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Roy Wagner, Ocean City Councilman, and Charlie London show the outside of the Ocean City Lifesaving Station at 801 4th St. in Ocean City. Photo by: Anthony Smedile

By MARTIN DEANGELIS, Press of AC Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2010

OCEAN CITY — Charlie London wants to put you in this house.

Or you. Or you.

Actually London, 51, the president of the Saving Our Station Coalition, would like to see just about anybody move into the house on the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue here, because this house isn’t just another house.

It’s the old Ocean City Lifesaving Station, which dates back to the 1880s — and which has been the subject of a series of court battles that started in the 1990s and has dragged on for a long decade since.

The station was built by the United States Lifesaving Service and then became U.S. Coast Guard property when those two agencies were merged. It was sold and became a private home in 1945 and has gone through a series of owners since, including ones who bought it in 1999, planning to demolish the building and replace it with three new duplex condos on the 130-by-100 foot corner lot.

That gave birth to the Saving Our Station Coalition, which started those court fights and tried several other plans for rescuing the building, including getting the city to buy the property for more than $3 million — a move voters rejected in a 2005 referendum.  There have also been proposals to move the building and to get the city to trade for it with an unused piece of city land, but so far, nothing has worked to guarantee that the building and its history won’t be destroyed.

In the latest court case, though, the owners agreed with the SOS Coalition and the city on a “preservation price” for the property of $887,500. But that agreement, helped along by a judge, came with a deadline: If there’s no buyer by May 14, the owners can get rid of the building.

And that pressure has turned London and other members of his coalition into committed — but no-commission — real-estate sellers of a sort. They’ve held two open houses already trying to lure the right buyers to the house, and they have two more open houses scheduled this month, on Saturday and then again March 27.

“At this point, we’re planning another two in April, and one more in May, if not two,” said London, 51, who helped lead a visitor on a weekend tour of the 135-year-old building and pointed out some of the details that its fans hope can attract a buyer who would want to live in a historic house.

They include wide-planked hardwood floors all through the home. There’s a working fireplace that dominates a front parlor, a sprawling, open kitchen with an island area topped by a butcher-block counter, four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms.

“The building is solid,” adds Kim Baker, a retired writer and editor who lives in Egg Harbor Township, and is the SOS Coalition’s historian. “I mean, it was built to last.”

They point to the 180-square-foot greenhouse as they walk by, mention the high ceilings and “a lot of closet space,” says London, strolling down a first-floor hallway lined with closets on one side. For more storage, there’s a detatched garage outside.

London lives in Ventnor and works at Atlantic City International Airport now, but he got involved in the lifesaving station when he lived right next door for a dozen or so years. He leads the way to the upstairs, where the master bedroom — which used to be the crew’s quarters — has a bathroom that’s so big, he sees it being turned into two bathrooms to make the master suite a little more attractive.  

Above it all, on the third floor there’s a cupola that the lifesaving crew used as its lookout — and that still has an ocean view, Baker and London promise, even if the windows are boarded up now.

“And this is considered beach-block,” Baker adds — although it is a full, long block to the Boardwalk and ocean, past many homes built on the beach after the lifesaving station went up in what was then a largely empty area of town.

The terms of the historic-preservation agreement say a prospective owner can do just about anything they want inside the house — including convert it into a duplex, the tour guides say. But they warn that buyers have to protect the “historic integrity” of the building, so they’d be strictly limited in what they can do to the outside of the home.

Ocean City Councilman Roy Wagner is still pushing to get the city to do a land-swap for the building and help convert it into a maritime museum, but he’ll be satisfied with any plan that will preserve the lifesaving station.

“The firstest with the mostest gets it,” Wagner said.

London isn’t giving up hope on public preservation plans, and he looks forward to a city meeting planned for this week that could help make that happen at the new price — which is less than a third of what the city planned to buy the place for in 2005.

“We’re going on both paths, full speed ahead,” he said.

So even though the house wasn’t scheduled to be open, when two visitors on a house-hunting mission in Ocean City went to the door on Saturday, London happily let them in and showed them around.

 Jim and Kristin Kline are from Sparta, in Sussex County, but they’ve visited Ocean City for years and they’ve always wondered how the lifesaving station was on the inside.

 “It looks like a great house,” Kristin said. “Lots of charm and character.”

