a sales associate with Coldwell Banker at the Shore said the home at 306 20th St. in Brigantine, above, sold for $1,755,000 after just 24 days on the market

By KEVIN POST, Press of A.C. Business Editor | Posted: Sunday, August 29, 2010

Home prices in southern New Jersey increased in the second quarter, as sales statewide surged, driven by the now-expired federal subsidies for buyers.

The median price of an existing single-family home in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties was $224,400, up 2.6 percent from the second quarter of 2009, the National Association of Realtors reported.

Total home sales in New Jersey jumped 30 percent from the prior year’s period to an annual pace of 138,900 units.

On Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said second-quarter prices for home purchases and refinancings in Atlantic County were down 6.7 percent from the year before, while in Cape May County they were 3 percent lower and in Cumberland County, 6.5 percent lower.

The FHFA survey said nationwide, house prices were down 4.9 percent from the second quarter of 2009. The FHFA tracks only mortgages handled by government-supported entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Local real estate professionals said they see signs of stabilization in the figures and in their experience in the market.

“There is some optimism,” said Peter Petridis, 50, of Brigantine, a sales associate with Coldwell Banker at the Shore in that city. “The market is not what we want it to be, but things are going in the right direction.”

Thomas Wissel, director of the Jersey Shore MLS for the Ocean County Board of Realtors, welcomed the firming prices but said sales are still soft.

“Median prices are creeping up, but the actual number of units selling is the tough part,” he said. “Those are way down from what they were years ago, but slogging along at the same level.”

Area Multiple Listing Service figures showed a drop in reported single-family home sales (existing and new) in July, suggesting the spring’s tax credits of $8,000 and $15,000 lured normal summer buyers.

Wissel said the Jersey Shore MLS had 143 closings in July, down from 180 in July 2009.

In Atlantic County, MLS sales dropped to 147 in July from 169 a year ago. In Cape May County (not including Ocean City), MLS sales in July were 152, down from 194 in the month last year.

The Realtors’ 2.6 percent home price increase in the region outpaced a nationwide second quarter rise of 1.5 percent, and came despite a 3.2 percent drop in prices in the Northeast overall.

The median price for the shore region may be benefiting from the sale of high-end homes on or near the water. The National Association of Realtors survey, started in 1979, counts whatever houses sold in the quarter, which vary in value.

Wissel said the Ocean County market is currently dominated by mid-priced and upper-end homes, with 459 of those available this month priced from $250,000 to $500,000, and 252 priced at more than $1 million.

Petridis has noticed the two-pronged market at his agency.

“The regular homes are pushing, going through, and the $200,000 to $300,000 range is a busy market,” he said. “Then there are some upper echelon homes coming through.”

He said the agency recently has sold a few homes for more than $1 million.

Others are looking for even pricier homes.

“We have buyers looking in the plus-$4 million range,” he said, seeking oceanfront property and in some cases sellers are holding out for a better price.

In another sign of slight improvement, homes are taking a little less time to sell.

The Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert Market Report says houses in Atlantic County spent an average 115 days on the market in the first half of 2010, down from 122 days in the first half of last year.

Mortgage interest rates are also at record low levels.

Freddie Mac, the federally supported mortgage buyer, said the average rate in the second quarter on a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage was a record low of 4.91 percent.

Wissel said the rates aren’t motivating buyers as much as expected because banks have largely returned to demanding a significant down payment, which is hard to save in the slow economy.

The region’s price increase reversed a drop of 2.6 percent in the first quarter in the Realtors survey. The FHFA’s first quarter survey reported Atlantic County prices down 10.1 percent from the year before and those in Cape May County off 8 percent.

Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, reasserted this week that we won’t know the shape of the housing market until fall, when the distorting effects of the federal tax credits are past.

Wissel said it seems at least that the market has bottomed.

“If nothing else, the bleeding has slowed down and things are reaching a level, and we’ve just got to wait for things to turn around,” he said.

by Ron Lieber
Thursday, September 2, 2010

It’s hard to read the headlines and not conclude that becoming a homeowner is a terrible idea.

Last week, the National Association of Realtors announced that existing-home sales in July had fallen an astounding 25.5 percent from the previous year. Sure, there was a federal tax credit in place last summer. But with single-family home sales at their lowest level since 1995 and unemployment still stubbornly high, home prices may fall further.

