I moved to Franklin Lakes NJ from Asbury Park, in 1971. To say it was a huge transition would be the consummate understatement. There was no place in Asbury Park, or the surrounding communities, that you couldn't get to by bus. I was so used to mass transit that when I moved to Franklin Lakes, my first visit was to a neighbor to find out where the bus stopped. The quizzical look on her face should have told me everything I needed to know about living in Franklin Lakes. Her response to my question, "Where does the bus to town stop?," was "First of all, there's no bus, and second, there's no town in Franklin Lakes." Well, to be fair, there was and is a town. It's just not the kind of town you walk or take a bus to. Asbury Park had the traditional butcher, baker and, yes, even the candlestick maker. In fact, there wasn't much you wanted or needed that Asbury Park didn't have. That all ended with the riots of 1968. But, I digress.
I lived in Franklin Lakes for 20 years, and raised my three children there. It was a far cry from the 2-family house we had called home, but nothing quite like the luxury homes in and around Franklin Lakes I've been marketing for 23 years. Sadly, that market got hit hardest when the "real estate bubble" burst, beginning in 2006. While I don't expect the 10,000 square foot homes to bounce back, perhaps at all, the market up to $1.5 mil. seems to be reviving. It's hard to convince sellers whose homes have been devalued by 15-30% that things are "getting better," but they are. While no one believes it when it's happening, it's almost never good when real estate prices skyrocket. We saw that after the October, 1987 market crash. Although the housing market didn't feel it until the early 1990s, the result was devastating. I remember far too many sellers having to bring money to the closing in order to pay off their mortgages.
I had my own home on the market, starting in 1988. I listed it at $1,165,000. An offer of $1,065,000 came in very quickly. Unfortunately, my ex-husband thought we should wait for a better offer (this is why I call him "my ex"). Within 2 days, the buyers had bought a different home. It wasn't until 1991 that we sold our Franklin Lakes home --- for $715,000! So when sellers tell me I don't understand how difficult this market is for them, I tell them I understand better than most people.
The thing I also want them to know is that it took 15 years for that house to be worth over a million dollars again. This is what happens when the real estate market skyrockets. There's just no place else to go but down.
But, I'm optimistic about 2012. Franklin Lakes' Luxury Market is coming back! It's not going to skyrocket, but that's a good thing. Email me at kate@kateconover.com, and let's have a conversation about it.
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