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

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

Analysis of our New Jersey Housing Market

    Last night I came across a  brilliant vlog post  by my good friend in Austin, Krisstina Wise from The Good Life Team. Before you read on, watch her video, especially if you’re looking for a house, but really want to be sure we’ve hit  bottom first.  Krisstina  beautifully explains “the buying zone”, the  the window of opportunity buyers currently have in this market while the prices and interest rates are this low at the same time.

On a local level,  NJ home sales have risen for 6 straight months compared to the national existing home sales rise of 3 consecutive months.

Jeffrey Otteau, New Jersey real estate market analyst, shows in his graph below, that in June contract sales in NJ were higher than June 2008’s pace, signaling a significant break through for our market. The last time NJ home sales have risen for 6 straight months was back in  2003 during the home buying frenzy fueled by the sub-prime lending boom. The monthly sales pace in NJ has increased 115% since the beginning of the year.

Clearly  many home buyers are taking advantage of these low prices, low interest rates and the first time buyer tax credit , which are all adding to  the housing   market recovery. The problem for buyers who really want to buy is the lack of inventory right now in our Midtown direct towns. Unsold inventory declined by 600 homes in June primarily due to the 7,500 home sales during the month, causing a rise in demand for good, well priced homes , especially in the entry level market.  

So why is inventory so low?  I hear many potential sellers say that they are “waiting until the market comes back” – how long will that take and what will the rates be then?  Certainly we cant expect the market to increase more than 3-5% a year once we do have a recovery.  Today many home owners are  in a catch-22  because they need to sell first, yet don’t want to sell without having found their dream home first,  which they ultimately miss out on because they aren’t in a position to buy.  There are many options that your Realtor can help you with to avoid the catch 22 ( which I will write a blog post on another time) 

What can we expect in the next few months? Read the rest of this entry »

Craigslist scammers hit Maplewood New Jersey listings and unsuspecting renters

The other day I got a call from the owner of my new listing at 101 Parker Rd in Maplewood NJ.  He couldnt understand why I would advertise his house for RENT on Craigslist for $1200 a month when we signed a listing contract to SELL his house, not rent it.  I had no idea what he was talking about so he read me the ad. It was an anonymous Craigs List poster, so I asked him to please respond to it and see who responds back,  since I know we didnt post that ad.

This is what came back:

Hello
     I can see you are interested in the ad I have pasted, I am currently in West Africa where I work as a volunteer with the RAFIKI FOUNDATION,here is the site for more detail about why I am here in Africa.( http://www.rafiki-foundation.org/). So I need a tenant to take care of it but since  I am out of the state now, I have received some proposals regarding the rent because it is located in a very good area of Maplewood, but I still have to make sure it is rented out to someone who can take good care of it. Read the rest of this entry »

A little real estate humor

People always ask me ” Sue, how do you do it? How do you sell so many houses in such a bad market?” Well, check out the video below and meet my real estate coach.  I make sure to use his tactics with all of my clients. Watch and enjoy!

Understanding The Home Valuation Code of Conduct

By Richard Hirsch, Mortgage Masters

 

 

What is the HVCC?

The HVCC is the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. The HVCC is the result of a joint agreement between Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the New York State Attorney General. The agreement was formed in an effort to enhance the independence and accuracy of the appraisal process. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. This past year, the HVCC has quietly transitioned from a mere proposal into concrete national policy which has altered the core aspects of real estate appraisals.

 

As a result of the HVCC, many appraisals are now being outsourced to 3rd parties, many of whom do not have a working knowledge of the geographical areas they are appraising. As a result, buyers are being subjected to higher appraisal costs, inaccurate valuations, and the elimination of the longstanding benefits of one-on-one business relationships with local Realtors, mortgage originators, and appraisers. Because of the formation of the HVCC, local market value decisions have now been shifted to unfettered and often uninformed appraisal management companies located hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. Read the rest of this entry »

Do Open Houses work? I say – YES! For creating urgency in new listings!

I just came across an article in the Wall Street Journal on Why Open Houses Still Work.  After reading the article and the comments that followed, I needed to add my two cents on this subject.

My experience has been that Sunday Open Houses along the New Jersey midtown direct trainlines DO work with a big BUT. 

When a new listing comes on the market… let’s say on a Tuesday. Then we have the Realtor Open House on Thursday, the blast email goes out to all of the realtors and then the data base of potential interested buyers on Friday, and of course its advertised on all of the sites that a consumer would think to search ( our local www.gsmls.com , www.realtor.com , www.trulia.com , www.zillow.com , www.nytimesonline.com and www.craigslist.com , plus www.sueadler.com of course .  

Its the FIRST weekend of this HOT new listing and buyers ( yes, neighbors too, but who cares?)  are excited to see it whether or not their realtor is available to take them.  For this reason, the  listing agent should send out a blast email to the other realtors asking them to forward this open house invitation to their buyers and tell them to just mention their name at the door.  Busy realtors who dont have teams may not be available to show their buyers this great new listing on Sunday. Its the listing agents’ job to make it EASY for  buyers to see that new listing when it first comes out,  becuase that is how the sense of urgency is created, which gets the best price possible for the seller, yes, even in this market!  Read the rest of this entry »

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

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.