From the Daily Record:
Seller beware: Morris home prices slip 3.5%
The average price of homes sold in Morris County declined in the first quarter of 2007 by 3.52 percent, according to statistics from the Garden State Multiple Listing Service.
The last time that home prices fell in Morris County was during 1991, said Jeffrey Otteau, a housing analyst with Otteau Valuation Group in East Brunswick.
The average sale price was $557,835 from January through March, compared with $578,214 during the same period last year.
“It was inevitable,” said Ken Baris, president of Jordan Baris, a commercial and residential broker in South Orange.
“If you take into consideration the massive appreciation of residential real estate in recent years, an adjustment isn’t surprising.”
Baris foresees further declines but said, “The bottom isn’t going to fall out.”
Get a “$200,000 mortgage for $667 a month!” “Bad credit OK!”
Web lenders woo subprime borrowers despite crisis By Julie Haviv and Emily Kaiser
39 minutes ago
NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Get a “$200,000 mortgage for $667 a month!” a banner advertisement on a lending Web site proclaims. “Bad credit OK!”
Even after months of nonstop news coverage about the subprime mortgage mess and the steep rise in defaults and foreclosures, pop-up Internet advertisements and banners permeate cyberspace pitching low-monthly-payment loans.
READ: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070423/wr_nm/usa_subprime_advertising_dc;_ylt=AtLwC.NVvoO3_HGlP4kOIi8jtBAF
I don’t know about Morris county, but in my town in Bergen, houses are still moving. Yes, there’s a lot that’s been sitting on the market for a year or more, mostly high-end stuff that needs another $200K drop before it’ll sell. But sellers are starting to get the message, and the ones serious about selling are pricing more realistically for this market.
#2, JC – curious which town in Bergen?
Funny, 3.5% doesn’t sound like much, but it is around $20,000 hard earned dollars, twice that if you add in interest.
That is a year at college for one of your kids.
JC,
when you say “high-end needs to drop $200K” what do you mean? $1M down to $800k? $3M down to $2.8M?
High end in some bergen towns is considered low end in others.
Thanks, just looking for another opinion from a fellow bergen county’er.
I think if prices drop another 15-20% they will be close to historical norm.
#3: Washington Township:
#5: I mean a McMansion in the “Lake Community” that started on the market at $1.3 million, then sat for at least six months at $1.1 million and is now sitting for the last few months at $999,999. It’s on its second realtor. My guess for final selling price? $849K. And that’s if it’s before the market completely collapses.
A nice-looking cape-turned-Colonial listed at $499K went under contract within a couple of weeks. So if the town is decent, it’s still about pricing.
NAR to put out used home sales report tomorrow. Watch The Corrupt David Lereah spin his ass off
http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2007/04/nar-to-put-out-used-home-sales-report.html
Don’t be snowed when The Corrupt David Lereah spins the horrific drop in home sales by comparing March to February, when any idiot knows the real and only comparison is March 2007 vs. March 2006.
Watch the clueless and complicit MSM go with the March vs. February number. Also watch the MSM not question the median price number, which doesn’t include incentives and cash back.
And watch the MSM take TCDL’s “it was the weather” excuse and tell the frightened masses that “it appears we’re bottoming”, even though unsold and unwanted inventory will be soaring to close to a year’s supply in many markets.
Regardless of the lies, deception and spin, the numbers tomorrow are going to be truly horrific. Even the NAR won’t be able to hide the truth (spin as they may).