Archive for June, 2010

OccasionallyI have a townhouse listing in Basking Ridge where the homeowner requests that agents and clients remove their shoes.  The reason for this is that they may have light colored carpeting, in inclement weather shoes track things (eeeww) into the home, it may be  their culture , or they might have a little baby that crawls around the floor on hands and knees.  This is not an unusual request yet I am amazed at the number of people that get offended at having to do this.  I really don’t care that your socks don’t match, are dirty or that you are not even wearing any.  I am only there to carry out the homeowner’s wishes. I actually had one prospective buyer come to one of my open houses in The Ridge townhouse community during an open house with her agent (thankfully)  that left  wearing MY shoes!  Luckily I was able to call her agent to come back with them!

I provide cloth and plastic shoe covers in a basket by the front door for clients to put over their shoes if they wish instead of removing them.  I think all Realtors should do this.  Then everyone is comfortable.  It is a courtesy to the homeowner as well.

Click here to view sales and  information about all Basking Ridge Townhome Communities

If you are driving through the Amherst Mews townhome community lately you will see a lot of “construction” work going on.  The EFIS or “fake stucco” litigation has ended and the repairs are nearing completion.  All the buildings are getting the exteriors remediated.  This is a good thing.  Also all the mail boxes will be getting replaced soon.

I have a great listing at 47 Dickinson Road in Amherst mews.  Thankfully this unit did not have any damage but the exterior is being remediated on all buildings anyway.  If you visit one of my open houses there you will be able to read the remediation letter from the President of the Board explaining this situation in more detail.

Click here to see information about all Basking Ridge Townhouse communities

Basking Ridge has open houses for townhouses available every Sunday and in some cases on Saturdays.  I hold my townhouse listings open every Sunday (or Saturday) that the homeowner allows.  Open houses are usually in the afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 or 5:00pm.  I like to spend as much time as an open house guest wants giving a tour of the property and answeringany questions.  We ask that people that attend open houses sign in a “register” before touring the townhome.  An open house guest should not be intimidated by this request.  I do NOT  hound you later vying for your business.  Almost all my business is from personal referral or via the comprehensive internet marketing that I do.  It is simply a courtesy to sign in at the open house.  Weichert tracks open house traffic to see where the guests are coming from — the signs — the Internet — or an ad.  The Jim Weichert can decide where to put his marketing dollars to work  for the Realtors and the company.  If you ask that I provide you further information or follow up, then I will. I do try to get the open house guests candid feedback about my townhouse listing and some of them are too funny for words!  If however, you are working with another realtor and intend to continue to work with another realtor if you decide to purchase the townhome you are visiting, please put that Realtors name next to yours or in the comments area.  Then I can give your realtor a call to let him/her know that their client visited my townhouse listing. The homeowner also likes to know how many people were in attendance and their feedback.  Even if you are a neighbor in the same townhouse community I welcome your visit.  Who knows maybe you will know of someone who may be interested!

