Apartments near Paramus/Ridgewood? (Hackensack, Fair Lawn: for rent, condos, month-to-month)

[dirimini]

Thanks for all that additional information, icibiu. I will definitely start Googling/Craig's Listing some of those locations.

I wouldn't consider a roommate - been there, done that, too old and set in my ways now. Well, not ancient, but not a twenty/thirty-something either.

I think Union City is a bit too urban for me at this point of my life; I've lived all over Brooklyn and Manhattan (including alphabet city in the 80s, when it was a heroin supermarket), and my current NYC nabe is pretty hectic, so I'm no stranger to this. However, I'm trying to get rid of as much of that stuff - the noise, the grit, the stress - as possible. And if it's not possible - if I'm jumping from the frying pan into the fire - I think I'd rather either a) take the financial hit and commute (meaning I don't have to pack, move, find a subtenant, be a "landlord," and can stay in my very comfortable, large apartment), or b) take NJ transit, and accept the 1.25-1.5 hour commute.

We'll see. Of course, I haven't even accepted the job yet....

[zhelder]

Originally Posted by dirimini

Thanks very much - this is good to know.
Since originally posting, I've done some searching here on the fora and come up with a list of cities that might fit the bill:

Bergenfield
Dumont
Elmwood Park
Fair Lawn
Hawthorne
Lincoln Park
Little Falls
Mahwah
Maywood
Maywood
Midland Park
Oakland
Oradell
Rochelle Park
Rockaway
Teaneck
Westwood
White Meadow Lake
Woodland Park

Thanks again, in advance, for any input.

You have some very tough criteria, OP, and your options in that price range are going to be very limited, especially close to Paramus/Ridgewood. (Those two towns are definitely out in your price range.) Let's go through the towns you mentioned and assess the possibilities of finding a $900 a month apartment:


Bergenfield - Very unlikely.
Dumont - Very unlikely.
Elmwood Park - Small possibility. It will be very no frills though.
Fair Lawn - Very unlikely. Maybe a very old studio or a very tiny apartment above one of the older stores in town.
Hawthorne - Very small possibility. Maybe a studio or very small 1BR.
Lincoln Park - Unlikely. Pretty far from Ridgewood/Paramus too.
Little Falls - Small possibility.
Mahwah - Not a chance.
Maywood - Unlikely.
Midland Park - Not a chance. Limited apartments in the town.
Oakland - Ditto.
Oradell - You have a better chance of being elected POTUS tomorrow.
Rochelle Park - Unlikely. Perhaps a small chance.
Rockaway - Unlikely. Also quite far from Ridgewood/Paramus.
Teaneck - Very unlikely.
Westwood - Not a chance.
White Meadow Lake - Sorry, OP, I'm not sure where this is.
Woodland Park - Small possibility.


If you could bump that budget up to $1000 per month, some more options might open up for you. Good luck!

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by dirimini

This depresses me:

Studio Apt includes HEAT, HOT WATER, & GAS! (http://newjersey.craigslist.org/apa/1831782892.html - broken link)

A bare-bones STUDIO apartment with a kitchen from the 1980s for $1150/month??!

Is it really this expensive around the Paramus/Ridgewood area? Maybe time to head over to Hackensack...

I'm surprised you found something that cheap! YES, it really is that expensive around the Paramus/Ridgewood area. Ridgewood is one of the most-desirable towns in Bergen County, and Bergen County overall is an expensive place to live.

I'm a little amazed that someone who lives in New York City, where rents are astronomical, imagined that he could get a $900 apartment in north Jersey.

[Mightyqueen801]

(including alphabet city in the 80s, when it was a heroin supermarket),

Reminded me of a coworker who used to stay in the city at her boyfriend's apt in Alphabet City on the nights she moonlighted bartending. She said there was an ice-cream truck parked on the block--in the dead of winter--and everyone would be running up to it all night long.

Not sure where you are in the city, but is there any possibility of commuting out by train? Almost every train on the Bergen/Main NJ Transit line stops in Ridgewood. You would either take PATH to Hoboken and catch it there or leave Penn NY and switch trains at Secaucus Junction.

Of course that means that if the job's not within walking distance of the train, you'd need a way to get to the job, so this might not even be a possibility.

[dirimini]

zhelder, thanks VERY much for that detailed reality check. I can possibly bump up to $1000 (or even, grudgingly, $1050), especially if I'm saving on commuting costs. Would that make a difference any of the towns in particular? I'm still looking at Hackensack, as icibiu suggested.

Would looking in Passaic, Hudson, or Essex Counties, or further north in Bergen County, make any difference - or even just over the NY/NJ border in Rockland County? In terms of this last, I'm assuming it would probably be just as expensive, if not more (I know that Nyack, for example, is not cheap at all).

Mightyqueen, I admit I was either foolish or simply delusional to assume prices were going to be significantly lower. To be honest, although I've lived in NYC many, many years, I have limited knowledge of NJ in general, but probably should have understood that, in the NY/NJ metropolitan area, everything (especially in "nice" towns like Paramus or Ridgewood) is going to be expensive.

Because almost all of the actual on-site work is going to be in Paramus, I don't think the train would work (unless I took the NYC subway to the PATH, to NJTrainsit train, to bus). I wish it would, because I definitely prefer the train to the buses. Maybe I'll look at the NJTransit site again and see if I can figure out an alternate route.

Honestly, the things that will kill me financially in terms of having a car in NYC are a) the cost of monthly parking, and b) the cost of monthly tolls over the GWB. Costs for gas, insurance, registration, and repairs/upkeep are probably going to be similar in both locales, but the parking/tolls alone will come out to about $400/month.

Thanks, all. Any additional input is greatly appreciated.