Her husband agreed — to a point.

“It has the character,” he said, “but it needs work.”   

The people making the sales pitch understand that. But London argues that at the court-mandated, non-negotiable purchase price, even if it takes $200,000 worth of renovations, a beach-block house on an oversized lot for less than $1.1 million qualifies as a positive bargain in today’s Ocean City real-estate market.

Oh, and speaking of the size of the lot, near the end of the tour, London pointed out a feature of this property that could make the lifesaving station the dream property for almost anybody in Ocean City — or in any other traffic-clogged local shore town almost any summer day.

“Out back,” he said, leading the way, “you have probably 12 parking spaces.”

Staff photo by Vernon Ogrodnek This 4,000-square-foot office building on New Road in Northfield was recently leased by a tenant who is expanding and wants to stay in the area, said Samantha Roessler, vice president of Rose Commercial Real Estate.

By KEVIN POST Press of A.C.Business Editor | Sunday, February 28, 2010

Local and national reports this week indicate the commercial real estate market is finally bottoming, making 2010 the year it slowly begins to recover.

A Congressional Oversight Panel report on commercial real estate loans said $1.4 trillion in such mortgages will require refinancing in 2011 through 2014. The bad news? Nearly half are underwater, with the borrower owing more on the loan than the property is currently worth.

The quarterly commercial outlook from the National Association of Realtors said increased demand for office and warehouse space isn’t likely before 2011.

Southern New Jersey commercial property experts see the same trends, with just a bit of positive activity.

Rich Baehrle, commercial specialist with Vanguard Property Group in Egg Harbor Township, said tight credit is hurting commercial markets because they differ from residential.

“One of the biggest challenges in the commercial market is 90 to 95 percent of loans are written as 5-year adjustable mortgages,” Baehrle said.

In the past, if property owners paid on time and remained in good standing, renewal of the loan was almost automatic, he said. Now, lenders are scrutinizing loans and properties closely.

“If a bank’s not going to renew its commitment, it’s very challenging for the buyer to go out and find another lender,” he said.

A key factor for banks is the amount of rent revenue a property generates. This month’s survey by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors found that rent concessions are being reported almost everywhere.

“When that happens, it has a negative ripple effect,” Baehrle said. “If the drop is $100,000 a year in rent, which is conceivable, the value of the property might diminish by $950,000 to $1 million.”

Samantha Roessler, vice president of Rose Commercial Real Estate and manager of its shore office in Northfield, said she’s seeing the same factors of tougher financing and tenant instability.

She said development of new commercial properties, particularly retail, will be on hold as the market starts to recover.

“In 2008 it all came down, 2009 was a leveling-off period and we have to rebuild in 2010,” Roessler said. “I think we’re dealing with the product we currently have on the market. Until our vacancies go down a little, we won’t see any new development.”

One problem, she said, is that commercial sellers have not yet made the price adjustments that residential owners managed over a long period.

“And land in our area is a tough sell because of the time frames to get approvals to do anything on it and the costs associated with that,” Roessler said.

There are positives in the commercial sector in the region, but they’re small.

“We’re starting to see an uptick in activity. The NextGen Aviation Research Park is spurring some growth, with two contracts going to be released shortly,” Baehrle said. “Quite a few people are looking at that.”

“We’re doing deals,” Roessler said. “They might not be the largest deals, but there’s still activity.”

The industrial and office Realtors survey’s measure of expected activity registered its first gain — a slight one — in the fourth quarter after declining for 11 straight quarters.

Fifty-five percent of industry professionals expect the commercial market to improve in the second quarter.

The National Realtors outlook predicted worsening conditions this year for the office, industrial and retail sectors, with significant improvement only in the multi-family housing sector.

Office vacancy rates nationwide are expected to increase from 16.3 percent to 17.6 percent by the end of the year and average 17.4 in 2011. Office rents are expected to decline 7.2 percent.

Industrial space is expected to fare a bit better, with vacancy rates rising from 13.9 percent to 14.9 percent, but rents are forecast to fall 9.6 percent.

The retail vacancy rate is expected to increase slightly, from 12.4 percent to 12.7 percent, with rents declining just 2.4 percent this year.

