Are You Considering Selling Your Home This Spring?

Are You Considering Selling Your Home This Spring?

For Morris, Essex and Union counties, 2013 was a great year. Some of these local markets are up 12-18% and with interest rates on the rise, people are still wanting to buy. If you have been considering selling your home, the spring 2014 market will be a great time for you to sell.

If you are thinking about selling your home this spring, there a few things you need to know. First of all, the spring market tends to start earlier here than other parts of the country because our market is affected by Wall Street bonuses. These bonuses usually come out in December and January causing these buyers to start early. Secondly, if there are things you need to do with your house, I would be happy to advise you on what requires attention when preparing to sell.

To check your current value and neighborhood activity in your area please visit http://shannonaronson.smarthomeprice.com/.

If you have any questions, call me at (973) 214-0691. Happy holidays to all and the very the best in 2014!

Is Now the Time to Sell Your Home?

Is Now the Time to Sell Your Home?

I am often asked if people are doing themselves a disservice by listing their home before or during the holidays. There are some great reasons for listing your home in the “slower” months (i.e. November and December). First of all, the buyers who are shopping around this time of year are serious buyers and the window shoppers usually stay home this time of year. There is also a lot less inventory this time of year so you have less competition for those serious buyers that are out there. With this time of year also prime for job relocation, those buyers are serious and motivated and are willing to pay top dollar for a great home. Homes typically look the best during the holidays due to the decorations and homes being in order to host family. With your home looking its best, it can be a great time to show your home. Finally, with your selling your home now, you are positioning yourself to be a buyer in the spring and allowing yourself a head start when there are more buyers and more homes on the market.

If this is something you are considering and would like consultation, I am happy to speak with you on a one-on-one basis. Give me a call at (973) 214-0691. Thanks and have a great day!

Where are the best places to trick-or-treat in Summit, NJ?

I’m here in Summit with Julie Sondhi, the lead buyer agent on my team. This time of year always has people looking to move to Summit. Julie is here to give us a taste of the town and what to do in this Fall/Halloween season. “There are loads of things to do here in summit,” Julie said. “The YMCA is just across the street from us and they have a haunted house, which is amazing,” she continued, “It’s really scary.” Julie also explained that the fall atmosphere of Summit is truly special, “The kids come out Halloween night to trick or treat around here which is fantastic, because there are some streets particularly around the Brayton School and everyone wants to go to because they have the best treats around.”

Speaking of that area, there are some houses that are coming up so don’t hesitate to call Julie at 908-418-3390 for a showing! It still remains a great time to buy as interest rates have stayed low and for people that are thinking of selling in Summit, the demand is very high due to the extremely low inventory. If you are thinking about buyer or selling, please give us a call! Thanks and have a great day.

Should I renovate or sell my home?

Should I renovate or sell my home?

Today, I’m with Ileana Martin-Novoa of Katz Novoa Architects. Ileana is an extraordinary architect and she is here to tell us about what’s going on with all the renovations in town and how to add value to your home.

Ileana Martin-Novoa

There is a lot of rebuilding and renovations going on. Some of it’s because of the storm, but a lot of people are finally ready to start those projects they have been putting off. The economy is bouncing back and people feel more confident.

It’s important to always keep in mind resale value when deciding to renovate.  Right now we are seeing a lot of homeowners renovating kitchens, master bathrooms and even adding mudrooms.

We like to help our clients stay on track by guiding them in a direction that will help add value to their home. We know that new construction can be overwhelming, that’s why we make sure we are with our clients from the very beginning to the very end. At Katz Novoa Architects we help with the coordinating, the building and the budgeting.

If you want to renovate your home, we’d be more than happy to help.  You can call us at 973.379.1331 or visit our website at www.katznovoa.com

Or if you want to find out the value of your home call Shannon at 973.214.0691 or email me at ACutAbove@ShannonAronson.com.

Summit NJ Offers Several Great Fitness, Health and Sports Facilities

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It’s gorgeous outside! And when there is beautiful weather, naturally people want to get out there and get active! So today, we wanted to share with you some of the fantastic options that are available to Summit NJ and area residents when it comes to getting out and getting busy.

We have some great fitness and health facilities, starting with the traditional sports clubs like the YMCA and other community centers. There are also some great options and various programs offered by places like the Lifetime Club in Berkeley Heights or the newest craze to hit the Summit area, Equinox – a city gym that has branched over to our neck of the woods.

Julie and her family spends a lot of time at the Chatham Club – a unique club that offers all the typical stuff you would expect from a sports club but with so much more. You can engage in squash and fencing plus the facility is used by many area private schools as a training spot for squash and other sports.

How about a tour of these and other great things in the lovely Summit area? Just give us a call. As your trusted real estate advisors we’d love the opportunity to show you around...

908 418 3390

Multiple Offers – How to Win

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Everyone’s talking about it. The market is on fire and if you’re a seller, THAT’S GREAT! But if you’re out there trying to find a home to purchase right now there is plenty of competition and quite frankly, it’s probably getting to be very difficult.

But through my many years of experience and dealing with multiple offer situations while representing the buyer’s side of the transaction, I’ve developed some very effective strategies to help you win the bid. Here are five tried and true ways to turn up the heat on your offer and get it noticed.

Know Your Limits Then Reach for the Sky
Now’s definitely not the time to be playing negotiating games. Sure, that might have been a strong strategy just a few years ago when there was an overabundance of homes on the market and not near as enough buyers to accommodate them. But today, it’s a completely different story. Figure out the highest price you are able and willing to comfortably pay in a multiple offer situation and don’t be afraid to offer that much.

Make It Clean, Make It Simple
As a Realtor® that also represents sellers, I often come across a stack of offers and am sitting there sorting through them with the expectation they will be presented to the seller. The last thing I want to do is confuse the seller with jumbled language, lengthy verbiage or unreadable handwriting leaving us both to wonder what an offer says. Write a simple, clean offer with as little room for confusion as possible without being vague. A simple cover letter summary page is a great way to highlight the bullet points of your offer.

Demonstrate Financial Strength
No seller wants to dapple with offers that are not 100% solid in terms of financial viability. When looking at several offers, a small earnest money deposit or limited down payment can be viewed as lack of interest of worse, appear to be an inability to afford the property. If you are offering to make a down payment, show proof of funds through a letter from your bank or investment firm and make sure to include a preapproval letter from your lender.


With Down Payment and Deposit, Less Is Not More
When sellers are reviewing offers they are looking for what they perceive as strong interest. It goes without saying that more money is a demonstration of high interest level but how you offer to pay is another consideration. Cash offers are always very attractive since they entail fewer contingencies and procedural hurdles to jump through. But even a larger down payment is more attractive than very little money down. If you can afford it, put down at least 10 percent on the home and submit an earnest deposit amount of at least 1% of the purchase price.


Minimize Contingencies
Many offers contain contingencies, upon which the purchase agreements depend before being executed. For instance, a buyer might make an offer on a home contingent of the sale of their existing home. There are also inspection and mortgage contingencies. You may not be able to eliminate all of them but whenever possible try to be flexible. Shorten the length of time for buyer investigations by offering to schedule your inspections soon after your offer is accepted.
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These are just a few of the strategies we employ when serving our buyer clients in what is a very strong seller-controlled marketplace. If you’d like to hear some more of the tricks we have to get you the home of your dreams, contact me today at 973-214-0691.