Welcome to another edition of Price Reduced!
For all the newcomers to this blog, Price Reduced! takes a look at a handful of significant price reductions across Northern NJ. The purpose of this exercise is to serve as proof that the Northern New Jersey real estate market has long since been overvalued and has started the long hard decline back to the mean. These listings are in no way an endorsement by myself, nor do I believe they are a bargain or a value. Even reduced, I still believe these homes are still grossly overpriced.
On to the list!
MLS# 2205868 – Ringwood, NJ
Previous Price $1,499,000
Current Price $1,199,000 (Price Reduced 20%)
MLS# 2100019 – Clark, NJ
Previous Price $1,199,000
Current Price $999,000 (Price Reduced 16.7%)
MLS# 2243494 – West Orange, NJ
Original List Price $675,000
Previous Price $625,000
Current Price $525,000 (Price Reduced 16%, 22.2% off Original List)
MLS# 2247297 – Roselle, NJ
Previous Price $350,000
Current Price $295,500 (Price Reduced 15.6%)
MLS# 2206282 – Long Hill, NJ
Previous Price $1,400,000
Current Price $1,199,000 (Price Reduced 14.4%)
MLS# 2246923 – Hawthorne, NJ
Previous Price $259,000
Current Price $224,900 (Price Reduced 13.2%)
MLS# 2258307 – Franklin, NJ
Previous Price $345,000
Current Price $300,000 (Price Reduced 13%)
MLS# 2259105 – Union, NJ
Previous Price $1,245,000
Current Price $1,083,000 (Price Reduced 13%)
MLS# 2214554 – West Orange, NJ
Previous Price $389,900
Current Price $339,900 (Price Reduced 12.8%)
MLS# 2258024 – Wayne, NJ
Original List Price $549,900
Previous Price $525,000
Current Price $459,900 (Price Reduced 12.4%, 16.4% off Original List)
MLS# 2228066 – Glen Ridge, NJ
Original List Price $599,000
Previous Price $525,000
Current Price $459,900 (Price Reduced 12.4%, 23.2% off Original List)
MLS# 2235610 – Nutley, NJ
Previous Price $224,777
Current Price $199,777 (Price Reduced 11.1%)
Lucky Sevens?
MLS# 2241460 – Bridgewater, NJ
Previous Price $899,900
Current Price $799,999 (Price Reduced 11.1%)
MLS# 2255124 – Maplewood, NJ
Previous Price $699,000
Current Price $625,000 (Price Reduced 10.6%)
MLS# 2207221 – Cranford, NJ
Original List Price $774,000
Previous Price $699,000
Current Price $625,000 (Price Reduced 10.6%, 19.3% under Original List)
The “Boutique” List
Bernardsville $1,585,000 to $1,495,000
Bernardsville $1,795,000 to $1,695,000
Chatham $2,295,000 to $2,175,000
Chatham $1,795,000 to $1,695,000
Chatham $439,900 to $419,900
Far Hills $1,899,000 to $1,749,000
Far Hills $555,000 to $536,000
Franklin Lakes $1,575,00 to $1,475,000
Harding $6,850,000 to $6,195,000
Harding $2,375,000 to $2,195.000
Harding $599,00 to $579,000
Mendham $1,274,000 to $1,175,000
Mendham $969,000 to $899,900
Mendham $729,000 to $699,000
Millburn $1,475,000 to $1,338,750
Millburn $1,395,000 to $1,295,000
Millburn $1,849,00 to $1,750,000
Montclair $1,000,000 to $900,000
Montclair $950,000 to $900,000
Mountain Lakes $649,000 to $619,000
Mountain Lakes $660,000 to $638,000
Ridgewood $2,199,000 to $1,999,000
Ridgewood $989,000 to $899,900
Scotch Plains $1,695,000 to $1,550,000
Summit $569,900 to $529,900
Summit $1,695,000 to $1,595,000
Summit $995,000 to $960,000
Wyckoff $1,150,000 to $1,049,000
(Just a sampling)
You can lowball every day, Fort Lee prices won’t go away.
Edgewater will never sink, pice will always be high I think.
SO in my stuio co-op I will stay, while the 1 mil half duplex sell away.
I wish I had a huge family with massive savings to help help me.
