And Asians, who account for 10 percent of the Bergen County population, account for one out of every four Closter residents. Many of the new residents are Koreans, who came in two large groups over 10 years. There's a more comfortable feeling in the area. If the schools act as a draw, so, too, do the area's many older homes, with their arched windows, mansard roofs, and numerous decorative touches. Patricia Cerame, a real estate broker at Coldwell Banker's residential brokerage in Closter, said old world charm is a plus.
People are more apt to pay for it because there are so few in the area.
In the United States we don't restore, we tear down. Mike and Kathy Murray said they see that happen all the time among newcomers to the West Street area. They blame the high cost of land in the area, which dictates construction of larger, more luxurious homes. Their home might have suffered the same fate, but they chose instead to restore the dilapidated 1880 carriage house they purchased in an estate sale eight years ago. Now, Mike, an electrician, tinkers with a pair of Model A Fords he keeps in the back yard, trying to breathe new life into a vehicle that helped transform railroad suburbs such as Closter into modern bedroom communities.