This past Sunday, 50 families joined together at Washington School’s gymnasium in Summit New Jersey to participate in the 6^th Annual Architectural Workshop recreating downtown Summit out of LEGO blocks.  Truly unbelievable to think of a huge map of downtown Summit highlighting streets and historic buildings and over 50,000 colorful LEGO squares and rectangles being assembled to replicate this beautiful town.  Each one unique and truly a work of art!

The event is organized as a fundraiser for the Summit Historical Society, a membership organization created to preserve and disseminate information about Summit’s rich heritage.

I can’t think of a better way to raise money than by bringing families together building community spirit and camaraderie.  Summit is a special place and its downtown offers residents and visitors some of the area’s best restaurants, boutique shops and galleries.  Don’t miss an opportunity to try one during Restaurant Week, February 17 -26 – it’s great fun.

And for all those LEGO fans — young or old — and appreciators of fun art, you must visit The Morris Museum in Morristown, NJ and see the amazing “Art of the Brick” exhibit by artist Nathan Sawaya, who creates large scale sculptures out of LEGO blocks.  The exhibit ends February 20 and also includes some interactive workshops for children.  It is truly inspiring.

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The dog days of winter are here!!  But I’m thinking spring– longer days, green lawns and the first signs of budding trees and flowers.  It’s such a pretty time here in our New Jersey Midtown Direct communities.  It makes me think of all the great spring and summer resources like our fabulous farmer’s markets, summer concerts and festivals.  And come to think of it, summer is only 5 months away and many parents are now combing through the yellow pages and kids resources for the best area summer camps.

For some, camp is a way for generations of the same family to share similar memories.  And for others, camps provide kids with a chance to take a break from school and winter routines and have a few weeks of good old-fashioned fun.

There are plenty of good traditional camps in New Jersey.  I can personally speak about Stonybrook Day Camp in Randolph, NJ and Meadowbrook Day Camp in Long Valley, NJ where my daughter, Abby Seitchik, worked as a counselor for many summers and loved them.  A few other very popular area day camps include Camp Riverbend, Camp Harmony, Jeff Lake Camp, Gesher Day Camp, Willow Lake and JCC Camps.   Some favorites for toddlers include Mini Camp at Far Brook and The Connection.  I have heard hundreds of wonderful, fun-loving stories from friends, neighbors and clients about how many of these camps were monumental in the development and growth of their children.  Oh, I wish I were a kid again!!

Today, many camps specialize in one particular area like sports camps, art camps (Creative Hands Art Studio, The Messy Artist, The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Montclair Art Museum Summer Camp) girl scouts, drama camps (Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts, Acting with Emily), computer camps and the list goes on.  Ultimately, it comes down to the right fit for your child, location, timeframe and structure.  So do a little research, take a visit and you will be amazed at the wonderful choices right here in New Jersey.

Believe it or not, many have application deadlines coming up very soon!  With so many good ones to choose from, it’s hard to know where to begin….

Hoping this provides a little help from someone who’s been there many times.  Happy camping!!

Sue Adler

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I just received  an email marketing a listing from a NJ Realtor that made me want to write this post.

There was a QR code in the email that says ” Scan this with your smart phone.. links to a listing website”  WHY would I do that? Wouldn’t it be easier for me to click a link to the listing than  grab  my iphone, go to the app, and  scan  her QR code on my computer? Even if I were on my iphone or ipad, it just seems easier to click a link. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Hey, I really get technology for real estate and consider myself an early adopter, but it annoys me when I see how not just agents, but many industries use certain tools for the “cool” factor and just embarrass themselves by using them all wrong.    My favorite is the facebook or twitter icon on a billboard.. like you can actually click through.  OK, back to topic…

Seems QR codes have the ‘IT” factor going for them right now but from a practical stand point, I get how it could be great in some industries, such as a QR code next to a description of a bottle of wine on a menu, leading to reviews and a full description of that wine ( thanks to Rob Hahn for showing a great example of that on facebook) .

