The Bergen County Homes Blog

     Trolley service was  used in Bergen County until the advent of the Automobile Age in the 50’s and 60’s which made them seem old fashioned and restrictive.  You could drive anywhere in a car at any time – not so with the trolley.  Another change was development of large scale shopping malls on Route 4 and Route 17.  The Bergen Mall and Garden State Plaza were the first major shopping malls opening in the late 50’s.  People flocked to these new malls in their cars.  Even with a great business district locally, if you owned an Englewood home, chances were that you drove to these malls.   

In the affluence of the post World War II era, the American Dream of owning a home with your own backyard and a car in the driveway took over.  Soon even public buses  linking all 70 communities in Bergen County became a thing of the past.  People went everywhere in their cars.  I remember watching trolley tracks being paved over on Broad Avenue in Leonia when I was a young girl.  Everyone was proud of how “modern” Leonia now appeared.  But, times have changed and trolley service is one of the advantages of owning an Englewood home.

Green is in which means using public transportation to commute to work, shop and dine out is  more important than ever.  People who are thinking of buying a home now use such websites as Walk Score to measure how accessible homes are to basic services. 

In December of 2008 the City of Englewood began an experiment – free trolley service to the downtown business district where an Englewood resident could connect to NJ Transit and Coach USA express buses to work.  In addition to  normal rush hours, the trolley operates until 8 pm during the work week so commuters can shop and dine downtown on their way home at night.  (Saturdays it runs from 1 to 8 pm).  Having this free service is quite an advantage if you own an Englewood home.

The trolley experiement has been a huge success and is another benefit for Englewood homes.  For more information , Englewood has a detailed brochure and a map of the trolley line .

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Bergen County has the advantage of being just a short hop across the George Washington Bridge from New York City’s attractions which include world class theater and entertainment.  But did you know that there are wonderful shows and concerts here as well? 

 The Bergen Pac (Bergen Performing Arts Center), located right in downtown Englewood, is where you will enjoy live performances – everything from the New Jersey Symphony to international stars. PAC performances have included Ray Charles, Pink Floyd, Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, the Beach Boys and comedians Don Rickles, Bil Cosby and Wanda Sykes just to name a few.

Begen PAC is extremely popular – world class entertainment that’s easy to get to; you don’t have to drive to Manhattan and pay the exorbitant parking fees of NYC garages.  Plus it’s so convenient for a full night out. 

Many people take advantage of the many excellent restaurants in downtown Englewood and then take in the show at Bergen PAC.  When the weather allows, Englewood has a downtown that is filled with people during the evening enjoying dinners, cappucino or just walking up and down Palisade Avenue looking at all the shops.

Bergen County also has many local theater companies including the Garage Theater Group in residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University and very popular community theater groups such as the Bergen County Players and The Player\’s Guild of Leonia. We even have our own opera company - The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera.  

There’s another performing arts center that you can take advantage of  as well; Ramapo College has the Berrie Center for the Performing Arts.  This theater is situated on a beautiful campus and is host to quite a variety of plays, concerts, lectures.  Located in the northern end of Bergen County, it’s convenient for both northern Bergen County residents and folks from Rockland County, NY, too.  

As you can see, theater and the performing arts are very important to people in Bergen County.

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One of the special advantages of living in Bergen County, at least from my point of view, is our gas and electric service utility – Public Service Electric and Gas.  Go to their website at http://www.pseg.com where you’ll find excellent information and their terrific Worry Free Contract system.

PSE&G has very reasonably priced maintenance contracts on your gas and electric heating, air conditioning and appliances that I always recommend to my clients.  One of the best values you can find in Bergen County when you buy a house is their Worry Free Contracts and especially their gas furnace maintenance program which only costs $5.90 per month for parts and labor.  Go to their Residential Worry Free Contract Enrollment and scroll down the page toward the bottom where you can see the a la carte menu or you can use the bundled options at the top of the page.  The cost is billed monthly on your utility bill which makes this affordable service even easier to handle. 

It just makes sense, especially now that the heating season is almost here, to get yourself protected.  I always recommend to my clients who have gas furnaces in their home that they at least get this coverage.  It’s simply the best deal around at an annual cost of $70.80 for parts and labor with no deductibles. 

When you buy a home the last thing you need is an unexpected bill for a furnace repair – at $5.90 per month you’ll have peace of mind.  Trust me – it can happen any time.  Years ago I had a 3 year old furnace that stopped working – it needed a new circulator pump.  PSE&G came in a few hours and replaced it.  No problems after that and it was well worth the $5.90 bill that month!