An increase in the number of American households should reduce the multifamily apartment sector’s vacancy rate from 7.4 percent to

6.6 percent. Rents, however, are expected to drop another 3.4 percent this year after falling 3.6 percent last year.

Trump Marina Hotel Casino, in Atlantic City, NJ Photo by: Vernon Ogrodnek

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Press of A.C.Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. will resurrect negotiations to sell Trump Marina Hotel Casino to the businessman who wanted to buy it last year, but the new price is only a fraction of the original.

Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment, said the company has received an offer of $75 million from Richard T. Fields, chairman of the New York gaming group Coastal Marina LLC.

“That’s the offer we have on the table. Will we go back to him and ask for more? That’s possible,” Juliano said in an interview Wednesday at U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Trump Entertainment and Fields originally reached a tentative $316 million deal for the Marina in 2008. In hope of salvaging the sale, the price was lowered to $270 million last year before negotiations collapsed.

The new $75 million price tag reflects plunging real estate values in the Atlantic City gaming market, now mired in a three-year slump because of the sluggish economy and casino competition from surrounding states.

Trump Marina’s sale is part of the company’s plan to have corporate bondholders backed by Donald Trump take over the Trump casinos and pull them out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who has teamed up with Texas banker Andy Beal, has submitted a competing plan to buy the Trump casinos.

Icahn, in a videotaped deposition played Tuesday in bankruptcy court, said he would consider selling both Trump Marina and Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino if he gains control of the Trump gaming empire.

Icahn added that he has not made a final decision, although he believes “it might make some sense” to sell the Marina and Plaza and keep only the flagship Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.

A hearing on the competing buyout plans continues this week in bankruptcy court, with Donald Trump scheduled to testify today. Bankruptcy Judge Judith H. Wizmur will choose the winner, but her ruling is not expected for at least a few weeks.

In testimony Wednesday, Trump Entertainment’s financial adviser said Trump Marina’s sale would help stabilize the company amid declining revenue and lower earnings projections. He predicted a deal with Fields would be completed by the end of 2011, if not sooner.

“It is our strong belief that the Marina will be sold,” said Andrew Yearley, managing director at Lazard Freres & Co. “They will find a way to sell that asset. There is a legitimate buyer out there.”

Trump Entertainment still holds the $17 million down payment that Fields put toward the purchase last year. The down payment would be included in the proposed $75 million transaction, Juliano said.

Fields announced last year that he would transform Trump Marina into a Margaritaville-themed casino in partnership with singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.

Yearley testified that Trump Marina’s sale also would result in the settlement of a 2004 lawsuit pitting Donald Trump against Fields. Trump alleges that Fields cheated him out of a development deal for the Hard Rock casinos in Florida owned by the Seminole tribe.

Under questioning by Icahn’s lawyer, Yearley disclosed that the bondholder-backed restructuring plan also could involve some type of “strategic transaction” for Trump Plaza, possibly a sale or bringing in a new joint venture partner.

“The Plaza is an underperforming property,” he said. “Something has to be done with the Plaza over time.”

Bondholders, who own $1.25 billion in Trump Entertainment notes, have offered to buy the casinos for $225 million. They propose giving Donald Trump as much as a 10 percent share in the company in exchange for the continued use of his famous name on the casinos.

However, Icahn’s attorneys question whether Trump Entertainment, on behalf of the bondholders, could assume the rights to the Trump name in a bankruptcy restructuring. Trump is expected to discuss his trademark licensing agreement with the company when he testifies.

Icahn also would like to keep the Trump casino name. He has bought a majority of Trump Entertainment’s $486 million loan held by Beal Bank and proposes to convert the debt into ownership of the company.

By Kenneth R. Harney

Saturday, February 13, 2010

With all the bad news about underwater homeowners and strategic walkaways, you might think that American homeowners’ equity holdings are in the tank. But the least-publicized recent statistic on real estate is that, despite these scary reports, home equity is again on the rise.

Is that some piece of rosy propaganda put out by housing lobbyists to stimulate more home buying? Not unless you consider Federal Reserve economists to be shills for the real estate industry. The Fed conducts massive research into mortgage balances and home-value changes in hundreds of local markets around the country and reports its findings quarterly.

According to the Fed’s most recent “flow of funds” survey, homeowners’ net equity grew by nearly $1 trillion from the recession’s nadir in the first quarter of 2009 through the third quarter. From June 30 to Sept. 30, net equity rose by $418 billion.

