Maplewood NJ Block Party

The more homes in New Jersey that I have shown you, the more you have heard me say: “I like my house, but I LOVE my street.”

I say it partly to emphasize the idea that no house is perfect and as potential home buyers we all have to make some compromises. And, partly because it is absolutely the truth.

Block Party games

I do love my “street”. When my family moved here, we had no idea that we landed among some of the best neighbors anywhere. And, our Annual Block Party in Maplewood, NJ is the day we come together to celebrate our luck of geography!

IMHO, this is undoubtedly the most family friendly place to live.

When the weather starts to get warm, we begin to think about “readying up” for some good old fashion family fun. Hula hoops come out for practice. Adults and kids start sizing each other up for “good” egg toss partners (must be unrelated/married pairs). And suddenly everyone is fighting over one dining room chair (only slightly kidding).

June through September is “Block Party Season”. Starting around 4:00PM on a chosen Saturday afternoon, we close off our street (with Maplewood town approval of course), and gather together with a mix of lawn chairs, folding tables, coolers, food and drink.

Some folks “man” the grill. Some organize the various “salads and sides” that are brought – pot luck style. Some organize the “games”.  Kids and Adults “compete” for the thrill and pride of being the Block Party Victor. Musical chairs is not for the faint of heart!!!

Obviously I am partial to MY block party. But, these events are happening all over Maplewood and South Orange. And every block will swear that theirs is the best. I don’t mind that. After all, it says a lot about our two towns. To compete over who has the best and friendliest street!!! That is a place that I want to call my hometown.

Sound good to you? If so, call me and I’ll get you “in”…

Interest rates  continue to be at records lows. First time home buyers, I get it, you were in high school when rates were in the double digits, trust me they REALLY were that high!!! 5% is a GREAT place to be.

Today, in this market, at these prices, great homes (the ones you all want) are selling like hotcakes! In the fall we were seeing buyers  sit on the sidelines and wait for the market to “maybe” go even lower, and now the shift the past few weeks is that buyers are realizing that homes are selling instantly when they are priced right.

Despite having a great shoreline, New Jersey is not a “sand state”(read: Texas, Florida, Arizona). We are located near THE CITY (as we locals call it around here). Manhattan  is not going anywhere and what are the three major selling points in New Jersey Real Estate …(everyone say it with me)… LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!  Not even 9/11 could stop people from wanting to live within commuting distance to Manhattan , and it’s no different today.  Mid-town direct trains get you to Penn Station  within an hour from Madison  and Chatham , within 4o minutes from Summit  and Millburn/Short Hills   and within a half hour from Maplewood  and South Orange .
The best stuff is coming on the market and it is moving fast. Our team just had a home in Chatham sell within days of being listed on the market and with 9 offers (ABOVE asking Price)! With a recent Maplewood buyer, I saw a home as soon as it came to market at the Realtor Open House, knew it was perfect for my clients and had them come out THAT NIGHT! They loved it,  made a strong offer and were under contract within a week! The listing agent said: “Can it be possible, the first people to see this home on the very first day to market will be the ones!” (Answer: Yes, if they are working with me )
 
Sound familiar? This is not 3 or 4 years ago. This is today – February 2010!!!!

BOTTOM LINE: if you want to buy at house at a great price, with low interest rates and you are ready to make a move. Get your pre-approval letter and call me. And, let’s get you a good deal on a great  home before it is gone!

Yours to count on,

Tracy Freeman, Buyer Specialist with the Sue Adler Team  917.604.5735  Tracy@SueAdler.com

Go GREEN, Go paperless!

Things have been hopping around here in New Jersey, lots of contracts being written. And, with every Real Estate transaction there is a lot of paperwork but, I’m learning, that doesn’t have to mean a lot of PAPER!

As part of our “GREEN-ing”, we have tried to implement paperless transactions where ever possible. Emailing, Faxing and Online listing databases and transaction management calendars, as well as shared online files have certainly paved the way to reducing the amount of paper used. Before the online MLS, each agent had an MLS book, full of all of the active listing for a given area (currently there are 457 homes available in: Maplewood, South Orange, Summit and Millburn alone). What a waste of paper!

