Posts Tagged ‘Jersey shore’
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
I’m not really one to watch MTV. It’s not my generation. I’m a couple generations past that. So when I read in the newspaper that Italian-American groups were repulsed and offended by the show “Jersey Shore”, it piqued my interest.
I feel qualified to have an opinion about the Jersey Shore (the place, not the show) because, heck, I live here. Our real estate office is located in Wildwood Crest, Cape May County. We’re just four blocks from the beach and the beginning of the 39 city block long Boardwalk. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the population on our island swells from 14,000 yearround to over 250,000.
Our closest metropolitan area is Philadelphia. It’s predominantly Italian and Irish heritage. And it’s a rite of passage for families and their kids to vacation here. It’s also an unofficial “tradition” that kids in their late teens and twenties come here in the summer to party. Party hard! Party hard away from their elders, out of sight of those who might inflict family repercussions.
I have a little more insight than most because I also owned a bar here from 2002 through 2004. Though my tavern was off the beaten track and it attracted an older (30 to 75) crowd, I did become acquainted with many other bar owners and I did make the late night rounds more than once.
Long story short, I recently did catch two episodes of Jersey Shore. It’s about these eight Italian-American young twenty-somethings who come to the shore town of Seaside Heights, NJ, about 50 miles north of us. They have an assortment of MTV-generation names like Snooki, JWoWW, and The Situation. The Situation? Give me a break.
Anyway, they primp and argue at their rented beach house, then go out and drink and carouse, and inevitably come home and be promiscious with a newfound partner. They call it “hooking up”. You can call it what you like.
They also get into fights and do other immature, egotistical things. They are an extreme example of typical summertime behavior. Tone it down a little bit and they’re just like the others who go “Animal House” at the shore.
The Italian-American groups call Jersey Shore demeaning and not reality. “That’s not how our kids act,” is their general feeling.
Bottom line:
Is this behavior the norm at the shore in the summertime? Yes. It’s called “sowing your oats” before settling down to a lifetime of responsibility and 2.3 kids and a soccer-mom vehicle and a mortgage.
Should Italian-American groups be offended? No. Get over it. It’s also Irish-American kids and CEO’s kids and teachers’ kids and mayors’ kids. And your kids!
- Mountain Man and City Girl http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com
Tags: beach, Cape May County, Cape May County blog, Italian-American, Jersey shore, Jersey Shore TV show, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, MTV, New Jersey blog, Wildwood Crest
Posted in Humor, Lifestyle | No Comments »
Friday, January 15th, 2010
It looked like such a cute plant sitting there on forest floor near the back corner of our property here in Cape May County, New Jersey. It had pretty purple flowers and an intriguing stem that sprouted out a couple leaves every few inches. The perennial plant sat there all by itself, yearning to be saved. Always a sucker for flora and fauna, we transplanted it to a safe, sunny spot in our garden and forgot about it.
The next growing season it spread some via an underground root system. Again, the purple flowers were beautiful. By the next year, it was springing up nearly ten feet from where I planted the first one. Still, I figured it had just about used up the open area and it would not keep spreading.
Then one morning in July I opened up the morning newspaper and there was a story about an invasive plant that had been imported from Asia. The accompanying picture left me speechless – it was my little purple-flower plant. The more I read the story, the more I realized I had to dig this perennial plant right up and destroy it.
Now, two years later, I think I finally have seen the last of this bugger. It seems everytime I thought it was all dug up, another shoot would spring up elsewhere.
It is estimated that there are 50,000 alien species in the United States, and they do $138 billion damage to the US economy. The biggest problem is that many of these foreigners have no natural pests or diseases here to keep them in check. So they spread like wildfire, choking out native species. Since one plant species in an area supports about 10 animal species, a monoculture of one plant can substantially reduce animal habitat and diversity.
Some of the invasive plant species in New Jersey – many planted by well-meaning landscapers – are the Norway maple, Japanese barberry, Asian bittersweet, English ivy, mimosa, wisteria, Japanese honeysuckle, bamboo, and day lily. Geez, we have four of those right in our yard. Who knew? Even the multiflora rose (planted along highways) and crown vetch (to stabilize hillsides) are foreigners.
In Avalon, an upscale shore community here, they planted Japanese black pines back in the 1960’s to help stabilized the shifting sands of the dunes. Little did they realize how quickly they would grow, pushing out native species. And with pine needles eventually coating the ground underneath them, that area became barren.