As a real estate consumer, if you  were interested in learning more about a property, price, etc..   if you saw a QR code on a real estate sign in any of our New Jersey Midtown Direct Train Line Towns,  would you ….

1. call the free recorded message telling about the property?

2. call the agent’s direct line?

3. pull over, go to your QR code reader app ( if you have one) and scan  the code to see the photos?

4. google the address to to see the photos?

5. use another real estate app that you already have to see the photos?

If you’re looking for a house, please respond. It would help me as well as the other realtors in the industry understand the consumer thought process.

Another scenario…… you walk into an open house, or see a house with your Realtor, and the property brochure on the dining room table house has a QR code. Would you use that to access the floor plan or additional photos at a later time? Or would you just use the direct link, for example: www.sueadler.com/42Tillou that is on the brochure for more info once you’re back to your computer? I’m really curious so if you wouldn’t taking a minute to respond, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Yours to count on,

Sue

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Looking for a playground in New Jersey?

Sheila Sayah has created www.NJPlaygrounds.com – all from exploring New Jersey’s playgrounds as a great way to keep her 3 toddlers busy. She recently joined Amy Lamperti of www.theplaygroundguide.com and together they have provided parents a HUGE playground guide.

Here are links to playgrounds in our New Jersey towns:

Chatham which is known for Castle Playground and Memorial Park.

Livingston Community Center, Littell People’s Park by Livingston High School

Maplewood has Memorial Park, which is in a centralized location to Maplewood Village and Maplewood Train Station.

Millburn – There’s Gero Park, right by the Millburn pool, and Taylor Park, located in town.

Madison – Visit Dodge Field, walking distance to Madison Train station.

South Orange – Farrell Field

Summit – Wilson Park, Mabie Playground, and my favorite – Memorial Field.

New Providence – Morris-Union Joint Venture Playground

Westfield – Tamaques Park, Memorial Park, and Mindowaskin Park

Berkeley Heights – Snyder Ave Park, Columbia Park

Click here for an Indoor Playgrounds!

Go ahead… “like” NJ Playgrounds on facebook and stay up to date on New Jersey Playground News!

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On Sunday, October 16th, the Summit Village Green will come alive as racers converge on the Summit Y5K Run/Walk Course. Runners of all ages and experience levels look to this YMCA 5k Run/Walk/Tot Trot as a meaningful, worthwhile way to combine fitness with fundraising near their New Jersey homes. A bustling annual community event, the 5K course has participants racing throughout scenic areas and close to many landmark homes in Summit.

The new “Friendraising” element encourages the racer/walker to invite others to raise funds in a joint effort to support the Summit YMCA Youth Center. The Youth Center, located at 2 Walnut Street, offers no cost supervised programs and services to youth and teens in Summit, including homework help, Book Clubs, Video Production and Karate Classes; an Achievers Program, and even SAT and college prep classes for youth who qualify. Nearly 300 youth were actively involved in 2010!  For more information or to join in the race fun, please register here.

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At sueadler.com, we enjoy being known for our ability to help people with their New Jersey midtown direct train line homes.  We’ve always known the virtues of our easy commute and were excited to hear that last week, Summit NJ’s Planning Board voted to recommend the Common Council apply for Transit Village designation. The Transit Village Initiative, a program offered by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, encourages revitalization and the building up of commute towns, just like Summit! Being called a Transit Village showcases our use of public transportation and may attract newcomers to purchase a home in Summit.  What do you think… is this a good idea?

The plan for the Transit Village are that it would begin at the train station and expand in a one-half mile area in all directions from the train station. This could also encourage developers to create more business in the area.  If the Common Council agrees to submit an application, map area included in the Transit Village will be more clearly defined and granted within a few months, according to planning and development consultant member Edward Snieckus.  Find out more by clicking on the local article here.

