By JOEL LANDAU Staff Writer Press of Atlantic City

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP — Joe and Stephanie Tucci spent a year and a half looking for the right house.

And six months after submitting a bid, they’re still waiting and waiting and waiting to find out whether it will work out.

Stephanie and Joe Tucci, of Mays Landing, stand in front of a Galloway Township home that they hope to buy in a short sale. They submitted a bid six months ago and have been waiting for bank approval.

The township home that the couple bid on is a short sale, which means the owner of the house could no longer afford to pay its mortgage and is working out a deal with the lender to sell at a price lower than what the owner owes. When a potential buyer makes a deal with the seller, the lender’s approval is required for the sale to take place.

Local real estate agents say short sales are becoming a larger part of the local market and can often translate into a lower price for a buyer willing to be patient.

“People walk away from short sales because they get tired of waiting,” said Robert Shamberg, owner of Prudential Diversified Realty in Galloway Township. “Everyone wants a deal. Everyone knows short sales are a good deal. But they may not realize it takes a lot of time.”

The home could have several lenders that all need to be satisfied, Shamberg said. The bank could take longer than expected to give an answer or make a counteroffer, he said.

Shamberg counseled Joe and Stephanie Tucci through the process and said they could get a good deal if they were willing to wait. The couple placed a bid at $200,000, which Shamberg said is about $50,000 less than a realistic market value.

But sellers and banks are often willing to accept less rather than go through the long and costly foreclosure process.

That’s the hope of the Tuccis, who fell in love with the home that was recently renovated and features an open kitchen and cathedral ceilings. The couple placed the bid in April and hope to hear within the next few weeks.

“You can get a really good deal but you have to have time,”Stephanie Tucci said.

The couple has continued renting in Mays Landing and have looked at some other homes as a potential backup plan.

“It’s just a waiting game,” Joe Tucci said. “Hopefully they’ll take our bid or they’ll lose out and have a vacant property.”

Brenda Lawn, a real estate agent for Prudential Fox & Roach in Northfield, said short sales are an “absolute roller coaster”that can take an emotional toll on the buyers.

“The first thing I do is educate them. I tell them it’s a long process and there will be a certain degree of frustration,” she said. “It’s hard to do that. The buyers are so enthusiastic. But it really is difficult because it doesn’t always have a happy ending.”

Lawn said short sales and foreclosures have taken up as much of a third of the housing market in most of the region.

She said she’s had buyers wait between three months and a year for the bank to approve a deal, but Jeff Quintin, of Prudential Fox& Roach in Ocean City, said he has had some recently that took only a few months.

Conducting a short sale “is a skill providing you know how to manage the lenders and structure the deal properly,” he said. “If you know what you’re doing and get it structured the right way, a short sale can be like a typical sale.”

Quintin said larger banks may not open the file on the property until the bid is submitted, so it’s impossible to know what the bank would accept.

“In most cases there is not a predetermined (price) for the short sale unless you have already gone through the process,” he said.

But a short sale is often worth it to the bank considering it can take more than two years to foreclose on a property owner, Quintin said.

“You never know what a bank will approve,” he said.

Short sales also benefit the seller because they avoid foreclosure and leave the seller in a better position than if they waited to get more money on the sale, Quintin said.

“Their credit may go down 100 points but they can improve it faster than the market can improve itself,” he said, adding many sellers are finding it too difficult to redo their loans.

And the program has had its results.

Quintin said he recently had a home valued at $4 million approved for a $1.425 million short sale in Ocean City. Another Ocean City property valued at $2.765 million closed at $780,000, he said.

“The buyer is always getting a property under market value,” he said. “It’s worth it many times to go through it.”

Florida Real Estate Agents:
Florida Enhanced Short Sale Relocation Assistance
Florida homeowners may receive $5,000 to $20,000
in relocation assistance.

Bank of America encourages distressed homeowners to explore a short sale as a viable option for avoiding foreclosure. To that end, for a limited time we are offering enhance relocation assistance to help motivate homeowners to engage with us on a pre-offer short sale. An additional benefit for these pre-offer programs – such as the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) and Bank of America’s proprietary program – is that deficiency may be waived for the homeowner.

Eligibility:

• Homeowners with property in Florida
• Short sales initiated without an offer between September 26 and November 30
• The customer will have to be eligible for one of the without offer programs such as the HAFA program or our proprietary program (specific investor participation and eligibility criteria do apply to these programs)
• Successful closing of the eligible short sale by August 31, 2012
• Minimum relocation assistance is $5,000 and maximum is $20,000, with the specific amount calculated based on the unpaid principal balance

Exclusions:

• Ginnie Mae, FHA, VA and USDA loans are ineligible for participation
• Lot loans are ineligible for participation
• Properties outside the state of Florida are ineligible for participation
• Short sales initiated with an offer are not currently eligible for the enhanced relocation assistance

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How can I find out if my client/homeowner qualifies for this relocation assistance?