Mom and Dad and GrandpaSan, 20% down for grandson-chan
The banks will go and tighten up, I wont have 200K savings, so for me thats tough.
I really really like this town, but if I try to buy a place in my mortgage I will drown.
From the NY Times
May 17th, 1990
The bidding had reached $247,000, and Steven Good – natty as a banker, with a red rosebud boutonniere -raised his gavel and put a little more pitch into his patter.
”Do I hear forty-seven five, forty-seven five?” he implored the crowd assembled last Saturday at the Meadowlands Hilton Ballroom in Secaucus, N.J. ”C’mon ladies and gentlemen, don’t let your dream house get away from you, gimme-gimme-gimme forty-seven five.”
A few rows back, Meryl Stevens sat with her fiance, Richard Berk, crunching numbers. The three-story town house on the New Jersey bank of the Hudson had been listed at $565,000 last year, and here it was being auctioned off for less than half price.
…
All but one of the 32 town houses offered sold, at about half the prices they had once been listed for. Only 12 of the 38 co-op apartments in a mid-rise building adjoining them were sold before the sponsors stopped the bidding. They went at prices as low as $78,000 for units originally listed at $165,000.
…
The Copley Court sale brought only about 60 percent of the original asking prices, Mr. Smith said. Apartments originally on the market for $435,000 went for $260,000, and $225,000 units were gavelled down for $135,000. The developers stopped the bidding after 24 of the 47 empty apartments were sold because the bids ”were getting down to the point where it was hardly worth it,” he said.
“sale brought only about 60 percent of the original asking prices”
Oh please oh please let it happen again!
Any stats on Hoboken?
“MLS# 2255124 – Maplewood, NJ
Previous Price $699,000
Current Price $625,000 (Price Reduced 10.6%)”
Listing also states “Golf course views and easy walk to town and train. Seller motivated.”
What it doesn’t say is that those golf course views are across the NT Transit RR tracks that are right next to it. Perhaps they’re also motivated by the $12.8K tax bill on an assessed value of $356k!
The Maplewood market has been insane for several years and brought on by multiple factors:
1 – Midtown direct train service caused the first wave of NY’s to descend upon us.
2 – tax reval 5 years ago (or so) completely screwed half the residents. I live in the section that was hardest hit, and we’re talking $14k INCREASES in taxes on the average property. This forced a HUGE number of residents out – people who’d payed off their mortgages were suddenly faced with tax bill that were higher than their old mortgage payments were! In the 2 years following the reval, of every 3 houses 1 had a for sale sign and 1 had contractor signs. And these houses have sold multiple times at ever escalating prices.
crazy stuff
PbW
PbW, why is that? The schools in Maplewood aren’t highly rated, the town sits next to the hell of South Orange, etc.
What’s the deal? Did the town almost go bankrupt and decide instead to fleece its residents? Those taxes are crazy.
Unrealtor,
Maplewood has a sides bordered by South Mountain Reservation and Millburn. And then (literally) on the other side of the tracks, it has borders with SO, Irvington, & Union. The former became known as the Bermuda Triangle following the reval – epicenter was between Ridgewood Rd & Wyoming Ave, from Clairmont Ave to Mountain. (note – that Mountain Ave house is below Ridgewood – towards tracks). Take a look at Googlemaps/earth and you’ll find it see the area clearly.
Maplewood is a beautiful town, truly. It’s always had higher taxes than the neighbors (I’ve lived there since ’63), but it USED to be money well spent. It had very strict zoning and quality of life regulations. It still remains the only town I know of that has garbage pick up at the rear of the houses. It had the same highly respected mayor, a true man of integrity, for 30 years. He retired years ago though.
The schools used to be VERY good – that’s no longer the case. It’s always had a joint school system with South Orange, and since that town’s decline so went the schools. The kids are also bussed around between the towns now.
Since midtown direct, Maplewood became the first really nice town along the line (first stop after South Orange). 30 minutes into Penn Station express. That’s when it became a hot-spot for NY’s to move. A lot of those folks moved into the the cheaper side of town, figuring it looked ok.
Theoretically, the reval resulted in zero revenue change. The reduced the assessed value of all the houses on one side, and compensated by raising Ridgewood/wyoming side. Of course the number of homes in each category is not equal, so the smaller area that got increased got HUGE increases per house.
