The Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up – Hoboken Condo Sales & Inventory for the Week Ending January 20th
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Condos, Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up
Research, analysis & post by Lori Turoff
info@hobokensbest.com
What’s New In Hoboken besides a miraculous plane landing and our new 
President?
Well, it’s time to get your dog license and parking permit renewed. The city council is supposed to meet tonight to ‘discuss’ PILOT programs at Church Square Towers among other things. Don’t forget to check out the Hoboken Open House Google Map on Friday, Saturday & Sunday to see if any of the new listings (or old ones) are having open houses this weekend.
Here is the overall picture of Hoboken condo market activity for the past week:
- 501 active Hoboken condo units today
- 32 price reductions vs. 46 a week ago
- 2 units sold
- 4 dabos (under contract)
- 22 new listings
All in all, not great news. Inventory continues to increase despite price cuts. What I find interesting is that these price drops are on properties that were initially listed after September 15th – when Lehman went under and the market tanked. Sellers seem too optimistic even after knowing of the economic turmoil.
Studio & 1 Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
163 total active – average asking price $466,644. DOM 102
2 dabos after 21 average days on market (“DOM”)
(Final sales prices are not known until after the deal closes.)
Note – If there were intermediate price reductions for a property to be “dabo’d” (placed under contract) or sold, they are noted here. You can check what all the others sold for by clicking the link to the listings. Each listing states the list price (LP) and the sales price (SP).
None sold. Not one.
9 new listings – average list price $432,964.
Two Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
286 total active – average asking price $665,232. DOM 135 so far.
- 142 active 2BR condos up to $600,000
- 144 active 2BR condos over $600,000
As was the case last week, 14 high end Maxwell Place units included in there pulling up the average. Interesting – 6 of them are in the older building which are probably resales and only 8 in the new building. Wonder why so many 1025 Maxwell residents are selling?
2 dabos – after 43 DOM
- 839 Willow originally listed at $349,000 in November reduced to $339,000 in December. (By the way, for someone looking for a big two bedroom with character, who is willing to do some work, these units seem like a great value.)
2 sales – average price of $627,500. DOM 53.
- 109 Jackson originally listed at 579,000 in September, reduced to $539,000 in October, and 515,000 in November.
- 909 Garden originally listed at $819,000 in October, reduced to $799,000 in November.
10 new 2BR listings – average list price $712,078.
That includes a unit for $1,288,888 (how did they come up with that number?) at Hudson Tea. Get this – there’s a 7% commission if it sells for $1,255,000 or more. That’s exceptional for a Hoboken property. Maybe if the Giants last performance Eli Manning wants to trade down from his custom unit in the building it would be an option for him.
Three Bedroom and Larger Hoboken Condos:
52 active 3BR condos – average asking price $1,146,285. DOM 145 so far.
No dabos. No sales.
3 new 3BR listing – average list price of $1,109,262.
Where Do We Go From Here?
If things continue along these lines, we’re going to have some pretty serious inventory of unsold condos in Hoboken. A few weeks ago, the Jersey Journal interviewed me and another realtor in town – here’s the article. They asked me if I thought the recent 47% tax hike had an affect on Hoboken property sales. Duh . . . I gave my honest opinion that yes, of course it does, because it makes Hoboken a more expensive place to live. Some of the “powers that be” at our local board of realtors were not pleased with us talking to the press. 1st Amendment anyone? By writing this blog, I am commited to providing you – the consumer, home owner, local resident, interested reader, with honest, open information about the Hoboken market. Don’t you think you deserve to know what’s going on in your own neighborhood?
Used to live at 839 Willow as a renter. I completely agree with you that all they need is a little work and you can have yourself a pretty nice gem. Location isn’t ideal though as willow has become a traffic nightmare on weeknights and you can learn to love the empty ambulances that scream by in the middle of the night. Otherwise these are priced really well in my opinion. the space is great for someone with a little vision.
what does “dabo” mean?
Good for you Lori. What did they expect you to say? Maybe you should have said something more upbeat…you know, like, “there’s nothing abnormal about a 47% tax hike during a recession!”
Those “powers that be” need a reality check. Probably the same folks who argued a year ago that there was no such thing as a “housing bubble.”
Dabo means “deposit accepted by owner”. The buyer makes an offer and the seller accepts it, contracts are signed, the respective parties attorneys review the contract. When attorney review is completed the buyer pays the seller the initial deposit, usually 10% of the purchase price. At that point, the status of the property is changed from active to dabo.
Andy – I first saw the fifth floor unit in 839 Willow when I showed it to a prospective tenant. Way back then I thought it was a great space. You are right about Willow not being the best location, though. Still, for the money it’s a good deal.
Ari – the actually expected me to refer them to the head of our MLS who is properly trained to talk to the press. Lots of good that training did!
Lori unless that guy knows some jedi mind trick no one would believe a tax increase makes a property more valuable.
Even with my best Quimby voice I couldn’t pull it off 🙂
LOL
Well, he probably would have said some Roberts-inspired BS, about it being a temporary measure and that ‘taxes are on their way down soon’. Whatever, that increase was massive, and it hurts!
It is sad really that the town of 40,ooo people needs all that thieving government and their cousins in a form of 3 dozens cops on a payroll. Hoboken could be governed by a council of 5 people, 10 cops and a webpage for voter suggestions.
Makes me sick to my stomach.
What bothers me the most is that there are like a dozen last names that govern the council, HPD, HFD, BoE, and the rest of the city services sector, conflict of interest, anyone?
If only all those thousands of condo owners who came here thinking “well, I’m only going to stay in Hoboken for a few years and then move to [Summit, Milburn, Maplewood, etc.] so I don’t have to bother to register or vote here had a little foresight. Had they all voted five to ten years ago when they all started moving here, Hoboken would be a very different place. We’ve got 106 days to make a change.
Lori which candidate those newcomers should have voted for? Are you saying folks could have voted in honest, conscientious people instead of usual ratty thieves? I have my doubts, sorry.
Hoboken taxes are horrible government scam, nothing else. Why not make Bank pay Hoboken taxes ? Bank owns my property and holds title to it, I don’t own anything. Let Banks pay taxes out of their interest that they charge me or transfer title to my name.
Scam.
dkzzzz, lol, I like how the bank should pay for it, but there’s a reason why banks keep taxes on you and don’t put it as part of your mortgage, and we all learned why last November. In fact, my bank screwed up and overpaid Hoboken taxes, how cool is that?
As for the elections, don’t give up! I see a lot of interesting fresh blood and lots of creative ideas; The best is yet to come; I have a feeling we’ll have a great mayor come May!
Before the mayoral race in May there’s a Board of Ed race in April.
In some ways this race is more important to Realtors and owners than the mayoral race!
1) Approx 1/3 of the tax bill is for schools
2) Hoboken has deplorable middle schools and improving Hoboken’s education would be a draw to buying here.
Don’t kid yourself. Both elections – school board and mayoral – are vitally important to every property owner, business, employee, tenant, landlord, buyer, seller and realtor in town. If Hoboken propers we all stand to gain and vice versa. I’ve lived here for over 10 years now and plan to stay for a very long time. Much longer than I’ll ever be selling real estate or anything else, for that matter. It breaks my heart to see and have seen the potential of this city, my home, thrown away over and over again.
That’s true FAP, I think though that over 65% of our taxes go to schools, something I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t for the fact that most of this go into management overhead (assistant to the assistant kind of thing) and not for the students; but still overall ends up costing us $24K per student per year! And yes, Hoboken schools are not impressive.