It usually starts with a phone call.  “I have a property at xxx Atlantic Avenue that I’m looking to sell.”  That always gets my immediate attention.  Oh boy, a listing!

“Would you like to list the property?”, I ask in anticipation.

“Well, no, I don’t want to list it with a realtor,” he’ll say, “I’m calling all the realtors on the island to let them know I’ll pay a three percent commission to anyone who brings me a buyer.”

I slump in my seat, the hair standing up on my back.  I’m pissed.

“Are you saying that you are NOT going to list with a local realtor?”, I shoot back.  I’ve have this same type phone call a dozen times a year so I go right on the offensive.

“No, but let me tell you all about my property in case you have a buyer.”

“Don’t bother,” I retort.  “In a couple days I won’t even remember your name or the property address.  List it with a local realtor – it doesn’t have to be us – and your property will get the attention it deserves.”

“No, I’m going to sell it myself.  I don’t need a realtor,” he says.  Of course if he doesn’t need a realtor, why is he calling all of us?  Answer – he thinks he can entice some realtor to help him save half the commission expense.

“Well, good luck,” I say in a pleasant voice.  “If you decide to list the property, consider Jewell Real Estate Agency.”  Then I hang up.

I sit at my desk and hope the other realtors on our island understand the implications of helping this guy out.  We are cheating one of our colleagues out of a three percent commission – usually about $10,000 – by going along with this guy’s scheme.  Times haven’t been tough enough on agencies that we should help cut each other’s throats?

And so I say to prospective sellers:  Feel free to use us as realtors, but don’t use us to achieve your ends while depriving realtors of their fair commission.  We’re professionals.  We work hard at our craft.  We’re constantly educating ourselves.

Treat us in our business as you’d expect us to treat you in yours.  Is that too much to ask?

- Mountain Man

In the private sector, businesses have had to analyze their model and decide what they need to do to survive and thrive.  What will separate them from the competition?  What will help them sell more of their product and get repeat business?

One sure-fire solution, whether in the real estate business that we’re in or any other business, is personal service.  Americans, despite all their electronic gadgets and gizmos, like and appreciate personal service.  And they gravitate toward companies that give that personal service.  We all want to be treated like human beings, not just a number.

Shockingly, there are some real estate agencies that don’t understand this concept.  They are hung up on automation.  And it’s costing them business and relationships.

I’m the type of guy who often gets into the office at 7:30 or 8 o’clock, well before the traditional real estate industry opening time of 9:00am.  I’ve got work to do and since I’m normally up and going by 4am, I am well into my day by 7 o’clock.  Heck, I started writing this blog article at 4:30.  Anyway, when running last minute errands I’ll often drive down New Jersey Avenue – the main thorofare through the Wildwoods – and notice multiple cars at a few real estate agencies just before 9:00am.  So back at the office, I’ll call a realtor to discuss a deal.  It’s 8:55am.  A voice mail comes on that says, “Our normal business hours are 9:00am to ….”.  What?  I know that three of you are sitting at your desks.  I saw your cars parked out front, so I know exactly who is at work.  You won’t answer the phone because it’s not exactly 9:00:00?  Incredible!

Then there’s the newest laziness trend.  I’m looking through the MLS to find some properties for a client.  I find a marginal property that might fit the criteria.  I go to call the agent to set up an appointment or get showing instructions when I notice on the listing “Appointment number 888-xxx-xxxx”.  Are you kidding me?  This agency is going to direct me to a central clearinghouse rather than have me speak directly to the agent?  How do I find out if there have been any offers on the property if I don’t speak to the agent?  How many times has the property been shown?  How old is the roof?  How long before the tenant leases end?

No, they’re going to send me to a generic answering center that sets up appointments.  Period.  Are they nuts?

So, being the type personality I am, I ignore the directive and call the office.  “I want to show xxx Atlantic Avenue,” I say to the receptionist. 

“You have to call 888-xxx-xxxx,” she answers coldly.  I reply that I want to talk to the agent and set up the appointment through that listing agent so I can get additional information about the property. “You have to call 888-xxx-xxxx to set up appointments,” she repeats robotically.

