The Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up – Hoboken Condo Sales & Activity for the Week of April 6th
Categories: Weekly Wednesday Wrap Up
Hoboken Condos Sales & Activity – Week of April 6th, 2011
Last weekend I was out with buyers all day Saturday and Sunday. I came home and said to my husband “there is a lot of crap out there”. In the old days, during the bubble, even the crap would sell. Today it sits. The price gets reduced again and again and, eventually, it either sells, gets rented, or expires. This is what buyers read in the media and hear through the grapevine.
What they don’t hear so much is that the really nice properties (and they are not so common) end up with multiple offers. Still. They may not always be over asking but often go for at or pretty near asking. The cream of the crop sells quickly and there have often been offers within the first week of listing. I’ve had several of my buyers be outbid in the past month. A few were looking for large units (over 1200 sq. ft). All wanted the usual – parking, w/d, elevator, decent location, 2 or 3 bedrooms. Others were looking for the standard 2br 2bath with parking and an elevator, a balcony and gym and not on Jackson. Guess what – there are not enough of these units to meet the buyers demand. It is sometimes hard for a buyer to believe this to be the case. After they lose out on a few prime units, they start to understand. Inventory, in the meantime, keeps shrinking.
Think about this – there are only 34 three bedroom condos on the MLS for sale in all of Hoboken. I see about 34 moms with double strollers on Washington Street just on my way to the office in the morning. Demand is out pacing supply in certain market segments.
Here is this week’s condo sales report:
Disclaimer: The data relating to real estate transactions on this web site comes in part from the Hudson County MLS. While some of these listings are, in fact, our listings they are not ALL our listings nor do we hold them out as such. Century 21 Listings are identified with “C21” after the address. Other listings are from the MLS and are identified with “MLS” after the address. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
- 364 active Hoboken condo units – vs. 370 last week
- 13 DABOs (Deposit Accepted By Owner i.e. under contract) vs. 16 dabos last week
- 22 sold vs.1 6 sold
- 31 new listings vs. 34
- 20 price reductions vs 15
- 11 expired listings vs. 4
Studio & 1 Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
11 new listing
4 Dabos
- 700 1st (mls) listed on Nov 30 for $425k.
- 1200 Grand (mls) listed on Mar 4 for $405k.
- 724 Bloom (C21) listed on Feb 16 for $340k.
- 600 Hudson (mls) listed on Jul 29 for $429k; reduced on Feb 25 to $415k.
4 Sold
- 1013 Park (mls) listed on Jan 26 for $274k; sold for $266.5k.
- 903 Willow (mls) listed on Mar 10 for $310k; sold for $295k.
- 1016 Wash (mls) listed on Feb 3 for $339k; sold for $300k.
- 456 9th (mls) listed on Jan 4 for $370k; sold for $357k.
9 price reductions
139 Total Active 1BRs
Two Bedroom Hoboken Condos:
17 new listings
6 Dabos
- 201 Bloom (mls) listed on Mar 21 for$475k.
- 920 Jeff (mls) listed on Feb 28 for $459k.
- 1021 Grand (mls) listed on Feb 7 for $475k; reduced on Feb 23 to $465k.
- 530 Mad (mls) listed on Feb 12 for $519k; reduced on Mar 7 to $498k.
- 402 9th (mls) listed on Mar 1 for $624k.
- 80 Monroe (C21) listed on Mar 23 for $569k.
15 sold
- 215 Monroe (mls) listed on Feb 21 for$520k; sold for $491k.
- 77 River (mls) listed on Oct 7 for $559k; sold for $532k.
- 261 12th (mls) listed on Jan 20 for $375k; sold for $363k.
- 904 Jeff (mls) listed on Jan 19 for $539k; sold for $536k.
- 326 Monroe (mls) listed on Dec 2 for $499k; reduced on Feb 22 to $489k; sold for $475k.
- 820 Hudson (mls) listed on Oct 29 for $599k; sold for $575k.
- 123 Jackson (mls) listed on Apr 27 for $540k; reduced on Aug 11 to $500k; sold for $490k.
- 517 Adams (mls) listed on Sep 11 for $689k; sold for $660k.
- 1000 Hudson (mls) listed on Sep 27 for $559k; reduced on Nov 17 to %529k; sold for $498k.
- 76 Jackson (mls) lsited on Jan 10 for $375k; sold for $350k.
- 1200 Grand (mls) listed on Feb 8 for $489k; sold for $520k.
- 119 Mad (C21) listed on Feb 3 for $489k; sold for $489k.
- 830 Monroe (mls) listed on Oct 28 for $455k; reduced on Oct 28 to $440k; on Dec 8 to $425k; sold for $420k.
- 1425 Garden (mls) listed on Dec 29 for $1.30mil; sold for $1.2mil.