A: Call a Bank of America short sale specialist at 1-877-xxx-xxxx.
Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Eastern

Q: Do I have to do anything differently when initiating or completing the short sale?

A: No. As long as the homeowner’s short sale is initiated between September 26 and November 30, 2011, and the property closes by August 31, 2012, they will be eligible.

Q: Will the relocation assistance funds be reported on the HUD-1?

A: Yes, they will be documented on the HUD-1, and a 1099-MISC will be issued.

Q: Can the relocation assistance funds be used to pay off existing liens?

A: Yes, if the investor approves it.

Q: Is the relocation assistance added to any other incentives, such as the HAFA or Bank of America proprietary program incentives?

A: No. A homeowner will receive the $5,000 to $20,000 in place of the typical incentive paid out by these programs. The relocation assistance is essentially an enhancement to the standard payout offered on these programs.

Q: Is the enhanced relocation assistance available for other programs?

A: Currently, the enhanced relocation assistance is only available to short sale programs initiated without an offer. However, as we gauge the success we may extend this incentive to other programs.

Questions?

Homeowners and may call Ian Lazarus, Abraham and Associates, Davie, Florida. 609-457-0258 ian.lazarus@mygo2realtor.com

By JOEL LANDAU, Staff Writer Press of Atlantic City

A state bill could offer relief for developers who cannot finish proposed projects due to the economy.

Michele Wheaton, broker for the Riverfront Condominium complex, said removal of its restriction to seniors has opened the market for it. Ben Fogletto

But the bill has drawn criticism from residents and municipal officials who fear it undermines their planning-and-zoning process.

Under the bill S-2950/A4128, introduced in June, developers would be able to seek a modification to their previously approved housing projects from municipal planning and zoning boards. Under the bill, the developer must demonstrate the project would not work under the current economic conditions.

Specifically, the developer must show one of the following:

• The current zoning or existing approval does not provide the property with an economically viable use.

• No feasible market exists for development of the property based upon the property’s current zoning or existing approval.

• Financing for the development of the property under current zoning or the existing approval is not readily available.

This would affect properties whose original application was submitted prior to Jan. 1, 2006, or the property must be owned by a lender who took ownership through foreclosure.

The bill would require the municipality to grant the change if the developer meets the criteria, and the application can be granted “without substantial detriment to the public good, to the extent it is not incompatible with the use of adjoining properties,” the bill states.

State Sen. Jeff van Drew, D-Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, said the bill is intended to foster communication between towns, developers and banks to get the properties sold and have residents pay property taxes.

Van Drew said he does not expect the bill to move forward anytime soon and also expects amendments to be made.

“It is a problem,” he said. “We need to get these properties on the tax rolls but do it in a way that’s fair as well.”

But the bill has drawn concern from municipal officials, who fear the bill would undermine the local planning and zoning process.

Michael Cerra, senior legislative analyst for the New Jersey League of Municipalities, said the original approvals presumably had been madE on sound decisions by the planning and zoning boards.

“Whether there may have been a bad business decision five or six years ago does not mean the taxpayers should pay for it over the long term,” he said. “It’s a short-term solution that could create a long-term headache.”

Anthony Cappuccio, president of Boardwalk Design & Development Inc. in Margate, said he favors the bill and is keeping apprised of its process.

“The state we’re in right now, I don’t think it could hurt,” he said. “It does take away a bit of home rule but it could also put a lot of people back to work on projects that have not been finished.”

Cappuccio is already taking advantage of a similar law passed by the state last year that allows developers to remove the 55 and older restriction on approved senior homes. Cappuccio bought the Absecon Gardens development in Absecon last year and got the senior restriction removed in May.

The company wants to market the 76-unit property to young professionals, empty-nesters and those looking for a second home. But the change has brought a lawsuit from residents who want to keep the complex as is.

Other changes have been more warmly received. The Riverfront Condominium complex along the Maurice River in Millville was developed by Haffelfinger & Standeven Construction Co. and they also got the senior restriction removed last year.

Michele Wheaton, broker for the property, said the change has opened up the market, though they have yet to sell any properties as the developer continues to finalize its financing.

But Wheaton said interest is up even though the people contacting her are still predominantly senior citizens.

“When you open the market up, it brings up the value a whole lot more,” she said. “But it still has to fit with plans. The condos are two bedrooms, two baths. Not many families are going to want to live there.”

