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.
Sorry this took so long, didn’t get a chance to get around to it earlier in the week. An incredible number of price reductions over this 10 day period, 2269 to be exact. So because I’ve waited so long, I’ll post double the number that usually get posted.
The list is (mostly) straight off the top this week:
MLS# 2273384 – Chester Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $2,649,900
List Price: $1,995,000 (Price Reduced 24.7%)
MLS# 2259008 – West Orange Twp. (Contemp)
Previous Price: $1,650,000
List Price: $1,299,000 (Price Reduced 21.3%)
MLS# 2269318 – Rockaway Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $189,000
List Price: $149,000 (Price Reduced 21.2%)
MLS# 2233797 – Pequannock Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $2,499,900
List Price: $1,999,000 (Price Reduced 20.0%)
MLS# 2277234 – Sparta Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $1,247,500
List Price: $999,900 (Price Reduced 19.8%)
MLS# 2109600 – Washington Twp. (Custom)
Original List Price: 1495000
Previous Price: $1,295,000
List Price: $1,050,000 (Price Reduced 18.9%, 29.8% off OLP)
MLS# 2208179 – Mendham Boro (Victrian)
Original List Price: 5700000
Previous Price: $5,300,000
List Price: $4,299,000 (Price Reduced 18.9%, 24.6% off OLP)
MLS# 2225166 – Montclair Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $2,950,000
List Price: $2,500,000 (Price Reduced 15.3%)
MLS# 2264812 – Blairstown Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $1,170,000
List Price: $995,000 (Price Reduced 15.0%)
MLS# 2256953 – Mountainside Boro (Ranch)
Previous Price: $675,000
List Price: $575,000 (Price Reduced 14.8%)
MLS# 2213142 – Mendham Boro (Custom Home)
Previous Price: $2,795,000
List Price: $2,395,000 (Price Reduced 14.3%)
MLS# 2242466 – Riverdale Boro (Colonial)
Original List Price: 729900
Previous Price: $699,900
List Price: $599,900 (Price Reduced 14.3%, 17.8% off OLP)
MLS# 2250819 – Montclair Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $1,195,000
List Price: $1,025,000 (Price Reduced 14.2%)
MLS# 2253675 – Lincoln Park Boro (Colonial)
Previous Price: $539,000
List Price: $465,000 (Price Reduced 13.7%)
MLS# 2257583 – Newark City (HighRise)
Previous Price: $469,000
List Price: $405,000 (Price Reduced 13.6%)
MLS# 2241746 – Rockaway Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $2,200,000
List Price: $1,900,000 (Price Reduced 13.6%)
MLS# 2267697 – Bernards Twp. (Contemp)
Previous Price: $1,150,000
List Price: $999,999 (Price Reduced 13.0%)
MLS# 2262451 – Chatham Boro (Colonial)
Previous Price: $1,149,000
List Price: $999,750 (Price Reduced 13.0%)
MLS# 2255980 – Montville Twp. (Custom)
Original List Price: 2400000
Previous Price: $1,600,000
List Price: $1,399,999 (Price Reduced 12.5%, 41.7% off OLP)
MLS# 2272848 – Mount Olive Twp. (Ranch)
Previous Price: $325,000
List Price: $285,000 (Price Reduced 12.3%)
MLS# 2272421 – Plainfield City (CapeCod)
Previous Price: $340,000
List Price: $299,000 (Price Reduced 12.1%)
MLS# 2255345 – Hardyston Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $795,000
List Price: $700,000 (Price Reduced 11.9%)
MLS# 2263846 – Livingston Twp. (RanchExp)
Previous Price: $1,249,000
List Price: $1,100,000 (Price Reduced 11.9%)
MLS# 2266302 – Rutherford Boro (Colonial)
Previous Price: $749,000
List Price: $659,900 (Price Reduced 11.9%)
MLS# 2264085 – Rockaway Boro (OneFloor)
Previous Price: $260,000
List Price: $230,000 (Price Reduced 11.5%)
MLS# 2271390 – Kinnelon Boro (Contemp)
Previous Price: $789,900
List Price: $699,000 (Price Reduced 11.5%)
MLS# 2275975 – Chester Twp. (HalfDupl)
Previous Price: $869,000
List Price: $769,000 (Price Reduced 11.5%)
MLS# 2238423 – Bloomfield Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $359,900