Avalon is now cutting out the dead black pines and pruning all the lower branches of the live ones. They will be replaced by native species – Eastern red cedar, black cherry, wax myrtle, and Northern bayberry – which all can perform the same role of stabilizing the sand. It’s a win-win.
With spring just two months away, the ground will soon begin revealing a new crop of summer plants at our home. I better keep my shovel ready just in case any of those Asian purple-flower plants show up.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Avalon, Cape May County NJ, invasive plants, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, nature blog, new jersey invasive plants, NJ
Posted in Nature | No Comments »
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is nothing if not consistent. It seems that if they need to be vigilant, they’re not. And if they need to be lenient, again they’re not.
Case in point. Along the Delaware Bay in the Villas section of Lower Township, Cape May County, three homes and two utility poles are being threatened by beach erosion. A combination of last year’s uncommonly excessive rainfall – 62 inches compared to the normal 44 - and windy, stormy conditions during some of those rain events has caused the Delaware River to eat away nearly 20 feet of 6-foot high dunes.
The homeowners submitted an emergency application to the NJDEP to build a seawall at their own expense. That’s right, they’d pay for the thing themselves.
“No way”, was NJDEP’s reply. You see, NJDEP is still hung up on beach replenishment. So despite the fact that the murky, churning Delaware Bay is within five feet of the corner of one home, NJDEP wouldn’t budge. They want sand put back to rebuild the dune. Or else leave it alone and presumably some high tide will take out the homes.
Then a new problem arose. The beach is owned by Lower Township, not the property owners. Lower wasn’t about to foot the bill, so they turned to good old FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – to fund the beach replenishment. Who knows how long that bureaucracy of red tape will take? Plus, they fund beaches on the Atlantic Ocean side of the county, where tourists flock. The only flock on this beach are red knots, laughing gulls, sandpipers, and such.
But the issue, in reality, is that NJDEP dropped the ball in the beginning. Their mission – since they became the country’s third DEP back on the original Earth Day on April 22, 1970 – is to “manage natural resources and solve pollution problems”. What better way to manage this resource than to let the property owners install a bulkhead, then storms and natural sediment movement will put a beach back, gratis. Everybody gets what they want.
But that’s common sense, a term that usually can’t be used in the same sentence as NJDEP.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Delaware Bay, FEMA, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Lower Township, Mountain Man and City Girl, NJDEP, real estate blog
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Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s expected signature today on a bill to allow table games in addition to its existing slot machines is another bit of bad news for Atlantic City. The bill passed the state Senate 28-22 previously and the Assembly 103-89 yesterday. Rendell threatened to layoff 1,000 state workers if the bill wasn’t on his desk by tomorrow (Friday, Jan 8, 2010). That got legislators moving.
Pennsylvania will now permit up to 250 table games in larger casinos and up to 50 in smaller resort casinos. Table games are poker, baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps, and similar games of chance. The cost of licensing is $16.5 million for the large casinos and $7.5 million for resort casinos, which is a drop in the bucket in the scope of the big picture. The 14 casinos in the state should add an additional $250 million per year to state coffers.
Atlantic City, the No.2 casino city in the United States after Las Vegas, has seen reduced revenues for over a year, putting an added strain on New Jersey’s already bloated budget deficit. The monopoly Atlantic City once enjoyed on gambling on the East Coast is ancient history.
Connecticut has three Indian casinos that allow slots and table games, making them the first to cut into Atlantic City’s lucrative market. West Virginia was next, first having slots at two dog tracks and two horse tracks, then adding table games in 2007. They recently granted a full gambling license to the infamous Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs.
Delaware has one poker venue in Wilmington, plus video poker and slots at the three “racinos”, as they call their race tracks with legal gambling. It won’t be long before table games are installed in each of the sites.
So what is Atlantic City to do? They will lose much of their Philadelphia area gamblers once the table games open next November or so. Delaware’s table games will debut around the same time. No doubt entrepreneurs will add restaurants and resort hotels near the casinos, further damaging Atlantic City’s bottom line.
Atlantic City will need to take advantage of what it’s already got for the dozen casinos, employing 36,000 workers, to be profitable. That means marketing non-gaming venues. Upscale, fashionable restaurants with trendy surroundings are already a big draw, as are the 200 retail, brand name, and outlet stores.
Atlantic City also has big name entertainers going for it. Not a night goes by that the city doesn’t feature a dozen acts targeting every age group. Glitzy, nouveau nightclubs, with a regular parade of celebrity sightings, is turning AC into a mecca for the 21-40 year old crowd. And they have bucks to spend.
