The Bergen County Homes Blog

Are you a senior citizen?  Do you own and live in your Cresskill home?  Is your income low?  Do you need a new roof?  Does your plumbing need work?  Does your central air conditioning need to be recharged?  Is it time to paint the exterior?  If you fit this profile, the Borough of Cresskill has a program for you!

On low fixed or limited incomes, senior citizen homeowners simply can’t afford to make the house repairs they need.  It is for many seniors an unfortunate fact of life that they can barely make ends meet.  The Cresskill Housing Rehabilitation Program is the solution for this problem.

The application form shows you the income levels that qualify and if you do, this is a fabulous opportunity.  The Cresskill Housing Rehabilitation Program gives qualified seniors who own and live in their Cresskill home interest free loans  for house repairs that are repaid only when the house is sold.  That’s right – 0% interest and no monthly bills!

Don’t you wish more towns helped their senior homeowners the way Cresskill does?  Cresskill homes are always in demand because it’s a great place to live.  Here’s just another reason why.

Rainy weather forced the Borough of Cresskill to move it’s Annual Spring Festival to this Saturday and the weather in town will be perfect – low 80′s and sunny all day! 

Started only a few years ago, the Cresskill Spring Festival has become a major event of the year with thousands of people coming out for an entire day of fun.  Food, all sorts of vendors, rides, games, contests, music and more will take place from 10 am through 5 pm on June 18th at the ball field and new Recreation Center at 3rd and Madison Avenue.  Run by the Cresskill Recreation Department, this is a very well organized event that’s enjoyed by everyone from the very young to senior citizens.

If you own a Cresskill home you know how great it is to live here.  This is a family friendly town where people get to know each other and make lifelong friendships.  A real small town with the heart of a lion, Cresskill homes are always in strong demand not only because of it’s  proximity to NYC and great schools, but also because of the town spirit.  The Annual Spring Festival is only one of several town wide events that bring people together in a fun atmosphere.

If you want to get an idea of what it’s like to live in Cresskill, come on over to the Annual Spring Festival this Saturday and experience the Cresskill spirit yourself!

Isn’t the internet great?  When you are buying a home nothing seems to beat it for all the information it has.  But when it comes to knowing a town and the neighborhood, nothing replaces being there.  Still there is one place where you can get to know a community and that’s the town website. 

Town websites give you a special look into the character and services of a community.  Although not all towns have a website, most do and they are filled with information and community news.

Are you shopping for a Tenafly home?  The Tenafly Borough site has the Tenafly Memorial Day Parade schedule telling you that everyone is invited to the Tenafly Elk’s Club for refreshments after the ceremony. 

Looking for a Ridgewood home?  If you go to the Village of Ridgewood website you’ll learn that the Ridgewood flood rating is unchanged which gives it’s residents a 15% discount on insurance. 

Looking for an Englewood home?  The City of Englewood website tells you that all Englewood residents are eligible for a 20% discount card for prescriptions.  

If you’re thinking of buying a home in Cresskill the Cresskill Borough website announces that the town is having it’s Spring Festival on June 11th.

I have all the town websites for you on my site.  Click Here and choose the town you want!

If you own a home in Cresskill you’ll be very happy to hear that the Cresskill real estate market is brisk so far this year.  No matter how you slice it, more homes have sold this year through April than they did last year.  Town wide we have 24 sales this year with 19 in 2010.

Because Cresskill has a significant number of high end homes, it’s a good idea to look at the statistics through $1 million because that really is the bulk of the market in town but the results are the same – more sales in 2011 than we had in 2010.  The time it takes to sell these homes is a little quicker than in 2010 but for the $1 million + market, homes are selling much faster this year.

The median price is up too – 17% more for the under million dollars Cresskill homes and 21% more for sales at over $1 million.  Using average sales prices the results are the same – it’s all good.  There is no doubt about it – the market for a Cresskill home is much better this year with more sales, better time on market figures and higher median prices.

So the bottom line is that Cresskill homes are selling and selling well in 2011.

If you own a home in Cresskill NJ you’ll want to hear about this -

The Borough of Cresskill is hosting a paper shredding day on Saturday, May 14th, from 9 am to 1 pm.  This is free for all Cresskill residents whether you own a Cresskill home or are a tenant.  This free event will be held at the Cresskill High School parking lot which is located at 1 Lincoln Drive.

If you’re doing some spring cleaning and don’t know what to do with that stack of old newspapers or those checks you’ve had gathering dust in a cabinet for the past 20 years, you can bring them to the paper shredding event if you’re a Cresskill resident and have your confidential papers shredded for free.

Please remember that hardcover items are not allowed – just paper items please.  For any questions you may have, just call 201-567-2184.

Credit Suisse Bank has a really neat way of looking at the local housing market – they send out a monthly questionaire to top real estate agents on over 40 housing markets in the US.  As one of the agents surveyed by Credit Suisse, I get the these reports and find them to be very valuable.

The Credit Suisse  “Monthly Survey of Real Estate Agents”  for the New York – Northern New Jersey area is really quite accurate. It found that January had an inventory build up which put pressure on pricing.  No doubt the 7 major snow storms we had then caused many buyers to stay home.  However, concerns over jobs and year end bonuses that were less than in the past also had an effect.  The sum total was pressure on pricing and homes on the market longer. 

