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I'm going to be looking for a new apartment (rental) in the next couple of months, and would appreciate any advice. From reading this forum and visiting a couple of places (Palisades Park, Metuchen, Ridgewood, Hoboken, etc.), I am now leaning towards Fort Lee & area (Leonia, Edgewater, Palisades Park, etc.).
Standard Q/A below.
Where are you coming from? We are currently renting an apt in Manhattan (UES). Before that we lived in Canada for several years.
Why are you moving? Manhattan is too expensive, somewhat dirty and noisy, and impossible to have a car (with our budget).
Where will you be working ? Manhattan midtown (close to Penn station)
Will you buy or rent? Rent
What is your budget? ~$1500/month
What kind of place are you looking for? An apt/condo/townhouse (1-2 bedrooms)
Will anyone (spouse, children, pets) be moving with you? 3 people in total (parents & a 3yrs old boy)
Do you need/want good public schools? yes
Briefly describe the kind of neighborhood you'd like to live in:
Family oriented; suburban, but still walkable. Hoboken is too "urban" for us, Metuchen too "suburban". Fort Lee/Palisades Park seems to be the right balance for us. Think of White Plains (NY) - we would love to live there, but it seems we'll have to pay ~$300-$500 more/month in White Plains comparing to Fort Lee. We also would like to live in a neighborhood that has a "healthy" social/ethnic mix (we lived in Richmond, British Columbia - a lot of Chinese people, but very clean and safe, and much more interesting than a homogeneous white neighborhood; that's why Fort Lee seems to be a good fit - clean, safe, with an ethnic flavor)
List three things that are important to you in order of importance: clean, safe, family oriented. Less than 1hr commute to Penn Station.
You'll definitely be able to find something within your budget in Fort Lee or Leonia. Edgewater is harder because so much of the new development is luxury. Leonia doesn't have too much in the way of apartments, but there are a few nice garden apartments around. Fort Lee is your only real choice if you want highrise living.
Also, Fort Lee has dreadful traffic, worse than NYC a lot of the time. Edgewater can have traffic problems, too, as there is only one road running the length of the town, and only a few ways in and out by car.
As you probably know, that area is a hotspot of Korean immigration, and is becoming increasingly Korean as time goes on. Palisades Park in particular is dominated by the Korean community.
What exactly is the sort of advice you are looking for?
Given the requirement of $1500 a month for 1-2 bedroom and good public school system means you should cross Hoboken, Edgewater, Jersey City, off your list. Also many towns along River Road don't have good public school district like North Begen.
Palisades Park and Fort Lee are lot more doable at 1500 range and both are very heavy in Korean population. Fort Lee has a good dose of Japanese and Chinese along with Korean so don't assume Asian you come across in Fort Lee to be Korean. But in Palisades Park, person is going to be Korean 9 out of 10 times. Comparing the two though Fort Lee has better public school system in Palisades Park if I remember right.
Leonia as previous poster mentioned don't have much in rentals. Most will be renting houses or town houses and like in Edgewater, you won't get much choices for rent there for 1500 a month for 1+ bed. Leonia has good public school system and Edgewater is part of Leonia high school district.
Lastly traffic in Fort Lee can get very bad and noisy if you are near GW or one of the arteries leading to GW.
I live in Edgewater so feel free to message me or continue to post msgs on this thread. Good luck.
Thanks a lot for the replies! That's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for - traffic, schools, convenience re: raising kids, the overall "feel" of the place(s).
Do we absolutely need a car in Fort Lee, or can we survive a month or two without it?
I've read some very positive opinions about Edgewater, but if schools there are not that good, we'll pass, I guess.
So it's down to Fort Lee, Leonia, or Palisades Park (Cliffside Park schools are also not very good, I've read).
You mentioned "very heavy Korean population". How does it feel being there regularly? Foreign/alien (not good), or just diverse (can be great, depends...)? We visited a friend in Fort Lee/Palisades Park (right at the border - Anderson Ave) on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and it was very nice there; we did not feel any "heavy" ethnic flavor - definitely more diverse than Metuchen, for example, but overall more pleasant - "benevolent", if you wish, than Cargenie Hill in Manhattan for us. Did we get it right? Or we were just lucky, and usually it is not as peaceful? I'm basically trying to compare the pace of life and the level of energy/stress to that of NYC - and we clearly want something a bit slower, though not as slow as in a "proper" suburb.
Thanks a lot for the replies! That's exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for - traffic, schools, convenience re: raising kids, the overall "feel" of the place(s).
Do we absolutely need a car in Fort Lee, or can we survive a month or two without it?
I've read some very positive opinions about Edgewater, but if schools there are not that good, we'll pass, I guess.
