When my Buyer clients are ready to put an offer on a home, they nearly always look to me for advice. To answer, I provide statistics to help them make an informed decision, based on their goals; starting with specific statistics and information for the home, and then by looking at the current buying behavior for homes in the type and price range where the home is located. Buying behavior varies greatly from town to town, and even from neighborhood to neighborhood. Many buyers in Summit, Chatham, Short Hills, Morristown and Randolph have recently been expecting a buyers market, and then are surprised when they find themselves in a multiple bid situation on well-priced homes.
Important specifics to look at:
1) Previous purchase date and price to give a clue about the Seller’s perspective (in this market, it is helpful to know if the seller is losing money from when they purchased the home, or if in fact the seller might be ‘upside down’, meaning that they owe more to the bank than the property is actually worth).
2) A current market analysis for the home, comparing it to similar homes (same town, style and general age) that have recently sold. Using a guide used by local appraisers, I make adjustments on price for all notable differences between the home and the ones it is being compared to.
3) Find out if there are other buyers currently interested in the home.
4) Get all of the listing history on the home with the current owners, including previous listings, as well as dates and details of all price reductions.
In addition to giving my Buyers an idea of the current value of a home they are about to bid on, I also provide valuable information about the nature of the buying behavior for the home’s environment, so my buyers know how much to offer to get the best deal possible, and to successfully make their purchase. Below is some market data to help give an idea of the current buying behavior in the different real estate markets of Summit, Chatham, Millburn/Short Hills, Morristown and Randolph.
- Summit: The list price to sales price ratio, year to date from January to March 2010 is 95.1%. 29 homes were closed in the first quarter of 2010, and of those homes, approximately 21% were sold at or above list price, and around 7% were sold above asking price.
- Chatham Borough and Chatham Township: The list price to sales price ratio, year to date from January to March 2010 is 92.2%. 37 homes were closed in the first quarter of 2010, and of those homes, approximately 19% were sold at or above list price, and around 5% were sold above asking price.
- Millburn Township/Short Hills: The list price to sales price ratio, year to date from January to March 2010 is 91.6%. 38 homes were closed in the first quarter of 2010, and of those homes, approximately 18% were sold at or above list price, and around 11% were sold above asking price.
- Morristown: The list price to sales price ratio, year to date from January to March 2010 is 93.7%. 24 homes were closed in the first quarter of 2010, and of those homes, approximately 13% were sold at or above list price, and around 4% were sold above asking price.
- Randolph Township: The list price to sales price ratio, year to date from January to March 2010 is 89%. 46 homes were closed in the first quarter of 2010, and of those homes, approximately 13% were sold at or above list price, and around 2% were sold above asking price.
Summit tops the list with the greatest percentage of homes selling at list price or above, and Summit also had the highest percentage of sales over asking. Of the homes selling in the above towns, with the exception of one home in Chatham, none of the homes selling over asking price were for homes with a value over $1 Million.
Buyers looking for a home in Union, Morris, Essex or northern Somerset Counties of New Jersey- if you appreciate honest, savvy service contact Judi for a free, no obligation consultation.
Judith “Judi” Paris, Broker/Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker Realtors- Summit, NJ
(O) 908-522-3631 (C) 973-902-HOME
Visit me at: www.BestHomeResults.com
Follow me on Twitter: @JudiParis
List Price to Sales price ratios from Coldwell Banker Market Action Reports for March 2010; the rest of the above data comes from the Garden State Multiple Listing Service.
