Archive for the 'Madison' Category

Hey suburbia-phobic New Yorkers- we have great FREE schools in New Jersey!

By Sue Adler
Categories: Chatham, Livingston, Madison, Millburn-Short Hills, Schools, Summit
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Just released : the 2009 New Jersey School report card  

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.

Wanna be in pictures? Shooting town tours of my 8 New Jersey towns next week, and I need your input!

By Sue Adler
Categories: Chatham, Communities, In The News, Livingston, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, South Orange, Sue Adler Team, Summit
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Dear Friends,

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.  Read the rest of this entry »

Bicycle, Bicycle…I want to ride my Bicycle. Ode to Freddie Mercury.

By Tracy Freeman
Categories: Chatham, Commuting Info, GREEN Real Estate, In The News, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, Sports and Recreation, Summit
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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! Read the rest of this entry »

Summit NJ Wine and Food Festival- Not to be missed!

By Sue Adler
Categories: Chatham, Communities, Dining Out, Livingston, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, South Orange, Summit
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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. Read the rest of this entry »

Madison NJ’s 3-D town imaging expected to bring many opportunities for town

By Sue Adler
Categories: Madison
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Embedded video from CNN Video

A group of volunteers including a 16-year-old Eagle Scout are working on a project that will put Madison NJ on the virtual map, literally. They are making 3 D images of the downtown and uploading them so the models of the buildings can be viewed on google earth.

“It’s a very, very exciting project that will have tremendous prominence,” said Mayor Mary-Anna Holden. “This is really exciting to be able to fly in from a bird’s-eye view, to fly down and walk the street.”

In large cities you find 3-d imaging of streetscapes, but Madison is only the second small town in the country to do something like this. The town viewd this as a huge opportunity for tourism, town planning, marketing, and economic development of the buildings on and surrounding Main Street.

In the NJ Midtown Direct Trainline Towns, 95 Homes Have Gone Under Contract In Past Two Weeks!

By Sue Adler
Categories: Buying a home in this market, Chatham, Livingston, Madison, Maplewood, Market Updates, Stats & forecasts, Millburn-Short Hills, Real Estate, Selling a home in this market, South Orange, Summit
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Over the past two weeks,  did you notice how many homes in our NJ Midtown Direct Trainline Towns are selling????  

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.

So you need to commute to NYC and you can’t spend $1Million on a house??? Check out these GREAT New Jeresy neighborhoods – in these midtown direct “walk to train” locations!

By Sue Adler
Categories: Buying a home in this market, Chatham, Communities, Commuting Info, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, South Orange, Sue's Picks, Summit
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What a day! 3 open houses on our three new listings – Two are getting at least one offer, and we had 27-30 people at each one.  All three of these homes are priced in the $500’s.  My team was also booked all weekend with buyers. What does all of this mean?

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

Luxury homes in Midtown Direct “walk to train” locations

By Sue Adler
Categories: Communities, Commuting Info, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, South Orange, Sue's Picks, Summit
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If you work in NYC and need the direct train to Midtown New York Penn Station or Hoboken (where you can then take the PATH downtown to the financial district), here are the most convenient New Jersey neighborhoods where you can find the beautiful upscale homes:

• Old Short Hills  is the area north of the Short Hills train station off of Hobart Ave.  Stewart Hartshorn originally developed this as the ideal community, and brought the train line from NYC into the magnificent rolling landscape of Short Hills, which was at the time, all countryside. Truly magnificent one of a kind homes off of quiet winding roads, its no wonder why Old Short Hills is such a sought-after area.  A major attraction of Short Hills is  that it is part of the Millburn School District, the  highest rated school district in NJ.  There are also private school options as well.
• Northside Summit - The area north of Springfield Ave between Woodland Ave and the Whittredge Green area consists of some of the most stunning homes you’ve ever seen. ( I really didn’t mean for that to rhyme!) From tudors to Victorians, to brick manor homes, you’ll pay a hefty price tag, but if you can afford it, this is truly the best of all worlds. Summit also has a very highly rated school system. There are many renowned private schools in Summit as well.
• Wyoming and Montrose Sections of South Orange  were planned as a haven for wealthy New York businessmen looking for stylish large homes away from the city – the area’s first commuters. The fact that the commute into Manhattan is only 25 minutes from South Orange is a big draw to commuters who aren’t willing to sacrifice a short commute for their estate home. These homes of history between Ridgewood Rd and Wyoming Ave in the Wyoming Section, and between Scotland Rd and Grove Ave in the Montrose Section, have magnificent craftmanship, beautiful mature plantings, and have historic gas lights along their tree-lined streets. Prices are much less than Summit or Short Hills, but the taxes tend to be equal to ( and sometimes a little higher) what the taxes for the same house in Short Hills or Summit would be, so keep that in mind because home buyers normally compare by price range town to town, not size of home. Check out “Tulip Hill” circa 1906! Asking $1,095,000.
• West of Maplewood Village- Maplewood Ave, and some of the tree-lined streets west of Maplewood Village, such as Woodland Ave, Mountain Ave are examples of streets boasting beautiful homes of character, and an easy walk to Maplewood train station, which is only 1/2 hr to NYC, as well as Maplewood Village shops, restaurants and Memorial Park. The upper bracket homes in Maplewood tend to cap in the low 1 Million dollar range, which is much more affordable than luxury homes in its surrounding trainline towns.
• Chatham -  The area between Fairmount Ave and Watchung Ave, near the Lafayette Elementary School and the Chatham High School are under a mile to the Chatham Train Station and  beautiful upscale homes can be found on these tree-lined streets. Highland Ave, Washington Ave, Dellwood Ave, and Chandler Ave are a few worth noting in Chatham Boro. Chatham is another Blue Ribbon School District and has a great down town area as well.
• Hill Section of Madison - Southwest of the Madison train station, you’ll find luxury homes that are walkable to the Madison Train Station and the trendy restaurants on Main Street. Midwood Terrace has the reputation for the most upscale homes in Madison. However, there are other beautiful streets with gorgeous new and older homes in the Hill Section. To name a few- Pomeroy Rd, Woodland Ave, Crossgates, Garfield Ave, and the small streets that come off of these.

Much of the luxury home market in Short Hills, Summit, Livingston, Chatham and Madison, Maplewood and South Orange still feels overpriced. However, the serious sellers have priced their homes to sell, and these gems are now trading at more affordable prices, ( although I guess “affordable” is a relative term considering we’re talking about luxury homes!) Just in the past few weeks, homes in the high end are starting to sell again, however we’re back to late 2003-early 2004 prices, which is very hard for many sellers to accept.

 It is more important than ever to get good advice in buying or selling a luxury home from realtors who KNOW the luxury home market.  Call Sue at 973-464-9129 to discuss your options.

The Times They Are A Changin- walkability rules!

By Robin Benjamin
Categories: Buying a home in this market, Chatham, Communities, Commuting Info, Livingston, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, South Orange, Sue's Picks, Summit
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Post by Robin Benjamin – Accredited Buyer Representative – Sue Adler Team

Get into the Groove- South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn Art Scene

By Deirdre Silberman
Categories: Communities, Madison, Maplewood, Millburn-Short Hills, South Orange, Summit, The Arts
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Wow! Not only do we have SOPAC in South Orange, Maplewood stock and an ongoing music series in Maplewood, but we also have Poetry readings and an original art gallery in Millburn! Not to mention the long-standing Papermill Playhouse, and NJPAC in Newark. Plus there is the NJ Center for Visual Arts in Summit, which offers classes and art shows. Read the rest of this entry »