Needed Pronto! New Listings in the Pascack Valley-Signed the Buyers

March 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

Searching for New Listings! Where are they????

The well qualified buyers are out there, problem is, there seems to be a lack of quality homes available in the Pascack Valley and surrounding Bergen County towns in New Jersey. The bad winter we experienced in North Jersey, seems to have delayed some sellers from putting their homes on the market. I have active, motivated buyer clients looking for new inventory, but many of the homes available have been sitting on the market for one reason or another. Many current listings are overpriced, have inferior locations (main road, near railroad tracks, or next to a commercial property), or in need of some serious updating. And most buyers won’t even touch a short sale due to the months of waiting to hear back from the banks and the uncertainty of waiting around and not knowing exactly when the closing will be. They do make sense though and worth the wait if you are in love with the house and/or getting a good, under market price.

I have talked to some of the high profile listing agents in the area and they too seem to be not getting consistent, new listings so far in 2011. There appears to have been a slight uptick in activity on the New Jersey MLS, but many are homes that were previously available, expired, and are now back on the market.

The price ranges I have been working with from $400,000 to $525,000 mainly has buyers who are purchasing their first home or stepping up from owning a condo. This range definitely has a dearth of good homes and when a good one does come on the market, there are multiple offers.

The spring market seems to have started early this year for the buyers, but the sellers never received the memo. Hopefully the potential sellers are getting their homes ready to show and will have them on the market by April. So lets so sellers! LIST NOW!

Filed Under: Bergen County, Home Sales, New Jersey, Pascack Valley, Real Estate Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hoarders and the Houses They Live In

January 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Hoarders

Photo Courtesy of AETV.com

I have a love/hate relationship with the show Hoarders on A&E Network (Mondays at 10pm). Its unfathomable to me how these people can live in their houses with the nasty condition they are in! I just saw an episode where the hoarding couple had 3 inches of rabbit poop all over the floor. Mounds of boxes, junk, papers, etc litter every room and I find myself yelling at the TV screen screen,’JUST THROW IT OUT ALREADY!!’ Despite my frustration and agitated state this show causes me to have, I can’t turn it off.

Working in real estate over 10 years, I have come across a few homes with hoarding.  I recall one 2 family home was appraising where the tenant had newspapers piled to the ceiling! There was a narrow, clear path from the front door to the sofa to the bathroom, and that was it! The tenant had no access to kitchen. The owner couldn’t refinance her home because I couldn’t complete the inspection for the lender due to all the clutter.

Came across another home, again in a 2 family home where the tenants had been there over 25 years. They had piles of junk everywhere. There was even a broken bicycle inside the bath tub among other debris. I don’t think they ever took baths! The clutter had overtaken their bedroom, they had to move their bed into the dining room.  The owner had inherited the house from his parents and didn’t have the heart to evict them.

I want to feel compassion for the hoarders, but I just can’t relate to it at all. I end up feeling worse for their families, neighbors, the therapists, and the 1-800-Got-Junk crew.

I will give the show this, it has inspired me to clean out my cluttered basement my wife has been nagging me to straighten up.

Filed Under: Pascack Valley Tagged With: , , ,

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