AC also offers championship boxing matches, plus those new martial art/kick boxing/in-a-cage fights. There’s also college basketball, including the Atlantic 10 tournament each March.
Last but not least, there’s the beach. Geez, no other casino in neighboring states has the sparkling white sands and bikini babes. And the beach is a great place to watch an air show or fireworks or lifeguard competitions or throw a frisbee or ….
Well, maybe Atlantic City should be saying, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Time will tell.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Atlantic City, atlantic city casinos, Atlantic City gambling, blog, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, Pennsylvania casinos, real estate blog
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Sunday, December 27th, 2009
As realtors, we have found that the main factor in whether a family can buy a second home here at the Jersey shore is job stability. If a family has a solid income that will not be affected by a cut in salary or loss of job, they seem willing – even anxious - to take advantage of the incredibly low real estate prices and interest rates.
But should their job be iffy, it’s better to sit this one out. Why buy a vacation home if in the next year it becomes too much of a financial burden and they end up in foreclosure. Not only will their credit be ruined, but their shore experience will leave a lasting negative impression and they may never enter the second home market again, even in good times.
Their are currently 15.4 million unemployed Americans and the jobless rate is hovering around 10%. As always, these numbers do not include folks who have literally given up on ever getting a job and dropped out of the work force. A record 5.9 million Americans have been out of work at least a half year as 7 million jobs have disappeared since the recession began.
The normal unemployment rate is about 5.5%. Experts expect that the rate won’t return to that range until 2015 or so. Job creation is the key. In the last 10 years, from 1999 to 2009, the net gain in jobs is only about a half million, thanks to the loss of those 7 million jobs. The previous 10 years, 1989 to 1999, saw 21 million jobs created.
Another factor in the job market is that many Baby Boomers are not retiring, but instead are staying in the work force in order to afford to live more comfortably. This leaves the younger and less-skilled workers on the short end of the stick.
So what to do?
The federal government needs to create jobs. The recent infusion of money into infrastructure, mostly highways, really didn’t employ that many people. Material costs – asphalt, concrete, steel, heavy equipment, etc. – ate up much of that cash infusion.
Roosevelt had his Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which pulled many through the depression by creating labor-intensive jobs (meaning more people than machines). Why not get something like that rolling, where people of all skill levels can clean up roadsides, do much-needed maintenance work at state and national parks, thin underbrush in the forest fire-prone West.
Let’s prioritize solar, wind, and water power, offering generous subsidies and tax breaks to companies that manufacture and install these alternative power sources. And let’s clean up urban blight, by demolishing abandoned buildings and clearing vacant lots. That could be followed by building urban housing – but not “housing projects” – that would not only create jobs but upgrade people’s living standards.
When the government coordinates with private enterprises to create jobs, our economy will turn around in a heartbeat. It’s that simple. Are we asking for too much?
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, jobs, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, opinion, real estate blog, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Sunday, December 27th, 2009
Here at Jewell Real Estate Agency, we sell mostly vacation homes at the Jersey shore. Condos, townhomes, single family homes – they are all elements of the dream families have of owning a second home in the Wildwoods.
Being a second home market, our yearly calendar of sales activity is fairly predictable. By that I mean that just like a school year starts and ends around the same time each year and school vacations are scheduled about the same weeks each year, our business also has regular busy and quiet times.
Our real estate market usually cools off each year about 10 days before Thanksgiving and that semi-hibernation lasts through New Years Day. That’s a time when local realtors takes cruises and warm weather vacations or work shorter days and cut to a minimum of floor time. In the past, some real estate agencies even closed from Christmas Eve through January 1st, though not us.
Because that six week period is fairly predictable, any decrease or increase in potential buyer volume is a good barometer of the condition of our local real estate market. We can gauge fairly accurately what type of year we are about to have by how many email and phone inquiries, plus walk-in traffic, we get during that time period. It’s sorta like the Groundhog predicting more winter or not, if you get my drift.
Which brings us to this year’s prognostication.
We were busier than usual leading right up to Thanksgiving Day, then the trend continued right up through Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas (yesterday), the phone and email inquiries were brisk. We’ll be juggling property showings all week long. Hurray!
While perhaps not very scientific, our real estate business indicator is predicting a good 2010. What more can we ask?
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey real estate blog, North Wildwood, opinion, real estate blog, Seapointe Village, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Saturday, December 26th, 2009
Since Atlantic City, New Jersey approved legalized gambling back in the late 1970s, the city has always been in the shadow of Las Vegas. Everything the tarnished city did to revitalize and rebuild and build a world-class casino atmosphere drew comparisons to Vegas. And frowns.
