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May 2011 – week 3 Issue
Homes at Heights sell quickly
Home prices stabilizing across New Jersey
Tax breaks bring residents relief
Clean and green Teaneck
Meadowlands success still to be tested
A condominium complex in the town of Tenafly has achieved what most residential developers want, quick sales. At a time when the market is wrought with uncertainty, the luxury condominium complex of ‘The Heights’ at Tenafly has managed to sell all its last ten houses within the first six months of lowering their prices. The brainchild of Mark Built Homes, this project comprised of forty eight luxury town homes built on top of the Palisades, near the George Washington Bridge. Developers stated that there were a range of factors that helped to promote the sales of these luxury Tenafly homes. For one, the homes offered high end luxury and conveniences for home buyers. Secondly, the homes were priced right, and not overpriced for the Tenafly real estate market. Another reason that drove sales of the last ten units was that the units were ready for quick delivery. Finally, the location of this condominium complex was just right, offering both a scenic view while not compromising on proximity to important routes in the neighborhood. Few complexes like the Heights of Tenafly are achieving such success. The reasons for sales are the right location, right price and the right amenities. As seen in the Tenafly SoldReport, the market may be slow to recover, but if builders have got these three priorities on their side, they too will benefit from quick sales.
Home prices stabilizing across New Jersey
With prices of housing fluctuating through the year, Bergen County home owners and many parts of the country heaved a sigh of relief when prices remained stable for the quarter. Statistics revealed that the median prices of homes sold in Bergen County and the neighborhood rose by 0.5% and reached the figure of $439,300. The National Association of Realtors revealed that while this was a positive trend, the national figures were still low and were down by 4.6% to the median price of $158,700. Real estate experts state that while the market has not completely stabilized, these low figures were indicative of the stabilization process in progress. The main reason for instability continued to be buyer and seller driven. In many cases, while the homes were priced right, buyers were still waiting for prices to go down further. In other cases, sellers were not accepting the truth of a bad real estate market and were thus not adjusting their home prices accordingly. Another trend that indicated stability of the housing market was the number of home sales in the Garden State. The annual rate of home sales in New Jersey stood at 109,500 close to the rate achieved in 2010 of 110,000.
Tax breaks bring residents relief
Residents of a few towns in Bergen County heaved a sigh of relief when tax breaks brought in the much needed respite. In the wake of assessment updates that shifted the focus of taxes from residences to commercial properties, many owners of houses and condominiums noted a significant decrease in their property taxes for the year. An analysis by the Record, also showed that tax bills could top 20% for offices, retail, industrial and commercial properties by the month of summer. Thirteen towns across Bergen County would feel the respite with these changes. This includes the towns of Ridgefield Park, Hackensack, Norwood and Edgewater, where some of the biggest changes would be seen. Relatively smaller shifts will be seen in the towns like Oakland, Emerson and Ho Ho Kus. With most municipalities having their last assessment conducted during the 2000s, a significant shift in property taxes was noted with the new assessments. Statistics by the Record also indicated that the combined drop of 16.4% was noted in the affected municipalities while commercial values dropped only b 4.3%.
The town of Teaneck is green and beautiful thanks to the initiatives of officials and volunteering support of the residents. This season too the township is doing its bit in involving the community towards a greener environment. In this regard, the township of Teaneck invited all its residents to celebrate a clean and green Teaneck drive. Organized on the weekend of May 14th and May 15th, this cleanup drive would focus on cleaning up parks and planting flowers in the region. Members of the Teaneck township community will also join the volunteers in planting and cleaning up of the various parks and facilities of the township. The events of May 14th would begin from 9am and would go on up till noon. During this time, volunteers would undertake clean up and flower planting in the Coolidge Park and Brooks Park. On May 15th, participants would clean up burial grounds, clean up and plant flowers in the Brett Park and also plant flowers in the Municipal green. Arbor Day celebrations on May 15 would include clean up of Terhune Park and tree planting in the North Terhune Park.
Meadowlands success still to be tested
Whether formerly known as Xanadu Meadowlands would be a success or not is still to be measured. What began with much fanfare and ended with trepidation has yet again set out on its course. The project began development in the year 2003, when Mills Corp. a multibillion dollar mall development company set out to build a 4.8 million sq ft of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The construction was to house shopping, entertainment, office and hotel space all into one building. The project was not successful and three years later Colony capital, another prestigious international business stepped in. By 2009, a key lender had defaulted, and the project was again left without capital. Later on billionaire Steve Ross’s Related Cos showed interest, through the year 2010. Triple Five, has now set the long term goal of expanding the scope of the project to 7.5 million and adding more entertainment offerings. The project is now slated to be the world’s largest retail, entertainment, recreation, amusement and tourism project, all under a common roof. In the most recent developments, the project was renamed as the American Dream Meadowlands. While all seems to be going well for the project, how far it would go and what success it would meet are still parameters that need to be measured. Whether the American dream would be realized or the nightmare of Meadowlands would continue; only time can tell.
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