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To my Readers I am sorry for the delay in a new post on the blog.  But  a spill on the ice trying to do a Triple Toe Loop (mind was willing but the body was not) and a bout with the flu have kept me out of the writtin biz.  I hope to make up for lost time. 

According to the Case Shiller Home Price Index home prices edged higher by .3 percent.  This is the seventh straight monthly increase and it is up nearly 3 percent since the lows of May 2009.  This is more evidence that the housing market is on the road to a recovery, a bumpy one but one none the less. 

This trend is important to the nation’s economic recovery as well.  To most Americans their home represents their biggest asset so as values climb homeowners tend to feel wealthier and are more comfortable spending .  The increase in values also helps home owners to rebuild equity.  As home values  rise it is further proof that conditions in the housing market continue to stabilize.  What would be really nice would to see the unemployment numbers start to come down.

There are still forces that could slow the recovery but for the most part buyers are beginning to realize that bottom is creeping away.  Homes that are priced right are selling a little bit faster.  More listings are receiving multiple offers at or above the asking price.  Some sellers are seeing all cash offers. 

On the economic side the stock market continues to settle above the 10,000 mark.  One should also take note on interest rates. Rising interest rates are not necessarily a bad thing.  Although it could signal the end of sub 5 percent rates for 30 year homes mortgages it also means the economy is on the road to recovery.  Rates for home mortgages could begin to move higher by the end of this year and certainly by early next.

For the Market in Morris Plain NJ February 2010 matched January 2010 in monthly home sales for Morris Plains.  Only one house closed for the month.  The good news is despite the horrible winter weather we have had in February people have been out looking at homes and 10 properties have gone under contract. 

Currently Morris Plains NJ has 27 homes on the market of that 6 are condos in Foxwoods.  Four Properties are under Attorney Review, leaving a grand total of 17 single family homes in town for sale. 

Of that, 7 are priced under 300,000, 3 are priced at 3 to 400,000.  Four homes are priced less  than 500.  There is a terrible shortage of homes in Morris Plains priced in the Mid 4’s.  It seems as soon as a house is listed it is snapped up.   Eight houses are priced fewer than six hundred and 3 priced over 600,000 dollars.

The Absorption rate in town is not too shabby either.  Right now on average the rate for homes in Morris Plains is around Five and ½ months.  What is a very interesting statistic is that the absorption rate for homes priced fewer than 500,000 dollars is 4 months and homes over 500,000 are 7 months.  Both numbers are still impressive.   An absorption rate of 5 and under is considered a sellers market and 6 to 7 months is considered about average.   Another item to note is that this statistic is telling us that the town is seeing an influx of first time home buyers that are looking to settle down and start their families in our lovely Community of Caring.

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes here is the Quote;” Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.  Winston Churchill

Is the interest rate party coming to and end?  The housing bears think so. FEDERAL RESERVE RAISES DISCOUNT RATE TO 0.75 PCT FROM 0.50 PCT, EFFECTIVE FEB. 19. However Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke   says that this is a normalization of lending then a change in policy.  The Federal Bank is still painfully aware that the nation’s unemployment numbers are still high and that it will be their policy to keep interest rates low until such time as real signs of a recovery.

That continues to bode well for the housing market for the time being but one must also remember that The likelihood of interests rates going any lower is remote.  Chances from this year forward it would not surprise me to see rates rise 1 to 2 points by 2011 2012. 

For those home owners that are waiting for the housing market to recover to the levels of 2005 and 2006 before putting their homes on the market will have a long wait.  Homes values have only just begun to flatten out.  Those sellers that act now sell their home and get into a larger or smaller one will tend to make out better in the long run as they will get into a property at the bottom.   One other thing to note is that when home values go up they just don’t go up for your home they go up for everyone’s home.  You may have lost value in your property over the last 5 years but chances are you will make that value up in the coming years.

Below is a chart that shows that Average monthly Close for the stock market since 1995 and 4 bedroom 2 ½ bath home prices in Morris Plains.  One can see as the stock market moves up so does the housing values .  Some things to note here are that the unemployment rate in years past has never been this high.  However the economy is improving and  we  have shaken off the shock of the a near financial meltdown.  But Hey we are still here we are a little banged up  a little bruised maybe. But hell we are ok.  That is what you are seeing in today’s market now.   America is recovering.   Always remember no matter how bad it gets “They can’t eat you.”

There is no better time then now to either buy a home or sell a home in Morris Plains today.  Give me a call if you have any questions.

 Here is the quote: “You can observe a lot just by watching. Yogi Berra 

Thank You for reading My Blog On Morris Plains NJ Homes  Bob Sittmann.

PS. By the way 10 Court Rd did not sell it was taken off the Market.

