By RICHARD DEGENER Staff Writer press of Atlantic City0 comments

CAPE MAY — Rising scallop prices helped boost this commercial fishing port’s catch to $81 million in 2010, an increase of slightly more than 10 percent over 2009.

Dock foreman Herb Singleton (right) checks the weight of bags as scallops are offloaded from the boat at the Lobster House Dock in Cape May. The Port of Cape May is the number two port for fish landings along the easter seaboard for value of the seafood.

“The catch is the same. It’s just that the price is better,”said Tom McNulty Jr., 30, of Middle Township, who works on the family-owned scallop boat Negotiator.

The 2010 data kept Cape May — including docks in Wildwood — the second largest port on the East Coast behind New Bedford, Mass., which retained its No. 1 ranking with $306 million in catch. New Bedford, also a large scallop port, totaled $249 million in fish in 2009.

Massachusetts remained the top state for scallops by harvesting 31.2 million pounds of the 57.5-million-pound U.S. catch. New Jersey was No. 2 at 14.2 million pounds.

Cape May’s $81 million is what the fishermen are paid, but the federal government says the value increases sixfold as fisheries’products make their way to wholesalers, retailers, and consumers.

McNulty returned to port Thursday from a five-day fishing trip to an ocean area known as the Hudson Canyon. The Negotiator returned with its limit of 18,000 pounds of sea scallops and unloaded them at Cold Spring Fish & Supply on Schellenger’s Landing.

But it isn’t the catch that resulted in Port of Cape May’s total increasing from $73.4 million in 2009 to $81 million in 2010. The average price paid for East Coast scallops jumped from $6.59 to $7.92 per pound during the year. The 2010 fisheries data are just being released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and there are indications that 2011 will be an even better year.

Keith Laudeman, who owns the dock where McNulty unloaded Thursday, said scallop prices have gone above $10 a pound at times this year.

Visitors line up to purchase seafood at the Lobster House market in Cape May

“It’s good. It’s always good when you get more for your product. Scallops are in all the restaurants wherever you go in the country. You go anywhere now and they’re on the menu and I don’t see that changing,” Laudeman said.

Jeff Reichle, of Lund’s Fisheries on Ocean Drive, said the March tsunami in Japan has helped boost scallop prices even higher by hurting aquaculture operations in Japan. A weak dollar also helped scallop exports.

“Most people look at scallops as a luxury item that is still affordable,” Reichle said.

Squid also helped boost local catch. Lund’s Fisheries is New Jersey’s major squid company. California led squid catches with 286 million pounds, but New Jersey had the second highest catch at 20.3 million pounds.

Reichle said a weak dollar helped with exports of squid and other fish. The industry saw record prices for illex squid this summer, and Reichle said boats are looking for good fall fishing for loligo squid.

“We’re exporting more products all the time,” Reichle said.

Hampton Roads, Va., was the third largest port on the East Coast, trailing Cape May, 2010 data show.

Cape May did slip from the fifth largest port in the country to the seventh largest due to the phenomenal growth of the fishing industry in Alaska. Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, Kodiak, Naknek, Cordova, and Akutan are the five Alaskan ports ahead of Cape May.

“Alaska is very strong on salmon and halibut. Some vessels operate at huge scales, way beyond ours,” said Greg DiDomenico of the Garden State Seafood Association.

Still, DiDomenico said, optimism is high with scallop prices rising and quotas increasing next year for a number of fin fish, including fluke and scup, or porgy.

“What we’re getting back is the opportunity for our traditional winter trawl fisheries,” DiDomenico said.

Barnegat Light and Point Pleasant also saw increases in the value of the catch, but a decline in surf clams hurt the Port of Atlantic City.

Barnegat Light — which includes all of Long Beach Island — went from 8.1 million pounds worth $21.7 million in 2009 to 8.5 million pounds worth $25.8 million. Barnegat Light is one of the most diverse fishing ports, with scallops, tunas, swordfish, tilefish, monkfish, bluefish, bunker, croakers, spiny dogfish, and many other species. The port specializes in fresh fish and has a fleet of smaller boats that use nets to catch fish by their gills.

“You have really the last gillnet fleet in New Jersey,”DiDomenico said.

Barnegat Light was the 38th largest port in the U.S. in 2009 but moved up to No. 33 in 2010.

Atlantic City, which mostly has ocean clamming vessels, declined from No. 37 to No. 49 as inshore surf clam beds continue to disappear in New Jersey. The value of the Atlantic City catch dropped from $24.2 million in 2009 to $17.3 million in 2010.

