New Jersey police officers and firefighters who are buying a home can take advantage of an excellent mortgage program through the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System Mortgage Program. The current rate is only 2.83% (compared to a conventional 30-year mortgage today at 6.699%) so we encourage any first responder who’s on the market for a new primary residence to take advantage of this program, which offers highly favorable mortgage interest rates compared to conventional mortgages for the rest of the borrowing public. Who qualifies? The mortgages are available to any currently employed membe ..read more

Ah, the merry month of May when all those April showers bring May flowers. It’s planting and gardening time in northern NJ! Beautiful landscaping creates awesome curb appeal that your neighbors and potential home buyers will enjoy looking at. And as a North Jersey homeowner, you’ll love driving up to your home and seeing lush plantings and colorful flowers, or stepping out into your backyard where you’ve created a landscaped oasis. Although the New Jersey real estate market is still super-hot, it’s still important to make your property as attractive as possible to buyers—while also deterring h ..read more

You’ve been looking at houses with your Cedarcrest Realty agent and found one that fits your budget—but needs a lot of cosmetic work to get them looking their best. You see the potential, but you might not see how you can pay for the remodeling the house requires. You can get a renovation loan to finance the remodeling costs, and get into a home you might not otherwise be able to afford. What is a home renovation loan? Renovation financing is used when the home buyer purchases a property in disrepair to the point that it would not pass a regular appraisal inspection. Issues may be a bad heatin ..read more

Julie Zack got her real estate license just under a year ago and came to CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest Realty in January. She is soaking up the training and mentorship she’s receiving here. Her professional background includes work with automobile dealerships in the Motor Vehicle Department and in the high-end vintage car arena. She moved to northern New Jersey in 2016, eventually purchasing a home in Little Falls. When the pandemic hit, she worked from home as the executive assistant to the CEO of a manufacturing company. Suffice to say, Julie knows her way around numbers and paperwork, which greatly ..read more

Jackie Cardona of Bloomfield has been at CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest Realty for five years. In that time, she has distinguished herself as an effective real estate agent while holding down a full-time job for an area municipality’s building department. As a dual career agent (working a full-time job while doing real estate part time) she has found a way to balance both jobs and serve her real estate customers with grace and a good measure of time management! Using past experience to build her business Jackie got her real estate license many years ago with the idea of having a career she could contin ..read more

Physical disabilities require that homeowners have greater accessibility in their homes. Finding a house that meets your aesthetic desires and mobility needs can be somewhat challenging. And accessibility means different things to different people. At CENTURY 21 Cedarcrest, our goal is to always make the home buying journey as stress-free as possible. We offer these tips for house hunters with disabilities. Check with your real estate agent about listings specific to accessible housing. Choose a real estate brokerage that knows the areas you prefer very well, including the neighborhoods and t ..read more

Cedarcrest Realty Offers Tips for Home Sellers Are you selling a home with unique features? This may be a piece of real estate that stands out in its area, such as a farm or ranch in an area not typically known for this (like our northern NJ suburbs) or a waterfront property in a little-known cove. Perhaps your home was once a church or a stable. Maybe it’s perched atop a mountain, situated deep in the woods, or has all glass walls. You may have built a home inspired by nature with “woodsy” architecture, or built it into a mountainside or a cave. Does it have a nautical or outer space theme th ..read more

In North Jersey, fall and spring offer great opportunities to jazz up your home’s curb appeal. Before the grass goes dormant and snow covers the ground, there are some easy ways to help your home catch the eye of home buyers in your market—and have real estate agents anxious to show it to their customers. Power wash your driveway and pathways Pressure washing revitalizes patios, walkways, and driveways and gives an overall cleaner appearance to your property. If your house’s siding or foundation, or the tool shed could use some sparkle, pressure wash them as well. Clean up the house’s exterior ..read more

You’ve been renting an apartment or house but now you’re thinking about buying your first home in North Jersey. There are many considerations for first-time home buyers—from determining your budget to locating your target neighborhoods. Entering the real estate market can be exciting—and for first-time buyers, a bit daunting (we promise it gets easier after your first home purchase!). It’s no secret that we live in an expensive part of the country with high real estate taxes. But don’t let that deter you from finding a great starter home in Bergen, Essex, Morris, or Passaic counties (or beyond ..read more

The practice of real estate staging isn’t new—it was first introduced in the 1970s—but it has become an increasingly popular and important tool for real estate agents and homeowners selling a home. Staging a home enables potential buyers to really see the full view of the property and helps them envision how they would use it. According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2021 Profile of Home Staging, home staging is a significant part of home buying and selling. The report notes that: Eighty-two percent of buyers’ agents said staging made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property ..read more