In addition to what the other folks are saying about the Elk’s, street conditions, garage etc. don’t underestimate the wireless towers. Wireless towers while improving wireless phone service come with a lot of bad side effects. The radiation (especially for those living close to it) is very dangerous for young children. In addition after installing a tower chances are the providers will add more on top of just repeaters. They can add microwave equipment which is a killer. I know many people are complaining about their wireless coverage at home but the benefit is much less than the damage. Not to mention these towers are an eyesore and tend to affect real estate. When I was looking to buy in NJ one the good reasons to buy in Ridgewood was the lack of wireless towers and high voltage lines.
This VC is obviously blind to this becuase the residents have expressed a need for quality of service. Many don’t even think when they ask for something. Anyone knows where the tower/s will be installed?
Many NJ seniors won’t qualify for property-tax reimbursement because program was capped at $70K following Great Recession — and that’s where the cap remains
A recent poll of New Jersey voters indicated the top issue this gubernatorial election year is the state’s notoriously high property taxes. Ever-rising property tax bills are also a particularly troubling issue for the state’s senior citizens because many are living on fixed incomes.
Yet the most recent state budget signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie earlier this month included fine print written quietly into budget documents that will keep many seniors from being able to collect sizable reimbursement checks that are offered through one of the state’s most popular property-tax relief programs.
The budget language effectively overrides the state law that funds the “senior freeze” Property Tax Reimbursement Program by lowering the program’s annual income cap from near $90,000 to $70,000. The cost-cutting measure started as the state faced deep budget problems in the wake of the Great Recession, but it has been maintained ever since even as revenue collections have now rebounded.
In the past, Democratic lawmakers have tried to block the income-cap change, but Christie, a second-term Republican, has used the line-item veto pen to override their wishes. But this year, Democrats prioritized increased funding for local school districts and several other programs in a budget showdown with Christie, leaving the frozen senior-freeze income cap in place for another year. That means it will likely be up to the state’s next governor to determine whether New Jersey seniors will eventually be made whole.
Listening to Wall Street based business reporting you would believe that the nation’s foreclosure crisis is in the nation’s rear view mirror. Yet, in New Jersey in places like Newark, East Orange, Paterson and Atlantic City foreclosures are hollowing out entire primarily African-American neighborhoods. Go to any on line real estate tracking site like Zillow and you can see the carnage depicted graphically. Atlantic City has the highest foreclosure rate in the country.
On the ground in these places it has meant vacant zombie homes, where families were pressured out, and banks have failed to re-market these distressed properties, and they continue to depress local property values. Sometimes the derelict properties catch fire and threaten the lives of those left behind. For those remaining families in these places, that are desperately trying to hold on to their homes, this downward spiral makes holding on even harder, as they find their mortgages sinking deeper and deeper underwater.
But that is not the only economic force drowning these folks, as they tried to hold on to their piece of the American dream that often has been in their family for a couple of generations. The local governments have tried to make up for the slide of their ratable base by raising property taxes. In some cases like Atlantic City by double digits as in 2014 when that City’s property levy spiked by 29 percent in one year.
Ridgewood NJ, The American dream is more than owning a home. It’s owning the right home–one customized through renovations to build wealth and reflect your tastes. But most people don’t have the knowledge to make smart financial decisions around renovations, resulting in disaster: too much debt, costly delays, and even foreclosure.
According to Hearth [www.gethearth.com]—a financial tech startup that aims to restore the American dream of owning the right home—there are 8 questions to ask to avoid financial disaster while working towards that American dream:
#1: HOW MUCH DEBT DO YOU HOLD?
Calculate your debt to income ratio—your overall debt to your overall income. The lower the ratio, the more loans you may qualify for.
#2: HOW MUCH HOME EQUITY DO YOU HAVE?
That’s your home’s value, minus any debts you owe on the house. You can pledge your equity to a lender, freeing up cash and getting low loan rates.
#3: HOW’S YOUR CREDIT?
Your credit score is calculated based on personal factors like current debt and payment history. The higher it is, the better interest rates you’ll receive on a loan—so be honest with yourself.
#4: WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING TO MOVE?
How long you plan to stay in your home affects your loan repayment period. Will you pay it off over 30 years, or do you need to pay it off in 7?
#5: DO YOU—AND WILL YOU CONTINUE TO—HAVE A STEADY JOB?
Knowing you’ll have a steady source of income over a several year period gives you confidence you’ll be able to pay off your whole loan.
#6: WHAT’S YOUR BUDGET?
Talk to a few different contractors to get a sense of how much you’re going to have to spend. If you start without an estimate, you’ll end up overspending.
#7: WHAT IS YOUR PROJECT’S TIMELINE?
