Category: #GreaterPrincetonNJ

Greater Princeton, NJ is a region located in central New Jersey, encompassing the town of Princeton and surrounding areas. It is home to prestigious universities such as Princeton University and Rider University, as well as several research institutions, including the Institute for Advanced Study and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The region offers a diverse range of cultural, recreational, and culinary experiences, including museums, parks, theaters, and restaurants. It is also conveniently located within easy access to major metropolitan areas such as New York City and Philadelphia.

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How much does it cost to own a home in the U.S.? – NJ.com

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Home prices across the United States have hit an all-time high, meaning more Americans are losing their buying power and fewer Americans are able to find affordable homes.

The median price of a home in the U.S. skyrocketed to a record $392,000 in February, according to a report from Realtor.com.

Housing prices grew at an “unusually fast” pace of 12.9%, according to the report, which also forecasted this year’s homebuying season in the spring will be very competitive.

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In New Jersey, there are at least 34 cities where the average home price exceeds $1 million.

“February’s new record high for the median listing price places housing affordability front and center for this year’s real estate markets, especially as we gear up for the spring season,” Realtor.com chief Danielle Hale told Insider.

Market trends suggest the increase in home prices could continue through the spring, which is traditionally the hottest buying season of the year.

Meanwhile, those earning around or less than the median income in the U.S., which is about $67,000 according to the U.S. Census, could be priced out because of inflation, rising mortgage rates and a lack of housing supply.

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The End Of The Housing Boom Will Be When Mortgage Rates Rise In 2022 – Forbes

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The current housing boom will flatten in 2022—or possibly early 2023—when mortgage interest rates rise. There is no bubble to burst, though prices may retreat from panic-buying highs.

The boom produced some frantic buying, bids in excess of asking prices, and plenty of worry among would-be homeowners. But this has not been a bubble. A bubble is not simply rising prices, but demand not justified by fundamental economic factors. The key to the buying boom has been low mortgage rates plus a shift in desired housing type.

Mortgage rates hit what was then an all-time low of four percent in 2011, and then remained in that neighborhood until the pandemic, when they hit three percent. The decline in mortgage rates in 2020 dropped the monthly payment on a house by 12 percent, enabling many people to buy houses now rather than later.

In addition to the low mortgage rates, some people saw a future of remote work and wanted more space, which often means moving out of an apartment into a single family house. Others found urban living less fun, so they headed into the suburbs where houses are more common than apartments.

The increased demand for houses drove prices up, quite predictably. Yet the supply could not adjust as fast as demand. Home builders ramped up production in the second half of 2020, but after a few months they ran into supply constraints. Ready-to-build lots were all bought up, labor for construction was hard to find and social distancing made workers less productive. Now rising materials prices and goods on back-order squeeze profit margins. That’s how we find ourselves in the current housing boom.

But this boom is not a bubble, because the rise in prices is easily explained by the fundamentals of cheap mortgages and supply limitations. Recent housing starts are below historical averages, though that is justified by lower population growth. But with the shift from multifamily to single family housing, recent construction levels make sense. There need be no sudden drop in new construction to maintain a reasonable equilibrium.

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When will the boom end? The two keys are satisfying the new demand and mortgage rates. Low mortgage rates allowed young families to buy houses earlier than they otherwise would have. It did not change the economics of buying for people who were never going to be homeowners. Instead, low mortgage rates enabled people to achieve their dreams earlier than they otherwise would have. In this sense, the strong housing market of 2020 and 2021 has been borrowing from the future. However, the shift in preferences from urban living to suburban living by people who previously could have bought houses is permanent new demand. At least, so long as they don’t become disillusioned about homeownership.

Mortgage rates are likely to rise when financial markets anticipate more inflation and action by the Federal Reserve to stem inflation. Although the Fed’s traditional tools impact short-term rates, with only small effect on mortgage rates, the new actions by the Fed impact mortgages directly. The Fed has been buying mortgages wholesale, depressing mortgage interest rates. The Fed has also been buying many treasury securities, which are often competitors to mortgages for institutional investors.

