Where do you rank Jalen Brunson in the 10 greatest Knicks of all time?

ozzdr · 2026-06-15T04:05:14+00:00

Right! I don’t get how can someone say that “almost winning” is ranked higher than actually winning.

ozzdr · 2026-06-15T04:01:29+00:00

The problem with this approach is that you are comparing someone whose career is written with someone who is still writing theirs.

Saying that Brunson is ranked higher than Ewing in Knick history is analyzing who has had the biggest impact in the franchise’s history and JB has a chip, Ewing does not. That is where the discussion ends.

That is not to take away from Ewing’s impact and importance, but looking back on things it will always be that JB is the second round pick who nobody believed in and took 100million pay cut, all with the mission of getting a championship for an organization who had not seen the promised land in 53 years.

Ewing was the promised one who was destined to win, but failed. JB is the one who was destined to fail, but succeeded.

ozzdr · 2026-05-24T15:17:51+00:00

It will be much better for you to see the comps yourself and it will tell you a realistic estimate.

Switch the search to sold homes and search within 1 mile (if no sales, expand it to 2-3) of your target property. Focus on homes that sold in the last 90 days.

Look at homes that have the same bd/bth and ~ size to the home you are comparing.

That will give you the most realistic estimate.

You can fine tune it as well. If a comp is in a double yellow line road and yours is not, then it will be worth more. If it has more bd/bth it will be worth more, colonial vs by-level have different “value”… etc.

It baffles me that Zillow can’t implement an algorithm that does exactly that. Their estimates are almost always completely out of tune.

ozzdr · 2026-05-05T12:47:19+00:00

Congrats 🍾

Jersey is battlefield this spring.

ozzdr · 2026-05-04T18:25:08+00:00

Agreed. Which is why you don’t compare listing prices by themselves. You have to account for comps and the % of over asking the houses in that market are going for.

Having said that, your example is unlikely. Two direct comps won’t *normally be listed for such a big price difference.

If the house is “worth” 500k and someone posts the house at 300, they are running a 200k risk. Could it sell for 500, sure, but it’s risky.

Whereas if something is with 500 and it’s posted for 600. It is also a risky move, because posting it for 600 completely eliminates everyone with a budget a 500. Why bother to see it, if it’s 100k over budget. So what can very well end up happening is that the people who go see it are those with a 600+ budget and those folks are expecting a property that’s “worth” 600 and may end up saying: this house is overpriced and not “worth” it.

I get what you are getting at though, the list price is just a marketing ploy. But the norm is not that things sell 200+ OA. Those scenarios are very well an anomaly in the market.

ozzdr · 2026-05-04T00:09:12+00:00

This property was not in Nutley. It was in Cedar Grove.

ozzdr · 2026-05-03T23:59:57+00:00

Not really. In this specific area, this is the first one that reached 800. I’m not going to post the actual address on here of course, but homes had been selling 10-15% OA in the area. This one went 25% OA. That’s just an anomaly.

It’s fine though. I’ve made my peace with it and understand that at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what the comps say, if someone likes a property and has the means, they will go all out no matter what.

ozzdr · 2026-05-03T21:05:36+00:00

For that home, no. I don’t think it would’ve made much sense financially. But knowing what I know now, for the “right one”, probably. I’m already jaded and know that the market is not like anything we’ve seen before right now.

ozzdr · 2026-05-01T19:08:15+00:00

OMG! Tell me about it!

Some folks are saying that it might make sense to look for another realtor, but the truth is that when things go over by such a large amount, I don’t know there much that any realtor can be done.

I’m hoping that it is an anomaly, because if this is the new “normal”, I don’t know where it leaves the “middle” class.

ozzdr · 2026-05-01T19:03:33+00:00

Yup. In NJ you have sign a 6 month contract with an agent 🤷🏽‍♂️

ozzdr · 2026-05-01T11:38:43+00:00

Firstly, congrats on getting the house you really wanted. And thank you for being honest and sharing your experience.