Washington, DC, September 20, 2011

Increased lending to creditworthy home buyers and more loan modifications and short sales are necessary to reduce the rising inventory of foreclosed homes and help stabilize and revitalize the housing industry and economy, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

That was the message delivered today by Allan Dechert, 2011 president of the New Jersey Association of Realtors®, who testified on NAR’s behalf before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development regarding new ideas to address foreclosures.

“As the leading advocate for homeownership, NAR knows that foreclosures don’t just affect the families that lose their homes – communities, the housing market and the economy all suffer,” said Dechert, broker-owner of Ferguson Dechert Real Estate in Avalon, N.J. “Ensuring credit availability to qualified buyers and helping more distressed homeowners with loan modifications and short sales will help reduce the growing inventory of foreclosed homes and ensure that housing leads the way out of today’s economic struggles.”

Dechert said that creditworthy consumers continue to have difficulties securing fair and affordable loans despite their proven ability to afford the monthly payment. He said that NAR supports responsible lending standards; however, unnecessarily tight credit restrictions are putting downward pressure on home values, increasing the number of homeowners whose mortgage exceeds the value of their home, and adding to the number of foreclosures.

“Increased fees, higher down payments and reduced loan limits are making it harder for borrowers to obtain safe and sound mortgage financing products. Greater access to financing for qualified borrowers and investors could help absorb the excess inventory of foreclosed properties,” said Dechert.

In testimony, NAR also urged the lending industry to take greater action to keep struggling families in their homes through loan modifications that reduce the probability of default and prevent further increases to the large inventory of foreclosed properties. Helping more families remain current on their mortgage by significantly reducing their monthly mortgage payment will allow them remain in the home that they worked so hard to obtain and reduce the impact of foreclosures on local home prices.

Dechert said that continued short sale delays are also contributing to foreclosures and urged lenders and servicers to quickly approve reasonable short sale offers that would allow home owners to avoid foreclosure. The current short sale process can be time-consuming and inefficient, and many would-be buyers end up walking away from a sale that could have saved a home owner from foreclosure.

“Loan modifications – and short sales for those unable to meet their mortgage obligations – help stabilize home values and neighborhoods, and limit the losses incurred by lenders, the federal government and taxpayers,” said Dechert. “More must be done to streamline short sale transactions, since many potential home buyers are simply choosing to walk away from transactions due to the length of time it takes for lenders to approve and complete these sales.”

Dechert also testified about the pooling and disposition of foreclosure inventories held by the Federal Housing Administration and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. NAR is concerned that, although bulk sales may quickly alleviate the large inventory of homes held by the agencies, those sales would likely result in larger losses than necessary. Realtors® strongly believe that every effort should be made to incentivize individual versus bulk sales because individual sales maximize asset recovery and minimize the impact on housing values.

Regarding another proposed option to combine foreclosure disposition with affordable rentals through lease-to-own programs, Dechert testified that the focus should be on keeping families in their homes whenever possible. He recommended that any lease-to-own programs be privately administered by local entities that understand the needs and challenges of their local communities.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

September 20, 2011

A rental property can generate “taxable losses” that can be used to reduce your normal salary income, hence the federal income taxes you pay. It’s difficult for most people to understand how taxes work, and even more confusing once we get into the realm of rental properties and taxes. Below are some of the basics to understanding rental properties and federal income taxes. (Note: Understanding how taxes impact personal residences are a completely different topic, as those are governed by totally separate tax codes and go elsewhere on your 1040 form.)

Often I hear people saying that they want to buy some real estate to save money on income taxes. However, depending on your tax situation, owning real estate might not save you a dime on taxes. It wholly depends on your specific tax picture and the IRS rules about Passive Activity Loss Limitations.

First and foremost you should never make real estate investment decisions based solely on tax considerations. The first order of business is do your due diligence and determine if an investment makes sense based on cash flows, cash on cash returns, renovation costs, rental income, financing, and the risk of any particular property. Once you believe it makes sense in every other sense, then you can contemplate the tax effects.

(Important note: Always have a CPA, attorney or licensed tax professional guide you through your individual tax picture – this article is an illustration of one scenario but your scenario can be very different based on your financial picture.)

To better understand, let’s first quickly discuss the IRS 1040 form (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf).

Your 1040 form you fill out each year – the form that most people start about midnight in April 14 – does two things:

1. Calculates the amount of federal income taxes you owe for the year based on how much you earned in salary, income, wages, profits, distributions, etc. LESS all the deductions (tax “shields”/subtractions) to those totals in the form of losses, deductions, exemptions, etc., to get to your Taxable income on Line 43. Then, look at the IRS Tax Tables and determine how much you owe in taxes based on your tax filing status (Single, Married Filing Jointly, etc.) and your Taxable Income.
2. Second, it reconciles the amount you owe from #1 above against the amount you have already paid during the year. This is commonly called “withholdings” from your salary, or if you are self-employed, you probably paid quarterly estimated income tax amounts to the IRS during the year.

