21. A Worked Example: What a $1.4 Million Ridgewood Home Costs to Own
Section 19 describes the typical $1.4 million purchase: a four-bedroom colonial built around 1935 on a quarter acre. This page adds up what it costs to own, line by line, using the figures from the rest of this report. Where a line depends on the buyer (the mortgage rate, the insurance quote), the assumption is stated so you can substitute your own.
Assumptions: purchase price $1,400,000; 20 percent down; a 30-year fixed mortgage of $1,120,000 at 6.5 percent (an illustration, not a quote; substitute the rate you are offered); one train commuter; family of four; 5/8-inch water meter; the house is not in a flood zone.
Year one
| Line | Monthly | Annual | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Principal and interest | $7,079 | $84,948 | Standard amortization at the assumed rate |
| Property tax, year one | $1,717 | $20,600 | Typical 2025-26 buyer: assessed at about half of price, at the 2025 rate (Section 2) |
| Homeowner’s insurance | † | † | Two or three carrier quotes; pre-war house, possible slate roof and tank history move the number (Section 16) |
| Water, 25,000 gallons a quarter | $84 | $1,008 | Ridgewood Water 2026 rates, including the PFAS surcharge (Section 16) |
| Sewer, garbage, recycling, leaves | $0 | $0 | Inside the tax bill (Section 16) |
| Electric, PSE&G benchmark | $180 | $2,163 | BPU 650 kWh benchmark; a colonial with central air runs higher in summer (Section 16) |
| Natural gas | † | † | BPU gas supply order (Section 16) |
| Station parking, resident Premium permit | $125 | $1,500 | If one is available; call first (Section 13) |
| NJ Transit monthly pass, Ridgewood to New York | $362 | $4,344 | Fare effective July 1, 2026; $300 a month to Hoboken (Section 13) |
| Graydon Pool, family of four | $47 | $560 | 2026 in-season rate; $504 early bird (Section 9) |
| Lead service line, if financed | $22 | $267 | Only if the line is lead or galvanized and you take the 30-year assessment (Section 16) |
| Cited subtotal, excluding insurance and gas | $9,616 | $115,390 |
Add a maintenance reserve. A common rule for a pre-war house is 1 to 2 percent of value a year, which on this house is $14,000 to $28,000; that is a planning figure, not a bill, and Section 12 lists what it tends to get spent on.
Year two and after: the revaluation
The year-one tax line is the number a buyer inherits from the seller’s assessment. It does not survive the 2027 revaluation. For the typical recent buyer, assessed at about 51 percent of price against a Village ratio of 60.5 percent, the reset moves the bill up by roughly 19 percent, before any budget growth (Section 2).
| Property tax | Annual | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Year one, on the seller’s assessment | $20,600 | $1,717 |
| 2027, after the revaluation, same levy | about $24,500 | about $2,040 |
| 2028, adding 4 to 5 percent a year of levy growth (Sections 6, 7) | about $25,600 | about $2,130 |
The conservative planning figure used in Sections 2 and 6, about 1.94 percent of purchase price, gives $27,200 a year; it is the Village-wide average and slightly above what this specific buyer should expect, which is why it is the right number to budget with.
What the example says
The mortgage is three-quarters of the monthly cost, and nothing in this report changes it. The tax line is the one that changes, and it changes in a known direction on a known date; a buyer who budgets $1,700 a month for taxes in 2026 and $2,100 in 2028 is not surprised. The Village and utility lines together, water, parking, pool and the lead line, run about $3,300 a year on this house, and the water portion has been rising 8 to 9 percent a year with the treatment program not yet finished. The train pass and the parking permit together are about $5,800 a year, more than the water bill and the pool combined. Insurance and gas are the two lines this report cannot fill in for you, and on a house of this age each is plausibly larger than the water bill.
What I tell my buyers: the lender qualifies you on principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Ridgewood adds three lines the lender never sees: the 2027 tax reset, the parking permit, and the water bill. Put all three in the spreadsheet before the offer, and the spreadsheet will be right for the next five years.
† Figures marked with a dagger are best-effort research, so verify them with the issuing office (the Village of Ridgewood, the school district, the county, the state or the utility) before making judgment calls or decisions on them.
I’ll walk you through what any of this means for a specific house, your budget, or your tax bill. No obligation, and nothing to sign up for.