Meanwhile, the “Little Engine That Could” plodded on, eventually erecting 13 casinos. The first, Resorts Atlantic City, opened in May, 1978. A year later Caesars debuted, then in December 1979 Bally’s opened. The Sands, Harrahs and the Hilton each opened in the latter half of 1980 and the Playboy Casino and Tropicana were ready for business in late 1981. Atlantic City now had eight casinos.
The recession of the early 1980s (sound familiar) halted construction while prospective casino companies sat out the downturn and waited for the economy to get going again.
Trump Plaza got things moving again, opening in May, 1984, then Trump Marina debuted a year later. The Showboat opened in 1987 and the Trump Taj Mahal in 1990 and then new construction came to a halt. Time to once again wait for better times.
In 2003, the first modern mega-casino, the Borgata, opened to grand revues and it continues to this day to be the top earner in the city. The Playboy Club Casino, of course, has long since been closed, then torn down.
The Sands was torned down in 2007 by Pinnacle Entertainment after purchasing the obsolete casino and its 20 Boardwalk/oceanfront acres for $400 million. Pinnacle has not begun construction and the company refuses to comment if the $1.5 billion megaresort will ever be built.
Meanwhile, MGM and Boyd Entertainment purchased a 72-acre lot next to the Borgata, envisioning a 3,000 hotel room, 280,000 square foot casino resort to be called the MGM Mirage. Plans for that project are “on hold” until the economy improves and funding becomes available.
One new Atlantic City hotel casino, the Revel, is about two-thirds through the construction phase. They broke ground in November, 2007, but in January, 2009 had to lay off 400 workers, leaving 500 to get the steel work and exterior completed. They need another $1 billion in funding to finish the $2.5 billion project, which is still hopefully scheduled to open in the summer of 2011. The Revel is 53 stories high, with 1,800 rooms, 20 restaurants, 40 retail stores, and a 5,000-seat theater, plus 150,000 square feet of gambling.
Atlantic City reacted to gambling being legalized in many more states by improving its non-gambling options for visitors. Shopping opportunities within walking distance of the casinos include the 27-store The Quarter, The Walk with 47 stores, and the Piers at Caesars with over 50 stores.
However, the approval of gambling in Pennsylvania poses a new threat. The casinos in AC once employed 40,000 people, but that’s now down to 36,000. Gambling competition also comes from nearby Delaware, New York, and the Indian casinos in Connecticut.
Atlantic City must once again reinvent itself. The more non-gaming options the better. The city owns 140-acre Bader Field, a former small airport, just outside of town but practically in the shadow of the casinos. Maybe a theme park or something similar is the answer. Whatever, it has to be a FAMILY destination.
If the casinos are to prosper, they must break their long-standing tradition of not supporting anything outside walking distance of their establishments. Minor league baseball didn’t fly, and pro hockey and basketball were also financial flops. The casinos must get behind some sort of grand family entertainment at Bader Field. If not, their market share will continue to drop and Atlantic City, within a four hour drive of 30 million people, will be the punchline of many a joke.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: atlantic city casinos, atlantic city revel casino, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, New Jersey real estate blog, ocean, opinion, real estate blog, Wildwood real estate
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Friday, December 25th, 2009
Joining their fellow banking CEO cohorts, the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were approved for $6 million in pay each for 2009. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to refresh your memory, purchase bundles of mortgages to ensure that money is always available to lending institutions which give loans to homebuyers. They are quasi-private companies backed by the federal government.
Fannie CEO Michael Williams and Freddie CEO Ed Haldeman each received $900,000 in salary and another $3.1 million in salary with payments deferred to 2010. That’s $4 million apiece. Each also is eligible for another $2 million in performance incentives. Considering that Fannie and Freddie needed a combined $111 billion, yes billion, in federal bailout money, one wonders exactly what their performance bonus was contingent upon. Perfect attendance? Turning their homework in on time? Spelling their names correctly?
The argument by their cheerleaders is that the former CEO’s of the two companies, who were both fired in September, 2008 when the bailout money was proposed, made a lot more money. The Fannie CEO received $10.2 million in 2008 and the Freddie guy nailed $13.1 million. It practically took an act of Congress to stop them from awarding themselves another combined $24 million in termination pay.
The case for Williams and Haldeman continues that each would command up to $10 million in yearly pay in the private sector. The argument typically concludes with, “No one else would do the job for less money.”
Bullfeathers!