[Click here to check home loan rates in your area.]

In the meantime, millions of homeowners are still far underwater, and government programs to help them have fallen well short of their goals. More foreclosures are coming, casting a deeper shadow over home prices. So it’s hardly surprising that the conventional wisdom says that home values will never again rise faster than inflation.

But as with stocks and the weather, it is dangerous to assume any certainty in the housing market. And by wallowing too much in the misery of others, people looking for a new place to live run the risk of thinking every home purchase will end in regret, at least financially.

Many still could, if they buy in hard-hit areas where prices could fall further.

[See Which Is Cheaper: High-Rise or House With Yard?]

But a mortgage is still a form of long-term forced savings, after all. This is more important than ever, since fewer people have access to generous pensions than they did during the last big housing slump. A 401(k) or similar plan is no bargain, either, with its erratic returns and employer matches that come and go as the economic winds shift. Social Security is also likely to be less generous, and Medicare will probably cost more.

Besides, owning a home isn’t just about what shows up on a net worth statement — something that bears repeating after all the “investing” that people thought they were doing when buying homes over the last 10 or 15 years. Many of these more qualitative factors, from living free of a landlord’s whim to having access to a good school district or retirement community, haven’t changed and probably never will.

It is possible, as a homeowner, to make very little money but still buy plenty of happiness. So before you swear off real estate, reconsider a few of the basics.

Worst Cases

Some buyers may rue the day in 2010 they bought their homes. They may end up like those who bought in 2006 and have lost their jobs. Now those people face the difficulty of moving to pursue employment elsewhere because they owe much more than their homes are worth.

Marke Hallowell and Allison Firmat, who are getting married next month, are well aware of the history. Yet they plan to put 5 percent or less down, using a fixed-rate mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration, once they find a condominium in southern Orange County, Calif. (They’ve already been outbid a few times.)

[See Where Home Values Are Falling Most]

Ms. Firmat is not working, and Mr. Hallowell is a Web developer. Does he worry about mobility problems or making the payments in the event of a job loss, given that he’s the sole breadwinner? “We’re getting such a good deal on interest rates that we could rent our place out,” he said.

Mr. Hallowell and Ms. Firmat say they believe their approach is conservative, at least compared to what they might have done five years ago.

“Nothing is going to change the rate we will have,” Mr. Hallowell said. “Condos like the ones we’re looking at now were unobtainable in the past, unless we went into something with a total balloon payment. There were times I was tempted, but never seriously.”

Indeed, many people who are buying at the moment are locking in mortgage rates of about 4.5 percent. A year ago, they might have paid 5.25 percent on a $300,000 loan for a monthly payment of about $1,657. Today, you could lock in a lower monthly payment of around $1,520 on a mortgage that size, or you might not need to borrow that much, given that prices have fallen in many areas.

Forced Savings

You may make nothing at all beyond inflation over time on a home, but the part of your mortgage payment that goes toward principal is a form of forced savings.

Sure, you might do better by renting and investing the difference between the rent and the total costs of ownership. But at least three things need to go right.

First, you need to actually save the money. Americans have trouble with that sort of plan. Then, you need an after-tax return that’s better than whatever a home would deliver. That’s a task that might not have gone so well over the last 10 or 12 years, and it involves its own future risk, given how little safer investments are returning now. Finally, you must not raid the savings along the way.

Difficult Landlords

A bank can kick you out only if you don’t pay your mortgage. But landlords can drive you away in any number of ways.

Laura Mapp and her husband, Carl Berg, rented from a relative, but it didn’t go particularly well. They found another landlord they liked, but came back from a holiday trip one year to a note saying he wanted to move in himself. They had a month to scram. (The note came with a bottle of wine, at least.)

In yet another rental, they let their landlord know they were looking to buy and inquired about a month-to-month lease. No problem, their landlord said, as long as they used his boyfriend as their real estate agent.

Earlier this year, the couple gave up on landlords and bought a house in the Highland Park neighborhood in Seattle.

The Nice Part of Town

No matter how pretty the neighborhood, prices may still fall further in places like greater Detroit, Cleveland and Las Vegas; outlying areas of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix; and much of Florida.