• If you paid more in #2 than you owe in #1, you get a tax refund!
• If you paid less in #2 than you owe in #1, you write the IRS an additional check!

Tax Considerations of Rental Properties

Rental properties generally show taxable losses for the first many years. That taxable loss is essentially another “deduction” that lowers your taxable income – noted in #1 above – and hence lowers your income taxes.

This chart below shows an example of how a loss would be calculated. For example, this property might show a ($7,500) loss. That loss would filter through your IRS 1040 form, reducing your taxable income, and hence reducing your taxes.

This is how you might save money on taxes by owning rental properties – using losses on your rental real estate to reduce your taxable income, which allows you to pay less in federal income taxes.

How much it reduces your taxes depends on your income and filing status. It is a little complicated and can get very complicated depending on your situation.

There are also limits on how much of a loss on rental property any particular taxpayer can use to “shield” their income. These limits are called Passive Activity Loss Limitations. If your losses are over $25,000 and/or your Adjusted Gross Income is over $100,000, you may not be able to use all of the losses. You may have losses, but you are not allowed to reduce your income with them based on the IRS rules. Consult a professional.

Because of the manner in which the law was written, the sale of single family homes from individual sellers was made subject to the requirements, resulting in home purchasers having to file paperwork and provide ten days notice to the Division of Taxation for every real estate transaction, or else risk being held liable by the State for the seller’s delinquent taxes. Under A-2748, the sale by individual sellers of any dwelling unit, primarily one- and two- family homes, will no longer be subject to the bulk sales notification requirements.

BILL SIGNED:

A-2748/S-2313 (Diegnan, Schaer, Lampitt, Conners/Van Drew, T. Kean) – Exempts sales of certain homes and seasonal rentals from the bulk sale notification requirements

By KEVIN POST Press of Atlantic City Business Editor

The real estate industry was gleeful this past week, especially in oceanfront towns, after Realtors succeeded in getting the state to ease a regulation that was interfering with home sales.

“This was huge. I can’t even begin to tell you how many deals it killed,” said Nicholas Marotta, president of the Ocean City Board of Realtors.

The rule, which will no longer apply to sales of single-family and duplex homes, requires businesses to give the state advance notice of unusual asset sales. That allows the state to seek any taxes owed by the business and to require an escrow account for possible payment of taxes before the sale is closed.

An inconvenience for real estate agents everywhere, the 2007 so-called bulk sales law was a serious problem along the Jersey Shore, where most properties are rented at some point during the year and therefore were business assets under the law.

This duplex home on Wesley Avenue in Ocean City, listed for $875,000, is an example of the kind of properties that sometimes ran into trouble from the state's bulk sales law but are now no longer subject to it.

Marotta said home sellers would have a deal lined up and notify the state, and then the state would tell purchasers they must set aside money in case it turned out past taxes hadn’t been paid.

“I had sellers on the bayfront with a buyer for $1 million, and it was their primary home, not a rental. They filed the form and the buyer got back a notice to escrow $100,000,” Marotta said.

That killed the deal, since the bulk-sales law makes the buyer responsible for any back taxes the state can’t collect from the seller.

“It didn’t matter that it was baseless because we knew it was a primary residence and not a business in any way,” he said. “Everything had to be filed, and we were supposed to wait until they sorted through everything.”

Buyers were often told they’d have to hold off until the back-tax issues were resolved at some point in the future, but many chose to walk away instead, he said.

As such horror stories spread, the Ocean City Realtors started working through the state Realtor organization and county government to get relief.

“God bless Ocean City because we were out in front on this thing. We were the first board to raise some flags and got the N.J. Association of Realtors involved,” Marotta said.

NJAR championed a bill through the state Legislature to exempt single- and two-family homes, including seasonal rentals, from the bulk sales notification process.

Jarrod Grasso, CEO of the state Realtors, said the exemption simply brought the 2007 law back to its original intent, clarifying an issue that had been left too broad.

Among 16 sponsors of the relief measure, which drew broad bipartisan support, were Sens. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, and Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic; and Assemblymen Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam, both D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, and Vincent Polistina, R-Atlantic.

Marotta also credited Cape May County Freeholder Susan Sheppard for discussing the need for relief with the Governor’s Office.

On Sept. 14, Gov. Christie signed the bill into law “to boost New Jersey’s real estate market and cut red tape in order to ease the individual sale of homes and seasonal rentals,” said a signing statement released by his office.

“Thank God. That’s one major thing that we don’t need to consider doing in a property transaction,” said Midge Grunstra, director of sales at Goldcoast Sotheby’s International Realty in Ocean City.

She said she never lost a sale to the bulk sales process. “Everybody I dealt with had paid their taxes.”