The character of the town has changed dramatically over the last decade. It’s become a little Brooklyn Heights, complete with multiple coffee houses (complete with wireless internet access), protesters in front of the post office each weekend, and ‘activists’ of all kinds handing out flyers and seeking petition signatures on the train platforms in the morning. The neighborhood church even had an election night ‘vigil’ in 2004. (This is not meant as a political statement, just to point out the attraction for ny’ers to move to the ‘burbs without losing their sophisticated life style.)
The quaint 3-block-long village has very limited parking, with 2 hour limits. The new Maplewoodians don’t see the $25 ticket for exceeding that as a fine, they see it as a parking fee that’s cheaper than NY. So every space is filled will commuters violating the law but consider it a bargain! It’s quite the eutopia!
The village has also become a rather frightening place on weekend evenings – The sidwalks are commonly blocked with huge groups (I’ll avoid the word ‘gangs’ here ;) of CHS students – ya wanna walk thru the town, ya gotta walk in the street. There used to be a beat cop on the street always (value for taxes), no longer present.
For years houses sold in 2-3 days, and with major bidding wars – sellers getting way above asking. (There used to be a realtor office in town – now there are 6 or so, complete with talking window displays. oooh!) As crazy as the prices got, multiple bidders would pay even MORE! Under Contract meant nothing – until the closing there was no guarantee someone wouldn’t come in and outbid ya. One of my best friends lost 3 houses that way before finally getting one that stuck ( a seller who thought their signature on a contract MEANT something!)
The days of the automatic bidding war and instant sale are over. :)
Example – a 6 BR house on the edge of the burmuda triangle, listed 3/15 at $1,129,000 is now $1,059,000. (it’s assessed at 527k, taxes $19k). Smell the fear?
Across the tracks – still in a nice area, but not in the BT – a 5 bedroom on a bigger lot than above listed at 695K on 1/25 and hasn’t sold. No reduction yet. taxes are 10K.
a third house, near the dreaded springfield ave area is a 3 bedroom bilevel. Listed at $459 and holding since 3/3. Taxes $6100
And on the far side of town, a 3 bedroom listed at $369 in 11/05 is now $354. Assessment $157, taxes $5600.
Oh, and a 4 br house up the street from me in the heart of the BT is listed at $1.2 million. Assessed at $657k, and has a $24k tax bill!
A Tale of Two Maplewoods.
cheers,
PbW
Prices never go down in these snob areas.
WRONG!
wild stuff pbW.
haven’t been thru maplewood in awhile, but that is where my mom grew up (before colombia HS became a war zone).
your description of the area is on point, but i’m truely stunned by the tax situation there. other than NYC commuters (making alot of coin), i’m not sure why anyone would be in a rush to move there now.
I still remember when my grandmother sold her home back in 87 before RE crapped out. she got top $ at the time & as for the unfortunate guy who stretched to buy it…. a few years later went BK.
RE really is a zero sum game… sale worked out for grandma’s retirement, while buyer went broke.
will history repeat itself? is RE imune from the business cycle?
buyers beware!
Gravitymatters,
pretty wild, indeed! That tax jump was nuts.
’round ’97 my oldest friends mom put her house up for sale on Euclid Ave (BT central). Huge old house on a half acre – 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bath’s. Needed some some work, but great bones, location, and yard with stream and fruit trees. She had it on the market for $290k. I was recently married and unfortunately (so I thought then) not in a position to buy it. I grew up in that house as much as my own, so I was bummed we had to let it go.
A guy from nyc bought it and fixed it up. He got transferred within 2 years and sold it for $425-ish. A year or so after that came the reval – assessed at $625k with a tax increase of over 17k/year! Tax bill on that house now is at least 24k. So the guy basically had his monthly payments doubled by taxes.
ouch!
PbW
Check out this one..
http://listings.gsmls.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=Mls&MlsNumList=2092871
Grim, thanks for showing properties that have been reduced but are still on the market. It is very helpful to be able to look them up to see what these properties look like.
Grim: Please lie to me…Summit isn’t on the list is it…awww the truth hurts. Where’s Dorothy and Toto when we need them…theres no place like Summit, theres no place like Summit, theres no place like Summit…LOL, just the beginning I say were at the top of the 1st inning with a full 8 and a 1/2 to go. Ignorance is bliss, till it costs u chips.