But if you want to live in the Fox Hill Farm development in Glen Mills, Pa., you’ll have to buy because renters are not allowed, said Bob Kuhn, who lives there. The same may be true of other communities for older people.

And there may not be many family-size rentals — or at least any financial edge to be gained by renting — in suburbs or urban neighborhoods with excellent public schools.

After many years of building their down-payment fund and a couple of years of watching the listings in the Eagle Rock and Mount Washington areas of Los Angeles, Garret and Alison Williams realized that prices simply were not falling much there.

By the time they were ready to pounce this year, they had a big enough down payment and interest rates had fallen so far that renting didn’t make much financial sense, even if they could have found a rental big enough for them and their two small children.

“Had we rented, we would be paying more than we’re paying for a mortgage,” said Ms. Williams, who had lived in the same two-bedroom rental for 12 years before she and her family moved into their new house in Eagle Rock earlier this month. “I don’t see how we could really regret having made the move when it’s so much better for us on so many levels.”

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending August 20 increased 4.9%. Refinancing applications rose 5.7%. Purchase volume rose 0.6%. Refinancing made up 82% of total applications.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — rose 0.3% in July after decreasing a revised 0.1% in June. The increase was largely due to improved demand for commercial aircraft. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly decrease of 3.8%.

New home sales fell 12.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 276,000 units from a revised rate of 315,000 units in June. It was the lowest reading since recordkeeping began in 1963. Economists had expected a pace of 330,000 units.

In its second report, the Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 1.6% in the second quarter of 2010, rather than the 2.4% increase initially reported.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 31,000 to 473,000 for the week ending August 21. Economists had projected claims would fall to 490,000. Continuing claims for the week ending August 14 fell by 62,000 to 4.46 million.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on the housing price index on August 31, construction spending on September 1 and pending home sales on September 2.

This home on East Mill Road has been repossessed by a bank and is on the market. While the estimated market value is $334,862, its estimated market range begins at $281,284. Photo by: Edward Lea

By LYNDA COHEN Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Sunday, August 8, 2010

Lost jobs and predatory loans have caused for-sale and foreclosure signs to pop up all over.

But if buyers have the right bank — and a good dose of patience — distress sales can be a good thing for those looking to get a home for a lower price, experts say.

“It’s a great opportunity the majority of the time,” said Mary Lou Ferry, owner of Farley and Ferry Realty in Margate. “But it can be time-consuming.”

Beware, though. “Short sale” doesn’t reflect how long such a purchase takes. Ferry advises clients to be prepared for about 90 days, although it can take much longer.

“There are certain banks out there that there’s such bureaucracy, it can be 12 months into a sale and you still don’t have an answer,” said JoAnn Torcasio, of Marketplace Realty in Margate.

She said she’s worked with both buyers and sellers who have had problems.

“The difficulty is usually on the bank side,” said real estate attorney Duane Phillips, who works in the Galloway Township-Absecon area. “It’s sometimes hard to get a decision because they don’t want to let a property go for too little.”

“Most of the agents out there are more than happy to follow the procedure and work as expeditiously as they can,” Torcasio said. “Sometimes, you just hit a brick wall.”

“Those type of situations are generally more complicated and more difficult to structure, particularly for the buyer,” said Daniel Young, an Ocean City-based real estate lawyer.

The key for buyers, he advises, is making sure to deal with someone who can enter into the transaction.

“Often you’re dealing with middle men working off a check list that don’t have any real authority,” Young said.

They also may not know details about the property.

“There are issues that an ordinary seller would know that a bank who took back the property may not,” Young said. “So the buyer may not be able to get representations they normally get.”

No matter how rough or smooth such sales go, Torcasio said, the lower selling prices these homes are getting needs to be recognized by the towns they’re in.

In certain neighborhoods, there are so many distressed-sale homes, it brings down the value of others — but not when it comes to tax assessments.

“When you go to get a tax appeal, they won’t take short sales and foreclosures,” Torcasio said. “That’s affecting people still in their homes.”

Resorts Casino Hotel, Atlantic City.