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I’ve been fortunate to speak at several major real estate conventions over the years, but this time, I was lucky to have the King of Video, Kenn Renner, on stage with me because he filmed our whole panel!

Ben Kinney and Cary Sylvester interviewed us about how we have dominated our local markets with our web strategy and use of videos. I discussed my community videos and how they attract relocation buyers who will be working in NYC, want an easy commute to work and great schools. The reason buyers stay on sueadler.com typically more than 5 minutes,  is because the site gives the real estate buyers and sellers the information they are typically researching –   commute, schools, home sale stats, restaurants and shops, recreation, community blog posts, seller blog posts with staging and pricing tips, and of course listings with floorplans and tons of photos. But it’s the community videos that make our buyers fall in love with our towns and make them want to come in and see it all in person. Do you agree?

We also discussed SEO and the fact that only after a couple of months, my new website is at the top of google for most of my towns, which is pretty cool considering how new it is.  BTW, if you’re on google plus, go ahead +1 the site if you like it. Thanks  I also do pay per click advertising for my www.LatestNJlistings.com site, which is my NJ home search site. I made a point to the Realtors in the audience that they need to make sure not to just throw money at pay per click advertising unless they have a website that has “stickiness” with great content that people won’t just click out of. Also, they need to have a great long term follow up system in place or they are just throwing money out the window.

We discuss my new chat feature that we just  added for everyone who is browsing the site. If  my team and I can be there to answer someone’s questions while they are on my site, I’ve found that people are so appreciative, especially in this day and age where everyone has ADD  and would also like to stay anonymous.

If you have any suggestions for the site, I’d love to hear. Are we missing anything?

Aside from all of the  national and international referral business I get from speaking ( which amounts to 4 or 5 new clients a week) , this is what makes it all worthwhile: My favorite tweet:

Want to follow all of the other twitter chatter?  Enter #kwmc in the search bar.

Thanks Keller Williams for allowing me the opportunity to share, and learn from the other top agents in our amazing company. Believe it or not, when I spoke at my first Mega Camp back in 2006, I was so terrified of public speaking that I would have rather jumped out of a plane, but now I really look forward to it!

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Whether you are buying or selling real estate in New Jersey, you can benefit from having an understanding of the local market.  The average listed sales price of a Millburn/Short Hills, New Jersey home for the month of August, 2011 was $1,250,000, with a median sales price of $947,926 for sold Millburn/Short Hills homes.  Housing inventory has decreased in Millburn/Short Hills when compared with August of 2010, with 94 active listings being reported for the last day of August for Millburn/Short Hills versus 107 in August of 2010.

The average listed sales price of a Summit, New Jersey home for the month of August, 2011 was $740,000, with a median sales price of $860,000 for sold Summit homes.  Housing inventory has increased in Summit when compared with August of 2010, with 96 active listings being reported for the last day of August for Summit versus 100 in August of 2010. The big complaint of most buyers right now is the lack of inventory in these towns which are in such high demand, with their top schools and easy commute into Manhattan.

The number of closed listings for both areas combined in August was 64. The average number of days a home was on the market was 42 days in Millburn/Short Hills and 56 in Summit. If you would like to learn more these statistics, please click here for Millburn/Short Hills and click here for Summit. These statistics only include the current listing information gathered from GSMLS, so this report does not represent a full history of the property listings.  If you need information about the history of a specific listing, please call us at 973.552.2419.

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Summit  has recently implemented an emergency notification system to keep New Jersey residents in the know during community crisis events. In an effort to keep Summit homeowners safe, the Summit Police Department has developed a free Community Notification Service called Nixle to improve communication with people who live in Summit and surrounding NJ Midtown Direct train line towns.

The value of this free service is amazing when you consider the turmoil that can be caused by not having information you need during a community crisis. If you live in Summit, becoming a user is not automatic. You must subscribe to the system, however it is a quick, efficient, and secure way to get Summit-specific information and does not take more than a couple of minutes to register. Text messages and e-mail alerts are sent to subscribers in the event of an emergency to help Summit home owners better prepare.