[zhelder]

Originally Posted by dirimini

zhelder, thanks VERY much for that detailed reality check. I can possibly bump up to $1000 (or even, grudgingly, $1050), especially if I'm saving on commuting costs. Would that make a difference any of the towns in particular? I'm still looking at Hackensack, as icibiu suggested.

Mightyqueen, I admit I was either foolish or simply delusional to assume prices were going to be significantly lower. To be honest, although I've lived in NYC many, many years, I have limited knowledge of NJ in general, but probably should have understood that, in the NY/NJ metropolitan area, everything (especially in "nice" towns like Paramus or Ridgewood) is going to be expensive.

Because almost all of the actual on-site work is going to be in Paramus, I don't think the train would work (unless I took the NYC subway to the PATH, to NJTrainsit train, to bus). I wish it would, because I definitely prefer the train to the buses. Maybe I'll look at the NJTransit site again and see if I can figure out an alternate route.

Honestly, the things that will kill me financially in terms of having a car in NYC are a) the cost of monthly parking, and b) the cost of monthly tolls over the GWB. Costs for gas, insurance, registration, and repairs/upkeep are probably going to be similar in both locales, but the parking/tolls alone will come out to about $400/month.

Thanks, all. Any additional input is greatly appreciated.

At $1000, you're still going to have a challenge, but it shouldn't be nearly as bad. I would check out Woodland Park, Little Falls and Hawthorne. Bergenfield, Dumont, Rochelle Park, Maywood, and Fair Lawn might be longshots. Elmwood Park and Hackensack are also worth considering, but both of those towns have some sketchy areas, so do some research. (Most of Elmwood Park is OK.)

[dirimini]

Thanks again, zhelder.

I've been sitting down crunching some numbers, and have some reformulated questions now - and to reiterate, although I originally said Paramus/Ridgewood, my main site now is Paramus, which is where I've found out the vast majority of my job would be located (although I know that Ridgewood is very close to Paramus).

So the questions are:

1. If I put my cap at $1200, would that be enough to find a decent 1-bedroom apartment in very close proximity to the center of Paramus?

2. If $1200 is still too low, then what would be the minimum I would need to pay for such an apartment in the same location?

3. If I keep my cap at $1200, what are the towns/locations where I could find a decent 1-bedroom apartment reasonably close to the center of Paramus (< 25 minutes - the shorter the better).

Thanks again, esteemed forumites.

[zhelder]

Originally Posted by dirimini

Thanks again, zhelder.

I've been sitting down crunching some numbers, and have some reformulated questions now - and to reiterate, although I originally said Paramus/Ridgewood, my main site now is Paramus, which is where I've found out the vast majority of my job would be located (although I know that Ridgewood is very close to Paramus).

So the questions are:

1. If I put my cap at $1200, would that be enough to find a decent 1-bedroom apartment in very close proximity to the center of Paramus?

2. If $1200 is still too low, then what would be the minimum I would need to pay for such an apartment in the same location?

3. If I keep my cap at $1200, what are the towns/locations where I could find a decent 1-bedroom apartment reasonably close to the center of Paramus (< 25 minutes - the shorter the better).

Thanks again, esteemed forumites.

For $1200, things are looking better. You should definitely be able to find something in Fair Lawn for that money, which neighbors Paramus. You're looking at a 5-15 minute commute in most circumstances. The town is decent and safe (it's the best of the towns I recommended before).

Paramus, unfortunately, has very limited apartments available, and the ones that are available would probably be even more expensive than that $1200. Ridgewood has more apartments available, but the town is really fancy and a budget buster.

Hawthorne, which neighbors Fair Lawn, might also be a good bet. It's a couple steps below Fair Lawn, but it's still a decent, safe town with a nice (and underrated, IMHO) downtown. Saddle Brook, which I forgot to mention, might also be worth checking out. You might have a 15-20 minute commute from these towns. Bump the commute up to 25-30 minutes from Little Falls or West Paterson.

[Mightyqueen801]

The parking/tolls/insurance costs sound like a lot. I echo zhelder with checking out Fair Lawn. It has everything you need and it's got easy access to everywhere else, and it's a 20-minute trip to the GWB if you need to get to the city. There are some garden apartment complexes, and there are also apartments in two-family houses. Sometimes if it's a smaller apartment you can get a good deal. Also, wherever you look, take a shot at negotiating down the rent. Landlords are vying for renters right now as people who used to have their own place are doubling up in this economy. Even if you can get them a couple of hundred bucks down, it will save you money and a landlord might be happy to adjust the rent if the place has been empty for a couple of months.

And Hawthorne is a good suggestion, too. I lived there for about four months last year, renting a room in an apartment share before I moved down here. They have a lot of two-family houses. And if you're there in the summer, they have a great town pool you can join really cheap when you're a resident. The only real reason people underrate Hawthorne is because it borders Paterson, which has issues like drugs, prostitution, poverty and crime, but nothing that would shock or frighten you if you're from the city.

[dirimini]

Thanks again, zhelder and MQ.

MQ, I would definitely try to negotiate the rent; I think I'm the model tenant (single, no kids, no pets, non drugs, incredibly neat and quiet, excellent credit and references, and gainfully employed), and I'm pretty sure any landlord would be glad to have me.

But now the question is this: since it appears that the vast majority of things on CL are listings for one of those "pay-us-money-up-front-to-get-our-outdated-lists" outfits, and since I really don't want to pay a broker (because in all likelihood I'm probably going to be there a year)...where do I find something? I know that another forumite said she and her husband actually found someplace through one of those pay-for-the-list places, but I have trepidations of doing that. Another suggested hitting the pavement in the actual site, but as I mentioned before, I don't know that I have the time to do that.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. I realize that I may have no choice but to pay a broker, but if that's the case, I'll have to factor that into the number-crunching, and see if it makes sense.