The State of Real Estate in Union County

THE MARKET REMAINS HOT AMONG NEW JERSEY COUNTIES, AND HOMES THAT ARE PRICED RIGHT ARE GETTING MULTIPLE OFFERS.

By Barry Levine

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MARKET SWINGS
The picture throughout the Garden State is not necessarily as rosy as in Union County. “Other counties are witnessing a greater downturn [in real estate] than Union,” Tekel says. In Bergen County, he says, towns with higher-priced properties “appear to have more inventory” than similar towns in Union County.

Even within Union County, there are many different sides to the market picture.

Denise Broesler, a broker/salesperson with RE/MAX Properties, finds the general climate in the towns that she covers - Cranford, Union, Kenilworth and Bridgewater - to be “very sluggish.” For her, this is true of the general market, not only the higher priced properties. Her perception of the average prices in these towns ranges from $370,000 to $400,000 (Kenilworth, Union) to $540,000 to $580,000 (Cranford, Bridgewater).

“Buyers are dragging their feet,” she says. “They like what they see, but they’re holding back,” because they think prices will drop and they’re reluctant to put up offers.

These doldrums in her neck of the woods started in the latter part of 2004, and she says she believes it’s driven by the climbing rate of mortgages and the sense that prices got too inflated. She finds that some people are clearly waiting before they make offers. People who want to move to larger homes, she says, are finding they can’t sell their previous home as quickly as they had hoped. “And I have found,” she says “some people who have sold their houses and are now renting, because they don’t want to buy yet.”

Like other realtors, she finds that when houses are priced “realistically,” they are being sold. She has a somewhat harder sense of realism, though, than realtors covering other parts of the county. In towns such as Kenilworth, for example, she finds selling prices being as much as 10 percent below asking.

GETTING VALUE OUT OF PROPERTY RENOVATIONS
Most homeowners assume that remodeling their kitchen can significantly increase the value of their home, but fewer homeowners recognize that the increase may depend on the degree of remodeling and the costs involved.

Cost does not necessarily equal value. "Not every renovation will pay off at closing," says Richard Powers, MAI, SRA, President of the Appraisal Institute. Powers offers a few dos and don'ts of home improvement that may help consumers sell their homes for more or more quickly:

• Don't over-improve. Look for what's standard in the neighborhood. Adding a deck might seem like a good idea but if no one else in the neighborhood has one, you may not see a return on investment.
• Do invest in basic upgrades. Fresh paint (stick to neutral colors), new fixtures, flooring and lighting in kitchens and bathrooms can pay dividends.
• Do consider adding an extra bathroom. Homeowners can often recoup the extra cost of a bathroom at closing because of the appeal that extra bathrooms have for homebuyers.
• Forgo the swimming pool. Pools generally turn off more people than they attract because of the perceived upkeep and insurance costs and the fear of liability.
• Enjoy your renovation. Why wait until you are ready to move to have that new kitchen? Generally, a new kitchen will hold its value for one or two years.
• On all these projects: Those that add square footage to bring a house up to-but not beyond-community norms generally pay off the most.

To help you get value out of your home improvements, consider consulting with a designated member of the Appraisal Institute. Those members with an SRA designation have experience in residential valuation. Those with MAI or SRPA designations are knowledgeable about commercial property.

When discussing home or business renovation, a professional real estate appraiser can advise you on how different improvements can influence property value. If the renovation is considered major, the appraiser can complete a feasibility study-an analysis of the property, the cost of rehabilitation and an estimate of the property's value after improvement.

To find an MAI-, SRPA- or SRA-designated appraiser, visit www.appraisalinstitute.org. Every dollar spent on renovations does not necessarily equal an additional dollar of
resale value.

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