Ernie & Barb's Blog

106 Henderson Road, West Milford, NJ Open House

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:22:16 -0500

Great for the commuter, less than 2 miles to Route 23! Built in 1996, this center hall colonial may just be everything you have been looking for! Features include 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, central air, multi zone heat, central vacuum. Kitchen is open to the family room with wood burning fireplace. Summers can be spent in your own back yard --- in the large in ground pool and separate hot tub! Great street, no through traffic! Property is backed by state land for total privacy! School bus stops in front of the door!!!!

Despite the news, the open house was great!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:32:33 -0500

Lately, we have not had much activity at the open houses. Whether it be gas prices or consumer confidence, we were lucky to have one person walk through. New Jersey news has not been favorable having lost Budweiser, Barr Pharma being bought out by Israel, and now Roche! We are told that we have been in recession for 6 months. Although we knew it, hearing it on the news confirms it.

We had so much activity on July 20th. No, we did not get an offer, but it is so refreshing to see all of these people come out in 98 degrees! We are on such a high right now that our optimism and energy is going to sell this home very quickly! We have e mailed everyone who gave their email address also..... It was truly a great turnout and a great lift for us! Never lose hope! This home is going to sell, end of story!

Mold Issue, What to Do!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:58:24 -0500

Our seller is frantic, the home inspection today showed Black Mold on the sheathing in the attic! We are used to septic issues, even lead paint and oil tank issues, but we never had a mold issue, except in lower levels on sheet rock where it could be cut out.

So, the home inspector told us about this while we were trying to calm down the seller, who will of course, remediate the problem! The roof is about 8 years old and was installed without a ridge vent....... The question ...........would this be easier to try to remediate by cleaning or try to cut out......

Any thoughts on how this should be handled will be much appreciated, the closing on this home is to take place in less than 4 weeks........

29 Crescent Drive, Ringwood Open House July 20, 2008

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:30:36 -0500

This home has just had a huge price adjustment along with a huge ($5500) property tax reduction. It is ready to go and is priced below what it cost to build in 2004. It has many upgrades including high hats throughout, hardwood floors throughout, wet bar, trex deck, dual central air, multi zone heat, and central vacuum! The baths (3) are all upgraded! It is very convenient to schools, shopping, the park and ride, and less than 32 miles to the George Washington Bridge!

July 20, 2008 from 1 to 4 PM .......we hope to see you there!

Bad News for New Jersey

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:02:56 -0500

It was announced today on the New Jersey news channel. New Jersey is in a recession and has been for 6 months. According to the news, NJ will remain in recession until 2010. Not sure that that is a believable time frame, but it does not help the folks out there hearing this! First it was Budweiser that just recently shut down their NJ plant, which affected many jobs. Now, it is another pharmaceutical company, located in Montvale, NJ, that may be bought by a company from Israel that manufactures generic drugs. Too many people in this state have government jobs that continue to get big raises through the courtesy of our tax dollars! The forecast is that 20,000 more jobs will be lost before this ends. We pay very high taxes and very high auto insurance premiums. Government spending needs to be addressed in this state. Where else did they want to put toll booths on route 80? We could be faced with a ghost state before long. As the baby boomers approach retirement, they will surely move out of this state. Our taxes keep on going up and up as folks are trying to feed their families .....wonder where they think everyone is getting this money from???? It is truly bad news for New Jersey! While we are somewhat fortunate, our hearts go out to those who are not.

Disclosure and the Golden Rule

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:32:28 -0500

Don't be caught cutting corners by failing to make proper disclosure. It is illegal for the seller and the agent not to disclose facts that could affect the saleability of a home.

Material facts, if omitted, may get you caught and faced with charges that will affect your license! Material facts are anything that would affect a buyer's decision to purchase.

If the roof leaks, a gallon of Kilz may disguise the stains, but it will not stop the leak! Get the roof repaired or replaced! If the basement floods, disclose it! If you get the home waterproofed, you can honestly answer that "yes, we had some flooding but have not had any incidents since we had our waterproofing done! "

Insurance claims will be discovered the minute the prospective buyer applies for a homeowner's policy. If the buyer finds out that way, your sale will be dead and you will still have an unsaleable home. Everything must be disclosed----- They will find out.......Realtors are not home inspectors. They must rely on the information supplied by the seller on the disclosure.

