Ridgewood - east side vs. west side (esp. elementary schools)? (Wyckoff: fit in, apartments)
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I'm new here, so please bear with me! I searched and while there are lots of posts about Ridgewood, I didn't find any that discussed this specifically (at least not recently).
We (my husband, 2 y/o and I) came back to NNJ after living away for almost 10 years, and are currently renting a home in Wyckoff. We wanted to sell our prior home before buying again, as we didn't love the idea of having 2 mortgages. Thankfully, our old house just sold, so now the search is on! We like Wyckoff, but my husband commutes to NYC, and we prefer the transportation options (as well as the downtown and the amount of housing inventory) in Ridgewood, so that's where we're focusing.
I know there is a distinction between the east and west sides. We've spoken to 2 realtors, who sort of gloss over any difference in schools or reputation, telling us that you can't go wrong anywhere in the town (maybe we need a better realtor?!). While I know the entire town is great, I still am trying to determine the "line" between east and west, and which elementary schools are on either side. We probably can't spend more than about $600K, so I know that we won't be able to purchase a mansion in any part of town, but just trying to get things straight! Thanks for any insight.
realtor is right, especially for your budget. You may find a quaint small home on the 'west side' for $600k with about $100k worth of fixing/updating. At the end of the day, you will still merge into 2 middle schools and eventually one high school. The whole town is lovely. One recommendation I'll make is to open up your options. At the very least consider Glen Rock and Ho Ho Kus in your search so that 1) you realtor has a bit more to offer and 2) you give the potential RW seller a sense of you being a buyer with options 3) still comparable commutes to RW
We shopped RW pretty much exclusively for about a year and ended up in Glen Rock (bought in 2011). Very happy with that decision.
Thanks for the reply, lfsr. If you don't mind me asking, what was it about Glen Rock that ultimately convinced you to move there? We have thrown around the idea of GR, as well. HHK had very little inventory (at least in the sub-seven figure price range), but it was on our short list and could still be a possibility.
We really do like Ridgewood, though, and have no problem being on the "poorer" side of town if that's what works. There seems to be a pretty good amount of inventory in Ridgewood right now within striking distance of our budget, including homes in Willard, Hawes, Somerville, Travell and at least one other school. Just trying to figure out what that means!
Our other option is to rent for another year or 2 and save money, but we're a bit hesitant to do so, since rates are so low, prices are good, and also because the mortgage interest deduction is very helpful to us. But it would be very nice to have an additional $100-$150K in our budget.
Your realtor is not lying to you. Many people would love to live on the "worst" side of Ridgewood. One advantage of the west side is that for the most part it's an easier walk to the train. I walked more than 2 miles to the train from neighboring Midland Park for many years, coming down West Ridgewood Avenue to the train station. Some lovely old homes from the village's earliest days line the streets, as well as newer neighborhoods off of quiet side streets. Lots of large, older trees that cast beautiful shadows in the early morning.
(While I know the entire town is great, I still am trying to determine the "line" between east and west, and which elementary schools are on either side. .
The "line" between east and west is the train tracks. I'll have you know that I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and turned out just fine .
Ridge, Willard and Orchard are on the West side, and they go to GW middle school. Travel, Hawes and Somerville are on the East Side and go to BF middle school.
I'll also add my .02 that you really can't go wrong on either side of town, but in my personal opinion I wouldn't want to live on the other side of route 17. There are many lovely homes over there, it's just that it seems kind of isloated from the center of things.
Thanks for the reply, lfsr. If you don't mind me asking, what was it about Glen Rock that ultimately convinced you to move there? We have thrown around the idea of GR, as well. HHK had very little inventory (at least in the sub-seven figure price range), but it was on our short list and could still be a possibility.
We really do like Ridgewood, though, and have no problem being on the "poorer" side of town if that's what works. There seems to be a pretty good amount of inventory in Ridgewood right now within striking distance of our budget, including homes in Willard, Hawes, Somerville, Travell and at least one other school. Just trying to figure out what that means!
Our other option is to rent for another year or 2 and save money, but we're a bit hesitant to do so, since rates are so low, prices are good, and also because the mortgage interest deduction is very helpful to us. But it would be very nice to have an additional $100-$150K in our budget.
In terms of GR, when we traveled with our realtor in tow thru Ridgewood seeking a home we would never quite know where the GR/RW border started. That's when we realized both neighborhoods had similar housing stock in our price range. We also realized that for about the same budget most homes in GR were updated and/or needed minor upgrades. It's also rated as one of the top school districts in the state (4 elementary, 1MS, 1HS) and we have enjoyed the intimacy of a smaller town/school district. In fact, we have some Ridgewood kids in our kid's pre-k program. Our downtown is pretty simple but practical, albeit not Ridgewood but when we still want to shop 'local' we also consider Ridgewood for it's restaurants, farmers market, etc as a 'local' stop. Best of all (and key to us), was that the entire town has sidewalks so we walk pretty much everywhere. The town pool is hands down a lifesaver. And of course we are on 2 train lines. Taxes are comparable to RW/HHK and you don't have the same East/West divides as it's too small of town to chop up in any way. Again, at the very least it gives you some leverage when you have some options other than one town.
The "line" between east and west is the train tracks. I'll have you know that I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and turned out just fine .
Ridge, Willard and Orchard are on the West side, and they go to GW middle school. Travel, Hawes and Somerville are on the East Side and go to BF middle school.
