Answers For Owners Blog

With the way the market is going, builders are slashing prices of their existing inventory and offering incentives unheard of months ago.

For homeowners who jumped in at the height of the boom, the discounts aren't so good. In Quayside Court, a quiet cul-de-sac in Huntington, many residents who bought last year suddenly own homes worth a whole lot less--making it hard for anyone who has to refinance, sell, or borrow against the equity.

BusinessWeek story

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In his post Greg uses a hypothetical situation, although in much of the nation I have to believe the suggested scenario is true, where there are three houses on the same street that are for sale. Each of these houses comp to one another (same sq ft, bed/bath construction) and they are all priced within $1000 of each other.

Now for the kicker - NONE OF THE HOMES ARE SELLING The first house is in the best shape, has the most curb appeal and is clearly the first choice if a buyer was going to pick one of these three. The second house needs some updating in its paint but is a solid value for the price. The third is a rental that has not been updated in years and has been vacant for months. The last tenants had to be evicted and damaged the interior.

Clearly, even the best of the three is overpriced for this market. How can we tell? Because it isn’t selling, even though it’s the pick of the litter.

What does that say about house number two? And what conclusion might the seller of dowdy, run-down house number three draw, if he were of a mind to draw conclusions?

Here’s a better question: What might the seller of house number three do differently, if he actually wants his house sold?

Drop the price and unload the problem. Homes are selling in this market. In August 2007 there were 490 Monmouth County homes that sold. As a seller if you want to be included in that number of monthly sold homes, you need to start to think about being flexible in either your price or your terms.

If you have the ability to be flexible and want to sell your property, contact us today.

Tags : "sell today" : "real estate" : fsbo : rental

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Posted In: Tips For Sellers , Info For Landlords , Home Values

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The New York Times is reporting that the median price of American homes is expect to drop for the first time in 50 years. This eventuality is going to spell even more trouble for homeowners who are either trying to sell their home now, or will be forced to sell in the near future. The thing that is amazing about this story is that so many people in the real estate industry said that the nationwide decline in home prices would never happen.

From the NY Times:

In all, Global Insight expects a decline of 4 percent, or roughly 10 percent in inflation-adjusted terms, between the peak earlier this year and the projected low point in 2009. In California, prices are expected to decline 16 percent — or about 20 percent after taking inflation into account.

As of July 2007, the median home price of all homes for sale in New Jersey was $449,000. That means by these projections the median home price in 2009 may be closer to $404,000.

Need to sell now before time blows up 10% of the profit you stand to make? Call or email us today.

Tags : home prices : real estate : valuation : FSBO

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Posted In: Tips For Sellers , For Sale By Owner (FSBO) , Home Values , News

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The New Jersey Star Ledger is reporting that the state's housing slump seems to be reaching its bottom. Where are they getting this information from? Yep, you guessed it, the NAR.

The Ledger article is linked above for you to read and you can read why other industry professionals have a more guarded opinion as to New Jersey's housing situation. What I think will be of interest to readers of this blog are the pricing numbers across the state.

The strongest price increase in the state was in Mercer County, where the median price rose 7.1 percent, to $283,800, followed by Atlantic City at $264,600, up 5.1 percent, and finally, the Newark-Union area, which rose 4.5 percent, to $423,700. The Newark-Union area includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex and Union counties.

In the Edison area, which includes Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Somerset counties, the median home price fell 3.4 percent, to $363,500.

I don't think that we are quite out of the woods yet in terms of house prices. It still is very much a buyer's market so if you are selling, you have to make sure you do everything you can to separate your house from its competition. For a good post on helpful selling hints take a look at what Jill (a.k.a. Kathy) has to say.

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Posted In: For Sale By Owner (FSBO) , Home Values , News

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Following up on my 60 Minutes / Realtors post, the Inman News Blog posted a copy of an email sent by National Association of Realtors President Pat Combs to the association members.

One of the most difficult challenges we face is educating the news media about today's real estate industry.

Maybe the news media is a bit skeptical of the education NAR provides . Check out this post from the David Lereah Watch.

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This week's Homeowner Web Resource is Trulia - another online tool that like Zillow, will assist with determining your home's value based on the local market. Trulia takes finding information to an entirely different level though.

First, a homeowner can look at a majority of the homes that are currently listed for sale in a town. This is an image of Trulia's interactive map which shows 75 of the 201 homes currently for sale in Edison New Jersey.

