Fair Lawn or West Orange? (Paterson, Montclair: insurance, low crime, big house) - City-Data Forum

forumadvise · 03-28-2010, 09:09 AM

We have been looking to buy a house for nearly 8 months. We have narrowed it down to the Radburn section of Fair Lawn and the Upper Gregory section of West Orange. We both need to get to the city for work so commuting time is a concern. We also want to live close to a park and for that Fair Lawn seems to win over WO. We like the charm of the homes in WO and the amount of green space around the town (although we won't be able to afford a country club membership). I have been reading posts and it seems like Fair Lawn has a better school system and is safer. We like the amount of space the house in WO affords and the up in the air view since it is on a hill. Fair Lawn is full of cape cods that are cute but small and the town just seems blah to me (minus the park). We plan to live in the house for at least 5 years and do not have children but probably will soon and are concerned about being able to sell the property down the road. Any comments and/or advise would be greatly appreciated. We have to make an offer very soon and need all the information we can get. Thanks!

joe moving · 03-28-2010, 10:08 AM

What is your price range. Have you looked at midland park?

ironically and i hate to say it we do not have a lot of PARKS in town itself (what sort of park are you thinking?) but we have very easy access to many parks around bergen county.

I do not know West Orange, but I know Fair Lawn, and prefer Midland Park to Fair Lawn. I am not sure your money goes as far here, but I think it's a bit nicer town.

elflord1973 · 03-28-2010, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forumadvise

We have been looking to buy a house for nearly 8 months. We have narrowed it down to the Radburn section of Fair Lawn and the Upper Gregory section of West Orange. We both need to get to the city for work so commuting time is a concern. We also want to live close to a park and for that Fair Lawn seems to win over WO. We like the charm of the homes in WO and the amount of green space around the town (although we won't be able to afford a country club membership). I have been reading posts and it seems like Fair Lawn has a better school system and is safer. We like the amount of space the house in WO affords and the up in the air view since it is on a hill. Fair Lawn is full of cape cods that are cute but small and the town just seems blah to me (minus the park). We plan to live in the house for at least 5 years and do not have children but probably will soon and are concerned about being able to sell the property down the road. Any comments and/or advise would be greatly appreciated. We have to make an offer very soon and need all the information we can get. Thanks!

I came very close to buying in upper gregory recently. If I were buying in NJ on a budget of around 400 or so, I would still pick WO. If I had 500 or more to play with, I'd look into South Orange or Montclair instead.

The Gregory Elementary school has a good reputation, and there are some strong Catholic schools nearby that have good academic programs at a reasonable price.

As far as being able to sell down the road is concerned -- one of the good things about West Orange is that prices have already corrected, and places that are priced right do sell there, especially in Upper Gregory.

West Orange overall has relatively low crime, and upper Gregory is one of the better areas of WO.

Get a good inspector ! We got Accurate inspections, and they spotted some serious problems (in a house that otherwise looked drop dead gorgeous). That water flowing down the Watchung slope can cause problems if the flow is not directed away from the house.

Property taxes in West Orange are steep. In my opinion, this is the biggest drawback. Make sure you take that into account when you budget. Each 1000 a year increase in property taxes reduces your buying power by about 20,000.

Good luck!

forumadvise · 03-28-2010, 12:51 PM

The park that I am referring to is Saddle River County Park and our price range is low to mid 400's at a max.

forumadvise · 03-28-2010, 12:52 PM

Where did you end up purchasing your home?

nykstevenyg · 03-28-2010, 02:33 PM

I live in both towns, Fair Lawn more but I can give you the pros and cons of both. Fair Lawn is a good town, I went to school there it is safe and solid. What I do not like about Fair Lawn is that it is very overpriced. Most houses look the same and they are relatively small. Radburn has two sections, the old Radburn part gets access to the pool and tennis courts new radburn does not. Radburn is overrated and I generally do not like the people there. Fair Lawn also has a very high russian population I think it has leveled off with the decreasing immigration into the country. The plus sides are great location, train to nyc, safety (Being near Paterson causes only very minor problems cops do a great job of keeping the paterson elements and problems out of Fair Lawn). Taxes are reasonable for Bergen County. I do not know if I would settle in Fair Lawn when I am looking to live on my own but it is a good town overall.