- 1025 Maxwell (mls) listed on Dec 20 for $875k; sold for $848k.
10 price reductions
191 Total Active 2BRs
Three Bedroom and Larger Hoboken Condos:
3 new listings
2 Dabos
- 201 Bloom (mls) listed on Mar 21 for $475k.
- 609 Observer (mls) listed on Jan 13 for $900k.
3 Sold
- 715 Mad (mls) listed on Aug 2 for $785k; reduced on Oct 11 to $775k; on Nov 13 to $770k; sold for $740k.
- 715 Mad (mls) listed on Aug 12 for $825k; reduced on Oct 11 to $815k; Nov 13 to $810k; sold for $750k.
- 1425 Garden (mls) listed on Dec 29 for $1.2825mil sold for $1.2mil.
1 price reduction
34 Total Active 3BRs
Hoboken Condo Open Houses
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Thanks for reading and, as always, we welcome your comments!
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|When “Final and Best” is Neither
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Condos, Legal Matters
Beware When Buying a Condo in Hoboken – Final Doesn’t Always Mean Final
The Hoboken condo and real estate market is still reasonably strong and a surprising number of Hoboken condos and brownstones elicit multiple offers. When this happens, the listing agent can handle them in two basic ways:
- Competing bids
- “Final and Best”
Competing Bids Can Cause Chaos or Worse
With competing bids, the buyers bid against each other until the seller accepts one offer and says “stop – no more showings, no more offers”. Very often the seller will play one buyer against the other to keep outbidding each other to get the highest price. This strategy backfires when both buyers get frustrated and walk away. Occasionally a seller will accept one buyer’s offer, sign contracts and begin attorney review with that buyer. Then an even higher offer comes in, possibly even after the the end of attorney review when the sales contract is supposedly binding, and the seller will dump the first buyer or try to get the first buyer to top the bid again. This results in hard feelings, a disgruntled first buyer and may even end in a law suit.
The idea behind “Final and Best” is for the seller to be as fair as possible to everyone. The listing agent tells the buyers’ agents that each buyer should present their “Final and Best” by a certain deadline. The seller will then select which offer is most attractive and move forward with that buyer. “Final and Best” is supposed to avoid tangled mess of multiple bidders trying to out bid each other. It is often presented to the buyers as a way to “level the playing field”.
As They Say in Latin, Caveat Emptor – Buyer Beware!
Even when the seller’s agent says they are doing “Final and Best” in the end, it’s often entirely meaningless. Well how can that be, you may wonder? Here is a comon scenario:
- Seller has multiple buyers interested in the property
- Seller’s agent informs all buyers that they have until 5pm tomorrow to submit their “Final and Best” offer.
- 3 buyers (Buyer A, B, & C) submit bids in different amounts and with different terms (closing date, amount of downpayment, etc.)
- Seller chooses Buyer B. Buyers A and C are informed of seller’s decision.
- Seller and Buyer B sign contracts, hire attorneys and begin the attorney review process. They may complete attorney review. Buyer B may have even paid a significant deposit to Seller.
- Buyer A reappears raises Buyer B’s offer by $50,000.
- Seller is greedy, can’t resist the dough, and tells Buyer B to take a walk.
- Buyer B is furious, having now set his heart on the property, decided where to put the furniture and what color to paint the walls. Buyer B has also hired an attorney to the tune of $1,000 or so.
- Buyer B’s agent calls seller’s agent and reads her the riot act.
- Seller’s agent says “sorry – I’m obligated by law to present all offers to the seller and seller can do whatever”.
- Buyer B is left to move on to the next property or take legal action. As I recall from my days as a lawyer, property is unique and specific performance may be an appropriate remedy, i.e., seller may be forced by the court to sell to the Buyer B on the original terms. Of course, few buyers bother to incur the cost of a lawsuit but it is a possibility.
So much for “Final and Best”. Now, of course, there are some sellers with a sense of fairness that actually superceeds their greed. Upon having committed to a buyer, they will not entertain any further offers, even if higher than the accepted one. Buyers should remember, though, that just because the seller represents that they are doing Final and Best, it may be neither.
When is a Deal a Deal?
So when can a buyer relax and know that they’ve bought the property? At closing, of course. Prior to closing buyers should keep in mind that anything can and does happen. During attorney review, the contract is not even binding. The risk to the buyer is greater before buyer has put any money on the table. Once buyer has paid the initial deposit, done the inspection, obtained and delivered a mortgage commitment, the risk lessens. Chances are, the property is no longer being shown. In fact, a smart buyer will make a term of the offer be that upon acceptance of the offer the property is taken off the market. The more time that goes by, the fewer other buyers there are likely to still be floating around. But regardless of what the contract says, a seller can still change his or her mind and the buyer’s only recourse is an expensive lawsuit. We all know that when that happens, it’s the lawyers who win.
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