Posts Tagged ‘Morris Plains NJ’

There is trouble brewing for the housing market in Morris Plains.  It is a well-known fact in the real estate world that when a home hits the market it gets the most traffic in the first 30 days.  If it is correctly priced, it will sell within that time period.  If within that 30 days there is plenty of traffic but no offers the home price should be lowered 5 percent.  If a home has had little or no traffic the price should be lowered 10 percent.

In Morris Plains there are 31 homes for sale in Morris Plains that have been on the market for an average of 100 days.  They range on the market from 32 all the way up to 271 days.  10 homes have been on the market for 4 months or more.  Now before you say “well that is because of the economy or the market”.  The truth is there are currently 10 homes under contract that where on the market for an average of less then 30 days.

Why did these homes sell in such short time?  They were all correctly priced to the market when they were listed.  These 10 homes where not all inexpensive properties, six where priced over 549,000 dollars.  The highest priced one was priced at 699,000.  Four of these  homes sold in under two weeks. 

It is not rocket science, there is a lot of competition in the market.  If a buyer cannot find the home he wants at the price he wants in Morris Plains he will go to Denville or Morris Township or Hanover to find his home.  Remember the market dictates what your home is worth.  The current average absorption rate for Morris Plains is up around 6 months.  In the long run incorrectly pricing your home will cost you tens of thousands of dollars.  Hoping to get your asking price is not a strategy it is a mistake.

Thanks for reading my Morris Plains Real Estate Blog:  Here is the quote: “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in”.  Theodore Roosevelt

We have some good news in Morris Plains.  Six homes closed in May.  The average days on market before a contract was signed were 88 days. The average sales price was 394.  This works out to about 94 percent of asking price.  That is about a percentage point lower then in April but still not bad.  What is really good news on the home front is that the in May, 6 homes went under contract and the average list price was 599,000.  The average days on market for these homes, was only 35 days. 

The absorption rate for homes priced over 500,000 dollars is only 3 months. While the average for all homes in Morris Plains is 5 months.  Only one home under 500,000 has gone under contract in May.  What does that mean?  Well all the home owners that sold their smaller home have now out buying their next larger and higher priced homes.   This bodes well for those homes priced higher then 500,000.

On the Macro side of things, US economic drivers continue to improve.  On June 2^nd we saw strong housing data as well as double digit auto sales growth.  This morning the ADP jobless claims number showed a decline of 55,000 and weekly claims were off by 10,000.  This was about what was expected.  However the main driver to watch is will be the May Non-Farm Payroll numbers that are expected to be out later this week.  The consensus is for a gain of 430,000 jobs.  That is HUGE.

Thanks for readding my blog Morris Plains Homes NJ.  Here is the Quote: The results of quality work last longer than the shock of high prices.  ~Author Unknown

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

What’s going on in the Market in Morris Plains?  Starting off we have 29 homes for sale  in the month of May.   In April we had 12 homes go under contract and six have been sold.

  What is really interesting is that of those 29 homes that are on the market, over 25 percent are not new listings.   These 8 homes have been on the market for over 6 months some have been on the market for over a year.  Morris Plains has an absorption rate for homes priced under 500,000 dollars of 2 months.   For those homes priced over 500,000 it is 4 months.   This statistically means that that a home on the market in Morris Plains will go under contract in less the 3 months.  Now wait a minute why have these homes not sold in over 12 months?  The reason they have not, is that they are over priced. 

What is  interesting is that Morris Plains still has a Sellers Market Absorption rate of three months.   This means that homes that are well priced have sold so fast that they have off set the fact that 25% percent of the homes listed in town are overpriced and have not sold.   

One of these homes was originally priced at 629,000 this home was on the market for almost 8 months.  It eventually sold at 502,500.  There is another home in the Hill Section of town. It has been for sale a total of 1,274 days.   It first went up for sale in 2006 priced at 899,000 it is still for sale at 699,000 today.  This house is the perfect example of a home that is completely out of touch with the market.  Homes in the same neighborhood same style and have sold for between 550,000 and 670,000 dollars.  Price your house right.  Price your house right.  Price your house right.  If you don’t all you are doing is having a party put not inviting anybody to attend. 

Now that the Tax Credit is finished we may see a slow down in first time home buyers looking for a houses.  With this we are seeing buyers asking for sellers concessions at closing.  Buyers are asking the seller to pay their closing costs or points on their mortgage.  Some sellers are actually offering to pay closing costs up to 8,000.00 and adding that information to the listing to encourage more buyers into their home.  This has been a very popular feature in selling homes in the Midwest and Western sections of our country.  It will become more and more popular with buyers and sellers in the months to come.  

I have also had a buyer request the seller to pay for half of the home inspection.  I have seen sellers offer home warranties to buyers.  As the housing market continues to recover, both buyers and sellers will see more and more concessions from sellers to market their homes to a more educated buyer that has many options to consider.

