http://tr.im/NwwE   Our local NJ schools continue to be strongly ranked - Millburn, Livingston, Chatham, Madison, Summit, Berkeley Heights, New Providence and others are among the top ranked New Jersey public  schools.   So listen up all you suburbia-phobic New Yorkers – come in for the town tours, and visit our great schools….. OK, ”free” may be arguable since you’re paying for it in your taxes,  however, it’s still less expensive than New York private schools, and only a 25 to 45 minute direct train into midtown Manhattan.

The sought after areas of Chatham Borough   and neighboring Chatham Township  share a common heritage and are often referred to as Chatham or The Chathams. If you’re thinking of moving to  NJ, and are looking for an easy commute into NYC, excellent schools, and a great community, here’s a way to get a peak at what this beautiful town has to offer.  You’ll see schools, parks, Main Street shops and restaurants, Chatham train station, as well as  beautiful borough and township neighborhoods.

Then, if I’ve peaked your interest, and you’d like to come in for the real town tours, just give me a call… (973)464-9129

Yours to count on,

Sue

This past Wednesday  I held my 4th annual Client Mix and Mingle Party, which I hold every year so that my clients who have just moved to the area can meet new friends.  Thanks to  the 60 people who attended!   Pictures are up on  facebook   http://www.facebook.com/sueadler  so feel free to check them out!

I’m really grateful for the friends I’ve made through my business and I probably don’t express that enough.  

  Referrals from my clients  now account for 70% of my business and my team is currently #2 in the entire MLS YTD for dollar volume production, and #1 in the midtown direct towns for units! THANK YOU!! 
So…since I do so much relocation, I’ve got this great idea for relocation buyers that I’m finally putting into action. Could use your input…..  I’ve hired a professional videographer to shoot town videos of Millburn, Short Hills, Maplewood, South Orange, Summit, Livingston and Chatham.
I’ve hired a radio host to interview locals and capture your stories about living here on video ( he’s very conversational and puts people at ease right away! ) We’re also interviewing shop and restaurant owners and filming homes that would be typical for the community.  
The goal is to really create a true sense of what is like to live in our towns. If you’re interested in sharing your stories about living here ,  can recommend shop or restaurant owners we should interview, or even just have recommendations on hot spots you feel we must capture, please either post it in comments or email to me at  vip@sueadler.com . We’re shooting Tues and Wed  8/11-12 if we have sunny skies.
 
Thanks so much!

 Sue Adler & Team

So the news of Akram Kwaik opening up a Manhattan Bagel in Summit is music to my ears, that is, if the bagels actually taste like  New York bagels .  Is anyone out there familiar with them?

That brings me to my next question… where are your favorite places to get great bagels around here?  Would you vote for  Livingston Bagel , Bagel Chateau, or Bagels 4 You in Short Hills? Any others?

  ]]> http://njexperts.com/2009/07/17/manhattan-bagel-to-open-in-summit-nj/feed/ 0 http://njexperts.com/2009/07/14/bicycle-bicycle-i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-ode-to-freddie-mercury/ http://njexperts.com/2009/07/14/bicycle-bicycle-i-want-to-ride-my-bicycle-ode-to-freddie-mercury/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:36:11 +0000 tracyfreeman http://njexperts.com/?p=998 Week 3 of my “Greener Evolution”.

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!

Save these dates and get your tickets now! July 24, 25, 26th at the Grand Summit Hotel 

courtesy of www.summitwineandfood.com 

Get your tickets for The Summit Wine and Food Festival here.

 Friday July 24th is opening night featuring 15 world-renowned chefs preparing their signature dishes. There will be 15 leading wineries providing the accompanied wines. The cost of the opening night reception is $195.  Afterwards, there is an Invitation Only after hours party for mingling with the winemakers, chefs and sommeliers at the Hunt Club Restaurant.

Saturday morning  from 10-12 the Rubicon Estate’s Master Sommelier Roger Dagorn will lead you through a vertical tasting of the legendary wines of this vineyard.

Unfortnately there are two other competing sessions going on at the same time. Several award winning internationally acclaimed chefs will be having a cooking demonstration, AND the third is a seminar on Food and Wine Pairing 101, matching food with the appropriate wine.

The afternoon of the 25th there are great classes on Sake Tasting, wine tasting, cooking demonstrations by Ingrid Hoffman, a Food Network celebrity, as well as a book signing of her best-selling cookbook “Simply Delicioso”.

From 4-6 PM there is a class on Power Entertaining with Wine and Food for everyone who has wanted to perfect their hosting skills.