If you’re strapped for time, a personal loan can deliver funds within days. But if you have time to spare, you can get home improvement loans. They take longer to release funds, but have lower rates.
#8: WILL THE RENOVATION ADD VALUE TO YOUR HOME?
Talk to a contractor and find out if your renovations will pay off—and what you can change to make them worth even more. Simple switches like marble instead of granite countertops can add measurable value.
As part of its mission, Hearth prepared the ultimate guide to home improvement loans (read it here: https://www.gethearth.com/guides/home-improvement-loans). Written with input from personal finance experts, it teaches homeowners how to make smart financial decisions about investing in their homes
Ridgewood NJ, while Paramus’s Jimmy Criscione leads the North Jersey contingent into the 96th New Jersey Junior Championship.
Davis Weil of Ridgewood who as a junior, led Ridgewood to its first trip to the state Group 4 final in several years joins the list of Bergen County golf heavyweights.
Monday will feature an 18-hole stroke-play qualifier, with the low score 16 advancing to Tuesday morning’s first round match play. With the final of this New Jersey State Golf Association event on Wednesday afternoon.
The 47th Boys Championship will run simultaneously .The Boys Championship is for ages 15 and under and will feature Liam White of Ridgewood among the 18 players competing for the title.
Your figures are 100% wrong and worse yet, don’t tell the complete picture. There are currently 94 homes for sale in Ridgewood, not 200. There are over 7,400 homes in Ridgewood, so 94 is hardly significant. You fail to point out that median home prices have gone up in Ridgewood more than in the surrounding towns. You also failed to mention that homes for sale in Ridgewood stay a very short number of days on the market. This all means that for every person who is selling, there are a lot more folks looking to buy. If you really are in the real estate market, you need to brush up on your data and the principles of supply and demand.
FYI the current Ridgewood market snapshot as of right this minute: 91 Available 68 Under Contract 187 Sold (since 1/1/2017) As for age ranges and motivation, all that is opinion and conjecture.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Master Plan is set to get an update. In what seemed like news to many Ridgewood residents the Village Master Plan has not been updated in 30 years .
A master plan is a guiding document that sets zoning throughout a municipality, but also offers a vision and objectives for shaping the look and traffic circulation of a community.
master planner Robert Moses
The 1983 Master plan represented the vision of Ridgewood at that time . A lot has changed in the Village in 30 years and this may open the door for a major up date in all elements .
Yes a lot has changed ; like the Valley Hospital H-zone and of coarse the massive increase high density housing in the Central Business District all of which many residents thought happened because of changes in the Master plan.
Mayor Susan Knudsen called ,”this is the most exciting thing that we are ever going to do “.
The Master Plan document is divided by main topics, called “elements”. A Master Plan has three components for a master plan 1) the goals and objectives 2) land use element this is the element that most closely corresponds with your zoning map and zoning regulations and 3) the housing plan element .
On Tuesday night the Ridgewood Planning Board formed a four-member master plan subcommittee, assigned with spearheading efforts to revise the village’s comprehensive land-use document in its first complete overhaul since 1983.
$250,000 has been set a side in the Village budget to do a proper master plan and the entire process could take over one year .
I’m in the real estate market in the village, and we have close to 200 homes for sale. 40% of them are senior citizens, the rest are people that are bailing out. And they all tell me that this town is overrated. The schools are not number one anymore, the services are not the same they have declined, and the taxes are too high. This is what they are alerting me to.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Train Station Historic district includes Garber and Wilsey Square and the the entire train station plaza ie the parking lot and is known as the Ridgewood central railroad Historic district .
Ridgewood would need an DEP approval to add additional parking at the Historic Train Station. The Village engineer Christopher Rutishauser had already submitted the application to the DEP and that application was challenged at the Council Meeting on Wednesday Night by Cynthia Halaby claiming it held many erroneous assertions .
In recent discussions the Village Council has been challenged by several Village committees and residents of the loss of green space at the train station . These are the same individuals and committees who supported clear cutting 5 acres of trees at Schedler Park.
Amazing how when a pota-potty sat in the train station median for months in 2015 no one uttered a peep about its visibility at the Ridgewood Train Station Historic district..
Ridgewood NJ,Special Properties Real Estate Services has opened an office on West Ridgewood Avenue. The Real Estate Services company has continue its expansion throughout Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Passaic and Sussex counties. The new Ridgewood office will be located at 50 W. Ridgewood Avenue.
Sonja Cullaro, director of business development for Special Properties Real Estate Services, said. “The establishment of a Ridgewood presence enhances consumer access to our powerhouse real estate operation that combines the global reach of Christie’s with the local personal touch of Special Properties, which has served the region for decades.”
