NJ’s Sue Adler Team Named #103 in Wall Street Journal Top 1000 List of Realtors Nationwide!

Last week, The Sue Adler Team was named #103 in the “The Thousand!”  This article is published every year by The Wall Street Journal and Real Trends, Inc. and highlights the Top 1,000 real estate teams in the United States. We are so excited to be a part of that exclusive list for 2011!  The teams are chosen based on the  amount of dollar volume   for 2010, and The Sue Adler Team is the only NJ Real Estate Team to be named on this list. Read more

Top Agent Magazine Features New Jersey Realtor Sue Adler for Client Service

This past month, Top Agent Magazine contacted me for an interview. Recognizing us as one of the top producing teams in the country, they wanted to know more about our innovative marketing and social media strategies, and the amazing results they have brought to our clients in our   New Jersey Midtown Direct Train Line Towns. This was the focus of the article which you can read here.

Our new website was once again brought up as a key tool to help relocation buyers understand commute times between our New Jersey towns and New York City, and our videos and robust community pages were highlighted as well!
The article pointed out that 43% of our business last year came from internet marketing strategies and with the new website and other services we are now able to offer our clients, that number will increase this year. Read more

InmanNext features SueAdler.com as Great Example of Consumer-Centric Real Estate Website

Now there is even more national recognition for Sueadler.com!  Chris Smith from InmanNext interviewed Jim Marks, CEO of  Virtual Results about his “websites that work” and featured my new custom New Jersey real estate site as an example.

When Jim and I discussed how this site was going to be built, we had the Midtown Direct Trainline Town home buyer and seller in mind with each and every page.  Most of our buyers move here from Manhattan, Jersey City,  Hoboken or Brooklyn.  I joke that there is usually a dragger and a dragee out of the city and aside from the house, their priorities are often great schools, direct train for easy commute, and a walkable town. Read more

4.39% Mortgage Rates + Your Buyer Competition on Vacation = Opportunity for NJ Home Buyers!

If you are looking for a fantastic time to buy a home in Millburn or Short Hills or real estate in any of our Midtown Direct towns, now is the time to move quickly! Interest rates have decreased making you able to purchase New Jersey real estate for less or even qualify for more of a home in Chatham than you originally expected. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage loan has dropped to 4.39%, the lowest rate since last November 2010. Even more exciting news is that buyer competition is really low due to vacations and that sellers want to sell now with the new school year approaching, to find their new homes before Fall.   Freddie Mac also reported that an average 15 year fixed loan has decreased to 3.54%, as well. Regardless of your mortgage product, these rates create a great buying market for people who want to live in Midtown Direct New Jersey homes.
The national economic slowdown is partially responsible for this change in lending rates, however Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac found the silver lining and shared good news for home sellers, as well. “On a positive note, there were indications that the housing market is firming. Real residential fixed investments added growth to the economy in the second quarter after subtracting from growth over the first three months of the year,” Nothaft said. ” The CoreLogic® National House Price Index rose for the third straight month in June (not seasonally adjusted) and was the first three-month gain since June 2010. Finally, pending existing home sales rose for a second consecutive month in June and was up nearly 20 percent from June 2010 when the housing tax credits expired.” So whether you are a buyer or a seller, this could mean great news for you and our local New Jersey housing market.
For up to date news on the mortgage industry, click here or email me your question. I’ll be sure to fill you in on what you need to know when purchasing or selling your New Jersey home!

End of July is last chance to lock in Super Conforming Loan as high as $729,750 in our NJ towns!

SueAdler.com Showcased As Leader in NJ Real Estate

Our team website, sueadler.com, has been spotlighted in a recent article by Diverse Solutions, a California based company dedicated to providing leading edge technology to real estate, and I wanted to share the good news with you! Click here to see the full article and find out about how our website can help you in finding a home in New Jersey. Reviewing our interactive custom map, complete with train route information, Diverse Solutions, explained that it provided a way to instantly “engage” website users who want to live in New Jersey. They also loved our choice of colors and clean design and our custom quick search which allows website visitors to quickly conduct a search for the New Jersey home that most closely matches their needs and interests. We love the fact that Diverse Solutions took the time to even evaluate our many videos which help you to preview our towns in Chatham, Millburn/Short Hills, Summit, Maplewood, South Orange, Livingston, and Madison.  Our videos are a great way to check out each town, especially if you are relocating. Be sure to tell your friends who are interested in buying or selling real estate in New Jersey, we’d love to help them settle into one of our towns, whether they prefer a home in Chatham or to live in Millburn/Short Hills.  We’re here to help!

Work in NYC? 10 Reasons why you should commute from New Jersey.

