Maybe I'm oldfashioned, but when did televisions become negotiating tools? I've had appliances and even riding lawn mowers (on an 8 acre lot) become negotiating tools, but never televisions. Is this new? Is this what buyers are doing now?

Interesting post. I've seen a few houses listed for sale in our town recently that come with surround sound systems, theater rooms, and, yes, even big screen TVs. None of this appeals to me, but I'm a woman. I imagine my husband might be somewhat enticed, assuming he liked the rest of the house. I know the couple who bought our old house have a big screen TV in their living room (you can see it from the street when you drive by), and they supposedly were "stretched for cash." I suppose a big screen TV might appeal to some people, but I'm with Cordovamom...I'd stick with appliances.

A 40-50" LCD (off name brand) at Costco, Sams or BJ's goes for around 1K - 1.2K.

Not really a big deal and again.....no name brand.

a flat screen plasma tv is a whole different entity then a simple big screen tv...a plasma or LCD tv is much more expensive and desirable then a CRT big screen tv...They are much lighter,thinner, can be hung on a wall..A big screen tv is a behemoth,heavy,cumbersome, take up a lot of space...That said, the use of a plasma or LCD tv as a marketing tool would be a waste of $$$

Hi Carol, I'm over in Burlington County and am somewhat familiar with Ewing township. My son's works there pretty often installing DirecTV.

Go to the NJ section of City data. There's posts about the Ewing area, and not so favorable. By the time you list, the crawlers should be there, people will easily find all info about it and make their decision from there.

I know someone in Ewing township. She's afraid to live in the house by herself and her street / section is still decent. I've been telling her for years to move but she loves her house.

I don't think the TV will be a selling point. You're going to have to price it accordingly and make sure it shows really well so that hopefully it will go fast.

Thanks for the feedback! This is such an active board.

Roselvr, Ewing covers a pretty big area. Some of the neighborhoods close to Trenton are rough, but my mom's townhouse is on the river, bordering Hopewell Township. It's certainly not dangerous, there are plenty of beautifully maintained old mansions nearby in the $400k+ range and a small new development of huge custom homes on Wilburtha Road that's priced much higher.

To clarify, I was thinking of a basic medium-sized flat panel TV, mounted or placed within her existing custom bookshelves, for about $1200.

I swear a friend of mine got suckered into a less than ideal home because there was a 40" plasma over the fireplace that the seller "threw in". It sealed the deal for them. Now that was 3 years ago when these TVs were less common and more expensive.

If I saw a big screen installed above a fireplace, I would turn and run. This seems to be just another current trend.

This will probably sound a bit odd, but when my company stages homes for sale, we use dummy (fake) plasma screen tvs to show where the tv would go. It's especially useful in homes where placement of an ordinary tv would take up valuable space. Just an idea.

In our house which is in contract we had a plasma installed above the fireplace. We had several offers, one asked for it, the others didn't, but all commented on what a good spot it was for it.

I am interested in the discussions on Ewing as we are moving down in that direction (dh works in Ewing). We are looking in Hopewell amongst other areas which seems pretty close to Ewing; but the property is REALLY expensive, and the taxes crippling. I am assuming that although they are close, Hopewell isn't affected by Ewing's bad reputation?

Flat-screen TV wouldn't be a draw for me. You're looking at buying something that costs $100Ks, including a $1000 TV isn't going to sway me. It sounds like your mother's place has enough pros to sell itself. The big con to me (as a parent) would be the quality of the school system.

Hobokenkitchen, I would take a serious look at school systems to explain the cost difference. If Hopewell has a good system and Ewing does not, chances are it won't be affected. Here in the DC area, we have two counties: one with a top school system in the country adjacent to one that is NOT top school system in the metro area. Houses in the county with the top schools are much more expensive. But families who move in the county with not-so-good school often find themselves sending the children to private schools. Usually, it is more cost effective to buy in the more expensive county and send your children to public schools than to buy a less expensive house and pay for private schools.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense.

It's funny because in my market I have been asked maybe once or twice in 5 years about the school systems in the area (young market with high turn over despite very high property cost). Now it is something I really have to think about, along with septic systems and wells!

No, Hopewell's school system/property values aren't affected by Ewing's school system, they're completely separate. That's the way it is in NJ, lots of different school systems.

One of my mom's former neighbors sent their children to private school to avoid the Ewing system, then moved to Hopewell but didn't want to make their kids change schools. So they ended up paying Hopewell taxes AND private school tuition. Argh.

Prices of Plasmas are not done coming down. A friend just ordered a name brand 50 inch and by the time you include the tax (8% here), surround sound, delivery and mouting, you are looking at 2500 minimum, not including installation

In a year this will be cheaper

Seems like a lot to spend unless you want that anyway

It would appeal to me because it meant I did not have to install one but I would not want one over the living room