Archive for the ‘Basking Ridge Real Estate Information’ Category

There have been thirteen new listings in Basking Ridge since December 1st.  You can search here for these Basking Ridge homes. Four of them are already in attorney review or under contract (price it right and it will sell fast).  Five deals fell apart and the houses are back on the market (two of which have been withdrawn).  Sixteen listings adjusted their price (one of them twice).  And….drumroll, please because this is big… there were THIRTY contract sales.  Seven of these have already closed.  There were nineteen closings in Basking Ridge.

It’s been a busy month.  I have a few inspection contingencies to wrap up – and after that I plan to have a quiet New Year’s Eve at home with my family and some friends.  Resting up for what I hope will be a really busy spring market!

See you Next Year!!

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What happens first, what can wait for what?  Appraisals, inspections, second deposits, oh my!!

Here’s how it goes: you make an offer, accompanied by a $1000 good faith initial deposit.  Your Realtor will likely hold this check until the offer is negotiated and you will get it back if the deal doesn’t get agreed on. Your Realtor cannot hold a check for more than five days – so if it takes longer than that to negotiate, it might be deposited into the escrow account and will be returned to you if the purchase agreement is not executed.

Negotiate the contract, sign the contract.

Congratulations!

You have three days to get the executed contract to an attorney in order to start attorney review.  The duration of attorney review varies based on the availability of all parties to discuss the contract, make and agree to changes.

Once attorney review is completed you will schedule the inspection and apply for your mortgage.  These two things happen concurrently.  This is an important point to make – you cannot wait for the inspection contingency to be satisfied before you apply for your loan.  This means that you can’t hold off on ordering the appraisal either. If you wait too long to order the appraisal because you don’t want to spend the money you run the risk of missing your mortgage commitment date because you can’t predict what sort of issues might come up and you need to leave time to resolve them.  Losing the money you spent on the appraisal is a risk you have to take in order to continue the process in good faith.

Your second deposit will also likely be due before the inspection contingency is cleared – you can’t wait to write that check; you have to write it when it’s due; you will receive your deposit monies back if the deal falls apart over inspection items (as long as your contract allows for that).

It bears repeating — Ordering the appraisal and submitting the  second deposit are NOT intended to be contingent upon successful negotiation of the inspection items. Doing so may derail your purchase…..

I have had two deals in the last two months that almost fell apart because the buyers held off on making their deposit and ordering their appraisal until they were confident that inspection issues were resolved.  In one case we were having issues with repair requests – tempers were flaring and both parties were upset with the way things were going…having held back on the deposit led the sellers to believe that the buyers were not serious about the transaction and in turn that made them not want to work on the repairs…  In the other scenario, the buyers didn’t want to spend the money on the appraisal until they had resolution on some of the inspection issues (which, by the way, ended up being non-issues, but that’s for another post). Unfortunately, their appraisal came back with a glitch that in ten years neither I nor the buyers agent had ever encountered before!  More than likely this glitch will be resolved but as a result it is holding the sellers up from making their next purchase.  If the appraisal had been ordered when it was supposed to be, there would have been plenty of time to resolve this issue.

Keep your deal on track…. it’s the right thing to do.

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Search for Basking Ridge homes for sale.

Search Basking Ridge townhouses for sale.

Search Bedminster homes for sale.

See what has sold in Basking Ridge.

Wonderfully private – your own backyard oasis featuring an inground pool and a newly renovated kitchen! Beautifully situated on 3 magnificent acres and convenient to everything! Generously sized living and dining rooms. Finished lower level is walkout – offering a separate entrance, perfect for a home office or aupair suite. Every room has terrific views. The breakfast room opens to a tiered deck ringed with evergreens. This home is a perfect luxury townhome alternative…live here as it is or consider expanding as there is plenty of space and lots of potential!

Four bedrooms (3 bedroom septic), three full baths, two car garage, almost three acres, in-ground pool…and more!

Offered at $825,000 – SOLD for $777,500

A new study by Yahoo! Real Estate shows that people still value homeownership. In fact, 81 percent of the current and prospective homeowners surveyed said that owning a home is still a part of the American dream. In addition, buyers are now more confident that their dream home is within reach due to today’s low mortgage rates and affordable home prices. Of those surveyed, 72 percent said they already live in their dream home, or will own it someday.

Additional findings from the Yahoo! Real Estate Home Horizons study include:

• Half of all respondents are looking for “green” or energy-efficient features in their dream home, as they aspire to reduce their carbon footprint. This was the most popularly cited feature.
• 57 percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with where they live, while 35 percent were somewhat satisfied and 8 percent were unsatisfied.
• When asked why they want to move, 45 percent of buyers said they want to live in a larger space. Other popular reasons were a desire to live in a home that better suited their lifestyle (42 percent) and to live in a better neighborhood (30 percent).