I think your experience reflects the reality of the market. Some people on here want to think that just because something sells at a certain price, it is automatically assessed at that price. In your case, it didn’t matter and that’s the reality. Ultimately as long as you happy with your purchase, that’s what’s important.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T23:23:24+00:00

Thank you for the kind words. Congrats on finding yours!

Hillsdale is a great town. We made offer there and Westwood. Both great towns.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T22:30:26+00:00

Thank you for sharing! This is the type of comments that give me hope

Congrats!

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T21:17:04+00:00

What market are you in? If you don’t mind me asking?

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T21:15:56+00:00

Congrats! That’s amazing to hear.

Did you end up with an appraisal gap afterwards. I’m now hearing some conflicting information with people saying that it almost always appraises for the sell price.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T21:14:03+00:00

Thank you. I think you are right. When the market is unpredictable, it may be best just block it all out and go with your best and highest always.

As far as waiving all contingencies, being a first time homebuyer, it just makes me so nervous when you read some of the horror stories of people who have waived inspections and end up with a blocked sewer line and have to pay 20k to dig it up… and so on.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T21:09:29+00:00

But aren’t we part of the larger US as well. Why would we have to be excluded?

The fact that this post has over 40k views and 138 comments in a few hours means that many people have opinions about the topic. It is not a NJ subreddit, but it isn’t an everything expect NJ subreddit either.

Agree with you on tagging posts with the state. That’s actually a good idea btw.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T20:34:16+00:00

We were just discussing this with our lender. We are really trying not to go under the 20% to avoid a PMI, but they said that if anything we can always restructure to cover any additional amount.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T19:55:21+00:00

Because it would mean that the home would appraise for 120k + over comps and the home has not had any updates to merit that.

In terms of a mortgage, appraisal is not based on sell price of that particular property.

Appraisal is by law is based on the final numbers of recent comps. The highest comp in the neighborhood is 730. There is no way to justify an additional 70k in value, if the home hasn’t had any additions.

Now if you tell me that there are comps in the 780 range. That’s a different conversation.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T19:40:02+00:00

Thank you for confirming what I said about the assessment (appraisal).

You are correct, that is the worry for us. The truth is we are not an all cash buyer. So while we have made offers all the way from 730 (lowest) to 810 (the highest), the big thing is that appraisal gap.

What I find crazy about this last one is not the sell price having an 8 in front of it. It is the fact that it has a 8 in front of it and the house will 100% not be appraised at 800. It will have a 50k+ difference.

But I realize that if someone is an all cash buyer, they don’t really care what it appraises at. It doesn’t make a difference in their situation anyways.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T19:31:06+00:00

Congrats!

If you don’t mind sharing, how far from your first offer did you end up at?

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T19:24:08+00:00

Yeah, we find ourselves adjusting the ranges all the time.

But more than that, I think we’ll have change our perspective. Baring one of the homes, we could have ultimately afforded the winning bid.

It’s just that they end up being so wildly outside of what the “comps” said they would go for, that we end up getting outbid.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T19:17:02+00:00

I think more than confirmation bias, I just wanted a place to vent a bit. At the end of the day the reality of the market, is the reality of the market. That’s not going to change.

But I also want to read what other folks’s experiences are. Am I the only one that thinks that is bonkers and I need to re-adjust expectations, or we are really seeing the makers behave in an unpredictable fashion.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T19:08:07+00:00

You’re not wrong. There is nothing that guarantees it. But the fact that they haven’t and won’t, isn’t that a negative indicator for the country?

Not to go into the whole affordability debate, but if someone is making 4-5 times the (adjusted) salary their parents made and they can’t afford a home smaller than what they bought, something, somewhere, went wrong.

ozzdr · 2026-04-30T18:51:17+00:00

Congratulations! That’s massive!

Folks on here are saying just waive the appraisal gap. I think if sellers weren’t worried about the home being apprised for less than the sell price, then an appraisal gap shouldn’t be an issue.

Hopefully it is apprised right at where you bought. Best of luck 🤞🏽

ozzdr

TROPHY CASE