10 Reasons why you should move from Manhattan to our awesome New Jersey towns….

1. NJ Transit- Midtown Direct Train gets you into New York Penn Station in 25-50 minutes from South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn, Short Hills, Summit.  After Summit, the trainline branches off to: Chatham, Madison, Convent Station…  and the other branch heads to New Providence and Berkeley Heights….   If you click on link above, you will see parking options whether you live in one of these towns or one of the surrounding towns. Need to commute to downtown to the financial district? Just take the train to Hoboken, and then the path or ferry.

Oh, did I mention that there is valet parking at the Millburn train station, and that there is a jitney bus to get you to and from the Maplewood & South Orange train stations during morning and evening rush hours?

Great Schools

2. We have great public schools! 2010 New Jersey School Report Card

3. Our towns are absolutely charming and beautiful. They are SO not like the New Jersey stereotype. Each town has its own personality(and different sections within each town do as well), and you’ll find that living here you will frequent all of the surrounding towns for different things from shops to restaurants to theatre to fitness centers to art, piano or karate lessons. Read more

Choosing a Realtor to help you with your home purchase along NJ’s Midtown Direct Train Line

Today there are a so many ways to find a home from a google search of (ex) Short Hills NJ homes for sale, to plugging in an MLS number, to searching Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, or the numerous  IDX searches on real estate company or agent websites, inviting you to search all New Jersey homes or search the GSMLS  ( Garden State Multiple Listing Service).

So you end up registering on various real estate search sites.  But how do you know which Realtor to work with and help you navigate through the home buying process here in NJ?

1. You want to see house when you want to see houses. Agents who are solo may say to you, “I’m not available. How bout next week?”  When you work with The Sue Adler Team, this doesn’t happen. Someone on our team will always be available to accomodate your schedule with reasonable notice. Read more

Hiring A Real Estate Lawyer in NJ: Your Advocate or Your Deal Killer?

Hiring A Real Estate Lawyer in NJ: Your advocate or Your deal killer?

In New Jersey, when a contract to purchase a home is signed, it is not binding, until it’s out of “attorney review”. What this means to a buyer is that another buyer can come along and outbid you during this period. And to sellers, it means that your neighbor’s house with the new gourmet kitchen can come on the market and lure away your buyer. This is why its in the best interest of all parties to hire competent REAL ESTATE attorneys who will protect their interests with protective clauses, and at the same time get them out of attorney review quickly.

Sounds simple, right? Well, if you follow this advice, you will be protected, and also have a much smoother transaction.

1. Hire a recommended LOCAL REAL ESTATE attorney, Notice I didn’t just say attorney. They should ONLY be practicing real estate law. A local lawyer will know what’s customary. If you’re purchasing in Short Hills, Summit, Chatham, Maplewood and other towns in our area, they will know when to add a clause in about an oil tank sweep. They’ll know which areas have had flooding issues. They’ve dealt with zoning,permits in Millburn, Summit or Maplewood town halls and are familiar with the local home inspectors and their reports. They know who to call for asbestos removal, and they know reputation of different builders, etc…. I have 4 real estate attorneys who I work with on a regular basis who really know their stuff. Email me & I’ll pass along those names. Its not a bad idea to interview a few attorneys before choosing one to see who’s style works best for you.

2. Before hiring the attorney, find out if he/she will be going on vacation any time during the next few weeks or if he/she has anything going on which will affect availability. NOT Returning phone calls & not responding to attorney review letters in a timely manner is one of my biggest pet peeves. I know that the lawyers I work with on a regular basis will NOT put my files under the pile on their desk. You need to feel confident that the attorney you choose will be available to you.

3. Inspection “Requests” or Inspection “Demands”…. Make sure you approve the attorney’s letters before they go out. I have found that when I’m trying to get through inspection issues with my buyer, sometimes the attorney “inspection demand” letters (which I would prefer to call “inspection requests”) are worded so strongly, that it immediately puts the seller’s in a defensive mode. When I bought my house in New Jersey ( after having sold real estate for many years in Philly, where we handled everything ourselves and rarely used attorneys), I used the attorney recommended by a friend, instead of one recommended by my realtor. Big mistake. She shot off letters without my approval, and when I read the harsh sounding “inspection demands” letter, I found myself calling the sellers and apologizing for the threatening tone of the letter. Afterall, didn’t our parents teach us that you catch more flies with honey?

Over the years I have categorized real estate attorneys into 4 types:

First: “My way or we kill the deal”,

Second: ” I’ll fight for whatever my client wants no matter how unreasonable the request may be, and NOT advise him. I’m my client’s puppet.”

Third: “I don’t have the time to be bothered with returning calls. I’m too busy.
Oh, closing is tomorrow? Oops, I forgot to order the mortgage payoff. ”

Fourth:” I am my client’s advocate, and at the same time, it is my job to advise my client on what is reasonable. If I can’t get anywhere with the other lawyer ( who is type 1,2 or 3), I’ll have my clients work it out through the realtors. The smoothest transactions are when we are all working together to resolve the issues in a timely manner.

Which type of attorney would you like to represent you?