I won’t get into what I say next, but you get the idea.  What kind of service are these agencies giving?  They can’t answer the phone at 5 minutes of 9 and they won’t even set up their own appointments?

I smile.  At Jewell Real Estate Agency, we answer phones 6:00am to 9:00pm, 365 days a year.  We gladly speak to other agents letting them know the high points and quirks of every property of ours that they are interested in showing to the potential buyers.  We’re live and lively people, not robots.  We love our business.  It’s our life.  We’re proud of our personal service!

We’ll survive and thrive.

- Mountain Man

Then there’s the dumb excuse, which is becoming far too prevalent.  I’m talking about people who co-sign their kid’s mortgage, or continually funnel money to their whiney, manipulative kids so that they can live beyond their means.

I had a client come in recently inquiring about a short sale.  When he explained his income versus mortgage costs, I couldn’t see how he could be strapped for money.  Then the truth came out.  He had co-signed his kid’s mortgage and now the situation had degraded to the point where he was paying the entire $2,000 payment every month.  This senior citizen was willing to lose his home and have to become a renter just so he could continue to finance his kid’s lifestyle.  Unbelievable.

We call people like this “enablers”.  They enable their kids to be irresponsible because they will always come to the rescue and bail them out.  How pathetic!

This client staunchly defended giving his kid money.  “You’ve gotta do for family,” he repeated several times during our conversation (consultation, actually).  He made no apologies for throwing away a lifetime of hardwork and scrimping and saving.  Just as long as his kid and family could afford to drive new cars, buy cigarettes and booze, and buy their kids (his grandchildren) all kinds of status-driven material things, he was willing to lose his home.

Parents who do this type of enabling are not doing their kids a favor.  In most cases, once the parents are dead and buried, the irresponsible kids now in their 40′s and 50′s will not survive.  They don’t have the skills.  They’ll lose everything.  The cycle continues.

- Mountain Man

Well, here it is 2011.  It’s a brave new world.  We currently have 14 residential listings available to buy that are priced under $200,000.  And that doesn’t include vacant lots.

The market determines the price.  Okay, the owner actually decides what price to ask after weighing – and sometimes discarding – the pricing advice of their realtor.  But if there’s no action after two months, it’s time to lower the price.  After another two months of minimal interest in the unit, it’s time to reduce the price again.  It’s called “finding the price point”.  Once you arrive at the price point, the unit typically gets an offer within 21 days.  Real estate, for the most part, is no longer “location, location, location”.  It’s “price, price, price”.

Several of our lowest priced units are seasonal, meaning the water is shut off from November 1 to late March or April.  There is too much chance of water pipes freezing and bursting in the cold winters for the complexes to take the risk.  Leaking pipes can do hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage in a short time in a two or three story multi-unit building.

Our lowest priced unit is in a campground complex, complete with swimming pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, a game room, and organized activities day and night for both kids and adults.  The 35-foot long trailer, built in 2004, is cute and homey.  The property is listed at just $59,900.

We also have three units in a complex on the 300 block east in Wildwood, just a half block from the beach and famous Boardwalk.  All three units are one bedroom, one full bath, and the complex has an inground pool.  Sold as a short sale, the 336 square foot unit is going for $99,000 and the two 450 sq ft units are priced at $120,000.  They have both price and location going for them!

We have two units a couple blocks away also in the 300 block east and a short walk to the beach and Boardwalk.  Both of these short sale units are 633 sq ft, two bedrooms, and priced at $112,000.  The remodeled units, featuring new carpets and new wood laminate floors and tastefully decorated, rent for $975 per week.

We just listed a 15′x25′ efficiency unit in the 400 block east in the heart of Wildwood Crest for $124,900.  It is totally remodeled, with new refrigerator, stove and range top, cabinets, countertops, etc.  The Caribbean theme really makes you think you’re on vacation and the swimming pool, barbecue grills, etc make life easy.  Can you say, “Pina Colada”?