DONALD WITTKOWSKI Press of A.C.Staff Writer | Friday, Aug. 6, 2010

ATLANTIC CITY – A former top gaming executive who was unsuccessful in attempts to acquire the Trump and Tropicana casinos has emerged as a possible buyer for the financially ailing Resorts Atlantic City.

Confirming his interest in Atlantic City’s oldest casino, Dennis Gomes said he toured Resorts this week but stressed that he has no agreement to buy the Boardwalk property.

Related story: Lender wants to force Atlantic City’s Hilton casino into receivership

“I’m looking at it,” Gomes said in an interview. “I was all over the property, examining the place. But until we have a purchase agreement, I can’t say anything.”

In December, Resorts was taken over by a group of banks after it defaulted on its $360 million mortgage and faced possible foreclosure. Lenders led by Wells Fargo Bank now own the casino hotel and are trying to unload it.

TriMont Real Estate Advisors, an Atlanta company that has been working with the lenders, has the casino up for sale on its website. No price is listed. Eastdil Secured, a commercial real estate subsidiary of Wells Fargo, is helping with the sale. Officials with TriMont and Eastdil did not return messages seeking comment.

Gomes, who spent more than 30 years as a senior executive in the Las Vegas and Atlantic City gaming markets, has been on the prowl for a casino ever since he left Tropicana Casino and Resort in 2005 following a management shake-up. He fell short in attempts to buy the Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. casinos in 2007 and was part of a group that made a bid for Tropicana in 2008 before billionaire investor Carl Icahn eventually acquired the gaming hall in a bankruptcy auction.

“I love Atlantic City, and everybody knows I’ve been interested in coming back to the city,” said Gomes, who is now a gaming consultant. “I want to show what my love, passion and marketing promotions can do. All I can say is that I want to be back because I love it.”

Gomes said he remains optimistic about the city’s future, despite a four-year revenue slump caused by the economic meltdown and intense competition from casinos in neighboring states.

Gov. Chris Christie wants to revive the casinos by creating a state-controlled tourism district to oversee the gaming and entertainment zones. Even before the governor unveiled his plan last month, Mayor Lorenzo Langford began holding a series of summit-style meetings with community leaders to discuss ways to reduce blight and make the city safer. Gomes is a member of the mayor’s planning group.

“I love what the governor is doing. I love what the mayor has been doing with the city, too,” Gomes said. “I think the combination of what the governor and mayor are doing and what I can do will help bring the city back to what it was in the ’20s and ’30s.”

Resorts, formerly known as Haddon Hall, is a hotel that dates to Atlantic City’s tourist heyday in the 1930s. The hotel was transformed into the city’s first casino in 1978, but despite its rebirth as a gaming hall, the building’s aged physical condition has been an expensive headache for its succession of owners over the years.

Wall Street analysts believe Resorts’ future is bleak. They say Resorts, the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Trump Marina Hotel Casino could be casualties of the fragile economy and competition from casinos in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware.

“We believe that Atlantic City may experience the closing of two or more properties by year end 2011,” Andrew Zarnett, managing director of Deutsche Bank, warned in a recent research report. “The likely candidates that may shut down are Resorts, A.C. Hilton and possibly Trump Marina, as each of those properties continues to post negative operating income and lose market share every month.”

Lawrence Klatzkin, managing director of Chapdelaine Credit Partners, said Resorts is at “high risk” for shutting down if its finances do not improve.

Resorts warned in an April tax filing with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission that it has been suffering from “severe cash shortages” that could jeopardize its chances for survival while it searches for a buyer. Resorts posted an $18 million gross operating loss in 2009 and has seen its gaming revenue plummet nearly 17 percent through the first six months of this year.

Before the lenders took over, Resorts was owned by Colony Capital LLC, a private real estate investment company that bought the casino in 2001 for $140 million. Colony surrendered ownership when the lenders threatened to foreclose on the property.

Nicholas L. Ribis, Colony’s former partner in Resorts, agreed to manage the casino for the lenders while a buyer was sought. Ribis said shortly after the lenders took charge that he was interested in acquiring the casino. Ribis’ office said he was traveling Friday and was unavailable for comment.