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Begen County is filled with families and children. There are many great facilities for kids which I’ll be talking about but I also want to feature some of the pets waiting for adoption here because we have many pet facilities where you can get a great pet.

Very often after a family moves into their new home, they get a pet and that usually means a dog or a cat. Many home buyers buy a home and then get a dog because they are coming from apartments or the city where having a pet is not easy or allowed. There are so many wonderful dogs and cats in our animal shelters and here’s one who’s on the Urgent List at The Bergen County Animal Shelter which means poor Elton doesn’t have a lot of time left on this earth.

Because so many families have lost their jobs or their homes or both, the animal shelters are overwhelmed. Bergen County has a large facility but they can’t handle the inflow and euthanize animals. If you know of anyone who’s looking for a good pet, take a look at Elton.

Fostering a pet is also something that’s urgently needed and it gives you a good chance to see if you and a dog are a good match. I know of many good pet organizations in Bergen County where you can get advice, help and obedience classes so that you and your new dog can bond properly. Take a look at Elton – you’ll be glad you did.

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Getting a pet when you move into your new home is almost a ritual for many families in Bergen County.  It’s not unusual for me to learn that one of my customers has added a new dog or cat or other pet to their family once everything is unpacked.  Those of us who grew up with pets can remember how excited we were when our parents let us bring home our new pet.  It was so much fun and it taught us to be responsible – after all, a pet needs to be taken care of but oh what love they give us in return!

Bergen County has several opportunities for pet adoption.  Unfortunately, there are so many pets available these days waiting to be adopted.  Why not make your house a home by adopting a pet?

There are two animal shelters – the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro and the Ramapo Bergen Animal Refuge in Oakland.  We also have some wonderful organizations where I have met many teriffic volunteers during my time in Bergen County real estate sales.

There’s PetResQwhich is an all volunteer group based in Tenafly and having it’s first ever annual “Fur Ball” dinner dance at the Clinton Inn in Tenafly on March 27th.  We also have the Bergen County Humane Society  based in Lyndhurst  but serving the entire county.  Another great group is the New Jersey Boxer Rescue which is extremely active in Bergen County although they cover the entire state.  I’ve had personal experience with the New Jersey Boxer Rescue folks and I can’t say enough good things about them. 

If you’re ready for a new member of the family, you can certainly find one in Bergen County.  Adopt a pet from an animal shelter or one of these organizations and you’ll rescue an animal that will love you for years to come.

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The most special aspect of selling real estate in Bergen County is the people you meet.  One of the nicest people I’ve met is a lady by the name of Laura who told me today about a pet portrait promotion to help out CLAWS – CLAWS is an animal rescue group based in Closter which is in the north eastern part of Bergen County but they help animals throughout the county.  I’ve inserted their flyer below which has all the details for you. 

By the way, if you are thinking about adding a pet to your family, in addition to CLAWS there are several animal shelters in Bergen County as well as breed rescue groups where you can save a pet and have the love of an animal who, from what I’ve been told, truly understands that their new owner has rescued them.  It is an unfortunate truth that there are always many fine dogs and cats available but the good news is that you have a good choice of many wonderful pets.

If you have a dog or a cat or a turtle or a bird or any other pet, wouldn’t it be fun to have a pet portrait of them?  Not only will you be helping out CLAWS to do more animal rescue work and to maintain the pets they now have, you will have a lot of fun with the folks at Motophoto while you’re getting your pet’s 5 X 7 portrait.

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The New Jersey Association of Realtors publishes a report every year on the characteristics of people who buy and sell homes in New Jersey.  The National Association of Realtors has it’s own buyer and seller profile but naturally that’s on a national scale.

There are some very interesting facts in this report and you might just be surprised by a few.  Here are some highlights from the New Jersey Association of Realtors profile of home buyers:

• The median age of New Jersey home buyers is 36
• First time home buyers had a median age of 30
• 56% were married couples
• 21% were single females
• 10% were single males
• 49% of home buyers were first time buyers
• 64% had no children under 18 living with them
• The #1 reason to buy a home – a desire to own your own home
• The #1 reason for deciding when to do it – it was the right time in their life
• Top reason to choose the location – quality of the neighborhood
• 2nd reason to choose the location – convient to their job
• 68% of all purchases were detached single family homes
• 89% used a fixed rate mortgage
• 72% used the internet frequently to search for a home; 17% occasionally

There are two key items here ito note - 49% of all buyers in 2008 were first time home buyers and they decided to buy a home because the time was right for them.

