New Jersey Real Estate Agent

Princeton NJ Homes for sale are the main focus of this blog. NJ, Princeton real estate sellers and buyers often ask if multiple offers happen in the Buyers market. The answer is “yes” and this article looks at the reason why.

Back at the end of the summer 2008, I wrote an article “Princeton Buyers Market and Multiple Offers” about

Princeton houses multiple offers

multiple offers happening at that time. Last week New York Times reporter Antoinette Martin to ask if this is still the case. My answer was that it is still possible -some Princeton properties for sale still have multiple offers. I wanted to to take a broader look at the issue, not limited to my experience only.  I examined all the home sales in Princeton New Jersey in the last 6 months to see how many Princeton NJ homes sold over asking price. Princeton property sale over asking price is usually a good indication of several buyers competing for the specific Princeton house.

This is what I found.

1. In the period of June – September 2008 out of 103 Princeton houses sold, 18 (17%) were sold over the asking price. Thirteen houses out of these 18 – were sold for less then $1,000,000.

2. In the period September -December 2008 the situation changed. There were only 51 houses sold in NJ Princeton. Of them 2 (4%) were sold over asking price.

3. There were homes that sold over asking price multiple times. What made these homes special? I found several common threads:

- desirable location combined with amenities, such as 134 Moore Street, and 229 Moore Street, NJ Princeton.

- pricing the homes at the pre- 2005 prices.

4. The increase over asking price for many of these Princeton homes was nominal. The ones that had significant increases had either superior location, such 21 Vernon Circle, NJ Princeton or had lowered the price to the level that attracted multiple buyers.

5. Multiple resales. Five Princeton houses sold over asking price were sold in the last 5 years. Three out of these five, were priced below the sale price in 2005 and 2006.

6. Of the Princeton houses sold over asking price only 2 lowered the price after the initial listing price. This is very important information for home sellers in NJ Princeton. If the home is priced right from the beginning it could attract multiple offers even in the weak market.

7. The situation was different for Montgomery Township homes for sale. During the period June -December 2008 there were 132 homes sold in Montgomery Township. Only 8 (6%) were sold over the asking price.

8. For Hopewell homes for sale there were 103 sold during this period, with four (5%) over the asking price.

Data is based on TREND MLS -1/8/2009 considered accurate, but is not guaranteed.

Want to know if your home could sell over asking price? Call 609-553-4175 for a confidential review. I cover NJ Princeton, Princeton Junction, Montgomery Township, Lawrenceville New Jersey, Hopewell.