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The boardwalk pavillion at Roosevelt Place (with no roof) and the boarded up building at Lincoln Place (tan building) are eyesores. Governor Christie's report talks about the transformation and expansion of the Atlantic City Boardwalk into a more traditional New Jersey Boardwalk experience. Including development of the Lower Chelsea section of the boardwalk, downbeach from Albany Boulevard. Tuesdat, July, 26, 2010 ( Press of Atlantic City / Danny Drake)

By MICHAEL CLARK Press of A.C.Staff Writer | Friday, July 30, 2010

ATLANTIC CITY — What is the true New Jersey boardwalk experience? To Gov. Chris Christie, it’s something you can’t find in Atlantic City. Not yet, at least.

The governor’s bold plan to take over Atlantic City’s tourism management centers on how to remake the Boardwalk into a family-friendly destination to counter the adult entertainment the casinos have always provided, but the family-oriented entertainment industry might not be on the same page.

Christie’s plan, vaguely outlined in a report by his Advisory Commission on Gaming, Sports and Entertainment, includes focused initiatives such as developing the mainly residential Boardwalk in Lower Chelsea to support the broader effort to expand the nation’s oldest wooden walkway “to reflect a true New Jersey boardwalk experience.”

The report mentions the boardwalks in Ocean City and Wildwood as potential models for Atlantic City’s revitalized Boardwalk, including attracting the leading businesses in those cities to this resort. But whether those businesses would be willing to make the investment here is unlikely, several business owners said.

Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in Ocean City is one of the businesses that the Governor’s Office envisioned joining the new Boardwalk lineup, according to a copy of a conceptual map released last week. Jay Gillian, the pier’s owner, said that idea will likely remain a concept.

“If they want to try to bring something like an amusement park in, they need to find their identity first,” Gillian said of Atlantic City. “I know how hard it is to run an amusement park in this state. To start an amusement park in Atlantic City would be near impossible to really do it.”

Will Morey, owner of Morey’s Pier in Wildwood, said the same, arguing that if Atlantic City hopes to reinvent itself, it needs to focus on “being unique, not duplicating.”

“Having a carbon copy of Wildwood is not going to get the job done,” he said. “It’s not really an environment that encourages the development … Las Vegas tried to do the same thing, and we saw what happened to them. They had to go back and commit to what makes them Vegas with their ‘What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas’ (ad campaign).”

Some of the problems with establishing their businesses here, Gillian said, are not unique to Atlantic City. Strict state regulations and trying economic times would play a large role in keeping Gillian’s from expanding to the resort. But Gillian fears the clientele wouldn’t support multiple amusement parks.

“I know they have the Steel Pier there, which does well,” said Gillian, who also is Ocean City’s mayor. “But I think more than that might dilute it.”

Family fun in Atlantic City

Anthony Catanoso runs Steel Pier, located near the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. Although his property sits in a busy section of the Boardwalk and has attracted a healthy amount of business during each of the 19 summers he’s operated the site, he’s always fought to get the support of Atlantic City.

“Nothing frustrates me more than when people say there’s nothing for families to do on the Boardwalk. I pull my hair out,” Catanoso said. “We’re right under their nose and they don’t know it.”

The Steel Pier operator has been struggling to gain acceptance in Atlantic City, both with city officials and with Trump Entertainment Inc., which controls his company’s lease at the pier.

“The town was never receptive to us,” he said.

Catanoso’s only memory of city government officials lending a helping hand dates to the mid-’90s, when Ken Platt, the city’s Director of Planning under former Mayor James Whelan, assembled the Atlantic City Attractions Group, a small collection of family-based entertainment providers.

The group eventually developed a brochure, funded in part by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, to get the word out about the resort’s nongaming activities. But complaints about the brochure from those not included eventually caused the effort to fade away.

Development plans at Trump have kept lease agreements limited to two or three years, hampering Catanoso’s investment ideas. They include preliminary plans to construct a $4 million rollercoaster on the pier, the type of major family-oriented development that the Governor’s Office is striving for.

Catanoso said recent discussions with Trump since Christie’s Atlantic City visit have been positive and he is optimistic that a considerable extension could be reached.

But some say separating those two industries — the casinos and the family attractions — is a key to success.

“They’re not going to work hand-in-hand,” said John Siciliano, executive director of the Greater Wildwood Tourism Authority. “They would have to be two separate destinations.”