Wrapping up my look at “too good to be true”  properties is a  cute, year-round single family home in Villas, Lower Township.  Situated on a 60′x86′ lot, the two bedroom, 1 1/2 bath home has an attached garage, fenced yard, and inside there’s a dining room, living room and family room with electric fireplace.  Originally, $149,000, two price reductions have brought the price down to its price point of $132,000.  It’s a great place to retire, vacation, or start a family.

There are bargains galore at the shore in Cape May County.  Maybe now is the time for you to take advantage of price, price, price.

- Mountain Man 

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

This past year, our thoughts in the warm months turned to many other diversions.  First up was The Free Meal Center, Cape May County’s first-ever daily soup kitchen.  We formed a non-profit organization on January 25, 2010 and took possession of the 4,275 square foot building situated on 2.38 acres on March 15th.  We spent the next eight months gutting the interior and improving the grounds and exterior of the building, thanks to the hundreds of dedicated volunteers who pitched in to make it a reality.  We received our building permit the day before Thanksgiving and now the renovations can proceed.

We also began the second story addition to our real estate office in Wildwood Crest.  The complicated footing is now in place, with a three-foot concrete block foundation above.  When the warm weather returns, we’ll begin building skyward.

We also began site work on our restaurant/sports bar in Green Bank, West Virginia.  We purchased the seven-acre bottom land on July 1st.  The beautiful property has 750-foot frontage on Routes 28 & 92 and 1,050 feet along Deer Creek, a 50-foot wide river that takes water from the Allegheny Mountains to the Greenbrier River.  The site work is just about done and the riverfront has been transformed into a beautiful setting. 

As you can see, we keep ourselves pretty busy.  And so, you’ll excuse us if we only find the time to relax and write blog posts in the winter.  Sit back and enjoy the next four months of opinions and observations on real estate and life in general.

- Mountain Man

The township completed a full-blown revaluation in 2007, raising the total value of all properties from $1.5 billion to $4.73 billion.  While the new figure was more in line with reality, it came at the time when the real estate market was in a deadfall.  Property values were dropping about a half percent per month.

A petition signed by 1,500 property owners against the new valuations put the township on notice to expect plenty of costly tax appeals.  It would also cause an imbalance in values, since those folks out of a total of 15,930 property owners in the town that didn’t bother to appeal would unfairly be picking up the new burden.

Township Tax Assessor Art Amonette undertook an in-house reval in 2009, which cost just $25,000 instead of the $1 million price tag associated with a full reval.  Smart thinking, big savings!

The completed revaluation shows that the value of the township did indeed decline, from the previous $4.73 billion down to $4.1 billion, a drop of about 15%.  About 15,500 properties had their values reduced, while another 400 saw increases.

The range of change had some properties dropping 30%, as opposed to a high of a 10% increase.  Anyone who’s value dropped more than 15% will see a lower tax bill.  A reduction less than 15% will see the owner’s tax bill increase accordingly.

So once again, the playing field appears to be leveled for Lower Township property owners.  Town officials being proactive was a wise decision all around.

- Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

COAH came into existence in the late 1970′s as a result of the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mt. Laurel Decision, which basically said that municipalities cannot zone against low and moderate-income housing and must supply affordable housing.  COAH set quotas for each of the state’s 567 (now 566) municipalities.

The quota system was unfair to many municipalities, setting unrealistically high numbers for some towns.  Here in Cape May County, Middle Township is still required to offer 932 more affordable units by 2018 and Upper Township still owes over 500.  It’s unrealistic and puts a heavy burden on taxpayers, who must fund new schools and services to meet the demand of so many new residences.

Senate Bill S1, sponsored by Raymond Lesniak and Christopher Bateman, and its companion State Assembly bill A2057, would abolish COAH.  It would also do away with State-imposed calculations of affordable housing needs.  Instead, it would permit municipalities to determine their own needs.  The State Planning Commission would assist towns in facilitating opportunities for affordable housing.

The bill would require municipalities to re-examine their master plan and adopt an ordinance that provides an opportunity for an appropriate variety and choice of housing.  They must show that they have complied with their obligations under the Fair Housing Act.  Any municipality not enacting ordinances by December 31, 2011, would be required to have any developers set aside 20% of their project for low or moderate or work force housing.

