Open discussion for the weekend.
Feel free to post about local observations and news, open houses you’ve stopped in to, the FSBO situation in your neighborhood, or anything else you would like to discuss.
I’m planning to see a few houses on Sunday in Essex (Caldwells, Verona and Cedar Grove). I’ll let everyone know how that goes. And the answer is yes, I am still actively looking. Will I buy? Nope, not until I find a deal that makes sense financially (and economically).
On the FSBO front, I’ve noticed a spectacular amount of FSBO activity in Clifton. On my block two homes are for sale, both are FSBO. One of the homes was listed through a broker a few months ago but the word on the street was since the broker didn’t bring in any traffic, he decided to drop them. Many other homes in Clifton have swapped over to FSBO from being broker-listed. I’ve also noticed some high-DOM FSBO homes switch over to Foxtons. It seems sellers just don’t want to fork up the commissions, and if they are going to, it’s going to be to a discount broker.
Any other local reports on FSBO activity? It’s an important factor here because those homes represent underreported inventory. If more and more sellers start going down the FSBO route we’re not going to see those represented in the inventory data..
Caveat Emptor!
Grim
Trump sees new market in Jersey City
Trump said Jersey City has made great strides over the last decade _ enough to make him expand his real estate interests to northern New Jersey, where he expects people to buy condos for $2 million. He’s already on the Jersey map with a golf course in Bedminster and casinos in Atlantic City.
Trump and partner Metro Homes start construction this week on a pair of residential towers two blocks from the Hudson. The 50- and 55-story buildings _ named Trump Plaza: Jersey City _ are expected to be finished by spring 2008.
Prices would range from the mid-$300,000s for a 750-square-foot condo and $2 million and up for a three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot unit with sweeping views, said Dean Geibel, managing partner of Hoboken-based Metro Homes. Marble bathrooms and exotic hardwood floors will be standard features.
…
Cotter said about 3,200 condos and apartments are under construction today in the city of about 240,000. Trump’s project will add another 800 units.
-grim
A follow up article about the erosion of jobs will be in tommorrows NYT Jersey section. More stuff on Hughes Seneca NJ economic analysis as well as a little history.
I have a situation….
My Hoboken rent stab. building is going up for sale. The owner is currently dreaming of the untold riches promised by his Realtor®. However, these riches come only if the building is delivered vacant. Probably by the summer.
Obviously, this conflicts with MY plans. I missed the last boat and was hoping for another year or two to save my $$ with the hope that the RE tide would recede. I’m getting there but the lines have not crossed yet.
Luckily I have the law on my side.
I see my choices as:
1. Go quietly and either buy a place if I can find one properly priced, or rent for another year.
2. Dig in my heels and stick to my original timeline despite the inevitable shitstorm (or hilarity – or arson) that will ensue. I could get blackballed this way too.
3. Dig in at first but negotiate a buyout. The only question that remains is “how much?”
4. Stall and hope that the market capitulates and buy the unit. The major complication here is that the whole building needs to be gutted. I have the $$ for maybe my unit – but not the whole building.
What’s a blog reader to do?
I’d go with #3. if his entire deal is going to fall through because of you, he’ll pay
I have a situation….
Assuming your building has more than 3 units and is not owner occupied, you have the right to 3 years notice before your landlord can evict you.
Option 3 is definitely the way to go.
My advice would be to inform your landlord that you intend to stay for three years. You should definitely be open to negotiating something. The more serious your landlord believes you are, the better position you will be in to negotiate. If you are offered a nice deal, take it and walk. If not, you have three years before you can be evicted.
original anon here. Option three was my thinking as well.
The owner does live in the building but there are three additional units occupied by tenants. The law seems to say “three or less units and where the owner occupies one of these units” is the condition for exemption to the non-evict laws. So I think I’m ok. Barely.
Greedy damn sellers should listen to their now starbing for business realtors. Lower the damn price. And maybe it may sell. I said Maybe cuz greedy sellers have not yet accepted the fact prices are going down alot more.
Token drops not going to work
And speaking of Hoboken, for the last few weekends and especially this weekend, I’ve noticed growing clusters of “Open house” signs on almost every corner on Washington St.
In one three-block span, 10 properties and six different Realtors® were represented.
The funny part was that at least one of these was pointing to the light rail station elevator at 8th street – the house in question was located in “West Hoboken/Hoboken Heights” (aka Union City).
It was not uncommon in recent years to see one or two of these signs. At the present rate, Wash street will look like a Realtor®s Times Sqr by summer.
There’s for sale signs on every corner in my town (Pequannock) on Sunday from 12:00pm – 5:00pm.. same people trying to sell the same old houses for the same old high prices..
-Richie
Anonymous said…
I have a situation….
My Hoboken rent stab. building is going up for sale. The owner is currently dreaming of the untold riches promised by his Realtor®. However, these riches come only if the building is delivered vacant. Probably by the summer.
Obviously, this conflicts with MY plans. I missed the last boat and was hoping for another year or two to save my $$ with the hope that the RE tide would recede. I’m getting there but the lines have not crossed yet.
Luckily I have the law on my side.
What’s a blog reader to do?
>>>>>>
Hey there anonymous in Hoboken, Im in boken too.
And for some reason Ive had to help several friends deal with landlords trying to evict them in order to selll the building.
Yes the law in certainly on your side.
To protect yourself if you decide to dig in and stay you should call both the tenant advocate (Pat Caufield)
or better yet call Carol McLaughlin at the Rent Leveling/Rent Control board. (201-420-2396)
Mention to her that your landlord has incentive to kick out everyone in order to fetch higher sale price.
Also check with her to make sure all rents in the building are registered and legal market rate.
Anonymous said…
original anon here. Option three was my thinking as well.
