Everyone thinks of Hollywood as “Tinseltown,” the glamorous place where all the movies stars live. But Fort Lee, N.J. was actually the nation’s film-making capital before Hollywood claimed the mantle, thanks to Fort Lee’s location just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Today Fort Lee may not be known for making movies anymore, but as part of the metropolitan New York City area, its location in Bergen County, New Jersey is highly desirable
Everyone thinks of Hollywood as “Tinseltown,” the glamorous place where all the movies stars live. But Fort Lee, N.J. was actually the nation’s film-making capital before Hollywood claimed the mantle, thanks to Fort Lee’s location just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Today Fort Lee may not be known for making movies anymore, but as part of the metropolitan New York City area, its location in Bergen County, New Jersey is highly desirable. The famous George Washington Bridge connects New York City to Fort Lee, and is the world’s busiest motor vehicle bridge. Fort Lee is a top choice for many people who have to work in Manhattan or one of NYC’s other four boroughs, but who want to get a bigger house for their money and have more of a traditional suburban place. Fort Lee is so close to New York City that some have even called it the city’s sixth borough.
Fort Lee is where many successful NYC professionals choose to live to get away from some of the colorful elements of urban living. This is the place for people with serious jobs who need a good night’s rest.
Finding a Fort in Fort Lee
Although Fort Lee is more oriented to homes and families, you may still have some luck finding a Fort Lee apartment. Even three-bedroom apartments are available in Fort Lee for those who need to house a family, but other apartments for rent are certainly available as well. Some apartment complexes even offer incentives to move into one bedroom apartments and two bedroom apartments in Fort Lee, such as move-in specials or discounted deposits.
As with most rental housing, you’ll need to have a good employment history and most landlords expect your income to be at least two to three times higher than the monthly rent amount. Making sure your credit report is as cleaned up as possible is also helpful.
Fort Lee may be more affordable than New York City itself by quite a margin, but it’s still not the best place if you’re looking for inexpensive housing. However, you can definitely get a lot more bang for your buck in general compared to the city. An apartment locator can help you find just the right rental housing, which can especially save time if you have a busy life (just like we all do!)
The three most important words in real estate apply here too: location, location, location. Its position literally just across the river from Manhattan means that you merely have to cross the George Washington Bridge to be in the middle of one of the most exciting and fashionable cities in the world. Numerous airports and Amtrak routes are only five to ten miles away, as is the world-famous New York City subway system.
Residents of Fort Lee have easy access to all of the amazing restaurants, shopping options, sporting events and Broadway events as any NYC resident. Unlike the suburbs of some cities that are so far away that most people rarely venture into the city itself to take advantage of all its amenities, Fort Lee is almost as good as being in a brownstone or high-rise right in the heart of the city.
Fort Lee itself is also a pretty nice little enclave in itself and has shops, parks and restaurants. The number of people who work from home in Fort Lee is 43.4 percent greater than the national average, so obviously a lot of people enjoy living here.
