Archive for January, 2008
3 Reasons to Get Out of Your Condo If You Really Want It To Sell!
Categories: For Sellers
1. Buyers Need Space
When a potential buyer comes to look at your property, the last thing they want to see is you there. Now I know you love your home and think it’s helpful to point out to a buyer all its many attributes but guess what? When owners are home, buyers are more often inhibited and uncomfortable. They feel funny opening your kitchen cabinets, refrigerator and closets when you’re peering over their shoulder.
2. Buyers Need to Talk Out Loud
Part of the mental process of making the purchase decision requires the buyer to be able to imagine the property as their own. That is why you need to get rid of all your personal items like family photographs, diplomas, toothbrushes and partially used bars of soap. Imagine walking into a fancy hotel room - the room is beautiful and anonomous. There are (hopefully) no signs of the prior guest so as soon as you unpack that first bag, it becomes your room. The same process must take place at your home, as much as practically possible. When a potential buyer starts talking out loud about where to put the dining table and which wall is best for the flat screen tv they have taken that mental step. They can envision the space as their own. That’s just what you want, no?
3. Realtors Need to do Their Job
A good realtor will be knowedgable about your home, its features and even its defects. It is the job of the agent to be the ‘tour guide’ and lead the buyer into and through the property in a way that highlights its best points. Sometimes that means leaving the best - that just renovated gourmet kitchen, for example - for last. That’s what is most likely to be remembered. Other times it means telling you about a possible negative in an honest but tactful way that doesn’t immediately scare the buyer off. A homeowner who says to a buyer things like “we don’t open that window because it’s so noisy when the buses go by” or “oh, that water stain on the kitchen hardwood floor from the time the dishwasher flooded but we just cover it with a rug” is not doing himself or herself any favors. While there are certain things that must be disclosed by a seller and agent there is a way to do it at an appropriate time. Hopefully the buyer will be so in love with the property after being properly shown around that when a damaged floor is exposed the buyer will be the one to say we can just cover it with a rug.
The Moral of the Story: Seller - Go Take a Walk
So when you, the seller, know that your home is going to be shown, do yourself a favor. Go take a walk and get a coffee. Remember, while you might be the most warm and charming person in the world, there is always the outside chance that the buyer may simply not like you. Ultimately, you two never really have to meet so why take the chance? So for the half hour or so it takes to do showing - get out of the house!
| Currently 1 Comment »
Hoboken’s Manning - Red Hot in the Ice Cold
Categories: Crazy Ball
Hoboken Resident Stars in 2008 Superbowl
Congratulations New York Giants - having beat the Packers on the frozen tundra of Lambeau field, they are on their way to the Superbowl - led by none other than Hoboken’s own Eli Manning. Way to go Eli!
| Currently 2 Comments »
MetroHomes Condos in Hoboken - How Does Your Unit Stack Up?
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Real Estate News, Market Analysis
MetroHomes in Financial Trouble?
MetroHomes has a big presence in Hoboken. Their fancy sales center is open on downtown Washington Street. Their advertising posters grace the windows of every real estate agency in town. The MetroStop project is rising by the 9th Street Light Rail stop. They built quite few buildings here and in Jersey City in the past few years. Dean Giebel, President of MetroHomes, is in partnership with Donald Trump to build the Trump project in the Powerhouse Arts district of Jersey City and one tower is just about completed. Yet much to the chagrin of local politicians, MetroHomes recently halted work on the 224 unit Esperanza in Asbury Park.
If you bought a MetroHomes unit in Hoboken, how has your investment fared? Since Hoboken condo prices rose drastically from the time pre-construction sales began in these buildings until about 2005, anyone who bought in early has done quite well. Since 2005, Hoboken condo prices have leveled off. So the chart below looks at average sales prices from 1/1/2005 to date by unit size.
Since, other than location and size of building, the units tend to be pretty similar to one another, it’s interesting to see how the prices differ.
Next up - I’ll do the same number crunching for resales at The Upper Grand, the Constitution, and some of the other well-known condos around Hoboken.
* Sales figures include only transactions on the MLS and do not include FSBOs.
| Currently No Comments »
Interest Rates Fall - Demand for Home Mortgage Surges
Categories: Finance, For Buyers, For Sellers
Mortgage Demand Hit 4 Year High Last Week
Rueters reported that according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchases and refinances, increased 28.4%. The index ended this week the hightest its been since April of 2004.
The interest on a 30 year fixed rate home mortgage for a primary residence is down to a nationwide averate of 5.62%. It has not been that low since July 1, 2005 when it was at 5.58%. A year ago, it was 6.19%.
Compared to last year, mortgage applications were up 35.9% last week.
| Currently No Comments »
Congrats to Eli Manning of the NY Giants!
Categories: Crazy Ball, Hoboken Real Estate News
Hoboken Mann Spanks Boys!
Way to go Eli! We knew you could do it. Bring on the Packers!
For those of you who don’t already know, Eli lives in one of Hoboken’s premier residences.
| Currently No Comments »
