Archive for the ‘History and Morris Plains News’ Category

Good News, More Good News and Some Bad News for the Housing Market in Morris Plains

There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal this morning.  It appears that the devaluation of the Euro has had a positive effect for The U. S. housing market.   An influx of of international money looking for a safe haven is pushing domestic mortgage rates to their lowest levels in 50 years. 

Most industry insiders were bracing for a rise in rates when the FED was going to stop propping up the market.  Instead 30 year mortgage rates have fallen once again below 5 percent.  Instead because of all this cash could push 30 year mortgage rates as low as 4.5 to 4.25 percent.

For every one percentage point decline in mortgage rates equvalent to roughly a 10 percent reduction in the home price.  If the rates hold economists predict that this will allow current home owners to sell existing homes with out actually dropping the price of their homes.  A home priced at 300,000 dollars to a buyer a month ago has just become more affordable to a larger pool of buyers.  This higher number of buyers will be competing for the same home.

More Good News is that The National Association for Business Economics report that they expect the country’s Gross National Product will expand by 3.2 percent in 2010 and 2011.  Growth prospects are stronger, unemployment and inflation are lower.  The economy in April added jobs at the fastest pace in four years.  Unemployment is expected to drop from 9.9 percent to 9.4 percent by the end of the year. By the end of 2011 it will drop to 8.5%

Now for the bad news for Morris Plains Home Owners.  The number of homes for sale in town has jumped up to 34.  What’s worse is our absorption rate is now 8 months.  At this level our market for homes are squarely in the buyers range.   How did this happen you ask? 

Well first we saw the first hints of it over the last 2 weeks when I reported that over a quarter of the homes in Morris Plains have been on the market for 6 months to a year or more.  Many have been listed many times over.  Some have been listed over a period of years.  The reason they never sold is very simple weak marketing and they are all over priced.  

Now the problem is that too many people waited to long to put their homes up for sale.  The time to strike was  2 to 3 months ago when there was no competition, when we only had 20 homes on the market.  Now everyone is jumping into the market and the number of homes for sale has increased by 35 percennt.  Compounding the problem is that every home for sale in Morris Plains is over priced by 5 to 10 percent.  Get ready for a slow sales season this summer.  There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the community of caring. 

If you are serious about selling your home give me a call.  We will work together, construct a realestic marketing plan, price your house to the market and sell it.  Remember Real Estate is not magic we do not wish or hope someone buys your home.   I will work to sell it.  

Thanks for Reading My Morris Plains Blog.  The Quote for today is:  “The young rebel the old conserve, together we move forward.”  Robert Leckie

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

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

Well the Holiday Weekend is over.  I took John to the train so he could go back to the University of Maryland.  The train station at Newark was crazy with families taking there kids to the train.  It was great to see my son he has grown in so many ways. 

The Music Ministry at Saint Virgils is selling Christmas ornaments to raise money to repair and up grade the pipe organ.  The ornament displays the Nativity Scene that is seen on one of the churches stain glass window.  This is the first of a series that will be available for the next few years.   Each ornament cost $20.00 and are about 3 3/4 inches long by 2 inches wide.  These will make great gift ideas.

Coach John Furphey has retired after 27 years as the Girls Soccer Coach for Morristown High School.  He started the program in 1982. His tenure of 27 years was the longest for a couch at the same soccer program.  Here is another example of  another dedicated teacher at Morristown High School

Five homes have closed in Morris Plains NJ  for the month of November that does not include what might close today the 3oth.  The average priced home was 395  with a 93 percent list to sales ratio.  3 homes have come under contract in November the average price was 516 and 57 was the average days on market.   3 homes are under attorney review as of today.

 The house at 253 Mountain Way went under contract in 12 days.  Again here is a house that was correctly priced from the beginning.  As I have said in the past  “a well priced house will always move in a short period of time.”  253 Mountain Way was a nicely appointed home with lots of room and updated kitchen and bath rooms. 

