Archive for the 'Buying a home in this market' Category

Important Mortgage News for anyone considering buying or selling a New Jersey home

Don’t buy that furniture and flat screen TV just yet if you’ve recently applied for a mortgage.

Beginning June 1st most lenders in New Jersey will be ordering a second full credit screening just prior to closing. This last minute screening is designed to determine whether you’ve incurred any additional debt between the date of your loan application and loan closing. If additional debt, or even application for new debt, is discovered you may experience a delay, or a hold on your loan closing. We’re talking about debt of any kind, a new credit card, line of credit, appliances, furnishings, TV’s, automobiles etc. For many borrowers it’s difficult to fight the urge to shop for all the things needed for the new home. You go to Best Buy or Home Depot and it’s difficult to pass up 0.00% financing with 2 years of deferred payments. If you take on new debt large enough to exceed the original debt to income ratio, or there are recent inquiries in to your credit, your deal could unravel just before the finish line. Read the rest of this entry »

NJ’s Midtown Direct Towns housing recovery keeps on rolling!

NJ Inventory of Unsold Homes ( courtesy of Jeffrey Otteau) 

The home sales in  our Midtown Direct Town geographic area ( Millburn, Short Hills, Maplewood, South Orange, Summit, Chatham, Madison, New Providence, Livingston, and beyond), are seeing an improvement in home sales for the 10th straight month. There were so many buyers sitting on the sidelines for such a long time, and now the pent up demand from the “fence sitters” over the past few years,  the low interest rates ( and the threat of them rising),  has brought buyers back into the game.   Inventory has still been relatively low so when a nice house in a nice neighborhood is priced well, you can count on multiple offers…. really in any price range, but primarily in the under $1,300,000 range in Short Hills,Summit, Chatham and Livingston, and the under $850,000 range in Maplewood,  South Orange, Berkeley Heights and New Providence.  Read the rest of this entry »

For Some NJ Home Buyers, It’s Chatham or Nothing

 

For Some Buyers, It’s Chatham or nothing at all. Ranked as the 2nd best place to live in NJ by New Jersey Monthly Magazine 2010, and one of the top 10 places to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2005, Chatham Township is known for its beautiful homes, tree-lined streets, a bucolic setting and only a 43 minute commute to New York City on the Midtown Direct. 

That’s why, after many home owners live  in Chatham, they simply won’t move anywhere else. They tell me it’s like “no other town.” Everybody knows everybody and they all seem to be on the street when I’m showing a house. Playing lacrosse in the yard, walking with their kids to a soccer game and let’s not forget the two golden retrievers that are always in tow. Did I stage this? You would think I did.  Read the rest of this entry »

Low Inventory brings opportunity for Sellers in the Midtown Direct Town Real Estate Market

The inventory along the NJ midtown direct trainline towns is the lowest I’ve seen in years, so I am playing “Matchmaker” and writing this post on behalf of the Sue Adler Team’s buyers who have seen everything currently on the market and are waiting for their perfect home to appear!

The charts below ( Click Chart To Page Through To Each Town) show you the active inventory and under contracts in Millburn/Short Hills, S.Orange, Maplewood, Livingston, Summit and The Chathams.

We pulled each quarter over the past year. As you can see, homes are selling … buyers are no longer on the sidelines, but there aren’t as many to choose from. What this shows, and what we , as realtors are experiencing, is that the nice, well priced houses are selling right away. If you are curious to know your home’s value in today’s market or would like to consult to see if this is the right time for you to sell,  just give me a call (973)464-9129   Read the rest of this entry »

Where are all the houses for sale in our NJ Midtown Direct Towns?

 

After a year or more of waiting and watching the New Jersey real estate market,  many homebuyers in our trainline towns of Summit, Millburn, Short Hills, Maplewood, and Chatham,  are ready to buy a home, hoping to take advantage of depressed prices, low interest rates, and a federal tax credit that expires this summer. But many would-be buyers are facing an unexpected concern; not enough homes for sale and high demand for many that are available. Properties below $700,000 are hardest to find; and the most desirable of those, in good condition and reasonably priced, are generating multiple bids within days of going on the market.

What we have is the “perfect storm, increased demand and decreased supply.”

But now that many buyers seem to be gaining confidence in the market, homes are in short supply, because homeowners who don’t need to move are waiting for the market to turn and drive up prices. Read the rest of this entry »

New Jersey’s “Midtown Direct” area home buyers are now back in the game.

For home buyers in New Jersey’s Midtown Direct towns (Maplewood, South Orange, Millburn, Short Hills, Summit, Chatham, Madison, Livingston, West Orange) the time has come.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Sue Adler Team Client “Mix and Mingle” Party Buzzzzz

Sue Adler Team Client Party Buzz from Sue Adler on Vimeo.

Four years ago,  I started throwing an annual client party for two reasons. The first is obvious – to show my clients appreciation for being so amazing to me.  After the first party I realized how many friendships were formed from my party because so many of our team’s buyers are new to Short Hills, Maplewood, Livingston, Summit, Chatham, etc..  So in many ways, I feel like its become more of a Newcomers Club party, where we have new relocation buyers coming each year, as well as our yearly regulars, who have made friends with each other. Its always alot of fun.

Needless to say, when I saw the client inverviews in the video, it made me smile. I’m really proud of my team.  Other agents always are trying to figure out our success but the truth of the matter is -  at the end of the day, aside from the skill it takes to do what we do, if you work from your heart and are truly an advocate for your client, and care, that’s what matters most and what the clients remember in the end.

Home buyer tax credit extension approved AND improved!

Congress heard you on the need to both extend and expand the homebuyer tax credit to continue stimulating the housing sector of the economy. The Senate voted 98-0 on Wednesday and yesterday the House voted 403-12 on legislation that includes the extension and expansion of the credit. The President is expected to sign the legislation, perhaps as early as today.

The biggest change in the bill is that current homeowners who are within the income limits posted on the chart , can get a $6500 credit for a  home up to $800,000.  This will hopefully stir up the “move up buyer” market.

Dont hesitate to call if you have any questions.

Yours to count on,

Sue Adler

(973)464-9129

Paperless Paperwork for New Jersey Real Estate Transactions

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! Read the rest of this entry »

$8,000 First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit Deadline Countdown to November 30th

If you’re eligible for this $8,000 tax credit, please keep in mind that you need to be under contract for your new home realistically by October 15th. Feel free to call us for details. (973)464-9129

Yours to count on,

The Sue Adler Teaam