Posts Tagged ‘North Wildwood’
Monday, December 13th, 2010
Go ahead and snicker. This Mountain Man guy is full of bull, you’re thinking.
Not so fast, my friend.
Sure, the national unemployment numbers are still tough to swallow. And yes, we are still seeing more vacant store fronts popping up. Discretionary spending is off, too, though you have to wonder when you see folks descend on a mall and drop hundreds of dollars on trivial junk for Christmas.
But here in Cape May County, New Jersey at the shore, the tide has turned in the real estate market. Pun intended. With interest rates hovering around 4% and prices nearly half of what they were in 2005, sales have been brisk. We’re also seeing that folks are tired of sitting on the sidelines and after five years they ackowledge the opportunity is there to finally purchase and own a vacation home at the Jersey Shore. If they were 55 years old back in 2005, they’re now 60 and not getting any younger. I call it the “now or never” syndrome. If they waited much longer to buy a second home, some would probably just say forget it.
Back in 2004, we began telling our clients that the days of buying pre-construction condos, then flipping them a year later the day after closing, were over. We saw an overabundance of new construction and sensed that the market was shifting. Unfortunately, we were right. We are getting that same feeling again, except this time it’s a turn in the other direction.
We believe that the vacation home market leads the way. Our real estate market was the first to fall apart, and it is the first to recover. And why not? Folks who can afford second homes usually own their own business or they are high enough up on the corporate ladder to have a solid income. When the national media began their gloom and doom predictions, the frugal upper and upper-middle class folks pulled back and stopped spending. Now that they’ve endured five years of a recession and the sky hasn’t fallen in, they’re back.
Here at Jewell Real Estate Agency, we have sold 2.5 times more properties this year than in 2009. We’re not bleeding greenbacks anymore. Not only are we relieved, we’re very optimistic. No doubt, it will take the primary home market another two years to catch fire. But when it does, all will be well in Whoville.
- Mountain Man
Tags: Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey real estate blog, North Wildwood, ocean, real estate blog, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Just one day after school officials called rumors of Wildwood Catholic High School’s closing unfounded, the Diocese of Camden announced that the school will close at the end of the school year this June. It’s just the latest round in the demise of the Catholic church in Cape May County.
In 2007, St. Raymond’s elementary/junior high school in the Villas section of Lower Township was closed by the Diocese of Camden, which oversees the Catholic goings-on in southern New Jersey. Students, parents, and teachers were saddened, outraged, and in shock. Students were offered the chance to transfer to Star of the Sea in Cape May or St. Ann’s in Wildwood.
Then in 2008 the Diocese announced the closing of Star of the Sea elementary/junior high school, merging it with St. Ann’s elementary/junior high school. That didn’t sit well with Star of the Sea parents, who didn’t like the prospect of their kids be bussed to lowly Wildwood, a decidedly less affluent community. The parents are still fighting the closing, recently taking out ads on the radio to drum up support for keeping Star of the Sea open. Tuition at the school is around $3,500 for Catholic kids and a thousand dollars more for non-Catholics.
The diocese also previously announced the closing of the Assumption church in upscale Wildwood Crest, offering just summer services when tourists are in town. Parishioners picketed and instituted a letter writing campaign to keep their church, which is self-supporting and not losing money, from merging with St. Ann’s. The move by the Diocese was part of a plan to merge 14 Cape may County parishes into eight.
With all these closings happening, the biggest shock is the demise of Wildwood Catholic High School, an institution on the island since 1948. The North Wildwood school boasts state titles in soccer and basketball, and their rivalries with Wildwood High School and other county high schools are legendary. In the 1990′s, the school’s enrollment increased from 250 to 374 students. A $1.5 million addition was built onto the school to handle the increase.
But in these tough economic times, with tuition at the Catholic high school running about $6,000 per student, many parents balked at sending their kids there. And yes, religion is less common in families than in previous times. Enrollment is now down to 194 at Wildwood Catholic High. The school will lose a half million dollars this year, with expected red ink of $900,000 next year if they stayed open.
Catholic parents of high schoolers will now have several options of where to send their kids next year. To stay parochial, the options are Holy Spirit High School in Absecon (35 miles), St. Augustine in Richland (45 miles), or St. Joseph in Hammonton (52 miles). Locally, the students can attend their home public high schools which are Wildwood HS, Lower Cape May Regional HS, Middle Township HS, Ocean City HS, or Cape May Technical HS.