Remember in pricing your home hope and wishing are not strategies in selling your house.  The market dictates the price of your house, at times it may not be kind but it is always right.

Here is the Dickens Quote ” Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it.”

Thanks for Reading Morris Plains Homes

Bob Sittmann

I  held an open house at 9 Cleveland In Morris Plains.  We had 9 guests.  I was there until 5:30 hosting buyers.  By the time everyone had left with the time change, I was picking up my signs in the dark.   Even though someone knocked down one of my directional signs, I still had one of the highest attendences at an open house for this home.  I have had plenty interest in this home from growing families with 2 to 4 kids that need more room.   And wow what interest have we have had.  I had two families in the house at the same time. 

The Morris Plains  Halloween Parade was again a huge success.  There where a ton of  kids of all ages in attendance.  It was nice that Halloween fell on a Saturday. This allowed a lot of families to participate.  Maybe it could be held on the Saturday before Halloween from now on.  I will make that suggestion to the Rec Department.  It was nice that the rain was kind enough to hold off until the end. 

Halloween night at my house was busy  we ran out of candy.  I had to borrow a box of Swedish Fish from my neighbor.  Thats whats nice about this town, on a dark rainy Saturday night you can always turn to one of your neighbors in an emergency.  Things where pretty much over by the time the World Series was about to start.  

Don’t forget to visit the Morris Plains Museum.  The Museum can be found behind the Community Center.  It is open on Saturdays between 10 and 2.  Don Meyer and his staff have done a wonderful job presenting the history of Morris Plains.

 Another thing that has been weighing on my mind is that back in 1963,  Mayor Paul Bangiola had the foresight to purchase an option to buy the land, with his own money for Community Park.  This unselfish act gave the town the time to work out the financing to allow them to buy the land.  This Park that all residents of the town have come to enjoy is the Crown Jewel of Morris Plains.  I think the town should honor Mayor Bangiola for his foresightedness and his community involvement by dedicating this park to  Mayor Bangiola and by changing the name to “The  Paul Bangiola Community Park at Morris Plains”

Thanks for reading more later

Bob Sittmann  Morris Plains NJ Homes 

 I had another great open house at 9 Cleveland.  I saw a lot of families with 2, 3, and 4 kids taking a look.  The house is large and has a lot of great living space.  It was the garage sale weekend this past weekend in Morris Plains.

 We had a lot of people out and about.  I sat an unofficial open house for a couple of hours to see if any garage sale people would show up.  I did get one visitor but they where looking for some thing smaller. 

The great weather on Sunday brought a horde of people out.  I had 10 visitors.  I had  2 people came back for the 2nd time and one for the 3rd. 

The first time home buyers were out as well there is not much time to get that first time home buyers credit you only have til November 30th to close.  You really want to get a contract on a house signed by October 15th

I saw two good movie over the weekend on was Away We Go with John Kasrinski and  Maya Rudolph.  The Story was good about a couple looking for a place to live.  It really was quite good.  The other was Paris it was in subtitles but I liked the story about different people and how their lives are intertwined.  I give them both 3 stars out of 4

Anyone in Morris Plains that has signed on for the town weekly email announcements should take the time to set them selves up

Are you Thinking of Moving Out of New York City?  Are you looking for a ray of sun shine on a cloudy day.  Do you want a nice home with a yard your kids can play.  Do you want a small town feel but metropolitan style. Do you want to be associated with friends and neighbors that are involved and care about thier community.  Then Look no farther Morris Plains is the place for you.  We are an hour by train to New York City.  it will take you 40 minutes to Newark Liberty Airport.We are a 10 minute drive to the shops and restaurants of Morristown.  We are minutes to interstates 80 280 287 and 78.  We are an hour and a half to the beach or the mountians

Our Schools recieved a 8 out of 10 rating by the  Great School Rating index.  We have a Crime rating of 1.  ( the lowest you can get) We got great amenities a community center parks playing fields and a local government that cares about the town and it’s people.   Our town recreation commission offers programs for every one from todlers to our senior citizens.  It is a great place to live work and play.  So come over to visit we will be expecting you.

