Alpine or Weehawken ??? (Palisades Park: buying, colleges, disposal)

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

Well Alpine is full of rich snobs, and Weehawken is full of minorities

You DO know alpine is almost 20% Asian, right?

[mikepeterson1984]

Yes I do, LOL......
thanks for the Input...

[gradstudent77]

I grew up in North Bergen, a town similar to weehawken, and live in Alpine now.

I had a great childhood growing up in North Hudson, and I did not live in a tower on the waterfront or a mansion on blvd east. I think you should go with the house in Alpine, though, because of the peers your children will have. If I had grown up here, I find it difficult to imagine that I would have gone to a lower than top 20 undergrad and a lower than top 10 law school, because I almost did both without the benefit of being raised in this environment. Of course, you are obviously quite successful and your children will likely pick up good habits from you, regardless of where you live.

Alpine wins on taxes, obviously, and bear in mind they will likely not be increasing dramatically in the future. As I am sure you are aware, we keep a lid on government services to achieve such a low tax rate- snow plows take a while to get to the small side streets, mail is not delivered to your home but to your po box, and we do not have many parks in town. The current municipal government seems intent on keeping taxes low. It is troubling to hear how much others around the state are paying in taxes each year. An old friend's parents pay $10k/year for a two-family on a 25'x100' in WNY; my parents pay $8k for a half acre here(yes, only half an acre, we are poor folk in Alpine terms). West New York borders Weehawken and just increased property taxes 27% for all homeowners. I think Hoboken had a similar (larger??) increase recently. The tax thing ends up baked into Alpine prices, usually, though.

Finally, I would like to commend you on keeping an open mind about different areas. I am seriously rolling my eyes at the people who consider this to be an obvious choice. If I had the money, I would live in nyc and just send my children to exeter.

On edit: Which neighborhood/street are you looking at?

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by JG183

there's Weehawken east of Blvd. East, and there's Weehawken west of Blvd. East...

he's talking about the former, which I would say is the better choice than Alpine.

a 10 minute commute from Alpine ? don't count on it -- 9W is a one lane road, and one mishap on the GWB = 1 hour commute.

if you use the ferrry out of Port Imperiale, you're golden...

9W moves really well in the morning, and a jam on the bridge means its time to drive down to the ferry.

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by STrapani1105

people may laugh at your despute between Alpine and Weehawken. as tahiti said its like chosing between Beverly Hills and Compton, and she's right. Weehawken isn't the nicest place around, and Alpine is insanely nice. Your kids will be safer in Alpine, but I'm a kid (17), and I live in a town similar to Alpine, although not quite as wealthy and more populated, and I'm dying here. your kids will be bored. sure, they'll live in a nice safe community. but kids, especially teenagers, they like something more like Weehawken. it's for you to decide though, I was just putting those facts out there. if you want the honest and smart decision, I would go with Alpine. you probably won't regret it.

If you live in a town similar to Alpine and are 17, how in the world are you bored?!?!?! 17 means you are driving and there are all those hot rich girls that are still stuck in your ho-hum suburban town before they head off to college. The entire year I spent being 17 was absolutely ridiculous when it came to fun- it was when I was old enough to party all the time without my parents bitching at me, yet too young to start trading equities, and otherwise worry about my net worth. 17 was probably the least boring year of my life.

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by openheads

If you think Weehawken is equivalent to Compton, you need to get out of the house more. Is it anywhere near as nice as Alpine, not a chance. But lets keep things in perspective here. Compton it is not.

It depends on how one defines "nice". Weehawken has more soul.

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by NJ Chutzpah

Funny, I went to play a game an organized youth basketball in alpine against their local team, and those kids were so obnoxious

They thought they were tough stuff, but guarantee you go tell them to play against kids from weehawken they would wet their diapers

They only act tough around other rich kids

I think I played football against schools like weehawken before I transferred to tenafly high. I did not wet my diaper.

[mikepeterson1984]

Thanks for your Input GRADSTUDENT77

As for Weehawken you are right is only a 4 min commute to NY by bus..
But like you said you get a better value for your money in Alpine and taxes are way cheaper.....
The area I'm Looking is on Rio Vista, Alpine.

as for West new York, You are right the taxes just went up 27%....
I have a friend who will be paying $13,000 a year in taxes for a 2 bedroom condo, the value of his condo is not even $400,000...
Everyone is selling their houses there...

BUT YES Alpine, is so far winning.....

[jojo7]

Originally Posted by mikepeterson1984

Hi to all,

I have the Opportunity to buy a Property in either town.
Alpine or Weehawken.

My wife and I work in the City, and we want to have kids,


1.Which city do you think is better to raise kids????

2. The taxes are lower in Alpine then Weehawken, and we getter more for our value in Alpine.

3. Of course the only good thing about Weehawken, is that we are a bit closer to the city then Alpine, but the commute from Alpine is only 10 mins longer.

4. Do you know the Crime rate for each city, ( robbery, Car Stolen ) ???

The Property in Alpine is about $3 million, and the Property in Weehawken is about $2.7 million,

P.S. the Property in WEEHAWKEN is on Kingswood Road, which is overlooking the Hudson River, and the Most Luxurious Street on Weehawken....


SO Please give me your serious input which will you choose????

thank you so much

If you plan on having a family and schools are a consideration, I would take a ride and look at the schools before you make your decision. My husband and I grew up in neighboring towns 35+ years ago and although Weehawken always maintained it's historic beauty, especially along Boulevard East, I personally wouldn't want to raise a family there. If there were no children in my future, I might feel differently and would enjoy living in an area of Weehawken since I do like the city life. With taxes as high as they are in either of these towns, I would want my kids to get the best education since my hard earned tax dollar is paying for every penny of it.

[minibrings]

In addition to double the tax, with Weehawken you will need to fork money down for private school. With Alpine you have easy access to Tallman State Park, Piermont, Nyack. Strawberry Place in Nyack is my favorite breakfast place. You are still close enough to the city that if you want a city weekend, the money you are saving in taxes and private school you can stay at a nice hotel in Manhattan on occasional weekends. Finally, if you want to take the train to the city follow Closter Dock road west, it becomes Old Hook Road and into Westwood where there is a train station (and a Trader Joe's close by)... Alpine wins.