Archive for March, 2008
The Weekly Wednesday Wrap-Up - Hoboken Condo and Home Sales Activity
Categories: Hoboken Brownstones, Hoboken Condos, Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up
Hoboken Real Estate - As Of Wednesday, March 12th:
Studio & One Bedroom Condos:
Total Active: 148 Under Contract (Dabo’d): 60
Sold (Deals Closed) This Week: 8 Average Sold Price: $436,873
New Listings This Week: 24
Two Bedroom Condos:
Total Active: 249 Under Contract:98
Sold: 5 Average Sold Price: $664,200
New Listings:60
Three Bedroom Condos or Bigger
Total Active: 44 Under Contract:10
Sold: 0
New Listings:2
One Family Houses
Total Active: 10 Under Contract:2
Sold:1 Average Price: $800,000
New Listings:2
2 - 4 Family Houses
Total Active: 14 Under Contract: 11
Sold: 0
New Listings: 0
Remember - these figures represent only properties listed and sold on the Hudson County multiple listing service. They do NOT include new construction sold directly by developers such as Toll Brothers.
Compare to last weeks activity and inventory. Compare to two weeks ago. Compare to Feb. 27th. Compare to Feb. 20th. Compare to Feb. 13th.
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The 3 Most Important Reasons to Pay Condo Maintenance Fees
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers
Where Does My Maintenance Fee Money Go?
This is a common question I’m asked when working with buyers searching for a new Hoboken condo, especially when they are first time home buyers. Almost every condo association has the right to and requires the unit owners to pay a monthy fee, the maintenance fee. These fees typically range from $100 to $250 for smaller units and can be as high as $300 to $600 or more for units that are larger, or in more luxurious condo buildings like the Shipyard or Maxwell Place. So what is the fee, what determines how large it should be and where does the money go? Here are the three main uses of these very necessary funds:
1. Maintenance of the common areas of the building & grounds
2. To build up a reserve fund for future capital account item repairs
3. To the management company that manages the condo.
Condo Lobbies Cannot Be Left in the Dark
You pay to heat and light your own unit but someone has to pay the utility bills for the common areas. The lobby and hallways of any condo building need lights and heat. Your condo maintenance fee pays the gas and electric bill. Some condo buildings in Hoboken even have a heated garage. Other regular maintenace items may include cleaning the hallways, taking out the trash and recycling, servicing the elevators, shoveling snow, landscaping, pool care, the doorman’s salary, and more. The fancier the building, like the Shipyard, the more it costs for things like pools, health clubs and elevators, security systems and doormen.
Every condo also needs insurance. Most Hoboken condos also need flood insurance. This is in addition to each unit owners homeowners insurance. Unfortunatly, Hoboken has had its share of floods and fires. What if your condo building were to be destroyed? Or the UPS guy trips and falls on the front steps of the building and sues the condo association? Insurance is important.
Roofs Cannot Leak and Bricks Cannot Fall
Beyond the day-to-day maintenance of the building (and grounds) there are certain big-ticket items in every building, especially in the Hoboken condos in 100+ year old buildings, that need to be repaired and replaced over time. Things like leaking roofs and crumbling brick facades. There are two ways to pay for this. The right way is to plan ahead and make a budget. The wrong way is by special assessment - the subject of another post.
Every capital item (roofs, furnaces, elevators) has a useful life. If you know your roof is going to last 10 years and you know about what it will cost to replace it you can figure out how much to put aside today so that the association will have money to install a new roof. This budgeting process should be done for each capital item. Add it all up and now you know how much has to go into the condo association reserve fund each year. There are rules about what can be done with the reserve money. It’s not supposed to be used for the day-to-day stuff. It’s for capital items only.
Who Has Time to Deal With This Condo Association Stuff?
Most of us are pretty busy and don’t want to deal with cleaning hallways, shoveling snow, figuring out useful lives and worse. Someone has to collect the maintenance fee from each unit owner, do the banking and pay the bills. For a fee, a condo association can hire a management company to handle these tasks. Of course the management company has to be paid from the condo maintenance fees, too. Some smaller condo buildings do choose to ’self-manage’ but it can be a time consuming and thankless job. There are management companies that will, for a very reasonable fee, manage a smaller condo. When it comes to sell your condo in Hoboken, having a unit in a professionally managed condo building may be very attractive to potential buyers.
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How a Home Inspection Can Save Your Condo Sale From Falling Apart
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers
Was Your Hoboken Home or Condo Built in the 1800s?
