House Styles in the Pascack Valley and Bergen County
Real estate in the Pascack Valley and Bergen County has about 6 basic styles of homes for buyers to choose from. Of course there are variations in each particular style, but I want to keep it simple, especially for the first time home buyers out there. What is unique about the housing stock in Bergen County, is on the same street, the ages, sizes, styles, and lot sizes can vary greatly. So here are the basic styles of single family homes available in the Pascack Valley and surrounding Bergen County in New Jersey.
Ranch
This is a single level home. Commonly have a full basement, or built with a crawl space or on a concrete slab. Sometimes larger or added onto ranches are sometimes referred to as an ‘expanded ranch’.
Cape Cod
This home usually has at least 1 bedroom on the 1st floor and the second floor has slanted ceilings with the remaining bedrooms. Many were built in the 1940′s. Often they have dormers. They are considered to either have 1.5 or 1.75 floors. The dormers can be a full dormer on the back, front, both or smaller dormers in the front with windows. Many times, owners will expand cape cods to full 2nd floors for more living area. Cape Cods in this area usually have full basements.
Colonials
Has 2 or more full stories. Bedrooms are all on the upper floors. Many newer colonials have the garage built-in, but common to see attached or detached garages. Colonials in this area often have full basements, but occasionally you will see ones built on a slab or have ‘dutch’ basements. Dutch basements are usually small basements which are home to the hot water heater, furnace and/or boiler. The ‘colonial’ style is very broad. There are all types of colonials, such as side hall, center hall, Tudors, Georgian and the much recently maligned ‘McMansion’.
Bi-Levels
Bi-Levels are the most cookie cutter of all the home styles. Usually there is an entry foyer, with stairs going up and another staircase going down. The bedrooms are found on the 2nd floor, along with the kitchen, dining room, and living room. The 1st floor contains a family room and sometimes another bedroom or den. The garages are built into the house and there is no basement. The bi-level is built on a concrete slab.
Split-Levels
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