Mortgage rates are likely to rise a full percentage point by mid-2022, though this forecast exceeds the average prediction of my fellow economists. They doubt long-term interest rates will rise by a percentage point even out to December 2022. If they are right and I am wrong, then the housing market will remain strong longer.

Business leaders in the housing supply chain should enjoy their strong sales this year but not anticipate further growth in the coming years. Major capital projects must pencil out with sales back at 2019 levels.

Prospective home buyers should probably chill. It’s been a tough buying season. Although prices are unlikely to fall nationwide, there will probably be easier buying opportunities in 2023.

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Your Inflation Questions, Answered – The New York Times

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Inflation is high and has been for months. It’s weighing on consumer confidence, making policymakers nervous and threatening to eat away at household paychecks well into 2022.

This is the first time many adults have experienced meaningful inflation: Price gains had been largely quiescent since the late 1980s. When the Consumer Price Index climbed 7 percent in the year through December, it was the fastest pace since 1982.

Naturally, people have questions about what this will mean for their pocketbooks, their finances and their economic futures.

Closely intertwined with price worries are concerns about interest rates: The Federal Reserve is poised to raise borrowing costs to try to slow down demand and keep the situation under control.

To bring some clarity to a complicated situation, we collected more than 600 reader questions, narrowed them down to a handful that reflected common themes, and asked top economists and experts — from the White House, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, academia and financial advisory firms — to weigh in. Here is what they had to say.

What would cause prices to keep increasing vs. staying at their current level? Why wouldn’t competition keep prices in check? — Nick Altmann, Chicago

Prices have been rising for two basic reasons: Consumers are buying a lot of goods and services, and supply is limited.

Consumer demand is the easier part of that equation to explain. Households saved money during long months of lockdown in 2020, often helped by repeated government stimulus checks and other payments. Some saw their wealth further buoyed by a rising stock market and soaring home prices. Now, jobs are plentiful and wages are rising, further shoring up many families’ finances. People have money, and they want to spend it on services and, more than usual, on goods like furniture and camping gear.

That rapid consumption is running up against constrained supply. Factories shut down early in the pandemic, and in parts of Asia, they continue to do so as Omicron cases surge. There aren’t enough containers to ship all of the goods people want to buy, and ports have become clogged trying to process so many imports.

As companies have struggled to get their hands on enough goods to go around, many have raised prices, in many cases to cover their own climbing costs. Some, noticing that they and their competitors were able to charge more without crushing consumer demand, have tested how far they can push up prices — expanding their profits.

In theory, competition should eat away at extra earnings over time. New firms should jump into the market to sell that same products for less and steal away the customer. Existing competitors should ramp up production to meet demand.

But this may be a unappealing time for new firms to enter the market. Established companies may be hesitant to expand production if doing so involved a lot of investment, because it is not clear how long today’s strong demand will last.

“It is a very uncertain environment,” said Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. “A new firm stepping in is a lot of investment, with a lot of financial risk.”

Until companies can produce and transport enough of a given product to go around — as long as shortages remain — companies will be able to raise prices without running much risk of losing customers to a competitor.

In past periods of inflation, do employers typically increase wages or award higher-than-average yearly increases to help employees offset inflation? If so, in what industries is this practice most common? — Annmarie Kutz, Erie, Pa.

There is no standard historical experience with wages and inflation, Mary C. Daly, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said during an interview with The New York Times on Twitter Spaces last week.

Wages did increase sharply alongside inflation in the 1970s and 1980s, but in the decades since, pay has struggled to keep pace with price increases. Factors like unionization, worker bargaining power and the state of the labor market all affect whether companies pay more. Those can vary quite a bit by sector. For instance, lower-wage service industries have been competing mightily for workers in recent months, and pay is climbing faster there.

“The history isn’t so clear that cost of living translates into higher wages, but that’s largely because inflation has been low and stable for a very long time,” Ms. Daly said.

Is inflation a valid reason for asking for a raise (or a larger raise than I would otherwise receive)? In addition to other merits (work performance, role change, etc.), does my reduced purchasing power due to inflation give me ground to stand on when negotiating my new salary? — Deirdre Kennedy, St Paul, Minn.

