The Bergen County Homes Blog

Proximity to NYC,  great schools and a wonderful suburban lifestyle make buying a home in Bergen County, to quote Martha Stewart, a “good thing.”  Because Bergen County homes offer these advantages, buyers come here no matter the economy or housing market.  The Bergen County real estate market regularly outperforms all other counties in New Jersey and this is true today.

Taking a look at the market through May, we are significantly ahead of where we were last year.  In 2009 there were 2,011 sales and this year 2,536 for a gain of 525 units and a 26% improvement.  The average sales price decreased by 3% because more of the homes sold this year were less expensive than in 2009 but they sold quicker (5% fewer days on the market) and that’s positive.

These figures are from the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service and I have their graph here for you.

When June numbers are in, I expect this trend to continue.  The question is how much of this is due to the tax credit and to the demanding terms of jumbo loans.  With formidable down payment requirements, the jumbo loan has really put a damper on the market for more expensive houses along with the negative economy.  Very recently these demands have been relaxed and so we’ve seen a real pick up in such places as Englewood Cliffs, Franklin Lakes, Saddle River and Tenafly.   Based on both the NJMLS data and the activity we’re seeing in all of our offices, there is a significant improvement in the demand for Bergen County real estate so far this year.  I’ll continue to keep you updated throughout the year.

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Does this look familiar? 

If it does, then you”re like many people who’ve bought an older, charming colonial home in Bergen County.  Along with the home (and especially if you bought it in towns with large inventories of charming colonial homes like Tenafly or Teaneck or Ridgewood) you got a red brick fireplace in the living room that you figured you’d fix in the future.  An article I read in Lowes “Creative Ideas” magazine recently showed how you can transform that old red brick quickly and affordably.   

Lowes has a special program for real estate agents which I’ve found to be a great help for my clients and myself.  Recently there was an article in “Creative Ideas” that solved this problem.  By resurfacing the existing red brick with a combination of tile and slate you create an amazing, beautiful effect immediately. 

This fireplace was an old, stained, red brick unit and then the Lowes team went to work  with a combination of tile and slate.  You can, of course, use other tile and stone materials but the change is certainly remarkable.  No structural renovations were needed to make this fireplace a modern showpiece.

If you’d like to get “Creative Ideas” you can go to http://www.Lowes.com or you can get in touch with me for the full real estate agent benefits program.  Lowes has many simple and affordable solutions to design problems for homeowners and they also have a lot of good tips for you too.

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If you own a Bergen County home or anywhere else in the New York City area, the past few months were a challenge indeed.  Winter weather in Bergen County was very unusual this year.  We had multiple storms that wreaked havoc throughout the NYC area and Bergen County was right in the middle of things.     

One snow storm after another for weeks on end with even a full blown blizzard gave us over 30 inches of snow.  Once that melted then we had a series of rain storms culminating in a vicious nor’easter that came with winds at hurricane force toppling tree limbs and entire trees  knocking out power with such drenching rain that many local towns resembled lakes or raging rivers.  We had 7 inches of rain within 24 hours.  It was so bad that Berten County and 11 other counties in New Jersey were declared Federal Disaster Areas. 

Bergen County homes suffered with days of power outages, flooded basements, cars smashed by trees, 100 year old trees strewn across lawns like  toothpicks or thrown across a roof ripping it to shreds and impassable streets everywhere.  Because of this mess, the IRS has delayed tax day to May 11th from the traditional April 15th date.  So if you own a Bergen County home, you’re getting additional time to file your taxes from both the IRS and the State of New Jersey.  Of course you should consult with your tax preparer to make sure of things but tax day for Bergen County homes this year is May 11th.

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  Englewood homes are highly prized for their gracious old world charm.  The East Hill is famous for its many grand estates that are surrounded by towering oak trees, 15 foot high native rhododendrons and flowering fruit trees.  Such beauty and ambience is not only found on East Hill acre estates; west side Englewood homes are equally beautiful just on a smaller scale. 

