293 Hartshorn Drive, Millburn. Sold for $5,200,000
If you own a home, you really want to believe real estate analyst Jeffrey Otteau, who tells The Record: “It will be the best year for housing in the last five, with a higher rate of home sales, declining inventory and new construction beginning to occur.”
Locally, home sale prices didn’t break the $2 million mark in Montclair, according to sales for the year recorded on the GSMLS, but one house came very, very close. The highest sales price for a home in Montclair, was 495 Park Street for $1,999,999. Compare that to Millburn township, where 293 Hartshorn Drive sold for $5,200,000, setting a new record for the area.
Here are other high-priced home sales for 2012 in Essex County:
31 Eagle Rock Way, Montclair. Sold for $1,925,000.
Other high 2012 sales in Montclair include 483 Park Street for $1,825,000 and 239 South Mountain for $1,800,000.
5 Stonehouse Road, Bloomfield. Sold for $577,500
42 Hillside Ave., Glen Ridge. Sold for $1,326,750.
68 Eileen Drive, Cedar Grove. Sold for $1,450,000.
Looking ahead, among the priciest homes in NJ 2013 for sale is this Cedar Grove home at 50 Laura Drive, previously on the market at $18 million, now listed for $14,875,000.
Montclair Realtors keep trying to push that 2M envelope. That South Mountain sale dropped in price nearly 400K before it sold. Others listed for as high as $2,990,000 before “expiring.” West Orange also had several over 2M that expired.
I remember when I Mrs. prof and I (this was before the little prof) first looked for a proper Palatial Estate in UPPER Montclair. We thought about the charmless ramblers (see the MIlburn and Cedar Grove homes above), or the “we’re not Brit royalty, but we can pretend” (see the Montclair- though I do like the yellow quite a bit- and Glen Ridge homes above), and certainly not the white-washed brick Bloomfield bungalow.
No. As we consider putting the Estate up for sale. We won’t. If only to keep Milburn folks so proud of their high sales. In that, we won’t sell because we want the good folks of UPPER Montclair to still have something to aspire to.
I remember some of these homes. The one in Glen Ridge on Hillside ave looked like an abandoned/haunted house in the 1990′s. I’m glad to see it fetched 7 figures.
50 Laura Drive is an abomination. First off, the house was built in front of a water tower so you are buying that eyesore with your view. $18,000,000 is too much. $14,000,000 is too much. The last owners bought this house in 2001 for $4,000,000. Who do they think they are selling it for 4 xs what they paid for it? The total market value for that house is $2.7 Million. And if you haven’t seen the interior, it is god awful.
http://homesoftherich.net/2012/04/more-pics-of-50-laura-drive-in-cedar-grove-nj/
Montclair/Glen Ridge homes will never be able to sell as high as Millburn homes because Montclair/Glen Ridge taxes are obscenely high which adds quite a bit of money to incorporate into your budget. And they just keep getting higher. It makes it difficult to justify living in this area, as much as I like it. Glen Ridge at least has a good school system – Montclair I am not sure.
I wonder why the taxes are so high in this area – people say that it is because we are supporting Newark, but if you look at your tax bill, it is a small percentage for that. Why can’t something be done?
Thoughts?
See all previous “Montclair Tax” related stories on this site going back 12 mos.
Looking at the towns that border Millburn in comparison to the towns that border Montclair & Glen Ridge also plays a role in the price difference.
You can pay off your mortgage, but those Montclair taxes just keep coming at you in perpetuity like the Energizer Bunny, and they’re not going down anytime soon. Currently, the value proposition in Montclair is to own a relatively expensive home for cash, or with minimal debt, and have a high enough income to take advantage of the property tax deduction, since our property values are significantly lower than surrounding communities to the north, and west. If the mortgage interest deduction is eliminated or curtailed, it could actually benefit Montclair relative to pricier communities, logic would dictate. If one’s primary incentive to live here is the diversity, no problem, just understand that not everyone makes non-economic decisions of this kind.The reasons that our property values have been skewed lower derive predominantly from the conveniently ignored facts and general perception that the town finances are a shambles, our schools offer significantly more non-academic excitement than most people desire, and we are more likely to find Natty Dreadlocks snooping around the house uninvited. At least that’s the perception. Now, if someone is willing to buy the same house in, say, Short Hills for several million more than the an identical house in Montclair, you can rationalize until the cows come home, but that’s the reality.
When we’re sitting here complaining that our town’s most expensive home sale in 2012 was ONLY $2 million, trust me, this is soley a perspective problem and NOTHING else.
Besides, is our goal to really have Montclair be another Ridgewood and Millburn? (and trust me, look at the statistics, Millburn has WAY more property crime issues than Montclair does). A school district that New Jersey monthly constantly ranks at top 10? A Lilly white, ultra WASPY suburb where only the ultra rich come?
That’s exactly why people move to Montclair instead of Ridgewood. Montclair attracts exactly the kind of people I want to live around: from the artsy New York families, to those who want culture, to those who want a walk able downtown, to those who don’t want to live in a suburb that’s like a bored rich house wife sitcoms.