Point Pleasant Beach, Ocean County, also registered gains with a jump from 18.4 million pounds worth $20.2 million to 20.9 million pounds worth $22.8 million. The port rose from No. 41 in the nation to No. 37. Point Pleasant Beach could continue rising with a big increase in the scup quota next year.

“It’s becoming a strong scup port. You have these guys going back to traditional trawl fisheries,” DiDomenico said.

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

Welcome to the bottom of the real estate market. Might as well get used to it because we’ll probably be here a while.

One of the two units in this duplex on Coolidge Avenue in Margate, with three bedrooms and two baths, sold for its asking price of $349,000 on Aug. 30.

One sign of the bottom is that home-price surveys are starting to show small and perhaps fleeting increases. Another is that houses are selling near their listing prices. And different surveys are picking up improvements in different places, the way boats drift in different directions in calm winds.

The calm of the real estate bottom is that the four-year fall in prices is ending, and that the stream of distressed properties hitting the market has been reduced — for now.

“We’re still heading toward bottom-end stabilization, and I think it will remain at that bottom end for two years, and will take three to five years before we see an uptick in the market in general,” said Carlo Losco, president and owner of Balsley Losco Real Estate in Northfield, the region’s largest independent agency.

Federal Housing Finance Agency second quarter home prices for the region support the trend seen earlier in figures from the National Association of Realtors, but less robustly.

FHFA said its housing price index dropped 2 percent in Atlantic County in the quarter, leaving prices 4.6 percent lower in the past year. That’s in line with a U.S. decline of 1.9 percent for the quarter and 4.5 percent for the prior four quarters.

Cape May County, however, was one of the few metro areas covered by FHFA to post an increase, up 1.1 percent for the quarter (but still leaving the price index 3.3 percent lower for 12 months).

The Realtor survey for the quarter had found a 5.6 percent rise in the median home price for the combined Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties region — with prices rising 9.3 percent in Cape May County and 1.7 percent in Atlantic County.

Both surveys saw prices falling, but a bit more slowly, in Cumberland County. FHFA’s limited coverage there showed a one-year decline of 5.7 percent as of the second quarter, compared to 6 percent in the prior survey.

“I would like to think we’re bouncing along the bottom here,” said Brian Groetsch Jr., president of the Cape May County Association of Realtors.

Groetsch said southern county Multiple Listing Service figures showed a 5 percent gain in home prices in line with the Realtors survey, and a 3 percent rise since the first quarter.

“What’s encouraging is the volume of sales, which are up 12 percent year over year,” he said. “I pulled a report showing all the different areas within our market and what jumped out at me was a marked increase in sales in higher-value areas such as the barrier islands, which could be the reason for the bump in the median sales price.”

After years of steep home price declines — the FHFA said New Jersey prices are down 18 to 27 percent from their peak, depending on its survey methodology — stabilization is welcome.

“At least I can see the bottom. That’s all you can hope to garner out of this right now,” Losco said.

He said there’s a considerable advantage to the market bottoming out for real estate professionals: Pricing homes effectively becomes easier.

“I can tell someone today that if the price is at a certain point it will sell, where that wasn’t the case a year or two ago when we were heading for the bottom,” Losco said. “So you can give people accurate advice.”

That better pricing of homes and the stabilizing market are resulting in houses selling much nearer their listing prices.

“The actual MLS records (for Atlantic County) show that the houses that are selling are getting 97 percent of their asking price,” he said.

That asking price, though, often has been reduced significantly from what the seller originally hoped to get. Losco said there are many Internet-savvy bargain hunters tracking houses and their prices, even getting automatic alerts when homes have reached a target price.

He said he’s seen houses languish with no offers and then, after another small drop, multiple offers suddenly appear and you wonder “where did all these people come from?”

Market stabilization has been helped by the slowdown in foreclosure processing due to legal challenges and questions about paperwork, especially in New Jersey and the 20 other states where foreclosures are handled by the courts.

Nationwide, foreclosures sales were up 6 percent in the quarter and down 11 percent from the year before. In New Jersey, foreclosure sales fell 25 percent in the quarter and are down 46 percent from 2012, said RealtyTrac, which gathers and markets foreclosure information.

Atlantic County’s 117 foreclosure sales were a third less than the first quarter and half the number from the second quarter a year ago.

Cape May County’s 50 sales were a 6 percent increase from the prior quarter, but still down 57 percent from last year.

The 31 foreclosure sales in Cumberland County were a 19 percent increase for the quarter, but a 46 percent drop from the same period in 2010. And Ocean County’s 258 sales were up 9 percent for the quarter, but down a third from a year ago.

Losco said the processing delay of foreclosures has helped with the biggest challenge for home sellers — appraisals.

