OT: Looking for a house
- Thread starter Adam2744
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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Id help you out but i really only work in essex/morris/hudson/passaic counties.
My biggest piece of advice for you is to first find a realtor who has good local knowledge and a nice rolodex of people they can refer you to (attorney, home inspection, mortgage broker, moving co, etc). No buyer wants to have to call listing agent after listing agent to schedule appointments, and contrary to popular belief going directly to listing agents is in your WORST interest, legally they cannot give you advice on anything due to dual agency regulations
My biggest piece of advice for you is to first find a realtor who has good local knowledge and a nice rolodex of people they can refer you to (attorney, home inspection, mortgage broker, moving co, etc). No buyer wants to have to call listing agent after listing agent to schedule appointments, and contrary to popular belief going directly to listing agents is in your WORST interest, legally they cannot give you advice on anything due to dual agency regulations
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my daughter is possibly looking in central Jersey soon..... Your post confuses me, it seems like you are at first suggesting you find a realtor that can give you attornies, home inspectors, etc....and then it seems like you are saying it is in your worst interest to go directly to listing agents.
With zillow and realtor.com, more and more buyers are contacting the listing agent directly. It is in your best interest to work with a realtor who represents you as the buyer, who can contact listing agents and provide advice etc.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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What mesa said. You want buyers agents representation. DO NOT go directly to listing agents. Legally theyre not allowed to negotiate price or inspection items on a buyers behalf whereas a buyers agents could
He recommended going to listing agent as they legally have to put the sellers interests ahead of you. Use another agent whose priority will be you. If sale goes through the 2 agents split their portion of the commission.
Adam,
Put together a list of your most important must haves. Focus on the things offered by the town/location and not the things in the house. So an example of important things would be school system, commute to work, distance to family, things to do and etc. Once you find the town/area that meets those needs then think about your house. You can google school district ranking and Middlesex looks to top half but in th 100-200 range. So good, not great.
Put together a list of your most important must haves. Focus on the things offered by the town/location and not the things in the house. So an example of important things would be school system, commute to work, distance to family, things to do and etc. Once you find the town/area that meets those needs then think about your house. You can google school district ranking and Middlesex looks to top half but in th 100-200 range. So good, not great.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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Well no. Technically if you go to the listing agent directly they become a dual agent and therefore cannot over represent neither buyer nor seller and therefore they literally do nothing at all besides relay the sellers offer to buyer and buyers offer to seller.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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I’ll also say dont put too much emphasis on the schools, a #75 ranked school probably has the same teaching quality of a #10 ranked school. School rankings are the biggest scam/joke out there. It all comes down to how seriously those families treat education. For example, Livingston has a great deal of asian families who school their kids 6-7 days a week, they test better on standardized exams but does that mean the teachers in Livingston are better than teachers in North Caldwell? No.
I would agree the 10th best school may be as good as the 50th ranked school but I would stay way from the 200th ranked school most likely. If you want your kids to be pushed to succeed, look at SAT score ranking too as Kids will want to perform at the level of their piers.
I come across this sentiment a lot and it is bologna. Realtors do much more than people give them credit for. I'm a real estate attorney and my fees are higher when there is no realtor involved because we will need to pick up a lot of slack that the Realtors normally do.
There's no good reason for a buyer not to have their own realtor.
Middlesex is a nice middle-class community. Decent schools, good youth sports programs (especially baseball).
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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Especially considering its a free service for a buyer. And heres an interesting stat for you. The more a seller pays in commission, the more money they net on their home sale.
Realtors can be a very valuable tool in a real estate transaction, as is your real estate attorney. They have separate roles which sometimes overlap. My only recommendation is to not go with the least expensive option for home inspections (if the budget allows). I’ve found that you get what you pay for. Full disclosure: like KingHigh, I am also a real estate attorney.
I looked all over Middlesex, Piscataway, Edison, New Brunswick before finally buying in Piscataway last May. I strongly recommend the realtor Dave Molinaro at 908-256-5707 from Remax. We looked for over a year and he never once tried to push us into anything, was very knowledgeable/friendly. Walked us through every step, great guy.
My only bit of advice is to take the time to visit the neighborhoods at several different times: weekday and weekends. Get a sense of it is a bedroom community, if families are out and active or if there are problems/crime around.
I agree realtors are helpful. It seems easy with Zillow, but realtors often get listing before Zillow.
In my case, I was honed in on a condo building here in JC, my realtor knew I liked it, she talked to others about the reputation and gave me feedback AND she then sent me a listing where I now live within hours of it coming on market, before it hit Zillow, which allowed me to put in the first offer and gave me my spot.
In my case, I was honed in on a condo building here in JC, my realtor knew I liked it, she talked to others about the reputation and gave me feedback AND she then sent me a listing where I now live within hours of it coming on market, before it hit Zillow, which allowed me to put in the first offer and gave me my spot.
Not always the case. Atlantic City HS is ranked very low but I know a few families who go there and they say if you are in the AP classes and a high achieving student it’s actually really good. It’s ranked low due to the dropout rate and sat scores
Regarding Dave’s point, I’d say Middlesex is a pretty active community with people out and about. Also has a low crime rate and really no “bad” areas. I don’t live there but it’s the next town over and have many friends there and shop, dine, or go through it quite a bit.
On paper, Middlesex is an interesting town. Only 3.5 sq miles, it grew to capacity during the 1960s and has actually lost population since the 1970 census. Pop density is just below 4,000/sq mile. Anything over 4,000/sq mile is associated with issues that start to impact suburban quality of life. So, Middlesex grew to it's max over 50 years ago and is what it is. Very stable community.
Middlesex is a good little town. Youth sports are big. Football was state champs this year. Have many friends that teach there. Never heard anything bad about the schools.
Baseball also won states this year. A good friend has 3 kids in the school system and sports programs. He grew up in Middlesex and is bow choosing to raise his family there. That should say something. I get a strong sense of town pride from everyone I meet from Middlesex , which I think means something. It's a nice small town .
And Sapore Ravioli is there!
Oh I am just messing with you baseball is a fine activity
I wouldn't use an inspector referred by your realtor.
Yeah, if you really don't care about your kids, don't pay attention to the schools. Good lord.
Not only should you pay attention to the district, you should find out about the schools within each catchment area of the district. The problem is that it is hard to find folks with good information on that, and realtors just want to close sales.
Not only should you pay attention to the district, you should find out about the schools within each catchment area of the district. The problem is that it is hard to find folks with good information on that, and realtors just want to close sales.
The question becomes what do you want in a town do you want something smallish or more of a towny feel to it? How much is cost a factor? Could you move further west Bridgeqater has nice reasonably priced sections good school districts and relatively low taxes. Further west you actually get more house and land for you money and Branchburg and Hunterdon have nice school districts as well Somerville has a great town feel with the downtown area but the taxes are high. Most of the time school relate more to resale than personal experience of the school itself. If you want to go a little further North you can get into Basking Ridge which has excellent schools.
I have a friend who grew up in Middlesex and loved it even moved back when he first got married but moved to Whitehouse Station after he had kids
I have a friend who grew up in Middlesex and loved it even moved back when he first got married but moved to Whitehouse Station after he had kids
Great Schools will give you a ranking. Also, I believe all 2000 public schools in the State were ranked within the last month or two. Good luck. $$$$