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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.
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!
It may be nothing more than the name brand. Ridgewood is synonymous, to some, with the quintessential NYC suburb.
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). With this you'll also notice that the high schools have different enrollment (Ridgewood being bigger than Glen Rock.) Here's some other differences I notice:
The downtown: Ridgewood's downtown is bigger and more "locally famous" than Glen Rocks.
Expensive homes: Ridgewood has more homes available than Glen Rock when it comes to homes $1 mil and up.
Pool: Ridgewood has a sand pool while Glen Rock has an in-ground pool.
The Name: Ridgewood for some reason has that "name" that everyone wants to be associated with.
There's actually a neighborhood I know of (between Maple Ave, Prospect Ave, Ackerman Ave, and Broad Street) that splits between Glen Rock and Ridgewood. You would have no idea if you were in Glen Rock or Ridgewood by just walking through it.
Property taxes are higher in Glen Rock. Avg house in Glen Rock is around ~$550K while Ridgewood is ~$670K. If you like Ridgewood you will like Glen Rock.
GR is like Ridgewood's little brother who's trying hard to fill his big shoes. Similar neighborhood feel, good schools, a little downtown. Just not same history, downtown or school reputation. I know it's odd but growing up close by in a more middle class town, I always pictured Ridgewood as the town Leave It to Beaver would be filmed in. Martini lunches, fat cigars and tennis at the country club. Judge Smails from Caddyshack would fit in in the Ridgewood I remember. Fine citizens raising fine children who went to the best NE universities. So there's definitely a snob factor going on.
Now there are lots of good reasons to choose GR. But if you're always going to be pining for Ridgewood...get a house in Ridgewood.
If it was not for the fact that GR was next to RW, GR would be the RW anywhere else.
GR lives in the shadow of RW, but is smaller and quieter. and enjoys all the good things that RW is known for, but doesn't have the reputation of RW.
So the perception of house buyers is that they want to buy in RW because of reputation. That makes comparing only RW and GR, seem GR is a "lower" house price.
As far as quality of life, they are the same.
If it matters to you that you can say "I live in Ridgewood" buy in RW
After that, buy in either town according to the best house value that suits you
GR is like Ridgewood's little brother who's trying hard to fill his big shoes. Similar neighborhood feel, good schools, a little downtown. Just not same history, downtown or school reputation.
This. Couldn't have said it better. As Oltown mentioned, GR taxes are very high. Out of 70 towns in Bergen county, GR ranks #15 among the highest effective property tax rates in the county (RW is 38).
I'd throw Allendale and Hohokus into the mix if I were you. Both of these towns are quiet, not huge like RW and just as prestigious. Both towns feed to Northern Highlands HS which I feel is on par if not better than GR or RW school systems and have access to trains for NYC commute.
We bought our home in Wyckoff few years ago since NYC commute is a nonfactor but if it was, I'd consider Allendale, Hohokus and RW (though my wife hates RW). Growing up in the area since the 80's, I've never liked GR for whatever reason so that town wasn't a consideration for me. Mean no offense to anyone, just another man's opinion...
Last edited by Ivan Putski; 05-09-2014 at 10:22 AM..
[quote=rural_urban;34722894]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.
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). With this you'll also notice that the high schools have different enrollment (Ridgewood being bigger than Glen Rock.) Here's some other differences I notice:
The downtown: Ridgewood's downtown is bigger and more "locally famous" than Glen Rocks.
Expensive homes: Ridgewood has more homes available than Glen Rock when it comes to homes $1 mil and up.
Pool: Ridgewood has a sand pool while Glen Rock has an in-ground pool.
The Name: Ridgewood for some reason has that "name" that everyone wants to be associated with.
There's actually a neighborhood I know of (between Maple Ave, Prospect Ave, Ackerman Ave, and Broad Street) that splits between Glen Rock and Ridgewood. You would have no idea if you were in Glen Rock or Ridgewood by just walking through it.
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