He said getting loan appraisers to value a home high enough for a sale agreement to work amounts to having to sell the home twice for real estate agents.

As a certified general appraiser himself, Losco said he understands the pressure on appraisers. “I see a lot of bulletins to appraisers, and in most cases they’re mandated to state how many bank-owned properties are in the area, and sometimes ordered to put three bank-owned properties in their appraisal report.”

One group that doesn’t need to worry about appraisals or financing is cash investors, and Groetsch said he’s seen “a staggering increase in cash transactions.”

Cash home sales are up 48 percent from a year ago in MLS data, he said.

“Most cash transactions are on the barrier islands,” said Groetsch, who is also broker associate with Century 21 Gilmartin & Co. in Cape May. “Second home and investment buyers are looking for alternatives to invest their dollars versus the stock market, which is very volatile right now.”

With the processing slowdown, foreclosure sales accounted for 17 percent of sales in Atlantic County, 7 percent in Cape May County, 15 percent in Cumberland County and 13 percent in Ocean. In the U.S., they still make up a third of all home sales.

The building backlog in bank-owned properties in New Jersey is one reason why Losco and others don’t expect a rebound soon.

“I don’t see an upward trend because once the banks start releasing properties, in a small market like this that could have a huge impact,” he said. “When they turn the valve on, that’s definitely going to be something we have to contend with.”

Groetsch said the current signs are encouraging, but the industry needs to see more buyers obtain conventional and FHA-backed mortgages — which requires administrative or legislative action at the federal level.

“Hopefully we’ll all be better off for the time we spend on the bottom,” he said.

By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer Press of Atlantic City

This home on Sunrise Drive in Avalon is scheduled for a sheriff’s auction. While signs announcing a foreclosure sale are common in other areas, real estate agents do not put them up in some of the pricier areas. (Dale Gerhard)

A Cape May County Sheriff’s auction is scheduled Wednesday for a six-bedroom, four-bath bayfront home in Avalon.

But you won’t find any foreclosure or auction signs posted on this bank-owned property, with its estimated value of $1.3 million.

Even in the Darwinian world of real estate, there are limits to what is considered socially acceptable, agents said. While neon-red placards declaring “Bank Owned!” might be a way to entice a bargain-hunter on the mainland, such fire-sale tactics are frowned upon in southern New Jersey’s wealthiest enclaves.

“I’ve never seen a foreclosure sign in Cape May,” said Dagmer Chew, the broker and owner at Homestead Real Estate in Cape May. “I’ve never used a foreclosure sign. I think it would not be a nice thing to do if it was in someone’s neighborhood.”

Chew said Cape May, a national historic landmark, has seen its share of bank foreclosures. But agents are sensitive to the stigma that this carries.

Chew recalls a recent sale of a distressed property for $600,000 in a neighborhood surrounded by nearly identical homes that sold for $1 million. The bargain-basement price did not sit well with neighbors who are trying to hold onto their neighborhood’s value, Chew said.

“Everyone in the neighborhood lost $400,000 in comps,” she said, referring to the comparable sales that sellers use to justify their asking prices. “It’s not fair to them.” Foreclosure signs are a common enough sight in southern New Jersey, which was not spared by the recession or the mortgage-loan crisis that rocked the nation’s real-estate market in 2008.

In places such as Ocean City and Stone Harbor, Cape May County, and Barnegat Light, in Ocean County, real-estate firms are legally obligated to disclose to prospective buyers that a home is in foreclosure, but they do not have to trumpet it from the rooftops.

“You’d get some upset neighbors,” said Nicholas Marotta, president of the Ocean City Board of Realtors.

Marotta said real-estate agencies would face a backlash of resentment from neighbors if they started posting foreclosure notices on their signs.

“Especially in multi-million-dollar areas like the Riviera, where you have a lot of year-round residents,” he said. “Do you think they would like to see a sign on their neighbor’s property saying ‘bank owned?’ I wouldn’t do it.”

Ocean City has a strict sign ordinance limiting the size and number of real-estate signs on the island for aesthetic purposes. In some south-end neighborhoods, the thousands of rental and sales signs made the island look like a giant gift shop for three-bedroom condos.

Adding a second sign would break the city’s rules. But Marotta said he thinks the signs are inconsiderate to the plight of the property owner.

“It puts the person’s personal business out there that they lost the house to the bank,” he said. “And it’s a respect factor for the rest of the neighbors. I don’t want them thinking, ‘What’s going on with my neighborhood?’”

Some real estate agents see too much usefulness in advertising that properties are foreclosed to hide the information.