Special Properties,is a Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate, said its new office is located in the heart of Ridgewood’s central business district near the Ridgewood Train station.
Special Properties’ services include local and global print marketing, event marketing, public relations and media campaigns. The firm was started in 1992 in Saddle River.
Ridgewood NJ, At the end of last year, PropertyShark compiled a list of the most expensive zip codes in the U.S., and 2 New Jersey zip codes made the cut: Alpine’s 07620 landed the 44th spot on our list, and Short Hills’ 07078 landed the 88th. This year, PropertyShark took a closer look at the market and round up the most expensive zip codes in New Jersey.
The top three zip codes on our list will come as no surprise; the most expensive zip code on our list is occupied by Alpine’s 07620. with the medium price of $2,050,000. The next zip code in the state is Short Hills’ 07078, with a median home price of $1,430,000. The third priciest zip code on our list is Stone Harbor’s 08247, with a median home price of $1,110,000.
Ridgewood’s 07450 came in 26th with the median price of $712,500 with 350 real-estate transactions.
Hoboken’s 07030 ranked 33 but the small city had the largest number of residential transactions in the past year, with 830 sales closed here in 2016, at a median price of $685,000.
The methodology: In order to determine which were the most expensive ZIP codes in New Jersey, PropertyShark looked at all residential transactions closed in 2016, taking into account condo, co-op, single- and two-family homes. All package deals were excluded.
Check out the full list of New Jersey zip codes below:
By Josh Barbanel Published March 01, 2017 Economic Indicators Dow Jones Newswires
Home sales in New Jersey surged in January, continuing a trend of strengthening sales as the employment picture continues to improve.
Sales of new and existing homes in January increased 14% compared with the same month in 2016, and rose 31% from 2015, according a market report by Jeffrey Otteau, president of the Otteau Group, an appraisal and consulting firm.
“Looking ahead, expectations for deregulation and tax cuts are likely to further boost sales, particularly for luxury homes, which have lagged since the start of the last recession,” Mr. Otteau said in an email.
The report showed that the pace of sales increased for the 29th consecutive month, with activity in January the highest for the month since 2005.
At the same time, the inventory of unsold homes fell to the lowest January level since 2005. Most of the state’s 21 counties had a normal balance between supply and demand, the report said.
Ridgewood NJ, Michael Fidanza, a New Jersey licensed real estate broker,announced the opening of a new brokerage, Positive Impact Realty, LLC, located in Ridgewood. Prior to opening Positive Impact Realty, Mr. Fidanza was a licensed salesperson for large franchise broker in Ridgewood for nearly five years.
“Positive Impact Realty was created differently from the very start. We put relationships before profits because people are more important than numbers,” said Mr. Fidanza, founder and broker/owner. “Our mission is to have a positive, meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of our clients, neighbors and communities in which we serve.”
Mr. Fidanza has been a resident of Ridgewood since 1995 and of Bergen County for much of his entire life. His background has been in technology and related industries and professions since 1979. In 2012, Mr. Fidanza joined Keller Williams in Ridgewood and was quite comfortable with their technology-strong agent platforms.
To augment the brokerage offerings, Mr. Fidanza will bring his knowledge and expertise in new media – specifically podcasting, blogging, and publishing on digital and traditional platforms, to the company. “In 2017, we will be launching community-centric initiatives to help residents and groups throughout the year,” said Mr. Fidanza.
Based in Ridgewood, Positive Impact Realty will cover the towns across Northern Bergen County. The main focus of the brokerage will be listing and selling residential properties including luxury homes, new construction, rentals and relocations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans shrugged off rising mortgage rates and bought existing homes in January at the fastest pace since 2007. That has set off bidding wars that have pushed up prices as the supply of available homes has dwindled to record lows.
Home sales rose 3.3 percent in January from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.
Steady job gains, modest pay raises and rising consumer confidence are spurring healthy home buying even as borrowing costs have risen since last fall. Some potential buyers may be accelerating their home purchases to get ahead of any further increases in mortgage rates. With few homes available for sale, buyers are pressured to rapidly close a deal as they find a suitable property.
The typical house for sale was on the market for just 50 days last month, compared with 64 days a year ago. Strong demand is pushing up median home prices, which jumped 7.1 percent from a year earlier to $228,900.
Just 1.69 million homes were on the market nationwide in January, near the lowest level since records began in 1999. It would take just 3.6 months to deplete that supply at the current pace of sales, matching a record low reached in December. Supply is usually equal to about six months of sales in a balanced housing market.
The supply crunch will likely get worse during the upcoming spring buying season, economists say, as demand typically rises by more than supply during that time.