I’ll do the job for one year for a measly $500,000. I’ll move to Washington, DC for one year, rent a condo, and work 365 straight days. A lot of qualified people would do the same thing. And I’ll donate $100,000 of that money to DC soup kitchens for the homeless. That would make my take home pay about $250,000. Not extravagant, but fair!
I really get tired of hearing how top company management and all government workers – federal, state, and municipal – feel justified in making a lot more money than their small business and working stiff counterparts because, “No one else would take this job.” And the benefits they receive, including health insurance and retirement packages, are way beyond reasonable and equitable.
Is anybody mad yet?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, North Wildwood, political blog, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, December 24th, 2009
The legendary battles between developers and environmentalists are well documented, but the two aren’t always polar opposites. The Tejon Ranch is a good example of the two marrying and having a happy ending.
Tejon Ranch is the largest private land holding in California, measuring around 270,000 acres, or over 400 square miles. The massive Kern County tract had not been viewed by the public for 140 years. The property is located along the main north-south route on the West Coast, Interstate 5, situated 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Bakersfield. It is at the confluence of four ecosystems – the Mojave Desert, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Central Valley, and South Coast, so it is a wildlife corridor of magnificent proportions.
Last May, the Tejon Ranch Company penned an agreement with five of the most important environmental groups – including the Sierra Club and Audubon Society – to set aside permanently 90% of the property. So far, 178,000 acres have been established as Open Space or a conservancy, with an option on 62,000 acres more at fair market value.
What the Tejon Ranch gets is the unhindered ability to develop part of the remaining land, which is all located along I-5 at the western edge of the ranch. They already have tenants in parts of the 1,450-acre Tejon Industrial Complex, including IKEA with a 1.7 million square foot warehouse. Oneida and Famous Footwear also call the complex home.
Tejon Mountain Village, which developers hope will eventually contain 23,000 homes and 70,000 people in 18.4 square miles of newly-hatched city, was just approved October 5th by the Kern County Board of Supervisors. There will also be resorts and golf courses, plus hiking and equestrian trails in this “environmentally sensitive mountain resort community”.
Within the preserved portions of Tejon Ranch the bears, bobcats, mountain lions, pronghorn antelope, and more will be able to continue to roam free amongst the many diverse habitats. The Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the Canadian to Mexican borders, will shift 39 of its miles to the breathtaking Ranch, something previously only dreamed of.
The Tejon Ranch concept, which will create 1,500 additional permanent jobs and 1,600 construction jobs, appears to be a win-win for everyone concerned. Isn’t it great when there is intelligent compromise that both spurs the economy and preserves our precious earth?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: california, california real estate, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, developers, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, nature blog, opinion, political blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, tejon mountain village, tejon ranch, Wildwood real estate
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Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie fired a warning shot across the bow of state government this week. The message is refreshing and offers a glimmer of hope that the sinking ship that is New Jersey may be rescued after all.
The state’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, on behalf of Christie’s transition team, sent out a three page memo via email to all state department heads. It warned of three upcoming scenarios: a cut to their operating budgets of either 15%, 20%, or 25% in the upcoming new year.
In a state with an anticipated $8 billion budget shortfall, those cuts in real dollars equal $3.8 billion, $5.1 billion, or $6.4 billion. And departments can’t achieve their cuts by shifting payments on outstanding debt. It has to be tangible cuts to services and labor force. All this means no magic tricks, no slight of hand. Also, cost-of-living (COL) increases will not be automatic.
Department heads have until January 6th to make their initial recommendations for budget cuts. Meanwhile, groups who receive state funding are sweating out the results. Everyone is going to lose something. But it has to be that way.
Congratulations to Governor-elect Christie for not keeping the status quo. To use a quote made famous nearly 60 years ago, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!”
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, New Jersey politics, New Jersey property taxes, New Jersey real estate blog, New Jersey taxes, North Wildwood, opinion, political blog, real estate blog, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Back in 2006, Dennis Township auctioned its first-ever liquor license for a retail store, known as a Plenary Retail Distribution License. In New Jersey ABC lingo, it’s known as a “44″ license, meaning the liquor is for off-premises consumption only.
With just two bidders, the license went for $1.1 million. The township set a minimum bid of $700,000, and the other bid was unsuccessful at $756,000.
The winning bidder sold the license to the Gleeson family earlier this year and they will be building their liquor store in Oceanview at the busy and highly-visible corner of Route 9 and Sea Isle Boulevard.
Plans include 4,000 square feet of retail space and an additional 4,700 square feet for storage space and offices. The family, which owns Gleeson Contractors, will be constructing the building themselves. The business is slated to be open for sales by Memorial Day.