First time home buyers are crucial to keep a market moving – without them, a real estate market will collapse because they are the first cog in the wheel that drives the real estate engine forward.  It’s also interesting to see that no matter the external factors at work (economy, interest rates, etc), it still comes down to when it’s the right time for me.  If you want a copy of the full report, just email me.

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The closest winter sports facility to New York City is right here in Bergen County at Campgaw Mountain Reservation.  Only 18 miles from the George Washington Bridge, Campgaw is run by the Bergen County Department of Parks and has it all – you can ski, snowboard and tube down the mountain day and night. 

There’s all sorts of fun here and it’s also a learning center with group and private lessons for you and your family - here’s some children at a Skiwee session:      

For the more adventurous, however, there’s the thrill of snowboarding and those glorious jumps. 

If you’re more “down to earth, there’s also the fun of sliding down the mountain on a snow tube.

But if you’re a traditionalist, you can ski downhill with abandon!

Campgaw Mountain Reservation is open year round and in warmer weather is a favorite hiking and camping retreat.  But, in the winter, it becomes a snow park where you and your family can come for “in your backyard” winter sports.  Campgaw is just another reason why it’s fun to live in Bergen County and why our Bergen County homes are so valued.  I bet you didn’t expect a ski resort only 30 minutes from Manhattan!

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Just to give you an idea of how close Bergen County is to New York City, let me show you:

This is the New Jersey side on the right…..  

      And this is the New York Side on the left.

No matter which side of the Hudson River you’re viewing, the distance across the George Washington Bridge between Bergen County New Jersey and New York City is just under one mile at 4,760 feet (one mile equals 5,280 feet).  Even the northwest corner of Bergen County in Mahwah New Jersey on the Upstate New York border is only 21 miles and a 30 minute drive away.   This close proximity to Manhattan means that we’re an excellent commute to NYC which allows many Bergen County residents to work there and on weekends, many of us go to New York City to take advantage of it’s museums and cultural activities such as Broadway plays and Lincoln Center concerts.  This is also a primary reason why Bergen County homes are so valuable to buyers – where else can you get the best of suburban living 15 minutes from Manhattan?

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Last summer I did something I thought I’d never ever do – I went to my high school reunion.  It’s the oddest thing but during the past few years, we’ve all been finding each other again.  This is most definitely a very weird reaction to reaching the latter part of your middle age of life but that’s what’s been happening.  Not that all of us have separated from each other.  Among the advantages of living in Bergen County is that we’re next door to one of the greatest cities in the world – New York City.  When you have Manhattan in your back yard, there’s a lot here to make you stay.  But the world is also a big place with plenty of opportunities and places to see. So I have kept in touch with some of my closets friends and have recently reconnected with my others. Its been great but it’s also got me thinking about what it was like to grow up in Bergen County and what’s changed and remained the same since then.

Life in Bergen County is a combination of many things. There’s the commuting morning, relaxed day and busier late afternoons and early evenings. Saturdays are bustling and because we have “blue laws” from many years ago that do not allow most shopping on Sundays, Sundays are quiet. That part of Bergen County is the same as when I was growing up.

What’s changed here is the number of homes and families we have – the increase in both has been tremendous. Real estate has been a big growth industry here with almost all available land that could be developed gobbled up by builders. In fact, today it’s common to see an older home knocked down so a new one can be built because there are no large tracts of undeveloped land left. Along with this development came a lot of diversity. There are so many different cultures here that are well represented. When I was growing up this was not so much the case. However, this greater diversity has maintained the vitality and economic health of our area.

What remains the same is our small town suburban lifestyle. People still come here to buy a home and raise their family. There are just more of us with a greater variety of backgrounds. I can still go to my local downtown shopping district and bump into people I know. There are still stores here that we call “institutions” because they’ve been here for generations. We still have Saturday football games, baseball in the spring but now we also have added soccer in the fall.

So when I met my classmates last summer at my high school reunion, we shard a lot of memories, opened up that high school yearbook and laughed at those young people inside those pages but were amazed to find that although much had changed, much still remained the same. For over the years people have come and always will come to live in Bergen County for the lifestyle and American values that it represents and maintains.

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