Sue Adler is the #1 Keller Williams agent in New Jersey, specializing in towns with 20-50 minutes from NYC. Visit www.SueAdler.com , the ONLY real estate site you need for New Jersey real estate.

So you need to commute to NYC and you can’t spend $1Million on a house??? Check out these GREAT New Jeresy neighborhoods – in these midtown direct “walk to train” locations!

What a day! 3 open houses on our three new listings – Two are getting at least one offer, and we had 27-30 people at each one.  All three of these homes are priced in the $500′s.  My team was also booked all weekend with buyers. What does all of this mean?

1. There has been so much pent up demand for great AFFORDABLE homes that  the nice ones that are priced right  are flying off the market.

2. The entry level market has now come down to a level where buyers can jump into the market. Of course the low interest rates have added the cherry on the top.

3. Even in a “buyer’s market”, you will always be able to re-sell a well priced home with close proximity to trains to NYC. This is what most buyers moving out from NYC are looking for.

4. Has this segment of the market hit bottom?

So where can you find these more affordable homes? Below are neighborhoods in each of the midtown direct trainline towns that are under a mile to the train.

• South Orange – South of South Orange Ave, there are two neighborhoods that are easily walkable and you can find housing that won’t break the bank. The area between Walton Rd and Wyoming Ave is one ( Conway Ct, Rynda, West End Rd, Lenox Ave to name a few streets) and the streets surrounding Seton Hall University are the other. North of South Orange Ave there are the Hart Dr ranch homes, and further north you can occasionally find a smaller home nestled amongst the larger ones off of Wyoming Ave.  The same would be true of the Montrose Section.

• Maplewood- Much of Maplewood fits the bill and that’s why so many buyers move here from Park Slope, Brooklyn, and NYC.  East of Valley Rd, across from Memorial Park, is  very popular among the “walk to train” crowd. Here are two examples:  www.sueadler.com/35Kensington and www.sueadler.com/36Madison Houses within a few blocks of Maplewood Village may be in the $500k-700k range, but they don’t seem to come on the market very often. There are homes on Jefferson Ave and some of the surrounding streets such as Brookside Rd, have sold in the $500k’s and 600′s as well.

• Millburn- The South Mountain Section and Wyoming Sections are the two largest neighborhoods that are “walk to  train,  town, Taylor Park, Wyoming Elem or South Mountain Elem, middle and high school ”. There are also many small streets off of Millburn Ave that are close by as well.Homes range from the $400k’s to the 800k’s with a few exceptions in the South Mountain Section.In the Wyoming Section you can easily find homes in this range, but there are also more expensive homes over $1Million.

• Short Hills - The Glenwood Section ( where I live!) is the perfect place to be – walk to Glenwood Elem and top rated Millburn HS, Short Hills train station, and Millburn Ave restaurants and shops. Most homes range from the 600k’s to the $1Million range, but certain streets wth larger homes and properties such as Pine Terrace East  command much more. www.sueadler.com/11PineTerraceEast Generally speaking, the Glenwood Section runs between the Short Hills Train Station and Millburn Ave. The main roads running through are Woodland Rd, Baltusrol Way, and Short Hills Ave, with many small charming treelined streets in between. The Knollwood Section, behind the Millburn Middle School, is also similar in price to Glenwood. This neighborhood  comes in between Hobart Avenue and Old Short Hills Rd – Whitney Dr, Midhurst Dr, Haddonfield Drive are a few of the streets you find in this storybook enclave of charming colonials and tudors.

• Summit Most of the areas surrounding the Summit Train Station tend to be a bit pricier however there are certain streets close to the train station that do turn out homes for under $900,000. To name a few, Mountain Ave and Ashland Rd- south of the Summit Train station, and Waldron Ave, and DeBary Place- north of the station. I do need to mention a neighborhood that is just over a mile, but with comparable homes to the Glenwood and South Mountain homes in Millburn/Short Hills. Its the Memorial Field area by Brayton Elementary School. Don’t overlook this neighborhood if you’re looking for an awesome neighborhood in a great school district.

• Chatham Boro – The nice thing about Chatham Boro is that almost all of it is within a mile of the Chatham Train Station. The Station is located just off Fairmount Dr and Main Street so its central location and stellar school system, makes it a sought after town. The majority of homes in the Boro are in the “affordable” range and are close to Main Street shops and restaurants, and elementary schools as well.

• Madison -The Madison Train Station is situated between Waverly Rd and Greenwood Rd, just south of Main Street. On the northern side of Main Street in Madison you can easily find 3 to 4 bedroom homes starting in the $400′s, and ranging up to over $1M. Because Madison is home to Drew University, Main Street feels much like a college town with a jazz bar, trendy shops and a wide variety of restaurants.

So, there you have it! If you want to see your options in person, just give me a call (973)464-9129.

Yours to count on,

Sue Adler