That’s not all that impressive compared with the quarterly increases during the hyperinflationary housing boom years, but it could signal something important: After three years of unprecedented shrinkage in home equity — and three years of rapid expansions in the number of underwater borrowers with negative equity — there are signs that the down cycle may be shifting.

Last week, online real estate valuation researcher Zillow.com released its latest quarterly numbers on negative equity in major markets. The findings were sobering, but the study also offered some hints of modest improvements for housing. The overall negative-equity rate among American homeowners remained flat in the fourth quarter, at 21.4 percent. But like the Fed’s numbers, that ratio represented a slight decrease from the first two quarters of last year, when 22 percent and 23 percent of owners owed more on their mortgages than the estimated market value of their real estate.

Zillow’s study found that in dozens of housing markets — including the District, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Miami, San Jose, Seattle and Tampa-St. Petersburg — the percentage of homeowners with negative equity appears to be on the decline. In the Washington area, 27.5 percent of homeowners had negative equity in the fourth quarter. That was down from 29.6 percent in the third quarter and 33.5 percent in the second.

Some of the largest declines occurred in cities hardest hit by the recession and the housing bust: Ann Arbor, Mich. (a decrease of 9 percentage points); Riverside, Calif. (-5.7); and Phoenix (-2). Florida markets that have struggled with major price devaluations also saw significant improvement in negative-equity rate in the fourth quarter, such as Fort Myers (-5.4), Miami (-5.1), Naples (-4.5) and Tampa-St. Petersburg (-1.4).

On the other hand, Zillow’s study found historically high rates of negative equity continuing to prevail in key cities. In Las Vegas, for example, 81.3 percent of homeowners — 256,000 households — were underwater on their mortgages in the fourth quarter. This number is down from 82.5 percent in early 2009, but that’s no consolation to the affected borrowers.

In Phoenix, 61.5 percent of borrowers were in negative territory. That’s two percentage points lower than in the previous quarter but still scarily high.

Which major markets have the lowest underwater rates? As you might guess, they tend to be areas where the equity boom never quite boomed and where toxic mortgages and fog-the-mirror underwriting by lenders were never the rage: Tulsa, Okla. (4.2 percent); Harrisburg, Pa. (5.7 percent); Binghamton, N.Y. (5.6 percent); and Peoria, Ill. (8 percent).

Negative-equity rates are crucial barometers of local housing markets’ propensity to experience high rates of mortgage default, foreclosure and strategic walkaways. Communities with single-digit negative-equity rates tend to have fewer walkaways and foreclosures.

The reverse is the case in areas where large numbers of underwater homeowners see no economic rationale for continuing to send in their monthly mortgage payments on properties worth tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars less than the principal balance owed to the bank. They feel they are throwing away money on real estate that might take a decade or more to be worth what they paid for it during the boom.

Mortgage market analyst Laurie Goodman, senior managing director of Amherst Securities, recently warned lenders to be especially vigilant about borrowers in markets where negative-equity ratios are high because, in her view, they are prime candidates to walk away from their loans. Once underwater borrowers miss a payment on their mortgage, Goodman said, there is a 75 to 80 percent probability they will chuck the whole deal.

Borrowers with even minimal positive equity, on the other hand, are far less likely to do the same.

By MARTIN DeANGELIS Press of AC Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, February 14, 2010 |

Mark Smith, 51, of Pipe Creek, Del., stands by his Third Avenue home Saturday in Wildwood. Smith called off a skiing vacation to check on the home.

Mark Smith had a family ski trip planned to upstate New York for Presidents Day weekend, but when neighbors of his North Wildwood beach house warned him that the recent run of snowstorms left his street with no electricity for most of last week, Smith knew he had to pick the shore over the mountains.

“I said, ‘It’s been seven days. I’m too nervous — I have to go check,’” said Smith, 51, who made the two-hour drive Saturday morning with his wife, Eileen, from their home in Pine Creek, Del., near Newark.

And even though he came expecting bad news — water pipes frozen, broken and mangling the rest of the 100-year-old house — about the worst thing he found was a chill inside and too much snow outside to let him pull his pickup truck all the way off Third Avenue.

