Fort Lee: Too Good To Be True? (Ridgewood, Tenafly: apartments, condo)

[hitmantb]

I been looking for a safe, clean family neighborhood with good public schools and decent commute to NYC for a while. While I understand Fort Lee schools are not as good as say, Tenafly/Ridgewood, vs New York City outer boroughs they are already a HUGE upgrade (9, 7, 7 for elementary, middle and high schools, and the schools themselves look amazing compared to the third world crap built in NYC).

Fort Lee Public SD - NJ - Home

I was looking for something with a high walk score (walkscore.com) as our family doesn't have a car yet, so 2000 Linwood Avenue (Mediterranean South) and 2077 Center Avenue (Pembroke) had the best locations. I saw a listing on the 9th floor of Pembroke, a 1500 square feet (see floor plan) 2BR 2Bath for 220K, that can be easily converted into a 3BR.

http://pembrokefortlee.com/img/aptj.jpg

Now I don't care if it requires another 50K's worth of work, isn't this way too good to be true? My 900 sqft junior four coop in a no-frills doorman building of Kensington Brooklyn, zip code 11218 with less than half the average income of Fort Lee (36K vs 86K according to city-data) is worth more than that.

I am getting almost twice the space, superior schools, classier neighborhood (I visited Fort Lee before, I could easily tell the income difference, I will never see a Starbucks or Borders in my current zip code), better walkability, similar commute for less . . . What am I missing? Sure the maintenance is around $1 per square feet compared to $0.83 per square for my building, but it also comes with gym, swimming pool, and a much nicer looking building.

http://www.realtorkaili.com/01%20For...BD07%20002.gif (Does the building really look like that? It just looks too good for that price range)

And it is not just this one listing. I saw many 2BR 2BA's around 1200-1300 square feet in mid 200's too. Why so cheap compared to the average income of the area? It is just too good to be true when one neighborhood has more than 2x the average income of another, yet its housing costs half as much. I was looking in Forest Hills Queens before, and apartments there look so old and crappy compared to Fort Lee and cost twice as much. I will admit Forest Hills has a better commute to Midtown East where I am working now, but other than that everything about Fort Lee is superior.

[mikeybobikey]

not too good to be true...the commute from fort lee kind of stinks...but to buy a condo here it is definitely on the cheap side considering! it's really nice here..extremely safe, etc...The ONLY reason I am leaving Fort Lee is because from where I am it takes about 2 hours to get into Midtown Manhattan and thats wayyy too long for me!

[hitmantb]

Wow, can you explain? I did a google map and hopstop checks, it says 1 hour or so from areas near main street to Midtown east . . .

[gradstudent77]

Originally Posted by hitmantb

Wow, can you explain? I did a google map and hopstop checks, it says 1 hour or so from areas near main street to Midtown east . . .

He might be driving. Your commute numbers are more accurate for public transit and Fort Lee is my top town for a young family.

[gagaliya]

1) you cannot compare forest hills queens to fort lee, it's in 2 different category. Forest hills (71st continental ave) is one of the best long established residential areas. It's much more upscale than fort lee. Yes there are many older buildings from the 1950s but they are well managed, and also many nice high-rises. If you want luxury coop, checkout kennedy house, the forest hills, the continental, etc. Also fort lee has NO transportation except buses, forest hills you have many subways including express E to the city. The neighborhood and quality of life is no comparison.

2) fort lee coop you mentioned is soso value, I looked at your building, yes price is cheap 1br asking 120k, but did you look at the coop monthly fee? it's $950 for a 1br!! what a bad joke.