Housing Program in Bergen County

Home > Bergen County Real Estate News > March 2008 - week 2

Bergen county news with an emphasis on aspects affecting real estate, residency and community issues.

Housing program for Bergen County
Small towns of Bergen County to merge
Luxury houses prove threat to nature
Population steady in Bergen County
Realtors specialize for home buyers

Housing program for Bergen County

A new program for housing in Bergen County and the neighborhood is now in the making by a state agency. Titled 'live where you work', this program aims to encourage home buyers to purchase homes in the towns where they live. The program requires that each participating town chalk out a marketing and promotion plan to attract homebuyers. Examples of such plans include down payment and financial assistance, special discounts and savings on homes for people who live there. Also limits would apply depending upon the cost of the home and the income of the homebuyer. Thus a house in Bergen County purchase limit for a single family home stands at $429,619. Also the family income limit stands at $87,500. While any home buyer is encouraged to purchase homes in the region where he works, first time home buyers are the main target segment. However while the program was launched in February 2008, till date only one municipal plan for Trenton has been approved.

Small towns of Bergen County to merge

Among all towns of Bergen County, there are many that are extremely small in size. These include names like Little Ferry, East Rutherford and Moonachie to name a few. As per Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey, the small size of these towns is increasing costs for the residents. In order to control these costs, it has been suggested that the small towns merge with the large towns in the neighborhood in order to create economies of scale. As per this new incentive, towns with population between 5000 and 10,000 must merge with bigger neighboring towns or else the state aid offered to them would be cut by half. Finally towns like Moonachie, where population is less than 5000 would not get any state aid if they do not merge with the neighboring towns. Residents are upset with these terms as many like their town for its compact size. However as per Corzine, the move is stated as a necessary one in order to address the fiscal crisis that is looming large on the state.

Luxury houses prove threat to nature

As officials of New Jersey give permission to build condominiums in certain areas of the Palisades, many residents in the neighborhood are expressing concern. Wide sections of the rocky cliffs of Palisades would be cut off to enable development. The Palisades that stretch over the west banks of the Hudson River are a natural treasure, but many are disappointed to see different high rise complexes, obstructing the view and the natural balance of the Palisades. For one, luxury townhouses have come up on the northeastern tip of North Bergen. With various builders doing cutting away portions of the Palisades as they please once they obtain a permit, environmentalists are now concerned. A major rock slide or collapse is just one of the effects that can take place. Geologists also add that with the development work still on, and no regulation to control what builders do, the overall stability of the Palisades is now at stake.

Population steady in Bergen County

Bergen County is the most populous county out of the 21 counties in New Jersey as per statistics, and continues to remain so. However one emerging issue of concern may be a decrease in population in regions like the Burlington county, Cape May, Hudson County, Essex county and Union County. The main reasons cited for decreasing population in various counties has been a flat housing market and attraction towards housing options with lower taxes. Also many retirees of the baby boom generation are moving out of the state for a cheaper life. Despite all these concerns that may spell further population decreases, many experts are content to note that population in New Jersey has remained steady. Statistics from census data reveal that from June 2006 to July 2007, population in New Jersey has in fact risen by 0.2% from 8.66 million to 8.68 million.

Realtors specialize for home buyers

As the housing market reaches an all time low, many sellers are luring buyers through new attractions. Realtors are using their specializations in areas as diverse as architecture, PR, to advertising to attract buyers, who in turn are using the expertise of these people for their advantage. Different realtors report that each buyer is different. For the elderly segment, patience and perseverance is what pays off in the end. However for the younger buyers, most are seeking new attractions in their housing or are looking for good architecture. Statistics by the RealSource association of realtors report that in Bergen County alone14% of the agents has a specialty. This usually ranges from serving senior citizens, serving second home buyers, specializing in home sales in specific towns or sales of properties to international buyers.

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