What does all this mean?  COAH and its assigned numbers of affordable housing units will be put to rest.  But municipalities aren’t off the hook.  They must still offer affordable housing, but on their own terms, not Trenton’s.

-Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

Until the past year or so, a family could rescue themselves by taking an equity line on their house, or even write a credit card check to bolster their checking  account and get them through the tough times.  But too many Americans have now found themselves cut off from being extended credit through these means.  Banks are taking the hard line, even if one’s credit score is still hovering around 800 and payments are always on time.

In 2009, there were over 2.8 million foreclosures filed in the United States.  It’s a sad statistic that puts a damper on many families’ American dream of home ownership.  Is owning a home and then losing it worse than never having owned one?

But there is one facet of these foreclosures that is particularly upsetting.  About one-fourth of last year’s foreclosures were not  because the mortgage payments couldn’t be afforded, but instead because families decided the mortgage payment simply wasn’t worth paying.  It’s called a strategic default.

Suppose a family owns a home they bought in 2004 for $450,000 with no money down.  Their mortgage payment is nearly $3,000 a month, plus PMI and real estate taxes ($500 a month average here in New Jersey).  Add in minimal upkeep and necessary repairs and it’s costing about $4,500 a month.

If a family can handle that $4,500 but has nothing left at the end of the month, they begin to wonder if it’s worth the hassle.  Especially because the house is now only worth $315,000, using the typical decline of 30% in value in the US.  When that family crunches the numbers and compares paying $1,200 to $1,500 a month to rent a similar home, many opt to take that route.

So, despite the fact that their credit will be ruined and the pleasures and comforts of home ownership will disappear, they decide to walk away from their home.  They stop making the mortgage payments – which gives them six months or so with no $4,500 payment (saving $27,000) - and prepare for life as a renter.

It’s a sad scenario.  But for many, a reality.

Mountain Man and City Girl    http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com

The blogsite of Jewell Real Estate Agency, Wildwood Crest, NJ    http://www.JewellRealEstateAgency.com

When we got home from school, Mom was there with milk and cookies, or some other goodie.  The house was spotless and absolutely nothing was out of place.  The beds were always made to the point of perfection and the hamper was empty.  Clothes were hanging on the clothes line in the backyard.

We kids hurried to change into play clothes, then rushed out the door as Mom said cheerfully, “Dinner is at 5:30.  Don’t be late.”  Needless to say, a nice, hot meal of meat, potatoes, and a vegetable were on the dinner table at 5:30.  What a life!

We had one car, which Dad used each day.  To get anywhere, our options were to ride our bikes or walk.  Mom was not our chaufeur.  We kids (mostly me because I was the oldest) were expected to mow the lawn, rake leaves, and shovel snow.  No excuses were acceptable. 

But that’s not today’s reality.  In statistics recently released by the US Census Bureau, concerning families comprised of a married couple with kids under 18 years old, you can see that the American way of life has changed dramatically from the Ward and June Cleaver, Wally and Beaver (okay, Theodore) days.

Two thirds of these American families have both parents working.  That’s 17 million families where the kids probably don’t have a June Cleaver to come home to every day.  Called “latch-key kids”, they come home from school to an unsupervised house.  No wonder they live on junk food, fast food, and watch too much TV and spend too much time playing video games. 

Now only 28 percent (7.3 million families) of fathers are the sole breadwinners.  That throws the Ward Cleaver model right out the window.  Another telling statistic is that in 4% of families (just under a million), the wife is the sole supporter.  Maybe that’s why beer sales are up?  Just kidding.  A lot of that can be attributed to this recession which has eliminated many construction and trades jobs.  But does Dad take up the traditional homemaker role?  Only in 16% of the families, they say.

In today’s world, a family does without any frills unless both parents are employed.  It’s the way it is.  But how many kids can never share the memories I have of coming home after school to Mom’s freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies and a loving hug.

- Mountain Man and City Girl

http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com