Cameron Henderson

Today marks the initial market activity report in my real estate blog. I intend to report on what I see of the real estate market conditions in the neighboring communities of Franklin and South Brunswick townships in the central New Jersey area. Franklin Township consists of the following six town sections: Somerset, Franklin Park in Somerset County, Princeton, Kingston, East Millstone and Zarepahath. South Brunswick in Middlesex County consists of the following four town sections: Kendall Park, Monmouth Junction, Princeton and Dayton.

I invite anyone with an interest in, and with information about the local and surrounding area real estate market to share your thoughts and information here in this blog.

Concerning the recent sales activity in Franklin Township, here is some data from the Garden State MLS to help serve as framework:

• Active Listings: As of this writing on February 22, 2009, there are 126 Active listings of 4 bedroom homes in Franklin. On the low end is a 4+ bedroom vintage Colonial with 3 bathrooms priced at $199,000, and on the high end is a custom home on 15.5 acres with an extra house priced at $1,325,000.
• Listings Under Contract: There are 25 listings of 4+ bedroom homes that are Under Contract in Franklin, but not closed. On the low end in this category is a Split style home priced at $269,000, and on the high end is a home on 10 Acres priced at $1.1M. Six of these sales were for pre-foreclosure or bank-owned properties.
• Sold Listings: There were 20 listings of 4+ bedroom listings that Closed in Franklin since November 1, 2008. On the low end in this category is a Cape Cod style home that Sold for $325,000, and on the high end is a 4,000 square foot luxury Colonial that Sold for $753,000. The most sales (17) were concentrated in the $300K-600K price range, seven (7) each in the $300K-$400K and 500K-600K price ranges. Five of the twenty sales were either pre-foreclosure or bank owned properties.

So What?

Well, looking at the Active Listings in comparison with the UC and Sold listings, it seems that about 14 or 15 sellers don't know or haven't come to grips yet that their home might be worth less than they owe on it. The quicker these sellers acknowledge their situation, the faster they will get their house sold. The upside down houses are not just on the low end of the price range; some are priced in the $500Ks and $600Ks. At least one of the UC houses was listed for less that the seller paid for it, and a bank sold another one for more than $130K less than the original sellers brought it on the market for originally.

Link to Franklin and South Brunswick Community Marketing Reports