When Corey Kaylor learned two years ago that his medical brokerage was transferring him to New Jersey, his wife, Michelle, was excited to return to the Northeast, where she grew up. But after years of traveling across the country — most recently six years in Arizona — neither she nor anyone else in the family knew much about life in the New York metropolitan area.
While on a reconnaissance mission in September 2020, driving through Bergen County in North Jersey, they came across Ridgewood, which reminded Mr. Kaylor of the fictional town depicted in the TV series ‘The Gilmore Girls’.
“We knew nothing about the area at all, but we fell in love with Ridgewood,” says Ms. Kaylor, 45, a real estate agent. “It felt like Stars Hollow, with all the alfresco dining and a guy playing guitar in the town square. My husband said, ‘Hey, they even have a city troubadour here.’”
But finding a home in Ridgewood at the height of the pandemic-driven suburban migration wasn’t easy. The Kaylors lost five bidding wars before finally purchasing a 100-year-old, five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom Tudor-style home in June of last year for $1.28 million.
The Kaylors’ discovery of Ridgewood comes as no surprise to Christine Gubb, a real estate agent at Keller Williams who has lived in the Bergen County village for 50 years. “Ridgewood is on everyone’s radar,” said Ms. Gubb, 65. “If someone moves to this area, and they ask, ‘Where do I go?’ they are told, ‘Go to Ridgewood.’”
For more than a century, the village has attracted professionals who are drawn to its highly regarded schools, the commercial district with its restaurants and luxury shops, and the large houses.
With two small children and a third on the way, Allyse and Raymond Bader decided last winter it was time to leave their two-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and explore the possibilities in Connecticut, Westchester County, and North Jersey. . Ridgewood seemed to fit well together, reminiscent of what Ms. Bader, 37, called “that Upper West Side feel, with the old and new architecture that was interesting and beautiful.” In May, the couple closed a five-bedroom Tudor-style home built in 1930 and completely renovated in 2014, paying $1.9 million — about $200,000 above the asking price.
Their June move-in date was postponed when Ms. Bader, who works in curriculum development at Columbia University’s Teachers College, had given birth two weeks earlier. Now a mother of three, she anticipates moving to “a beautiful, walkable city and a really strong community,” she said. “I just can’t wait to be settled.”
Esther and Josh Louis are another couple who left the Upper West Side for Ridgewood. For the past year, the couple and their 7-year-old son, Henry, have lived in Mr. Louis’ parents’ home and slept in his nursery. In July, they move into the four-bedroom Colonial Hall that they purchased for $1,457 million.
“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster,” said Ms. Louis, 48, senior manager at the Royal Bank of Canada. “We’re looking forward to finally getting off this ride.”
What you will find
Ridgewood has six residential areas named after nearby elementary schools: three on the east side of the train tracks that cut through the village, and three on the west side.
A neighborhood in the Ridge District on the west side, The Heights has streets high enough to offer views of the New York City skyline, and the houses there are among the most expensive in the village. But many of Ridgewood’s roughly 26,000 residents prefer to live on the east side, within walking distance of high school and downtown.
Much of the housing was built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, after train lines expanded west from New York and Ridgewood became a summer getaway for city dwellers. The facades of these older Victorian and Colonial homes have remained largely intact, although many interiors have been drastically altered.
“Buyers love the charm of the historic homes on the outside, but they want the insides completely updated,” said Christina Gibbons, an agent with Christie’s International Real Estate and a 16-year-old resident of the village. “If it’s renovated at all, it’s a home run; if they have to do it themselves, they might pause.”
While families with children are drawn to the schools, Ridgewood also appeals to those seeking a metropolitan environment. After realizing that she could do most of her association management remotely, Susanne Warfield left New York City 16 years ago in search of a quieter place with a sense of life. She paid $687,000 for a four-bedroom Dutch Colonial home in Ridgewood, which she shares with her 75-pound German Pointer, Harry.
“I’m a single, professional woman, and I didn’t want to be in a place where there were just houses,” said Ms. Warfield, 60. “I like that there are so many restaurants. And every morning many people walk by. I don’t have kids in the school system, which is responsible for most of our taxes, but that’s the cost of doing business and living in a place like this.”
What do you pay?
In late June, the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service listed 35 homes for sale in Ridgewood, with an average list price of $1.15 million. The most expensive was a five-bedroom Mediterranean-style house built in the early 1900s on 0.8 acres, valued at $2.85 million; the least expensive was a four-bedroom colonial built in the 1950s, priced at $545,000.
The median price of the 136 homes sold through June 22 of this year was $961,500; in the same period in 2021, 143 homes were sold at a median of $810,000.
Rentals are scarce. While four new complexes have been added in recent years, most apartment buildings have waiting lists. Recently available apartments include a one-bedroom unit in the older Mayflower Apartments for $1,890 a month and a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath unit in Dayton, a newer building near the center of the village, for $5,730.
the atmosphere
Downtown Ridgewood has more than 100 restaurants and an equal number of shops in the streets surrounding Van Neste Square Memorial Park, in the center of the city. The village is also a cultural hub: Bookend’s bookstore is a stop on many authors’ autograph tours, and the Ridgewood Guild International Film Festival is held annually at the 1932 Art Deco Warner Theater, now a Bow Tie Cinema.
A popular meeting point is Graydon Pool, a natural swimming hole in the center of the village with swimming programs, tennis and pickleball courts, and playgrounds, with seasonal memberships for $130 (or $30 for seniors). Part of the 577-acre Saddle River County Park — including a mallard duck pond and dog park — is also located in Ridgewood.
The schools
Ridgewood’s six elementary schools—Hawes, Orchard, Ridge, Somerville, Travell, and Willard—determine the neighborhoods and, to some extent, residents’ experience of living in the village, as families tend to pledge loyalty to their local schools.
Preschoolers attend Glen School, while sixth through eighth grades attend Benjamin Franklin or George Washington Middle School.
Ridgewood High School serves approximately 1,700 students and is consistently ranked among the best public high schools in the state, with 94 percent of students attending college. The high school offers 69 honors classes and 30 Advanced Placement courses. The 2020-21 mean SAT scores were 635 for literacy and 651 for math, compared to state averages of 557 and 560.
Private school options in the area include Academy of Our Lady, a Catholic school in Glen Rock that serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade, and Immaculate Heart Academy, a Catholic high school for girls in Washington Township.
the commute
New Jersey Transit provides train and bus services between Ridgewood and New York City.
Trains to Manhattan’s Penn Station take about an hour, with a change in Secaucus; tickets are $9.75 one way or $298 for a monthly pass. NJ Transit buses 163 and 164 make the journey from Van Neste Square to Port Authority in Manhattan in 80 to 90 minutes; the fare is $7 for a one-way ticket or $199 for a monthly pass.
The history
The spring-fed Graydon Pool—more like a pond than a pool—was created in the 1920s by damming part of Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and expanded in 1936 as part of a Works Progress Administration project. In 2009, a debate erupted over a proposal to replace the 2.68-acre sandy-bottomed swimming hole with a concrete-lined, chlorinated pool. But the recession put an end to that effort and the pool remains in its natural state today.
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