List Price: $319,000 (Price Reduced 11.4%)
MLS# 2260160 – Montclair Twp. (Colonial)
Original List Price: 1495000
Previous Price: $1,295,000
List Price: $1,150,000 (Price Reduced 11.2%, 23.1% off OLP)
MLS# 2269980 – Union Twp. (AFrame)
Previous Price: $405,000
List Price: $359,900 (Price Reduced 11.1%)
MLS# 2255151 – Essex Fells Twp. (Colonial)
Previous Price: $1,349,000
List Price: $1,199,000 (Price Reduced 11.1%)
MLS# 2264926 – Pompton Lakes Boro (TwnIntUn)
Previous Price: $539,900
List Price: $479,900 (Price Reduced 11.1%)
MLS# 2255894 – Morris Twp. (Ranch)
Original List Price: $699,000
Previous Price: $674,999
List Price: $599,999 (Price Reduced 11.1%, 14.2% off OLP)
MLS# 2265183 – Peapack Gladstone Boro (Colonial)
Original List Price: $925,000
Previous Price: $899,000
List Price: $799,900 (Price Reduced 11.0%, 13.5% off OLP)
Caveat Emptor!
Grim
Greenspan: Housing boom is over
Ex-Fed chief tells New York dinner that it’s too early to judge if energy price boost will impact consumer spending.
May 18, 2006: 7:56 PM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that the “extraordinary” boom in the U.S. housing market in recent years is over.
“This has been quite an extraordinary boom,” Greenspan told a Bond Market Association dinner in New York. “The boom is over. I think we can safely say that with a strong degree of confidence.”
So now he is conceding this? I think, at the very least, Greenspan owes an apology to those consumers who entered into risky adjustable rate mortgages in reliance upon his claim back in 2004 that it would save them money. Many of them are now in desperate straits.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/2004-02-23-greenspan-debt_x.htm
“Desperate straits” is right–and the vultures are circling. I work near Newark and am starting to see “Avoid foreclosure” and “We buy houses” signs tacked up on utility poles on busy streets there. Also today, I passed a van covered with professionally painted advertising: On both sides and across the back, it said “We buy houses” and then had an 800 number.
As eager as I am to see this housing bubble deflate, I have sympathy for people at the lowest end of the economic scale who will lose their houses for pennies on the dollar.
MLS 2264813 (2 bedroom townhouse)
Another drop of 5k to 314K. I’m not sure why they even attempted the drop. MLS 613681 which is 3 bedroom town house in the same community is priced at 319K. 1 bedroom = 5K??
The 3 bedrooms used to go for 355K in Jan. Last September someone bought one for 420K.
Are these going to be 220K next year?
OH my GOD this house is FANTASTIC!!!
MLS# 2259008 – West Orange Twp. (Contemp)
I’m so glad it’s out of my price range or I would have been slightly upset at not buying it. Of course, another drop and it WOULD be in our price range.
It’s so refreshing to see an interesting house for a change! Thanks for adding the style to these listings, Grim.
I don’t know the area of West Orange that it’s in but the house itself certainly looks worth well over $1M. I wonder how “overpriced” everyone it is…any guesses? What should this house command in a “normal” market?
Oh man, there’s drool on my keyboard! (Lot size is too small for me though…only an acre-ish…)
Woooooooo!
“As eager as I am to see this housing bubble deflate, I have sympathy for people at the lowest end of the economic scale who will lose their houses for pennies on the dollar.”
Let’s get this staright. Morons from all asset levels will lose their houses. So don’t say it is going to happen to ,low income people. i see lots and lots of foreclosures at high price levels.
The train wreck is about to happen and greenspan is to blame for large part of it. The guy is one big failure.
anon8:30-
let me guess, you lost money when the tech bubble burst?