Think your home is worth $300,000? Use Trulia to make sure. By looking at what comparable properties have sold for you can be sure that you (or your agent) are asking a realistic amount for your home. Price it wrong in this tight market and you will be waiting a long time for a buyer.

What is the current average listing price of a 3 bedroom house in Edison? During the week of April 26, 2007 through May 2, 2007, the average is $414,400 (a .04% increase since mid-april).

The timeliness of the information and the ease of ues really makes Trulia a standout service for homeowners. Also be sure to use the heat maps and voices tools provided on the site to learn more about trends and discuss happenings in the area with professionals who have local knowledge.

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Posted In: For Sale By Owner (FSBO) , Web Resources For Homeowners , Home Values

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Foreclosure rates in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties are lower than in the rest of the country while the number of foreclosures for Philly's neighbors in New Jersey have risen over 50%.

In the first quarter of 2007, pending existing-home sales for this region were down just 5.3 percent, or 685 houses, compared with the same period in 2006, according to data compiled by Trend, the multiple-listing service (MLS). It took about two weeks longer to sell a house this year than it did last year, but median prices continued to increase, the Trend data showed.

According to this article, one reason why the Philadelphia housing market is not experiencing the same high foreclosure rates as other cities could be attributed to borrowers in this region are more likely to have a 30 year fixed rate loan versus an adjustable ARM. Another reason could also be that the home prices in the Philadelphia market did not experience the same run-up during the height of the real estate boom over the past few years. New York, New Jersey and Washington saw their home values rise dramatically and many owners rushed to take equity out of their homes so they could pay off credit cards or take on renovations. Many of those homeowners are now upside down on their homes.

Top Ten Highest Foreclosure States
Nevada
Colorado
Georgia
Michigan
California
Florida
Arizona
Ohio
Texas
New Jersey

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Posted In: Foreclosure , Home Values , Mortgage , News

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The other day I posted How Much Is My House Worth and I talked a bit about different ways that owners can find their home's value when they have to sell. One of the services I mentioned in my post was the online tool Zillow.com. I just found this interesting quote from Zillow's spokesperson in a New York Times article, Forget Gimmicks: Buyers Want Numbers (RR).

This approach differs from that of sites like Zillow.com, whose goal is to attract an audience for its information and to sell advertising on the basis of the size of that audience.

Within a few months of its opening, however, Zillow attracted some unwelcome attention. In October, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit consumer group in Washington, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission that contended that inaccurate valuations on the site, both high and low, were damaging the interests of all consumers and particularly the interests of working families.

The complaint has yet to be resolved, but a spokeswoman for Zillow was careful to point out the site’s disclaimers.

“We’re a starting point,” said the spokeswoman, Amanda Hoffman. “We’re not a crystal ball. It’s the Internet. You sort of have to take everything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt.”

This reinforces my belief that people who need to sell should do as much research as possible about the market and what price their home can command. This will help the owner to price the property appropriately for their needs (e.g. - sell fast, sell for cash, stop foreclosure, end headaches of being a landlord, etc.).

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Do you know how much your house is worth? An accurate understanding of your home's value is always important when you are trying to sell, however with the current sluggishness of the residential real estate market, an the accuracy of your asking price can make the difference between selling fast and not selling at all.

So how do you figure this out? First you can look in your local newspaper's real estate for sale section and try and compare the homes listed there to your own. This is not the best way to go especially if selling fast is what you need to do. More often than not you will be unable to accurately compare the size, area and amenities of the properties listed in the paper to your own home.

Second, you could call a real estate agent and ask that they give you what is called a CMA (comparative market analysis) of your home's value. A CMA compares your home to similar homes that have recently sold in order to give you an idea of the price your home will command in the market. It is important to note that real estate agents are more than willing to provide this service to you for free with the hope that you will list your house for sale with them.

Remember -- agents work on commissions - the higher the price your house sells for, the more money they receive. An over-priced house will not sell quickly in this market.

There are some good online tools that you can use including Zillow. Zillow allows you to enter a property address and see what other homes in the area are selling or have sold for. While some people swear by Zillow and the information it provides, I have not had the same results. I find that for the Middlesex, Monmouth and Mercer County New Jersey areas, the information provided by Zillow is not very helpful.

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