Posts Tagged ‘condo’

Wildwood’s New Mayor

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Shortly after new Wildwood commissioners Ed Harshaw and Al Brannen were sworn in Monday night to join sitting commissioner Gary DeMarzo, the three picked the new mayor. 

Envelope, please.

And the winner is Gary DeMarzo. 

Maybe winner isn’t the correct term, considering the tough road ahead.  Wildwood is beset by having the highest tax rate in Cape May County, $1.83 per hundred dollars of assessed value.  The portion that is directly attributed to Wildwood’s budget is $1.11 per hundred, with the balance the county’s tax levy.

The first act of the new commission was to name attorney Daniel Gallagher of Atlantic City as interim city solicitor.  The current solicitor, Wildwood attorney Marcus Karavan, is still under contract to the city so that will have to be ironed out.  This appointment of Gallagher is apparently a pay back for being the attorney representing the recall committee.

They next named former Ocean City business administrator Richard Deaney as interim administrator.  The house cleaning continued by voting to solicit bids for a new municipal auditor, which is now covered by Ford, Scott, Seidenburg & Kennedy of Ocean City, and new municipal engineer, which is currently handled by Remington Vernick of Wildwood.

DeMarzo kept on as commissioner of revenue and finance, while Brannen became deputy mayor and head of public safety.  Harshaw became commissioner of public works.  The trio changed the two monthly commissioner meetings to the evening, instead of one being at 3:30pm.

The easy part is over for the new commission.  Collecting petition signatures, campaigning for election, and getting out the voters is in the rear view mirror.  Ahead lies the pitfalls of a small, mostly seasonal city with a $26.1 million budget and 225 employees.

And May, 2011, just a brief 18 months away, is the next election.  The pressure is on this new trio to reduce spending and cut the tax rate, an unenviable job.  They will now be in the crosshairs.

They wanted a shot at running the city.  Reminds me of the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for.”

- Mountain Man

http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Real Estate | Comments Off

Real Estate Settlement changes January 1

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), a consumer protection statute enacted in 1974, will have a new face beginning January 1, 2010.  RESPA was basically designed to give effective disclosure to homebuyers and sellers prior to initiating the real estate purchase process, so there were no “surprises” at the closing table.

The new RESPA reforms are aimed at giving the consumer better information earlier in the process and the ability to shop for the best deal by comparing service providers.

Potential buyers need only give six pieces of information – name, monthly income, social security number, property address, sale price, and loan amount desired.  They can do this with several banks or lenders and get a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) within three days.  The GFE results can then be compared side-by-side so the consumer then can make an informed decision on which scenario and providers to use.

The GFE has three parts – charges that can not increase, those that can only increase a maximum of 10 percent, and those that can change at settlement if you don’t use the service company identified by the lender.

That said, here’s the downside of the new RESPA. 

There will need to be a huge increase in communication between the lender and whoever is doing the closing – either a title company or attorney.  That’s a scary thought, especially when a lawyer is involved.

The other concern we have as realtors is that lenders – who are often located 100 or 200 miles from us here in Cape May County – are going to be supplying names of home inspectors, termite inspectors, etc., to the prospective buyers.  The only way we can sidetrack a potential logistic fiasco is to give these buyers a list of reputable local puveyors to submit to the lender upon first contact.

The new HUD-1 Settlement Statement used at closing, which is now three pages instead of two, also has two drawbacks.  Closings will take longer and the HUD-1 is less detailed and more about total costs.

The federal goverment received 12,000 public comments prior to designing the new RESPA and its GFE and HUD-1 forms.  Once realtors, title companies, lenders, attorneys, sellers, and buyers get used to the new format and procedures, hopefully all the parties concerned will be pleased.

- Mountain Man

http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Real Estate | Comments Off

A Real Person on the Phone

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

I read a Letter to the Editor in today’s Press of Atlantic City that addressed one of my many pet peeves – not getting a real, live person on the phone when you call a business.

Isn’t it annoying?  Especially when you know there’s a bunch of slackers sitting there probably drinking coffee and eating doughnuts and listening to the phone ring.

Automated answering systems are impersonal and make you feel like your business is not appreciated.  As the Press letter states, the worst scenario is when your first prompt is “Press 1 for English”.  Arrrgh!

And this all brings me to mention Jewell Real Estate Agency.  We don’t have an automated system.  We ALWAYS have a live person answer the phone.  I’m not talking just during business hours, but 6am to 9pm every single day of the year.  That’s 15 hours a day that one of us is there to actually take the receiver off the hook and say, “Good morning (or afternoon or evening), Jewell Real Estate Agency, Joyce (or Chris or Douglas or ….) speaking”. 