The Smiths were hardly the only people to make that long, snowy drive to their shore houses Saturday. In some beach towns, there were actually more out-of-state cars on the streets than New Jersey vehicles. By the middle of Saturday afternoon in Avalon, one block of Ocean Drive had seven cars and trucks with Pennsylvania license plates — and not one with New Jersey plates.

The magnet for most of those people was media reports or word from neighbors that Cape May County was hit hard by last weekend’s snowstorm, and the one that followed it Wednesday. At its height last Saturday, tens of thousands of Atlantic City Electric customers were without power, and sections of the Wildwoods had no elecricity for most of the week.

By Saturday evening, the company reported that just about 50 customers in the Wildwoods were still without power, and there were scattered, small outages across Cape May County and the Hammonton area — all fewer than five customers.

Bill Davenport, Wildwood’s emergency-management coordinator, said that despite a lack of electricity knocking out heat in many homes, he has not heard much about pipes bursting. For that, he thanked overnight-low temperatures that stayed relatively mild for much of last week — at least until late in the week, when most people had their electricity and heat back.

Robin and Dennis Enoch did not need to take a long drive to see snow — they had plenty of it at their main home in Cherry Hill, Camden County. A combined 41 inches of snow kept them from Wildwood until Saturday to check on the condo they like to visit all year, even though Robin, 58, was frantic to get there after she heard the power was out.

“We had to come down, and we were just praying all the way down,” she said, sitting in the Key West Cafe on Pacific Avenue, around the corner from their condo — which also turned out to be just chilly, and not damaged.

The Enochs and their Wildwood buddy, Ready Juliff, of Warminster, Pa., were happy to see their favorite neighborhood restaurant back in business after being closed by the power failure for most of the week. But Key West Cafe owners Steve and Jackie Mikulski said they did not escape unharmed. Steve estimates they had to throw out $3,700 worth of spoiled food.

Still, they managed to keep their sense of humor. Jackie Mikulski laughed as she told the story of another Wildwood neighbor laughing at the Mikulskis when he saw them moving into Wildwood two years ago — and unpacking a snowblower they brought down from their old place in Burlington County.

“He said, ‘You’ll never need that here,’” she said — just a little while before the guy was asking to borrow the snowblower, which Steve Mikulski has since used several times to clear out sidewalks around their block of Pacific Avenue.

One island away, in Stone Harbor, Jamie Diller, of Diller-Fisher Realtors, noticed plenty of cars heading into town Saturday morning as he went to work, more than normal even for a long holiday weekend that usually draws some visitors to the shore.

He knows lots of those people were checking on their homes because so many of them had been calling his office all week to ask about houses. And people who could not visit were still calling Saturday. Just that morning, saleswoman Patti DiMarco heard from five customers as far away as Florida, New Hampshire and western Pennsylvania, asking if their houses were safe.

And because the office had no electricity for much of last week, the agents knew they were not getting lots of e-mails and voice mails from frantic owners. But, Diller said, he does not think some people understand from a distance how bad the storm actually was up close.

“We’ll do our best to get to your house and help you,” he said, “but we’re not even dug out ourselves yet.”

Diller said the storm also hurt business because he cannot let potential customers go check out houses they are interested in renting or buying — there’s so much snow, it’s not safe, he said.

But Casey Nuyannes still drove down from Aston, Pa., to scout out potential rental houses for next summer around Wildwood Crest. And thanks to a tip from his helpful real estate agent, he came packing some gear he does not usually need when he heads to the beach.

“She said, ‘If you’re coming down,’” Nuyannes said, “‘You better bring a snow shovel.’”

By Dian Hymer
Inman News February 09, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By KEVIN POST, Business Editor | Posted: Thursday, February 11, 2010 |

Foreclosures in southern New Jersey fell sharply in January, but remained substantially higher than the same period a year ago, foreclosure data firm RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif., said Wednesday.

January filings fell nearly 10 percent nationwide, yet still remained 15 percent higher than a year ago.

Atlantic County foreclosures were down 40 percent for the month and 45 percent higher than the previous January. Cape May County filings were 42 percent lower than in December, but up 26 percent over the prior year. Ocean County’s 36 percent drop in January left it 39 percent higher than January 2009.

Only Cumberland County managed fewer foreclosures for the month – down 42 percent – and from the prior year, down 7 percent.

