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My wife and I have lived in Jersey forever. We currently live in Highland Park and are done with renting; we have the means to afford a decent house maxing at $400,000.
Can anyone recommend lenders and realtors that are reliable and have access to MLS or other listings for the Brookdale section of Bloomfield and also Nutley?
I've lived in this area all my life, you are going to get taxed to high heavens. I'd avoid Essex County unless you MUST live here.
The transportation options in Nutley are suspect (if using the bus) unless you live closer to the Rt3 area. The lines in Nutley are private (DeCamp).
What do you mean by suspect? I'm thinking of moving to Nutley too. Although the taxes have us thinking twice.
I'm not quite sure whether to recommend our realtor or not. On lender, we will go to the co. who refinanced our current mortgage, New Penn Financial. We had no problems with them. I'm almost sure they would handle Essex Co. as well.
My wife and I have lived in Jersey forever. We currently live in Highland Park and are done with renting; we have the means to afford a decent house maxing at $400,000.
Can anyone recommend lenders and realtors that are reliable and have access to MLS or other listings for the Brookdale section of Bloomfield and also Nutley?
gsmls.com and njmls.com
Here is a tip. If you have zeroed in on a particular community check out who has the most number of listings and choose the agency with the most listings as your realtor. Many advantages to that option if you are a good negotiator. Negotiate, there is no other substitute to getting a good deal. People might advise you to go in with a Buyer's agent, personal experience says you are better off with a dual agent. Iam not a realtor just someone who experienced the home buying process first hand.
Most importantly - Realtor is not your 'friend' they have bills to pay and family to feed, they work for money. So yes, Realtor's have knowledge about the area but they act in the best interests of money. No Deal = No Money. You can read between the lines.
We just sold property in Clifton and used a 25 year veteran of the real estate market in that area. If you'd like her name, PM me and I'll provide. It was an especially difficult closing because the borrower/purchaser had been preapproved with a major bank/lender and then when it came to closing the lender didn't have the money (did I mention MAJOR bank/lender). Our realtor and buyer's realtor but together loan from/through mortgage company that works with real estate agency for the purchasers. She was great!
What do you mean by suspect? I'm thinking of moving to Nutley too. Although the taxes have us thinking twice.
I'm not quite sure whether to recommend our realtor or not. On lender, we will go to the co. who refinanced our current mortgage, New Penn Financial. We had no problems with them. I'm almost sure they would handle Essex Co. as well.
They just raised taxes 14% - still want to move to Nutley? Essex County believes in hosing its residents - if you drive, the streets are a rickety ride, the police are demoralized - not happy about no contract ratification, school budget got shot down only to miraclously pass due to Essex County grabbing a few "no" votes and tossing them out. Between the town municipal tax grab of 4.65%, the school budget which represents 48% of the total tax and 16% for the country - woila!, overall tax grab increase of 14%.
Where is the shared sacrifice? Taxpayers are getting canned left and right, those who aren't are working for no salary/benefit increase - but here comes the "government" with the "gimmee, gimmee, gimmee".
I think most of NJ is waiting for the day where we hear "no salary increase" - but we all know that's just a pipe dream.
We just sold property in Clifton and used a 25 year veteran of the real estate market in that area. If you'd like her name, PM me and I'll provide. It was an especially difficult closing because the borrower/purchaser had been preapproved with a major bank/lender and then when it came to closing the lender didn't have the money (did I mention MAJOR bank/lender). Our realtor and buyer's realtor but together loan from/through mortgage company that works with real estate agency for the purchasers. She was great!
Not that they didn't have the money, more like they found the appraisal of property off versus the real value of property sales in the neighborhood or there was a change in the buyer's financial status that gave them pause.
Banks create money every day - no need to have it, it's called the fractional banking system.
Not sure if you're still looking for a real estate agent, but my husband and I had an excellent experience with ours. Last year, we spent 6 months looking at over 50 houses (mostly in Nutley, but also Verona, Cedar Grove, Rutherford, the Brookdale section of Bloomfield -- all between $325k - $400k). Our agent was knowledeable about the area, helpful and patient throughout the process. We finally found "The One" in September and closed in November. Our closing went well, without a hitch, thanks to her and the great mortgage company we went with.
Regarding the property taxes, yes they are insane, but I felt they were similar in towns with comparable school districts. Nutley is more walkable and has more of a small town feel than a lot of the suburbs nearby, and the charming parks run right through the town. We saw lots of nice houses in many different towns, but we kept coming back to Nutley because of the way the town as a whole made us feel. So far, no regrets...
My realtor grew up in Essex County and was very knowledgeable about the different towns. I PM'd you his name already. But I just wanted to post it out here - some realtors do work for you, not just to put money in their pocket. Some people do recognize that if they work for their clients, their clients will recommend them and help get that money in their pocket. I used to work in a commission sales job, so I know how that goes. I could have up-sold tons of people, but the best thing to do was sell people what they wanted/needed, because they'd wise-up to a scam 9 times out of 10 eventually, and not refer your name to anyone - in fact, if it's bad enough, many will go out of their way to tarnish the name (and rightfully so).
as for mortgage, I got the best deal through Bank of America, but their closing process was a pain (they are so backlogged that it goes down to the wire it seems, but I've heard this about others).
I got a break on fees because my BIL knew the rep I used - out of Philly. I could send you the name if you'd like.
Had 2-3 other places I felt comfortable with but they just didn't come in with the rates...
bradykp, bradykp, teachbeach, MJPByron can you please provide me with the name of the realtor you were speaking of? My girlfriend and I are now looking in Nutley for homes and would love to deal with an agent that knows the area.
Thanks.
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