Why is Fair Lawn houses so cheap? (Paterson, Passaic: for sale, apartment complex)

[newdude05]

By comparison, similar houses in fair view are at least 150-200k cheaper than the neighboring areas. From my understanding it is a safe area with decent schools and pretty good commute too.

So what's the catch? why is it priced much lower than the neighboring areas.

[Goldendoodle1969]

Originally Posted by newdude05

By comparison, similar houses in fair view are at least 150-200k cheaper than the neighboring areas. From my understanding it is a safe area with decent schools and pretty good commute too.

So what's the catch? why is it priced much lower than the neighboring areas.

Small, old houses with small lots. "Downtown"(if you can really call it that) is pretty ugly. Those are the main drivers for the "discount". Schools are good but not in the elite of Bergen County. Borders Paterson, although it would be a giant stretch to say that safety was an issue anywhere in Fair Lawn, including the Paterson border.

Overall great town with lots of value for your housing dollar, just short on Panache.

[DefiantNJ]

In addition, high taxes on even the smallest lots & houses. Anywhere between $8k and $16K depending on the size of the house & lot.

[rural_urban]

I think a lot of it has to do with location. Houses in Radburn and Milnes sections of town seem to have a lot more demand and therefore tend to go for more money than other sections of town. (In case you are wondering, these neighborhoods are north and east of Route 208).

Here are some other theories I have that were not yet mentioned here:
Flooding: Many homes in the area (especially going toward the Passaic River) have had major issues with flooding over the past few years
The stock: Many of the homes look exactly the same. A lot of homes in Fair Lawn are cape cods so if a buyer is looking for a cape cod in Fair Lawn, there are plenty to choose from which could drive down the price (maybe not $150k but I'm sure there's some effect)
TLC: It seems most of the homes for sale in Fair Lawn are always in need of some TLC. From my experience perusing through house listings in Fair Lawn I find that very few are move-in ready (especially among the homes priced under $400k).

[Mightyqueen801]

Fair Lawn is one of those towns that still had farms up until WWII and then after WWII was rapidly developed to usher in the era of returning soldiers marrying, buying houses, cars, and that new thing called a television. They built all those little capes, some of which have been improved, but they are mostly on small lots.

For three years in the Eighties, I lived in an apartment complex called Knollcroft Gardens off of Berdan Avenue, which we fondly called Cockroach City. They were built in 1947, also as part of the post-war building boom. There was a woman living there who had been one of the first to move in. She was a Frenchwoman who had married an American soldier. They had a daughter, and he died young and she continued to live in her apartment and had raised their daughter there. The apartments were tiny rooms with the original stove in the kitchen that you had to light with a match. Once I took a broom and pulled out whatever was behind the stove, and I came up with (this is for people of a certain age...) a milk-bottle top, the kind made of paper pleated around the edges. It had the name of a dairy on it with a Fair Lawn address. I don't know how long ago there had been a dairy in Fair Lawn, but someone living there had gotten milk from there once.

Anyway, I think they renovated Knollcroft Gardens now. It might even be condos. Hope they got rid of the roaches.

But that's part of why Fair Lawn is less expensive than some of the surrounding areas. It was built up as an affordable neighborhood when that part of Bergen County was still in the process of developing out of farmland and at a time when smaller houses and yards were satisfactory to the average American family. Radburn is a separate story.