Marotta, however, said there was a point to the original law, and the state has found that some limited liability corporations selling properties have had back taxes due.

“We weren’t able to get LLCs exempt, and that’s OK, because the state was finding some LLCs were not paying their taxes,” he said. “The state was collecting — legitimately — a good amount of money.”

The work on the issue by the Realtors in Ocean City — which he called “the rental capital of New Jersey” — isn’t quite done.

Marotta said in early October the board’s contracts committee will meet to revise the basic property sales contract used by members to reflect the bulk-sales exemption of one- and two-unit dwellings.

Short Sale vs. Foreclosure

Give Yourself Plenty of Time to List and Sell That Short Sale

By Elizabeth Weintraub,

If you’re thinking about doing a short sale, it’s smart to try to time the listing of that short sale. People are always trying to time the real estate market, and it really can’t be done. But you can be strategic about when you list a short sale.

There is an absolute worst time to list a short sale. That time is a few weeks to a few days before the sheriff’s sale or trustee’s auction. Ideally, you want to be as far away from that date as possible. Because there are too many things that can go wrong in a short sale.

Basic Steps of a Short Sale

• First, you need to find a committed buyer.
• Your agent will send the accepted offer and all paperwork to the bank.
• The bank will screw around for a few months, ask for more paperwork, lose stuff, demand revisions, in general, make your life a living hell as the bank’s collection department continues to hound you.
• Finally, somewhere between 2 to 4 months, on average, you will receive a short sale approval letter from the bank.
• Elated, your agent will notify the buyer, who will have canceled without telling anybody.
• You start the short sale over.

You may think I am joking, and while I have firmly planted tongue in my cheek, this scenario is all too familiar to many of us in the short sale business. With any luck, you have hired a short sale agent who is prepared for disaster and will not give up on you, no matter what.

Because starting over on a short sale is not the end of the world. It only becomes scary if you are behind on your payments. Many short sale lenders will not consider a short sale for a borrower if the borrower is not in default. Whether you should stop making your mortgage payments depends entirely on your lender’s guidelines.

If you are doing a Fannie Mae short sale, for example, Fannie Mae says you must be in default at the time your short sale is granted. Yes, our government is telling homeowners to stop making mortgage payments. It’s disgusting, isn’t it? But Fannie Mae is a government-sponsored entity that is supposed to be making a profit. It is not a non-profit organization.

If you are too close to the auction date, closer to that date than to closing your short sale, the likelihood is Fannie Mae will direct the bank to foreclose and reject your short sale. Therefore, you don’t want to get too close to that auction date. It’s a matter of careful juggling.

On the one hand, you might need to be in default. On the other hand, you don’t want to be so far into default that the bank will seize your home. Every state’s default procedures are different. You should check with a lawyer to find out the default period in your state.

If you stop making your mortgage payments, you could lose your home. It might be wise to keep those payments in reserve in case you need to bring your loan current to stop the foreclosure. However, if you have a lot of money in the bank, you might have a difficult time writing your hardship letter to explain your financial hardship. Unless you are doing a Bank of America cooperative short sale, the likelihood is your bank will want you to prove some sort of hardship.

The Ideal Time to List a Short Sale

You need time to properly market your home for sale, receive offers and to select the best offer to present to the bank. You want a buyer who will wait for approval. Sometimes buyers write offers just to see which offer is accepted first by a short sale bank and that buyer might not be dedicated to buying your home. Not every real estate agent is an honest agent, and an agent might not disclose if the buyer is writing multiple offers.

The best time to list a short sale is to time the listing so the bank receives an offer at a few weeks prior to the official 30-day behind mark. For example, if your mortgage payment is due on June 1, it will be 30-days delinquent on July 1. Therefore, July 1 might be the target date for your bank to review the short sale. If the bank takes 10 days to process the paperwork prior to review, you will want the offer to arrive at the bank around June 18th.

Most banks take 10 days to 2 weeks to pull together the documentation and assign a negotiator to study the file. From that point forward, it can take a few more weeks or months to get approval. Some banks are faster than others. Ideally, you want to leave yourself enough time that if a buyer flaked out on you or a bank required that you perform some other action that eats time, that you have the time to resubmit an offer.

The best time to talk about listing a short sale is before you go into default. Talk to your agent about your bank’s guidelines. You might not need to be in default at all to do the short sale. But if you must in default, then put that home on the market as fast as can you can. Do not wait for a good time. When you’re in default, there’s no such thing as a good time to list a short sale. Just do it.

