Are home prices coming down??? (Orange, Westfield: appointed, mortgage, houses)

[kaday]

In areas like Westfield, Madison, Maplewood, South Orange, Mountain Lakes? We'd like to move back at some point but are waiting for the prices to bottom out...that is if at some point they will! My brother mentioned people are offering significantly less than asking price and getting the house. He is really eager for my family to move back so I am not sure is he is exaggerating a bit!

Thanks.

[tallguylehigh]

Here is the tricky thing about timing the market when it bottoms out- you only know its bottomed out when it starts going back up again.

While some people may be having luck in the market with offering less than asking price, I wasn't nearly as lucky 7 months ago. I had to fight tooth and nail to land a house in Madison that fell through (bad inspection) and had to fight tooth and nail to get my current place. You are starting to see 2 different types of sellers out there now- those who HAVE to sell, and those who are curious to see what their houses can get. Couple these with the difficulty of getting a mortgage and you have the teasing situation of having prices come down and not being able to buy.

Are prices coming down? In a word, yes. I live in one of the areas that you mentioned, and based on the figures in zillow (far from gospel) it looks like home prices are down 4% on the year. So are home prices coming down? Technically, yes. But in these areas you are not going to see home prices plummeting- they are inherently desirable and therefore will always find buyers. But are home prices going down? Yup- you just might be disappointed that it isnt what you were expecting.

[kaday]

I have been looking specifically at Westfield but also considering the others I mentioned. I love Maplewood but I think the taxes are insane (I lived there about 6 years ago). It seems as if Westfield homes are priced very high for what you get (or maybe I have been away too long). It seems like everything in Madison is either a dump or over a million dollars (which is way out my range). I follow the market and it just seems as if nothing has really changed since last year or there are very unrealistic sellers out there. My brother mentioned houses were selling way below asking prices, so I was hoping this is the case and not just his enthusiam!