Maplewood, NJ

Maplewood, New Jersey may just be the idyllic town for you to call home. If you're looking to live in the northern New Jersey area and you haven't given this village a chance, you just don't know what you've been missing. It's a place that believes in cultural arts and a community atmosphere with a mix of mostly well-kept older and older-feeling like homes that brings back the feeling of the character and charm of colonial and tudors in a Norman Rockwell postcard. The neighborhoods provide a burst of warmth and individuality at every corner. One key reason so many people flock to the village is the Mid-Town Direct train that can get you into the New York Penn Station within 30-minutes. Add to this the jitney shuttle service that brings residents to the train station on a regular basis.

The town is stepped in history that began a few hundred years ago. Read the Maplewood Historical Mural Book to learn how a colonial rural community became the Township of Maplewood. Now home to artists, intellectuals, and everything in between this is an inviting place. Whether you go to the Maplewood Arts Center, a performance at arts Maplewood, one of many programs at the schools, or just walking through the train station, you will find that cultural arts abounds in Maplewood, New Jersey. The art work in this blog is from the Maplewood train station.

In 2002, Maplewood was listed by Money Magazine as one of the 10 Best Places to Live in their 16th survey of America's top towns to find where people are moving and real estate is booming. Where you can find, as the magazine states, the best neighborhoods and suburbs for lasting value, quality of life and just plain fun. Money Magazine defined Maplewood as follows: a favorite compromise for city people who want good public schools and their own yards. The town has a palpable sense of community (there are close to 30 block associations in Maplewood and South Orage) and residents prize its diversity.

When you become a resident don't feel alone. Join The Newcomers Club where you'll immediately meet neighbors and new friends, and learn how to navigate around the neighborhood. You'll find that Maplewood and South Orange are two towns joined at the hip. The Newcomers Club has various events and activities ranging from park play dates, poker and morning coffee to telecommuters lunch, progressive dinners, book discussions and more. Stay abreast of the town news with The Maplewood Leaflet the town newsletter and the News-Record, the local paper.

See all the Maplewood houses available for sale and contact Bev and Bob for a town tour and more information. There's so much more we can tell you and show you. As stated in the Maplewood Historical Mural Book, Maplewood is well named for it's green oasis situated as a suburb of the largest populated area in the world. Maplewood has followed the axiom, "Let the light of the past illumine a pathway to the future."

Come home and make your future and your history in Maplewood, New Jersey. We'd love to show you how.

If you're looking for a pre-school or day-care center in the Maplewood - South Orange, New Jersey area, come to the 8th Annual Pre-School Open House on Monday, November 16 from 7:00 - 8:30pm at the Columbia High School cafeteria at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood.

Organized by the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race this event will have representatives from more than 20 pre-school and child-care agencies ready to provide information and answer questions. The event will start with a 30-minute Kindergarten Readiness Presentation. The admission is free and so are the refreshments. For more information visit TwoTowns or call 973 761 6116 x6.

For more school information on the school district of South Orange and Maplewood visit their main site and see all that happens in the schools.

As productive real estate agents we know this answer but so many sellers and real estate agents let this pass them by. The single biggest mistake made today by sellers: Not realizing that the first showing you have of your house is online.

If you're an avid reader of ActiveRain you have heard this before. The internet is the number one place home buyers go to during the entire home search process, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. When it's time to focus on purchasing a home, the internet was again the number one place where buyers found their home. This says when choosing a real estate agent to sell your most precious commodity, sellers should see how the agent makes their clients house look on the internet and how many places it can be found.

Most real estate agents get confused with the Information Data Exchange (IDX) system. They don't remember that all the tons of participating real estate agency and agents can have their listing on the agency's or agent's website, which garners your house more exposure, but your listing agent won't get the call. Many agents also don't realize all the internet sites they can proactively place your house listing on to extend the exposure and potential for a buyer to see your house exponentially. For example, we load our listings to 20-30 websites.

Research also shows that buyers make visual decisions initially. This is why to avoid making the one mistake many sellers keep making today, you should search online to see how a real estate agent and his/her company make themselves look online and make their clients' house look online. If your house can't entice a buyer online with many good pictures, a good description and a virtual tour then there's a great chance the buyer will never even put your house on his/her list to consider going to actually see it. Never forget: your online presence is your first showing. This is why we've taken our virtual tours to the next level, pulling buyers in by letting them play around with how to decorate the rooms and more. Look at the various options at the bottom menu of the virtual tour. The Space Designer lets a buyer place furniture throughout the house just the way she wants to. This helps her to personally begin to make the house more of a home for her and to start to become more attached to it. The Style Designer lets the buyer change the colors of the walls, floor, and trim of a room and even the cabinets and the countertops in a kitchen so she can get a feel of how the house could look when she moves in and does it the way she wants.

So the next time you're looking to choose a real estate agent ask "What do you do to make my first showing a success?" She should tell you her internet strategy and remind you that she has control over the original internet sites where your listing will be, but you have control over how the house will look when pictures are taken and how enticing the price will be to make a buyer stop and look at the pictures and take the tour. If her answer doesn't include a major focus on the internet, run the other way. Even if the agent has a lot of signs in the ground, run, because this means he/she is short-changing the seller and isn't giving all the exposure possible to garner the highest price.

Good luck.

All of us at Towne Realty Group had a great time bringing in the Halloween spirit and fun in various towns. Some of us helped get pumpkins ready in Millburn/Short Hills, NJ, some donated candy to the Boys and Girls Club in West Orange, NJ, and then we ended inMaplewood, NJ for the annual halloween parade.

This annual event given by the Maplewood Chamber of Commerce and the Maplewood Village Alliance once again brought hundreds of people out. There were kids, and kids at heart, having a good time roaming around, checking out the sights, taking some snapshots and getting plenty of snacks. See photos of the past events and the present. We're happy to be a part of the Chamber of Commerce in many of the towns where we serve and live so we can participate in great events like these.

In Maplewood's event most of us at Towne Realty Group were witches gathered together to delve out treats, a big smile and pinwheels to delight the old and the young. It was fun watching the kids figuring out how to make the pinwheels go and to watch the parents have a flashback to when they use to do this. Who would have thought, a non-electronic toy that is fun (sarcastically said) and can make the imagination soar. Judges were constantly moving throughout the crowds to find the costumes to recognize with prizes and recognition on stage. This was a great way to bring in the halloween spirit for all who were in the mood or who just wanted to give it a try. In the end the halloween spirit was one of having a good time with the community in which you live, work or wish you did.

Now don't forget to move your clock back today and get ready for a beautiful week.

During the month of October, there has been an average of 44 residential homes in total that have gone under contract in eight northern New Jersey towns week-to-week. These towns include Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn/Short Hills, Montclair, Nutley, South Orange, Verona and West Orange.

West Orange ends the month of October 25-31 the way it began, with a bang. This town topped the charts with 11 homes under contract this week alone, beating the other seven area towns: Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn/Short Hills, Montclair, Nutley, South Orange and Verona. Montclair tried to give it a run for its money with nine single-family homes under contract. And Verona, well, this month has Verona trailing behind week after week, never going above three homes under contract in a given week.

These lists only shows when a real estate agent has listed a home as under contract in the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS). The homeowner is on track for the house to be sold in the near future. However, there are things that can go awry that causes the house to not be sold. These weekly lists show the current activity in the market and what price point is moving within each town.