As a buyers agent, it takes 2 minutes and a quick phone call to the local building department to inquire about any outstanding building permits! Of course if the homeowner did not apply for a permit, there would be nothing on file. It's all about due diligence and doing the right thing! When all is said and done, the finger always gets pointed at the realtor!

92 Broadway, West Milford, NJ - Lakefront!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:45:39 -0500

Truly a view to come home to! Enjoy year round views of the lake and mountains, all the seasons are visible from nearly every window in this home. Great lower level with 1/2 bath, fireplace, and great views! Upper level has hardwood floors, full bath, 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, dining area with sliders to large deck! Almost 1/2 acre of property on the lake, swim from your own back yard! Beach is very close. 2 car garage with electric openers!!!!!Located in lower West Milford for an easy commute to routes 23 & 287.

45 Carter Road, Wanaque, NJ

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:15:47 -0500

Beautiful townhome built in 2001 and is move in. Professionally painted, carpets cleaned, appliances remain.....nothing to do but move in!!!! Features include attached 1 car garage with opener, 2 bedrooms,2 1/2 baths.

Master suite with walk in closet, sliders to private balcony, bath with his/hers sinks, soaking tub. Very convenient to schools, shopping, and routes 287 & 23 for an easy commute! Living room/dining room has gas fireplace and sliders to patio, first level laundry room with extra storage! Central air! Back Beach Park is adjacent to the complex. It is the perfect choice, truly a must see!

10 Paterson Road, West Milford, NJ

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:12:07 -0500

Many possibilities --- great rent alternative, investment, first time homebuyer, summer retreat, bachelor pad! Smaller home, renovated inside and outside in 2005. Features include newer 2nd level with 2 bedrooms, siding, roof, windows, bath, and brand new front steps!!! Master bedroom has sliders to a private balcony! (Home is also for rent at $1400 per month).

Sunny eat in kitchen with sliders to large deck for the summer barbecues!!!! Living room has a pellet stove for the cold winter evenings. This is a year round home in Upper Greenwood Lake with year round activities. Enjoy swimming, jet skiing and motor boating.....only 1 block from the beach!

106 Henderson Road, West Milford, NJ

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:06:42 -0500

This area is truly one of West Milford's best kept secrets.......this beautiful home is nicely tucked away for a perfect hideaway! Over 2 acres backed up to state land, and a fenced in yard!!! Central vacuum, 2 car garage with openers and barn on property!!!! Very private road, no though traffic....Kitchen has stove plus wall oven and is open to the family room! Great home and less than 2 miles to route 23 for an easy commute!

Happy Fourth to You All!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:22:52 -0500

Think that the Macy's fireworks display is televised, if you get the opportunity to see it on tv, it is worthwhile seeing it. We have been spoiled having grown up seeing the display live, we live so close to New York City. The display is seen from both New Jersey and New York. It is quite a celebration.

But, wherever you are, please have a safe and happy holiday and enjoy the fireworks.

29 Crescent Drive, Ringwood, NJ

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:58:12 -0500

Lakes and mountains best describes historic Ringwood, NJ.

Built in 2004, this 4 bedroom, 3 full bath, 3500 + sf home sits on over 2 acres of property. Priced at $749,000 this home is ready for a new family! 7 1/2 years remain on the builders warranty.

This home features gleaming hardwood floors throughout, multi zone heat, dual cooling systems, huge great room with cathedral ceiling, wood burning fireplace and wet bar! Central vacuum, trex deck, 3 car attached garage with electric openers! Successful property tax appeal and a motivated seller makes this home the perfect choice!

Watch Those Speed Traps!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:16:23 -0500

Put on those radar detectors and watch for those speed traps. Local police are told to give out a ticket every 20 minutes in New Jersey. It could be for holding a cell phone, not wearing a seat belt -- or speeding. Many intersections here now have cameras attached to the street lights.