That means defining the Boardwalk first as a family destination and second as an access point for casinos. This could be the reason Christie’s conceptual maps put the “entertainment for all ages area” of the Boardwalk in Lower Chelsea, a residential area already removed from the casinos. The area features two blighted properties that recently ranked on Mayor Lorenzo Langford’s top 10 list of city eyesores.

Developing Lower Chelsea

The section, from Albany Avenue to the Ventnor border at Jackson Avenue, currently offers a mixture of older residential buildings, including homes and condominium high rises, most of them maintained, but some abandoned and dilapidated. There also is a collection of vacant lots, including the grassy tract meant to be The Breakers, a condominium project stalled by the national recession.

One of city government’s biggest failures in the area is the Boardwalk pavilion at Roosevelt Place, designed to be a spot where strollers can sit and take in the scenic ocean view. Instead, it’s become a rusted, skeleton-like structure where passers-by are more likely to shield their eyes.

“It isn’t anybody’s fault,” said Tim Mancuso, the city councilman who represents the section. “The pavilion just got caught up in the swing of different administrations.”

The councilman said he fully welcomes state assistance to redevelop the area and rid the section of the blight, but re-establishing it as a family entertainment district doesn’t seem plausible.

“I don’t think he’s talking about anything further down ,” he said of the governor. “Anything further down you really don’t have land.”

Radio personality and Press columnist Seymour “Pinky” Kravitz, who heads the city’s Boardwalk Committee, said he also opposes commercial development in the Lower Chelsea area.

“I don’t go along with that,” he said. “This sounds like someone that’s really not familiar with the Boardwalk.”

Kevin DeSantis, Revel CEO, Atlantic City, NJ

From Press of A.C. staff reports | Posted: Wednesday, May 26, 2010

With links to complete coverage of the East Coast Gaming Congress

ATLANTIC CITY — The chief executive officer of the $2.5 billion Revel casino hotel said he will be a bidder for the half-finished project following the withdrawal of financial backer Morgan Stanley.

Kevin DeSanctis expressed confidence that the Las Vegas-style megaresort will be completed and fulfill its promise to redefine the slumping Atlantic City market.

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“I’m very optimistic,” DeSanctis told reporters at the East Coast Gaming Congress, an annual casino conference. “I believe we have a great project. I believe we can convince investors they can make a great return.”

DeSanctis plans to recruit new partners to replace Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley, which announced in April it was pulling out after investing $1.2 billion and would sell its stake in Revel. He is also talking to a Chinese bank for $1 billion in financing to complete the construction work.

“I want to be a bidder,” DeSanctis said. “It’s a natural. I’m the most logical person, if you will.”

A condo unit at 435 E. 20th Ave. in North Wildwood, recently sold. After a rough few years, the Wildwoods condo market is beginning to rebound.

By BRIAN IANIERI, Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Throughout the Wildwoods, condominiums arose where they could, like dune grass in the sand.

Inside converted motel rooms. Atop an old lumberyard. On lots with ocean views and on others overlooking convenience store parking lots.

As the real estate market exploded at the shore, condominiums in the Wildwoods were relatively affordable, less expensive than a house in Avalon or Stone Harbor or a duplex in Sea Isle City.

Then the bubble burst, as condo prices themselves soared amid a wave of development that would fall hard in the recession.

Now, condominiums throughout the Wildwoods can sell for 30 to 40 percent less than their 2005 prices. They can also come with stricter loan restrictions, local Realtors reported.

Wildwoods Realtors say the market is starting to pick up – or, at least, has finally bottomed out.

“September of 2005, somebody shut the faucets off,” said Don Martin of Don Martin Realty in the Wildwoods. “2006 was horrible. 2007 is when the developers had to slash prices, 2008 was very poor and got weaker as the year went on. We picked up a surge in the last of 2009.”

“I think people are starting to believe this thing is bottoming, and it’s time to make a move,” Martin said. “The thing that’s still hurting is job stability. It’s tough to buy a second home when you don’t know about your job.”

Condominiums are often seen as the ideal vacation homes at the seashore. They’re more hands off than a single family home. Owners don’t have to cut lawns or paint. And, there are more locations closer to the beach, and more to choose from.

