From the Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group
It’s been a very rough few weeks for buyers who are struggling to find homes. In May, in both South Orange and Maplewood there were about 50% fewer active listings than there should have been — a natural result of shelter-in-place hindering sellers from putting homes on the market. Couple this with buyers who, because of shelter-in-place, were looking to move out of crowded places and into suburbs like ours ASAP, and the competition has been stiff.
Homes that in the early Spring were selling 5-10% above asking could fetch 20% above asking or more this past month. In Montclair we have seen quite a few homes going as much as $250,000 over asking. In West Orange there were 31 offers on one home in the mid $500 range. We are calling this the “post-Corona premium.” Even the rental market has been hyper competitive.
The June sales date for closed homes will be very interesting, as we should see some large increases in list price to sale price average when more of the homes that were listed in late April and early May begin to close.
Homes are selling in one weekend if they are done well and priced correctly. We can help you seamlessly prepare and market your home for the best results with little inconvenience to you. Our exclusive Compass Concierge Program can help our sellers prepare their homes with no upfront costs. And our Bridge Loan Program can help you buy your next home before selling your current home.
Here are our reports for last month, showing closed sales and year-over -year comparisons of various key statistics for both towns. If you have questions about what is happening out there in the market I am always happy to help.
May 2020 Real Estate Market Reports for Maplewood:
May 2020 Real Estate Market Reports for South Orange:
The normal real estate slow down in August is not expected this year as our calendar has been disrupted by Corona. Without summer activities like camps and trips being cancelled our Spring season will last through to the Fall. If a move is in your future, let’s talk confidentially. Reach out to me through email at: allison@azhomesnj.com.
The Allison Ziefert Real Estate Group is a top producing real estate team based at Compass in Short Hills, NJ. We are local market experts, specializing in real estate and homes in Maplewood, South Orange, Millburn/Short Hills, Montclair, West Orange, NJ and the surrounding towns. We are driven by earning great testimonials and referral business from happy clients. You can read our testimonials at www.azhomesnj.com/testimonials.
