Archive for September, 2008
Who Will Better Address the Hoboken Housing Market Issues? Obama or McCain?
Categories: Crazy Ball
Zillow Survey Says Obama Will Better Address Housing Market Issues Facing Nation
Even if the Hoboken real estate market is not facing the sort of dire straits found in places like Florida, it’s still interesting to see what peoples’ perceptions are on which of the candidates will better handle the housing market mess. Here’s an interesting Zillow blog post on the subject. It seems the answer given depends in part on whether the respondent favored Obama or McCain.
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Hoboken Condo Open Houses Comprehensive Google Map - Sat. 9/27 & Sun. 9/28
Categories: For Buyers, Hoboken Condos
Hoboken Condo Open Houses For This Weekend
The Hoboken Arts & Music Festival is this Sunday and getting around town becomes quite a challenge. There seem to be fewer open houses than usual, especially on Sunday. Below is the link to this weeks googlemap.
Click Here to View The Hoboken Open House Google Map
Every effort has been made and will continue to be made over the course of the weekend to keep it up to date an accurate. Have a great weekend!
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The Weekly Wednesday Wrap-Up: Hoboken Condo Sales & Inventory for the Week Ending 9/24
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Condos, Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up
Studio & 1 Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
3 sold in an average of 49 days at an average sale price of $$354,133
Click to View SOLD 1BR Listings
1under contract this week in 297 days Click to View DABO 1 BR Listings
155 total active with an average asking price of $492,907 Click to View ACTIVE 1BR Listings
13 new listing with an average list price of $566,684 Click to View NEW 1BR Listings
Two Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
3 sold in an average of 57 days at an average sale price of $464,666 Click to View Sold 2BR Listings
3 under contract this week in an average of 120 days -
Click to View DABO 2BR Listings
264 total active with an average asking price of $679,252 Clickto View Active 2BR Listings Under $1mil Click to View Active 2BR $1Mil + Listings
17 new listings with an average list price of $637,805 Click to View NEW 2BR Listings
Three Bedroom and Larger Hoboken Condos:
None sold this week
None under contract this week
54 active 3BR condos for sale with an average asking price of $1,053,395
Click to View ACTIVE 3BR Listings
6 new with an average asking price of $819,800 Click to View NEW 3BR Listings
Compare to last week: Week Ending Sept. 15
PRICE CHANGES ON HOBOKEN CONDOS FOR SALE
Price changes on Hoboken condos for the past 7 days: Click to View This Week’s PRICE REDUCTIONS
REMEMBER - THE FRIDAY HOBOKEN OPEN HOUSE GOOGLE MAP
Again this Friday we will post a googlemap that is Hoboken’s only source for ALL weekend Hoboken open houses in a single site. No more going to craigslist, the Reporter, flyers, windows, ads. We’ve done it for you and put it together in a way that makes sense - BY LOCATION! Just click on the blue location bubble for each property and get the address, price, open house time and a link to the listing. Sorry, only MLS listed Hoboken condos are included. Here is what it looks like - but this is LAST WEEK’s googlemap.
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The Danger of Over Priced Hoboken Condos: Part III
Categories: Hoboken Condos
Desperate Agents Will Take Desperate Measures
Some Hoboken real estate brokerages have shut their doors recently (for example Exit Realty, Cupo Realty and some others). With the burst of the real estate bubble, swelling housing inventory, fewer condo sales and a gloomy economy, some Hoboken real estate agents may also be hurting this year. The cream-of-the-crop knows how to survive and even prosper in a down market but agents at the bottom of the barrel may resort to desperate measures. Following the old maxim ‘a realtor must list to last’, which may not be true in today’s times, some agents will do anything to get a listing - any listing.
Your Condo Is Seldom Worth What You Think
It’s been found that over 62% of owners tend to overvalue their own homes. When they plan to sell, owners typically have a number in mind that is already too high. Along comes a hungry agent who will do just about anything to get the seller to sign a listing agreement. What better way for an agent to bait an owner than to flatter them as to the value of their home. The agent figures just let me get listing - even if it’s overpriced. Once the seller is hooked the agent can start pushing for a price reduction.
Is Your Real Estate Agent Willing to Spin Her Wheels For Nothing?
Chances are, if a real estate agent agrees to take a vastly overpriced listing, that agent doesn’t have much real business. Even an overpriced listing requires considerable time and effort on the part of the agent. At a minimum (which is all the least competent agents do) meeting with the seller, seeing the property, taking photos, entering the listing into the MLS and maybe a couple other websites, making a flyer and holding open houses is going to consume quite a bit of time. The result of all this time and effort is nothing. Surely a good agent with real business is not going to waste time marketing a property he or she knows will not sell.
When Nothing Happens You Can Be Sure Something Is Wrong
It’s easy to know when a Hoboken condo is overpriced. The price information on comparable sales is readily available and easily accessible by anyone who is interested. When buyers or other agents working with buyers come across a vastly overpriced property do you know what they do? Nothing. They don’t make an appointment to see it. They go to see the many well-priced Hoboken condos instead. The overpriced property just sits there and gets few to no showings. No showings means no sales. Eventually the listing expires unsold or, eventually the price gets slashed, often more than once.
The Most Important Question A Buyer Can Ask
Let’s say you’re thinking of buying a condo in one of Hoboken’s larger condo complexes like the Hudson Tea or The Huntington. There are many similar units in these buildings, all with a sales history. If a new unit hits the market priced way above what recent sales (and by recent I mean since the 2005 peak of the Hoboken real estate market) here is what a buyer needs to ask: What is different about this unit that makes it worth the $50,000 or $100,000 or more premium over the others? A buyer should know right away if the answer justifies the price differential.