Unlike St. Raymond’s, which now sits unused and gathering dust, Wildwood Catholic will not be mothballed. The school will become the new home of the St. Ann and Star of the Sea merger and used for church activities, offices, and ministry. It presumably will be called Cape Trinity Catholic School.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Cape May County, Cape May County blog, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, real estate blog, St. Ann's Wildwood, St. Raymond's Villas, Star of the Sea Cape May, Wildwood, Wildwood Catholic HS
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Monday, December 28th, 2009
I’m stubborn, I admit it. I have embraced modern technology, but only as far as needed to be the owner of a successful real estate agency.
I’ve had a cell phone for 10 years, and now 85% of Americans do too, according to statistics. Judging from my older friends, I think I personally know many of the 15% who don’t.
I bought my first computer in 1993, just months before launching my own weekly all-sports newspaper. I didn’t know how to do much, other than type articles into Microsoft Word that I would later cut and paste. By cut and paste, I mean scissors and wax onto camera-ready full newspaper-size sheets.
I got my first email address in 1999, just prior to opening the main office of Jewell Real Estate Agency. A year later we purchased three more computers for our new branch office, run by my broker wife Joyce. While my wife jumped into the computer age with vigor, I still hung around on the outskirts. She was busy inputting data on our website, local MLS, and many other websites used to sell real estate. I stuck to writing material and articles into Word, then letting her cut and paste them (yes, computer cut and paste this time) into our various advertising venues.
Now as the “ought decade” comes to a close, I write a blog regularly and I do my research on many topics on the Internet. Wikipedia is great, and I can read online the newspapers from the many places I’ve lived. I’ve even abandoned the Weather Channel on TV for Weather Underground on the Internet. And I can get instant sports scores. Yee-haa!
But that’s where I draw the line.
I don’t even know what a BlackBerry is, nor an iPod. I don’t own a DVD player or DVR, and in fact don’t know the difference, if there is one. I don’t Facebook or Twitter or YouTube or Wii. Heck, the last video game I played was Pacman on a Commodore 64, circa 1984.
And don’t even think of sending me a text message. I don’t know how to read one or write one. The only thing I can do is delete the one you sent me, unopened. If you have something important to tell me, pick up the phone. I do answer the phone.
I don’t have a GPS. I’m a guy. I use a map, or else I’ll Mapquest first and compare it to my real live map. Okay, I do have a radar detector in my vehicle. That baby has saved me a lot of bucks, not to mention points on my license.
While I’m ranting, I don’t have tattoos and I think they’re degrading (spelled S-T-U-P-I-D). Same with piercings. I don’t watch reality shows – never. My TV is never tuned to ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox. I watch nature shows, movies, and occasionally college sports. Don’t even think I’d watch the Simpsons or Beavis & Butthead. I don’t do Pay-Per-View and I don’t download movies or music.
Also, I’ve never been in a Starbucks. I don’t have (or need) a life coach. I think cougars are desperate. And what’s this thing all the “under 30s” are doing with holding up different fingers? Does that mean something?
One last thing. You’ll never see me going around with one of those Mr. Spock things in my ear. What’s with that? I own three businesses and I’m a successful author, yet I hardly think I’m so important as to walk around needing 24/7 instant access to my phone.
Okay, I’m done. I feel better now.
You can perhaps see why they call me the Mountain Man.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey real estate blog, North Wildwood, opinion, real estate blog, technology blog, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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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
You probably have seen the 1993 movie Dave, which starred Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. To refresh your memory, Kline plays Dave Kovic, an unassuming and likable man who heads a “temp” agency in Ohio.
Dave is hired by White House bigwigs as a one-time only stand-in for President Bill Mitchell, who has identical looks. When the President has a paralyzing stroke, the White House chief of staff retains Dave to impersonate the President to keep the political power in his court.
As Dave assumes the role of the President, he increasingly realizes that he can do much good for America and his humor and vitality energizes the country. After Dave and Mrs. Mitchell, played by Weaver, visit a homeless shelter that has a surprising number of kids as clients, Dave is touched. He is soon shocked to learn that the chief of staff removed a $650 million portion of the federal budget that was designated to fund homeless shelters. Mrs. Mitchell, who already hates her husband, is really upset.
