Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hello
My husband and I found a great home that is below our budget (which is $350k) but hits fairly high on what we wanted for taxes. We are fairly confident that we can get this home for low $300s based on comps but frankly aren't familiar with the area. We had been looking in Maywood because of the small-town feel, great schools and fairly low taxes (for Bergen) but the houses are considerably older and structurally aren't what we like. It's lots of capes, a few old colonials here and there. The house we've found is a beautiful front to back split level.
Anyway it feels like Bergenfield used to have a downtown with shops and restaurants but driving through the downtown (S. Washington Ave, I believe) it seems a bit run down and a lot of the signs were in another language. There was a check cashing place, no well known gyms or anything. Aesthetically I believe it's different from what we had our hopes in for Maywood. I want to ignore it because it truly is a beautiful house but I don't want to take a hit on home prices if the area itself isn't where families want to be.
Is this an area that is in decline? We plan on making renovations but we want to be able to sell later.
Any reasons we should stay away from Bergenfield? Taxes are higher but I was under the impression that the home prices were lower due to this.
Our home search requirements have been
Single Family
$350K budget
approx $9500 in taxes
approx $200/mo in commuting costs via NJT, 1 hour or less train ride into NYC
Clean, safe town, preferably close to shopping
The town actually is on a long slow upswing. The downtown (essentially Washington avenue) and a lot of the housing stock used to be substantially more run-down and has been either fixed up or replaced in a big way over the last couple decades. I grew up a town over and used to bike/drive over fairly frequently for cheap food/recreation and shopping -- sadly as things cleaned up a lot of those destinations closed down, but that's [relatively] ancient history at this point. If the non-English signage bothers you do be aware that the town has been getting more diverse and will likely get even more so, but that's who has been bringing all the new money in too, goes hand-in-hand.
Bergenfield schools aren't the greatest, but are decent enough and hard to significantly beat for the budget in the area. Funny enough it's a huge step up over Maywood which sends highschool kids to Hackensack.
It's a pretty good choice for the budget all considered, in my opinion.
Last edited by ALackOfCreativity; 01-04-2015 at 04:35 PM..
Haha, I wonder if it's the same house I was just looking at! I'm another person in a young married couple who also really like Maywood with a similar house price range, but haven't loved any of the houses for sale over the past season - and just noticed a cute, affordable house listed in Bergenfield... It's hard to top the cute downtown in Maywood, but Bergenfield is at least still a reasonably close commute, and not too far from all the stores in Paramus. I think some parts of Bergenfield may be in flood zones, so you would want to watch out for that, but that's true of almost all the towns in Bergen.
My understanding is that the Bergenfield schools are not super-great, but are decent. I know Maywood sends high school students to Hackensack, but the elementary and middle schools are good, so if you're like me and don't have kids quite yet, Maywood is still appealing because high school is awfully far away.
Sorry I can't offer any more helpful advice, because I'm really at the same step in the process as you, it sounds like. (We're first-time homebuyers just moving out of NYC). Good luck!!
Haha, I wonder if it's the same house I was just looking at! I'm another person in a young married couple who also really like Maywood with a similar house price range, but haven't loved any of the houses for sale over the past season - and just noticed a cute, affordable house listed in Bergenfield... It's hard to top the cute downtown in Maywood, but Bergenfield is at least still a reasonably close commute, and not too far from all the stores in Paramus. I think some parts of Bergenfield may be in flood zones, so you would want to watch out for that, but that's true of almost all the towns in Bergen.
My understanding is that the Bergenfield schools are not super-great, but are decent. I know Maywood sends high school students to Hackensack, but the elementary and middle schools are good, so if you're like me and don't have kids quite yet, Maywood is still appealing because high school is awfully far away.
Sorry I can't offer any more helpful advice, because I'm really at the same step in the process as you, it sounds like. (We're first-time homebuyers just moving out of NYC). Good luck!!
Thanks. I've decided to move on from Bergenfield, I think. The schools aren't terrible, but I haven't seen any plans for redevelopment (bringing in more business or upgrading schools) in the local news. We want to be somewhere that feels suburban, not just looks suburban and Bergenfield isn't cutting it for me.
I also asked on another forum and got replies that it was congested with no real nice areas to walk through and shop. H and I drove through the neighborhood after a second look and felt the exact same. The taxes are too high, in my humble opinion, for it to look the way it does.
you don't have to worry about any part of Bergen County Declining. With NYC growing so fast and remaining as an alpha world class city, Bergen is essentially a borough of manhattan just as much as queens is. Bergen will only grow from here, become more populated and more expensive. so if you can buy a house now in a not-so-great neighborhood, best believe the prices will rise in the future. You're too close to manhattan for them not to.
Bergenfield is a decent town in a great location near Paramus, Hackensack, RT 4/17 and close to New York. Schools are OK, town is diverse (home to many Filipinos, Latinos & Orthodox Jews), downtown is OK (I like their International Buffet & Farmers market). Taxes are high like rest of Bergen County/North NJ.
Bergenfield used to be a wonderful little town with a vibrant main street and excellent schools. Their high school band and orchestra were the envy of local high schools -- and you had to be excellent to get into their "A" level bands. My brother had a house in Bergenfield for about 20 years, but moved out about 15-20 years ago because the town had become run-down and there was a lot more crime. And he griped about the lack of snow removal and the giant potholes. FWIW, if anyone else is reading this thread. It may be on the upswing, but from what I've heard, it is nowhere near what it once was.
Bergenfield used to be a wonderful little town with a vibrant main street and excellent schools. Their high school band and orchestra were the envy of local high schools -- and you had to be excellent to get into their "A" level bands. My brother had a house in Bergenfield for about 20 years, but moved out about 15-20 years ago because the town had become run-down and there was a lot more crime. And he griped about the lack of snow removal and the giant potholes. FWIW, if anyone else is reading this thread. It may be on the upswing, but from what I've heard, it is nowhere near what it once was.
That's funny, because Bergenfield was considered the safest city in America with a population over 25,000 in 2012.
[b]
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
and was second safest in 2013 and 2014:
[b]
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
A town declines depending on the demographics. So if young married couples start moving in, and have middle class or higher incomes, then the towns is improving.
A town declines depending on the demographics. So if young married couples start moving in, and have middle class or higher incomes, then the towns is improving.
While I understand that this is true, I don't want to be the only young married couple to be there. I feel as though the town is missing the modern suburban feel that young married couples/families are looking for. To describe what I mean by modern suburban, look at towns like Wood Ridge and Maywood, tons of young families, new business nearby to attract them. The highlight of Bergenfield is South Washington Ave, home to a check cashing, cash for gold and liquid store sprinkled with various tiny restaurants and Tommy Fox's... I just don't get the appeal of the area when the taxes are so high.
That said, you do get a lot more house for the money. I'm just worried that with no development plans on the horizon to attract families, Bergenfield is going to be stagnant in home prices.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's hard to top the cute downtown in Maywood, but Bergenfield is at least still a reasonably close commute, and not too far from all the stores in Paramus. I think some parts of Bergenfield may be in flood zones, so you would want to watch out for that, but that's true of almost all the towns in Bergen.