James Saccacio, RealtyTrac president, said the data was typical of the season for the highly volatile foreclosures, with double-digit drops in January following double-digit increases in December. If the pattern holds, the next few months will see filings increase.

December monthly foreclosure increases locally were 11 percent in Atlantic County, 14 percent in Cape May County, 26 percent in Cumberland County and 11 percent in Ocean County.

Data for all of 2009, which smoothes out monthly volatility, showed Atlantic and Ocean counties lagging the improving housing markets in Cape May and Cumberland counties. For the year, foreclosures surged 34 percent in Atlantic County and 9 percent in Ocean County, and fell 3 percent in Cape May County and 7 percent in Cumberland County.

Data from Zillow.com this week showed 9 percent of housing sales in Atlantic County were foreclosed properties, with Atlantic City and Pleasantville the most affected communities. Data was unavailable for the other counties.

The regional market continues to outperform the nation as a whole, where one in every 409 homes had a foreclosure filing in January. Comparable numbers for local counties were 429 in Atlantic, 522 in Cumberland, 569 in Ocean and 910 in Cape May County.

U.S. foreclosures continued to be concentrated in Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida, which again had the highest rates. The last three alone accounted for 44 percent of all U.S. foreclosures.

The rate of mortgage delinquencies – a precursor to foreclosure – reached a record 10 percent in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s third- quarter report, suggesting the foreclosure epidemic is far from over. The group’s fourth-quarter report will be released later this month.

By MICHELLE LEE Press of AC Staff Writer | Sunday, February 7, 2010 |

People who drive by the white house at 116 Hobart Ave. in Absecon can see a for-sale sign from Century 21 O’Donnell. But just above the sign frame, there’s another plaque for a Web site, www.116hobart.com.

Enter that URL into a browser and a personalized Web page for the house pops up, complete with an online tour of the home, links to a digital map and information on the local schools. There’s even a mortgage calculator prospective buyers can use to figure out the house payments.

T.J. Washuta, a real estate broker associate for Century 21 O’Donnell of Brigantine and Egg Harbor City, said he came across the Internet marketing tool at a National Realtors Association convention and he said it’s been a great way to advertise homes.

“Most Realtors have their own Web site, or the company has it. But here, if someone’s very interested in Hobart Avenue, they can go right to the site and see that house,” he said. “It’s that specific.”

Washuta said he used Properties Online, a Santa Rosa, Ca., company, to create the site. It costs him $50 per online site and the domain stays up for a year. When that particular home goes off the market, Washuta said, he changes the site slightly to mention that it’s sold and uses it as an example to show other prospective home sellers.

Washuta said he used to create specific site only for high-end properties, but he’s noticed that more people are turning to the Internet, and it’s a good tool for out-of-state people interested in a second home.

He likes the fact that the site has a visitor counter, and he has been able to see many people have shown an interest in the home. “It’s a more cost-effective way to keep track of your advertising dollars,” Washuta said.

Linda Naame, a co-owner of Century 21 O’Donnell, said she recently used Properties Online to highlight a home in Mullica.

While the three-bedroom house is on a cul-de-sac in a rural neighborhood, Naame was amazed to find out that www.1313whiteoakcircle.com got 84 hits during its first month. The sign also lists a text number people can plug in to get information.

“It shows the house very well, and the thing I love is you can go in and change the setup of photos, change the background and music,” she said. “It’s just really neat and it’s something different.”

Amanda Cornelius, the CEO of Properties Online, said her company has been around since 2001 and about 15,000 agents across the country use its services.

Cornelius said her mother, a broker for Century 21 Alliance in Santa Rosa, was her impetus for starting Properties Online. Back then, Cornelius said, the real estate market in California was extremely competitive and the Web sites “make those listings stand out from the crowd.”

Another company that provides a similar individual real estate Web site listings is AgencyLogic, of Wappingers Falls, N.Y. Then there’s always more general listings on sites such as Craigslist and eBay.

Using individual Web sites to sell homes can have some downsides, Washuta noted. Some home sellers might not want their addresses posted on the Internet, he said, and some prospective buyers might be turned off when they visit the site and decline to walk through the home.

