Andrew J. Lenza

We're doctors without the six years of schooling.

Prognosticators, perhaps.

Yes, real estate brokers are imbued with an unrivaled vision, especially when divining the future. Give a real estate agent a cup of coffee and he'll read the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup.

Thank Nostradamus most state associations have barred the practice of reading the entrails of a sleeping appraiser.

The market's up. It's down. Sideways with a chance of sleet.

Let me tell you where the single family home market for Middletown, New Jersey homes is going.

Truth is I haven't a clue.

So far in February twenty one (21) Middletown houses closed for an average sale price of $370,000 compared to fourteen (14) sales for an average of $567,300 for the same period last year. Quite a discrepancy in price but not so concerning by the numbers.

Why not?

Because Middletown is a huge township, encompassing several "towns" and dozens of neighborhoods.

Truth is if you're ready, then buy.

Or wait for lower prices. Or lower rates. Or higher prices and higher rates. Or sober neighbors and quieter dogs. Or drunk dogs and anti-social neighbors.

My opinion about the future of the market? How do I know -- my last stock tip came from a cabbie. It was a winner. I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night but that wasn't by choice. And, no, I didn't see it coming :-).

Interested in Middletown New Jersey homes for sale? E-mail me today! Or call me on (732) 671-1000.

Andrew J. Lenza, Broker Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

For my last post I anaylzed the cash buyer of Monmouth County homes for sale. Crunching the numbers prompted me to dig deeper into Middletown, New Jersey where I concentrate my real estate activities.

You can read my latest article titled Cash Buyers for Middletown New Jersey Homes For Sale over on my Wordpress blog by clicking HERE -->.

Interested in Middletown New Jersey homes for sale? E-mail me today! Or call me on (732) 671-1000.

Andrew J. Lenza, Broker Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

This week's Wall Street Journal headline Cash Buyers Lift Housing cranked a few gears upstairs. Prompted me to dust off the old Fordham MBA.

The following stats reflect the percentage of cash sales of Monmouth County single-family homes for the last five years:

Year # Cash Closings # Total Closings % Cash to Total Average Sale Price

2006 485 5,389 9.0% $557,200

2007 421 5,008 8.4% $563,100

2008 400 3,940 10.2% $542,100

2009 557 3,966 14.0% $484,300

2010 611 3,956 15.5% $504,400

An increase in cash purchases and a decrease in total closings is pushing the percentage of cash deals higher. Oh, and the average sale price of a single-family home in Monmouth County appears to be bottoming from the shakeout.

Now cash buyers do attempt to leverage their position by entering lower offers. The strategy -- statistically -- appears to work. Notice the following stats for the Percentage of the Sale Price versus the List Price for the same five year period, especially when comparing Cash to Conventional financing:

Year % Sale Price vs. List Price for Cash % Sale Price vs. List Price for Conventional Mortgages

2006 90.72% 95.41%

2007 92.35% 94.92%

2008 91.17% 94.19%

2009 91.24% 93.26%

2010 90.60% 94.00%

These MLS stats indicate that the cash buyer received a discount better than three percentage points (3.14%) over the buyer who financed the single-family home purchase in Monmouth County. Ancedotally, we are seeing an increase in cash buyers. Perhaps these folks are exiting the equity markets in pursuit of hard assets. Or financing continues to prove cumbersome.

Or the price of local real estate is getting so attractive that savvy buyers ask themselves, "Why borrow at all?"

Interested in Monmouth County real estate? E-mail me today! Or call me on (732) 671-1000.

Andrew J. Lenza, Broker Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

So you're a new agent in the business.

Perhaps you're an experienced Middletown, New Jersey real estate agent who peers from the outside into this brave, new world of blogging.

• How do I use keyword searches?
• How do I acheive SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
• Do I have to be a natural writer?
• What topics should I write about?
• How do I engage the general public?
• What pitfalls should I avoid?

Many Broker/Managers do not post original content on the Internet, let alone teach their Sales Associates how to maximize their online presence. Here at Coldwell Banker we're not trying to stay ahead of the curve.

We're laying down the road :-)

The good news for newly-licensed agents and battle-tested Realtors is that I'm here to coach you to -- and through -- the frontier. I started blogging on Active Rain several years ago.

So if you're interested in joining a progressive-minded, tech-savvy office in Monmouth County, please consider the Coldwell Banker Middletown office. E-mail me today for a confidential appointment! Or call me on (732) 671-1000.

Andrew J. Lenza, Broker Sales Associate

They warned us.

We scoffed.

They blocked us.

We drove around the orange cones.

Government shouldn’t declare a “state of emergency.” They should use reverse psychology like “Free Home HBO the Day after Christmas” if they want us to stay indoors during a record blizzard.

To disperse a crowd in New Jersey just yell “Come look at the corpse!” instead of “Keep walking, citizens. Nothing to see here.”

Nothing? That means it’s some thing.

Do the same people who abandon their cars in five foot drifts then walk home and start shoveling snow into the streets?

In Colts Neck the farmers saved the day by affixing plows to their tractors. The chatter is that municipal workers throughout Monmouth County boycotted their snow removal duties because of cutbacks in overtime.

Maybe too much snow fell too fast, almost five inches per hour.

Backlash? More like whiplash from hurling two feet of snow back into the wind. I’m renaming the Great Christmas Blizzard of 2010 to Hollerpoolaza, as in “CAN I GET A LITTLE HELP HERE?”

Or pen a little poem to mark the event called “The Day They Drove Ole Frosty Down."

I know exactly who to blame.

Those millions of children who prayed, fervently, for a white Christmas. Apparently the clouds answer to a higher authority. No, not an elected official or union worker but the four Norman’s.

• In 1913 Norman Rockwell painted a Boys Life cover of two scouts helping Santa out of the snow.
  
• Norman Krasna and Norman Panama wrote the 1954 movie “White Christmas.”
  
• Fifteen years later Norman Greenbaum would write his seminal hit “Spirit in the Sky” in 1969.

Talk about your conspiracies. Remember that weather is three parts perspitation and one part protest. Slightly shaken like a snow globe.