Because of this, condominiums remain desirable although they were swept up in the wave of short sales and foreclosures that engulfed the entire real estate market.

“I would anticipate there to be not too much left in a three bedroom, two bath, decent quality, close to the beach under $400,000 for the summer,” said Jeanine Cabrera of Cabrera Realty in the Wildwoods. “Inventory during the bubble was $600,000, $700,000. I don’t think the steals are going to be there much longer.”

Meanwhile, guidelines for buyers to get financing for a condominium have changed since the real estate bubble.

“As the short sale inventory is getting absorbed, we’re seeing the banks are starting to raise the bar,” Cabrera said. “We’ve stopped going backwards, which is a good thing,” Cabrera said.

There have been changes in loan guidelines, including more restrictions dealing with the financial health of condo associations, said Jessica Lees of the Lees Real Estate Agency in the Wildwoods. Condo sales can be challenging at units where condo associations themselves are having trouble as association members are late or delinquent on their condo fees.

Weaker associations could make financing more difficult, and sometimes purchases require cash, said Michelle McCormick-Courtney of Wildwoods Realty.

She said buyers now tend to be those who had taken a step back when the market was at its peak. Now, the lower prices are appealing to them.

“I think that right now the market is an honest market and it’s based on value, it’s not based on a lot of hype,” she said.

Buyers often shy away from considering short-sale listings, either because they’ve had a bad experience or have heard horror stories about the deals that take forever and never close. Buyers’ agents sometimes steer their clients away from sales that are subject to the lender agreeing to accept less than what they’re owed, because it can mean a lot of work for nothing.

Short sales will probably be a part of the home-sale market for the next couple of years. They provide opportunities for buyers, particularly those attempting to buy a home in a low-inventory market.

Before you enter into a contract to buy a short-sale listing, make sure that you understand the process and set your expectations accordingly. One of the biggest differences between a short sale and a conventional sale is that short sales take longer. Although many lenders are streamlining the short-sale process, it can still take 45 days from contract acceptance to receive lender approval.

Make as clean an offer as possible, but be sure to include contingencies for inspections and appraisal and loan approval. Your contract should also include a short-sale addendum that includes a time frame for lender approval.

Listing agents often want the buyers’ contingencies to begin when the offer is accepted by the seller. However, buyers usually prefer to pay for inspections and the appraisal after lender approval. As in all home-sale transactions, these items are negotiable.

Your short-sale offer will stand a better chance of lender approval if you are preapproved for financing. Include verification of the funds needed for your downpayment and closing costs and a preapproval letter from your lender with your offer. The ratified purchase offer and supporting documentation from the seller and listing agent will be submitted to the lender.

Short-sale approval is often contingent on the buyer and seller making concessions. This means that the lender could ask the buyers to pay a higher price. The seller could be asked to bring money into escrow so that the lender nets more from the sale than the contract provides. If either party is unable or unwilling to do so, the transaction will fail unless the lender reconsiders.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: Regardless of how committed you are to buying, it’s not wise to bid on every short sale you come across that might work for you. Approximately one-third of the short-sale listings on the market don’t close, either because the lender won’t approve a realistic price, or because there are multiple liens secured against the property. Generally, if there are more than two liens, the likelihood of the short sale going through is slim.

Don’t look at a short-sale listing until your agent has talked with the listing agent to find how much ground work has been done. Does the listing agent have the sellers’ written authorization to negotiate on their behalf with the lender? Has the listing agent been in touch with a representative of the lender’s loss mitigation department? Have the sellers provided all the documents that will need to be submitted to the lender when an offer is accepted, such as a financial statement, hardship letter, bank statements, pay stubs, etc.

Stay away from short-sale listings where the listing agent doesn’t have the seller’s cooperation. For instance, the sellers may not have their paperwork in order to present to the lender. Understandably, it’s difficult for most people to face losing their home and good credit. But, without the sellers’ cooperation, the sale won’t go through.

THE CLOSING: Short sales require a lot of patience, a cooperative effort between the buyers, sellers and agents involved, and frequent communication to keep everyone involved in the process up-to-date.

Dian Hymer, a real estate broker with more than 30 years’ experience, is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author of “House Hunting: The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers” and “Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer’s Guide.”