Below is a graph showing what the average sales price for a 3 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath house from 1995 to 2009 in Morris Plains NJ.  In the last 15 years these homes have gained on average about 4 percent a year in equity with 2006 being the height of the market.  One thing to note is that the downward trend on home value has leveled off.   If the the historical rate of 4 percent a year returns to the market these homes will begin to increase in value.  The one thing to keep in mind is that in order to get back to the values we where at in 2005 and 2006 we will need 9 years of steady growth.

Manufactureing continues to pick up and unemployment has begun to level off.  These are all good things.

If you are interested in what your home is worth today in Morris Plains NJ or any other town in Morris County NJ Send me and e mail or give me a call and i can give you a customized and detailed report on the value.  www.Zillow.com and www.Trulia.com can not  give you the information you want.  Remember Good Information is Power, Power is Wealth. Bad information is Stupid.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday he doesn’t expect the central bank to sell its huge trove of mortgage securities anytime soon, easing fears the move would raise borrowing costs for home buyers.  The fed is not expected to raise interest rates until next year.

If you have any questions concerning the graph please give me a call or e mail me.

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes Here is the quote:  “There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.“  Theodore Roosevelt

Below is a graph of what a 4 bedroom 2 and 1/2 half bath homes have sold for on average in Morris Plains NJ since 1995.  If you bought your home in 1995 you have seen on average an increase in equity of about 5 percent a year.  Not a bad deal.  The market in town peaked in 2006 and have fallen about 5 percent a year through to 2009.  What the chart is showing is that home values in town have started to bottom out.  You can see that homes on the high end have already started to rise as have houses on the low end of the spectrum have also begun to  rise in value.  These stats where taken from the MLS statistics on Morris Plains

This report was done on only 4 bedroom 2 and 1/2 bath homes but can be run for any type of propertyand any where.  If you are interested in what the real value of your home is e mail me and I would be happy to run a Home  Value History Report for your house.  My Email Address is rsittmann@weichert.com  Click on the graph to make it larger and to print it.

Thanks For Reading Morris Plains Homes NJ.  Here is the Quote:  “In wine there is wisdom in beer there is happiness in water there is bacteria”   Benjamin Franklin

Bob Sittmann

Last Friday the Morristown High School Swim Team held it’s annual “Van Laskos” Memorial Scholarship Fund Swim a Thon.  This is the 6th year for the event and the swimmers raised over 13,000.00.  The event and prize honor a former Colonials swimmer that died of acute lymphocyte leukemia in 2005 just before his graduation. 

The first swim a thon raised $3500.00 for the Valierie Fund Childrens Center at Morristowns Memorial Hospital where Laskos received treatment.  The following year nearly $15,000.00 was raised to help the family cover medical expenses.

The Laskos Scholarship is awarded to a graduating senior of the swim team who best embodies Lasko’s Spirit.  The recipients are chosen by the other members of the team.  Last year Katie Browne and Dillion Pasepone received the scholarship.  Last year was the first time there where 2 athletes where selected. 

You got to love a school  where its students stand up to honor on of their own.  Good Job Colonials.

The Market in  Morris Plains, Morris Township and Morristown area is beginning to pick up.  The absorption rate is still on the high side. Morris Plains is at 8 months the Township is at 6 and Morristown is at 14.  The sale to list price ratio is still around 95%.  Things will pick up again as the buyers come back into the market.  Madison is already back to 4 months.

Hey dont if you are looking for a Colonial in Morris Plains NJ,  Call me about the this baby.

 Thanks For reading My Morris Plains Homes NJ  Blog.  Here is the quote:

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” Winston Churchill

I have the inside track on a great looking Center Hall Colonial in Morris Plains, NJ.  Here are some Pictures

Great Location

Dining room

Big Kitchen

Wood Burning Fire Place in Family Room

Give me a call at 862 222 4737 if you are interested in this property. This home is priced at 699,000. Call now if you want to see this baby.

Thanks for reading My Blog on Morris Plains Homes;  Here is the quote for today’s post ;  “Peace be to thine house” I Samuel 25:6

The last economic in the expansion in the United States was led by housing and housing related businesses.  Those business accounted for a large part of the of employment growth and  an increase in home equity fueled that expansion.   The Blog Calculated Risk reports that American Home owners borrowed 680 billion dollars of home equity in 2006 and 480 billion in 2007.  A trillion dollars can go along way to fueling an economic expansion Mardi Gras.  But the party is over and we are all suffering with the hangover now.  

The housing market peaked in 2006 and the housing related industries have  shed jobs.  As home prices have fallen the ability of home owners to borrow against their homes equity has vanished.  Instead of contributing to the expansion of the economy the housing market is the reason for it’s contraction.  Lets face it we went crazy.  We borrowed against the house put in granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances, bought a new mini van, a 50 inch plasma flat screen TV and went to Disney World.  The last one off Magic Mountain please turn off the light

Housing is what got us into the mess but it is not going to get us out.  And what is the really good news is that we do not need it to get out of the recession.  The US economy has staged an incredible turnaround in less then a year.  In less then nine months it has grown 11.3 percent.  And all this has happen as home values have continued to fall and consumer lending has declined.  People are still spending they are just being smart about it.