Take two studios in Hudson Tea, both facing south in the 1500 Hudson St. building. They are the same size and have the same layout. The first has white appliances, the original parquet floors and is on the 8th floor. The second has stainless appliances, has new plank hardwood flooring and is a floor higher. The first is listed for $550,000 and the second is $646,900. A buyer should know the sales price of the first as well as what owners are asking for other studios in the building. That way he or she can evaluate whether new appliances, new engineered hardwood and a higher floor warrant that kind of increase in price in a flat real estate market. If not, the second unit simply won’t sell. Perhaps a buyer will pay for the difference between a total gut renovation and a basic vanilla builder’s model or a dead-on NYC view over one of the empty lot across the street. But buyers should know what they are paying for before they buy.
Some Important Advice For Buyers, Sellers & Agents
Sellers, did your agent tell you that your condo was the most valuable condo ever to hit the Hoboken market? Did you price it for more than you originally thought you would. Have you had no appointments for the first few weeks it’s been on the market (and open houses filled with nosey neighbors don’t count)? If there has been no activity, something is very wrong. You need to see real comps to justify your price point. Moreover you should go see the actual properties against which yours is competing. Overpriced units do not sell.
Buyers, are you seriously looking at a particular Hoboken condo unit? Did you find out what the seller paid and when? Do you know what similar condos have sold for? There are very few truly unique condos in Hoboken. Finding comparable condos against which to compare the one you like should be easy. Know what you are paying a premium for when you buy a condo.
Agents, if you have so much time on your hands or so little courage to tell prospective sellers what their property is really worth, you are doing the homeowner, yourself and all realtors a great disservice. Maybe it’s time to check out monster.com.
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The Key To Hoboken Real Estate
Categories: For Sellers
You Can’t Sell a Hoboken Condo You Can’t See
Weekends are the busiest time for the Hoboken real estate market. There are typically multiple appointments on a given Saturday or Sunday for different Hoboken agents to show the same for-sale Hoboken condo. You would think the listing agent of the property would fulfill his or her duty to the owner and do everything possible to make it easy for the property to be shown. Yet countless times there are problems accessing the property.
Have Your Listing Agent Make 5 Sets of Keys
Many times a listing agent makes only one or two sets of keys to a condo for sale. Very often, on the weekend, they are checked out when the real estate office opens by an agent whose showing appointment isn’t until late afternoon. Other agents who want to show the property come to get keys only to be told someone else has them. There is nothing more annoying for a busy agent with buyers in tow than to have to spend half of a Saturday morning on the phone trying to hunt down the keys. If you are selling your condo you want every agent with a potentially interested buyer to show the property! Sellers, keys are cheap. Ask your listing agent why they have not made at least five sets of keys to your Hoboken condo.
Is It Clear Which Key Opens The Door?
While you are at it, ask your listing agent if they have labeled the keys. Again, having the agent fumble at the door for five minutes trying to figure out how to unlock it does not help sell your property. Buyers get impatient and say “never mind - let’s just go see the next one” when the agent cannot easily get in. Labeling the keys is crucial when the property is an older Hoboken brownstone or multi-family home. It can take 15 to 20 minutes to figure out which key is to which lock on which unit in these properties. A simple piece of tape with the words “top lock, unit 1″ or “basement door” is all it takes. If your listing agent has not done that, you don’t have a very competent listing agent.
Does Your Realtor Sleep Late On Weekends?
When agents are taking out buyers on the weekend, they often start as early as 9:30 or 10am. Yet there are a few real estate offices in Hoboken that don’t open until 11:00. This makes it difficult for an agent to get keys to show your condo. Considering that Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days for real estate sales in Hoboken wouldn’t you think that the offices should be open early on the weekend? Maybe your realtor values sleeping in over selling your home.
Does Confusion Reign?
Security is certainly a legitimate concern to a seller. When there are multiple sets of keys to a for-sale property there has to be a good system for keeping track of who has the keys, when they were signed out and when they were returned. Yet you merely need to walk into some Hoboken real estate offices on a busy weekend morning and observe for a few minutes to see that confusion reigns. When you are deciding to list your Hoboken condo for sale, ask the potential listing agent how keys are handled. Who gives them out? How do they keep track of them? Is there even a receptionist at the front desk at all times? At some Hoboken offices, there are no receptionists. The agents take turns sitting at the desk. Is your agent’s job to sell your property or to play receptionist? The better the system, the more organized it is, the more secure and the more likely your property is going to get shown.
Is the Key to Your Hoboken Condo in Hoboken?
This is one of my pet peeves. An unknowing seller lists his Hoboken condo for sale with a Jersey City real estate agent. The agent makes keys to the unit but they are kept at the Jersey City office. Do you really think many Hoboken agents are going to bother to go all the way to Jersey City to pick up and drop off keys to show a Hoboken condo? Let me give you a hint - there are plenty of Hoboken properties to show that have keys located in Hoboken. It’s going to take quite a big incentive, like maybe an 8% commission, to get Hoboken agents to drive back and forth to Jersey City to pick up keys.
Be Sure To Get Your Hoboken Condo Shown If You Want To Get It Sold
There is a vast inventory of Hoboken condos for sale today. If agents cannot access your condo, they cannot show your condo or home. If they cannot show it, chances are it is not going to sell. While these items may seem like small details, small details are often what make the difference between a good agent and a bad one and, ultimately, a sold home or one still for sale.
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