Cranbury home $975,000 (N. Main St.; reduced; gone?)

[Guest]

$1,100,000
4 Bed, 2.5 Bath
0.47 Acres

Single Family Property, Area: Cranbury Twp, County: Middlesex County, Approximately 0.47 acre(s), Age: 110 year(s) old, Two story, Central air conditioning, Basement, Dining room, Den, Laundry room, Hardwood floors

# Year Built: 1890
# Heating features: Baseboard, Gas Heat, Radiator(s), Steam
# Central air conditioning
# Interior features: Attic, Breakfast area, Built-in oven, Cooktop range, Dishwasher, Disposal, Foyer/vestibule, Kitchen isle, Main floor laundry, Master bathroom, Natural gas water heater, Pantry, Refrigerator, Self-cleaning oven, Sitting room/area, Tile flooring, Walk-in closet(s), Wall to wall carpeting, Wood floors, Family room on main floor, Master bedroom upstairs, Rooms: Den, Sitting, B'Fast
# Exterior features: Automatic garage door, Deck, Detached garage, Patio, Porch, Public sewer service, Public water supply
# Exterior construction: Wood siding
# Approximate lot is 61X337
...

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/93-N-Main-St_Cranbury_NJ_08512_1105022192

[Guest]

This appears to be 93 N. Main Street.

Continuing in a recent trend, the owners ppear to be asking substantially over the reassessment value done at the peek of the market in 2006. The reassessment valued it at $959,500. It was most recently purchased in 2001 in mid-December 2001 (i.e. almost 2002) for $545,500.

I have not seen the inside. Perhaps it could could be a spread in Town & Country.

Short of that, it appears over-priced.

There is also another home that is larger and was completely re-build and finished from the ground up just a few houses up the street from this one selling in the same price range.

[Guest]

If I'm not mistaken, this home was on the Cranbury House Tour 2 years ago, and is spectacular inside. The owner is an architect and completely renovated the house after he bought it. If this is indeed that house, $1.1M seems to be a very fair asking price.

[Guest]

[Guest]

Property tax assessment is not always true market value. For instance, When figuring value of a historical home, it is often difficult, especially since it has changed over time and now is unique. There is no other home exactly the same. So, value is often is figured on replacement cost if you had to build the same size house with # of bedrooms, bathrooms, ect. Brand NEW.

Not only that - Tax assessment uses “Equalization”. It is the process of insuring that each property in every taxing district carries its fair, legal share of the burden of taxation. Equalization in property taxation can mean either ensuring a just assessed value is placed on individual properties as compared to other properties within a taxing district or that true values assigned to entire municipalities are fair and just.

[Guest]

thats also the reason the older homes in NJ have sold for much higher - becuase of the lower tax valuation. If you search on websites for older homes in good neigborhoods throughout NJ, CT, NY and PA you will see that its tax assessment is sometimes 2/3rd or 1/2 the actual market value. It also depends on when it was done but in high tax states, you will find these older homes are sought after and some times very hard to find becuase of the character and how unique the prior homeowner has custmized it. Most are more modern inside then the larger cookiecutter homes. Go on one of the Cranbury Historic tours and you will see lots of examples.

[Guest]

Yes and that house was assessed just last year and its taxes probably went up 2 or 3 times, like others in this town. So lets calculate the savings by owning this historic home over time.

You were paying for taxes on a house assessed at $300K for 10yrs that is really worth $1.1 or so fair market today. That saved the current owner quite a lot of mulla to be used to help send his kids to a good colledge or reinvest and modernized his current home.

Nice job 93 N Main, good financial planning. You have a wonderful house, I envy the new owners.

[Guest]

[Guest]

The listing agent on this house has two other Cranbury historic homes on the market. Both have had to significantly reduce their price since the first listing. And both are still on the market. This leads me to believe this agent is still far too bullish when it comes to the real estate market. Time to wake up and look at reality.

[Jeff M.]

As anyone who has bought and sold knows the agent provides comps and often they are on the low side to do a quick sell. The owners then set their price. A lot of people will simply over price as they over value their own homes which then leads to a reduction. Definitely not saying this is the case here or that it is or is not worth the price. Just responding about agents.

[Guest]

The barn has been converted into a garage for 2 cars and 2 finished rooms + room for a bath upstairs if desired.

Nice!

[Guest]

I bet it is a great and beautiful home. I look forward to seeing it if they have an open house...

I think the challenge is there is just very little in the way of an established market for over $1M older homes on Main Street, no matter how nicely renovated or upgraded. I have seen many list above $1M, but even in the better market most didn't sell there. I recall there was one on South Main that was gorgeous on the inside, totally re-done, near the fire station but across the street, with a huge 1+ acre backyard. Absolutely nothing but great things to say about it. And it sold at approximately the peek of the market at I believe $899,000.

I'm not convinced it is the brokers who are encouraging the high ask prices. They want it to be priced right for a quick sale. Usually it is the sellers who have some combination of things going on in their heads: a) They know how much they put into the upgrades and incorrectly presume that should be relevant to the sale price; b) They believe their house is unique and special and therefore better than all comps and immune to market conditions (though this is rarely how buyers see it); c) They are ambivalent about selling and are putting it on the market at the price they want to see if they get lucky but aren't motivated to "price it right" for the marketplace. The problem with the latter is it contributes to the poor overall market right now because it just adds unrealistic inventory to the market of unsold houses and undermines the “days on market” average for our market.

[Guest]

[Guest]

You do understand that realtors don't select the price, but the homeowners do. The agents ideally would want the lowest possible list price because it means a quick sale. I actually considered selling my home and had 3 agents including this one come in for discussion. They all presented comps and discussed their price. What they thought was the market was not what I wanted for my home so we did not sell.

However, if I had to sell or wanted to cash out I likely would have put my home on the market at my price.

[Guest]

[Guest]

new price: $975,000.