  Traditional colonial and Tudor style homes with gorgeous woodwork framed by 30-40 foot trees are in abundance here.  Many of these Englewood homes also feature stained glass windows, gorgeous inlaid wood floors and chestnut trim.  Traditional floor plans create ideal flows for entertaining and the friendly neighborhoods are exceptionally stable – turnover isn’t high here because people love living here.  In fact it’s not at all unusual to see people stay in their Englewood home for decades after their children have grown up and moved on.  As a result you’ll find long time residents on every street as well as new young families.

  A perfect example is my listing at 315 Katherine Street.  This traditional colonial is located on a hidden street – ask most folks and they’ve never heard of Katherine Street and when you try to find 315 Katherine Street 07601 on your GPS you are bound to get lost.  This 1 block long street is at the end of St Nicholas Street which is itself a dead end.  Extremely quiet with 100 year old trees, it’s as if you’re on a country lane yet you’re only a 15 minute drive to New York City. 

  Englewood homes on the west side are also quite affordable as far as Bergen County homes are concerned – at an asking price of $345,000 this 3 bedroom 1.5 bath home sits on a 50 X 110 lot in a terrific location.   Come see 315 Katherine Street - you’ll be glad you did!

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If you’re a typical home buyer you’ll be on the web looking at all the real estate websites gathering information on homes for sale.  It’s really very easy to get plenty of information on the real estate market through the internet but its not very easy to get information on the communites where the homes are located or to get a feeling for a town.  If you’re thinking of buying a Westwood home  New Jersey Monthly Magazine will help you. 

New Jersey Monthly Magazine  has a simply great article on taking a day trip to Westwood that highlights the business district and all it has to offer.  Westwood has one of the best local business districts in Bergen County which has a very positive impact on the value of Westwood homes.  Many of the local stores, restaurants and boutiques have been in Westwood for decades and have gone through several generations of owners.  Westwood homes are always in high demand and the many features this town has to offer is a big reason why.  You can find more information on Westwood at the Borough Website at http://www.westwoodnj.gov/

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While national foreclosure rates rose 15% during the first half of 2009, in New Jersey foreclosures are dropping. In fact, NJ foreclosures are down by 30% for the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 according to Realty Trac. In May, the New Jersey Judiciary announced foreclosure activity for the first 4 months of 2009 was down by 20%. These figures certainly point to an improving housing market in New Jersey.

A lot of credit is being given to the programs New Jersey brought out in January to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. A special foreclosure mediation website was put up just to help owners avoid foreclosure by the State with a toll free hotline. The Star Ledger reported that although the number of homeowners helped has been small, the public awareness brought about by these programs has had a significant impact. Many homeowners took stock of their situation and acted to avoid foreclosure.

Another aid has been historically low interest rates which allowed people to refinance their mortgage into a more affordable loan. Supporting this is the fact that the New Jersey housing market hasn’t depreciated as badly as elsehwere; our house values have performed better than national averages.

According to Jeff Otteau, the renowned analyst of the New Jersey real estate market, this makes quite a difference. “The reason that borrowers walk away and mail in the keys is because not only are they having a hard time making their payments, but their houses are worth less than their mortgage balance,” Otteau said.

Bergen County foreclosure rates, as reported in The Record on July 16th, are 1/206 while New Jersey is 1/146 and the US is 1/84. As usual, Bergen County outperforms the general real estate market.

While we can’t predict the future, it’s also true that a 30% drop in foreclosures will certainly stimulate consumer confidence in NJ housing and that is huge. For Bergen County homes, with it’s consistently superior performance, this is even more the case.

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When the Home Valuation Code of Conduct went into effect by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on May 1st, appraisal protocols for mortgage loans changed. To protect consumers, loan officers, mortgage brokers and real estate agents can no longer choose appraisers.

Why is this so important? Because the mortgage bank and the home buyer rely on an appraiser’s determination of value; a lot of abuse and fraud has been uncovered. If, for example, an appraiser sets a home value to fit the sales price, that’s obviously wrong.

I just had a short sale listing close; the bank took nearly a 50% loss on a $1.8 million loan. The homeowner had been building a new home for himself. When he gave me his loan amount, I was stunned. There was no way to justify that mortgage loan and yet it happened.

