The Bergen County Homes Blog

The spring market for real estate in Bergen County arrived in February.  We’ve noticed an increase in the number of buyer inquiries and in the number of people coming out on weekends to look at homes on Sunday afternoons which is pretty much what we expect every year.

Below is a quick study of how the market is doing as of February 17th based on New Jersey MLS data.  Over the years, I’ve found that it’s important to see the relationship between the number of homes for sale (A for Active Listings) and under contract (UC).  In a strong seller’s market, this ratio is at 2 to 1.  How long a home is on the market is also important and I’ve put this in the same order for you (A/UC).   I feel that this is a result of over pricing.  It’s pretty tough in any market to get an offer on an over priced home; it just doesn’t make sense to  a buyer.

For a more in depth look at the real estate market go to my market trends report which I’ll be updating monthly at  http://bergencountyhomes.com/market.htm

                                    A/UC                Ratio                Days on the Market

Alpine                          43/1                 43 to 1             257/298

Closter                         74/10               7.4 to 1            136/224

Cresskill                       69:7                 10 to 1             132/128

Dumont                        44/12               3.7 to 1            117/81

Englewood                   123/16             7.7 to 1           155/110

Englewood Cliffs          45/1                 45 to 1             132/221

Harrington Park            18/3                 6 to 1                92/51

Haworth                       35/1                 35 to 1             122/83

Paramus                       114/25             4.5 to 1            146/103

Ridgewood                   98/14               7 to 1                94/105

River Edge                   34/11               3 to 1                73/95

Tenafly                         93/19               5 to 1              118/150                      

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?

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.