At the same time, agents were seeing signs of pent up demand, frustration with renting and fear of higher interest rates.  56% thought the activity level was more than expected, 31% saw it as what they expected and only 13% saw activity as less than expected.   

Near term prices will soften a bit more but as the weather changes, so will the mood of many buyers.  Halfway through February, I can report that activity has definitely increased.  If you look at the activity ratios of a few towns, you’ll see they’re under or just over 5 to 1 which is great:

Tenafly is 4.3 to 1, Cresskill is 4.2 to1, Teaneck is 6 to 1,  Dumont is 4.3 to 1, Englewood is 4.8 to 1 , River Edge is 2.9 to 1 and Oradell is 3 to 1.

Buyers are snapping up the bargains that are now out there and are locking in interest rates as soon as they can.  Without snow and ice to slow things down, the real estate market will be very active this spring.

Whether you’re buying a home in Cresskill, Tenafly, Teaneck, Englewood or anywhere else in Bergen County, you need to do a home inspection.  Once Attorney Review is completed and you have a firm purchase contract on your new home, often the next step is to do the home inspection. 

This is when most people focus on finding a home inspector.  And for most people they find a home inspector in a matter of minutes which really doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Consider this:  Didn’t you spend a lot of time doing research on the market and looking at a variety of locations?   Let’s say the home you picked is in Bergenfield.  Didn’t you also spend time looking at homes in Englewood, Teaneck, Dumont, Bogota and perhaps further out in Bergen County like Fair Lawn and Waldwick where pricing is similar?  

Amazingly enough, most people spend hardly any time at all in finding their home inspector.  Just a few minutes on the web and that’s it.  I tell my buyers to get ready early on.  Don’t wait until you’ve found your house to find the right professionals you need and that includes a home inspector.

The State of New Jersey licenses home inspectors.  If someone gives you a recommendation, you can go to the State of NJ Divison of Consumer Affairs to verify that the person recommended is licensed.  A great resource is the American Society of Home Inspectors and HUD has it’s own top 10 list of questions to ask the inspectors you investigate.  Another idea is to consult with your attorney and, of course, your real estate agent can suggest home inspectors too.

When you buy a house the home inspection is one of the major parts of the home buying process.  Spend the time to do the research you need to get the right home inspector for you.

The difference between 2009 and 2010 wasn’t much county wide.  According to the New Jersey MLS there were only 58 fewer units (from 7,315 in 2009 to 7,257 in 2010) while the average sales price was higher by 2% to $500,710.  2010 turned out to be a solid year for Bergen County’s housing market.

The truth is that real estate here pretty much stabilized and is poised to move forward in 2011.  Let’s check out a few towns to see how we’re doing on a local level:

Tenafly did very well.  Sales units in Tenafly were down by 8% but the average sold price rose 4%.  Teaneck also turned in a strong performance – units were down 14% and average sales prices were up 8%.  On paper Dumont didn’t do as well with 6% less sales and a 6% drop in the average sales price but a good number of short sales were to blame.  Cresskill has a large inventory of luxury homes so I kept it to $1 million sales.  Through $1 million, Cresskill had 19% fewer units at only 1% less in the average sales price. 

Bergen County beat the ”prevailing wisdom” because of our proximity to Manhattan, excellent schools, good commuting and diverse economy.  While Wall Street and the financial markets do employ many of us, there’s more to the Bergen County job picture than stocks, bonds and trades.  We have 4 major hospital centers in Englewood, Hackensack, Ridgewood and Teaneck employing large staffs of doctors, nurses and all sorts of support systems.  Bergen County is the most populous county in New Jersey and one of the largest in the US with over 900,000 residents. 

With all these advantages, it’s no wonder that things are better here.

The New Jersey MLS informed me that I am not allowed to post their statistical reports but I am allowed to email it to you.  Confused?  So am I. 

If you’d like this information, just email me at barbara@bergencountyhomes.com  and I’ll email it to you right away.  I apologize for this inconvenience but it’s beyond my control.

Cresskill is like  “A Tale of Two Cities.”  At over $2 million, the for sale to under contract ratio is 20 to 1;  at under $1 million, it drops to 5 to 1.  According to Jeff Otteau (www.Otteau.com) when you get to 5 to 1, you’re entering positive territory.  

The rarified world of luxury properties has suffered.  On top of the economic collapse, financing for these estates became extremely demanding with down payment requirements of 45-55%.  This recently adjusted to a realistic 20-25%.  For most of us the picture is different. 

The product mix moved higher this year.  Fewer homes should close under $350,000 and more at $350-450,000.  Homes are selling much faster – how about a 33% improvement in the $400-900,000 price range?  This is huge; today a mortgage requires more time due to new regulations.  This shows demand is up for Cresskill plus pricing is even. 

For most of us, Cresskill real estate is past the bottom and has stabilized.  Luxury real estate remains problematic; there is simply too much inventory and so much over pricing to get through.  For the heart of the Cresskill market, however, 2011 will be positive.  Stability should continue over the next few years; I don’t believe we’ll see any real upward movement before 2013.

What about interest rates?  At some point they will have to move higher but are still excellent at around 4.5%  On mortgages, the higher loan limits for Fannie, Freddie and FHA are being extended through September 2011 which helps us tremendously.

For the average Cresskill house 2011 will be better as we emerge from the most challenging housing market since the 1930′s.