I had a pleasant surprise when I needed a quick dinner tonight. I knew that Brio Tuscan Grille had a Light menu, so I stopped there at Freehold Raceway Mall. I am on a very low carb diet. I had blackened Tilapia with grilled vegetables. It was delicious. The fish was cooked perfectly.
Just went that hit the spot, I finished off with the perfect cappuccino.
Thanks Brio of Freehold.
This Beautiful colonial on private 3 Acres offers room for everyone,and plenty of storage. 58 Fox Hollow Rd, Montague, NJ 07827 MLS#21235434
The warmth of a Quadrafire fireplace and windows in every room that overlook a spacious yard,for entertaining. The kitchen counter and breakfast area makes informal eating fun,while dinners in the dining room make for special times. Gleaming floors, just refinished. Master bath with Jacuzzi tub and separate stall shower will be your oasis. Walk-in closet in Master Bedroom. Basement walls are finished. Invisible fence. Upper hall have nook that you can make into an office.
Please visit YourMonmouthHomeSource.com for Current Pricing
“Living in Montague offers a beautiful rural setting surrounded with 3 state parks nearby, yet close enough for all the amenities every family needs. Doctors, dentists, hospitals are close by. Shopping is not just available in New Jersey but within a few miles you can be in Milford, Pennsylvania or Port Jervis, New York. ”
“The ability to own a beautiful new home which offered so much attracted me especially after seeing the master bedroom and bath with a jacuzzi. My husband, who likes to garden, was drawn to the yard which offered endless possibilities for gardening, and a place to relax near the woods in a barbeque/gazebo area. Our children enjoy the play set & quiet street for bike riding.”
“The big shopping area with all the major stores & mall would be in Middletown, NY about 17 miles from here. Milford, PA which is much closer offers most stores like Walmart, K-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, Staples, etc. Port Jervis also has many other stores. But within Montague I do most of my food shopping at ShopRite. We also have McDonalds, Dairy Queen, TJ Max, Dollar Store, pizzeria, a post office, deli, banks, hair salon, Chinese Restaurant, multiple gas stations, etc. Newton, NJ is another place I shop a lot and find similar stores. It just depends on what direction I’m heading in that day, because no matter where you go you will find what you need one way or another.”
“We like Candy’s Pizza on Rt 206 right across from the Elementary school when we want casual dining. For something more eloquent we go to Fratelli’s on Rt 206 in Sandyston. Their portions are super and the food excellent. For something in between we enjoy the Milford Diner in Milford, PA or Arlene n Tom’s Restaurant in Pt. Jervis, N.Y. There are amble restaurants, just in Milford, to keep you busy for many, many, nights.”
“Our neighborhood is quiet and peaceful. A small stream flows through our neighbors property and often when sitting outside we can hear the water flow especially after a heavy rain. We have families that are retired, some with teenagers(great babysitters), and others with small children. Our road is a horseshoe so we don’t have any through traffic on it, only the people who live on our road which is nice. Our neighbors are wonderful and we have all pitched in to help one another out at different times, even if it was just to borrow an egg or two.”
“The property had a greenhouse on it in the back corner and was equipped with electric and running water. While the greenhouse is gone this could possible still be used in a barn setting if someone was interested in having an animal on the property. It also offers plenty of room for storing equipment for a landscaping business or tree service. An underground wire for an invisible fence is buried which covers about 1 acre of the property, the box would need to be purchased for the wire to work but it is available if someone wanted to activate it to keep their dog on the property.”
“There is plenty to see or do in the Tri State area. We have enjoyed fishing and swimming on the Delaware River. Seeing the bald Eagles flying over the river too. We have climbed High Point Monument, the highest point in NJ. We enjoy the county fair in August and concerts on the Green at the Sussex County Community College in the summer. We have been to Museums and activities throughout the area but if you want to go to NY city for more excitement you can always take a train in from Pt. Jervis, NY.”
Buying and selling a home involves taking care of lots of details. In this case our clients were selling their home in Hazlet, NJ to move up to a larger home in Manalapan, NJ. Both closings were coordinated to take place on the same day, a Friday. All seemed to be orchestrated well, until moving day.
The movers, Universe Express of NJ, who were well aware that the home being sold had to be emptied before the sale closing could take place arrived with a truck that was not large enough to mover the entire house. After a couple of breaks including a very long lunch, the informed the our clients that they could not finish the move today.
Panic set in and with some working with the two attorneys and the buyer, our clients were given until 5pm on Saturday. At first the movers refused to come the next day, then they relented and said they would come at 8am Saturday.
When out clients called Saturday morning the company said they could not come until the next day. Again panic, the movers again relented and said they would come at 4pm.
Our clients knew they could not count on the terrible company, so they booked a UHaul, but did not have anyone to carry their remaining heavy items. I got the call from them that morning and went to work trying to find a moving company that happenned to have some trucks and workers on hand. No luck.
I then realized that we needed to help. Myself, my buyer specialist James (who had helped them find their new house), my husband, a young man from my church, and my friend Dennis Estes, who builds fences for a living all headed over to the Hazlet NJ home. We were joined by our clients, brother, and brother-in-law. We spent the rest of the day finishing the move that the movers bailed on.