Check on this very interesting site below. When it comes up, click on the state. The next window is a listing of all the cities in that state. Click on your city and the speed traps are listed. We have checked this out and it seems to be accurate for the time being.

http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp

Traffic fines have tripled ...... it's better to be a few minutes late for that appointment!

Happy Father's Day Dads

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:48:29 -0500

If you are fortunate enough to have your dad, give him a hug! This is his day. I lost my dad when I was very young, so I really don't remember what it is like to have one. My dad was a realtor, a VA appraiser, and a FHA compliance inspector. I used to go with him all over the place with the Brownie camera and the tape measure that you walked, I remember that well.......I practically came out of the womb as a realtor, I took my state test before I was old enough to become a realtor, he was my inspiration and I owed that to him.....

So dads, we hope you are enjoying your day!

Do You Want to Buy a Home?

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:19:38 -0500

We realize that inventory is high and that we are all making less sales than we are used to. We have been listening to the news for almost the last hour, and can clearly see how some folks may be afraid to make a decision such as buying a home! This market is great for buying!!!!

All we heard was how many foreclosures, how many jobs were lost, gas prices going up every day. There are foreclosures, but they don't mention the percentage of homeowners that are in foreclosure. Not sure, but it is probably 1% . If I were thinking about the biggest investment of a lifetime as a buyer, maybe I would have second thoughts after listening to the media..... We are trying to focus on the positive and get our houses sold, and maybe we would if they would stop creating mass hysteria on the news! It is totally inconsistent with the facts we are getting from NAR, yes its slower but we never saw it as bad as the media portrays it to be, do you agree?

Eco Friendly Moving Tips

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:31:43 -0500

Good site to pass on to your customers. This company sells used boxes that would have normally been thrown out. They claim to be the cheapes, easiest and most earth friendly way to get boxes for packing, moving, shipping and storage......and a portion of their sales goes towards the planting of trees!!!!

Take a look at this site.

http://www.usedcardboardboxes.com/index.php?cPath=22_26

Great way to save money and help the environment!!!

This is a Must See!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:38:01 -0500

We just received this, and it is so beautiful that I had to share it with our Active Rain friends! The photography is outrageous, it is our 50 states with a slide show that will take your breath away!

The author states we can send a link to friends, so take a look and be sure to have your speakers on! It is a beautiful tribute to our Memorial Day!.....It is sure to give you chills while you get to enjoy different parts of our great country!!!!!

Enjoy!

http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm>

Justify Your Commission

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:54:23 -0500

Besides the obvious explaining to the seller how a commission is divided, we are going to try something different! They are not interested in our tax structure or how a commission gets divided.... We have to change the way the seller thinks, that we just put up a sign and put their listing into the MLS, wait for someone to buy it and collect our money!!!! This may work particularly well with a FSBO, they need to know what goes on behind the scenes. They have no idea what is involved in maintaining a listing. The ad sheets, the open houses, advertising, posting on the internet, escrows, home inspections, attorneys, follow up, and the expense involved in marketing their home, the showings, and the list goes on! We thought that we could make a copy of a closed transaction file, while protecting the identity of that client, and show them the thickness of this file and how every piece of paper protects their interests.

We have never tried this strategy before, but looking forward to trying it!!!!! Maybe we can convince them that we earn our money!

The Beach--the Barbecues, Enjoy!!!!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:19:30 -0500

We would like to wish all of you a very fun and safe Memorial Day weekend! This is the start of the summer season and the weather is supposed to be perfect in the northeast. So, if you are going to beach, getting the grills lit or going to the ballgame, just take one moment to remember our fallen heroes, we owe them so much!!!!! And, this special holiday is all about them!!!!! All of you be safe!

When You Thought You Heard it All -- Surprise!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:58:23 -0500

Yes, actually heard one of our presidential candidates on the news talking about the economy, which that person obviously knows nothing! We have to cut back we are told! Get rid of our SUV's .......save gas!

In response to the rising fuel prices!

Hello out there ----- what are we supposed to do with them! Are we all supposed to go out and get new cars to stimulate the economy? In northern NJ, you need a 4 x 4 if you want to get out of your house! And if that were not bad enough, in the same speech we are actually being told to eat less! In response to the rising food prices!