SEARCH JERSEY SHORE PROPERTY HERE

Brought to you by Ian Lazarus

The Lazarus Team

The Landis Co., Realtors

609-457-0258 direct cell

ian.lazarus@mygo2realtor.com

On September 14, 2011, Governor Chris Christie signed into law A-2748, the bulk sales legislation initiated and strongly supported by NJAR^®. This law, which took effect immediately upon being signed, exempts individuals, estates and trusts involved in purchasing one- and two-family residential and certain seasonal rental properties from bulk sales notification requirements.  Please note that LLC’s involved in real estate transactions pertaining to one- and two-family residential and seasonal rental properties are still subject to bulk sales requirements.

In addition, the law is retroactive to August 1, 2007, meaning that any transactions taking place between that date and September 14, 2011 were in essence, never subject to bulk sales requirements..

This new law, which was approved unanimously by both houses of the state Legislature, immediately protects one- and two-family residential real estate transactions from being unnecessarily delayed by the bulk sales notification requirements imposed by the New Jersey Division of Taxation. In many cases, the previous requirements led to unnecessary closing delays or sellers being asked to place potentially thousands of dollars in escrow until the Division of Taxation cleared a property sale to proceed.

The NJAR^® Contract of Sale (Form #118, dated 9/11) has been updated atwww.njarforms.com to reflect the new law.  The Zipform and hard copy versions will be available shortly.  Please note that the Division of Taxation’s bulk sales notification form and NJAR^® bulk sales addendum no longer need to be submitted by those purchasing these types of residential properties in New Jersey.

If a previous owner of a one- or two-family home or seasonal rental property owed state taxes on revenue earned from the property (i.e. if the seller ever rented the property), the purchaser will not be considered liable for any taxes owed by the seller. NJAR^® sought this provision in the legislation and was successful in its inclusion and implementation.

For additional information on A-2748 and the bulk sales requirements previously in place on one- and two-family homes and seasonal rental properties, contact Ian Lazarus, The Lazarus Team, the Landis Co., Realtors, Sea Isle City, NJ at 609.457.0258 or ian.lazarus@mygo2realtor.com .

Jersey Shore Opportunities

This blog post for September 10, 2011 was to a question posed to me the other day asking is this a good time to buy a shore property? Let’s start out with some background by saying I worked with my first real estate company in Atlantic City in the spring of 1985. During that time the market at The Jersey Shore was showing signs of topping out and starting to rollover. The Atlantic City real estate market was being fueled by the massive speculation of gambling and was still on a tear because casinos and investors were still buying the dream. Also in this time period new high rise condos were being brought to market by some out of the area real estate developers that were probably late to the party but were in no position to back out at that point. With major marketing dollars and plenty of effort four residential high rise developments with approximately 1400 condominium apartments were sold and closed from January 1985 until July of 1988. The impact of these properties that entered the market was extraordinary bad. First most of these properties were sold in a vacuum meaning that the prices weren’t really the market they were the prices the developers asked for and got because of the hype. Many of the buyers were from New York or Northern New Jersey and didn’t get sticker shock like their friends from the south in Philadelphia. With the onslaught of closings about 20 to 25% of those properties were put back on the market which by then became a non market.

That short story was the Atlantic City story which had seen the amazing spikes from speculators and casino land grabbing. The casino stocks were flying and many people became multi-millionaires overnight. Let’s get back to the real world for a minute. Other parts of Atlantic County saw much growth from housing and indirect investment in the form of retail and commercial properties to keep up with the growth from the casino engine. Now sleepy Cape May County was feeling some growing pains from the exodus of some Atlantic County residents to Upper Township where the prices didn’t see the same increases and the taxes had not increased much either.

What happened to the other shore communities other than Atlantic City? Of course they went up, but not in the dramatic fashion as A.C. did.

So what happened to make one of the greatest advances in real estate prices fall? Probably to answer this question two fold, the first was greed. How fitting for the New York metro area and second is the easier answer. A market will eventually top out for what ever reason. There becomes a point in time when there is no one in the marketplace that will buy at those prices are there isn’t anyone left in the marketplace to buy. What happens next? It’s called a correction and it can last a long time or a short time depending on the increase of the advance and the longevity of the advance.

Historians have said that the end of the run up in the late 1980’s was from a few major events. First, the tax reform bill of 1986 which changed the status of rental investment properties that owners now either had passive or active income from their investment properties and then the stock market crash of 1987. These two events were the beginning of the end for the run up, on a financial front and then on a psychological front. This one-two punch put the economy and the real estate market in a correction that lasted until 1995 or 1996 depending on the regional economy.

Let’s go back and try to answer the question. When was the best time to buy shore real estate between 1987 and 1996? Let me point out the real estate market bottomed out 1992, 1993, 1994 which I call the muddy bottom. At that time buyers and sellers were trading deeds and the prices stayed generally fixed except the buyers that were buying the quality pieces made out much better in the long run. If you bought in 1991 did you not get a great price? If you bought in 1995 did you not get a great price?  All I can say in that if you bought in all five of those years you would have doubled or tripled the value of your investment.

