126 Plainsboro Road, Cranbury, NJ

Terrific 4BR, 1.5 BA colonial backing to preserved farmland is now offered for sale. Well-maintained, with hardwood floors throughout, an updated Kitchen with corian countertops, and updated baths.  Walking distance (really!!) to historic village with lovely restaurants, shops and ice cream stand. Cranbury Elementary School is a Blue Ribbon designated school and students attend Princeton High School . This is also an very easy commute by car or train.   offered at $435,000

Cranbury moves closer to $3.5 million restoration of Brainerd Lake Dam

By Anthony G. Attrino/NJ.comThe Star-Ledger on February 14, 2013 at  8:00 AM, updated February 14, 2013 at  8:15 AM

Last summer officials lowered the water level in Brainerd Lake to decrease the pressure against the dam.

CRANBURY – After years of intense study and investigation, $3.5 million worth of repairs to the leaky Brainerd Lake Dam are about to begin.

Middlesex County will spend an estimated $1.5 million to replace and rebuild portions of the earth-filled structure, while township taxpayers will foot the other $1.5 million, officials say.

An agreement between the county and township was signed back in 2009.

“Nothing gets done overnight,” resident Bobby Marlowe said recently.

Marlowe’s home at 11 North Main Street filled with four feet of water during Hurricane Irene. She’s hoping the repair work might prevent future flooding.

But officials say while the work will repair leaks and make the dam stronger, it’s mostly a cosmetic undertaking, not a flood-control project.

“We’re doing repairs to make the dam last longer,” said township Engineer Bill Tanner, who has worked for years to get the work started.

Repairs will include expansion of the dam’s spillway, replacing the upstream wall and cap, and laying concrete blocks covered in soil to help with erosion, according to Tanner.

The dam serves as a road for North Main Street, also known as County Road 539. The construction is expected to reduce traffic in the area to one lane.

Last summer officials lowered the water level in Brainerd Lake to decrease the pressure against the dam, Tanner said.

Township committee member David Cook – whose own home near the dam has flooded in the past – said repairing the dam will not prevent flooding to nearby homes. To stop flooding altogether, a project upwards of $10 million would be needed, Cook said.

“The cost was astronomical,” Cook said.

The township went with a less expensive plan to fix up the dam so it would work – i.e., hold back water from Brainerd Lake and Cranbury Brook – for years to come, he said.

For now, township residents are invited to attend a public hearing on Feb. 25. Engineers from Najarian Associates will discuss plans to repair, rehabilitate and fix up the old dam, which was first built in the 1600s.

“We’re talking cosmetics,” Tanner said. “Lights, trees in pots, the color of the façade. What’s it going to look like now.

“As far as the hydraulics of the dam – that’s already been figured out.”

This is the healthiest the Cranbury real estate market has been in the past 7 years! Prices are going up, multiple bid situations are reported on many properties, and buyers are out in full force. If you own a home in Cranbury, and have been waiting to sell, now is the time! Just last week, I sold a home that was not even on the market to buyers for Cranbury waiting for a particular style home to be available.  The seller knew it was a good offer and took it rather than wait to see what he might realize on the open market.  I have buyers waiting for homes in Cranbury, call me to discuss!

After sifting through its 4.5 million-property database, Trulia.com has released a new study naming the real estate listing phrases that appear often in the highest- and lowest-priced homes.

As might be expected, most of the phrases that fill out the highest-priced listings evoke magnificent estates; in fact, “magnificent estate” is one of the top 10. (The average listing price of a magnificent estate: about $3.6 million.) The priciest phrase of all is “parlor floor,” which corresponds to an average property price of $4.9 million. “Parlor floor” is a common descriptor for luxurious townhouses in New York City, which is notorious for high real estate costs. Even the 250-square-foot shoeboxes under consideration by a space-squeezed city government would start at $940 a month to rent in NYC. (“Shoebox,” by the way, is not a term you’re likely to see in real estate listings.)

The phrase “highest level” — another example of urban market-speak — corresponds to a $3.4 million price tag, but most of the other terms imply more spacious surroundings: “formal gardens,” “paneled library” and “motor court” all make the top 10 list.

More specific phrasing seems to be a better bet for sellers: Trulia found that specifying oak or bamboo rather than just saying “hardwood” in reference to the floor corresponded with a higher listing price.

At the other end of the pricing spectrum, listings warning about defective paint or a “mold-like substance” clocked in with average listing prices of around $45K. When there’s a lead paint warning, the average goes down to $40K. Buyers looking for a starter home or investment property probably don’t want to spend much, and listings with those terms only average about $65,000. The lowest average price — $27,569 — turned up on listings with the phrase “minimum commission applies.”

Then there are the phrases that demonstrate the quirkiness of local markets around the country, where specific features or amenities seem to be popular with buyers (or at least the folks writing up property descriptions). St. Louis is the top market where “stained glass” is mentioned, for instance, followed by Pittsburgh. The word “lanai” — a kind of open-air porch — is a top term for listings in Honolulu, while “mirrored closet doors” are popular in Ventura County and Orange County, California. And hey, San Francisco: Trulia’s research upholds your city’s food-snob, health-nut reputation. The phrase “Whole Foods” popped up 10 times more frequently in San Fran than anywhere else in the country.

“Sellers need to know the local lingo in order to appeal to buyers, and buyers need to know which hyperlocal features they should look for,” Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko said in a statement. Buyers should also keep in mind that descriptive, flowery verbiage is a key sales tool — and not let those “cute” or “magnificent” words distract them from finding the best house for them and negotiating the best price possible.

“From a buyer’s perspective, listing words can be a strong clue whether a home might be overpriced or underpriced,” Kolko tells TIME. “An expensive listing described with words that usually appear in lower-priced listings could indicate it’s overpriced – or could indicate that the listing description is underselling the home’s features.”

Time Magazine: by Martha C. White March 1, 2013

Photos will be coming soon – please contact me if you’d like to schedule a private showing!

The real estate market is heating up in Cranbury, with 2 properties in the Shadow Oaks neighborhood going “under contract” in the past 30 days. Properties for sale in the mid-market range are a rare commodity in Cranbury at the moment. It would be a terrific time to list your home with all the buyers out looking! A 5-6month absorption rate indicates a “normal” real estte market.

The national median existing single-family home price showed the strongest year-over-year increase in seven years during the fourth quarter, according to the latest report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In addition, the median price rose in 133 out of 152 metropolitan statistical areas based on closings in the fourth quarter compared with the same quarter in 2011.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said all the conditions for strong price growth are at play. “Home sales are on a sustained uptrend, mortgage interest rates are hovering near record lows and unsold inventory is at the lowest level in 12 years,” he said. “Home sales are being fueled by a pent-up demand and job creation, along with still favorable affordability conditions and rents rising at faster rates.”

Separately, NAR’s national annual Housing Affordability Index rose to a record high of 193.5 in 2012. An index of 100 is defined as the point where a median-income household has exactly enough income to qualify for the purchase of a median-priced existing single-family home, assuming a 20 percent downpayment and 25 percent of gross income devoted to mortgage principal and interest payments. For first-time buyers making small downpayments, the affordability levels are relatively lower.

“The housing affordability index shows that the national median income of families was almost double the income needed to buy a median-priced home in 2012, so most buyers are able to stay well within their means,” Yun said. “Even with rising home prices, conditions are expected to stay very favorable with the index averaging 161 in 2013, which would be the third best on record.”

There’s never been a better time to buy a home!

Source: Middlesex MLS 01/28/13