Avalon N.J. Real Estate Sales Activity Report for April 27 to May 5, 2009

Understanding the general direction of the current market conditions is of vital importance to both buyers and sellers in order to help you make a more informed decision when buying or selling a home in Stone Harbor or Avalon.
Here is a summary of the Avalon Real Estate Market Activity April 27 to May 5.

There are currently 232 single family homes for sale in Avalon ranging in price from $549,000 for a two bedroom home at 667 22nd street to a whopping $16,875,000 for a seven bedroom south Avalon beach front home on 75th street.

There are Eleven single family homes now Under Contract in Avalon.
742 Sunrise Drive, a 3 bedroom,1 bath home on 46x92’ lot listed for $550,000,goes to settlement 6/30/2009 after only 28 days on the market

246 44th street, a 4 bedroom,3 bath home on a 50x110 lot listed for $1,250,000 goes to settlement 4/25/2009

245 67th street, a 4 bedroom,3 bath home on a 60x110 lot and listed for $1,550,000 goes to settlement 5/6/2009

146 28th street, a 5 bedroom,5 bath home on a 50x110 lot and listed for $1,595,000 and goes to settlement 5/16/2009

568 22nd street, a 5 bedroom,5 bath home on a 50x110 lot and listed for $1,695,000 goes to settlement 10/30/2009

74 W. 11th street, a 5 bedroom,5 bath home on a 50x110 lot and listed for $1,750,000 goes to settlement 4/21/2009

6799 Dune Drive,a 4 bedroom,4 bath home on a 65x110 lot and listed for $1,989,000 goes to settlement 5/29/2009

2888 Ocean Drive,a 5 bedroom,4 bath home on a 50x110 lot and listed for $1,995,000 goes to settlement in 2012

693 Sunrise Drive,a 5 bedroom,4 bath home on a 60x130 lot and listed for $2,000,000 goes to settlement 5/14/2009

4618 Fifth Avenue,a 5 bedroom,3 bath home on a 60x155 lot goes to settlement 5/8/2009



Five Single Family Homes SOLD in Avalon April 27 to May 5

118 22nd street, a 5 bedroom,5 bath new home listed for $1,695,000,SOLD 4/29/2009 for $1,675,000 after 202 days on the market

53 W. 15th street, a 5 bedroom,5 bath new home listed for $1,795,000,SOLD 5/2/2009 for $1,725,000 after 204 days on the market

249 64th street, a 4 bedroom,2 bath home on a 60x110 lot which was listed at $1,025,000 SOLD 4/27/09 for $1,100,000 after only 31 days on the market.

314 76th street a 4 bedroom,2 bath home on a 60x110 lot which was listed at $1,125,000 ,SOLD 5/1/2009 for $990,000 after 70 days on the market

3701 Dune Drive,a 6 bedroom, 6 bath home listed for $2,795,000,SOLD 4/30/2009 for $2,275,000 after 210 days on the market.



Condo/Townhouse Avalon

There are now 145 condo/townhouses for sale in Avalon ranging in price from $169,000 for an efficiency unit at 7900 Dune Drive, up to $2,200,000 for a beach front,4 bedroom,3 bath unit at 65 east 28th street

There are eight condos in Avalon now Under Contract ranging in price from $305,000 to $899,000

Four Condos have been SOLD in Avalon 4/27 2009 to 5/4 2009

460 20th street, a 1st floor,3 bedroom,1.5 bath unit listed for $399,000 SOLD 5/1/2009 for $350,000 after 567 days on the market

460 20th street, a 2nd floor unit with 3 bedrooms,1.5 baths listed for $469,000,SOLD 5/1/2009 for $445,000 after 567 days on the market

363 40th street, a 4 bedroom, 2,5 bath unit list for $799,000,SOLD 5/1/2009 for $725,000 after 533 days on the market.

3318 Ocean Drive, a 5 bedroom,4 bath bay front unit listed for $1,399,000,SOLD 4/30/2009 for $1,300,000 after 116 days on the market

The data for this market report is based on statistics provided from the Cape May County MLS (private sales are not included)

Buying or Selling a home in Stone Harbor or Avalon, or if you need a Summer Rental, it would be my pleasure to help you with your Real Estate needs.

e~mail me at Nancy@NancyMAlexander.com or Call me! I love to talk Real Estate! Call my cell 609.425.7521
Please visit The Address For Luxury Real Estate at http://www.StoneHarborRealtor.com/. I'd love to be your Realtor

Frequently Asked Questions About the $8,000. Federal Tax Credit

Frequently Asked Questions About the $8,000. Federal Tax Credit Recently Approved by Congress

Q:
A: How much is the tax credit?
The tax credit would be $8,000 or 10% of the purchase price, whichever is less.