We will NEVER, NEVER, EVER have an automated system.  You’ll never hear “Choose from the following menu options” or “If you know your party’s extension, dial it now”.  It upsets me just thinking about the idiot companies that do this.

In this fast-paced world, isn’t it nice to know that somewhere out there you can speak to a real live person.  If you ever call 609-729-8505 or 609-463-8423 and you get an automated system with extension options, then guess what?  You missed my funeral!

- Mountain Man

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Real Estate | Comments Off

Lower Township tax assessment

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Lower Township, which includes such areas as Diamond Beach, North Cape May, and Villas, has decided to do an in-house reassessment of properties.  No, not to increase the value of properties, but to lower them.

It seems that when Lower did its last assessment in 2007, the implications of this recession were not fully evident.  But now three years of a down market in real estate have seen these assessments appear to be 20% or more too high.

That 2007 assessment tripled the township’s ratables from the 1992 figure of $1.5 billion to over $4.5 million.  The new reassessment will be done by the municipal tax department, meaning there will be no on-site inspections.  It’s strictly a numbers crunch.  It also means that the cost will be just $25,000, instead of the million dollars for a full-blown reassessment by an outside company.

Properties expected to see the biggest drop in values are those near the water, i.e. the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean.  Hopefully Diamond Beach owners, who have historically been a cash cow for Lower despite fewer services and no fire station, will get a fair shake this time around.

Speaking of Diamond Beach, the new Grand condominium complex, located beachfront on Atlantic Avenue, was originally touted by developers and officials as bringing as much as $6 million in new property tax revenue to Lower Township.  With one of three buildings completed, just $400,000 is being added to the coffers this year. 

The Grand may someday make a big difference in the tax rate, but for now, with Lower this year paying an extra $289,000 in pensions plus a 3.7 % salary increase to municipal employees, that $400,000 from the Grand property taxes has been negated.

Seems like no matter what townships throughout New Jersey do to lower their budgets, the greedy, whiny employees – current and retired – milk the taxpayer far beyond the limits of reason.  That, sadly, will never change in our current political climate of patronage and deal-making.

- Mountain Man

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Real Estate | Comments Off

Doom and Gloom

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Let’s face it, some people just love to bring bad news.  We all had our first experience with this type of individual when we were still kids.  They were the brats that let you know that your fly was down, your cat was up a tree, your bicycle had a flat tire, etc, and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy conveying that bad news.

As adults, those grown up brats are called “Doom and Gloom” people.  Same modus operandi; your car is being recalled, your hair’s thinning out, your belly’s getting bigger, your stocks are taking a dive.  They regale in seeing you squirm, feel embarrassed or downright depressed.

Unfortunately for us as realtors, we seem to attract an excessive amount of doom and gloomers.  They started surfacing in late 2004, letting us know that the real estate market was just a boom and a big bust was to follow.  They were partly right, but their smugness put an ugliness to their message.

Now that the overpriced market has dropped prices to more reasonable levels, the doom and gloomers have picked up on the mortgage foreclosure aspect of real estate.  That’s their new whipping boy at the company coffee pot.

dsc03836.JPG

Three recent phone calls from clients in the Philadelphia area and North Jersey suburbs had a familiar ring.  “I hear there’s 1500 condos being foreclosed on in Wildwood.” Another said 2000, and the other claimed 2200.  Their source is always, “Somebody said …” or “I heard it from a reliable source”.

Here’s the facts.  Our island consists of the vacation destinations of Wildwood, North Wildwood, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and Diamond Beach.  In those communities, as of today (Jan 16, 2008), there are 1147 condominiums and townhomes for sale.  Of those, nine are bank owned, meaning they’ve already been foreclosed on.  In addition, the county sheriff’s website lists 16 more properties currently in the foreclosure process.  So these five beachside towns have a whopping 25 foreclosures.  Not 1500, not 2000, certainly not 2200. 

So what makes some folks so intent on repeating such blatantly false numbers to anyone who will listen?  The result of their tattling is that the word soon gets out that the Wildwoods are crumbling.  “It’ll become a ghost town”, they say.

The truth is that they aren’t making anymore seashore or beachfront.  It’s in demand.  Baby boomers have worked hard all their lives and know they want to enjoy the fruits of their labors.  What better way than a home at the shore.

Our real estate market is 95% second homes.  They are mostly folks who own their own business or have a high paying corporate job.  They can afford to buy a $400,000 to $700,000 vacation home.  They don’t need sub-prime loans, they don’t need interest only loans. 

New Jersey holds the distinction of having the most millionaires – 7.12% of households, and that doesn’t count equity in their primary home.  That’s a lot of affluence, and a lot of them find their way to our island.

So to the doom and gloomers:  The real estate market here is just fine, thank you!  By the way, is that your real hair color?

- Mountain Man

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Real Estate | Comments Off