Stone Harbor 2014 Holiday Beach Tag Now Available!

 

Stone Harbor 2014 Holiday Beach Tag Now Available!

The Borough of Stone Harbor is now offering its very popular holiday beach tags for sale. The beach tags are currently on sale at the Stone Harbor Borough Hall, the Stone Harbor Chamber of Commerce, and at select merchants throughout Stone Harbor.

This year’s holiday beach tag includes "1914-2014: 100 years the seashore at its best" as the Borough begins its major centennial celebration that will include special events and activities to commemorate its 100^{th anniversary.}

"The perfect holiday gift is a summer at the beach in Stone Harbor in 2014", said Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters. "Each year we are proud to offer seasonal beach tags with a special holiday theme that will be accepted by beach tag checkers throughout next year’s beach season. Because this year’s holiday tag marks our centennial celebration, they will be highly collectible".

The holiday beach tags are available for purchase while supplies last at $21.00 apiece. They are seasonal beach tags and will be honored by all beach tag inspectors throughout the entire summer of 2014. The tags do not need to be exchanged for the traditional summer beach tag. Each tag comes in a decorative box and the tags are available on a first come, first served basis.

The 2014 holiday beach tags may be purchased at Stone Harbor Borough Hall at 9508 Second Avenue in Stone Harbor; at the Stone Harbor Chamber of Commerce located at 212 96th Street in Stone Harbor; and at select Stone Harbor merchants. Beach tags may be purchased at Borough Hall via check or cash only; no mail orders will be accepted.


Nancy M. Alexander Stone Harbor and Avalon NJ Real Estate

Washington Report: Appraisals to Change

Home mortgage and appraisal groups in Washington are in countdown mode: On May 1 the national rules for real estate appraisals will change dramatically -- at least for lenders who want to sell their loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Lenders will have to adopt what's known as the "HVCC" - the home valuation code of conduct - and guarantee that every loan they sell to Fannie or Freddie complies with the code completely.
So what's the big deal in that?

Well, among other changes, the new code will ban mortgage brokers from ordering appraisals, and will push much of the business to third-party appraisal management companies.

Those management firms, in turn, select appraisers from their own networks, leaving many of the appraisers who now do valuations for home purchases and refinancings out of the loop.

Management companies generally only deal with appraisers who'll work for much lower fees than they'd normally charge. Instead of earning $325 or $350, an appraiser working for a management company might only get $175. The management company pockets the rest.

In some cases, the new code might even raise the cost of appraisals to the consumer -- and change the timing of when consumers pay for them.

For example, Jeff Lipes, president of Family Choice Mortgage in Hartford, Connecticut, says one of his major wholesale lender clients has instructed him that because of the May 1 changeover, all "good faith estimates" provided to loan applicants must indicate a flat $455 fee for appraisals through its designated appraisal management company.

Also, borrowers will need to pay for them up front, before the work is performed, by credit card, debit card or electronic fund transfer. Lipes, a veteran mortgage broker, said up until now the standard fee was $325, and could be paid for by the consumer at closing.

Since Lipes will not be able to select from his long-established group of local appraisers as of May 1, if the management company's appraiser is unfamiliar with local market conditions and comes in with a value too low to support the home purchase or refi program the consumer needs, a new appraisal will need to be ordered -- and a second fee charged.

Mortgage groups are not enthusiastic about the May 1 changeover either, and the Appraisal Institute has been scathingly critical of the mandatory push to low-pay management companies.

But there's still one way to avoid the hassles associated with the May 1 changes: Switch to FHA financing, rather than conventional. FHA has its own long-standing appraisal rules, and doesn't plan to adopt Fannie's or Freddie's code.

By Kenneth R. Harney

Copyright © 2009 Realty Times. All Rights Reserved.


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