To comply, banks no longer have their own appraisers; they use real estate appraisal services with pools of appraisers from which appraisers are randomly selected. This creates an added expense for the mortgage process and increasingly results in appraisers valuing homes who’ve never been to the area before and aren’t members of the local MLS. Recently my office experienced this.

An office listing had an appraisal that was ridiculously low. Both buyer and seller knew this but the bank, which had to use the appraisal, could no longer justify the mortgage. The appraiser had never been to the area before and used the wrong MLS. Bergen County homes are listed in the New Jersey MLS; the appraiser used the Garden State MLS which has only a few Bergen County listings. Without expert knowledge of the local inventory and no access to all the data, he wasn’t able to do a correct valuation.

Eventually things will straighten out but until it does, there will be higher costs to obtaining a mortgage for home buyers and for both buyers and sellers, there will be appraisals that unfairly cancel mortgages.

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Bergen County homes have done better than most in the US real estate market but like elsewhere, our home values have depreciated over the past few years. For many homeowners this has created a horrible situation where they are facing a short sale or foreclosure.

For those who have seen their mortgage rates reset to a loan they can’t afford, the situation soon deteriorates to a short sale or foreclosure because their loss of equity makes it impossible to get the appraisal needed to refinance to today’s low interest rates. This is why the Federal Government stepped in to help.

On July 1st HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will begin refinancing mortgages with loan-to-value ratios as much as 125%. This means you can be 25% negative in the value of your house and still refinance. The idea is to try to match the loss of equity so that homeowners who’ve been paying their mortgages and have good credit can stay in their homes.

While this is just part of the Bergen County housing market, it allows many people to keep their home and helps stabilize real estate values by avoiding foreclosures and short sale transactions.

If this works for you or someone you know, get in touch with a licensed mortgage banker. You need a top level loan officer’s help to qualify for this program; if you need a recommendation, just let me know.

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Crunching numbers to analyze the real estate market has taught me a lot. Over the years, I’ve found that the relationship between the number of homes for sale and under contract is a great indicator of how the housing market is doing. When that ratio is 2:1, the housing market is strong.

Ok, I know, it’s 2009 and the sky is supposed to be falling but it sure isn’t in Dumont. Right now Dumont has 50 homes for sale and 31 under contract which is way better than 2:1. Plus the time it takes to sell a home has improved dramatically – 72 days for under contract and 93 days for the 25 sales we’ve had over the past 4 months. No matter how you look at it, Dumont homes are rocking! There are several reasons for this.

Dumont is affordable. Property sizes are not too big and not too small which results in a moderate sized house. Dumont typically has what most of us would call a normal sized yard with a normal sized house. This means Dumont real estate works for most of us.

Dumont's school district is very good with a lot of parent participation and a broad range of programs. The town has excellent community services as well. The Borough of Dumont's Official Website is worth a look – it has a lot of information and shows you the strong community spirit that’s here.

The business district is very active with a good mix of retail stores, services and offices. Major retailers have invested in Dumont such as a CVS drug store, Wachovia Bank and Stop N Shop supermarket.

NYC transportation is great – there are plenty of express buses at rush hour and you don’t have to make any changes. Just grab a seat and read the newspaper on the way to work.

Dumont has everything that most people want, is affordable for first time buyers, can handle the more affluent move up market and is a great place to live. No wonder the real estate market is doing well. This does not, however, mean that prices are going up. They aren’t but they’re not sliding down either. If you’re thinking of making a move into Dumont, as a home buyer you’d be smart to do it sooner than later. Things here have turned positive.

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Every once in a while, a home comes along that’s special – there’s just something about it that speaks to you. We just listed this magnificent new home designed by an award winning architect and it is an amazing house. An elegant residence, this brick colonial home has old world charm and yet the most sophisticated modern features. Located in between Demarest and Alpine on the Closter East Hill, this gorgeous home is offered at $1,650,000 and has 6 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. Among it’s many exceptional features are a Media Room, Third Level Game Room, Private Gym, Wine Cellar and sophisticated electronics. This special property is nearly finished and will be ready for viewing starting this weekend (the painters were busy today). It’s just such a gorgeous house!

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