Herbert Hartman, owner and general manager for Boardwalk Realty and Ocean Club Realty in Atlantic City, has been using Properties Online and another Web service, Postlets, for more than three years. Hartman said his companies handle waterfront condo and homes for sale and rent within Absecon Island and other nearby towns.

Hartman said he thought the sites were good because it can be easier to find a home in a specific community and the page can link to other special features, such as a map showing all the other businesses and schools within the neighborhood.

“You pick up a magazine and there are thousands of listings. You breeze through to look for a town,” he said. “On the Web, you put in a zip code and everything’s displayed for you. It’s indexed more efficiently.”

By KEVIN POST Business Editor | Posted: Sunday, January 31, 2010

The widespread belief that real estate had a terrible 2009 is being disproved by the data for the southern New Jersey market released this week.

Compared with the prior year, sales were almost even in Atlantic and Cape May counties, and significantly higher in Cumberland County. Prices fell, but by single digits, and the time it took to sell homes remained about the same.

Real estate offices said the second half of 2009 in particular was strong, and the momentum is continuing into this year.

“I thought we had a great year,” said April Puesi, broker owner of Coldwell Banker Excel Realty in Vineland, estimating sales at the agency were up 25 percent.

Prudential Fox & Roach’s HomExpert Market Report this week showed 551 home sales in Cumberland County in 2009,

21 percent more than the year before. The median price fell

8.3 percent to $154,000, and the average days a house spent on the market increased from 104 to 113.

Puesi said she’s starting to see prices rising, with appraisals coming in higher than half a year ago.

“I think this is going to continue. We’ve seen it pick up in the last two weeks,” she said. “December was dry, but in January we went right back to normal compared to last year’s sales.”

In Atlantic County, home sales fell 1 percent to 2,602 last year, according to the market report. The median price dropped 9.6 percent and days on the market inched up from 115 in 2008 to 119 in 2009.

“We increased our properties sold about 12 to 15 percent over the previous year,” said Carlo Losco, president of Balsley Losco in Northfield. “That’s not great because 2008 was not a hard year to beat.”

But Losco said that after a weak first half of 2009, sales in the second half were strong through December and continuing into January.

“I’m projecting our agency will see another 15 percent increase in houses sold, but I’m predicting housing prices will probably remain at the same level,” he said.

Losco credited several factors for the improving market: low interest rates, more aggressive lending by banks, pent-up housing demand, federal tax credits and other incentives, and reduced prices.

He said there are many buyers now “stalking the listings,” and as soon as a home price is adjusted to what’s considered a good deal, there are multiple offers for it.

In Cape May County, which isn’t covered by the market report, the county Association of Realtors reported this week that 2009 sales dropped 1 percent to 1,879. The median price fell

8.1 percent to $296,000 and average time on the market was unchanged at 221 days.

Steve Booth, market manager for Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors in Ocean City, said his office sold more units in 2009 but that was due in part to efforts in the primary home market outside of the city.

“I think the Ocean City marketplace is starting to recover, but the numbers across the board from last year in Ocean City itself are still down,” Booth said.

The city is dominated by secondary and investment houses, he said, which haven’t been helped by incentive programs aimed at first-time home buyers and now existing homeowners as well.

“The general feeling is that the worst is over, not so doom and gloom as it has been the past two or three years,” Booth said. “I think we’ll see a gradual recovery in the secondary and investment housing markets, but not a huge jump for the foreseeable future.”

The HomExpert Market Report covered the Greater Philadelphia area, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware.

For all of southern New Jersey, the report said sales were down 1.4 percent in 2009 and the median price declined 8.3 percent to $199,000 from the prior year.

Prices and interest rates are down and buyer interest is up !

RISMEDIA – You’d love to buy a vacation home, but (let’s be honest) the recession and the not-so-dim memory of the housing bubble have you a bit skittish. If only you could see what the future holds. But since a reliable crystal ball has yet to be invented, you must resort to less mystical indicators.

According to Christine Karpinski, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) 2009 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey suggests that the iron is sizzling hot-and if you’re going to strike, the time is now.

“A few years ago when prices were escalating rapidly, people were kicking themselves for not having bought earlier when real estate was far more reasonable,” notes Karpinski, director of Owner Community for HomeAway.com and author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment. “Well, in 2012 or so, people will look back on 2009 as another missed opportunity.”