What industries are leading us out of the recession?  Well you have education and health care on the local front.  In addition industries that are tied to the global economy have come back. Commodities, energy, transportation and   manufacturing is growing again.  Exports from this country have risen 6 months in a row.  Low interest rates and government spending have helped as well.  Business services are adding jobs.  It is many small things that are leading us back to recovery. 

Americans have changed the way we spend.  We save for the things we want  and are spending less.   Instead of income going to tend debt service it is going to investment.  This capital investment instead of going into housing is going into improving infrastructure, new industries like solar plants,  updating existing facilities and manufacturing expansion.  The stock market is proof positive.  In 10 months it has risen over 50 percent from its lows back in March of 2009 .

There are 25 homes for sale in Morris Plains this month.  Only one home has gone under contract and that is my listing at 9 Cleveland Avenue Morris Plains, NJ.  There are two homes that are listed as a for sale by owner.  One is a great up dated  cape, 3 bedrooms 2 baths priced at 385 another is a ranch with all new baths and kitchens priced at 510.  If you would like to see them let me know.  I also have a lead on real nice center hall colonial on a great lot and will price in the high 600′s

Thanks for  reading Morris Plains Homes Blog and here is the quote: 

“While you’re saving your face, you’re losing your ass.”  Lyndon Baines Johnson

US economic growth has finally resumed  The gross national product for the 4th quarter will show an increase of 5 percent, the third Quarter was up by 2.2 percent.  This comes after 4 quarters of contraction.     So the economy seems to be getting better but it  is still very fragile.

However today’s release of the Consumer Price report for 2009 will mark the first annual decline in consumer prices in  54 years. With high unemployment keeping a lid on wages, manufacturing at  70% of capacity and  virtually no inflation. Those that are banking on the Federal Bank to reverse it‘s lending rate policy  may be disappointed. The Feds will be fearful of raising interest rates too soon and could keep them at near zero this year and maybe for 2011 as well.  Thus the dollars value is not going anywhere soon.  

So this bodes well for the home buyer.  Two things will happen this spring, the home buyer credit will go away  and the  government will stop buying mortgages.   However  the Fed will continue to keep interest rates low  and  this will help keep the  affordability of home ownership relatively high. 

In Morris Plains and in the surrounding area homeowners that wish to sell their homes will see an increasing number of buyers.  Competition for homes in good condition , that are in a good location and are well priced  will be high.  Those home owners that bought at the height of the market will not be able to sell because of the loss they will take in this declining market.  These are mostly newer homes with all the bells and whistles or older homes that have been updated and their owners took second mortgages or refinanced to pay for the improvements.   We have already seen this in the number of homes that have been withdrawn from the market at the end of 2009.  These homes will not be part of the market and  thus not be part of the home selling pool. 

The other unseen factor is that the banks are artificially holding back additional inventory thus competition by their long drawn out process of approving short sales and foreclosed sales.  Although at first the temptation to a buyer is great to buy one of these homes, the process is difficult and time consuming to many of them and they end up going to a more traditional home buying route.  Short sales and foreclosures are for those stout hearted buyers that, first have the cash to invest, secondly can afford the time to wait  for a banks approval.   Many of the pundits are fearful of the foreclosed homes hitting the market and driving the prices down.  Home Owners in Morris County NJ really don’t need to fear the foreclosure market.

A foreclosed home requires a specific type of buyer to purchase the home.  The vast majority of home buyers in the market are ill equipped to take on the challenges of buying one of these homes.  If a foreclosed home comes on the market and is in good condition the competition among buyers is fierce and could result in multiple offers and even a bidding war.  99 percent of the buyers of homes today do not have the stomach to last very long looking for a home this way. 

Typically a foreclosed home is in need of a ton of work.  Yes it could sell for well below the market but it will  need  so much refurbishing that the cost to bring it up to standards would bring the value  to the current market.  Those buyers that can afford to buy a foreclosed home, put the time and money into it, then sell it again don’t sell it a discount to the market they sell it at the market or they live in it.  The banks in a sense are recreating the buy and flip market of 4 to 5 years ago.

The other thing is to take into consideration is that foreclosed homes still represent a value to a bank.  One may think that they would want to get these properties off the the balance sheet asap.  The truth is that they have already written down these properties and they are not in the mood to write them down further.  Banks are corporations and answer to stock holders as long as they can keep a property on the books valued at “X” they will.  Stock holders are funny they don’t like to see losses.  It is not in the bank’s best interests in flooding the market with unsold inventory.  They will do their best to keep the market from sliding further. They will be very careful and controlled as the  as they sell off this inventory.  Plus with the interest rate so low it costs the banks very little to hold this inventory and these costs can be written off.

