Please join us in celebrating the life of

James Thomas Boyer

(3/9/69 – 1/9/10)

Though Jim’s life on earth is complete, his everlasting life and his support of us from heaven has just begun.  Whether you are a client, partner, friend or family, I hope that you will join us in celebrating the life and legacy that Jim will leave as well as his departure to a brighter place where he will be given everlasting life.

 He has made us laugh

He has made us smile

Now it is our turn

Let’s do it in STYLE! 

Jim is survived by Darren Frankenberger (Partner), Noah James Frankenberger (Son), Mary Desmond (Mother), Tom Boyer (Father), Pam, Pat and Kris (siblings) and his dogs Annie, Taylor and Russel.

Jim found his calling in Real Estate and with the help of social networking, he learned the tools and techniques to build and maintain google ranking in the internet.  His business prospered and he was on track for a very successful career.  Jim is a people person and he will always be remembered for the joy and love that he brought to our lives.

 Jim:  We will miss you.

 Wake will be held at Jim’s home on 1-13-2010 from 3-8.  Service to begin at 5:45PM.  (Kleenex provided, smiles requested)

 To send condolences, please respond to   Darren Frankenberger via Jim’s direct number, 973-647-0253 or use the contactus on this page.

(This post was created by Darren Frankenberger)

We as Chatham NJ Realtors tend to write about the possitive side of things quite a bit.  In fact I write about the possitive aspects of the market all the time, and today’s post may seem negative at times but remember, possitive or negative just depends on your point of view.

During the month of February there were 6 expired Chatham NJ MLS listings.  These were homes that were listed for 6 months or more and did not sell.  Why did they not sell?  That is the $64,000 question!!

Chatham NJ Homes For Sale, The Expired Listings

Here is a top 7 list of excuses their Chatham NJ Realtors were probably feeding these sellers, and only one of them has any merit.

1. Real estate market is too slow
2. Interest rates are going up, or are flat, or ???
3. It’s a slow time of the year
4. The weather has been bad
5. Nothing is selling (Homes that are priced right and in good showing condition sell all the time.  In the last 12 months 203 homes have sold in Chatham NJ 07928.)
6. There aren’t many qualified buyers out there (Not true, there are some Realtors including myself who have plenty of home buyers we are working with.)
7. Your price is too high (Bingo, any home will sell with the right marketing and the proper pricing.)

 Listen Chatham NJ Home Sellers, if your Chatham NJ Realtor is feeding you any of the first 6 excuses perhaps you picked the wrong Realtor.  If you have been on the market for more than 2 months, not gotten a offer on your home, and your Realtor has been telling you your home is over priced since the day it was listed, perhaps you should listen to your Realtor.

Chatham NJ area home buyers, there are some really good deals to be had in the area.  Even if a home looks to be over priced, don’t let that stop you, get a strong negotiating Realtor on your side, and make a offer for what you think a fair price is on the home you want.  If the seller really wants to sell, they will work with you, if not, it did not cost you anything to try.

To read the Chatham NJ Homes For Sale report visit the link

James Boyer
Chatham NJ Realtor
Chatham NJ Real Estate Expert
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Cell

Just a short informational post offering information on the $7500 first time home buyer credit.

$7500 First Time New Jersey Home Buyer Tax Credit

Contact me today at Morris Essex Union & Somerset County homes to get the full report e-mailed to you about the $7500 first time home buyer credit currently being offered by the federal government.  Be aware that there is wording in the documentation I have that says you have to pay it back over 15 years, but it is my understanding that the repayment provision is being removed.

James Boyer
Morris County Realtor
Morris County Real Estate Specialist
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Direct

I have also recently posted a link to the Morris County NJ school closings update page.

I write this today for the Morris County NJ home buyers out there who are scared to make a move, thinking that they should try to time the real estate market hoping that they will catch the bottom.  Bad idea, if you try to catch the bottom you will likely depend on the news media who will tell you it is ok to go ahead about 12 to 18 months after the bottom has come and gone.  Just like they did when the market topped.

Homes in Morris County NJ are selling

Here are sales numbers for many of the local Morris County towns.

