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Thank you for the reply, DefintNJ. For the GR stations, right, it's a little inconvenient since there is around 5 mins walk between those two stations so commuters need to make right decision based on the time they arrive to catch the right train.
For the public schools, I heard that RW is bigger and slightly better regarding some advanced programs and the SAT score of RW high is 70 higher than GR (1720 over 1670). While in NJMonthly 2012 rank, GR is higher than brother RW. So I guess overall they are comparable and close to each other.
[quote=DefiantNJ;34728196]
Quote:
Originally Posted by rural_urban
In my opinion there's no big difference between Glen Rock and Ridgewood. The major difference I'd say is that Ridgewood is twice the size of Glen Rock. (Ridgewood has 25k residents while Glen Rock has around 12k). quote]
Really, Glen Rock(GR) has a population of 12k? And it has its own police force, school board, government for 12K people? That is why taxes are probably higher there. I guess only in NJ would there be a local government for 12 thousand residents? That is probably one of the reasons for the financial difficulties of this state.
There are other differences between the two towns not mentioned before:
1) Ridgewood(RW) has one train station where trains from both Main and Bergen lines stop. As a result, RW has a lot more frequent trains service than GR. This is a big deal for train commuters. GR also has two stations but they are within a 10-15 minute walk of each other. Definitely not as convenient. Also, RW station has just been rebuilt and has high platforms.
2) RW also has the NJT terminal bus station right in the downtown, within walking distance from the train.
3) RW downtown is much bigger than GR's with more interesting and diverse businesses. GR "downtown" is just one street with a limited selection of stores & restaurants.
4) GR high school is ranked somewhat higher than RW in a few surveys I have seen. Bot both are ranked highly and probably provide good education. As long as the students don't smoke too much pot...
So all these factors essentialy translate to higher house prices in RW.
Thank you for your reply. For some of the area in GR, they are even closer to the downtown of RW compared with many other places in RW. Yes, for the pools, both towns are very good, RW is a little bigger thou. And there seems NO indoor pools for both towns, only outdoors so in Winter swimmers have to have a rest. For our new comers, the name brand is similar to us, no preference.
Also, there is some typo in my original post, the price difference is 100K between similar houses in RW and GR not 10k.
If you are seeing a $100k price disparity between similar houses there is something else going on. im guessing the lower comps you are using in Glen Rock are either on a main road or have a train running through your backyard. On average prices for similar homes should be comparable...within $20k-$30k. The average prices in Ridgewood are higher because Ridgewood has mansions and larger homes that dont exist in Glen Rock. A $600k in Glen Rock will be almost identical to a $600k house in ridgewood.
Hi, I'm actively looking for houses in Glen Rock and Ridgewood areas. As what I know from research in the past couple months, those two towns are fairly close regarding Schools, Commute to NYC, Household Income, safety, environment etc. They are both very nice town with peaceful neighborhood and community. But for some reason, the housing market in Glen Rock is way below Ridgewood. For the similar house (built year, size, style, location), the one in Glen Rock is normally 10K lower than the similar one in RW, also the open house in GR has much fewer visitors compared with RW.
Did I miss anything here? Is there any hidden disadvantages in GR city that new house hunters like us don't know? Actually for me I feel GR is more quite than RW which is something I prefer.
Please share your opinions to us new comers to help us avoid from making big mistakes.
Any inputs are welcome.
Thank you!
1) Ridgewood is a bigger town that is better known
2) There are sections of Ridgewood that are very nice, upscale, and quieter than anything in Glen Rock (not sure how you got the feeling that GR is quieter).
That said, as you mentioned, there not much different between GR and Ridgewood. In fact, for a certain price range, GR offers slightly better value.
There are parts of Ridgewood further out from downtown Ridgewood than GR. I live in NW Ridgewood and HATE going to downtown given all the parking issues. So the the downtown argument is a wash.
One thing I would be a little concerned about in GR is property taxes. GR is a town with a much smaller tax base (compared to Ridgewood) but tries to do similar things. As you can imagine, that can turn out to be pretty expensive (same issue with HHK). At some point in future - hopefully - we will see some of these towns merge. My money would be on GR merging with Wyckoff and HHK merging with Ridgewood. But who knows!
That said, if you are buying in for the next 15-20 years then this is something that you should think about. Towns with 10k people running their own muni system is just not sustainable. With the fiscal situation of the state what it is, I think consolidations may occur sooner rather than later.
Last edited by nicobellic; 05-14-2014 at 01:40 PM..
I think the answers given have covered things well.
The towns are very similar and you can't go wrong with either. Ridgewood is more well known and gets more attention. The down town area is also something that helps this. People really love the down town but as it was mentioned before some areas of Glen Rock and even Midland Park are actually closer to down town than areas of Ridgewood.
The schools are pretty comparable for education but I think there might be a slightly better sports program in Ridgewood.
As for the costs, when you compare price and taxes, there really isn't that much of a difference.
One thing I would be a little concerned about in GR is property taxes. GR is a town with a much smaller tax base (compared to Ridgewood) but tries to do similar things. As you can imagine, that can turn out to be pretty expensive (same issue with HHK). At some point in future - hopefully - we will see some of these towns merge. My money would be on GR merging with Wyckoff and HHK merging with Ridgewood. But who knows!
That said, if you are buying in for the next 15-20 years then this is something that you should think about. Towns with 10k people running their own muni system is just not sustainable. With the fiscal situation of the state what it is, I think consolidations may occur sooner rather than later.
Consolidation/merging is something that has been talked about for years in this area of "boroughitis." However, with that said I'm not so sure who Glen Rock would merge with if they ever were to. I'd imagine if any town was to consolidate, it would be with a bordering town of the same socioeconomic status with less than 15k people. However Glen Rock borders Ridgewood and Fair Lawn who have over 25k residents each as well as Hawthorne who isn't of the same socioeconomic status (not to mention Hawthorne isn't in Bergen County if that matters). Since Wyckoff already is part of the Ramapo-Indian Hills School District I would imagine they would start consolidating with the towns apart of that school system (Franklin Lakes & Oakland). Ho-ho-kus has the same story. They are part of the Northern Highlands District so I'd imagine they'd consolidate with Saddle River, Allendale, or Upper Saddle River in that order.
Towns with over 15k have enough to worry about. Adding another town into the mix would make things hectic.
Consolidation/merging is something that has been talked about for years in this area of "boroughitis." However, with that said I'm not so sure who Glen Rock would merge with if they ever were to. I'd imagine if any town was to consolidate, it would be with a bordering town of the same socioeconomic status with less than 15k people. However Glen Rock borders Ridgewood and Fair Lawn who have over 25k residents each as well as Hawthorne who isn't of the same socioeconomic status (not to mention Hawthorne isn't in Bergen County if that matters). Since Wyckoff already is part of the Ramapo-Indian Hills School District I would imagine they would start consolidating with the towns apart of that school system (Franklin Lakes & Oakland). Ho-ho-kus has the same story. They are part of the Northern Highlands District so I'd imagine they'd consolidate with Saddle River, Allendale, or Upper Saddle River in that order.
Towns with over 15k have enough to worry about. Adding another town into the mix would make things hectic.
That's such provincial BC thinking...i know because I lived there for over 25 yrs. When I moved down to Central Jersey, the townships are large with over 50,000 people and you wouldn't know any difference in services. Sure they could've broken them up into 3-4 "boroughs" years ago. But to me there's no difference in town "feel"...just more people.
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