I know. Interest rates remain high and buyers are deflated. But once interest rates go down again, there will be another challenge.
Generally speaking, interest rates and home prices behave like a seesaw. When rates go up, prices typically start going down. This is because fewer people are looking to buy. Demand decreases and prices drop in [...]
Last weekend, Oksana and I spent Saturday at the Montclair Gay Pride Festival, the second that our town has hosted. Keller Williams was a sponsor, so we had our own table right near the YMCA and one of the [...]
When I was younger, my friends and I would always read the section of Glamour magazine called Glamour Dos and Don’ts, and we were always discovering that something we thought was a good fashion choice was inadvertently backfiring. As an homage to my favorite Glamour column, I’m going to talk about some Dos and Don’ts of house shopping, little adjustments everyone can "do" to make the process go more [...]
It seems as if I am asked this question at least once a day.
In the past, this might be a discouraged lament of an impatient client who could not find a house that they wanted to buy. But lately, it’s a legitimate question that nearly everyone is asking, so I’m going to explain some of the dynamics at work that have resulted in this [...]
You can usually count on me to show up here talking about all the amazing benefits of living in a walkable suburb: the health benefits for ourselves and our families when we step away from our cars, the good feelings associated with doing our part to support the environment, and how it’s easier to get to know people and feel part of the [...]
Last Sunday morning, I found myself on Midland Avenue in Montclair walking against a tide of hundreds of runners. This is not really unusual; Midland Avenue is a straight wide street that starts at Bloomfield Ave and runs about a mile north. As a centrally located, not-very-busy street, Midland is often the first leg of the races or fun runs [...]
When I moved to Montclair, there was basically one main event in October: Halloween. When my kids were little, I’d take them trick-or-treating (like any good parent might do), and occasionally, we’d stop by the house that [...]
I recently wrote a post about how houses don’t need to be perfect in order to be sold – or bought! Yet, many buyers seem to turn away from a home that isn’t a turnkey sale. Why is that?
In my experience, it’s usually because people who are new to homeownership don’t yet have the knowledge base to understand what’s a big problem and what’s a little [...]
As interest rates began to rise, I started getting a question I haven’t heard since the beginning of the pandemic: Is it STILL a good time to sell my house?
The short answer is: Yes!
There is an assumption that rising rates have pushed prices down. However, that has not yet happened.
There was a house on the market as recently as last week [...]
I’m always noticing how living in a walkable suburb feels different from other suburbs, but also how it feels different than living in a city. One of the walkable perks I notice again and again in Montclair are all the Little Free Libraries.
If you’re not familiar, these are little “book houses” people build that sit in their front yard, [...]