2007     2008

133  84   Chatham Boro New Jersey 07928

165        146      Chatham Township New Jersey 07928

174  130  Madison New Jersey 07940

318        260      Morris Township New Jersey 07960

171   167  Morristown New Jersey 07960 

 74          52        Morris Plains New Jersey 07950

 59         29         Harding New Jersey 07976

 87         77          Florham Park New Jersey 07932

 81         65         East Hanover New Jersey 07936 

As you can see, the number of sales is down in every one of the towns, though the hardest hit is the Luxury real estate market of Harding New Jersey, while the lightest hit are towns on the Midtown Direct train line and those towns which have more housing at the lower end of the price range such as condominiums and first time home buyer type homes. 

Towns which are better suited for first time home buyers by price, are Morristown, Morris Township, Madison, Florham Park, East Hanover, and Morris Plains.

Truth be told this is a fabulous time to be a Morris County NJ home buyer.  There are some great prices out there, as well as interest rates quoted this week below 4.75% on a 30 year fixed rate.

If you are thinking of purchasing a home in the near future, consider moving forward now.  There is a $7500 first time home buyer tax credit availible to Morris County NJ home buyers who close on their home before July 1, 2009.

James Boyer
Morris County REALTOR
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Direct

Many would be home buyers have been sitting on the fence trying to time the New Jersey real estate market for quite a while now.  The question now though is, have we reached a bottom?  Will these New Jersey home buyers know the bottom when it is reached? 

The answer the the first questions is probably we have reached a bottom, but in reality you cannot really know a bottom has been put in until probably 12 months afterwords, when it is too late to have taken advantage of that so called bottom.

The answer to the second question in about 99% of the cases is a resounding NO.  Most home buyers who are sitting waiting for the optimum time to buy wait to long.  Why do they wait to long, they tend to listen to the news media to much.  The news media is the same group who was overly optimistic in 2003 - 2006 basically telling people that housing affordability was running away from them and they better jump on board or that train was going to leave them behind for ever.  I still remember some of the news reports talking about an entire generation of people who would end up being renters and never being able to own a home.

New Jersey Real Estate Update

Let me first state a long held belief I have had about the homes that are for sale.  In general only about 20% of the NJ homes listed for sale are actually priced to sell.  The other 80% of the homes that are listed in gsmls are just listed, the home owner and their NJ REALTOR have not priced the home for reality.

Morristown NJ homes for sale

There are currently 118 homes listed in gsmls with an active status.  In reality there are probably only 24 homes listed for sale at prices that will draw a ready and willing NJ home buyer.

Madison NJ homes for sale

There are 60 homes in Madison New Jersey listed in gsmls with a active status.  In reality there are likely only 12 homes that are currently priced to actually sell.  12 homes is not much.

Chatham NJ homes for sale

There are currently 105 Chatham Boro & Chatham Township.  That means that probably 21 homes are actually priced to sell in Chatham New Jersey.  That is not much, I have 3 different home buyers who are interested in Chatham, and let me tell you there are some great deals availible, and there are some real stinkers for the price.

Summit NJ homes for sale

124 Summit NJ homes listed in gsmls.  That means that likely 25 homes are actually priced to sell in Summit New Jersey.  I have shown or previewed at least 30 homes in Summit in the past 3 weeks, once again there are some very good deals, and there are some Summit NJ home owners who need a reality check.

There are many other towns that I do business in and know a great deal about.  Too many in fact to keep on listing, but the same metric seems to apply in all of them, only about 20 percent of those listed for sale in gsmls our local Multiple Listing Service are really priced so that they will sell.

With mortgage brokers like my friend Bob Scarzella (908-252-3958 Office, Robert_Scarzella@countrywide.com) over at Country Wide quoting rates as low as 4.75%  on a 30 year fixed as recently as 01/08/09 Mortgages are a great deal.  With home selling prices hovering around the 2004 / 2005 level, and the Federal Government doing everything possible to end the housing recession, now is likely a great time to be a home buyer in Northern New Jersey.  It is unlikely that prices will decline much from here.

Don’t forget the $7500 first time home buyer credit expires on July 1, 2009

James Boyer
NJ REALTOR
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Direct

A friend and fellow REALTOR of mine Mark Rasmussen of Sarasota Florida, has become the victim of the Sarasota MLS Board’s jealousy.  In a totally vindictive and malicious move, the board of REALTORS in Sarasota has decided that they will take town the most prominent real estate website in Sarasota no mater what it does to their member in good standing Mark Rasmussen.