You have to like the new look the Morris Plains downtown is sporting,  the new lamp posts, garbage cans and brick inserts in the side walk look great.  It really dresses the town up. 

 Check out the fall recreation schedule at the Morris Plains Recreation Website .   Don’t forget youth basketball sign ups this month.   The Farmers Market will be open every Saturday until October 17 also be aware that there will be a craft show on September 19th rain date is on the 26th .

The Market in the Plains has been humming right along.  There are 38 homes for sale in town.  Over the last 30 days 9 homes have gone under contract leaving us with and absorption rate of 4 months.  This is a very good rate.   6 homes have closed over the last 30 days.  These homes where on the market for an average of 27 days.  the shortest on the market was 12 days and the longest was on the market for 80 days.   These properties averaged a sale price close to 95 percent of list.  This just shows that a property that is well priced to the market will sell in a reasonable amount of time.

When selling their homes most sellers have a number in their head of what their house is worth.  Nine times out of ten this number is five to ten percent to high.  Listen to your local realtor when they explain what like properties have sold for and why.  Your local realtor really knows what the current market pulse is and can guide you in marketing and correctly pricing  your home.  The realtor will have a strategy to market your house and to present it  to get the highest return possible.  The rule of thumb is “if you have listed your home and   you have seen a lot of traffic through the home but no offers, after 30 days you should drop the price 5 percent.  If you have listed your home and  have seen very little or no traffic through your home after 30 days you should drop the price 10%.” 

The correctly priced home will generate a lot of interest  this could result in multiple offers on the property and a sale at or above the asking price.  There are a lot of homes on the market today and sellers have a lot of competition.  Hoping to get a high price is not a realistic approach in marketing your home.  The first 30 days of a  listing are the most important.   Most of the interest in a property are generated during this time.   Let your real estate professional guide you to the right strategy in pricing your home.

Remember HOPING to sell your home is not the same as having STRATEGY to sell your home.  To contact a Morris Plains Neighborhood Specialist  click on  the link to the right. Morris Plains Neighborhood Specialist.

Sept 09, 2009

Around 1752 Ebenezer Stiles  built the original section of the dwelling  located at 77 Glenbrook Road.  His son Ebenezer Jr. operated an iron works nearby.  During the Revolutionary War Cavalrymen from George Washington’s Army stayed at the house.  When retired businessman Jonathon Roberts purchased the site in 1867, he attached to the original building a house moved from another location and added a kitchen wing.  His wife Mary named the enlarged mansion “Glenbrook”.

 In 1881  the civic-minded Roberts founded the Morris Plains Library Association. It was the generousty of  his niece Altha Hatch Cutler who bequeathed the house and grounds to the Morris Plains Library Association in 1953.  The town has certainly benefited from this gift.

On the recreation front.  Dont forget sign ups for the 2009/2010 Morris Plains Basketball Season will begin on September 11th for Kindergarten through 8th Grade Recreation, 4th through 8th grade boys’ travel, and 5th through 8th grade girls’ travel programs.  Sign up at www.morrisplainssports.com website. The season will start in December and continue through February.  The cost for the Early Bird Rate for the recreation season is $45 per player (Max family rate of $100 for 3 players or more) and will be available through October 4th.  After October 4th the rate will be $60 per player.  The travel league rate is $135 per player. Don’t miss out on the fun and excitement of a great season.

In Real Estate news.  Currently there are 37 homes for sale in Morris Plains in the last week we saw one house sell.  This house was on the market for 46 days before a contract was accepted.   It was a 4 bedroom 2 and 1/2 bath salt box style home and sold for 610,000,  Another home has gone under contract  this was a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo in Foxwoods.  This home was listed for 146 days before it went under contract and was listed at 276,000

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