not be abolished until after the middle school expansion is actually done: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/fair-l...-today-polls-o
Construction has not even started at this point so it will be quite a while.
But there are a number of other factors holding back the town that were discussed in this thread. Those are ugly downtown areas on River Road, Broadway and Radburn, rows and rows of GI Bill Cape cods in some parts of town and lack of trees.
I thought the soft border policy was adopted for three years in 2017. So it will be 2020 when it expires. Also, I believe the soft border policy will not be abolished until after the middle school expansion is actually done: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/fair-l...-today-polls-o
Construction has not even started at this point so it will be quite a while.
But there are a number of other factors holding back the town that were discussed in this thread. Those are ugly downtown areas on River Road, Broadway and Radburn, rows and rows of GI Bill Cape cods in some parts of town and lack of trees.
yep you summed it up well. and another thing to keep in mind, as more families move in and older people move out, that becomes a bigger burden on the already overcrowded schools. i doubt the soft borders will ever go away. and expect taxes to keep on going on.
zhelder, you are WRONG! they used to build a lot more 700k and up houses but now they slowed down A LOT and you will find few new builds of it. The taxes have gone up, and the schools are having an overcrowding issue and are not doing as well as in the past. There are no houses going for over a million in Radburn and Milnes. go look at njmls.com and search for what's on sale, under contract, and what is sold. You are living in some type of fake bubble. Plus the commercial areas of fair lawn are in horrible shape and they have done zero improvements in improving the appearance of the town. That's why more are looking at other towns like Paramus and River Edge instead of Fair lawn.
There are totally run down split levels going for 600k+ in Milnes right now. Our friends were looking for 3 months with a 700k budget. They were outbid 3 times. Every house in decent condition has an insane bidding war over it. Even in 2016 when we bought in Milnes we ended up in a bidding war on the first day the house hit the market. We paid 20k over asking and I think our house could sell for 50-100k more this year then it did then. The schools are not declining. In fact per niche.com, the ratings keep going up. The Russian Jewish community is huge in Fair Lawn. Tons of activities and support for working families. I'm sure the commercial areas are in horrible condition but that's not stopping anyone. Paramus schools are not well rated. We liked River Edge but it didn't have a huge Jewish community and not a lot of help for working parents. I guarantee you Fair Lawn market will keep rising as demand is there but supply is very scarce.
Fair Lawn is a nice town, but its not on the upswing. It's better than Saddle Brook and Elmwood Park....actually much better but has declined in comparison to neighboring towns like Paramus and River Edge. They used to build and sell more expensive homes in Fair Lawn but that has declined a lot and usually homes at the 700k and up range stay on the market for awhile and keep on getting price decreases....and houses that were bought for that amount years ago have to sell at a loss because of the spike on taxes. The problem in fair lawn is that the housing stock isn't that good, and many people keep them in poor shape and there are almost no trees...its just looks more run down in comparison to other towns. River Edge , while also has high taxes, is nicer looking and taken the time to do more town planning with tree plantings and so on. Also the housing stock in River Edge is nicer and they are still building more expensive homes...not as much as they used to, but that's because of the taxes...and because developers are just building more in Paramus instead, again because of the taxes. The commercial strip in River Edge does need work , but the ones in fair lawn will be harder to recover. The area by the train station in River Edge has redeveloped nicely and I assume soon will be done with the rest of the commercial spaces. Families are moving to fair lawn for their more affordable houses and good schools, but I wouldn't say the town is on an upswing....just people are retiring and the houses are cheap for what parents will get.
Those homes that stay on the market at 700k are probably flawed and hence are not worth the $. A couple we know looked at every house on the market in Fair Lawn for months. The few that sit on the market for months were the ones in flood zones, missing basements or flipped quickly and cheaply. None of the houses at 700k that actually fit their description stayed on the market.
show me the addresses of these so called run down spilt levels going for 600k+. you can search for them on njmls.com under sold. fair lawn is not a bad town, but its not rising in INCREASED value. And Paramus Schools are higher than Fair Lawn. Look at the direction Paramus is heading, the prices are increasing and increasing. You have homes being sold in Paramus at 1.4 million. I'm not saying Fair Lawn is bad, but at a certain price point....homes in fair lawn have a harder time selling. Fair Lawn can easily correct itself by improving its commercial areas, planting more trees, and giving people a chance to breathe with its taxes
There are totally run down split levels going for 600k+ in Milnes right now. Our friends were looking for 3 months with a 700k budget. They were outbid 3 times. Every house in decent condition has an insane bidding war over it. Even in 2016 when we bought in Milnes we ended up in a bidding war on the first day the house hit the market. We paid 20k over asking and I think our house could sell for 50-100k more this year then it did then. The schools are not declining. In fact per niche.com, the ratings keep going up. The Russian Jewish community is huge in Fair Lawn. Tons of activities and support for working families. I'm sure the commercial areas are in horrible condition but that's not stopping anyone. Paramus schools are not well rated. We liked River Edge but it didn't have a huge Jewish community and not a lot of help for working parents. I guarantee you Fair Lawn market will keep rising as demand is there but supply is very scarce.
Well you know, there is another half of Fair Lawn across the tracks. It is not populated by aliens or criminals and it shares the same school district as Milnes and Radburn and does not have overcrowded schools. It is possible to walk to the train in parts of this other half of Fair Lawn and it is close to the shopping area of River Road. But I am sure it is beneath your friends and you who would rather play bidding wars...
biohazard,
Fair Lawn can easily correct itself by improving its commercial areas, planting more trees, and giving people a chance to breathe with its taxes
None of what you listed is that easy. They tried planting trees on River Road and half of them died. I read somewhere that the trees roots do not have access to decent soil underground. Both River Road and Broadway get too much traffic to make them easily walkable. And of course all streets have disgusting, crumbling overhead electric lines that are very expensive to bury underground. And the Borough Government seems to be a bit reluctant to enforce design guidelines, encourage businesses to plant trees, etc. There is some improvement on River Road but not too much. There are however plenty of studies
Overall though, even though commercial areas are really ugly, there are plenty of stores, cafes, some restaurants still available in town. Most businesses are busy, especially the hair salons and dry cleaners
The taxes have been stable for a while until FL residents voted to tax themselves more to expand middle schools
show me the addresses of these so called run down spilt levels going for 600k+. you can search for them on njmls.com under sold. fair lawn is not a bad town, but its not rising in INCREASED value. And Paramus Schools are higher than Fair Lawn. Look at the direction Paramus is heading, the prices are increasing and increasing. You have homes being sold in Paramus at 1.4 million. I'm not saying Fair Lawn is bad, but at a certain price point....homes in fair lawn have a harder time selling. Fair Lawn can easily correct itself by improving its commercial areas, planting more trees, and giving people a chance to breathe with its taxes
I have heard people say that Paramus has better schools than Fair Lawn but I haven’t seen any support for the proposition. The various ratings websites seem to rank fair lawn higher than Paramus, and even if yoi’re Just focused on something like SAT scores, fair lawn has meaningfully higher scores.
That said, housing stock and taxes are far better in Paramus — no question about that. If I had more confidence in the schools in Paramus I would strongly consider moving there just so we could get a halfway decent 4 bedroom with reasonable taxes, which is exceedingly difficult to find in fair lawn.
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