Kathy Roberts, the CEO of the Sarasota Association of Realtors (SAR), has been all over the web trying to do some online reputation managment, or someone claiming to be her anyway.  In this attempt she has been making statements which look to be half truths, such as the Sarasota Association of REALTORS having the trade mark rights to Sarasota MLS for over 50 years, when they only applied for that trade mark in July of 2008, and it is not even clear if that trade mark has been granted yet.  Mean while Mark purchased the rights to the domain Thesarasotamls.com back in 2003 when even the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) was recommending in it’s own publications that to do so was just plain good business practice, and recommending that it’s members do so. 

Helen Sosso  The president of the Sarasota Board of REALTORS for 2008 has said:

“I want to use my year as president to encourage our members to be more cooperative, and more professional in our dealings with one another. We all have the same inventory of properties to sell, and it’s more important than ever in the current market that we all work together and maintain our professionalism.”

As posted on Knox’s blog linked to below.  I don’t think this action and Helen Sosso’s statment above quite jive!!

Now that NAR has decided to change the rules, they need to understand the amount of work and money it takes to build up a domain name such as Mark’s domain TheSarasotaMLS.com and how their attempts to take it away will destroy his business.  Of course  Kathy Roberts, the CEO of the Sarasota Association of Realtors likly already knows what it will do to Mark and his business, and that is her goal.

For more great information on this nasty subject visit:

The Sarasota MLS

Sarasota Association of REALTORS - in need of online reputation management help

Sarasota Association of REALTORS (SAR) Slaps One of its Own

TheSarasotaMLS.com Gone

And of course a little support for Mark’s new domain  Sarasota Real Estate

It is such a shame that a board of REALTORS would go after one of it’s own like the Sarasota Board of REALTORS has gone after Mark.  Please visit the above links to get the full detailed story, and a look at one of the villains of the crime.

Wishing you all the best Mark,  James Boyer REALTOR Chatham NJ Real Estate

For More information about Chatham New Jersey and Morristown New Jersey.

It happens every presidential election year where a new person takes office.  Everyone becomes much more possitive once the new guy is elected, and the possitive attitude only increases once the newly elected president takes office.

The general public’s attitude has been so negative over the past several months, negative to the point that it is not sustainable.  I think that it is not going to take much to turn things moderately more possitive.  These sorts of things tend to feed on themselves actually.  Once the public’s mood starts to turn, more possitive things will start to happen, and then the next wave of possitive things will happen.

I believe that the New Jersey real estate market will be this way as well.  Just this weekend, I took 3 different couples out to look at homes, and I have to say that the deals were so good, that all of them were amazed.  Two of the three couples are seriously considering putting offers in on homes we looked at this weekend.

To me this is a very good sign for the Morristown NJ real estate market, as well as Chatham New Jersey and Summit New Jersey.  For more information about Morristown NJ homes for sale visit the Morristown website listed here.

The Chatham NJ real estate market had 16 home sales for the month of September 2008.  Considering all the turmoil in the financial markets, and all the fear that the general public is exhibiting these 16 home buyers should be admired.  They moved forward when it was hard to move forward.  Now they may not feel like they got lucky, but when 3 or 4 years have gone buy, they will look back and likely say, thank god we purchased our home when we did, we got a very good deal and a very good interest rate.

Here are the Chatham NJ Home Sales for the month of September 2008

1. 61  Woodland Road  $449,000 LP  SplitLev 3 1.1 $449,000 SP  141 DOM
2. 141  HILLSIDE AVE  $497,900 LP  CapeCod 3 2 $460,000 SP  141 DOM
3. 10  CORNELL PL  $499,000  SplitLev 3 1.1 $480,000  192
4. 14  CHARLES PLACE  $527,000  Custom 3 2 $514,000  116
5. 39  Woodland  $529,000  SplitLev 4 2 $512,000  6
6. 35  Roosevelt Ave.  $599,000  Colonial 4 1.1 $585,000  113
7. 12  VAN DOREN AVE  $619,000  Colonial 3 2 $621,900  13
8. 52  North Hillside Ave  $649,900  Colonial 4 1.1 $634,900  62
9. 39  Schindler Ct  $819,000  TwnEndUn 3 2.1 $809,500  43
10. 25  Meadowbrook Rd  $949,900  Colonial 4 2 $920,000  19
11. 20C  Kensington Road  $365,000  OneFloor 2 1.1 $360,000  79
12. 5H  Heritage Dr  $375,900  OneFloor 2 1 $362,500  68
13. 115  Huron Drive  $1,299,000  Colonial 4 2.1 $1,244,000  65
14. 5  TREE TOP LN  $1,599,000  Colonial 5 4.1 $1,550,000  64
15. 361  Shunpike Road  $1,775,000  Colonial 5 4.1 $1,635,000  99
16. 123  HIGHLAND AVE  $1,965,000  Colonial 5 4.2 $1,865,000  69

Chatham New Jersey is a very nice place to call home.  It has all the advantages which will help home prices do much better then the average in New Jersey. 