Broker Jean Ball of Re/Max, of Northfield, in mainland Atlantic County, advertises bank ownership on her properties, regardless of the zip code. Posting a notice of foreclosure entices first-time homebuyers who might be priced out of these neighborhoods without benefit of an auction price, she said.

“The banks are trying to appeal to first-time homebuyers,” Ball said. “We’re just trying to open up the properties to all kinds of buyers. I think it does attract more business.”

Ball said banks would never tell a Realtor to take down a foreclosure sign.

But buyers might consider a foreclosure sign a red flag, said broker Lisa Henson of Island Realty in Surf City and the Loveladies section of Long Beach Township, both on Long Beach Island in Ocean County.

“The bank laws are completely nebulous,” she said. “A couple times we brought offers on properties that were bank-owned, and you can’t even get a response.”

Henson said these listings — called short sales — can be a headache for buyers.

“Communication with banks can be ridiculous. They will give you an 800 number in California,” she said. “Once, we had a house that everyone knew was in foreclosure. We brought them a great offer, and they wouldn’t return our call.”

Surf City broker Ray Procaccini of Oceanside Realty said he has seen plenty of bank-owned properties advertised on the island.

“I don’t see agents hiding that it’s a short sale,” he said. “It’s usually a better price, so it’s a win-win. These companies are trying to make it easier to get from offer to acceptance to closing table. If it works out, you can get a property for a competitive price.”

By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer Press of Atlantic City

Optimism prevails in Cape May County shore home markets

From sea to shining bay, Cape May County real estate agents have an optimistic outlook for the shore housing market in 2011.

The real estate market on the barrier islands along Cape May, Atlantic and Ocean counties spans a wide variety of price ranges, housing styles and locations.

Optimism prevails in Cape May County shore home markets. Proximity to the beach and ocean views can add significantly property prices.

In the last year, potential buyers have been looking around more, said Brian Groetsch Jr., a broker associate at Century 21 Gilmartin & Co. in Cape May and the president of the Cape May County Association of Realtors.

Shoppers who exclusively sought three-bedroom beachfront homes have expressed more interest in other possibilities like single-family homes blocks from the beach, he said.

“The consumer is much more open in general if they can achieve greater peace of mind in the investment they’re going to make,” Groetsch said.

Interest in properties now spans the price ranges. In 2009, much of the market was entry-level, lower value properties, he said.

“In my practice, what we’ve seen most of are first-time second homebuyers, most likely fence sitters watching the market and now feeling there’s value in the market and jumping in,” he said.

Paul Chiolo is a broker at Keller Williams Ocean Side Realty in the Wildwoods and Ocean City.

The gap between asking prices and selling prices has gotten closer, an indication that Chiolo said reflects sellers being more realistic about asking prices and buyers anxious to get in on the lower end of the market, as well as use the properties for the summer.

In the Wildwoods, “I’m seeing the inventory get bought up. The bank foreclosures are getting absorbed very rapidly,” said Chiolo, a broker for 23 years.

The activity, however, is not just relating to distressed properties, he said.

“I think it’s a combination of the good mortgage rates in conjunction with more consumer confidence that’s driving this market right now,” Chiolo said. “The reality now is you’re able to buy at the Jersey Shore now for like 1999 prices. And that’s a hard thing to pass up.”

In Avalon and Stone Harbor, January and February of 2011 were big months: There were 25 percent more properties placed under contract than in those time periods of 2010 and 2009 combined, said Allan “Dutch” Dechert, president of the New Jersey Association of Realtors and principal of Ferguson Dechert Real Estate based in Avalon.

Nine of those were priced over $2 million, he said.

“We’re seeing some of the higher-end players coming back into the market,” Dechert said.

Second homes are inherently different from primary residences. That reflects differences in how potential home buyers make up their mind.

“It’s a discretionary purchase. People don’t have to have a second home,” Dechert said. “They seem a little more ready to make a decision now. Last year, sales people would go out and show houses and houses and houses … and they’d say, ‘We’ll go home and think about it.’ They were sitting on the fence and now they’re ready to make a decision on it.”

Nicholas Marotta, president of the Ocean City Board of Realtors, said sales activity in Ocean City picked up near the end of 2010 and has continued early into 2011.

Ocean City saw a 5 percent increase in overall home sales last year and an 18 percent increase in the last three months of 2010.

For January and February this year, Marotta reported there were 13 more closed sales than that period in 2010.

“The market itself is much more affordable price-wise,” he said. “I feel the biggest thing is people were starting to feel comfortable with their jobs, with the economy, with themselves. That was the scariest factor – nobody had security. They weren’t going to look to invest in properties.”

