West Milford - Schools/Commute to Bergen (Passaic, Wayne: crime, houses)

[jgyankee]

My wife and I are thinking of moving from Hoboken (not enough space) to a more rural/outdoors town. We really want to buy a lakefront property for the view and activities and we want to get out of the city. A friend recommended West Milford. We drove up this weekend and saw a few homes that we really liked. It was my first time up there ; I am not familiar with the area. It is obviously very different than Bergen/Hudson where I have lived all my life; we didn't see much commercial activity or any large stores. I was also told that the schools are okay, but not great.

Does anyone have any information on the school district? I saw that it was ranked somewhere in the middle.

Also, we both work in Bergen Cty - Paramus/Hackensack. I figure the commute is about 45-1 hour. Is that about right? I took 4/208 on the way there and then 17 S home. 17 was a longer trip, but I think it will have less traffic. My commute from Hoboken is only 10 miles, but often takes just as long.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[stevemorse]

I see this choice as an affordable choice. I hear the schools in West Milford are suprisingly GOOD! I never expected that but they are I have heard from many people. The commute, is doable. I think if you dont mind driving a little more for some quality things such as gyms, organic stuff, good malls, Lord and Taylor you are in a good spot. I actually did a similiar thing and dont hate it. I do like the lower cost of living and my bank account has gone way up instead of living in Bergen County which I did for all my life. I have managed to deal with the driving and to be honest am getting used to it. I wanted to save more money so I could retire and I have done that in NW NJ!

[joe moving]

Have you looked at Ringwood also? I am still trying to understand these towns honestly.

They seem OK to me, my wife thinks the people are drinking toxic paint sludge thanks to ford in the 60s or whatever and are all "a little weird". I am not sure if West Milford had the same issues.

[jgyankee]

thanks for the reply. I haven't look at Ringwood yet. I was told the Ford issue was in an area of town where nobody lives. You are correct, it is an affordability decision. Basically for our price point, we can either get a tiny 3 bedroom in Bergen in an undesirable location, a small 2 bedroom in Hoboken, or a large house directly on the lake in West Milford.

[stevemorse]

West Milford is not in the toxic paint sludge zone. Some parts of Ringwood may be, however I think Ford cleaned that up. The town with toxic issues is Pompton Lakes. Just note Ringwood taxes are very high so keep that in mind. You know some great towns have been listed and are very drivable to Bergen County area and have great taxes. Examples are Boontown Township, Denville, Rockaway (off route 23) area and Jefferson off Route 23 area. These towns you can have low tax, nice woods, nice home, and be within driving distance to some great things and go back home. I do it everyday!!

Look this is a nice area, it it perfect no, is it affordable yes, does it beat Upstate NY and PA , damn bet!!!!! This is heaven compared to NE PA and Upstate NY!!!

[icibiu]

I just moved from lower Bergen County to Ringwood this November and I LOVE IT!! I work in North Bergen so my commute is much longer than yours would be and it takes me an hour in traffic and 35 minutes during non rush hour times. This morning I had to go to Hackensack Hospital and I was there in 35 minutes (during rush hour).

West Milford is very nice but I would be careful of a couple of things, first, some houses are pretty far from the highway. If you go too far from the highway it can easily add 20 to 30 minutes to your commute. Second, I want to be nice about this...certain areas are...well it's the country, country folk live there. Just be sure that you drive around the immediate neighborhood a lot and notice who your neighbors would be. Usually the amount of junk in the neighbor’s yard will tip you off Lastly keep in mind that these two things will directly effect the price of the home so if you see a house on MLS, that is very cheap it's either very far north or in an iffy section (not dangerous, just...different). Remember West Milford is the largest (area wise) town in NJ. Another thing to keep in mind is that most houses are septic, if you are lucky enough to have sewer your taxes will certainly reflect it.

