On October 21, 2007 at 13:00 PM, you are invited to an Open House at 280 Montross Ave in Rutherford Boro. If you are looking for a property in this area, don’t miss this rare opportunity to visit this magnificent property. For a preview of this property, check out my site at http://www.aryhomes.com. Please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private showing.

On October 21, 2007 at 13:00 PM, you are invited to an Open House at 280 Montross Ave in Rutherford Boro. If you are looking for a property in this area, don’t miss this rare opportunity to visit this magnificent property. For a preview of this property, check out my site at http://www.aryhomes.com. Please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private showing.

On September 23, 2007 at 13:00 PM, you are invited to an Open House at 280 Montross Ave in Rutherford Boro. If you are looking for a property in this area, don’t miss this rare opportunity to visit this magnificent property. For a preview of this property, check out my site at http://www.aryhomes.com. Please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private showing.

It’s Saturday and I’m at the office preparing to show some apartments this afternoon.  Today is “The Hambletonian” in Rutherford, an annual event celebrating one of the premier horse racing events in New Jersey (http://www.hambletonian.org/).  There will be a parade as the main event … lots of horses, of course, and fire trucks and bands and old cars, motorcycles and all the elements of a good old-fashioned town parade.

I live on a street where they stage for the parade, so there was the minor inconvenience of having my street blocked off and no parking on the curb today in order to allow for all the participants to line up, check in, prepare and later to “wind down” and disperse.  Even though it’s an inconvenience, it’s also an advantage because we get a close-up look at the horses and all the people getting ready for the parade.  It’s almost like being an insider at the circus.

Here at the office, along the main street, people are gathering to see the event.  Sitting on the curbs, on the steps to the office, standing in small groups or organized with chairs, cooler, cap and sunglasses.  Kids are dancing around in anticipation.  Just now, the sound of the first band is approaching in the distance and everybody is craning their necks to get a first look.  The bagpipes are playing.

As the parade passes in a little while all of those who’ve come to watch it will forget everything else and be completely absorbed in the spectacle.  It’s a respite from the cares and involvements of daily life, for a while at least.

This is a typical small town day … the parade is not typical, but the behavior is.  Boys and girls, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas taking time together to enjoy something together.  The outside world can’t touch us today … it’s just our town, our neighbors and our family.  Just us, on a pleasant, sunny, typical small town day.

That’s America.

The short answer is, it depends on what your goals are.  Having said that … it’s ALWAYS time to sell your house.

The truth is that there is always a market - it’s just a matter of whether the current market is right for you to buy or to sell.  So, how can you tell?

First, it’s important to know what you want to accomplish.  Maybe you want to downsize.  Maybe you want a bigger house.  Maybe you have to move.  Whatever it is, you must first determine what your motivation is.

Next, you have to find out how much you are likely to get for your current house (in today’s market), how much you are likely to pay for the house you want to move to (in today’s market) and how much you can afford to borrow and pay per month (in today’s market).

Notice how we keep talking about “today’s market”?  That’s because it’s important to remember that the market that exists TODAY is the only one that matters RIGHT NOW.  It doesn’t matter what your house was worth last year or what a house you like was selling for last year or what the interest rates were a month ago.  Those are gone.  Period.  They don’t matter … so put them out of your mind.

Get a real estate professional to do a market analysis on your home (or even ask two or three to do it for you).  What they come up with will reflect the market as it stands today.  Deduct your current mortgage, anticipated real estate fee, any property transfer fees, the cost of unavoidable repairs and changes to the house and you have the funds that will be available to you (from the sale of this house) for any new purchase.

If you know which house you want, get the same type of market analysis done for that one.  The result will tell you what you should reasonably pay.  Most correctly priced homes will actually sell for 3% to 8% less than the asking price, depending on the location and the state of the market.  In a strong sellers’ market, homes will often sell for more than the asking price as hungry buyers bid the price up.  Likewise, in a strong buyers market the sale price might be driven down by a larger percent as buyers refuse to pay as much.

You’ll also have closing costs and other expenses of buying and these should be added to the anticipated purchase price.

Taking the proceeds of your sale, along with any other amount you expect to put toward the purchase, from the total purchase price will produce the amount you will need to borrow in order to get into the new home.

Now here’s the bottom line:  If all of the numbers above work for you and you are comfortable with them, and if you want to have the other house instead of the one you now have, then it’s time to sell your house.  If any of it does NOT work for you, then it’s NOT time to sell your house.

The only catch is the situation of HAVING to sell your house because of financial difficulty, or a move or other situation beyond your control that makes it impossible for you to stay in your home.  In this situation, you simply do the best you can and walk on.  It is what it is and the best thing you can do is just get through it and look to the future.  Professional real estate and mortgage advice is MOST valuable in these very difficult situations, so don’t forget to take advantage of the creativity they can offer.

Here we are in mid-July and the media just can’t shake off the tendency to make some sort of hysterical news out of the real estate market.  First they insisted that there would soon be a crash and prices would plummet.  Then they admitted that prices were stabilizing but that the future was “shaky”.  Now, all of a sudden, it’s a “buyer’s market”.

The truth is that NONE of the above is true.  There will be no real estate market crash, prices are still in flux and it certainly is NOT a buyer’s market.  The facts simply don’t support any of these views.

What’s happened in recent months is that the long-running rapid rise in real estate market prices finally ran out of steam.  It was due, and necessary for the health of the market.  When the market began to slow, several things happened:

1. The market prices of existing homes and new homes coming onto the market stopped increasing at the rate they had been increasing.

2. Buyers, who previously had to snap up homes as fast as they came on the market if they wanted any chance of getting one, notices the slowdown and began to take more time to make their decisions.

3. Sellers were slower to accept the changing market place and kept their prices above the market in anticipation of continuing rapid price rises.

4. Consequently the inventory of existing and new homes with “old” prices began to increase significantly and the time to sell began to increase rapidly.

5. Next, some sellers adjusted their prices and experienced normal sale times while most new properties coming into the market were priced lower than they might have been in recognition that the prices had stopped increasing.

6. With “lower” prices (not actually lower, but either at the true market or reduced from previous highs to the true market), the media began to predict a crash (rather than an adjustment).

7. Prices stabilized in most areas, with some decrease in average prices due both to the proper adjustment of overstated prices to the true market and due to a natural slight sag in prices as a result of the correction.  Whenever a market trend stops or reverses there is always a brief “backlash” that is in the opposite direction, then another correction to the true new trend.

8. With buyers taking more time and sellers trying to hold on to their older, higher prices the market pace definitely slowed and inventories have grown considerably.  More adjustment of formerly high prices is needed to meet the current market trend.

9. Newly introduced properties that have been priced properly are selling in normal times and at normal markdowns.  The overall trend of prices is slightly up, at an annual rise of from 3% to 5% for the forseeable future.

10.  The bottom line - it’s a balanced market.  There is now a good inventory to choose from with mostly fair market prices and willing sellers.  Buyers are coming back to the table and making offers again, but don’t have to act as quickly as before.  Unlike the previous market trend which was marked by selling frenzies and unhealthy rapid price growth, the current market is solid, growing and good for both sellers and buyers.  Interest rates are still low by historical standards.

It’s a good time to sell and to buy, if that’s what you are ready to do.  So, ignore the media hype, select a responsible and experienced real estate professional and go forward with confidence!