James Boyer
Chatham NJ REALTOR
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Direct

I have always found that the old statement “you get what you pay for” is almost always true.  That does not mean that I don’t try to get the best deal when shopping for something.  Currently I am shopping for a washing machine, due to the unexpected failure of my current one. 

 When I was shopping for a company to help me with my Chatham NJ real estate website, I looked around, and even tried someone who was fairly inexpensive.  Disappointment was soon to come though.  I ended up spending much more of my time than I thought I would managing a project which seemed to have little hope of success.  Then I decided to go with the best.  They were not cheep by any means.  They were not the most expensive ether, but what they were, was willing to listen to me and do what it took to make sure I was happy.  That was why I chose to work with Real Estate Webmasters.

Thinking of developing a new real estate website, give them a call.

Real Estate Webmasters

 James Boyer
Chatham NJ REALTOR
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Direct

Morristown NJ Real Estate

It is always darkest before the dawn.

This will be a summary of September 15, 2008 in the life of a Morristown NJ REALTOR.

The day started as most every other Monday morning during the school year does.  Up at 7:30am to help my 10 year old son get ready for school.  We deal with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in our house, so no TV in the morning, just breakfast, talking about the day, and getting ready.  By 8:26 we are out at the bus stop, waiting for the bus and talking with one of the neighbors who works for one of the Investment Banks on Wall Street in Manhattan.  The comment comes that he got a call early that morning stating that he should be in Manhattan this morning rather than in Chatham New Jersey, where he had planned to be today.  Then after his kids are on the bus, he says I am off to another day of watching the world fall apart.  After he is gone, I wonder to myself, that is strange that he would be ordered to be in Manhattan, I wonder if he will be getting his pink slip today, he does not work for Lehman Brothers or Merrill.   Then I am happy that I was not wondering this while talking to my neighbor.

Into my home in Convent Station I go to do some work, I work from home many days as I find I get more done than if I am in the RE/MAX Morristown New Jersey office, where other REALTORS just keep asking me questions all day.  While I have my coffee and read my e-mail, I turn on NBC to watch a little bit of the morning show.  There are some references to Wall Street troubles, so I click over to CNBC to see what they have to say.  Not good, all about Lehman and Merrill and how they are basically toast.  I decide to leave it on while I reply to e-mail and then work on client follow-up and other tasks. 

While I am working and the gloom and doom is being laid out for the world to see on CNBC I get an e-mail from a soon to be new client asking about a few condos in the Morristown NJ real estate market.  This person has included a phone number as well, so I give them a call.  We have a nice conversation and they agree that with mortgage interest rates considerably lower now is a very good time to be a Morristown NJ home buyer.

I get to lunch time and decide that after lunch I will go to the gym for a workout.  On the way to the gym, I get a call from a home owner who I had made an appointment to show her home on Tuesday.  She is calling to cancel as her Convent Station home has now gone under contract and she did not want any more home showings.  I have a nice workout, all the bad news is on most of the monitors, I try not to watch but that proves difficult.

After leaving the gym, I stop by the RE/MAX real estate office in Morristown to check on my mail and see if there is any paperwork that I need to attend to there.  While at the office I receive a call from another Morristown NJ home buyer who I have been talking with since last week.  This one is calling to say that she has just gotten her mortgage pre-approval letter finished.  She was approved for a higher purchase price than she had thought she would be, but she would like to stay below that number by at least 20%.  Yet another home buyer who is interested in Morristown NJ real estate.  

Tonight, I get a call from a client I have been working with for a few weeks.  They would like me to come over with the paperwork to list their Convent Station home for sale, as they are ready to move up and purchase a larger home for their family.

I believe that yes it is darkest before the dawn, and for the Morristown NJ area real estate markets the dawn is about to arrive.

James Boyer
Morristown NJ REALTOR
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
973-539-6300 Office
973-647-0253 Direct

More Morristown NJ Home Sales news here.

To see the October home sales, visit Morristown NJ Real Estate sales October 2008