Several economists and advisers agreed: Higher prices can be a valid reason to ask for a raise.

“Absolutely sit down with your boss and say, ‘I’m a great performer, I do this work, I want to stay with the company but it’s been harder and harder to make ends meet and I would like to talk about some compensation to make that easier,’” Ms. Daly said last week.

I’m 55 and on track to have put aside enough for a modest but workable retirement in 10-15 years. How much less might my savings and investments be worth in the face of current trends? I’m concerned I won’t have enough time to bounce back if it gets really bad and that higher prices will eat up my resources long before I die. — Jon Willow, Interlochen, Mich.

There’s good news here: Hardly any economists or policymakers expect today’s inflation to last. Fed officials in December projected that price gains will drop back below 3 percent by the end of the year, and will level off to normal levels over the longer term.

That’s a reason to avoid reacting too swiftly, advisers said. But if you do worry inflation will last, there are a few ways to assess how it might affect your savings, said Christine Benz, Morningstar’s director of personal finance.

She recommended that investors take a look at their sources of income. Social Security and many government pensions are adjusted for inflation, so those should keep pace with price gains. Bonds that pay back fixed rates do less well during periods of inflation, while stock investments — though riskier — tend to rise more quickly than consumer prices. Ms. Benz recommends holding assets across an array of securities, potentially including inflation-protected securities such as some exchange-traded funds or Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, commonly called TIPS.

“It argues against having too much in cash,” Ms. Benz said. “That’s too much dead money.”

We currently have low unemployment, strong wage growth (largely through attrition / voluntary retirements), easy monetary policy and now rising inflation. What are other periods of time when the United States had these conditions? How did things work out then? — Harshal Patel, Moorestown, N.J.

Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, pointed to the post-World War II period as a reference point for the present moment.

“Demand was strong, and supply was constrained,” he said in an interview. “That’s a very instructive path for us.”

The good news about that example is that supply eventually caught up, and prices came down without spurring any greater crisis.

Other, more worried commentators have drawn parallels between now and the 1970s, when the Fed was slow to raise rates as unemployment fell and prices rose — and inflation jumped out of control. But many economists have argued that important differences separate that period from this one: Workers were more heavily unionized and may have had more bargaining power to push for higher wages back then, and the Fed was slow to react for years on end. This time, it’s already gearing up to respond.

Why are price controls thought to be a highly disfavored response to inflation? — Jim Moher, San Leandro, Calif.

In the 1970s, former President Richard Nixon tried wage and price controls — which put a cap on how much pay can rise — to control inflation. The freezes worked for a time, but prices rocketed up when they were lifted, and they got a bad rap among economists. That reputation has haunted them ever since. We asked experts about price controls in a recent article, and vocal minority think the 1970s experience unfairly tarnished the idea and that it might be worthwhile to reopen the debate.

“This is a great suppressed topic,” said James K. Galbraith, an economist at the University of Texas. “It was absolutely mainstream from the start of World War II until the Reagan administration.”

If inflation is being caused by supply chain problems, how will raising interest rates help? — Larry Harris, Ventura, Calif.

Kristin J. Forbes, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that a big part of today’s inflation ties to roiled supply chains, which monetary policy can’t do much to fix.

But trade is actually happening at elevated levels even amid the disruptions. Factories are producing, ships are shipping, and consumers are buying at a rapid clip. It is just that supply is not keeping up with that booming demand. Higher interest rates can relieve pressure on demand, making it more expensive to buy a boat or a car, cooling off the housing market and slowing business investment.

“A good part of the supply chain problems, you can’t do anything about,” Ms. Forbes said. “But you can affect demand. And it is the combination of the two which determines inflation.”

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5 Major Items for Check List for Selling a House

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Are you planning to sell your house? If so, there are certain things you need to do to ensure that your home is ready for sale. Having a clear check list of the major items you need to accomplish will help you stay organized and on task. Here is a look at five major items that should be included in your check list for selling a house.