We chose Ringwood, which is just slightly more expensive but not by much. We got a house across the street from the lake (so no dock but great views!) for under $300K. I wouldn't worry about the Ford paint issue in Ringwood, people do live in that section of town but they are Ramapo (Native American tribe) from what I understand they keep those houses in the family and they do not go on the market. The town is great, very beautiful, lots of family activities, lots of outdoor things to do and the sports are supposed to be very very good (my son is not in school yet) the high school is a regional with Wanaque. The schools are not making the top of the lists but they are not anywhere near the bottom. If you place an emphasis on education in your home your children will excel just fine and they will have less competition for the top spots than they would in one of the top school districts. There are four lakes in Ringwood which you can live on. One is very small and I don't think they have activities, Lake Howell maybe?? The other three are Skylands, Erskine and Cupsaw. They all have swimming, boating, fishing, ice skating and lots of family activities. Of the three Cupsaw is the most desirable followed by Erskine. If you look them up online should be able to access the newsletters which will give you an idea of what kind of activities they host. “Town” is very small but it has everything you would need, supermarket, CVS, Rite Aid, 3 dry cleaners, a 24 hour gym, liquor store, post office, library (new building and a GREAT playground), pizza, sushi, thai, bagels etc. For shopping you can find Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Costco, Garden State Plaza, Willowbrook Mall, Woodbury Commons and plenty of others all 20 to 30 minutes away.
Both towns are so scenic, I haven’t enjoyed the changing of the seasons this much since I was a little kid! Each day I see the subtle changes in the weather and the scenery. Two weeks ago the lake finally froze over enough for the kids to ice skate and I sat at my window for hours watching them. I’m a city girl (grew up in NYC) so all this is new to me. There is a lot of wildlife which is so much fun to watch. I swear I had no idea that there are Blue Jays and Cardinals in NJ and now I see them in front of my windows. There is also a lot of deer, raccoons and bears (haven’t seen one yet). It’s a great place to raise a family J I was amazed at all the activities this winter and one neighbor told me “What no one told you? You moved to Mayberry”.

Your making a great choice! Feel free to DM me if you want to know anything else J

[jgyankee]

Thank you for the information. We will check out Ringwood too. Your information about the commute is very encouraging.

[nemmert]

Anything north of Wayne in Passaic County will give you what you desire though West Milford may be your best opportunity for "lake front" property. You can find some in Pompton Lakes as well but it's more suburban, the Wayne side of the lake is million dollar plus properties.

As for West Milford, there are a few issues up there. In NJ, as parents educations decrease, so does school quality. Essentially, the higher the college educated, white collared worker percentage there is in the community, the better the schools will appear on paper via test scores. West Milford is definitely more blue collar than areas south of it. West Milford is fairly low ranked in terms of NJ schools (but again, with how high NJ is in general, this may not be an issue for you). Also, West Milford is ENORMOUS. If you're worried about your commute time, shop carefully. I know Route 23 weaves in and out and back into West Milford about 6 times. We live in Pompton Lakes and it takes us 45 minutes or so to get to our friends place in West Milford. Lastly, as previously mentioned, West Milford is... diverse. You're going to find shacks... you're going to find rednecks... it is not nearly as polished as the suburban areas to the south.

But hey, if you can live with that, West Milford does provide affordable country living with access to Bergen County and NYC. Good luck in your search!

[mdpesq]

I just did a brief search on the GSMLS, seems like property taxes of Ringwood are almost that of Montclair or Westfield, no?

[icibiu]

True taxes are high, partially because Ringwood is responsible for the Wanaque Reservoir. Mostly because, well this is NJ.

The way I look at it is this: I like NJ, I enjoy living here. I have no desires to move to another state. One of this states biggest problems is the high taxes, I'm pretty much not going to get away from it. Could I afford the same type of house in the most desirable section of Westfield or Montclair, NO WAY. Is crime lower in my town than these other two? Much. Is it more scenic? By far. Is there the same type of tight knit community? I don't know I don't live in the other two but Ringwood sure puts up a good fight. Is it a more "wholesome" type of place to raise a family? IMO, yes.

In short, I feel like house wise I got more value in this town. The municiple services are very good (from what i've seen so far) and while my taxes are high so are almost everyone elses in this state. A house like mine in a desirable section of Montclair would have easily cost $500K probably more, so with taxes included I'm still ahead of the game And commuting wise Route 3 traffic is terrible, it would take me just as long to go a much shorter distance.