Welcome to another edition of Lowball!
Lowball! takes a look at home sales from a different perspective. For those new to Lowball!, a lowball offer is when a buyer offers a significantly lower bid than asking in hopes that the seller accepts the offer. We take a list of home sales from the past month and pick out the sales that have the highest percentage difference between original list price and selling price.
The purpose of Lowball! is to show buyers that the market has changed and buyers now have considerably more leverage than sellers. Just a short time ago, Lowball! offers would have been laughed at and discarded, however, not any more. The fact that so many under-asking offers are being accepted is clear proof that the market is changing.The list does not contain all sales, I hand-pick the most interesting sales from the list. These listings might be the highest dollar drops, biggest percentage reductions, or sales in towns that are thought to still be ‘hot’. Please note, even with double digit percentage reductions, these homes are still incredibly overpriced.
Counties included here are: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, Warren. Due to the large number of records, I’ve changed the percentage cutoff to 15% off of OLP. The usual cutoff, 10%, would have yielded 140 Lowball sales.
On to the list!
| MLS# | Town | OLP | LP | SP | % off OLP | % off LP |
| 2269098 | Millburn Twp.* (1612) | $1,199,000 | $849,000 | $772,000 | 35.6% | 9.1% |
| 2305629 | Union Twp. (2919) | $335,000 | $335,000 | $225,000 | 32.8% | 32.8% |
| 2307142 | East Orange City* (1605) | $374,900 | $275,000 | $260,000 | 30.6% | 5.5% |
| 2268160 | Warren Twp. (2720) | $725,000 | $667,777 | $525,000 | 27.6% | 21.4% |
| 2261941 | South Plainfield Boro (2122) | $476,900 | $369,000 | $350,000 | 26.6% | 5.1% |
| 2249916 | Totowa Boro (2512) | $439,000 | $394,900 | $330,000 | 24.8% | 16.4% |
| 2281213 | Washington Boro* (3021) | $349,900 | $275,000 | $266,000 | 24.0% | 3.3% |
| 2237983 | Lake Mohawk Sparta (2814) | $850,000 | $699,900 | $650,000 | 23.5% | 7.1% |
| 2281057 | Stillwater Twp.* (2822) | $389,000 | $315,000 | $300,000 | 22.9% | 4.8% |
| 2263157 | Boonton Town (2301) | $499,900 | $399,900 | $390,000 | 22.0% | 2.5% |
| 2256321 | Vernon Twp.* (2824) | $299,000 | $259,000 | $235,000 | 21.4% | 9.3% |
| 2276910 | Westfield Twp. (2920) | $1,250,000 | $999,900 | $985,000 | 21.2% | 1.5% |
| 2239419 | Scotch Plains Twp.* (2916) | $1,250,000 | $1,150,000 | $990,000 | 20.8% | 13.9% |
| 2229965 | Phillipsburg Town (3019) | $159,900 | $137,500 | $127,000 | 20.6% | 7.6% |
| 2258794 | Edgewater Boro (1113) | $389,000 | $349,000 | $310,000 | 20.3% | 11.2% |
| 2256573 | Highland Park Boro (2107) | $220,000 | $195,000 | $177,500 | 19.3% | 9.0% |
| 2256290 | Weehawken Twp. (1811) | $848,000 | $699,621 | $685,000 | 19.2% | 2.1% |
| 2311534 | Kinnelon Boro* (2315) | $1,800,000 | $1,800,000 | $1,455,000 | 19.2% | 19.2% |
| 2275693 | Lincoln Park Boro* (2316) | $349,900 | $310,000 | $283,000 | 19.1% | 8.7% |
| 2293385 | Jersey City (1806) | $445,000 | $369,000 | $360,000 | 19.1% | 2.4% |
| 2241647 | Hanover Twp. (2312) | $849,900 | $750,000 | $690,000 | 18.8% | 8.0% |
| 2267384 | Roxbury Twp. (2336) | $430,000 | $385,500 | $350,000 | 18.6% | 9.2% |
| 2265158 | Sandyston Twp. (2819) | $1,650,000 | $1,499,000 | $1,350,016 | 18.2% | 9.9% |
| 2280701 | Monroe Twp. (2112) | $209,900 | $179,900 | $172,000 | 18.1% | 4.4% |
| 2281226 | Washington Twp. (2338) | $499,900 | $449,900 | $410,000 | 18.0% | 8.9% |