Dave Wyrsch Jr. is real estate and vacation rental manager for the Van Dyk Group on Long Beach Island in Ocean County.

“The early part of the year’s been real busy. There’s been a lot of activity, a lot of people are out looking,” he said.

High-end transactions, including several homes selling for multi-million dollar listings, sold near the end of 2010.

Those high-end ones have tapered off a bit from those numbers.

“The ones we’ve sold so far this year is a mixed bag but a lot of them are $1.3 million to $1.5 million sales,” Wyrsch said. “It’s still kind of a mixed bag.”

We had a big run on ocean fronts the second half of last year – July, August, September,” he said. “That’s died down a little bit, but I don’t think there’s as many on the market at this point.”

By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer press of A.C.

Pete Patrizzi runs a home security check business in Ocean City, making weekly checks to clients homes along the sea shore throughout the winter. Patrizzi checks the doors of a home on Wesley Ave.

OCEAN CITY — Pete Patrizzi opened the door to the million-dollar beach house and checked that the alarm was functioning.

Inside, the home was still as a museum. Nobody had lived here in several months, and the air was slightly stale. The temperature was a cool but comfortable 60 degrees as the furnace whirred to life in a low hum.

“I spend more time in this house than the owners do,” said Patrizzi, general manager of Resort Residential Services.

His business keeps silent watch over Ocean City, Ventnor, Longport and Margate summer homes in the long off-season and repairs any minor damage caused by storms, leaks or — occasionally — burglars.

Patrizzi checked to ensure the front and side doors were locked. Then he ventured to the sliding-glass doors facing the panoramic ocean view that gives this oceanfront neighborhood its name: the Gold Coast.

Patrizzi stepped out onto the deck. The beach was deserted in both directions as far as he could see. He stepped back inside and relocked the doors, slid the deadbolts in place and set the alarm.

Burglars have been busy in the south end of Ocean City this year, where they have ransacked 20 homes, mostly for high-end electronics. The south end is the quieter side of Ocean City, where block after block sits empty for most of the winter. Some years these burglaries can go virtually unnoticed until spring, when the owners return to the shore to reopen their homes. But lately second-home owners have been spending more winter weekends at the shore, police Lt. Steven Ang said.

“People would go south and forget about their seasonal home through March or April. But in Ocean City, because of all the activities we have through New Year, we have a pretty good volume of weekend clientele,” Ang said. “Up until the first of the year, we’re seeing people use their houses on the weekends.”

So the reports have been trickling in about break-ins, especially on the 4100, 4400 and 4800 blocks of Central Avenue.

The burglars have been brazen, breaking down doors by shattering their frames to gain access to the beach side of the homes, Ang said.

“They have to be making noise,” he said. “They’re picking these isolated neighborhoods. It’s obvious someone has taken the time to stake out and watch the properties for a few days.”

Once inside, the burglars have taken their time, disconnecting home-theater components and flat-panel televisions, he said.

“They’re being more cautious removing the equipment. They’re not rushing when they’re inside these properties,” he said.

Vacation homes are annual targets of burglars in resort towns and seasonal campgrounds.

In one memorable case in 2003, a homeless man took up residence in a vacant West Avenue summer cottage, pawning some of the home’s antiques, decorations and furniture for food money. The homeowner grew suspicious when he got a high electric bill in the mail.

Ocean City is hardly alone in seeing numerous winter burglaries. The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating two dozen home burglaries in Sea Isle City, Middle Township, Stone Harbor and Lower Township dating to October.

“We generally do see criminal activity like this in the wintertime, when the barrier islands are vacant,” Prosecutor Robert Taylor said.

There is less foot traffic on the south end, since many businesses there close for the winter. And a loud bang or crash is a common enough sound on an island where contractors are rebuilding beach homes, despite a wintry economy.

Burglars are targeting the plasma televisions, often leaving behind DVD players, tuners and audio components, Ang said.

Patrizzi has filled out police reports on behalf of clients whose homes were burglarized. Some of his clients in Atlantic and Cape May counties spend the winter as far away as Singapore. When the burglar or fire alarms go off, he is the contact for police and fire departments.

“We had a house that someone tried to break into last year. They threw an umbrella stand through a sliding-glass door,” he said. “The alarm system stopped them.”

Patrizzi said he knows if something is amiss the moment he sets foot in one of his clients’ homes.

“It might be a funny odor or the little noise of wind from a popped window,” he said.

On Dec. 10, he checked on a home at 35th Street to find the TV remote control out of place on a coffee table next to condensation marks from a carelessly placed drink. He phoned the homeowner and learned his family had paid a recent visit.