Dennis Township has been “dry” since it was incorporated in 1826. In 2001, voters approved a referendum to allow liquor. Dennis auctioned one of its two permitted restaurant liquor licenses in 2002 to Shore Gate Golf Club, which bid the minimum set price of $300,000 to acquire the coveted license.
Of Cape May County’s 16 municipalities, only Ocean City, Wildwood Crest, and Cape May Point remain “dry” towns.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Clermont, Dennis Township, Dennis Township real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, liquor license, Middle Township, Mountain Man and City Girl, Oceanview, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Let’s face it. If the economy is to recover quickly, the bottom line is jobs, jobs, jobs. Put people to work and everything else falls into place.
Businesses, of course, are the key to creating jobs. And two-thirds of jobs are with small and medium size businesses. So to get businesses to hire more employees, the economic climate must be favorable.
New Jersey, unfortunately, ranks last or near the bottom of every business-friendly list generated, based on several factors. New Jersey ranks well in transportation, easy accessibility to large markets, having an available labor pool, and having the third lowest gasoline tax in the nation. That’s the end of the good news.
New Jersey has the second highest individual capital gains tax and sixth highest corporate capital gains tax. Property taxes are amongst the highest in the United States. Wading through the multi-levels of government and environmental bureaucracy adds to the negatives. Why would a business relocate to New Jersey with the high cost of doing business, plus the time delays in getting construction completed due to getting bogged down in permitting?
New Jersey – and newly-elected Governor Chris Christie – need to make some changes to spur business. Tax rates on corporations and small businesses must be reduced. The state will make up the loss in revenue by gaining more businesses, which in the long run makes a more stable tax base.
And as we all know, real estate property taxes must drop dramatically. With six out of every 100 workers in New Jersey actually employed by the state, it’s not hard to figure out where the first cuts should be!
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, New Jersey politics, New Jersey property taxes, New Jersey real estate, New Jersey real estate blog, New Jersey taxes, North Wildwood, opinion, political blog, real estate blog, Seapointe Village, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
Posted in Real Estate | 1 Comment »
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: Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, condo, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, mountain man, Mountain Man and City Girl, nature blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Saturday, December 12th, 2009
Most people would agree that the real estate market of the last 15 or 20 years has been fueled by the Baby Boomers. As you know, that’s the 80 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, and now ages 45 to 63 years old. They’ve had careers and saved money and invested in real estate, stocks, and retirement plans, amongst other things.
The next generation has been called “Generation X”, originally called the “Baby Bust” due to the low birthrate in America. They were born from 1965 to 1979, with the latter half mostly children of early Baby Boomers. They are now 30 to 44 years old, but they are just 48 million strong. With the average age of a first-time homebuyer pegged about 33 years old, they are filling that niche right now while the Baby Boomers upgrade to add vacation homes or downsize to smaller homes as “empty nesters”.
The next group to arrive was Generation Y, those born between 1980 and 1995. Now 14 to 29 years olds and children of the latter half of the Baby Boomers and the early Gen X’ers, they will be the next group to arrive on the real estate scene. The exciting news for the real estate industry and the economy of the United States in general is that there are 74 million of them. They should eventually have the economic impact equal to that of the Baby Boomers. Tattoos and piercings and all, this generation will soon enter the first-time homebuyer market and take their place on the economic ladder until they are perhaps 60 years old or so.
As the population demographics shift from one group to another, there will always be a new generation to carry the day. Isn’t that why we reproduce?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, opinion, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Friday, December 11th, 2009
Nearly a year into the Obama administration I think Americans can see that the No.1 issue in the nation’s mind – the economy – is still sputtering. Bank bailouts and all that stuff just aren’t working fast enough.
As Mighty Mouse used to say, “Here I come to save the day!” So here’s my simplistic approach to ending the Recession.
The United States of America has the highest bond rating possible – AAA. That rating means that the U.S. is not likely to default on debt. Thanks to the Bretton Woods Accord back in the 1970s, the U.S. dollar is no longer backed by the gold in Fort Knox. The American dollar – of which there are 829 billion – is backed by the government’s ability to generate revenue to pay down it’s debt.
New dollars are issued when the Federal Reserve elects to fund the purchase of debt, which is usually through U.S. Treasury Bonds. Done in excess, this can cause inflation, but bear with me.
The net worth of Americans is currently $53.4 trillion. Prior to the Recession, it was $64.5 trillion. In other words, we’ve lost 17.2% of our worth. By the way, $348 billion of our collective $53.4 trillion is household real estate holdings, i.e. your house.