Q:
A: Who is eligible?
Similar to the $7,500 tax credit included in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the $8,000 tax credit (included in the 2009 economic stimulus plan) is available for the purchase of the primary residence by first-time homebuyers.

Q:
A: If this is for first-time homebuyers, how do I know if I am eligible for the tax credit?
According to the IRS, any taxpayer who has not owned a home during the 3 years prior to the date of purchase can qualify for the credit.

Q:
A: Do I have to repay the $8,000.?
No. Unlike the previous $7,500 tax credit, the $8,000. does not have to be repaid UNLESS, the home is sold within three years of purchase; at that time, the credit will be reversed.

Q:
A: Are there any income limitations on the tax credit?
Yes. The tax credit is strictly for individuals with adjusted gross income of under $75,000 or $150,000 for joint filers.

Tax Credit vs. Tax Deduction

This is a tax credit, not a tax deduction, meaning its a dollar-for-dollar decrease to your tax liability. Also, the tax credit is refundable, meaning you can receive the full value of the credit even if you do not have an $8,000 tax liability.

Phase-Out


The tax credit phases-out for individuals making $75,000 or over modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), and couples making $150,000 or over MAGI. Below are examples of how the phase-out will apply to the two different scenarios.

Individual Making $75,000 or Over


Assume that an individual homebuyer has a modified adjusted gross income of $88,000. The buyer’s income exceeds $75,000 by $13,000. Dividing $13,000 by $20,000 yields 0.65. When you subtract 0.65 from 1.0, the result is 0.35. Multiplying $8,000 by 0.35 shows that the buyer is eligible for a partial tax credit of $2,800.

Couple Making $150,000 or Over

Assume that a married couple has a modified adjusted gross income of $160,000. The applicable phaseout to qualify for the tax credit is $150,000, and the couple is $10,000 over this amount. Dividing $10,000 by $20,000 yields 0.5. When you subtract 0.5 from 1.0, the result is 0.5. To determine the amount of the partial first-time homebuyer tax credit that is available to this couple, multiply $8,000 by 0.5. The result is $4,000.

Who Cannot Take the Tax Credit

If any of the following apply, you cannot take the tax credit:

1. Individuals making $95,000 or over MAGI, and couples making $170,000 or over MAGI; meaning you receive no tax credit if your income is this much or more a year.

2. You buy your home from a close relative, including: parent, sibling, spouse, grandparent, child, etc.

3. You sell your home within the first three years of purchasing it. If this occurs, the tax credit must be repaid.

4. You are a non-resident alien

First-time Homebuyer Definition

A first-time homebuyer is defined as someone who has not owned a home within the last three years. If married filing jointly, both spouses must meet the first-time homebuyer definition to take the tax credit.

When Can the Tax Credit be Claimed?

The $8,000 tax credit can be claimed for your 2008 tax year (filed by April 15th 2009), 2008 amended return or 2009 tax year.

Homes That Qualify

The tax credit is applicable to any home that will be used as a principle residence. Based on that guideline, qualifying homes include single-family detached homes, as well as attached homes such as townhouses and condominiums. In addition, manufactured or homes and houseboats used for principle residence also qualify. For new construction, the purchase date is considered the day you occupy the home; therefore you must move-in by November 30th 2009 to qualify for the tax credit.

Also, homes in the District of Columbia qualify for the tax credit.

How About Those Who Purchased Homes in 2008?

Homes purchased in 2008 are subject to the $7,500 repayable tax credit.

President Obama unveiled his plan to help stabilize the housing market and keep millions of borrowers in their homes.
The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan includes two initiatives to help struggling homeowners. One is a refinancing program for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes, or who owe more than their home is worth. The second program attempts to lower monthly payments for homeowners at risk of losing their home. In addition, the plan includes a third initiative to support low mortgage rates by strengthening confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Many of the plan’s details are still being worked out and will not be announced until March 4, here is an overview of the plan’s main components.

Refinancing Initiative
Under current rules, those families who own less than 20% equity in their homes have a difficult time refinancing and taking advantage of the historically low interest rates. Therefore, the refinancing initiative in the new plan provides refinancing help for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes or who owe more than their home is worth. This initiative is open to homeowners who have conforming loans which are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who owe up to 5% more than their home is worth.

According to the plan, “credit-worthy” or “responsible” homeowners can refinance their mortgage into a 30- or 15-year, fixed-rate loan based on current market rates. The refinanced loan, however, cannot include prepayment penalties or balloon payments. For many families, this low-cost refinancing may help reduce their mortgage payments by up to thousands of dollars per year.

As with the rest of the plan, details about this initiative will be released at a future date—including what, if any, credit score requirements will be included.

Stability Initiative
This initiative aims at providing help to individual families as well as entire neighborhoods by helpingreduce foreclosures and stabilize home prices. It is intended to help homeowners who are struggling to afford their mortgage payments, but cannot sell their homes because prices have fallen significantly.

