I am a supporter of the proposed Edison development project. However, I am also concerned about the number of housing development projects, such as Vizcaya, that have been built in the past several years. There will be a significant increase in available homes in the years to come as the older population in town moves on. I have to assume that the excessive amount of inventory in our town has an impact on these lower values. This is also a reason why I am not very concerned about the impact that the Edison project will have on our school population. People can rent or buy an existing home for the same price.The information from this article should provide a sample of how much people are willing to spend to live in West Orange. My support for the Edison project is only based on the need to develop this historic area. We need to make this part of town more attractive and useful for business. However, I don't believe that West Orange needs any more houses. If this is the only way to develop the Edison property, than it is still worth considering. However, I don't see a shortage of home inventory anytime soon in West Orange. For this reason, the value of our homes might remain lower than other towns for many years to come. However, I also should mention that I moved to West Orange because homes were more affordable. West Orange is a great place to live and you can find a nice home for a reasonable price. That's why I am here and why many other people are here as well.

Does anyone know why the number of homes for sale in WO is so disproportionately high compared to nearby towns? I always see this in articles but they never mention any reasons. It has to be more than just old people moving out of town. The people we purchased our home from several years ago were a very young family moving to south Jersey. Has it always been this way or is it a new trend in the past few years? We purchased in WO 3 years ago because of the lower prices.

@ Mac: The answer to your question is quite simple:there are more homes for sale (relative to the other towns in the graph) because West Orange is a larger community (both in population and geographically) and has proportionately more housing units. As to the number of homes for sale (in general and for all communities), there is likely to be a continual growth in the number for two reasons: 1. We are in the midst of the peak mortality years for the WWII generation, many of whom still live in our communities, and 2. their children ("the Baby Boomers") are also beginning to retire, if they haven't already. Both of these factors will contribute to a good bit of housing stock coming on line for the next few years.

Gary,
I am making the same point that you are making. I personally do not see the Edison project having a significant impact on the schools unless they make the units into all low income housing. I can assure you that all hell will freeze over before the residents allow that. We are in agreement..which can be found in most of our discussions. By the way.,,why do you waste your time with all of the negative losers at NJ.com/forums.westorange Your time and knowledge is too
valuable to waste in that cesspool. Your comments are always well stated but in that forum you are throwing pearls to swine.

This is the key part:

"The median sales price for 2011 was $320,000 and the average sales price was $367,732. This is drop from 2010 where the median sales price was $350,000 and the average sales price was $393,782."

Despite median sales price being 150K less than our neighboring towns (and dropping) middle to upper-middle class families are still more attracted to the more expensive towns.

Taxes + our schools rankings are really hurting us to perspective buyers.

I think midtown direct has a lot to do with it...

The school rankings aren't bad.

More people die in Tokyo every year than in California. This obviously indicates that Tokyo is a more dangerous place to live.

Oh......I'm sorry. I just tried for a moment to think like people who pay attention to school rankings without taking into consideration any of the reasons behind the results. It really is a brain dead way of thinking. I don't like it at all and I don't advise it for anyone who believes in common sense. Now I'm going to go back and think again like an intelligent human being. Ah... Imagine drinking lemonade today in Malibu.

Picture videos of the homes sold along with the home sales lists have been posted for West Orange, Maplewood, Montclair and South Orange, http://bit.ly/MoreSalesInfo

There are ways to determine what a person with $100,000 could afford in New Jersey compared to Idaho. I used a similar program to compare all of the towns in Essex County. If a person who lives in West Orange makes $100,000, it takes between $108,000- $115,000 to have the same standard of living in almost every other community. If you make $200,000, it costs $216-$230. The cost of living was cheaper in West Orange than every community except for Irvington, Newark, Bloomfield, and Belleville. The services we have in West Orange, such as bi-weekly garbage pick up, paid fire and police, a library and a host of other services is such a value compared to other communities. There are several hidden fees that people do not realize. Also the same house costs more in most communities. Some people are willing to spare no expense for a high standard of living. However, if a person is looking for value, West Orange is one of the best deals going in Essex County. West Orange is usually where first time home buyers look first. That's because the most economic deals are here. It's why I'm a resident along with so many of my neighbors.

@Gary :Just for clarification. In the $400-$600,000 price range in West Orange there are 39 active listings , 7 homes currently under contract and 6 homes that have sold over the last 60 days. The reason for the difference in our numbers is that West Orange and basically all of Essex County operate under GSMLS, not NJMLS. Those 7 homes you see under NJMLS are most likely listed with a out of area Realtor.

@ Bob Meaux: OK, I stand corrected but, should a "weakness" be implied from that...in a community with +/- 18,000 residences?

@Gary:Statistically the $400-$600,000 range has not been the niche of West Orange's market. In 2011, 74% the homes sold were below $400,000 but I would not consider the remaining 26% "weak". If you look at the homes sold in the $400-$600,000 range the average days on market was 99 days, compared to 103 days for the entire market . Also the % of original list price as compared to final sales price was 92.7% in the $400-600,000 range compared to 91% for the entire West Orange market. Based on this the higher end sales are in line with rest of the market but not necessarily in our "wheelhouse". Hope that makes sense.

@ Bob Meaux: Thanks for the clarification as you pretty much refute Ralph's suggestion that there is some "weakness" in that price range. Additionally, the fact that new construction sales aren't included is also telling, as I understand sales at Vizcaya and Bel Air have been steady and the price points there are above $600,000, no?

Unfortunately, one can come away with some misleading inferences from the article; the first being their going into panic mode since the number of homes for sale is so much greater than some than our neighboring communities. Our greater size (and greater number of home to begin with) is really all the explanation one needs for that.

@Gary: Correct our greater size does play a part when compared to other towns but if you compare WO to itself year to year there are noticable increases in months of supply.Also the new construction numbers are included. In 2011, 50 homes sold over $600k with 38 of them in Belair and Vizcaya.