I pride myself when I go on a listing presentation that I can say I have NEVER had a transaction fall apart — for any reason  other than that that is out of my control.  I am very proactive about making sure another realtor’s buyer is pre-approved and is financially qualified to purchase my listing.  I had a very disturbing experience lately with one of my listings.  A brand X realtor brought in an offer the very first day my listing was active.  It was not a full price offer but we were able to negotiate it to terms agreeable to both the buyer and seller.  The buyer’s agent pleaded with me to not show the property until we get out of the attorney review process.  I got every song and dance about how sincere her buyers were and how much they loved the property; they were getting married (second marriage for both) in August and everything was perfect. The buyers agent went on to say her buyers were personal friends of  hers and she knows them well etc., etc.  I requested a re-vised mortgage pre-approval that specifically said they did NOT need to sell their current condominium in Basking Ridge in order to proceed with the purchase of this townhome listing. Red flag  number one:  The buyers attorney RE INSERTED in his attorney review letter that the contract was subject to the sale of their property. We were able to get that reduced to wording that said they needed to get a clean commitment letter that would not be subject to the sale of their current property.  I verified with their lender that they did indeed qualify without selling.  Red flag number two:  They used a “friend” for an attorney that was not a real estate attorney.  The attorney review process dragged on and on – well over a week. The buyers were  overly concerned minor details and  about the life span of furnace and a/c when we were offering a home warranty with this sale.  Again, I was re-assured by the buyer’s agent that “they were very serious buyers”.  Attorney review finally concluded and the property was under contract.  Red flag number three:  The home inspection.  That’s another blog subject for another time.  BUT the average home inspection for a townhouse is maybe 2 hours.  This one dragged on for almost 4 hours. The home inspector drastically blowing things out of proportion like – the master bedroom slider is broken – when the fact was there was a little dirt in the bottom tract and when it was vacuumed up is slided like butter.  Only one of many mistakes like that.  The result was that we received a repair request letter on the very last day possible with 17  items the buyers wanted repaired.  They wanted history for items beyond the possible scope and knowledge of the seller.  They wanted a 1984 built townhouse to be brought up to today’s standards and codes.  Usually what happens now is that the seller responds with what they will and will not repair and buyer and seller negotiate until both parties are satisfied.  The Sellers Property Condition Disclosure clearly outlined the details of all the mechanicals of the townhome and the buyer signed acknowledging receipt of this disclosure.  The seller  (to my surprise) wanted to fix everything except 2 items.  In 1984 it was not code that you needed to provide access to a Jacuzzi motor.  The buyers wanted the seller to put in an access.  The microwave did not vent outside.  It is a recirculating microwave with the  filter underneath.  The buyer wanted the seller to vent it outside.   Both worked properly and the seller said these items did not need repair.  Fair enough and we replied as such.  Red flag number four:  The appraiser called me late on a Friday to say the lender cancelled the scheduled appraisal for the following Monday. I knew that was the end.  I called the buyer’s agent all weekend and emailed her with no reply or response.  Monday morning we received a letter from the buyers attorney terminating the transaction and using the excuse of the home inspection paragraph of the contract as reason for terminating.  Again no return call from the buyer’s realtor.  Bottom line is that the buyers just changed their minds and wanted out for whatever reason.  Who knows.  My seller was prepared to offer them monetary consideration for the Jacuzzi access and microwave venting but they just terminated without cause or reason.  Further legal action from the seller would tie up this townhome in litigation for a very long time and not worth it.  I don’t know how some buyers can look at themselves in the mirror in the morning after taking advantage of a situation like this.  It just shows that that realtor never really knew her buyers and should never have made representations about their sincerity.

Buying a home is a serious decision and should never be entered into lightly.  These were not serious buyers and we lost a month of marketing time being “the nice guy”.

P.S.  New Jersey is the only state that has “the attorney review” process. A signed contract means nothing until it is out of attorney review.  During that time either party can back out of the transaction for any reason at all.  In every other state the contract is legally binding when signed by the seller and buyer.

The new and reduced assessment is out and will soon auto populate into new listings.  Buyers think that the sales price should be tied to the assessment amount.  This is not true.  In Basking Ridge assessments are done every year.  In the declining market assessed values were affected just like sale prices.  This does not necessarily mean your taxes will go down (we could only wish).  Ususally to compensate for a reduced assessment the tax rate goes up.  Rarely will taxes decrease.  This year although assessments are lower yet again, the tax rate is going up enough to mean a tax increase.

Back to the relationship to sales price.  What buyers need to know is that the assessments for all the townhouses in any Basking Ridge Community should be apples to apples.  Often when a realtor does a comparable market analysis this is not taken into consideration.  If the assessment has changed for one property to the new year’s number, your realtor should take the time to either call the tax assessor or pull up the new assessment on line to correct the comparable properties he or she is using for the analysis.

Sales price is based on so many other things other than assessments for townhomes in Basking Ridge.  The particular model, the floor plan, the number of bedrooms, a finished lower level, the location within the community.  All will affect the value and the price at which a property should sell.