Notifications may be used in situations of personal safety, such as the search for a lost child or a natural disaster, but they can also be issues relating to a traffic emergency or power outage, allowing subscribers to better reroute their transportation.  To sign up as a resident of Summit or a nearby town, please click here. Register your email address and cell phone to begin receiving alerts via email and text.

If you have questions about using Nixle, please contact Lt. Robert Weck at 908-522-3603.

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I received an inquiry on  a house in Summit, and my follow up led to a fascinating  trip down memory lane by Ken ( Cedric) Carpenter, who has  given me permission to share a little bit of   history with you so that you can imagine what it was like to live in Summit and Short Hills back in the day.

“My interest in 101 Hobart Ave in Summit was based on which house it was.  I was raised in 97 Hobart Ave.  My father was Dr Carpenter one of the founders of the Summit Medical Group in 1928.  Because I owned two Real Estate businesses in Union County in the 1980′s and early 1990′s my siblings asked me to see if I could find out information on 101 Hobart Ave.  While we lived in 97  the house located at 101 wqas owned by two families  the Shultz’s who lived there until the mid 1940′s and the Macy’s who were living there at the time my parents built an new home and Moved to Short Hills.  My mothers family built the second house in Short Hills at the turn of the century  and sold it to the Whaleys shortly after the Stock Market Crash in 1928.

I will always remember Summit as a wonderful small town growing up.  A town where everyone knew everyone  back in those days.  We had a wonderful old wooden  Victorian Hotel in town called the Beechwood Hotel where women still in long dresses  were served afternoon tea by black butlers in white jackets and black pants It was torn down and Kemper Insurance built an office building on the property I attended Lincoln Grammer School across the street.  The Hunt Brothers Circus came to town every summer and set up their tents across from the YMCA  We always had parades with bands and drum majorettes partading down springfield Ave on the 4th of July  we had 2 movie theatres the Lyric and the Strand.  My mother  used to purchase her cloths at Miss Nellies store  Steam engins still carried commuters to Hoboken  Those were wonderful times to grow up in Summit  I was so lucky to have lived at that time  Oh  one more thing  97 and 101 Hobart Ave was built by a man (I do not know his name)  the two houses were built for his two spinster daughters  the homes were very similer. He lived across the street in a large white mansion which later became Miss Hoods Nursery School.  Ofcourse that house has also been torn down .  Before moving to 97 Hobart Ave  my parents owned a home for several years on Waldron Ave.

My sister who now lives in Maine has all the family photographs  all I have is memories.  the original Summit Medical Group was at 129 Summit Ave  then they built a new building across the street  my dad became ill and never practiced in that building.

I know I am rambling  but years ago I could ride my fancy Raleigh bike to the movies at the Strand (double feature) admission 25cents.  I could lay my bike down on the grass outside of the theatre…watch the movies…and my bike was still there when the movies got out….that would not happen today  LOL..also there were no Super markets  we had Charlie’s Fsh Store  and Jim’s butcher store that also sold some canned goods and produce.  Otherwise we had  farmers that would come to the houses selling fresh produce-  my mother used Eddie Kanickle. We also had Trost’s Bakery and Zuzi’s Soda Fontian and Ice cream store.

On Hobart Ave  there were three backyards that joined together –  ours  the Macy’s and the Harold Graves on Whittridge Rd. (He was the president of the Summit Trust )  We all played as kids growing up. The Graves had one son Teddy,  the Macy’s two daughters  Maryann and Mimi,  and my family  the Carpenter Twins  Bill and Dud.   I was called Kim and my sister is Betsy   I have another brother Dick but he grew up in Short Hills.”

Photo of Beechwood Hotel courtesy of : http://www.amazon.com/Summit-Images-America-Patricia-Meola/dp/0738563307/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1 Also a great resource if you’d like to know more about the history of Summit NJ!

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