The Biggest Secret Real Estate Agencies Don't Want Buyers To Know

You've been there before. There's someone actually going the speed limit on the New Jersey Turnpike and they are holding up traffic. ..forget about those 30 mph merge ramps. feels like you are standing still. So you're just about to honk your horn and mentally tell the driver to go back to Palm Beach or whatever retirement community they belong to..then you see the giant sign: "Student Driver". You ease off the gas pedal give them a wide berth and think to yourself "How do they let these people on the highway? but I guess they have to learn sometime, better than having them in rush hour traffic."

See the signs let you know that they are a novice, that they should be avoided, that they are still practicing. Now if real estate agents only came with signs. like:

Brand New: Don't know the market.
Part time: School teacher looking for extra income.
Pirannah: Number one concern my pocket book.
Saavy Marketer: Poor Customer Service
Sign them up: See you later.

The list goes on and on. I don't get it. This is a really big purchase or sale and people just take what's given. Where's the interview process?

The biggest secret real estate agencies don't want buyers to know:..... You get to choose your agent. Not whoever is next. Buyers if you want to meet agents, walk into a shop and ask to meet with three agents for 15 minutes each. Learn there style, experience, how the can help you. Good agents don't mind being interviewed.

Hoboken Condos 2008
Available
1 Br 121
2 Br 238
3+Br 44
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Parking Is Extra

Everybody likes parking. If you're a buyer on the low end of the market, it's street parking. Sometimes condos come with a deeded space (or two) and sometimes you get a rental spot. An owner who wants to attract more buyers may cover the rental spot for one or two years.

And here today... a $4.3 million Hoboken condo with taxes over $30k a year and maintenance over $1000 per month....WITH PARKING EXTRA....$300/mo in case you were wondering.

One could argue that someone who can afford the condo can afford the extra money for parking. Except for two things 1) rich people don't like to pay for things. 2) people don't like to get nickel and dimed to death. It's like flying business class and having to carry on your own lunch.

Hoboken Condos 2008
Million Plus

available 48

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Close To The PATH

Brett Favre is going to be thrilled. The meadowlands has about fifty different ways to get there no matter how bad the traffic is there's always an alternate route. Having spent a week on Cape Cod, I have come to appreciate options. It could take me 45 minutes to get to my favorite pancake place three miles from my house. ...forget the ice cream place with the homemade whipped cream and hot fudge sauce. that's right homemade whipped cream and hot fudge. too bad it was a dream with all the traffic. ugh.

On a local less scrumptious level, buyers should really look at the commuting options when considering a place. "Close To The Path" is a cliche. Consider saving $50k or $300/mo in mortgage and get a place not so close to the PATH. Get a cheap bike for the nice weather. (who cares if it gets stolen once a month, it's cheap.) Or take the $5 cab. still cheaper than paying the PATH premium.

Fact is unless you are inside of 3rd and Garden you are more than a five minute walk anyway. Far enough that you face freezes in February.

Hoboken Condos2008
available 450
under contract 197
sold since july 1: 133

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

on vacation

blog will return Monday 8/25....

Class Action

Who says all these class action suits are about lawyers getting rich. (John Edwards notwithstanding.) Here's one for everyone. If you have

1) opened a credit card

2) opened a student loan

3) taken out an auto loan

4) taken out a mortgage

anytime since 1987 you can be part of this. Well now who does that leave out?

goto http://www.listclassaction.com/. I chose nine months of free enhanced credit reporting. Buyers: this is great to know your credit in a time when less than stellar credit can cost you the place of your dreams.

I love that commercial.
Hoboken Condos
UNDER $350K
Available 41
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

I'm In The Shower

Growing up in a house with one bathroom., the phrase "I'm in the shower" could be the start of a really bad day. So there I am doubled over outside the bath praying that the water would stop. That's what you get with a two bed , one bath. Why, for the love of god, do they build large units without a second bath. Small units I get. The house I grew up in had about 15oo sqft and was old. I guess families a century ago had outhouses as a backup.