So it's down to Fort Lee, Leonia, or Palisades Park (Cliffside Park schools are also not very good, I've read).
You mentioned "very heavy Korean population". How does it feel being there regularly? Foreign/alien (not good), or just diverse (can be great, depends...)? We visited a friend in Fort Lee/Palisades Park (right at the border - Anderson Ave) on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and it was very nice there; we did not feel any "heavy" ethnic flavor - definitely more diverse than Metuchen, for example, but overall more pleasant - "benevolent", if you wish, than Cargenie Hill in Manhattan for us. Did we get it right? Or we were just lucky, and usually it is not as peaceful? I'm basically trying to compare the pace of life and the level of energy/stress to that of NYC - and we clearly want something a bit slower, though not as slow as in a "proper" suburb.
Thanks,
A.
Drive down Broad Ave in Palisades Park to get a sense of the influence of the Korean community there. Or just take a look on Google Street View. Most of the signs there are in Korean. There's no hostility or anything. Just be aware that, if you move to Palisades Park, in particular, you may end up in a community that is fairly insular--not because of hostility, but because there are a lot of first generation immigrants with shaky English who as a result prefer to socialize with other Koreans, and a lot of the downtown in Palisades Park caters to the Korean community primarily or exclusively.
It's still a suburban town, and no busier than any other. If you know Metuchen, Palisades Park is like the heavily Indian parts of Edison.
That only really applies to Palisades Park, though. Fort Lee, Leonia, etc. do have substantial Korean populations, but they're not nearly so concentrated, and the communities there are more integrated.
I don't think you could deal without a car for long in Fort Lee. It's essential at least for groceries unless you're within walking distance of H-Mart, which is on the north side of the GWB. But there might be buses you could use; I know there are a lot of buses going through Fort Lee to get across the GWB into NYC, but I'm not sure how useful they are for getting around town rather than commuting.
Do we absolutely need a car in Fort Lee, or can we survive a month or two without it?
If place you rent is near the stores, you can do without a car for a month or two I'd guess.
Quote:
Originally Posted by antrek
I've read some very positive opinions about Edgewater, but if schools there are not that good, we'll pass, I guess.
School district for Edgewater is Leonia so it's good system. As I mentioned earlier, catch with Edgewater is that there are not that many apartments of 1-2 bed for 1500 price range. Oh and some of the units touted as 1 bed in 1203 River Road is actually a large studio they turned into 1 bed so it's not big enough for family of 3. I'm not saying it's impossible but you will need to raise your rental budget for your family. Also depending on where you rent (if near the stores) you can do without a car for a month.
Quote:
Originally Posted by antrek
You mentioned "very heavy Korean population". How does it feel being there regularly? Foreign/alien (not good), or just diverse (can be great, depends...)? We visited a friend in Fort Lee/Palisades Park (right at the border - Anderson Ave) on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and it was very nice there; we did not feel any "heavy" ethnic flavor - definitely more diverse than Metuchen, for example, but overall more pleasant - "benevolent", if you wish, than Cargenie Hill in Manhattan for us. Did we get it right? Or we were just lucky, and usually it is not as peaceful? I'm basically trying to compare the pace of life and the level of energy/stress to that of NYC - and we clearly want something a bit slower, though not as slow as in a "proper" suburb.
Thanks,
A.
BrownstoneNY hit the nail on the head. It is very Korean heavy in Palisades Park, census from 2000 showed at least 1/3 being Korean ethnicity and it's gone up quite a bit. I'd even go far as more than 50% being Korean there now. If you do census search there are very few towns that have higher density of Korean population than Palisades Park.
Antrek, I hope you found a nice place to live in the Fort Lee area.
I too am looking for a place in Fort Lee but my priority is the commute. I'm trying to find the quickest way to commute to the 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Terminal. Would it be to take the express bus to 42nd St or take the bus over the GWB and then the subway down? I haven't found a place yet so where I live will be determined by the quickest way to commute. I also would like to know on what street does the express bus run in Fort Lee? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Antrek, I hope you found a nice place to live in the Fort Lee area.
I too am looking for a place in Fort Lee but my priority is the commute. I'm trying to find the quickest way to commute to the 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Terminal. Would it be to take the express bus to 42nd St or take the bus over the GWB and then the subway down? I haven't found a place yet so where I live will be determined by the quickest way to commute. I also would like to know on what street does the express bus run in Fort Lee? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Best,
Pudu
Usually, taking a bus across the bridge and the subway down will be around 15-20 minutes faster if you lived right next to the bridge in Fort Lee. However, there are express buses through nearby towns to PABT (the 166T through Leonia to the PABT, for example) that take around the same time.
Thank you so much BrownstoneNY! That was all I wanted to know. I think I will start by looking for a place near the bridge. Thanks again!
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