2008 is happily over and the 2009 spring Morristown NJ real estate market has already begun.  This article will cover the condo sales in Morris Place during 2008.  You will see the actual Morris Place addresses as well as list prices sold prices as well as comentary on each Morris Place condo.

The Morris Place Condominiums Sold 2008

Morristown 39 Taft Lane  $435,000LP  TwnEndUn 2br 2.1ba $411,000SP  146DOM
Morristown 85 Taft Lane  $454,900LP  TwnIntUn 2br 2.1ba $435,000SP  30DOM
Morristown 27  Taft Lane  $455,000LP TwnEndUn 2br 2.1ba $435,000SP  37DOM
Morristown 46  Taft Lane  $459,900LP  TwnEndUn 2br 2.1ba $450,000SP  84DOM
Morristown 31  Taft Lane  $465,000LP  TwnIntUn 2br 2.1ba $435,000SP  87DOM
Morristown 64  Taft Lane  $469,000LP  TwnEndUn 2br 2.1ba $439,725SP  100DOM
Morristown 48  Taft Lane  $489,000LP  TwnEndUn 2br 2.1ba $470,000SP  119DOM

There were a total of 7 condos sold in Morris Place during all of 2008.  This compairs to 6 Morris Place condos sold in 2007.  So sales are not down in Morris Place, not a huge surprise to me since the sub $500,000 segment of the market has been the strongest by far all year in Morristown New Jersey.

Morris Place Condominium Price Statistics

The average sold price in the Morris Place condo community fell from $478,000 in 2007 to $439,389 in 2008.  The median sold price fell from $480,000 in 2007 to $435,000 in 2008.  The average time to sell a Morris Place condo went from 58 days in 2007 to 86 days in 2008.

Morris Place Condominium Sales Commentary

• 39 Taft Lane  A fairly plain (for Morris Place) condo, which was very over priced from the start.  The starting list price was $484,500 which was a good $50,000 high to start things off, and kept the home buyers away in droves.

• 85 Taft Lane  A nice Morris Place condo with a fairly upgraded kitchen and was priced near right from the start.  This condo sold in a reasonable amount of time for about the maximum the sellers were going to get.

• 27  Taft Lane  A nice Morris Place condo, more upgraded kitchen.  This condo was priced about right from the start.

• 46  Taft Lane  A nice Morris Place condo, upgraded kitchen, new Brazilian cheery floors, condo showed very nice, hit the market at the end of the spring, and got hit by the credit crunch of the fall.  Pricing was close to perfect, but if it had been a little lower likely would have sold faster.

• 31  Taft Lane  Nice condo without wood floors, priced to high to start with at $485,000 sat on the market for a while, had a price reduction then sold for $435,000.  Should have been priced about $450,000 to start with, likely would have sold faster and closer to $450,000

• 64  Taft Lane  End unit Morris Place condo, Nice wood floors, moderately upgraded kitchen, priced to high for what it was.  Then again it was listed for sale on 9/17/2007 which was a different real estate market in Morristown New Jersey.

• 48  Taft Lane  End unit Morris Place condo listed 10/24/2007 Nice upgraded kitchen, had nice upgrades and a loft.  Sold in the spring market of 2008 and not affected by the credit crunch.

The views expressed in the Morris Place Condominium Sales Commentary are my own, based on my market experence working with many buyers and sellers in and around Morristown New Jersey.

2009 Morristown NJ Home Sales

2009 is likely to be a better year for home sellers.  The Federal Government has vowed to do what ever it takes to end the housing downturn, they are even currently buying up mortgage backed securities (bundled mortgages).  There are literally hundreds of would be Morristown NJ home buyers sitting on the sidelines timing the market, waiting for the giant news paper headlines saying it is ok to buy a home, and prices as well as interest rates are still down.  Though I do not think that prices will start to move dramatically higher in Morristown New Jersey during 2009, I do think that the 20% of homes that are priced right show really well, will start to move even faster then they had been.

If you are a would be Morristown NJ home buyer waiting for those giant news paper headlines saying it is ok to buy a home please understand, those headlines will only come well after the optimum time to buy.  The news media is always late to the table with news you can actually use.

Cheers,

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

Just as the title says, your credit score is very very important.  Now that we are in a credit squeeze if you have or are careless with your credit, you likely will not be getting a home mortgage to purchase a Morristown New Jersey home or a home anyplace else for that matter.  In the near future you may find that you cannot get a car loan, credit cards, or even rent an apartment. 

Everyone is checking credit these days, even car insurance companies.  I don’t really know what your credit score has too do with how good you drive, but many of the insurance companies seem to think it is a big deal.

You can find out your credit score by getting pre-approved for a mortgage, in most cases it is totally free to do so.  You can also go to websites on the internet such as freecreditreport.com though you should be careful, they are going to ask for your credit card information, and if you don’t cancel within 30 days they will charge you $9.95 per month for their credit watching service.

This article created by James Boyer, Full Time Professional REALTOR.  Proudly helping buyers get great deals on Morristown NJ Real Estate with extensive knowledge of the area, and superior negotiating skills.  For more local information about Morristown New Jersey visit my websites.

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

Summit, Chatham, Madison, & Morristown NJ Home Buyers, The Bottom In Mortgage Rates Has Been Reached, and actually interest rates have been slowly drifting higher over the past few months.

With the United States dollar continuing to be weak and inflation growing in the economy it is not surprising that home mortgage interest rates are moving higher.  Future home buyers should not expect to see mortgage interest rates to be moving down again in the near future. (more…)