The goal of this initiative is simple: “reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to sustainable levels.” To accomplish this, lenders are encouraged to lower homeowners' payments to 31 percent of their income by lowering their interest rate to as low as 2% or by extending the terms of the loan. In addition, lenders can also lower the principal owed by the borrower, with Treasury sharing in the costs.

Homeowners who are current on their mortgages but are struggling can still apply for this program. As such, this is one of the few programs designed to help homeowners who may face delinquency soon, but are current at the moment.

Since the focus of this initiative is on helping families and neighborhoods, investment properties do not qualify. This initiative also includes a number of additional elements and incentives that benefit homeowners and lenders alike, including:

Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current: To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan. As long as a borrower stays current on his or her loan, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.
Reaching Borrowers Early: To keep lenders focused on reaching borrowers who are trying their best to stay current on their mortgages, an incentive payment of $500 will be paid to servicers, and an incentive payment of $1,500 will be paid to mortgage holders, if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind.
Supporting Low Mortgage Rates
As part of the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, the Treasury Department is increasing its funding commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure the strength and security of the mortgage market and to help maintain mortgage affordability. This portion of the plan will use using funds already authorized in 2008 by Congress for this purpose.

The increased funding will enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out ambitious efforts to ensure mortgage affordability for responsible homeowners, and provide forward-looking confidence in the mortgage market.

Again, the government plans to unveil the final details of the plan on March 4, 2009. For now, you can download a sheet of common Questions and Answers produced by the government at: www.treas.gov/initiatives/eesa/homeowner-affordability-plan/ConsumerQA.pdf
FREE Home Buyer Tax Credit Webinar – April 3 at Noon

The countdown to December 1, 2009 has begun. Learn how to take advantage of the tax credit during a free Get the Real StorySM webinar on Friday, April 3, 2009 at noon. Register for the webinar on Friday by visiting http://www.njar.com/rs_register.php. The website address for participating will be e-mailed to you in advance of the event. Please note, space for the live event is limited.





Buying or Selling a home in Stone Harbor or Avalon, or if you need a Summer Rental, it would be my pleasure to help you with your Real Estate needs.

e~mail me at Nancy@NancyMAlexander or Call me! I love to talk Real Estate! Call my cell 609.425.7521

Please visit The Address For Luxury Real Estate at http://www.StoneHarborRealtor.com/. I'd love to be your Realtor.

DID YOU KNOW

Running a sprinkler for two hours can use up to 500 gallons of water. To figure out the right amount to water, put an empty tuna can on your lawn. When it’s full, you’ve watered about the right amount

Source: www.eartheasy.com

The Right Moves

The Right Moves

You found the perfect house, signed on the dotted line and are daydreaming about life in your new home. As moving day looms, it’s also time to think about packing up your many belongings. Have you found enough boxes? How to handle those precious family heirlooms and other breakables? Here are a few tips for making your big day go as smoothly as possible:
Before You Start
• Prioritize your packing list. Consider what you don’t need to take with you, what will need extra packing care and how to best organize your things.
• Estimate how many boxes you’ll need and get them well in advance of moving day. Save newspapers to line boxes.
• Consider investing in moving insurance, which will cover anydamages or breakages during the move.
Getting Under Way
• Start early. Packing always takes longer than you think.
• Begin at the top of the house first and work your way down. Attics are a great place to start sorting.
• Move from room to room, packing and labeling carefully as you go. Clearly mark boxes that contain breakable objects. Be sure to keep all boxes that belong to a certain room together. It will make it much easier when you unpack.
• Newspaper can sometimes leave marks, so wrap your valuables in bubble wrap, blankets or pillows to avoid messy newsprint.
• Keep all of your important documents, such as birth and marriage certificates,
in the same place for easy reference.
Thinking Ahead
• You likely won’t want to shuffle through boxes on your first night in your new home, or you might be traveling long distance and have your household items show up after you’ve arrived. Either way, pack an essentials box containing a change of clothes and toiletries, as well as coffee, tea, snacks, cups, plates and utensils. A small tool kit, first-aid supplies and pen and paper are also important to have on hand.

Home Tour Red Flags

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Home Tour Red Flags

Frontdoor.com, HGTV’s real estate Web site, identifies several potential problems that buyers should look out for when touring a home.