Once, he checked on a home after one of southern New Jersey’s famously punishing northeasters to find a 6-foot skylight had been blown off the roof of the house.

But it’s the little things that keep him busy — jiggling the handle on a running toilet, lowering or raising the thermostat in accord with the clients’ wishes, and making sure the home weathers another New Jersey winter.

“Some of these houses have five bedrooms and four baths with Jacuzzis. These are elaborate homes. We can’t take a chance to have damage,” he said.

Police said they will check on more properties looking for signs of disturbance to give the burglary suspects a shorter window of opportunity to strike.

Properties on the 4100 block of Asbury Avenue in Ocean City are being offered for rental. Real estate agents and brokers say more winter rentals are available as the number of renters has stayed the same.

By STEVEN LEMONGELLO Press of A.C.Staff Writer | Sun, November 21, 2010

As the weather gets colder and the summer visitors pack up and leave, they leave behind hundreds of empty apartments and houses in shore towns — but while the number of “winter renters” has stayed steady, the number of available units has only grown.

“It has changed,” D.J. Gluck, the broker/owner of Soleil Sotheby’s International Realty in Margate, said of the market for winter rentals, “and it’s changed for economic reasons.”

A large number of summer rentals went unrented during the summer season, Gluck said, and now Absecon Island is seeing a “huge” number of winter rentals on the market.

“That’s because there’s more landlords and more new construction of houses that didn’t sell,” Gluck said. “There’s (just) more people willing to do winter rentals.”

“They’re under the gun,” said Ken Marshall, of Grace Realty in Ocean City, about why more owners are willing to rent their properties. “Everybody is.”

Typically, Gluck said, only 20 percent of units on the market as winter rentals actually get rented — “And maybe it’s actually close to 10 percent,” he added.

In all four communities on Absecon Island, Gluck said, there were 502 active rentals as of early November, including year-round, winter rentals and seasonal rentals. He estimates that only about 300 are currently being rented.

There’s also a disparity among the towns. Gluck said that there are 161 rentals in Margate alone, while Jerome DiPentino, of Premier Properties, said that there were fewer than 10 in Longport.

“Winter rentals are also a little tricky,” Gluck said, “because there’s a lot of landlords with very nice, expensive houses, who are very particular about who would move into (their house).”

The ideal, low-occupancy tenant, he said, is a person “who is really going to take care of a place — and they’re challenging to find. … If you run into a good winter rental tenant, you can get a good deal.”

Gluck recently rented out a second home, assessed at about $650,000, to a tenant paying about $900 a month over a seven-month period.

“That’s going to generate more than $6,000, and the landlord was thrilled to offset taxes and homeowner’s insurance. They were very, very concerned about the quality of the tenant.”

Claire Cotney, a broker at Marketplace Realty in Margate, said that there’s always been more inventory than people interested in renting — but the lack of new construction also leads to fewer renters.

“There are not that many people coming in to work this year (on construction projects),” Cotney said. “When there’s new construction, you certainly have a lot more winter renters.”

Other winter renters, said Re/Max broker/owner Linda Novelli, do so because they’re renovating a house and need a place to stay in the meantime.

“Taking a winter rental also gives them the gift of time,” Novelli said. “They can keep it a few years while they look for an apartment or buy a home.”

Marshall, whose company handles many properties in the south end of Ocean City, said availability is down overall.

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and when I started there were a lot of winter rentals,” Marshall said. “I even started out living in a winter rental myself. But today, they’re few and far between. It’s a hassle getting renters for the summer when you have a winter tenant sitting there.”

Of course, they’re still a good deal for everyone if it works out. In fact, the offices of Grace Realty have apartments above them, he said, “and one of them has a winter renter.”

The intersection of the Garden State Parkway and Crest Haven Road in Cape May Court House. Motorist react to the news overpasses in Cape May County will be part of a construction package on the Garden State Parkway starting next year. Wednesday Oct. 27, 2010. (Dale Gerhard/Press of Atlantic City)

Work to eliminate a major headache for drivers — traffic lights on the Garden State Parkway in Cape May County — is finally set to begin within a few months.

The signals at parkway exits 9, 10 and 11 have frustrated local drivers and tourists for years, causing summer congestion and backups. But construction on a $100 million project to replace the lights with overpasses is set to begin in early 2011.

That work is one of three major Garden State Parkway projects aimed at widening the toll road and relieving traffic congestion. But it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Parkway travelers are already driving through busy work zones and lane shifts that bend like the pine snakes in the woods off the highway.

The bridge that runs across the Mullica River in Atlantic County is being widened, and a third lane is being built from interchanges 63 in Stafford Township to milepost 80 near Toms River in Ocean County.