It is widely assumed that a buyer does a home inspection once the property is under contract. Or at least when their offer has been accepted. Usually, that is correct. Many Hoboken buildings (and condos), however, were built in the late 1800s. That’s not a typo. Most of our brownstones and row houses are over 100 years old. Many have been converted to condos after having been rental units for a long time. In that case, there may be an advantage for the seller to have the condo unit or house inspected before putting it on the market for sale.
What’s In It For The Seller? Knowledge & Power
The seller can learn if there are any potential problems with the property. If there are, repairs can be made before the unit is listed. The buyer is going to do his own inspection and will discover these problems anyway. What do you think happens then? The buyer asks the seller to make repairs or adjust the sales price with a credit. Then the lawyers may have to get involved. It may hold up the deal. It may even give the buyer a way out of the contract and the deal may fall apart.
Nobody Wants Surprises During Negotiations
When you are selling your property, until you are sitting at the closing table, check in hand don’t kid yourself, you are still in negotiations. Just like a lawyer should never ask a witness a question if the lawyer doesn’t know what the witness will answer, if the seller doesn’t know what the buyer’s inspector is going to find wrong with your property the seller is at a disadvantage. Even if you decide not to make any repairs, doing a home inspection will let you will know in advance what the buyer is going to ask for.
Those Old Pipes Love to Ping and Sing
Back in the day, Hoboken houses were built with a single heating system for the whole building. Over the years, many of these multi-family homes and buildings were turned into inexpensive rental units. Not all were well maintaned. More recently many were converted to condos. Due to the expense, some of these condo buildings still have parts of the original heating systems in place today. When you see a listing for a condo that says “maintenance includes heat” that is a tip off. The condos don’t have individual meters because the building has not been re-piped and probably has much older heating and possibly electrical systems.
Smart Sellers are Prepared
Buyers may hesitate to buy a condo in a building with old systems. If something goes wrong or costly repairs are needed, maintence fees increase or a special assessment be imposed. Buyers, especially Hoboken’s many first time buyers, don’t like unknown costs. The potential cost of repairs may scare some buyers away. The age of the building systems may prevent them from buying. Having an inspection report available for buyers will reassure them. It gives the seller a way to overcome objections. It makes the buyer feel more secure that there are no significant problems or that the problems have been addressed.
Pay Now or Pay Later
So as a seller you have a choice. You can pay a few hundred dollars now and do the inspection. If there are problems, you can make any needed repairs. Or you can pay later after your property lingers on the market for months and you are forced to drop the price. Worst case scenario, you finally do get an offer and get through attorney review only to have the buyer walk away from the deal because of problems discovered during the home inspection. Selling a 100+ year old condo or brownstone in today’s competitive market? Be smart, do a home inspection.
Also Read: What Everybody Ought To Know About Home Inspections
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The Wednesday Weekly Wrap Up - Hoboken Condos and Homes Sales Activity
Categories: Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up
Hoboken Real Estate - As Of Wednesday, March 5th:
Studio & One Bedroom Condos:
Total Active: 137 Under Contract (Dabo’d): 58
Sold (Deals Closed) This Week: 5 Average Sold Price: $425,199
New Listings This Week: 19
Two Bedroom Condos:
Total Active: 210 Under Contract: 92
Sold: 10 Average Sold Price: $573,250
New Listings: 18
Three Bedroom Condos or Bigger
Total Active: 42 Under Contract: 9
Sold: 4 Average Sold Price: $693,750
New Listings: 3
One Family Houses
Total Active: 7 Under Contract: 4
Sold: 0
New Listings: 0
2 - 4 Family Houses
Total Active: 15 Under Contract: 10
Sold: 0
New Listings: 0
Remember - these figures represent only properties listed and sold on the Hudson County multiple listing service. They do NOT include new construction sold directly by developers such as Toll Brothers.
Compare to last weeks activity and inventory.
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A Luxury Hoboken Condo Home for A-Rod
Categories: Crazy Ball
A-Rod to Join Eli Manning at Hudson Tea?
The NY Daily News reported that that NY Yankee, Alex Rodriguez, has just closed on a $2 Million deal at the Hudson Tea building. According to earlier rumors, however, A-Rod supposedly was under contract for two penthouse units at 1025 Maxwell Lane. That is the completed building at Maxwell Place (the other Toll Brothers luxury development). The top floor of Maxwell Place has extra high ceilings and his units, which were to be combined into one, face due east with a panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline.
Maxwell Place or Hudson Tea?
Either the Daily News got it wrong or having Super Bowl superstar Eli Manning as his neighbor at Hudson Tea was enough to cause A-Rod to change his plans. In any event, it’s very nice that these to incredible athletes both selected Hoboken as their home. We look forward to seeing them around town. Johan Santana, if your listening, I’ve got a fabulous property I’d like to show you - call me.
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