1. Mediocre Maintenance. Three layers of roofing and gutters with plants growing out of them are signs that the owners have not kept up with the property. What else have they neglected?
2. Foundation Failures. If the yard slopes toward the house, it could cause water to run down the foundation walls or into the basement, which could result in costly repairs. Also if foundation cracks or bulges are thicker than 1/3 inch, the house could have serious structural issues.
3. Faulty Wiring. Make sure all switches and outlets function properly. Flickering lights, circuits that don’t work, and warm or hot outlets or faceplates are all symptoms of wiring problems.
4. Fresh Paint …On One Wall. New paint can spruce up walls, but they can also hide bigger problems, such as water damage, mildew or mold.
5. Foggy or Non-functioning Windows. Check for water in between double-paned windows and make sure all windows work properly.
6. Structural Walls and Floors. The house may have an open floor plan, but was it always open or did the homeowners renovate? If a load-bearing wall was removed without adjusting the framing, it can shift weight to other parts of the house.
7. Bugs. No one wants a
house with a pest
problem. Look for
evidence of
unwelcome
creatures as
you tour
the home.

Green Thumb

It’s finally time to pull out the patio furniture, fire up the grill and enjoy outdoor activities in your yard. Here are some tips from HGTV.com that will keep your grass looking green all summer long.
When cutting the grass, try to keep its height at about two-and-a-half to three inches. Sharpen the blade of your mower at least three times a year to avoid grass split ends, and be sure to change your mowing pattern to prevent soil compaction, which will inhibit grass growth.
Instead of lightly watering your grass three to four times a week, give it a good soaking once a week – most lawns need about an inch of water. Watering early in the morning is best.
To combat weeds, make sure to use herbicides specially formulated to combat the types of weeds that are growing in your yard. If you aren’t a fan of herbicides, weed removal tools, such as weed hounds, usually do the trick.
Over-fertilizing is a common problem and can kill your lawn. You should only fertilize in the spring and summer months if you neglected to apply fertilizer in the fall. Every time you mow your lawn the clippings provide nitrogen, an excellent natural fertilizer.
Finally, keep kids, pets, vehicles and wheelbarrows off moist soil and emerging grass. Wait until your lawn is full and dry to enjoy it.

Preparing To Sell In The Spring In Stone Harbor & Avalon

Preparing To Sell In The Spring
SELLING IN STONE HARBOR OR AVALON IN THE SPRING
What is The Secret Behind the Sale?
What is The Winning Formula? Maybe Patience and Willingness To Negotiate. So how are successful sellers doing it? The basic formula to getting to a SOLD sign in a buyer's market would be…..
#1- listen to your Realtor and Pay attention to the comps .
#2 is Price.
#3 comes location, and the condition of the property.

And sometimes it just takes time.
Yes! Location, condition and price are key factors. Plus, patience and willingness to negotiate are absolutely essential. You have to keep remembering it is a buyer's market! A seller needs to set the price correctly from day one. What is your bottom line? What’s your strike price? Something to think about….If you want to get your property Sold, Don’t be greedy. Other sellers who set their price correctly now have contracts.

You hear on the news about the sluggishness in the real estate market. It's real. There are more listings available to buyers than any time in recent history. Here in Stone Harbor, there are 123 single family homes now for sale. That represents more than a 4 years of inventory. Six homes managed to go under contract since the first of the year, and nine single family homes have Sold and settled. Average listed price was $2,933,655,and average Sold price was $2,584,740. And average time on the market was 187 days.

In Avalon there are now 216 single family homes now on the sale market with an average list price of $2,282,007 and average time on the market is 247 days. Eight single homes have Sold since the first of the year, and right now there are 23 single family homes under contract!

What does all this mean?
Deal With Reality…..Buyers are now buying the best for their money. Either your house should stand out from the crowd for the listed price, or you should reduce your price.

Adapt. Be Ready To negotiate. Buyers today know the comps and want the best deal.
What Your neighbor Sold his place for two years ago is not relevant. And has nothing to do with market value today. Recent comps show you market reality.

Presentation. Have your house ready to be shown at its best. You never get a second chance to make a first impression!
Does your house have curb appeal? What can you do to make it more inviting so a buyer would want to come inside? How about your lawn? Have your lawn and garden spruced up too. Think about planting some colorful flowers out in the front of your house .

Have your house sparkle when you put it on the market..Investing in touch-up paint, carpet cleaning,(or even new carpet) and even professional staging when necessary yields a big return on investment If you do not have the knack to do it yourself, pay a professional stager. It’s money well spent, and your home will be worth more in the long run. Buyers are picky.

Patience.Patience,Patience!
We don’t know what the future may bring ,but we do know this.. the market was overheated and is now undergoing a correction. All the negative press created has fear and fear can be infectious.

However,MLS facts show a recent flurry of sales made in both Stone Harbor and Avalon. There are smart buyers who realize that here at the Shore the timing is perfect to jump in. Let's hear it for all those who followed their gut feelings and are now under contract. They realize that NOW is the time to cut a really good deal!

Would you like more information? call me..I Love To Talk Real Estate!
Cell:609.425.7521

http://www.StoneHarborRealtor.com

CONTENTS COPYRIGHT NANCY M. ALEXANDER 2008