Long story short, Dave rolls up his sleeves and really assumes the position of President instead of being a puppet stand-in. He eliminates fluff from the budget in restoring the $650 million homeless shelter funds. Now Mrs. Mitchell realizes that Dave is not her real husband, and together they conspire to change America for the better. Dave announces a plan to “give a job to every American who wants one.”
And that’s why I would like to be Dave for a month or so, just like in the movie. A common man got a chance to make a difference, to cut through the government bureaucracy of patronage and waste. To restore American’s faith in America, to bring common sense and doing what is right back to Washington, DC.
The movie was pure fantasy. But the dream of giving back our country to the everyday person and being led by someone with compassion and common sense is too much to ignore. It’s the way things should be.
Don’t you agree?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, opinion, political blog, Politics, Real Estate, real estate blog, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Friday, December 25th, 2009
Everyone is blessed at Christmas, whether they are aware of it or not. And you don’t have to be a Christian for Christmas to have an effect on your spirituality.
I’m a perfect example. I’m not a Christian. I don’t buy Christmas gifts or have a Christmas tree. Bah humbug. The materialism of Christmas turned me off nearly a half century ago. And a lifelong examination of my religious beliefs and the religious philosophies of the world has pretty much made me conclude that I’m perhaps an atheist.
But I am blessed with a great wife, who happens to be my best friend and business partner. Her unbridled enthusiasm for Christmas makes that a time of year that I especially appreciate all she’s done for me and all that she means to me.
I recall a quote, “Love is the soul’s recognition of its counterpoint in another.” That wraps up my feelings toward our special relationship.
So I ask on this Christmas day that you not dwell on what things you did or didn’t find under your Christmas tree. Instead, think longingly of the ones you love. For it is that love that carries you through the other 364 days of the year.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainmanandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Christmas blog, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, New Jersey real estate blog, North Wildwood, opinion, Real Estate, real estate blog, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, 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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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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Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
As any active realtor knows, banks are more tight-fisted with loan money now than in the past decade. In the spirit of this Christmas season, you could even call them Scrooge.
The tried and true banking tradition is that banks took deposits from customers, paying a certain interest rate, then lent money to borrowers at a higher rate. The difference in the interest rates was their profit.
The model has changed since the number of bank failures rose from three in 2007 and 25 in 2008 to 140 in 2009.
Banks are now borrowing at near-zero percent interest rates to get short term loans for themselves and putting the money into Treasury notes and other higher-yielding government securities. They make a profit with no risk (unless the United States collapses). This practice is called playing the yield curve, or carry trade.
Loans given out to consumers and businesses in America have dropped 8% in the last year. The banks claim that less people want loans. Our experience as realtors tells us a different story. We’re seeing people with solid credit and income getting turned down for loans in this vacation home market here at the South Jersey shore. At our agency, we’ve put a lot more properties in 2009 “under contract” than in 2008, but we’ve closed on fewer than last year.
Right now only FHA-backed loans, which account for 30% of home loans compared to just 3% in 2006, seem a sure thing. Loans for second homes and businesses are tough to obtain. Banks literally want no risk when giving a mortgage.
When the economy finishes turning around and businesses begin hiring, maybe banks will feel comfortable again lending money. Until then, many realtors and consumers will have to continue treading water.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: banks, blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, opinion, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor blog, Seapointe Village, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Monday, December 21st, 2009
This weekend’s snow storm – or “storm event” as the weathermen seem to be calling it nowadays – was the conclusion to a crazy autumn of weather in Cape May County, and the mid-Atlantic states for that matter.
With our local weather influenced by the close proximity of the Atlantic Ocean and 13-mile wide Delaware Bay, snowfall totals were much less than the 23″ that Philadelphia officially received. The Wildwoods had about 2 inches, with Rio Grande about 4″, Cape May Court House about 6″, Swainton 8″, and Dennis Township nearly 12″. By going just 16 miles north from Wildwood, the snowfall amount drastically increased. By the time you got to Egg Harbor or Hammonton in Atlantic County, you’re talking two feet of the white powder. What kept Cape May County towns down in snow amounts was the amount of time we got rain, mid-storm, instead of snow.
