Archive for the ‘Basking Ridge Real Estate Information’ Category

Seven properties went under contract this past week in Basking Ridge.

For more information on any of these properties, please contact me directly or search for more Basking Ridge homes for sale. You can also review closed sales in Basking Ridge.

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I spent an inordinate amount of time this past week on a potential deal for one of my listings.  We had seven offers on the table – yes, SEVEN, in this supposedly dead real estate market (more on that later as this market is certainly not dead!).  The subject of my commission came up several times – my seller and more than one of the bidders asked us to reduce our commission in order to pull the deal together.  I can’t let that go without some sort of comment … I have two messages:

1. To the Buyers, commission is between the seller and the listing agent, you cannot change that and if your agent wants to reduce his or her commission to make your offer stronger, he or she needs to present a letter from their managing broker agreeing to that fact before I will let my seller sign the contract. 
2. To the Sellers, you signed a listing agreement giving me and Weichert Realtors the exclusive right to sell your property and you agreed upon a commission rate at the time that you signed that contract – please don’t ask me to address my commission again when we are negotiating a contract. 

Take a look at my current article over at the Basking Ridge Patch, it addresses real estate relationships in the state of New Jersey.  It is important to understand the difference between Buyer’s Agents, Seller’s agents and Disclosued Dual Agents.  You won’t necessarily get a better deal as a buyer if you work with directly with the listing agent; and as a seller, if your agent brings the buyer,  he or she immediately becomes a disclosed dual agent and you will not have the upper hand in the transaction.

If you have any questions about agency relationships please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Considering a move into or out of Basking Ridge?  It’s a great time to make a move – buyers and sellers alike.  The market is moving in Basking Ridge; showing activity is up on most of my listings and as I said earlier, I am even entertaining multiple offers in some instances.  I can set you up for listing alerts in Basking Ridge or you can search Basking Ridge homes or townhomes yourself.

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Only four contract sales this week:

One Spring Ridge condo, list price $259,000
One Society Hill Townhouse, list price $299,975
One single family home in the Hills, list price $799,900
One other single family home , list price $829,900 (I sold this one!)

There were two closings this week – 214 English Place, a Society Hill condo closed for full price – $239,000.  It had been on the market for that price for only FIVE days when it went under contract.  Prior to that, it had been on the market for quite some time – with an initial list price of $287,000.  2602 Hemlock Place in the Cedars closed for $275,000 after 22 days on the market.  This property had been listed before at a high of $350,000.

There are 193 listings currently available in Basking Ridge as of this evening – ranging in price from $195,000 to $4,850,000.  With most of the properties falling between $500,000 and $1,000,000.

Current market absorption is reflective of a normal market at 6.03 months of inventory.  If you are considering a move into or out of Basking Ridge, you might be intersted in knowing the current value of your home or looking at what has recent sales in Basking Ridge.  Sign up for listing notifications in Basking Ridge – then you can call me when you are ready to look at some homes!

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Yes, 2010 tax assessments have been published. And yes, they are lower than they were last year.  Mine dropped almost 7%.  But this does not mean that all listings currently on the market are overpriced! (okay, I will admit that there are probably lots of listings on the market that are overpriced, but that’s not because of the 2010 tax assessments and we can talk about that later.)

Tax assessments in Basking Ridge follow the market – NOT the other way around.  I wrote about this in June and I do often analyze sale price to tax assessment when working with buyers and sellers – either to set a list price or to make an offer.  But – we only have past data to look at.  We KNOW how properties are selling relative to 2008 and 2009 taxes, we do not know yet how properties will sell relative to these new 2010 tax assessments.  I have told all of my current seller clients that my pricing recommendations will not change just because we got our new green tax cards.  And to any potential buyer who brings up the new assessment, my counter offer will be this: “we cannot base a current sale price on the new 2010 tax assessments, we can only look at what we know – which is relative to 2009 tax information, not 2010.” 

Another angle – Jeffery Otteau, at his last seminar, stated that prices have dropped approximately 4% this past year.  My tax assessment dropped 7%.  There’s a 3% discrepency there – why would I base a negotiation on the lower number?  I’d rather base it on recent comparable sales.

Visit Basking Ridge Real Estate for information on the value of your Basking Ridge home – relative to current tax assessment or not.

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Closings since Feb. 15th:

94 Potomac Drive $215,000/$203,500, spring ridge condo
51 E Oak Street, $458,800/$445,000, single family home
18 Mayflower Drive, $518,000/$506,000, Hamilton Crest townhouse
93 Alder Lane, $635,000/$597,000, single family in the hills
322 S Finley Ave, $1,299,900/$1,200,000, single family

There were 25 new listings during this time frame.  Current market absorption is 6.2 months.  There are 12 properties working through attorney review.

If you are considering a move into or out of Basking Ridge, please call me.  As a full time Realtor and Basking Ridge resident, I love what I do – and I’m happy to help!  I can help you find the value of your Basking Ridge home, keep you informed of what has sold in Basking Ridge and notify you of new listings in Basking Ridge.

If Basking Ridge isn’t your destination, follow the links to find out what’s going in Bedminster, Bernardsville or the surrounding areas.