While all home sales were down significantly in 2008 (as one would expect)-and vacation property sales were down some 30%-so were real estate prices. That, of course, makes for an extremely favorable buyer’s market. It’s not surprising at all, therefore, that the NAR report found that 80% of vacation property and investment property owners surveyed believe that now is a great time to purchase real estate.

These sentiments echo those of Walter Molony, spokesman for NAR, who said in a recent CNBC article that the second home market is “fundamentally healthy.”

“The long-term underlying demand is favorable for vacation homes because of the large number of middle-age, middle income Americans [who are the primary buyers of such properties],” Molony was quoted as saying. “In recent years, this market has been driven by the Baby Boomers, but there are two even larger population groups coming up right behind them. Those younger segments will continue to fuel this market for the next 10 years.”

Karpinski says the NAR 2009 survey results, in conjunction with a proprietary Special Report done for HomeAway, constitute clear evidence that now is an ideal time to buy a vacation home.

She offers the following insights:

- Home prices are way, way down. The National Association of Realtors survey showed that the median sales price of the typical vacation home was $150,000-down 23.1% from 2007’s median price of $195,000. (To put this in perspective, consider that when NAR started conducting this survey, the median vacation home price in 2003 was $190,000 and reached a high in 2004 of $204,100.) When combined with the rock bottom interest rates, says Karpinski, all signs point to the likelihood that we’re now at the picture perfect time to buy.

“Anecdotally, I can tell you that people who would never have purchased a detached single home on the coast are now seriously considering it,” she notes. “Homes that would have once cost $3 million have now fallen to $1.5 million. And these buyers know that the price won’t stay down long, and will never be this low again.”

- It’s never been more obvious that real estate is a sound long-term investment. The NAR survey results revealed that the share of speculator sales is down from 29% to 16%. Combined with the fact that 34% of buyers are purchasing properties within 100 miles or less of their primary residence-which suggests they intend to use it themselves-this trend indicates that more and more people are embracing a “buy and hold” strategy. Plus, Karpinski says she constantly sees evidence that people are beginning to see the long-term benefits of real estate investing earlier in life. (The median age of vacation property buyers in 2008 was a relatively young 47.)

- The vacation home rental market is booming. While 89% of vacation property owners surveyed cited “to use for vacations or as a family retreat” as a reason for purchasing their second place answer is telling, indeed. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they were purchasing their home “to rent to others.” While this number is up from the 25% cited in last year’s survey, Karpinski predicts next year’s survey will really tell the tale. As recession-crunched homeowners pursue new income streams-and as it becomes ever more evident that the vacation rental market is booming-2009 will prove to be a huge turning point in the renting out of second homes.

- People are more in touch with “rental realities” than they once were. In the past, says Karpinski, a first-time vacation homeowner might have expected to rent out their property an unrealistic number of weeks (say, 50 weeks out of the year). But NAR’s Special Report for HomeAway shows that 44% of respondents said they plan to rent anywhere between 9-26 weeks.

- Renting by owner has become mainstream. The NAR Special Report for HomeAway reveals that 54% of respondents plan to market their homes themselves. This do-it-yourself attitude reflects not only a burgeoning confidence index among vacation property owners, but also the wealth of support resources available to those who want to rent out their homes themselves.

Everything has changed. The truth is it’s gotten so easy and so affordable that there’s no valid reason not to do it yourself.” Need one more reason to take the plunge? Consider the fact that last month Fannie Mae rescinded its four-property limit for investors. If you’re financially secure and can come up with the requisite 20% down, chances are good you’re going to easily qualify for a mortgage.

“Of course there are always risks when buying any kind of real estate,” Karpinski acknowledges. “But investors who are comfortable with risk have to realize that conditions are ripe right now for a ‘perfect storm’ of success. Even if housing prices do go lower, interest rates surely will not. And once the turnaround comes, selection won’t be nearly as good as it is right now.

“Naturally, you should be cautious and do your homework before you buy any property-but don’t be so cautious that you miss this window of opportunity,” Karpinski adds. “These windows do have a way of slamming shut, and you don’t want to be stuck on the other side wistfully looking in a few years down the road.”

Christine Karpinski is the author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment andProfit from Your Vacation Home Dream: The Complete Guide to a Savvy Financial and Emotional Investment.