Why did the real estate market just decide to go up then? Supply and demand is the usual factor. When the supply dips below the demand the prices will start to increase slowing because there is always addition supply waiting for the prices to increase. When do the prices really start to move? Now we go back to the opposite psychology, because when everyone is buying other people feel more comfortable to buy! Friends and family always try to keep up with the Smiths or Cohen’s.

Don’t many people say the market will never go as high as it did this time? Hell yeah. Most people have a memory problem and it starts as soon as times become comfortable. We hear the economy is better, we hear how wonderful the president is doing and we hear whatever we want to hear.

On a different concept when does the market finally go into hyper mode? This one took my much more time to figure out. Bingo! When the entire back inventory is cleared and the properties that were bought at the top of the market are either sold on the market or not returned the market is when the real estate marketplace has the opportunity to flow. Keep in mind timing, as the prices go up how much new inventory will be a drag on the markets. The quicker this happens the fewer properties will be out there since most of the buyers are holding for at least 3 to 5 years.

Now back to the story at hand. The Cape May County market from 1996 to 2000 was having a steady flow of buyers since the baby boomers were entering the resort second home market. I would say they were seeing a 5 or 6 percent increase year over year. Not bad right? The market was just plugging along until the first bump in the road and didn’t turn into a speed bump but a catalyst. The stock market had a nasty correction what was called the internet bubble. If you remember what happened, investors were back to buying stock in companies that never made money. Some people forget or it’s just a new generation of people that don’t know better. So what are people to do now? I got it! Let go back to buying bricks and sticks since they are way less volatile. Right? Well guess what happened next? Like it was yesterday, the World Trade Center came down on September 11, 2001. If you weren’t freaking out you must have been on the moon! For six months the whole country was in shock and many people had a new idea about life. Live for the day and enjoy the time you have with your family because we never know when life could be cut short. Seeing all of those young people in the twin towers and in the financial district it was so unspeakable and this brought on the next wave in my opinion.

One last flashback to 2003, I end up working as the President and general manager of The Landis Co., Realtors in Sea Isle City.  At the time I started having conversations with Jim Sofroney the Broker/ Owner of the firm who had been in the real estate business for 30 plus years. Our conversations were how to manage the risk for our clients since we managed 1000 rental properties and wanted to give the owners our best interpretation of the market twice a year. We were starting to feel a little concerned about the increase in prices already. By the end of the summer of 2003 the prices were holding and the inventory was not increasing and the economy was getting traction.

So where am I going with this story? If you aren’t familiar with the real estate market in Cape May County we have two strong buying seasons, the spring which would consist of February, March, April and May. Then our Fall season would be the end of August, September and October. When we hit the fall season of 2003 the prices were increasing at 1% to 2% per month. Everyone thought this was great, so we saw people that shouldn’t have been in the investor market or people were buying multiple properties at these scorching numbers. The prices were being driven up by the speculation from the builders and developers that were buying land and buildings to turn into townhouses and condos. The more buyers bought the more their friends and family wanted to buy. Human nature at its worst, the greed factor or the let’s keep up with the Jones’ syndrome was at work. We didn’t see this market not being able to digest the entire inventory until the fall of 2005 when things started to roll over. Prices didn’t go up or go down, so the premise was we were beginning to stabilize. That made sense since all we were doing was taking a breather from that frantic period. Right? No! Wrong the real estate markets were exhausted and the developers were still building which was putting even more pressure on the markets that the inventory was peaking out because many of the buyers were planning on flipping their property at the same time the builders were dropping their prices to meet the slowing market.

It became apparent that the real estate markets when the land costs dropped 35 to 40%. The most improved part of the market became the worst place to be. The lot costs probably came back to a reasonable price point but the actual condos and townhouses haven’t dropped that much. Over the last five to six years we watched the prices drift anywhere from 25% to 50% from the ultimate time depending on the town or property type which you might be researching.

Prices were drifting lower at a snail pace until the bad boys of the banking community decided to do lots of bad thing. Well let us say did. Knowingly selling bond portfolios of loans that were to have little or no equity to Main St and sell them as CMO’s (Collateralize Mortgage Obligations). Boy doesn’t that sound warm and fuzzy sitting in your brokerage portfolio? Guess what the executives decided to they owned a bunch of this stuff themselves and tried to figure out a way to cover their bet with derivatives (a financial product like an option to play the other side of the bonds). Well who do you call to help with this mess since this is a new fangled problem? Let’s drag the insurance companies in since they understand derivatives and insurance programs. They will come up with a solution so they thought. The first big insurance company that took a hit was AIG. AIG was probably the biggest insurance company at the time and now running as a few smaller companies. This brought on one of the worst financial crisis ever to hit the United States. The Financial bailout of 2009 was also the biggest blunder since the following year the banks and financial firms that we bailed out had the largest profits in history.