That’s the background, now my proposal.
Let’s give each American household $10,000 tax free. With 105,480,101 households, that’s $1.05 trillion.
There are 7.7 million businesses in America. Let’s give them each $100,000 tax free. That’s a mere $770 billion.
So add it up and the American government can print and distribute $1.82 trillion. This isn’t money raised by taxes. We’re just gonna print it and give it out. There’s just one stipulation – the money can’t leave the country. It can’t be sent to relatives in Nicaragua or used to hire workers in China. It has to be spent in the 50 states.
Think of the ramifications. The boost to the economy will be incredible. Some people will pay down debt or save their homes, while others will buy TVs, cars, and yes, useless junk. Some might even use some of the money for booze, cigarettes, and methamphetimines, but that can’t be helped.
All this will turn into many of the 7 million people laid off from work since the beginning of the Recession getting gainful employment again. For every dollar currently in circulation, there will now be three dollars. Banks will start lending again and the good times will roll. States will see an increase in sales taxes collected, easing their budget pains.
The nay-sayers will yell that my plan will cause inflation. Sure, it will. But it’ll be manageable, maybe 10% at most and it will be a one-time thing, just like my giveaway windfall. But the trade-off of jobs and reduced personal debt is well worth it. The American economy will have the jump-start it needs.
Some might call my plan crazy. But at least I have a plan.
And I bet you’re smiling and already thinking about how you’d spend your $10,000.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Middle Township, mountain man, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, political blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, December 10th, 2009
“Surprise, Surprise, Surprise”, as Gomer Pyle used to say.
To the surprise of many, including this ardent Cape May County observer, voters successfully recalled City of Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano and Commissioner Bill Davenport in Tuesday’s special election.
The first part of the ballot asked whether voters wanted to recall the pair. Voters went 624 to 487 to recall the mayor and 649 to 470 to unseat the commissioner. Apparently there was enough dissent within the community to overcome the regular party machine.
The second part of the ballot then asked to vote for two of the six candidates. With only about a dozen or so provisional ballots not yet counted, the vote went:
Ed Harshaw 600, Al Brannen 577, Troiano 496, Davenport 453, Ernesto Salvatico 45, and John Roat 42.
And so Harshaw, a real likable high school history teacher, and Brannen, who’s been a thorn in the administration’s side, take over a city with the highest tax rate in Cape May County and a mountain of debt. They join Commissioner Gary DeMarzo, the controversial third commissioner.
The trio will decide amongst themselves who will be mayor and they haven’t hinted publicly yet whom they each will vote for.
The outgoing mayor took a parting shot, not indicating whether or not he knows exactly who will be the new mayor. “The only thing that bothers me is you’ll have an absolute nitwit for a mayor now.”
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, mountain man, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, opinion, Politics, Real Estate, real estate blog, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
In the October 2009 issue of New Jersey Realtor, the magazine did a typical pre-election article asking the governor candidates – incumbent Jon Corzine and challenger (now Governor-elect) Chris Christie – a series of position questions.
Their answers were mostly, well, carefully worded non-answers or non-commitals.
The first question asked was, ”what steps will you take to reform our property tax system?”
Gov Corzine gave a long-winded eight paragraph account of his accomplishments in office, but sidestepped the actual question. Christie gave a better answer, but limited his solution to “a smaller, leaner, more efficient government” and that he would keep the property tax rebate in place.
The second question dealt with repealing the Realty Transfer Fee, which averages $2,958 for each transaction.
Christie called it “one of the best examples of a tax that was imposed to capitalize on a booming real estate market that has now proven to be incredibly damaging”. Good answer, but he stopped short of proclaiming he’d repeal it. Corzine again completely avoided directly addressing the question.
The next question asked, “Do you support efforts to partially eliminate the property tax deduction?” and would they support “imposing a sales tax on rentals or professional services?”
Corzine basically said, “Leadership is about making difficult choices” and “I cannot guess what actions we will be required to take”. Typical incumbent evasiveness! Christie did step up by saying, “I do not support either the further elimination of the property tax deduction or expansion of the sales tax or any other tax.” He stopped short of saying he’d veto such attempts.
The fourth question was “What actions will you take to encourage stabilization and growth of the real estate market?”
Christie spoke of “restoring the vitality of our cities” and “an elimination of the outrageous quotas and requirements of the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH)”. Good answers, but they don’t really address stabilization and growth. Corzine talked about business development and his Economic Stimulus Act of 2009, but it fell short of being reassuring.
