Morris County, This Week

Sam Welcome to Morris County, This Week, by Weichert Realtors, Morristown. Today we will be discussing the housing market in Morristown.

Jess Thanks for listening. And I want to start with a picture, because this one surprised me.

Sam Go ahead.

Jess Picture the Green on a Sunday. Now picture the hundred houses for sale within a few miles of it. Twenty-one of them have a little note in the listing that says the price came down. One in five sellers in Morristown has already blinked.

Sam One in five. And that's before the fall market even gets going.

Jess Right. So that's the episode today. Why is a fifth of the town cutting the price, in a county where everything is supposed to be expensive? And what do you do about it if you're the one buying, or the one selling?

Sam Let's start with the expensive part, because the numbers are a little backwards from what people expect. These are Garden State MLS figures, off our own site this week.

Jess Okay.

Sam The average asking price in Morristown right now is seven hundred fifteen thousand, six hundred dollars. The average asking price across Morris County is eight hundred ninety-three thousand, seven hundred.

Jess So the town is cheaper than the county.

Sam By our math, a hundred seventy-eight thousand, one hundred dollars cheaper. The town everybody wants to walk around in is the discount.

Jess Which makes no sense until you look at one more number.

Sam The year built. The average house for sale in Morristown was built in 1954. The average for Morris County is 1972.

Jess Eighteen years. That's the whole story, isn't it?

Sam I think it is. We have the old houses. Morristown was a town before most of the county was a suburb. So you're comparing a 1950s colonial with the original radiators to a 1970s split-level with a two-car garage, and the split-level asks more.

Jess And an old house is exactly the kind of house where a seller guesses wrong on price.

Sam That's my read too. You price it for the charm and the walk to the Green. The buyer walks in and prices it for the roof and the electrical. Somewhere between those two numbers is the twenty-one price cuts.

Jess Here's the thing, though. It's not that nobody wants these houses.

Sam No. Look at days on website. Morristown is thirty-one days. Morris County is fifty-two.

Jess So the town moves faster than the county.

Sam Three weeks faster. People are buying here. They're just not paying the first number.

Jess It's like a farmers market at noon. Everything's still going to sell. The price just isn't what it was at eight-thirty.

Sam That's it exactly. So let's do the advice, because that's what this is for.

Jess If you're buying.

Sam If you're buying in Morristown this month, start with the twenty-one. Those are the sellers who've already told you they'd rather sell than wait. And don't let the town's average scare you off. Seven fifteen is an average of a whole range. The most expensive house in town right now is thirty-five Hamilton Road, listed at one million, five hundred forty-nine thousand by Prominent Properties S-I-R. That one house pulls the average up for everybody.

Jess So the number on a house you'd actually buy is probably under the average.

Sam Often, yes. Get pre-approved, know your ceiling, and go look at the old houses with a good inspector.

Jess And if you're selling?

Sam If you're selling, the market just told you the rule for the fall. Price it right on day one. Thirty-one days is how long a well-priced house in this town takes to find its buyer. If you're past thirty-one days and quiet, you're not waiting for the market. You're joining the twenty-one.

Jess And a price cut in week five costs you more than pricing it right in week one.

Sam Every time. The house is the same. The first impression isn't.

Jess Okay. Let's get out of the spreadsheet, because September in Morristown is the good month.

Sam It really is. Three things. First, the farmers market. Every Sunday, eight-thirty to one, in Lot 10J at Spring and Morris, behind the post office. Live music every week, free parking, and it runs through November twenty-second.

Jess I go for the tomatoes and stay for the band.

Sam Second. MPAC, a hundred South Street. Saturday, September twelfth at eight, it's the Australian Pink Floyd Show. Tickets are sixty-seven to a hundred twenty-four dollars.

Jess That's the one for the kids who grew up on The Wall.

Sam And the big one. Sunday, September twenty-seventh, the Festival on the Green. Noon to five, rain or shine, downtown. Music on several stages, rides and games for the kids, a beer tent, and more than a hundred sixty-five booths.

Jess If you're new in town, that's the day you meet it.

Sam That's the day.

Jess So here's what I'd leave you with. A hundred houses for sale, and twenty-one of them already came down. Sounds like a soft market until you notice they sell three weeks faster than the rest of the county. Morristown isn't slow. It's just honest about what an old house is worth, a little sooner than the seller is.

Sam Thanks for listening to Morris County, This Week. If you have questions about real estate in Morristown, we're here to help. Reach out to us at Weichert Realtors, Morristown. That's Weichert Realtors online at morristown dot weichert dot com, or call nine seven three, three five eight, oh five one eight.