I can only hypothicate that buyers looking at that 2 bed/one bath never lived in one.

Hoboken Condos
2 bed/1 Bath
Available 58
Price over $600k 2
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Where's My Shovel

If part of your realtor's marketing plan is to bury a statue in your backyard, start praying. There's a great article in the WSJ about a writer who sold his house in Texas. When his house wasn't selling, the realtor buried a statue in the backyard. So much for my MBA in marketing. Can I have my $100,000 back? All I needed to do was buy a shovel .

Net saving $99,985. Have a great weekend.

Hoboken One Families

Available 9
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

The Barn Door

The old axiom about closing the barn door after the horse has left the stable seems like it applies to Hoboken price changes. In the last month there have been 117 price changes. Almost as many as new properties to hit the market. The amazing thing to me is that the average days on market for the price change properties is 98. That's like three and a half months. Unless you are looking at new construction that's still months away from completion, what are the sellers waiting for?

If a property gets most of its showings in the first couple of weeks to market and then tapers off, why would a seller wait three and a half months? why would an agent with a six month listing be marketing an overpriced property for more than half the time?

Buyers: It's really time to rely on your agent. The well priced condos are selling fast. The overpriced stuff is sitting. If your a normal buyer, it's hard to tell the difference with something new to the market. Rely on your agent for analysis and advice. If your agent is trying to build a long term relationship with you and not just make a sale, the agent can be the guide you need in these rapids.

Hoboken Condos

Past 30 days
New to market 134
Price changes 117

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Penny Pinching

In a sign that of the times, poorly run real estate offices are cutting back on services. It starts with things the customer can't see or might not notice right away and then creeps into every aspect of the service. (Like airlines taking away your pillow and blanket, next the magazines, then the snacks, then it's $7 for a beer and I'm not even flying over Yankee Stadium.)

Big 300lb gorilla realty with deep corporate pockets, not some mom and pop or sole proprietor franchise, is cutting back on staff. Get this: they are cutting out the weekend person. Any idea when the office is most busy? If you said weekends, just let me call you clairvoyant. So in the infinite wisdom of 300lb gorilla realty, agents will be handing out keys and making appointments for listings. Agents who have no real interest in getting it right, no accountability, and as I have described before.. no real system. This is the same realty that I have previously described as having piles of keys on the desk to sift through for each appointment. That was with one person handling the keys and sort of remembering where most things were. Now dozens of hands, dozens of keys.

Sellers take note. If you start wondering why there are fewer appointments. Why realtors aren't showing up? Call the front desk. But don't do it on the weekend, there won't be anyone there to help you...unless you want to buy a condo.



Hoboken Condos
The July Numbers
Sold
one bedrooms 31
two bedrooms 51
three bedrooms 3
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Still Stuck

The tug of war continues like some bad struggle of battle of the superstars. Back in the 70s, I remember watching team like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys having a tug of war on the beaches in Hawaii. Keith Jackson hosted it. It was a big deal then. In retrospect, it was kind of dumb.

Dumb like the the struggle between buyers and sellers today. Sellers overpricing properties like it was 2003. Then they take huge price reductions after letting the market pass them by form months. Buyers not realizing that what is selling is selling for 98% of ask. If the property is priced well, and the comps will bear that out, there is no bargain.

Each party digs in until one can't hold out any longer. Being an AFC guy, I always used to root for the Steelers. Not sure who to root for now. Whoa Nelly.

Hoboken Condos

The July Numbers

Sold 86
Median DOM 44
Median List Price $502k
Median Sold Price $493K

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Summer Fridays.

Nothing quite like getting out early on a Friday. Hit the shore. Catch up on some errands. Look at some real estate. See the market and see it fast. Agents are over extended on the weekends. There are competitive appointments. traffic sucks. A focused buyer can see 10 place in a couple of hours on a Friday.

think about it. beep. beep.