You only get one of these burgers! Are they worried about our health? Well, we stay up until 2 am in the morning .......all this good stuff for some reason is only on the news in the middle of the night. We heard this with our own ears on Fox News.......Hope this is not the way they want to fix the country!

Link Exchanges, Not a Good Thing!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:19:14 -0500

Probably many Rainers know this, but we did not ......... and we are taking care of it......

Google sees this as a scheme....we have alot of work ahead of us and already have a call into our web host..

Link schemes

Your site's ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to you. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links count towards your rating. The sites that link to you can provide context about the subject matter of your site, and can indicate its quality and popularity. However, some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact your site's ranking in search results. Examples of link schemes can include:

Links intended to manipulate PageRank
Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")
Buying or selling links that pass PageRank

The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it. Before making any single decision, you should ask yourself the question: Is this going to be beneficial for my page's visitors?

It is not only the number of links you have pointing to your site that matters, but also the quality and relevance of those links. Creating good content pays off: Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and the buzzing blogger community can be an excellent place to generate interest. In addition, submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.

Once you've made your changes and are confident that your site no longer violates our guidelines, submit your site for reconsideration.

If you'd like to discuss this with Google, or have ideas for how we can better communicate with you about it, please post in our webmaster discussion forum.

<form action="/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py" method="get" style="margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt;"> Yes No

</form> <script> function yesno(ans) { document.location='?answer=66356&topic=&useful='+ans+'&expand_useful=1&#helpful'; } function submit_form(ans){ if(ans == 'yes'){ document.location = "/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356&useful=1&show_useful=1&comment=" + escape("en") + " : " + escape(document.getElementById("comment").value) + "&#helpful"; } else{ document.location = "/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356&useful=0&show_useful=1&comment=" + escape("en") + " : " + escape(document.getElementById("info_on_page").selectedIndex) + " : " + escape(document.getElementById("further_improve").value) + "&#helpful"; } } </script>

Subway Series Today!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sat, 17 May 2008 11:14:50 -0500

Even if you are not from New York or New Jersey, you have to love the subway series!

This is a series between the New York Yankees (American League) and the New York Mets (National League). It brings the same level of excitementv as the Bronx Bombers vs. Boston Red Sox.

Neither team have been playing well at all, but we Yankees here in the east love our teams! We take it to heart when our team loses, and we are very sore losers! The Yankees need this win today ...... Root - root - root for your hometeam! Starts today, 1 PM, EDT. Take some time off today and enjoy the game!!!!

7 Days Straight of Gas Price Increase

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:22:53 -0500

The rumor came out today that Iran was going to cut production of gas, but -- the price of this increase is already reflected at the pumps! Congratulations to California, they have cut their gas consumption by 9%, and it has been cut 7% nationally. So, the environmentalists will not allow production fearing there could be a spill!!!! Hello out there--and you think dropping the gas prices 4-5 cents per gallon is going to help us? As realtors, we live in our cars. The summer season is starting and New Jersey depends alot on the South Jersey vacationers.....

Is this a test to see how far we can be pushed? With every gasoline increase, the price of that increase is reflected in groceries, tires, pharmaceuticals and so on! Hate to think what would happen if a gas station lowered their price to $3.50, there would be a line 5 miles long!

Its Cold Outside!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:57:28 -0500

Yes, it is raining, it is cold and it is windy!!! But, we are so thankful we are not having weather like some other parts of our country are! So, if you are a little down today, maybe this will cheer you up!

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right; Love the ones who don't just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly. God never said life would be easy. He just promised it would be worth it.

Try to make the most of your day!!!!!!!

Walk in sunshine!!!

My Mother is Awesome!

Ernie & Barb Suto (Century 21 Preferred Realty) — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:21:56 -0500

Well, actually she is my mother-in-law, but I could not love her more if she were my own mother. She has never treated me like a son-in-law, always like a son! And, I have never even received a card for my birthday, or anniversary or any other holiday without having some type of sticker over the"in law" part.

I visit her every opportunity I get and she always has my favorite pie there waiting for me, along with my coffee! She is truly a remarkable person and I promise to make her day tomorrow very "special", she is a "special" lady! I have even invited her to live with us, maybe some day, she will..