People move here not because Montclair is a cheap town (trust me, living here is expensive – and we’re still one of the few towns were bidding wars on homes are common) – but because we can raise our children in a beautiful town, with beautiful old homes and great schools, but not have our kids come out insanely sheltered and spoiled. We have a wonderful, energentic, artistic, diverse, and vibrant community that takes pride in itself. And people fight to live here – and it’s for those reasons, and I think they’re the right reasons – not for school rankings or prestige of home cost.
Do my Bergen County friends scoff at Montclair? Absolutely they do, but I wouldn’t have it any other way – to me it says we’re doing something right – and we should all take immense pride in what we’re doing. I cannot think of a single better town in Northern New Jersey in which to raise a well educated, get worldly and humble child.
Would all of our property values sore if we were a town that was 100% ultra rich and 100% white with an ultra fancy shopping mall where we could all go and spend our Saturdays? Sure, but then it wouldn’t be Montclair, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live here.
If its perspective, try this on for size. Montclair was once the jewel in the crown of northern New Jersey. Sure, it’s a great town with beautiful homes and interesting people, but if our housing values are so significantly influenced by quirkiness and idiosyncrasy that may be fascinating cocktail party conversation, but horrifying from the point of view of having a large chunk of ones net worth committed.
@deadeye:
“we are more likely to find Natty Dreadlocks snooping around the house uninvited”
—what a vile, racist pig you are, deadeye.
“At least that’s the perception.”
—and then you try and pretend it’s not YOUR sentiment. what a cowardly, vile, racist pig you are, deadeye.
deadeye apparently can’t help himself, jc. Of course, in some social circles, “Natty Dreadlocks” may very well be just another highly talented and financially successful session musician, and probably wouldn’t waste his time snooping around deadeye’s house. But it’s likely that deadeye doesn’t travel in those circles.
I’m ok with that.
It seems unacceptable that the taxes can remain so high and nobody is required to do something about it. People just say that it’s Essex county, taxes are high, etc, etc – But it does not make sense when that is not where the money is going.
I don’t understand why people are not being held accountable and why someone is not hired to come and fix the mess. Not everyone in Montclair/Glen Ridge is rich and the tax burden is a significant percentage of people’s incomes. But it seems that people just accept the fact that the taxes are high – I don’t understand this – It can be fixed.
I don’t understand why people are not being held accountable and why someone is not hired to come and fix the mess.
I know a guy who specializes in holding people accountable. He works for a flat fee. No questions asked. Ask for Jimmy the Neck, and tell him The Marsupial sent you.
I believe that GR House on Hillside was designed by Dudley Van Antwerp. But that price is still very interesting in today’s market.
The Van Antwerps are distant relatives of the Von Klinks, my material ancestors. Is Dudley a wallaby or a kangaroo?
No, Dudley’s a Do-Right, just ask Snidely Whiplash.
Ooops, I mean “maternal” not “material.”
My maternal ancestors had very little money actually. My great wealth can be attributed to royalties from my patent on a method of removing brain tumors without damaging the surrounding tissue.
W…I heard you made your real “material” fortune when you sold your pocket brain opener to Ron Popeil.
>>It seems unacceptable that the taxes can remain so high and nobody is required to do something about it. People just say that it’s Essex county, taxes are high, etc, etc – But it does not make sense when that is not where the money is going. I don’t understand why people are not being held accountable and why someone is not hired to come and fix the mess.<<
The "mess" is the network of town services that people have come to expect, as well as the infrastructure that supports a small city. An active and busy police department, a full complement of highly trained fire fighters working from three (?) fire houses on a 24/7 basis.
A huge school system, offering a full range of services, from gifted and talented to remedial. The pre-K system. Recreational services, including the arena. A large roads and maintenance staff, and a large number of people providing across the counter services to residents, a violations and prosecutor's office, the parks crew, the people absorbed from the parking authority, the planning office, the health department and a dozen other agencies.
Huge expenses to the county. When civic emergencies happen, dozens of county police officers, K-9, SWAT, haz-mat etc officers magically appear. The county roads department, mosquito control, parks people, and an enormous number of people who also hold other state, municipal, or county positions. These folks are well paid for their expertise.
I'm not defending the overlaps of county and town staffing, or suggesting pay and benefits should be cut. Merely noting that as much as people want expenses trimmed, they still want garbage picked up twice a week, recycling taken away on time, police and fire fighters responding quickly, broad based pre-K and Mandarin, etc.
In other places, people get all the services paolo mentioned and much more for much less. The primary culprit here is the growing legacy of pensions, health care benefits, and retireees making more now than they did when they were still working (if they were working at all). Too easy to cave to the union and let the mayor 25 years from now worry about it. Secondly, someone please tell me what value is added by the Essex County bureacracy? Get rid of the county, share some of the services with other towns, and you can cut those taxes deeply.
I love that Glen Ridge house and I think it is a Dudley Van Antwerp design. I remember the listing and I think the lot is huge, like almost 3/4 of an acre or something like that which probably explains the price to an extent. If I had it, I would buy it!!