Saturday evening is the major gala six course dinner with each course prepared by a different celebrity chef and paired with the finest wines from around the world. Not to be missed!

 The events continue on Sunday starting at 10 AM with   cheese and wine pairings, more cooking demonstrations by master artists, with the evening ending with a gourmet burger showdown featuring 25 of the best chefs in the country!

Wines  

Chefs

Sommeliers

I just went into GSMLS and searched all homes in  Millburn, Short Hills, Summit, Chatham, Madison, Maplewood, South Orange and Livingston, and found that 95 homes have gone under contract in the past two weeks. This does not include all of the ones that are in attorney review! 

Compare This To the last 2 weeks of  March, where only 45 homes went under contract in these towns, and the last 2 weeks of February where there were only 18 homes to go under contract.

Why now??

Move up Buyers finally are selling their existiing homes and there is finally enough inventory for them to want to make the upward move.

MORE  NJ Sellers are pricing right, staging their homes and listing with Realtors who are creating a sense of urgency for them  ( yes, shameless plug) , so those 95 homes are selling, while others remain sitting. 

The RATES-  I just refinanced at 4.625%.  How long do you think they’ll stay below 5%?

Its Spring!  The clock is ticking to get in for the school year – beats the 30k per year private school tuition.  The 3rd baby has been born and the 1 bedroom apartment won’t work anymore, etc… life goes on.. you get the picture.

1. There has been so much pent up demand for great AFFORDABLE homes that  the nice ones that are priced right  are flying off the market.

2. The entry level market has now come down to a level where buyers can jump into the market. Of course the low interest rates have added the cherry on the top.

3. Even in a “buyer’s market”, you will always be able to re-sell a well priced home with close proximity to trains to NYC. This is what most buyers moving out from NYC are looking for.

4. Has this segment of the market hit bottom?

So where can you find these more affordable homes? Below are neighborhoods in each of the midtown direct trainline towns that are under a mile to the train.

• South Orange – South of South Orange Ave, there are two neighborhoods that are easily walkable and you can find housing that won’t break the bank. The area between Walton Rd and Wyoming Ave is one ( Conway Ct, Rynda, West End Rd, Lenox Ave to name a few streets) and the streets surrounding Seton Hall University are the other. North of South Orange Ave there are the Hart Dr ranch homes, and further north you can occasionally find a smaller home nestled amongst the larger ones off of Wyoming Ave.  The same would be true of the Montrose Section.

• Maplewood- Much of Maplewood fits the bill and that’s why so many buyers move here from Park Slope, Brooklyn, and NYC.  East of Valley Rd, across from Memorial Park, is  very popular among the “walk to train” crowd. Here are two examples:  www.sueadler.com/35Kensington and www.sueadler.com/36Madison Houses within a few blocks of Maplewood Village may be in the $500k-700k range, but they don’t seem to come on the market very often. There are homes on Jefferson Ave and some of the surrounding streets such as Brookside Rd, have sold in the $500k’s and 600’s as well.

• Millburn- The South Mountain Section and Wyoming Sections are the two largest neighborhoods that are “walk to  train,  town, Taylor Park, Wyoming Elem or South Mountain Elem, middle and high school ”. There are also many small streets off of Millburn Ave that are close by as well.Homes range from the $400k’s to the 800k’s with a few exceptions in the South Mountain Section.In the Wyoming Section you can easily find homes in this range, but there are also more expensive homes over $1Million.

• Short Hills - The Glenwood Section ( where I live!) is the perfect place to be – walk to Glenwood Elem and top rated Millburn HS, Short Hills train station, and Millburn Ave restaurants and shops. Most homes range from the 600k’s to the $1Million range, but certain streets wth larger homes and properties such as Pine Terrace East  command much more. www.sueadler.com/11PineTerraceEast Generally speaking, the Glenwood Section runs between the Short Hills Train Station and Millburn Ave. The main roads running through are Woodland Rd, Baltusrol Way, and Short Hills Ave, with many small charming treelined streets in between. The Knollwood Section, behind the Millburn Middle School, is also similar in price to Glenwood. This neighborhood  comes in between Hobart Avenue and Old Short Hills Rd – Whitney Dr, Midhurst Dr, Haddonfield Drive are a few of the streets you find in this storybook enclave of charming colonials and tudors.