Those avoid forclosure signs on the telephone poles are not just in Newark, they are in my town as well, which is considered one of the desireable Bergen co towns.
“Also today, I passed a van covered with professionally painted advertising: On both sides and across the back, it said “We buy houses” and then had an 800 number.
As eager as I am to see this housing bubble deflate, I have sympathy for people at the lowest end of the economic scale who will lose their houses for pennies on the dollar.”
How does that work out exactly? Don’t these 800 number buyers have to pay off the mortgage holders to take possession? If so, how are they able to buy the homes for “pennies on dollar”?
Question time Grim,
I noticed at least 7 houses on the list that at some point were listed at over $2mil. My question, what income is necessary to afford such a home and how many people do you think there are who have it?
This obviously plays out at other levels as well, but I think $2mil is rarified air so the dropoff has to be significant. How many such houses are currently out there?
How many people got into a +$1mil house thinking they would sell for more and are going to get washed down the drain?
This is going to be a top to bottom soaking and bankruptcies, which are growing fast, are going to explode.
Pat “who can never remember passwords” said…
I have seen that you like graphs. Have you plotted a few homes average reductions against average days on the market?
Anyway, I’ve been doing in my area (buying next spring) and see the same trend down here (closer to Trenton).
“…I noticed at least 7 houses on the list that at some point were listed at over $2mil. My question, what income is necessary to afford such a home and how many people do you think there are who have it?…”
Plenty – especially if you inherit the money, or use a massive down payment sourced from cumulative gains on prior homes. This issue is the reason that people talk so much about the “first-time homebuyer”. If you are first-time, you are usually paying from “hard earned-hard won money”, as opposed to “monopoly/hit the lottery” money from these other sources.
It is also the source of these “bitter renter” comments as well.
chicago
Hey CF,
Speaking of hitting the lottery, good luck at the tables this weekend and enjoy the show!
I’m off to see The Go-Go’s myself tonight. Might just drive in and poke into that house in West Orange on the way. Its $20K tax bill greatly tarnishes its allure but I want to go look at it just for appreciation’s sake…
Sorry I am new at this game. I cannot locate MLS#2271390 – Contemporary in Kinnelon. How do I go about finding it. I was at the MLS website. Thanks
can I ask how you find what these houses originally listed at? I’d like to get similar info for southern NJ…Ocean City, Avalon, Sea Isle, etc…
to address Chicago’s point–
I think the days of people trading up every five years or so are coming to a close. I also think the idea of the “starter home” might become outdated too. The idea depends on either (1) rising income or (2) rising value of the house you’re currently in. Well, wages for most Americans (even college graduates) are at best flat and will probably trend down in real terms for the foreseeable future. And housing prices look to have just begun a very long, drawn out decline. the prospect of trading up for a lot of people looks a lot weaker than it has in the past. the super high end should be fine since the truly elite are making money hand over fist. but I think the upper middle class territory is going to get hit hard
Michelle said…
Hey CF,
Speaking of hitting the lottery, good luck at the tables this weekend and enjoy the show!
I’m off to see The Go-Go’s myself tonight. Might just drive in and poke into that house in West Orange on the way. Its $20K tax bill greatly tarnishes its allure but I want to go look at it just for appreciation’s sake…
12:31 PM
Michelle:
I think you’ve done a good job “…speaking just for me.” ;)
anon @ 8:35 AM
What is your listing #? We will be nice and not report any price drops :)
or
Are you a realtor ready to preach us about the sins of renting?
Anon 2:35
I’ve been routinely tracking listings in our price range (the range we’ve been saving for) in specific zips for at least two years – that’s how I know when they drop, and when they relist after taking houses off the mkt.
I don’t subcribe to any services, myself.
Thx, CF!
To Anon 2:08, one way you can find listings by mls# is to go to realtor.com and click on “More Search Options”. Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter the MLS number.
BTW, that’s the lowest priced house I’ve ever seen in Smokerise! I wonder if something’s wrong with it or if it’s just a good deal. Let use know if you go see it!