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What a great time of year – I love listing homes and this is the time of year when I list the most properties! Even more exciting is that they are SELLING!  There is real estate activity going on all over the place – I just negotiated multiple offers on my listing in Bernardsville.  If your house is on the market and you aren’t getting offers – something is wrong and you should work with your agent to find out what it is. You can’t blame it on the market because the buyers are out there!

I listed this home on Monday and forgot to blog about it!

32 Coppergate Drive in Basking Ridge

Welcome home

This is a great house!  It’s a three bedroom split level – all bedrooms are upstairs.  It has two full baths plus a half and there is a spare room - a den, or an office – off the family room. The kitchen is in great shape, the furnace and air conditioner have been recently replaced.  And it’s location is second to none!  Contact me for  more information or an appointment or feel free to come by the open house on Sunday between 1:00 and 4:00pm.

Listing alerts in Basking Ridge, See what has sold in Basking Ridge, Search available homes in Basking Ridge, Get your home’s value.

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My partner Judi and I are listing a beautiful Cornell model in the Hills – it will be active in the MLS on Monday, 2/22.  It has a beautiful finished basement, an updated kitchen with granite, a four-season sun room which actually makes the basement bigger!  It’s on a corner at the end of a cul-de-sac: this location allows for a square shaped back yard which is fenced and treed – affording lots of privacy not usually found in the Hills!  List price is $1,075,000.   Sneak Peak pictures to follow this coming weekend.

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The $700-$1,100,000 price range in Basking Ridge is heating up.  Several properties came on the market over the past few weeks only to sell almost immediately with multiple offers. Yes, in this buyer’s market, there have been multiple offers! 

I signed two listings earlier in the week.  Neither will be in the MLS for a little while as last minute preparations are being completed.  But, for my loyal Basking Ridge Real Estate blog readers, I have a sneak peak!

161 Thackeray Drive is on the corner of Pond Hill Road and Thackeray Drive.  It is a four bedroom, two and half bath split level home with a large family room addition.  It has a two car garage and a basement.  It sits on .76 acres in the R6 (.75) acre zone, with an inground pool.  The house needs some work – okay, it needs a lot of work - but it’s a great location on a conforming lot.  The neighborhood sells strongly – the last property was listed at its tax assessed value and sold almost immediately over asking after multiple offers in February of 2009 which was before we started to see the market come back.  This property is a Weichert exclusive listing which I am happy to show you.  We are cooperating with other brokers so if you are already working with an agent, have them contact me and we can make arrangements for you to see the house.  Call me at 908-432-0318 or contact me via my website.  List price: $529,000

20 Old Coach Road is a traditional center hall colonial with an expanded kitchen featuring a center island, french doors, skylights and two pantries. It boasts a huge family room with cathedral ceilings and a first floor study. It has a great fenced yard with a two tiered deck and an inground pool. There is recessed lighting throughout the house, a newer roof(’07), two zone central air and several rooms have recently been painted. It also features a terrific master bedroom with lots of light, two walk-in closets and a bathroom with two sinks, a stall shower and a jetted soaking tub.  This property will be in the Garden State MLS on March 3rd and I will be hosting an open house on Sunday, March 7th between 12:00 and 4:00.  List Price: $929,000

If you are considering a move into or out of Basking Ridge, please visit my site for information on what has sold in Basking Ridge or to sign up for listing alerts.

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There are nine homes making their way through attorney review and with 167 properties available, current market absorption is at 6.9 months for the township.  Breakdown of market absorption by price range:

• under $300,000: 2.25 months
• $300,000-$500,000: 14 months
• $500,000-$700,000: 6.3 months
• $700,000-$900,000: 7.7 months
• $900,000-$1,300,000: 5.7 months
• over $1.300,000 – there have been no sales in this price range since January 4th when 28 Fawn Lane went under contract and then closed for $1,375,000 after almost a year on the market and almost a 20% price reduction from it’s original list price of $1,799,000.

I am working on market analyses for two properties that I believe will list in the low to mid $500,000′s; so I have also calculated market absorption for $450,000-$550,000.  That comes out to about 10 months.  I am not sure how to explain the lag in that middle-range price point. My educated guess, looking at sales activity, is that first time buyers are choosing lower priced condos and townhouses and people moving up from there are choosing homes in the $500,000-$700,000 range.  Leaving the $300,000-$500,000 range to be a little sluggish.

As a seller in that price range, my recommendation is to price the property as attractively as possible  in order to be the next to sell.  Buyers are looking for VALUE – you want to be the property that offers the most in that price range: either your are the biggest house, or the most udpated house, or something that makes you stand out.  Work with your Realtor to understand your competition and price accordingly.

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My new article is up at Basking Ridge Patch – check it out!  I think it’s a great time to have your house on the market – buyers are buying, really!!  No need to wait for the snow to melt.  All the factors are in place making it a great time to buy which can only be good for sellers!  Interest rates are low, the government is funding tax credits and right now, in Basking Ridge, inventory isn’t too high.  If you are planning a move, now might be the time to do it!  Contact me and we can review your needs.

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