Schools are rated very highly as well, I went to school there from 1994-2007. Obviously I had some horrible teachers but the schools are good. They are safe, college rate is high, I had over a 3.0 GPA and I was just in the middle of the class academically. It terms of making an investment in Fair Lawn I would say it is a very low risk.

nykstevenyg · 03-28-2010, 02:49 PM

As for West Orange, I like West Orange a lot and personally prefer it to Fair Lawn. WO has a lot of green space and a great selection of homes and different sections of town. Unlike Fair Lawn, West Orange has much more wealthy people but also poorer people in the valley section. As long as you are Gregory and up the valley is like its own town except for having one high school it is not really part of West Orange if you are Gregory and up, thats where "Up The Hill" and "Down the Hill" come from, forgetting Llewyn Park which is in the valley and is one of the richest areas in the state.

West Orange is diverse but different then Montclair, Maplewood and South Orange. It is not just white and black its diverse across the board. Also the town is much safer then those three. Outside the valley section West Orange is just as safe as Livingston, Roseland, Verona. West Orange as a whole is a nicer town than Fair Lawn. The only issues people bring up with West Orange are the taxes and schools. Taxes are high but it has affected property value so it almost evens out. You get a lot of services for the taxes and taxes have gone up significantly recently for a reason from what I have heard. The schools are not what they were 20, 30 years ago but they have already hit "Rock Bottom" and are on the upswing. The just enlarged the high school and built a new middle school. College rate is very high there and the schools are improving and even at rock bottom they were still pretty good. I personally would choose upper gregory in West Orange over Radburn in Fair Lawn, hands down. It is a very good investment, besides Orange it is surrounded by very desirable towns in a great location.

bagelland · 03-28-2010, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forumadvise

The park that I am referring to is Saddle River County Park and our price range is low to mid 400's at a max.

That would be along Saddle River Road. The most desireable part of Fair Lawn with big houses. Not many capes there. Nothing there for $400,000 & they attend Milnes.

There are plenty of rich people in Fair Lawn. That's why there are 23 banks in the town. More banks than there are in Ridgewood.

nykstevenyg · 03-29-2010, 01:52 AM

The Saddle River floods and some houses in that section require flood insurance.

AnesthesiaMD · 03-29-2010, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nykstevenyg

West Orange is diverse but different then Montclair, Maplewood and South Orange. It is not just white and black its diverse across the board. Also the town is much safer then those three. Outside the valley section West Orange is just as safe as Livingston, Roseland, Verona. West Orange as a whole is a nicer town than Fair Lawn. The only issues people bring up with West Orange are the taxes and schools. Taxes are high but it has affected property value so it almost evens out. You get a lot of services for the taxes and taxes have gone up significantly recently for a reason from what I have heard. The schools are not what they were 20, 30 years ago but they have already hit "Rock Bottom" and are on the upswing. The just enlarged the high school and built a new middle school. College rate is very high there and the schools are improving and even at rock bottom they were still pretty good. I personally would choose upper gregory in West Orange over Radburn in Fair Lawn, hands down. It is a very good investment, besides Orange it is surrounded by very desirable towns in a great location.

Overall, a good description. Just a couple of things though. Montclair is extremely diverse, and not just black and white.

The other thing is safety. I think you just need to qualify the statement a little. "Up the hill" may be just as safe as the surrounding suburbs, but down the hill it gets more dangerous, especially the closer you get to the orange/east orange border. Overall, West Orange has quite a bit more crime than Livingston or Verona, and a whopping 3.5X the crime rate of Roelsand, according to NJ.com, but I would imagine it is mostly confined to the valley though.