I'll also add my .02 that you really can't go wrong on either side of town, but in my personal opinion I wouldn't want to live on the other side of route 17. There are many lovely homes over there, it's just that it seems kind of isloated from the center of things.
Good Luck in your search.
That's a good point. It took me a long time to even realize that was still Ridgewood over there.
I have my grandmother's eighth-grade graduation diploma from 1922. It is signed by Mr. Willard, for whom the school is named.
Thanks so much for all of your replies! I know we can't go wrong, we are just trying to figure out the lay of the land before we take the plunge.
Thanks for the suggestion about not crossing Route 17. That's definitely our plan, many of the homes we've seen are in the area of the hospital and Graydon Park (in Travell and Somerville), with a couple of others further Northwest (in Willard). The homes and neighborhoods on the east side actually seem more our speed, even if it is the wrong side of the tracks .
lfsr, thanks for your thoughts on Glen Rock. I definitely agree that any negotiating advantage is a good thing, though we have some disagreement with my husband as to how far to expand our search. We're not absolutely married to RW, but it does have a definite intangible appeal to us that's hard to match, even if it means getting a more modest home than we'd be able to swing in many other towns.
I guess you'd have to ask yourself what a great elementary school mens for you...
1. If it's a social experience, than you'd get a lot of it on the west side of the town. Would it be good or bad depends on how you'd fit the neighborhood. After all, Ridgewood is a DFG J town (read, the highest group in social-economical ranking), which translated into better educated population that earns higher income. Ridge and Willard would be good examples here. We all buy a nice downtown, good schools, and great commute, but we end up with the people who live nearby. I think if you search this forum for complains on snobs and "going to Harvard" attitude in Ridgewood you'll have examples of the wrong fit in a particular neighborhood. So my adviseis to size yourself up and research school communities for a better fit.
2. If a great school means academics first of all, I'd suggest that you research closer how diferent school communities handled the math experiment a couple of years ago, around 2007 - it'll give you a feel of how a quality of education at each of Ridgewood elementaries was defended by the parents body. Just google "TERC math Ridgewood" and you'll get tons of parents' discussions. For example, this one - Ridgewood’s Infamous TERC Experiment: A tale worth telling: « The Ridgewood Blog If academics is important to you, you can research the issue deeper. Ridgewood has many apartments - you can look what schools they feed kids to. I'd say if a kind of TERC story repeats, these schools would have less parents to stand up and defend their kids against "innovation". People who don't live permanently are less willing to stand up just in case, they would easily move to another town.
Personally, I'd choose either Ridge or Willard on the East side, or Somerville on the West side. But we decided that Ridgewood in general would be a bad fit for us, so we didn't even try to buy a house there.
I guess you'd have to ask yourself what a great elementary school mens for you...
1. If it's a social experience, than you'd get a lot of it on the west side of the town. Would it be good or bad depends on how you'd fit the neighborhood. After all, Ridgewood is a DFG J town (read, the highest group in social-economical ranking), which translated into better educated population that earns higher income. Ridge and Willard would be good examples here. We all buy a nice downtown, good schools, and great commute, but we end up with the people who live nearby. I think if you search this forum for complains on snobs and "going to Harvard" attitude in Ridgewood you'll have examples of the wrong fit in a particular neighborhood. So my adviseis to size yourself up and research school communities for a better fit.
2. If a great school means academics first of all, I'd suggest that you research closer how diferent school communities handled the math experiment a couple of years ago, around 2007 - it'll give you a feel of how a quality of education at each of Ridgewood elementaries was defended by the parents body. Just google "TERC math Ridgewood" and you'll get tons of parents' discussions. For example, this one - Ridgewood’s Infamous TERC Experiment: A tale worth telling: « The Ridgewood Blog If academics is important to you, you can research the issue deeper. Ridgewood has many apartments - you can look what schools they feed kids to. I'd say if a kind of TERC story repeats, these schools would have less parents to stand up and defend their kids against "innovation". People who don't live permanently are less willing to stand up just in case, they would easily move to another town.
Personally, I'd choose either Ridge or Willard on the East side, or Somerville on the West side. But we decided that Ridgewood in general would be a bad fit for us, so we didn't even try to buy a house there.
Thank you for your thoughts, yulga. I think we are looking at both the academic and social aspects of the schools, as well as the larger pictureof what the town has to offer. It's true that your neighbors can influence how much you like or dislike your home/town, for sure. We've met a variety of people who live in Ridgewood through various activities (mostly my son's music/gym/swim classes and the like), and have found them to be generally as nice and down to earth as any other people around these parts. We're currently in Wyckoff, which we like but for the NYC transit options and lack of downtown, and have found both nice and snobby people here, and in RW, GR, etc, as well.
Thanks also for the info on the TERC issue. I read a few articles, but am going to look into it a bit more. We are huge advocates of public education, but realize that no system is perfect. One of the things that we like about the towns on our list is that they generally have very interested and involved parents, who greatly value a quality education for their children. I know this can translate into something of a "Tiger/helicopter parent" scenario in some cases, but we feel that we have a good amount of control over that, as far as our own children are concerned. (FTR, we are not that way at all--we think our kid is pretty smart, as everyone does, but just want him to be a happy, well-rounded kid and get a good education.)
It's a huge decision for us, so I appreciate and welcome all of your thoughts on the various aspects of this!
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