The Bergen County Homes Blog

Isn’t the internet great?  When you are buying a home nothing seems to beat it for all the information it has.  But when it comes to knowing a town and the neighborhood, nothing replaces being there.  Still there is one place where you can get to know a community and that’s the town website. 

Town websites give you a special look into the character and services of a community.  Although not all towns have a website, most do and they are filled with information and community news.

Are you shopping for a Tenafly home?  The Tenafly Borough site has the Tenafly Memorial Day Parade schedule telling you that everyone is invited to the Tenafly Elk’s Club for refreshments after the ceremony. 

Looking for a Ridgewood home?  If you go to the Village of Ridgewood website you’ll learn that the Ridgewood flood rating is unchanged which gives it’s residents a 15% discount on insurance. 

Looking for an Englewood home?  The City of Englewood website tells you that all Englewood residents are eligible for a 20% discount card for prescriptions.  

If you’re thinking of buying a home in Cresskill the Cresskill Borough website announces that the town is having it’s Spring Festival on June 11th.

I have all the town websites for you on my site.  Click Here and choose the town you want!

One of the agents in my office had an interesting experience in Englewood today.  She was inspecting an Englewood home with her customer and nearly came eye to eye with a raccoon in the attic.  Needless to say this presented a problem when trying to show the house to her buyer and I have no doubt that both real estate agent and home buyer left that Englewood home pretty quickly.

Attics seem to be favorite hiding places for raccoons and squirrels too.  One way to protect your home from a squirrel or raccoon invasion is to make sure you have a chimney cap on your chimney.  A quick Google search came up with this Draft King Chimney Cap picture:

As you can see, this is a really pretty simple item but it sure does the job.  It’s also important to periodically check where your roof meets the house structure itself.  Sometimes a squirrel will bite through the facia board just under the roof and get inside the attic.  When you’re having your gutters cleaned out it’s a good idea to check around for any signs of a raccoon or squirrel trying to bite their way into your home.

Towns like Englewood, Tenafly and Ridgewood have so many beautiful, mature trees that tower over the homes there but these gorgeous trees also have branches that make it so easy for a raccoon or squirrel to scamper up on your roof and bite their way into your attic.  It’s best to do a regular inspection of your house so you can keep on top of the raccoons and squirrels who have decided they like your house as much as you do!

Englewood, NJ, is a vibrant community in no small part because of the diversity of it’s population. A walk along Palisade Avenue through the Englewood business district is almost like a walk through the United Nations.  In fact, a large advantage of owning an Englewood home is the diversity of it’s people.  One of the largest enthnic groups in this area of Bergen County is the Korean community and this week’s club meeting at The Woman’s Club of Englewood featured a most special program – senior Korean women performing traditional Korean dances with Korean music including live drum music.

 The dancers were extremely graceful and seemed to glow with happiness and  pride as they performed their dances.   What was quite impressive was to learn that their average age is 67.  Many different dances were performed some of which used beautiful, brightly colored fans and one used drums which was very exciting. 

  After the program was a tea and dessert reception where the Korean dancers joined the club members which gave everyone a chance to meet one on one.  It’s not every day that you can meet the performing artists you’ve just seen.   

 The Woman’s Club of Englewood is a century old organization that is a progressive force in the Englewood community and an important philanthropic force as well granting hundreds of college scholarships over the years.   I have to say that as a guest of one of their members, I was extremely impressed by not only this special program of Korean dances but also by all the good works done by The Woman’s Club of Englewood.  Organizations such as this help to make Englewood the special place it is which only serves to make Englewood homes among the most sought after in the New York City area.

Credit Suisse Bank has a really neat way of looking at the local housing market – they send out a monthly questionaire to top real estate agents on over 40 housing markets in the US.  As one of the agents surveyed by Credit Suisse, I get the these reports and find them to be very valuable.

The Credit Suisse  “Monthly Survey of Real Estate Agents”  for the New York – Northern New Jersey area is really quite accurate. It found that January had an inventory build up which put pressure on pricing.  No doubt the 7 major snow storms we had then caused many buyers to stay home.  However, concerns over jobs and year end bonuses that were less than in the past also had an effect.  The sum total was pressure on pricing and homes on the market longer. 

At the same time, agents were seeing signs of pent up demand, frustration with renting and fear of higher interest rates.  56% thought the activity level was more than expected, 31% saw it as what they expected and only 13% saw activity as less than expected.   

Near term prices will soften a bit more but as the weather changes, so will the mood of many buyers.  Halfway through February, I can report that activity has definitely increased.  If you look at the activity ratios of a few towns, you’ll see they’re under or just over 5 to 1 which is great:

Tenafly is 4.3 to 1, Cresskill is 4.2 to1, Teaneck is 6 to 1,  Dumont is 4.3 to 1, Englewood is 4.8 to 1 , River Edge is 2.9 to 1 and Oradell is 3 to 1.

Buyers are snapping up the bargains that are now out there and are locking in interest rates as soon as they can.  Without snow and ice to slow things down, the real estate market will be very active this spring.

Whether you’re buying a home in Cresskill, Tenafly, Teaneck, Englewood or anywhere else in Bergen County, you need to do a home inspection.  Once Attorney Review is completed and you have a firm purchase contract on your new home, often the next step is to do the home inspection. 