Hey in closing congratulations to the Morristown High School Boys Lacrosse Team and their run in the Morris County Tournament.  Good Luck against Mountain Lakes.

Thanks for reading my Blog Morris Plains Homes and here is the quote:  “The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age”  Lucille Ball

Isn’t this summer like weather great?  I think that after the winter we had we deserve a few warm days. 

My listing at 9 Cleveland has closed.  The historical event took place on March 29th.  The new residents have already placed a play set in the back yard and have begun to make the home theirs.

What is new in Morris Plains Market?  There are 26 homes that are actively for sale in Morris Plains.  Of those there are 5 under attorney review.  There are 11 homes that are under contract.  In January and February we only had 2 homes close, but in March we saw that trend turnaround with 10 homes change hands.  The average days on market was about 4 months and the list to sale ratio was a very firm 95 to 96 percent. 

If you should have any questions concerning how long a house has been on the market give me a call or e mail me and I will be happy to give you the straight skinny.

On a macro note the government stopped buying mortgages but that has not seemed to have pushed rates up too much. The home buyer credit is coming to a close at the end of this month; A 30 year fixed mortgage is still around 5.25 to 5.30 percent.  The employment picture seems to have begun to stabilize.  Inflation is still very low so the government has no reason to raise rates any time soon.  Home prices nationally have also started to rise.  While in Morris County and Morris Plains in particular the bottom has slipped away and prices are higher.  The stock market is knocking on that 11,000 point mark.  I believe the light is at the end of the tunnel.

Governor Christi is doing what he promised by cutting spending and refusing to raise taxes.  He has taken some unpopular stands with the teachers and government employees unions but these things need to be done.  Hey we are all hurting here and we have all had to make sacrifices but I think if we all work together and stop demonizing those that have to make some hard and unpopular decisions and we work together  we will get through this.  We all shared in the good times now lets share in the bad.   Local governments also need to take a page out of the governor’s book and control spending.  None of us can afford our property taxes  going higher. 

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes and here is the quote; “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario” James T Kirk Captain of the Starship Enterprise

Every morning I get up make my coffee and then sit down and go through all the financial websites to see what is going on in the world.  What I have realized is all the bad news that is coming out about the economy centers around the housing market 

Like a lesson in the conjunction of Latin Verbs that Sister Hell on Wheels would pound into my 15 year old head in high school the bad news in the housing market is force feed to us every waking moment.  One report claims that 1 in 4 home owners are under water in their home loans.  Another claim the housing market is awash in foreclosures, and another warns us of the coming commercial real estate meltdown.   Ah duh this is the same crap we have heard for the last year.  Where were these people 2 to 3 years ago when we all could have used some of their bad news predictions?  All the bad news is in the market it is not relavent any more.  Now tell Bobby something that we  don’t know.

Ok how about I share this with you.  Did you know that 382 non financial firms in the Standard and Poor’s 500 have reported results for the fourth quarter and are now sitting on 932 billion dollars?  That is billion with a “B”.  What these companies have done is during the down turn they cut costs and capital spending looking to survive the storm.  What are these companies doing now?  They are coming out of their caves and are looking to spend.  Let’s face it a trillion dollars sitting in a bank account is not doing anyone any good.  That money needs to be put back into the economy.   Some of these companies have increased dividends and bought back stock but this signals to the market that they don’t have a better use for their cash.  Stockholders want value and growth.

What is happening now is companies are using their cash to buy other companies.  Bank of New York just spent 2.3 billion for PNC Financial Services, Diamond Foods Inc’s 615 million purchases of Kettle Foods, Air Products offer of 5.12 billion for Airgas Inc.   These are just a few examples of how these companies see positive signs where the economy is going.  Capital for expansion is more readily available and this capital is cheap.  Instead of using what many CEO’s consider their under valued stock to finance a merger these companies have leveraged their cash and the availability of cheap capital to expand through purchases and mergers.  Their view of the economy is that their stock is undervalued and when you compare that to the cost of cash and financing it is pretty easy decision to make, use the cash.

So what does this mean to the average home buyer?  Well 382 CEO’s are out looking to buy.  The reason they are buying is the same reason you should be buying as well.  Reason number 1: the market is at the bottom, in some metro areas the bottom is slipping away.  Reason number 2: interest rates have never been lower.  Everyone will agree that rates will not stay at these levels for long.  30 year mortgages have slipped under 5 percent once again. Reason number 3: waiting for prices to drop.  Home prices are at 2004  levels.  We have seen prices fall almost 5% a year since 2006. Will prices fall further I don’t think so. Why you ask? Because of, Reason number 4 the Economy is Improving.

Thanks for reading Morris Plains Homes   NJ Blog.   Here is today’s Quote   “Stay strong eat right and go for the gold”  John Sittmann

PS this just in    The Unemployment Numbers for February are in.   The  Consensus is that had we not been “snowed in” in February we would have seen a job gain instead of a job loss & this is perceived as a strong economic indicator