Montclair’s beautiful trees are usually a selling point for this town, but what happens when a good number of those trees have been sheared in half, lying broken and battered on front lawns and sidewalks throughout town? Or, even worse, have crashed through a window or roof of a private home?
Baristanet asked several realtors in town whether last Saturday’s storm has affected any houses on the market, and how they are addressing the problem. Most say they still aren’t entirely sure of the scope of the damage but that, so far, it’s been fairly minor.
Sandra Bolcar, a broker associate at RE/MAX, says the hardest part for realtors visiting homes has been maneuvering around the many felled branches and road closures. There has also been the issue of electricity–or lack of. There have been some broker open houses this week, Bolcar said, where realtors have been sitting in the dark. And, she added, “It’s been hard getting owners on the phone.”
Joyce Slous, at Keller Williams, said that the power is out at a few of her listings as well, but she doesn’t think that will affect any showings this weekend because of the relatively warm weather. One broker in her office did report some minor damage to a home and another home had a tree fall in the backyard.
Other than that, Slous said, “I don’t know of anything really specific, and I haven’t heard of anything terrible.”
Realtors at Coldwell Banker and Rhodes, Van Note reported the same. But like other businesses and residents in the area, some of the companies were struggling with outages. The folks at Rhodes went without Internet service for four days, and finally got it back yesterday morning. Just in time for this weekend’s showings.
Some homes look better with the power out. Seriously though, what kind of impression would any rational person have when looking at a house that has had no power for a week? For realtors the glass is always half full, unless you’re the seller…