So all in all the home market in Morris Plains and in Morris County has bottomed out.  Well priced homes in good condition and in good location will sell in a relativelyshort time.  Home sellers need to know that if you bought a home 4 or 5 years a go that home is worth about 15 to 25 percent less depending on the town it is in.  Those home owners that bought 10 years ago have seen the value of their home go up in value from 140 to 170 percent in that  time period.  These are the people that will make out in this market.  They can take the equity they have earned in their home and invest in a larger home that is now priced 20 percent less than it was 4 or 5 years ago.

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes.  Here is the Quote: “Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.”  Albert Einstein

  On the weather front we may see a bit of a warming trend here in Morris Plains, NJ over the next few days.  Be sure to enjoy it while you can because the weather dudes are predicting a return to arctic temperatures by the end of the month and into February.

 On the interest rate debate “me culpa” on my last post.  It looks like India and China will be tightening their monetary policy in an attempt to reign in inflation.  This action may weaken the USD which is already under pressure from last weeks disappointing job report and subsequent realization that the Fed will keep interest rates low.

 We have a couple of new listings in Morris Plains, NJ.  Two are on Leamoor Drive listed at 549 and 600,000.  There is a nice colonial on Thompson Way listed at 650,000.  And over on Maple Ave there is a cute as a dickens 2 bedroom 1 bath ranch for sale.  Only one house has gone under contract in Morris Plains so far this year.  There are only 25 homes for sale in Morris Plains so far this year.  The number of mid priced homes is still relatively low.

 Well my house at 9 Cleveland is under contract.  The buyers made an offer on December 22 but with the holidays and travel we finally got out of attorney review on January 7th.    When we originally had the house listed at 629, we had a lot of interest but no offers so we lowered the price 5 percent to 599.  Again a lot of interest and only one offer which was too low.

 After Thanksgiving we lowered the price another 5 percent to 575 and the buyer train pulled into the station we got 3 offers between December 1 and the 22nd. We where able to work a deal and Morris Plains is well on its way to having a new set of residents. 

 The number of refinancings soared in the first week of January as everyone has finally realized that these interest rates can not last forever.  So if you are looking for a home be sure to get on the mortgage bandwagon and lock in that rate.  This trend should be good,  less money going to pay debt and more into the economy.

 Things are still looking good and the Spring market is showing signs of being one of the strongest yet.

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes.  Here is the quote. For this week “Paddle faster, I hear banjo music”   Anonymous

We need to watch what the December non farm payroll numbers that come out on Friday the 8th. The median forecast is for a decline of 8,000 with a wide range of a loss of 80,000 jobs to a gain of 60,000.There are several economists that think December marked the first month in two years that there were more jobs created than eliminated. And any sign of growth raises the expectations the Fed will look at hiking interest rates sooner rather than later.  Thomas Hoenig Chairman of the Kansas City Federal Bank thinks  intrest rates should be at 3.5 to 4.5

Any perception of that happening will strengthen the USD In the world of currencies the Euro has come under pressure after ECB Executive Board member Juergen Stark was quoted as saying that that the EU would not bail out Greece. The USD value is closely tied to the unemployment numbers & on this issue the ADP indicated that US shed 84,000 jobs in December, far fewer than the 145,000 lost in November. Were these kinds of numbers to be confirmed by the non farm payrolls on Friday we could see the greenback strengthening further.   A stronger dollar will have investors pulling out of commodities and buying the dollar.  As the value of the dollar goes up so will interest rates. 

There are a couple of new Morris Plains homes for Sale.  35 Leamoor is a 4 bedroom 2 bath ranch priced at 600 and 2 Thompson Way is a 5 bedroom 3 bath Colonial priced at 650.   Not much going on in the mid price ranges for homes.  The Homer Avenue home is under Attorney Review.  That homes price was lowered to 435 and I think that it will under contract near that number. The Cold weather does not look like it will be easing any time soon.  I hear that the skating at the Morris Plains Community Park Pond is exceptional.  We may be getting some more snow for this weekend so you will be seeing me at the Mountain Way School Hill Sledding with my Homies.

 I would like to give a shot out to my 2 VBF’s over at the Morris County Tourism Bureau.  Carol and Deidre are a great source of info on Morris County and the Morristown area if you should stop in tell them I said “YO”.  Check out the web site at www.morristourism.org for all your Morris County Tourism Information.

Here is the quote:   

 ”The main purpose for holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children worse than your own.” ~ Author Unknown

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes.  Remember to Support our Troops

 Also check out www.zerohedge.com

Bob Sittmann