The owner does live in the building but there are three additional units occupied by tenants. The law seems to say “three or less units and where the owner occupies one of these units” is the condition for exemption to the non-evict laws. So I think I’m ok. Barely.
>>>>>>
Yes thats the exact set up of one of my friends (you wouldnt be on Hudson St by any chance ? ;) )
Anyway he’s totally protected and so are you.
Just watch for landlord making up stuff in order to rightfully evict.
you might want to get a lawyer to help you negotiate the buyout. you probably have even more leverage than you think
I also have a situation. I’m currently renting a rent controlled apartment in Clifton,which is made up of 4 units. The place was sold last year to the guy who lives next door. I just found out yesterday that he has filed for a minor subdivision to knock the place down asap and put up two new two family houses, asap. This is not a complete shock to me, but I was hoping to ride out the price decline here and buy when the prices make sense.
Does anyone know what the law states about the amount of time the tenants have to vacate? The owner’s son is occupying one of the four units, if that makes a difference.
Thanks in advance!
in the nicer towns in Essex and Morris i’ve seen a few FSBO with laugable asking prices going to a broker (typically Weichert) because they figure they can sell their place for the same amount (albeit less broker fee). Weichert is bringing in foot traffic but resulting in few sales.
The FSBO->Broker scenario in these parts is a bit different. Broker will come in and convince the seller that they can sell it for the current price plus the cost of commission. Thus, the seller gets the same amount as under FSBO, but the added bonus of being able leverage their expert skills..
The FSBO up the street was originally $499,000. Under the broker the price was pushed to $529,000 where it sat for 3 months. The listing was lowered to $499,000 where it sat for a month longer. It’s now FSBO again at $499,000. If the seller had just dropped the price to $450,000 originally, it would have sold.
Caveat Venditor!
Grim
JMW977 said…
I also have a situation…
Your are covered ubder the anti-eviction law because your place has four units (even though one could be considered owner occupied).
As such, you are entitled to notice before being evicted. If the landlord intends to “retire” the building from residential usage, you are entitled to 18 months notice.
You might have the right to more notice if he intends to sell the new units as condos, but I am just not sure. Suggest you talk to a lawyer.
rentinginnj said if he is retiring it from residential usage, you are entitled to 18 months’ notice…
He’s planning to build two 2-family houses, which I presume would still be considered residential usage.
I don’t really want to be on the 11 o’clock news as the holdout who refuses to vacate while the wrecking ball is outside the window, but I would like to know what my rights are, so I will take your advice and contact a lawyer.
I’ve been paying well below market rent for some time, and I can afford to pay more for rent. My neighbor next door is barely scraping by as it is – he’s making comments about the prospect of living in his car.
If this process drags on long enough, I have the feeling the property owner may become a bagholder.
Thanks for your input!
If a place is rent-controlled, thems the breaks. All investments have pros and cons. If I own a great paying but callable bond, I don’t have recourse if it gets called – no matter how mad I get.
In non-RC situations, all an owner needs to do is jack up the rent. But either way, an owner can’t legally force someone out. This is why in RC situations buyouts happen. There’s a financial incentive to the owner to lure someone out with money.
Here is a good resource for information on NJ landlord-tenant law:
http://tinyurl.com/ck9mj
Do you know what your landlord plans to do with the new condos? I’m just not sure if this is considered a “conversion” under the law, because the building you are living in is not being “converted”, it’s being demolished to build new units. Either way, you have some rights under the law. NJ law tends to favor tenants.
You could also try the NJ Tenants Association. They might be a good place to start.
http://www.homestead.com/NJTenantsOrg/NJTO.html
In non-RC situations, all an owner needs to do is jack up the rent.
Clifton has a rent control ordinance. Also, during “conversions”, a state rent contol law may kick in to prevent landlords form jacking the rent to get rid of tenants.
Just returned from an open house on Walker Rd in West Orange. This 3/1 house was reduced from $419K to $399K due to the owner finding a home–she’s motivated. Well, the place has a lot of third world charm!
The realtor thinks the market is sizzling. I asked him, “If it is so hot, why did you have to reduce the price? Why has it been on the market for two months?” His reply, West Orange is hot! We’ll it was hot for two years when no one could afford Montclair, or Maplewood. I told him the house was worth about $285K and he had some calls to make.
“His reply, “West Orange is hot!””
Was this agent’s name Nigel “it goes to eleven” Tufnel by any chance?
So I saw about 6 houses this afternoon.. Nothing really all that special.
I think I’m beginning to become numb to pricing. Seeing a $600,000 price tag on a home that needs 100k of work to be brought into the 21st century doesn’t even phase me anymore.
Only one out of the group was interesting to me.. Although it was entirely misrepresented. Was listed as a 3br/2ba, however, it was really 2br and an office on the first floor, and the 2nd ‘full’ bath was very small with a smaller shower. No dice there, the place needed a 20% haircut to get it halfway to being a good deal.
grim
Anonymous,
Regarding “But either way, an owner can’t legally force someone out. This is why in RC situations buyouts happen. There’s a financial incentive to the owner to lure someone out with money.”
How much money would you guess a builder would pay to avoid having his project delayed? I would guess the 2 new houses would go for $650ish each. He paid $500K for the property last year.
Can anyone recommend a good landlord/tenant lawyer in the area?
Name of a great real estate attorney is Marc Feldman 973-267-7555. He was my attorney for my multi-families and handled personal real estate as well.
JMW977 said…
Anonymous,
Regarding “But either way, an owner can’t legally force someone out. This is why in RC situations buyouts happen. There’s a financial incentive to the owner to lure someone out with money.”
Can anyone recommend a good landlord/tenant lawyer in the area?
11:13 PM
>>>>>>>>>>>
You should contact the head of Clifton’s rent control board also.
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