What Cape May County residents care about is that engineers from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority are preparing to begin construction to replace the parkway traffic lights. Construction is expected to run through early 2013.

“There’s quite a lot of design work going on,” said Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster.

Bridges will carry the parkway over local streets in an effort to reduce traffic congestion.

Eliminating that congestion would make Herman “Butch” Poehler, a builder from the North Cape May section of Lower Township, very happy.

“If I’m working in Avalon on a Friday (during the summer), the traffic is crazy,” Poehler said. “If the traffic lights were removed, it would make things a lot easier.”

Removing the signals — the only traffic lights along the 173-mile Garden State Parkway — would also make a difference for visitors to the area.

Art Anderson, 78, of Vineland, owns a home in Cape May. During the summer, he takes Route 50 to the parkway and continues south.

“I’d get down to Cape May a lot quicker,” said Anderson, adding that it could take as long as two hours to get from Vineland to Cape May if he used Route 47.

Meanwhile, construction of the new section of the Mullica River bridge is expected to be completed before the end of this year. Other parts of the span will have to be rehabilitated next year. The entire $88 million project is expected to be completed by late 2011, nearly three years after construction began.

“(The bridge) was in bad shape, and  it was not capable of carrying the traffic it needed to carry,” said Tom Feeney, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. “It needed to be rehabilitated.”

The bridge project is part of the first phase of a widening program the Turnpike Authority is undertaking between exits 30 and 80 on the parkway, although the rest of the first phase is concentrated between exits 63 and 80.  The project began in June 2009 and the work along that section is expected to last until August. The overall 50-mile project is expected to cost about $1.1 billion.

In Ocean County last week, workers removed orange traffic barrels covering a newly built third lane on a southbound section near the exit for Stafford Township and Long Beach Island. But on the northbound side, lanes shift and traffic barrels shorten and narrow the exit lanes at exit 63.

Still, the roadwork there is mostly done. And at the Stafford Diner in Manahawkin, people welcomed the changes.

“When it’s finished, its going to be beautiful, said waitress Harriet Frasiolas, 67, of Barnegat. “But now they’ve got it all messed up.”

Kevin Mulholland, 40, said the roadway seemed pretty good and it beats being caught in traffic.

“It’s better,” the Little Egg Harbor Township resident said. “Unfortunately, it’s going to bring more people down.”

Marcia Troyan said she looked forward to the construction being completed. The resident of Perry’s Lake, Stafford Township, visits northern New Jersey, and when she comes back, “You have to drive in and out of these barrels for mile and miles and miles.”

A long stretch of the parkway is going to be worked on starting in the second quarter of 2011.

A widening project will run from exit 48 to 63 in Burlington and Ocean counties. During that time, Feeney said, grading and design work will be done on the portion of the parkway from exit 30 to exit 48.

The Patcong Creek Bridge and the Bass River Bridge along the parkway will also be worked on during the project’s three phases. Feeney said the Patcong Creek Bridge will not take as long as the Mullica River Bridge construction has.

“It will be widened, but it doesn’t need any new construction like the Mullica bridge did,” Feeney said.

By widening the parkway, the project seeks to alleviate traffic congestion. However, some local officials still think more could be done.

Egg Harbor Township Mayor James J. McCullough said creating more exits and interchanges could do more good than widening the parkway.

“If we could have an on-ramp at Route 30 in the Galloway section, I think that would relieve a lot of traffic,” McCullough said.

In Egg Harbor Township, McCullough said, the parkway needs to connect to more major roadways such as Shore Road and Fire Road. He said the township is investigating federal funding to have the parkway let drivers off at exit 36 directly into the Shore Mall parking lot.

Feeney said interchange and exit projects require collaboration at the state, county and township levels. The parkway widening project and the overpass project are handled by the state.

The intersection of the Garden State Parkway and Stone Harbor Blvd. in Cape May Court House. Motorist react to the news overpasses in Cape May County will be part of a construction package on the Garden State Parkway starting next year. Wednesday Oct. 27, 2010. (Dale Gerhard/Press of Atlantic City)

Anyone who has a good grasp of their local market and has been in Real Estate for more than 10 minutes recognize who are the big players in their area.

You will never be able to buy at the absolute bottom of the real estate market. But the next best thing is buying as the market emerges from the bottom. Buying as the market gains momentum you are gaining equity the moment it closes and are riding it up again.

Back to the signals: Who is buying development land? People with vision and a business plan…is there a risk- If you expect a reward you bet there is a risk? But if you are convinced a location is perfect for your application , you’ll never be able to buy it for less…and you don’t want to be competing with someone else for failing to pulling the trigger first (it is time to buy before everyone else realizes it).

