Guide Me Home to North Jersey

If you are looking to buy a home in areas within Somerset, Morris or Hunterdon County you may find that the home you love uses a septic system instead of a sewer line. If you are selling in these areas, your buyer has the right to conduct an inspection of the system and the results can have an impact on the sale.

A septic system is located on your property and you are responsible for it. The rules concerning allowable size, design, and construction are governed by the Standards for Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems, N.J.A.C. 7:9A (aka Chapter 199). The Department of Health is responsible for enforcement of this in each township.

The typical septic system is made up of 4 main components: the pipe from the home, a septic tank, a distribution box and the drainage field. Its design and positioning will depend on your property’s characteristics.

The tank can range between 1000 and 2000 gallons, and is typically made up of 1 or 2 chambers with1 or 2 manhole covers. Townships and municipalities will have specific regulations regarding the size and layouts. The overall size is mandated by the number of bedrooms in the house.

The initial reduction of waste happens in the tank. The solids settle and should be anaerobically digested creating sludge, and the liquid ferments flowing out of baffles into the distribution box. This box evenly distributes the flow of the liquid throughout the drainage field.

The next component is the leach or drainage field. The liquid flowing to the field passes through pipes that are perforated and then is eliminated by physical, chemical and biological processes into the soil.  At that point, the water is purified.

An extensive explanation of the entire process can be found at: http://www.nj.gov/dep/dwq/pdf/septicmn.pdf or http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dwq/owm_home.htm#works.

Whether you are buying or selling, it’s best to know about the components and their importance to the overall function of the system. Next time, we will talk about the maintenance of your system and why it’s important.

Posted by:Mary Jane Benedetto

If you put your house on the market several weeks or months ago and it hasn’t sold, you are probably struggling to decide whether to lower the price. The answer is usually yes, especially if the lack of interest isn’t due to other factors such as lack of maintenance, poor location, or style or decorating that isn’t main stream.

Buyers continue to focus primarily on price, even when they like a house. However, Turpin Realtors has seen, in several recent cases, that listing at a lower price than expected has generated multiple offers, sometimes resulting in a higher selling price than the listing price. There is no magic percentage that you need to lower your home- analysis of very recent sales and contracts in your neighborhood will guide you to where you need to be.

Currently, the market has a few favorable characteristics for sellers to sell homes to buyers who are seriously looking.

1. Low Mortgage Rates: We are currently experiencing unprecedented low mortgage rates. However, these low rates have been artificially pushed down by the Tarp and the Bailout. Once that money is used, it will dry up and mortgage rates will go up sharply and quickly.
   


2. Consumer Confidence: Consumer opinion of the market is turning around. According to the Pew Research Center survey of March 16, 2009, “75% said it was a good or very good time to buy a home”. This is important because there are serious buyers out there and you need to position your home in the center of their attention.
   


3. Movement to realistic prices: The market is a buyer’s market and the buyers expect to buy as low as possible. They are correct in their thinking for two reasons. First, according to the Brooking Papers, the housing market experienced an unsustainable price increase of 89% in 2000-2006 (vs. the average 5 year increase of 25%). Lowering prices is a natural correction. A home just will not sell at the high price of 2006!

Second, according to The Otteau Report, as a result of lower or more realistic prices, New Jersey is currently experiencing far greater affordability (the relationship of income to housing prices). Movement has been from a low of 81% affordability to the current high of 110% affordability. A low price positions your home advantageously to the right buyer.

A reduced price combined with low mortgage rates, consumer confidence, and improved customer affordability just might entice those buyers who have been interested in your home but have not made an offer.

Posted by:Mary Jane Benedetto