When I schedule Buyer Appointments, I print out as few (if any) copies of the MLS listing sheets as possible. Instead, my clients and I review online listing and narrow down our home selections online. And, I have noticed that my clients no longer want to take every piece of paper that the Listing Agents leave out. Savvy buyer’s think: “I can pull up everything on my phone…why carry around a bunch of papers and kill more trees.” Love That!

I have a client whose profession has caused him to transfer locations (and homes) 7 times in the past 15 years. He and his wife have actually purchased 2 of these homes completely online – not having stepped foot into them until they were the owners.

As a GREEN REALTOR there are two sites are the backbone of my GREEN paper (less) work trail: NJAR.com which provides Realtors with access to online copies of all forms needed for any Real Estate Transaction and Docusign.com which provides the ability to securely obtain digital signatures (considered legal). I am sure they are not the only game in town, but I am really happy with their product.

When all is said and done we have clear, legible documents that everyone can read, because they haven’t been copied/scanned/faxed a million time and you didn’t have to schlep around town (wasting gas) getting original signatures. Best of all you avoid the mounds of wasted paper copies along the way.

So next time you go out with me to look at a house, let’s bring our smartphones and view the listings online.

Paper copies are sooooo last year!

Tracy Freeman, REALTOR GREEN
Buyer Specialist

I was stopped at a light at the corner of Morris Tpke. and Millburn Ave. when four teenage girls, say 14 or 15 years old, nearly gave the “MOM”in me a heart attack. Two of the girls dangerously ignored the cross signal and road their bikes across the busy street narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic. The other two waited until it was slightly safer to ride across, but if any of their mothers had been there..OY!

In our area the number of residents who are thinking along the same lines seems to be hitting a critical mass. On July 21st a vote on this issue is scheduled at the Millburn Township Committee Meeting. If passed, it will provide bike lanes and safer bike travel around a portion of South Mountain Reservation from Brookside Drive to Ridgewood Road. The project is supposed to include striping along Glen Avenue, road markers with the bicycle symbol, and kiosks with information about the path and signs. In addition to running along Glen Avenue, the path would link to downtown Millburn on Lackawanna Place. Now this is something everyone (especially all of us Greenies) would love to see happen!

Even more exciting news! From what I understand, our other midtown train towns are in various stages of their own Bike Path projects. Imagine being able to ride a bike from town to town along the train line. Maplewood to Millburn to Short Hills Station to Summit and to Chatham! How cool would that be? For our environment and our thighs!

I will keep you posted on the results of the meeting. If all goes well, the project in Millburn could be completed by the Fall!

As a person, I think green in good. As a home owner, I think an energy efficienct home is good. As a mom, I think Sustainability is good. And, I thought I was contributing a decent amount to the green movement. I recycle a lot, I use reusable shopping bags religiously, I only give my children Organic Milk and I shop locally and organically whenever possible.

But, I don’t or didn’t ever stop to really look around my home and examine how green it is.

After two intense days under Mimi Weisinger’s “tutelage” my eyes are open (wider) and I want to do better. Following in the footsteps of the start of the green movement in commerical real estate. I am focusing on the bottom line and over the next 52 weeks vow to make my home more energy efficient and more GREEN.

I live in a 1920’s colonial in Maplewood NJ. So it’s not like I can start from scratch, say by finding a brownfield, remediating the contamination and building a LEED home. No, my steps will have to be more home specific to my existing home and more calculated to fit within our budget.

My husband and I have already done two things to improve our homes “Greeness”. 1.) We have had professionals removed as much of the lead paint from the exterior as possible and repainted it ironically enough green (neither for the movement, nor for our beloved Philadelphia E-A-G-L-E-S, as some of our family and friends may think), 2.) We have replaced all 27 of our old, single-pane windows on the first and second floors with thermal pane/low E windows – which have the added benefit of opening and closing. Yay for us!

So, what’s next. Each week I will set a goal for myself. Our road map of baby steps in moving towards a greener home. This week’s goal will be to evaluate what needs to be done, what we can afford to do and then create a priority list for the next 52 weeks. 365 days from now our Maplewood Home will be greener. Look out Ed Begley Jr. my carbon footprint is getting smaller too!

Feel free to email me with your ideas and wish us luck.

Tracy Freeman

Buyer Specialist, Sue Adler Team

eMail: TracyFreemanRealtor@gmail.com

Mobile: 917.604.5735