Based on the results of the study, Yahoo! Real Estate expects 2012 to be the year in which demand for green homes, energy-efficient appliances and lowcarbon impact home building materials really take off.  Are you ready for the
change?

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Search for Basking Ridge homes for sale.

Search Basking Ridge townhouses for sale.

Search Bedminster homes for sale.

See what has sold in Basking Ridge

Down to $854,900

I need to shout this from the roof tops!  This is another great price adjustment for this property.  This home sits on just over three acres and is convenient to everything!  Offering four full bathrooms, a renovated kitchen and a lovely sun room – this home is not to be missed!

Visit Basking Ridge Real Estate to search homes for sale and to review what has sold each month for the recent past.

Only one closing so far in Basking Ridge since December 1st.  10 Springfield Lane in Amherst Mews sold for $885,000.  This was my transaction!  There have been fourteen contract sales – so the market isn’t dead, but I am sure we will see a little bit of a slow down for the holiday season.

If you are considering putting your house on the market this spring, it might make sense for you to list it sooner rather than later.  Buyers are typically ready before sellers and if you get on the market early you will have less competition from other properties.

Take a moment to review this list of items commonly found during home inspections – buyers are being particularly picky with their home inspection requests.  It isn’t uncommon for a buyer to request several follow-up inspections after the initial structural. This can include an evaluation of the heating system, a roofer, a level II chimney inspection and more.  Try to stay patient and accommodating and I will do what I can to help keep it easy.

This is a repeat of an old post – - because, well, because it’s come up again.  Twice for me in recent transactions: M O L D has reared it’s ugly head.  This disappoints buyers and often blindsides sellers.

The inspection part of any real estate transaction can be very stressful.  It is hard enough for many sellers to have people traipsing through their homes, then (especially in today’s market), negotiating a price which is probably lower than they wanted and finally, having a home inpsector examine every nook and cranny and producing what is most often a very lengthy report.  There are several inspection issue which as a seller you really need to remediate – regardless of cost, because if you don’t do it for this buyer, you will have to do it for the next buyer.  Structural issues and hazardous situations fall into this category.

So does Mold.  Mold sneaks up on you, most of my clients who had mold had no idea that it was in their home.  In two of the homes it was in the attic, in the three others it was in the basement.  Sometimes it is obvious once you know it’s there but at least in one case it was still hard to see even after the mold expert pointed it out.

As a seller you really don’t have a choice but to clean up mold that is found in your home.

Dan Harkins from NJ Mold recommends that every house in NJ should have a dehumidifier in it – period, end of discussion.  If you don’t have one, go get one!  They make them bucketless now!  You can have it drain right into the slop sink or the sump pump pit (but NOT in your sewer drain – that’s against the rules!).  They also make them specific for crawlspaces.  This small thing may save you from a big expense when you decide it’s time to sell your home.

If you have a question about a home inspection issue, feel free to contact me directly and  I will see what I can do!

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Search for Basking Ridge homes for sale.

Search Basking Ridge townhouses for sale.

Search Bedminster homes for sale.

See what has sold in Basking Ridge

Twelve closed sales in Basking Ridge since I last posted a market update on 11/16/11:

• 340 Penns Way closed for $215,000 – Society Hill
• 147 Jamestown Road closed for $232,500 – Spring Ridge
• 58 Alexandria closed for $273,500 – Spring Ridge
• 141 Village Drive closed for $$355,000 – Lord Stirling Village
• 65 S. Alward Ave closed for $549,900 – my listing!  multiple offers!
• 215 Patriot Hill Drive closed for $557,500 – Patriot Hill in the Hills
• 117 Goltra Drive closed for $592,000
• 23 Forest Trail closed for $573,000
• 128 Patriot Hill Drive closed for $630,000 – Patriot Hill in the Hills
• 68 LibertyRidge Road closed for $764,000 – Liberty Ridge in the Hills
• 37 Chimney Ash Farm Road closed for $770,000
• 267 English Place is closing TODAY! – my listing!

There were 10 new listings in this time period and there were 13 contract sales – not bad for the last two weeks of November, traditionally the end of the Fall market.  I am still very busy – writing a contract today, I have a listing appointment this week and another appointment with move-up buyers on Sunday.  My partner Gerry is also out with clients this week…Maybe the Fall market will carry us right through to Spring!

In the Bedminster Hills –

• 3 bedroom
• 2 ½ bath
• Living room and a family room
• 1 or 2 car garage
• Basement preferred but not a must, finished even better
• High ceilings are not desired
• Up to $500,000