Bergen County Luxury Real Estate News
March 2006, Week 1

Bergen County Real Estate News

Bergen county news with an emphasis on aspects affecting real estate, residency and community issues.

Affordable Houses in Bergen County 
The Bergen County Town of Teaneck Receives Grants
Homes Up for Rent in Bergenfield to Be Registered and Inspected
New Jersey Home Builder Get Bigger
Prices of Homes for Sale now Touch Ground Levels

Affordable Houses in Bergen County

While the Bergen County borough at Elmwood Park has a state mandate to provide 81 affordable houses for sale, little seems to be getting done in that regard. This is because the Bergen County town has little vacant space to build home upon, and officials do not know where to put up the new homes for sale. Troubles have come up on the affordable housing front when the borough added 39 more houses for sale to an existing obligation of 42 units of affordable houses. If the housing plan is not submitted to the state of New Jersey for certification soon, the borough could attract potential lawsuits from real estate developers. A study of the real estate property in Bergen County on which the housing could come up is under way and may take a month as the town is highly developed.

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The Bergen County Town of Teaneck Receives Grants

The town of Teaneck in Bergen County is in for new improvements as a $250,000 state grant has been approved for use towards parking improvements in the Teaneck's Ward Plaza. The money is planned to be used for adding parking space, a landscaped island and lighting on the north side of Teaneck's main street. While Teaneck had asked for $600,000 in grants only this much was provided towards engineering costs. However it is still not determined as to how the town plans to raise the remaining funds. Officials say that as this is undetermined, the project may be done in a phased manner. The Ward Plaza where the renovation is intended is situated near the Teaneck armory and is a popular parking place for commuters.

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Homes Up for Rent in Bergenfield to Be Registered and Inspected

Several residents in Bergenfield are suing the Bergen County borough over an ordinance that requires all homes for rent to be registered and inspected. As per the law, homeowners need to get their home for rent, apartment for rent or room for rent that is being rented out inspected by a municipal officer. The officer would test the home to see whether the property complies with the standards for lighting, ventilation and occupancy, as adopted by the International Property Maintenance Code. While this ordinance was set up in the year 2003 to prevent illegal housing, many Bergenfield Bergen County residents feel that the law is a violation of the Fourth amendment. Residents feel that officers have no right to inspect the Bergen County homes of people without any warrant or any probable cause. The usual practice involves annual registration and inspections for all homeowners who decide to give their home for rent. The registration and inspection cost $50 per unit, and failure to do so results in a fine of $1,000 or more for the homeowner.

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New Jersey Home Builder Get Bigger

Home builders throughout Bergen County and rest of US are now getting bigger through big consolidations. While the trend of firms consolidating actually began in the mid 1990s, it is only now at its top. As per the National Association of Realtors, the last decade has seen over 150 companies being acquired or merged. However only the top builders seem to be getting bigger, as most of the consolidation is confined to the top ten names of builders. Among them too, share of the top five names has grown by over 40%. In New Jersey, Hovananian Enterprises of Red Bank is the largest home builder and it acquired Town & Country Homes, in March last year. Town & Country Homes is a privately held home builder in Lombard, III.

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Prices of Homes for Sale now Touch Ground Levels

The high rise in prices of homes for sale is all set to return to ground levels with the year 2006. Forecasters predict that while the demand for housing will continue to remain strong this year, the prices of homes for sale will surely come down. As per the National Association of Realtors, it is predicted that prices of homes for sale will rise nationally by about 6 percent in 2006. This will translate as a rise to a median of $221,400 from a median of $208,800 nationwide for existing single-family homes. However, prices will be much higher for homes in Bergen County and other parts of North Jersey. The New York metropolitan area will also have high priced homes this year. As per reports, existing houses in the North Jersey-New York metro region are selling for a median of more than $500,000, and new construction here is bound to be even more expensive. Click here for more on the fall in the prices of homes for sale.

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Let an Expert Guide You through Your Next Real Estate Deal

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• Six Ways To Beat The Stress Of Buying A Home
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• Things You Should Know about Moving
• When Selling a Home

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