• Summit Most of the areas surrounding the Summit Train Station tend to be a bit pricier however there are certain streets close to the train station that do turn out homes for under $900,000. To name a few, Mountain Ave and Ashland Rd- south of the Summit Train station, and Waldron Ave, and DeBary Place- north of the station. I do need to mention a neighborhood that is just over a mile, but with comparable homes to the Glenwood and South Mountain homes in Millburn/Short Hills. Its the Memorial Field area by Brayton Elementary School. Don’t overlook this neighborhood if you’re looking for an awesome neighborhood in a great school district.

• Chatham Boro – The nice thing about Chatham Boro is that almost all of it is within a mile of the Chatham Train Station. The Station is located just off Fairmount Dr and Main Street so its central location and stellar school system, makes it a sought after town. The majority of homes in the Boro are in the “affordable” range and are close to Main Street shops and restaurants, and elementary schools as well.

• Madison -The Madison Train Station is situated between Waverly Rd and Greenwood Rd, just south of Main Street. On the northern side of Main Street in Madison you can easily find 3 to 4 bedroom homes starting in the $400’s, and ranging up to over $1M. Because Madison is home to Drew University, Main Street feels much like a college town with a jazz bar, trendy shops and a wide variety of restaurants.

So, there you have it! If you want to see your options in person, just give me a call (973)464-9129.

Yours to count on,

Sue Adler

 

When I moved to Chatham  last year from Short Hills,  it felt like I was moving to another country, yet it is only one town over!  I was used to Millburn Ave, not Main Street!  and I swear the leaves on the trees were a duller shade of green.  After 25 years of living in Short Hills, I was “a woman without a neighborhood,” homesick and lost.

What I’ve come to learn, is that the Summit, Chatham and the Short Hills areas are more closely connected than I ever realized.  It just took a personal move to find out. 

Why the change in attitude?

Recently I had opportunities to dine at two local Chatham  restaurants; Gregorio’s and Scalini Fedeli.  Both are on Main St, within walking distance to everything in town, a convenience I love.

Gregorio’s can get really busy, so be sure to get a reservation and bring your own wine which I always consider a plus. A few other local hot spots on Main Street and not to be missed; Seranade , fine dining to perfection.  A Taste of Asia is Malaysian cuisine. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a mix of Chinese and Thai food. Yum! Chatham of course has a Japanese restaurant. Mitsuba . I’ve been to my fair share of sushi places. This might be one my favorites of all times! 

But even more importantly, I ran into old friends.  It turns out that Gregorio’s was chosen by friends who had moved to the City, as a meeting place where generations of families could come back and comfortably gather as a group.. And I run into people from “the old neighborhood” in Short Hills all the time at Scalini Fedeli.  

It’s also reminded me just how hard it is for home buyers moving to new neighborhoods, towns and even different states.  Leaving “home” is one of the most difficult things a person ever does. 

This year, I can hardly wait for spring.  I’ll bet the leaves in Chatham turn just as green as they do in Summit and Short Hills.  In fact I know they will.  You know why?

Because I’m still home, in Chatham.       

This week I attended the Inman News Global Connect Real Estate Conference in NYC, where Gary Vaynerchuk from the Wine Library’s Keynote speech entertained us and inspired us.

I live in the Glenwood Section of Short Hills, so The Wine Library is around the corner from my house. Most Saturdays when I finish work, ( well, except today because its snowing), Peter and I go to for their weekly wine and cheese tastings.

 After Gary Vaynerchuk’s key note speech, I ran up to him during break and threw my arms around him even though we actually never met. I mean, he’s my local wine guy and I’m his local realtor, right? Well, he knew me from my online presence, so that of course made my day since I think he’s the most brilliant marketer around. 

If you haven’t listened to Gary before, he’s famous for his wine library tv where he says things like ” This wine tastes like horse crap.”  ( yes, wine that is in his own store!) and has developed such a following for his brutal honesty.  He thinks we should do this as Realtors.  

Picture this -    I preview a new listing at a realtor open house in Short Hills, then make a video stating how overpriced it is and how ugly the wall paper is. I tweet it out on twitter, blog it on my blog, do a blast it to the 7,000 people in my www.sueadler.com email database, and add it to  my facebook profile. Then 2 days later one of my buyers wants to see it anyway- Hmmm, What are the chances of that homeowner ever letting let me in the door? – not to mention its a great way to make enemies of every listing agent along the midtown direct trainline towns.
I think what makes Gary so entertaining is the fantasy factor of what he does.  I mean, I’m pretty good at coming out and just saying what I think to my clients, and doing it publically makes for great entertainment ( like winelibrary TV) , but I can’t imagine pulling off what he gets away with and keeping a  great reputation in the real estate world. Click here to view the embedded video.

With all of the flip cams in the audience, I need to thank Kelly Olexa for posting this video.