Preparing Your Home for Sale

One of the major items on your check list for selling a house is to prepare your home for sale. This includes cleaning and decluttering the house. Cleaning will help open up space and make the home look more attractive to potential buyers. Additionally, decluttering will make the home look more spacious and inviting. You should also make any necessary repairs before putting your home on the market. Doing so will help ensure that there are no potential problems that could cause buyers to walk away from the deal.

Next, you should also consider staging the home. Staging the home will help potential buyers visualize themselves living in the house. You should make sure that everything is arranged in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and will help buyers imagine living in the space.

Finally, you should also look into hiring a professional photographer to capture the space. Professional photography will help make your home stand out amongst others on the market.

Maximizing Your Home’s Sale Potential

Once your house is prepared for sale, you should turn your focus to maximizing its potential. You should take a look at the current market conditions and adjust your listing pricing accordingly. You should also look into what buyers in your area are looking for and make adjustments as needed.

You should also make sure that your home is properly advertised. This includes listing your home on appropriate real estate sites as well as marketing it on social media. Additionally, you should also look into hosting open houses or virtual tours to help attract potential buyers.

Finally, you should also consider hiring a real estate agent to help you throughout the process. An experienced real estate agent can help you find the best buyers and negotiate the best prices. Plus, they will have the expertise and resources that you need to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Selling a house can be a complex and time-consuming process. However, having a clear check list of the major items that need to be accomplished can help make the process easier. By following the five major items on this check list for selling a house, you can ensure that your home is prepared for sale and that its potential is maximized.

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Rosy
Real Estate Agent
Coldwell Banker

I am a Realtor in Princeton, NJ with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. I serve the residential needs of Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Lawrenceville, Hopewell, Pennington, Montgomery, Hillsborough, Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, South Brunswick, East Windsor, Cranbury, Hightstown, Robbinsville, Franklin in Counties of Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset.

Please call me with your questions on selling, buying or renting residential real estate. Thank you !

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Why Montgomery, NJ is a Desirable Place to Live?

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Montgomery, NJ is a vibrant and inviting community that offers plenty of amenities for its residents. Whether you are looking for a place to raise a family, retire, or just looking for a change of scenery, Montgomery, NJ is the perfect place to call home. With its charming neighborhoods, excellent schools, and abundant recreational opportunities, Montgomery has something for everyone.

A Thriving Community

Montgomery, NJ is a close-knit community with great people and plenty of opportunities for its residents. The town’s thriving small business community offers a variety of shops and restaurants to choose from. There’s also great local events throughout the year, such as the seasonal farmers market, concerts in the park, and the annual holiday parade. The town also has a strong sense of civic pride and encourages its residents to become involved with local causes and organizations.

Montgomery, NJ also has some of the best schools in the state. The town’s public schools are consistently rated among the best in the area, with many of them receiving national recognition for their academic excellence. Moreover, the town has an array of private schools and specialized learning centers for children of all ages.

Abundant Amenities

Montgomery, NJ has something for everyone, no matter what your interests may be. There are plenty of parks and recreational activities like biking, hiking, and boating. There are also several sports teams, golf courses, and a variety of cultural activities for the whole family to enjoy.

The town also boasts a number of shopping, dining, and entertainment opportunities. There are several malls and shopping centers, as well as plenty of boutique shops and restaurants. Additionally, the town has a variety of nightlife options, with numerous bars, restaurants, and music venues.

Montgomery, NJ is an ideal place to live, work, and play. With its vibrant community and abundance of amenities, Montgomery is the perfect place to call home. Whether you are looking for a new place to raise a family or just wanting to try something different, Montgomery is a great place to start.

609-915-9665
Rosy
Real Estate Agent
Coldwell Banker

I am a Realtor in Princeton, NJ with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. I serve the residential needs of Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Lawrenceville, Hopewell, Pennington, Montgomery, Hillsborough, Belle Mead, Rocky Hill, South Brunswick, East Windsor, Cranbury, Hightstown, Robbinsville, Franklin in Counties of Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset.

Please call me with your questions on selling, buying or renting residential real estate. Thank you !

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2021-01 New Jersey Housing Market News

2021-01 New Jersey Housing Market News
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