The final query was concerning the government’s right of eminent domain, especially seizing a person’s property and giving to another private property owner for redevelopment purposes.
Both candidates gave “feel good” two sentence answers, but no concrete proposals. Hmmm.
I must admit that I voted for neither of these candidates but instead voted for an alternative choice, which pollsters interpret as a dissenting vote. I guess I’m becoming increasingly disenfranchised from the system. Can you blame me?
Governor-elect Christie has inherited a giant pile of chicken manure. Let’s see if he can turn it into chicken salad.
- Mountain Man
Tags: Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Monday, December 7th, 2009
While most folks are struggling to make ends meet in this depressed economy, New Jersey government and municipal retirees are cleaning up. In fact, 428 retirees pull in over $100,000 per year in pension money.
In 2008, the median pension in New Jersey was $61,800 for police and fire retirees, $81,700 for State Police, and $43,200 for teachers. These figures are more than the salary – yes, salary – of the average New Jersey worker, which is $37,900.
In a state with an $8 billion budget deficit this year, the $5.7 billion in pensions is an unfair drain on taxpayers. To add insult to injury, the state and many municipal governments have failed to keep up with fully funding these pension funds, meaning the public will get increasingly larger bills each year.
So what to do?
Obviously, the system needs to be changed. The thought that a fireman or policeman can work from age 21 to 46 and collect substantial sums of pension money after this 25 years, then start a second career, is unconscienable. Newly hired state employees, who could retire at age 55 as of 2001, have seen outgoing Governor Corzine increase that back to age 60.
It appears that legislators are fearful of reigning in the money grab by retirees. So taxpayers will continue to fund this act of greed through real estate taxes, which are already the highest in the United States.
There is one group that won’t be funding the pension through real estate taxes. Did I mention that one-third of these pensioners have moved out of New Jersey?
- Mountain Man
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, North Wildwood, ocean, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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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: Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, condo, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, North Wildwood, ocean, real estate blog, Seapointe Village, townhouse, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Monday, November 30th, 2009
When the recent “Veterans Day Storm” slammed the east coast November 11-15, some Cape May County island homeowners suffered water damage and wind damage to their properties. For most, it was business as usual and they cleaned up the mess and moved on. It’s life at the shore for those in the few scattered low-lying streets in Wildwood, North Wildwood, and West Wildwood.
The beaches are another story. So that local governments could score Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money, New Jersey Governor Corzine obligingly declared a state of emergency. The damage to Cape May County, originally ballparked at $89 million, was determined to actually be $27.3 million. Those beach erosion figures are based on $10.40 per cubic yard of sand to be replaced. Sand for dunes is calculated up to $20 per cubic yard.
The bigger question here is whether the U.S. government should be subsidizing beaches. Is it fair to someone living in Iowa to pay for beaches in Avalon rimmed with $4 million vacation homes?
What would homeowners who cry for FEMA beach funds in their communities think if the federal government started funding ski resorts? Heck, they want snow by Thanksgiving to have a good year. Should we be subsidizing snowmaking operations at the hundreds of ski slopes throughout the U.S.? Let’s take it a step further and put refrigeration lines under each ski slope. That’ll make the millions of American skiers happy.
While we’re at it, why not have FEMA subsidize all the golf courses in America? In a drought, ship in tanker trucks of fresh water from the Great Lakes and major rivers. That would please the 24 million Americans who play golf. They want lush green golf courses, not those spotted with burned out patches of grass.
Do you see my point?
With oceans rising as the Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctic melt, the beach erosion problem has intensified. Many local shore towns will be doing two beach replenishment projects this year. Ten years from now, it may necessitate three or four a year, which isn’t going to happen. FEMA will finally say, “No Mas”.
So it’s time to be proactive.
Where beaches habitually wash out in storms, it is time to rip rap with massive walls of boulders, much like the seawalls recently constructed at the north end of both North Wildwood and Avalon at the inlets. FEMA should offer to pay for the rip rapping of the ocean. Sure it means less beaches, but once the seawalls are built, the beaches will come and go. After all, beaches are always in transit. It’s just in the last 100 years that civilization decided they’d try to tame Mother Nature.
There will always be plenty of beaches in Cape May County, but people will have to search them out. Here today, gone tomorrow, but another beach pops up a mile away. And certain beaches, like Wildwood, which is over 1,000 feet in depth, will always be there.
Like it or not, the days of FEMA beach handouts are numbered. As they should be.
- Mountain Man
Tags: Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, North Wildwood, ocean, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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