| 2255483 | Union Twp.* (2919) | $430,000 | $379,000 | $355,000 | 17.4% | 6.3% |
| 2265397 | Millburn Twp. (1612) | $1,250,000 | $1,050,000 | $1,035,000 | 17.2% | 1.4% |
| 2269368 | Bedminster Twp. (2701) | $1,195,000 | $1,089,000 | $990,000 | 17.2% | 9.1% |
| 2286818 | Newark City (1614) | $349,900 | $349,900 | $290,000 | 17.1% | 17.1% |
| 2252376 | Hillsborough Twp. (2710) | $615,000 | $529,900 | $510,000 | 17.1% | 3.8% |
| 2264213 | Wyckoff Twp. (1170) | $599,000 | $499,900 | $498,000 | 16.9% | 0.4% |
| 2282314 | Pompton Lakes Boro* (2509) | $329,900 | $299,900 | $275,000 | 16.6% | 8.3% |
| 2260343 | Vernon Twp. (2824) | $574,900 | $495,000 | $480,000 | 16.5% | 3.0% |
| 2255428 | Bound Brook Boro* (2704) | $425,000 | $385,900 | $355,000 | 16.5% | 8.0% |
| 2284076 | Franklin Twp. (2708) | $389,000 | $365,000 | $325,000 | 16.5% | 11.0% |
| 2262045 | Randolph Twp.* (2332) | $1,149,900 | $999,750 | $965,000 | 16.1% | 3.5% |
| 2285601 | Ringwood Boro* (2511) | $424,900 | $379,900 | $357,000 | 16.0% | 6.0% |
| 2267919 | North Plainfield Boro* (2714) | $314,900 | $299,900 | $265,000 | 15.8% | 11.6% |
| 2284078 | Bridgewater Twp. (2706) | $674,900 | $599,900 | $570,000 | 15.5% | 5.0% |
| 2255509 | Sparta Twp.* (2820) | $325,000 | $299,900 | $275,000 | 15.4% | 8.3% |
| 2269270 | Mount Olive Twp. (2327) | $429,898 | $369,900 | $364,450 | 15.2% | 1.5% |
| 2300897 | Warren Twp. (2720) | $1,179,000 | $1,100,000 | $1,000,000 | 15.2% | 9.1% |
Came across this 2 listings, which did not make any sense.
MLS: 2322349
### Country Club Rd, Bridgewater
LP: $469,900
OLP: $ 499,000
This house was purchased on Jun 06 for $610,000. Not sure why Owner paid such a high price to begin with !!!
Second one,
MLS: 2320469
LP: $450,000
OLP: $ 515,000
This house was purchased on Nov 05, $325,000. This is classic Flipper. The house is not great, but he definitely spent some money fixing it. I doubt he will get 450K in this market. Will be taking some hit on this flip.
What does OLP, LP and SP stand for in english?
Alan:
Just guessing here, but considering we are talking about low-balling homes, maybe
OLP=Original List Price
LP=(Current) List Price
SP=Sale Price
Then again it could mean something totally different!
i was thinking a column for days on market would be cool to see.
how long did it take for each to blink!
It would be nice to see the prices of these properties in around 1995 just before the current bubble started. It would give the buyers an idea where their lowball offers should start.
I went to three open houses today in Fort Lee, NJ. I was the second to sign at all three. This was about 2 PM. Boy, these realtors are probably pulling their hair out. Still don’t feel some parts of Bergen County have reduced enough.
OOPs, I meant to put this in the weekend discussion section.
Hi,
I am looking to buy in Maplewood, NJ, and was wondering if anyone on the sight has some insight to this particular town’s real estate market. I’m hoping to go in to any listing a minimum of 25% off the list price. Any thoughts/advise from those of you who follow the market closely?
I’m curious about something here. If the sellers are overpricing their homes, how do the banks that perform the *offical* appraisals factor in here? I mean, if a bank says a property is actually worth what it is listing for, doesn’t that mean anything? Are banks part of the problem here? If I am misunderstanding something, please forgive me, as I am a renter looking to buy, so I don’t necessarily know all the details. Thanks.