This buyer never stops thinking- he is a mover and a shaker…he is the go to guy, when he calls to ask about a property you can guarantee the value is about to jump.

Think about the buyer who always bought and sold at the right time, watch when he starts buying, as all the investment companies say in their disclosure “past performance is not a guarantee of future profits” But it is a very good bet. I am seeing the signals clearly, buyers who have never lost on a property are looking…what does that tell you?

If this piece of land doesn’t become a crucial part of a future business success I’ll be very surprised. Watch the past performers and see what they are doing. I’ve been marketing and selling real estate for 26 years, my gut is telling me things will be very different a year from now and if you aren’t willing to work hard now you’ll be missing some great opportunities when the market improves.

Search for some excellent Jersey Shore deals at www.FindaShoreHome.com for Cape May County or www.AtlanticCityRealEstateBlog.com for Atlantic County.

Atlantic County

ATLANTIC CITY

500 Grammercy Place, North Mass Ave Development LLC to Atlantic City Housing Authority & Urban Redevelopment Agency; 7/28/2010. $220,000

2019 Magellan Ave., Atlantic City Housing Authority and Urban Redevelopment Agency to Delores Tolbert; 7/28/2010. $189,900

3817 Ventnor Ave., Raviv Turner & Liraz Turner to Assaf Maliniak; 7/29/2010. $60,000

100 Berkley Square Unit 19A, George Beppel & Linda Pearl & Andrew Pearl & Ida Pearl to Gary S Master & Barbara G Master; 7/26/2010. $450,000

2721 Boardwalk Unit 107, Val Mats & Lyudmila Glazman to Todd Golish & Myra Golish; 7/27/2010. $100,000

2 Texas Court, Federal National Mortgage Association to Ayan Group Inc; 7/28/2010. $42,001

BRIGANTINE

300 W. Brigantine Ave. Unit 103, Donald M Taylor & Elizabeth A Taylor to Steven Taylor; 7/27/2010. $100,000

713 W. Brigantine Ave., Robert A Hicken & Anne J Hicken & Nancy Hicken & Howard A Hicken to Stephen T Matthews & Rhonda Jacobson Matthews; 7/29/2010. $300,000

42 Cummings Place, Barbara Sanders & Mark Sanders to Robert J Sooy & Sally A Sooy & Steven P Sooy; 7/29/2010. $235,000

LONGPORT

19 S. 36th Ave., William H Curtis to Maurice Torjman & Mindy Torjman; 7/26/2010. $567,038

MARGATE

30 N. Haverford Ave., Paul R Damato & Damato Grace Anselmo & Grace Anselmo Damato & Emil Damato to Leo Plonsky & Barbara Plonsky; 7/26/2010. $526,750

9502 Atlantic Ave., Samanda Properties I of NJ LLC & Michael Pouls to Andreas C Pavlides & Shereen Pavlides; 7/28/2010. $990,000

3 S Brunswick Ave., Adele Gravitz to Robert Gravitz & Deborah Astrove & Janet Gravitz & Judith Gravitz; 7/27/2010. $189,000

109 S. Franklin Ave., Marjorie S Katz & Solomon Katz & Ruth J Katz to David L Colman & Nancy K Colman; 7/29/2010. $3,475,000

308 N. Mansfield Ave., William R McCaughin & William R McCaughin & Mary M McCaughin to Richard H Walker & Millicent Walker; 7/28/2010. $320,000

SOMERS POINT

423 Bay Ave., Michael Markman to Ignacio Morales & Maria Castillo; 7/30/2010. $169,000

VENTNOR

5200 Boardwalk Unit 5A, Edward P Lipeles & Theresa Lipeles to David P Malamut & Marcella Malamut; 7/26/2010. $320,000

412 N. Cornwall Ave., Federal Home Loan Corp & Goldberg & Ackerman Zucker to Son Bach; 7/28/2010. $165,000

18 S. Richards Ave., Bank Sterling to Douglas G Arch & Elaine M Arch; 7/28/2010. $565,625

Cape May County

AVALON

262 26th St. Unit 262, Carlo Civitella to Ps Shore Properties LLC; 7/27/2010. $706,000

NORTH WILDWOOD

115 E. Sixth Ave., Catherine Hartner-Hall and Joseph Hall to Colleen Boucher and Seth Boucher; 7/28/2010. $250,000

OCEAN CITY

2710 Asbury Ave. Second Floor, Carmela Synder and James Synder to Felice Macera and Joke Bradt; 7/26/2010. $420,000 ;