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Before you buy or sell...See what has just sold.
Click here to view SoldHomesReport for 2007 in Alpine. 
Perched atop the cliffs of the Palisades and marked by opulent houses set on large tracts, Alpine typically attracts educated and successful professionals. Despite its proximity to New York City, its idyllic setting gives Alpine the atmosphere of a mountain hamlet, rather than a suburb in a bustling metropolitan county.Alpine's municipal government does not provide a lot of services for its wealthy citizens. It doesn't have its own library or high school, and it relies on neighboring Cresskill for many recreation program. Instead, the Borough Council strives to keep the tax rate low, and succeeds: Although the median house in Alpine is valued at more than $500,000, the average household pays only $4,501 in property taxes. Still, the borough lavishes money on its one elementary school, spending $11,915 per student. After grade 8, students attend Tenafly High School. Nor does it scrimp on security, maintaining a police force of 13 for its tiny population of less than 2,000.Alpine also maintains tight control over development. Industry has long been restricted. More than half of the borough's acres are in conservation areas or parks and will stay forever wild. The rest of Alpine's 6.4 square miles is dotted with homes on one and two acre lots.Privacy is apparently a big issue for Alpine residents, who would rather pick up their mail at the post office than have it delivered to their property. This tradition has, in turn, created a de facto town center through which nearly everyone passes on a daily basis, and which serves as a local forum for residents to greet one another and discuss politics and community issues.
Alpine is not exclusively for the wealthy. People of middle-class means live in the Old Alpine neighborhood of smaller wood-frame houses.
The Alpine School has a student-teacher ratio of 17 to 1, and French and Spanish are taught three times a week beginning in kindergarten and continuing through grade 5. Computers are also introduced in kindergarten. Advanced courses enable many teens to enter high school above grade level, and weekly progress reports in each of the major subjects keep parents apprised of their child's progress.
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First Time Buyers >The Seller May Pay
The costs of buying a home may be daunting. For example, you may have finally saved enough for a down payment on your first home, with a little left over to buy the furniture you will need. Then you hear about having to pay closing costs you weren't anticipating, and this may seem like a real setback.
One way to cover such a shortage is to make the sellers an offer that calls for them to credit you for some of the closing costs. As a rule, the sellers may pay a maximum of 3 percent of the sales price if the buyer is putting five percent down. If the buyer is making a down payment of 10 percent or more, the seller can contribute up to 6 percent of the sales price to cover the buyer's closing costs. Some items, such as prepaid taxes and the first month's mortgage payment, must be paid by the buyers. Sellers may also contribute to paying the appraisal, points, title insurance, settlement attorney fees, state or local transfer taxes and similar items.
Keep in mind that if the credit is included in the price of the house, the appraiser will have to justify the amount, based on sales prices of similar homes in the neighborhood.
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| Q |
What is considered one of the greatest U.S. construction projects that was also of great strategic importance to the U.S.?
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| A |
The Panama Canal, begun in 1904 and completed in August, 1914, which cost $366,650,000. |
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