There were 399* residential homes sold in West Orange, New Jersey last year, down by just 60  compared to what was sold via the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS) in 2008. To show stabilization West Orange needs to creep back up pass the 400 mark in residential home sales via GSMLS.

I must note, my reports always includes information gathered from GSMLS so if there’s a private seller, new construction or new development that is not selling via the GSMLS it won’t be tracked here. For example, I’ve seen newspaper ads that have said the new development Vizcaya has sold quite a few units but only one shows up on GSMLS. Vizcaya sales, however, will be similar to Llewellyn Park meaning a million dollar sale in either of these two developments in town does not directly correlate to increased value to the rest of the town’s housing stock.

View the full list of all the West Orange residential homes sold in 2009. This list will show the address, list price, sales price, how many days the house was on the market, and how close the owners got to their asking price, (SP/LP%). You will also see that 51 out of the 399 residential homes sold for over $600,000. Of those, 25 were townhomes, 7 were in Llewellyn Park and only 9 were homes built more than 15 years ago (and only one of those made it pass the $660,000 mark). If you’ve been following our town analysis through our quarterly Beacon report none of this will be too much of a surprise for you. For the town, the average days on market before a house went under contract was 89, just shy of 3 months. By the way, Maplewood 2009 sales show 3 1/2 months as its average days on market.

Breakdown by School Section

Overall                      $383,521                       $403,357                    95%

By Section                Avg Sales Price             Avg List Price            SP/LP%

Gregory                       $341,445                       $358,232                    95%

Hazel                           $304,163                       $323,705                    93%

Mt. Pleasant                  $476,807                       $501,987                    95%

Pleasantdale                  $320,698                       $338,068                    94%

Redwood                      $427,061                        $448,280                    95%

St. Cloud                      $357,711                        $376,225                    95%

Washington                   $230,292                        $241,062                    95%

Be careful when you look at the average prices in Mt. Pleasant and Redwood. Basically all of the new construction sits in Mt. Pleasant. Redwood has Llewellyn Park.

Contact us, Bev and Bob Meaux to learn more about the real estate market in West Orange and surrounding towns. For example, which section had the most homes sold, but which one had the least? What are buyers looking for in West Orange houses priced over $425,000? What two things can you do as a seller to get your West Orange home attention in this market?

Partner with us because we are here to make sure you win the best way you can in real estate today.

*The list of properties was pulled from the Garden State Multiple Listing Service. This will not include all the For Sale By Owners from private sellers or new construction or developments not listed through a real estate agent. All information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.