Moving my clients is not going to be a regular service of my real estate team, but I could never leave them stranded.
After finding a buyer, all you have to do to make it to closing is to avoid these five traps. Read
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Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Have a plan for reviewing purchase offers so you don’t let the best slip through your fingers. Read
Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.
Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Make your home warm and inviting to boost your home’s value and speed up the sale process. Read
Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.
Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Working to get your home ship-shape for showings will increase its value and shorten your sales time. Read
Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.
Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
I could not have written it better, so I will point you to the post from a fellow real estate agent in St Paul, MN. Teresa Boardman.
http://bit.ly/9Z1Mn7
Price is everything in this market. Homes are selling in Monmouth County and sourrounding New Jersey Counties. The homes that are selling are priced to sell in this market.
The news media and recent reports from the National Association of Realtors may lead us to believe that we are coming out of the buyer’s market and seeing an increase in market activity. The stats in Monmouth County are not bearing that out.
Remember real estate is local, really local. Even though the overall numbers in Monmouth County may show one thing there will always be pocket of local real estate activity that may not show the same as the larger area.
Having said that, I will show hear some stats from my local MLS, the Monmouth Ocean MLS for all of Monmouth County. For statistics for a smaller area, contact me through my website at NorthernMonmouthHomes.com and will will provide you stats for more specific areas.
Here is a graph showing the number of homes sales per month for the last year. As you can see it doesn’t look that much different than last year. The real estate market is cylical and the spring summer cycle is generally an up cycle. So it is premature to think that because we are having increasing homes it automatically means we have hit bottom.
Notice that in July ’08 the homes sales for that month were 449 and in July ’09 there were 471. Not much of an improvement.
Let’s look at the inventory of homes on the market. Again the inventory rises and falls in seasonal cycles.
Number of homes available in Monmouth County in July ’08 was 4603 and in July ’09 it is 4637.
We all hope the bottom is near, but unfortunately the signs are not there yet. To make things worse there are likely more foreclosures that will hit the market in the coming months increasing inventory and effecting prices negatively.
All is not glum, however, house are still selling. In Monmouth County, as we saw in the first graph, hundreds of houses a month are selling. If you have a house to sell you need a real estate agent who knows how to get your house sold in any market. Don’t take chances by just picking any agent you come across, choose carefully.
A lot of people have been asking about buying a foreclosure in Monmouth County, NJ.
Let’s begin our discussion by defining the relevant terms. Technically, a foreclosure is a bank owned property or REO (real estate owned). The foreclosure process has been completed and the bank now owns the property. Next the bank lists the property with a real estate agent to sell it. This differs from a pre-foreclosure where the owner of the home still owns it, and probably still lives in it, but is the home is in the process of being taken in a foreclosure auction (in our county is it at sheriff’s sale). You probably have heard of short sales, in which the bank takes less than what is owned as payment in full for the mortgage. A short sale is done on a pre-foreclosure property. I will do another post on buying a short sale.
Here are the pros and cons of buying a foreclosure:
Pros:
Probably discount price
Possible special financing from lender
Cons:
Property is generally in poor condition
Bank processes are slow, you must have patience
May have to sign special addendums from the bank
May have difficulty getting funding
During the foreclosure process sometimes the homeowner becomes angry and damages the property or removes items that would normally remain such as appliances, light fixtures, and even kitchen cabinets (actually happened with one of my listings.) So REO properties are generally in poor condition.
REOs can often be purchased for below market value. When the bank puts the property on the market, it generally lists it for market value, but as time passes, the bank will instruct the real estate agent to make price reductions. During this time the property is being taken care of by the real estate agent on behalf of the bank. But since it is usually vacant at this point, the home is vulnerable to vandals or in winter pipes bursting.
When making an offer on a REO you must keep in mind that the bank usually will not make any repairs to the property, you are taking it strictly “AS-IS.” So, if your home inspection shows any major defects your only choice will be to cancel the purchase, pay for the problems yourself, or try to renegotiate the purchase price with the bank. If you do go forward with the purchase you need to be prepared to take on the problems and responsibilities of the property both the ones you can find yourself or through a home inspection and hidden problems that may not be found before the purchase.
Sometimes the home inspector will not be able to inspect all systems if the property has been winterized or the utilities turned off.
If the properties you are considering are in poor condition it is likely you will need to make a low offer in order to make it worth your while to take on the problems that the house may have. If you will be making low offers be prepared to have many of your offers rejected. But keep going and you will likely find a bank who will take you up on it.
It is also worth pointing out that banks tend to take their time in making a decision as to whether or not to take your offer or make a counter offer. You must be very patient. Your patience is the tradeoff for getting a bargain.
There is one other pitfall that you need to be aware of. If the property is in poor condition it will be nearly impossible for you to get a conventional mortgage loan. You will either have to buy the property with cash or use a rehab loan. FHA offers a rehab/purchase loan program for this purpose.
So, if you would still like to purchase a bank-owned foreclosure in Monmouth County, NJ. Contact me and start making offers.
If this all seems too much for you, please shoot me an email or give me a call. There are other bargain properties that are not bank owned that may enable you to achieve your dream of homeownership.