As the prices kept falling and more and more property owners were underwater by 2009 and 2010 it seemed that a lot of the investors were throwing in the towel after getting professional advice from either lawyers or accountants.

The outcome from the professionals was three basic ideas; hold the property for as long as you can. Rent it out, use it, sell it were their choices on scenario one. Then the tough stuff the lawyers would be involved with. If you can sell the property at a price less than the amount you owe the bank we can get you out of the property with out you losing the property in foreclosure. Its easy to do because the banks don’t want to the real estate back and it will even be a longer time before they get it back and if the markets drop further, lets do the deal now and move on to the next one. Back in the early 1990’s most professionals called this a “cram down”. It was a verb since it was being crammed down the banks thought. Today the term is a Short Sale. Aw, isn’t that nice? Since the bank is letting property owners do these they aren’t the victim they are getting what they want. Less bank owned properties and much less legal fees make it a win-win for both parties. The last is the do nothing and enjoy the property and when the bank finally takes the house just get there before and get your personal items out. This process could take anywhere from six months to 18 months depending on the financial ability of the owner and the type of property.

Let’s fast forward back to today September 10, 2011 the day before the tenth anniversary of 9.11.2001. For some reason we are still not comfortable with the local real estate market. We still not have a crystal ball and we are only past history to project the next one or two years out. Why do we even care? I’m not really sure but my blog essay is to show you that history does repeat itself and that where we are today is must closer to the bottom then we are to the top.

Let’s explore these simple questions that people like you might be asking;

Is this a good time to upgrade into a larger Jersey Shore property? Yes. The first question I would ask is how much equity do you have in your current property? The difference between the realistic values of the property and any loan or debt amount attached to the property would be your equity amount. This has nothing to do with any profit or loss you might have experienced. Either way we are looking at a snapshot of today to decide our next move. Psychologically no one likes to take less on an investment but that is irrelevant in deciding to upgrade into a bigger or better property. In the long run the objective is to leverage to down market to your advantage by buying the more expensive property now. On a percentage basic if all things were equal the dollar lose would be substantially more on the larger property than the small property.

As long as you have 20% for your new down payment from funds from the old property or new funds the transition is a go. This is how people with money have been upgrading all the way to the beachfronts or bay fronts. You can’t imagine how many people have asked me “how did those people buy on the beach?” In most cases it was their second or third property at the beach. If you have additional questions about this awesome timing opportunities please email me or call to discuss.

Is this a good time to invest in a Jersey Shore home? Yes is the answer. If you are like most people who are trying to catch the bottom of this cycle well we are in it right now. I would consider being within a 10% margin of the top or the bottom as a good reference point. Why do I say that? No one has a crystal ball from what I been told. Then all we can do is our very best to identify the bottom. First of all I like to call this next two years as the muddy bottom. Properties will come up and be sold at similar prices in the period of time. This is where an experienced real estate broker will come in handy. What was the first thing you were told about real estate? The three most important components to buying real estate are location, location and location. Then I heard the experts say buy the smallest home in the best neighborhood. So my final word of advice when buying in the soft market is do not let the price be your guide. Still buy the best piece of property you can comfortably afford and jump in enjoy The Jersey Shore with your family and friends because that’s what me and my fellow Realtors are really selling. This is the greatest opportunity to enjoy the nature and the shore lifestyle for you and the most important people in your life.

So go out there and don’t get caught up in the greed of vacation property ownership and do what millions of people have done for generations. Live The Jersey Shore lifestyle. Namaste ~ Ian

Ian Lazarus

Broker Associate

Team Leader – The Lazarus Team

The Landis Co., Realtors

4201 Landis Avenue

Sea Isle City, NJ 08243

609.457.0258

ian.lazarus@mygo2realtor.com

www.AvalonRealEstateBlog.com www.BuyCondosOnTheBeach.com www.BuySeaIsleCityCondos.com www.CondosOnTheBeach.net www.FindaShoreHome.com www.FindaShoreHome.tv www.MySeaIsleRealEstate.com www.OceanCityShortSaleBlog.com www.SeaIsleCityBeachBlockHomes.com www.SeaIsleCityBayfrontHomes.com www.SeaIsleCityBeachHouses.com www.SeaIsleCityCondosForSale.com www.SeaIsleCityRealEstateOnline.com www.SeaIsleTownhouses.com www.StoneHarborRealEstateBlog.com www.TownsendsInletBeachHomes.com www.TownsendsInletRealEstate.com