How are people buying homes for $50K in Bergen County?? (Princeton: short sales, real estate)

[looksrich]

Am I missing something? There seem to be a lot of these cases in BC..

Here are some cases in Tenafly alone..

Sold for $10,000
82 Gordon Ave, Tenafly, NJ 07670 - Zillow


Sold for $50,000
4 Merritt Ct, Tenafly, NJ 07670 - Zillow

Sold for $85,000
98 George St, Tenafly, NJ 07670 - Zillow


..the land alone is worth more than price sold.. figured some are family transactions but can they all in BC be that? many of the properties don't show up in foreclosed auctions so can't be just that..

do the sales price take into account any liens to be paid off the buyer might have had to deal with??

[RUNYYfan]

Probably either a refi or a second mortgage recorded.

There are similar ones in all the "high-priced" towns like Bedminster, Montgomery, and Princeton. One of the one's in Princeton I know is way more for what it was supposedly sold for and the owners from the 1980's still own the place and haven't moved anywhere.

[looksrich]

thanks, I don't think Refinance would list it as a "sold" in public records..

I refi'ed my condo and "sold price" is still original price I paid.. not sure if 2nd loans would that make it to Public Record, since deed doesn't exchange hands?

[RUNYYfan]

Ah, interesting. Those may not be refis then; they may be home equity loans. Perhaps one of the real estate agents on here could shed more light on this.

[joeymarine]

Originally Posted by looksrich

thanks, I don't think Refinance would list it as a "sold" in public records..

I refi'ed my condo and "sold price" is still original price I paid.. not sure if 2nd loans would that make it to Public Record, since deed doesn't exchange hands?

It depends on how the title company writes the deed. Sometimes when people refi they will take one spouse off the mortgage so that they can purchase a second home and qualify for a mortgage (and tax incentives). Could also be a buyout b/c of a divorce or one sibling buying out the other in an estate.

[Kevin1975]

Originally Posted by looksrich

Am I missing something? There seem to be a lot of these cases in BC..

Here are some cases in Tenafly alone..

Sold for $10,000
82 Gordon Ave, Tenafly, NJ 07670 - Zillow


Sold for $50,000
4 Merritt Ct, Tenafly, NJ 07670 - Zillow

Sold for $85,000
98 George St, Tenafly, NJ 07670 - Zillow


..the land alone is worth more than price sold.. figured some are family transactions but can they all in BC be that? many of the properties don't show up in foreclosed auctions so can't be just that..

do the sales price take into account any liens to be paid off the buyer might have had to deal with??

98 George was purchased for $375k in April, was knocked down and a new house built. Currently listed for $1,075,000.

4 Merritt in Tenafly was a family sale, father to son.

82 Gordon, the house was transferred into the wife's name.

[NJGOAT]

I know Zillow's "Zestimates" pretty much count for nothing, but I wonder if these transactions influence their estimates. There are two identical homes in my development, one had a transaction/transfer with the sale price listed as $1 (most likely a divorce), the other home has only had normal activity. Both houses sold within the past year (within a month of each other) and for a price that was within $2k of each other. Zillow lists the home with the $1 transaction as being worth $8k less than the other home, despite them being identical in every measurable way and the recently solds being nearly identical as well.

[Kevin1975]

Zillow also uses the tax assessment in their 'Zestimates'. The thing thats tough with New Jersey, is you have a wide array of home styles, square footages, year builts, and condition in a given neighborhood. The Zestimate works well if all the homes in an area are cookie cutter.

As an appraiser, we try never to use distressed sales, family sales, short sales, foreclosures, estate sales, and sometimes even private sales as comparables.

[NJGOAT]

My areas probably about as cookie cutter as NJ gets as the entire town is one development with several sub projects within it. Even then there is some variety between the homes in terms of overall square footage, lot size, etc. I was just curious as everything about these two homes with the exception of that single transaction is identical. Same square footage, same lot size, same bedroom/baths, same tax assessment, etc.