This is when most people focus on finding a home inspector.  And for most people they find a home inspector in a matter of minutes which really doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Consider this:  Didn’t you spend a lot of time doing research on the market and looking at a variety of locations?   Let’s say the home you picked is in Bergenfield.  Didn’t you also spend time looking at homes in Englewood, Teaneck, Dumont, Bogota and perhaps further out in Bergen County like Fair Lawn and Waldwick where pricing is similar?  

Amazingly enough, most people spend hardly any time at all in finding their home inspector.  Just a few minutes on the web and that’s it.  I tell my buyers to get ready early on.  Don’t wait until you’ve found your house to find the right professionals you need and that includes a home inspector.

The State of New Jersey licenses home inspectors.  If someone gives you a recommendation, you can go to the State of NJ Divison of Consumer Affairs to verify that the person recommended is licensed.  A great resource is the American Society of Home Inspectors and HUD has it’s own top 10 list of questions to ask the inspectors you investigate.  Another idea is to consult with your attorney and, of course, your real estate agent can suggest home inspectors too.

When you buy a house the home inspection is one of the major parts of the home buying process.  Spend the time to do the research you need to get the right home inspector for you.

The New Jersey MLS informed me that I am not allowed to post their statistical reports but I am allowed to email it to you.  Confused?  So am I. 

If you’d like this information, just email me at barbara@bergencountyhomes.com  and I’ll email it to you right away.  I apologize for this inconvenience but it’s beyond my control.

Englewood’s East Hill will soon be filled with the sounds of a beautiful string orchestra.  The Elisabeth Morrow School will hold their annual Summer String Festival for young musicians August 16-20 at the school’s elegant Lydecker Street location.

When you listen to these videos, you can hardly believe this is an elementary school orchestra.  These students are among the most talented and motivated in the metropolitan area, and this unique program is the only one of its kind around here for musicians in this age group.

Admission to this summer program for young violinists, violists, and harpists is highly competitive.  About ten years ago, students from the program were featured in a Carnegie Hall concert staged for the movie “Music of the Heart”.  Yes, children really were playing those instruments!

Students have opportunities for orchestra and sectional rehearsals, ensembles, repertoire and duet classes, and student recitals.  There are also performances by guest artists.  The week culimnates with a gala concert featuring students, all the orchestras, and the entire ensemble.

Englewood NJ today, Juilliard School of Music tomorrow!

You don’t have to own a home in Tenafly to know what’s happening there – all you have to do is to go to the Borough of Tenafly website where you’ll discover that Tenafly is doing a revaluation right now.

Let’s say you’re thinking of buying a home in Englewood.  You see that many of the homes there are from the early 20th century so you’d like to know about the city’s history.  Just go to the City of Englewood website where you’ll find the Our History page that takes you from Englewood’s earliest days to the present.

The River Vale website is the place to go for local events – it’s always on their home page.   Park Ridge and Westwood does this too along with many other local communities.  You may find important changes on a town’s home page – this year Westwood began registering it’s various Recreation Department activities online; the announcement is on it’s home page right now.

Town websites are also a great help when you need a form.  For example, if you want to put up a fence on your property and you live in Cresskill, the fence permit form can be downloaded from the Cresskill Boro website Some towns like Tenafly actually have a step by step guide for you when it comes to getting a permit

Many community sites have portions of their building codes right on their websites.  Old Tappan has their entire borough code on line.

You may be amazed at how much information can be found on a town website.  If you’re thinking of buying a home or if you’re a Bergen County resident now, check out the borough website.  You’ll be glad you did.

  Englewood homes are highly prized for their gracious old world charm.  The East Hill is famous for its many grand estates that are surrounded by towering oak trees, 15 foot high native rhododendrons and flowering fruit trees.  Such beauty and ambience is not only found on East Hill acre estates; west side Englewood homes are equally beautiful just on a smaller scale. 

  Traditional colonial and Tudor style homes with gorgeous woodwork framed by 30-40 foot trees are in abundance here.  Many of these Englewood homes also feature stained glass windows, gorgeous inlaid wood floors and chestnut trim.  Traditional floor plans create ideal flows for entertaining and the friendly neighborhoods are exceptionally stable – turnover isn’t high here because people love living here.  In fact it’s not at all unusual to see people stay in their Englewood home for decades after their children have grown up and moved on.  As a result you’ll find long time residents on every street as well as new young families.

  A perfect example is my listing at 315 Katherine Street.  This traditional colonial is located on a hidden street – ask most folks and they’ve never heard of Katherine Street and when you try to find 315 Katherine Street 07601 on your GPS you are bound to get lost.  This 1 block long street is at the end of St Nicholas Street which is itself a dead end.  Extremely quiet with 100 year old trees, it’s as if you’re on a country lane yet you’re only a 15 minute drive to New York City. 

  Englewood homes on the west side are also quite affordable as far as Bergen County homes are concerned – at an asking price of $345,000 this 3 bedroom 1.5 bath home sits on a 50 X 110 lot in a terrific location.   Come see 315 Katherine Street - you’ll be glad you did!

Whether it’s  Tenafly homes, Englewood homes, River Vale homes, Westwood homes or anywhere else in Bergen County, what’s happening in the housing market is important and always of interest.  USA Today has great interactive graphs from Moody\’s  that track 5 critical measurements of the real estate market.  What these interactive charts show is solid improvement across the board beginning with the 4th quarter of 2009!