A look back at the Fall of 2009 foreshadows the significant precipitation. September saw at least 7″ of rain, over double the normal. October had nearly 9″ of rain, triple the norm. November was normal, but the first half of December again had triple precipitation. Doesn’t it seem like since May its been one day of heavy rain, followed by two days of drying out, then the cycle repeats over and over and over again for the next six months?
All this brings me to the raging controversy – global warming. Believe it or not, you can’t deny that our industrial century of spewing CO2 into the atmosphere has had an effect on our weather. And lives. We have more extremes of heat and cold, floods and drought.
When the US Chamber of Commerce recently challenged the science behind climate change, they discovered that much of their membership did not agree. Nike stepped down from its seat on the board of directors, and General Electric disavowed that the Chamber spoke for all it’s members, or even the majority. Apple, Exelon, and Pacific Gas & Electric quit the chamber in protest, as did others.
Still, only 57% of Americans now believe the earth is warming, down from 77% in 2006. This despite the fact the 8 of the 10 warmest years in recorded weather history (about 125 years) have come in the last 14 years. The Arctic is warmer than it has been in 2,000 years and ships now routinely sail through Arctic waters, a notion unthinkable two decades ago.
Few will deny that our dependence on petroleum must be drastically curtailed, whether for economic or climate reasons. The answer, of course, is wind power, solar power, and water power. These will be the norms in 30 years and civilization will look back at petroleum and wonder what took so long. By then, petroleum will only be for plastics, perfumes, and manufacturing, and a barrel of crude oil will fetch about $10.
The emergence of these “green” energy sources threaten another dirty industry. The coal states – West Virginia, Kentucky, Wyoming, Colorado, to name the biggies – continue to argue for jobs over an end to mountaintop removal and generating electricity via coal-fired plants. Locally, the power station in Beesleys Point uses 90 coal cars of the black death each week, yes, WEEK! Directly downwind is Ocean City, which has the most polluted air in the county. Nationally, 27% of all CO2 emissions come from coal-fired power plants!
Green energy will create more jobs than ending our dependency on oil and coal will lose. Eventually the east coast, mountain ridges nationwide, and the flat midwest will be dotted with windmills. The southwest will have hundreds of square miles of solar panels.
These scenarios are going to happen. The sooner the better, I say.
While the earth goes in cycles and it is in a natural warming cycle right now, CO2 is accelerating the warming. The earth has shown that all warming cycles end in an ice age. This one will, too.
I’m still cold from this weekend’s snow event and sub-freezing temperatures. Let’s move forward on slowing down global warming so the next ice age doesn’t get here anytime too soon.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Beesleys Point power plant, Cape May County snowfall, Cape May County weather, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, climate change, global warming, Jewell Real Estate Agency, nature blog, North Wildwood, real estate blog, solar power, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate, wind power
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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
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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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Thursday, December 10th, 2009
If you have credit cards – and who doesn’t? – you probably got a notice in the last few days from Bank of America. The letter said that your credit line has been reduced to a few hundred dollars. The tens of thousands of dollars of available credit or cash you had the week before is suddenly gone! Merry Christmas.
Chase Bank and Bank of America, which merged with Merrill Lynch in 2009, pretty much have the credit card business all to themselves. These two giants of the financial world control the credit destiny of tens of millions of Americans.
So why would Bank of America suddenly cut off five or ten million hard-working American families from having credit lines?
This past Tuesday, December 8, Bank of America paid back the $45 billion it got from the U.S. Government in the big bank bailout. It did it with about $19 billion in cash and the balance by selling off securities. To make sure they had the cash on hand, B of A apparently needed to make sure you couldn’t borrow any of it.
Here comes the kicker.
Bank of America paid back the $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury so that they would no longer be bound by the rules that were instituted as a condition of using the bailout funds. Since the CEO of B of A recently announced his resignation as of December 31, the board of directors has been searching for a new CEO. It seems they feel that they can’t offer “proper incentives” to attract a quality CEO and accepting the government grant money limited the bonuses allowed to be paid to the company’s top management.
So, to make sure they can offer their new CEO $50 million or $100 million in bonus incentives, they cut off the credit of millions of American families!
Where’s the public outrage?
- Mountain Man
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, opinion, political blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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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: Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, condo, Diamond Beach, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, North Wildwood, ocean, opinion, Real Estate, real estate blog, 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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