Monmouth County Real Estate

Asbury Park Press – It will be the 11th hearing on a Wawa store proposal, where residents have railed against the plan that they say does not conform to local law, would lower their property values and create unnecessary chaos in their neighborhood. Residents of Clinton Avenue and streets nearby the proposed site have hired an attorney to represent them in their effort to kill the plan. James Gibbons of the Pompton Plains-based firm Azrak and Associates, has come out slugging at the last two hearings, lambasting particulars in the Wawa plan and calling for board members to step down because of possible conflicts. In an effort to pay Gibbons’ fee, residents last weekend held a neighborhood-wide yard sale, the proceeds of which were pooled for the legal fund. “That goes to our war chest fund for the lawyer,” said Vince Marone, a Clinton Avenue resident. “It’s a shame we have to be put through this.” Residents of Clinton Avenue and Conifer Crest Way stuffed the garages and yards of five neighbors who agreed to host the sale, which raised about $1,200 for the legal fund, according to Marone. Wawa wants to build its unit on the site of a former roller-skating rink, roughly across Route 35 from the Lowe’s hardware store. The proposed store would cover 5,773 square feet with a 12-pump gasoline station and 82 parking spaces. It would be slightly more than 50 feet from residential property — too close for the comfort of area homeowners. But in order to build the store, Wawa is asking for an important waiver from an ordinance that bans the construction of gasoline stations less than 2,000 feet from another service station or closer than 200 feet from a residential area. Wawa has finished its presentation, and for the last two meetings, the residents have called their expert witnesses. That testimony is expected to continue Monday. The townships of Brick and Middletown recently heard similar applications to build Wawa stores there. Both also were bitterly opposed by neighbors and have been withdrawn by Wawa.

We’ve all been hearing so much about foreclosures and all of statistics that go along with the foreclosure process. In many cases a short sale might be the better way to go. Below I have detailed some points about the idea for both buyer and the seller on a short sale:

For the buyer:
- Please know the bank will want to see your entire financial picture
- Short sale can be a better deal without the headache of the foreclosure process
- Investors can buy short sales
- Short sale will affect future comps in the neighborhood
- The bank will only do repairs needed for the C/O
- The buyer can realize 12% to 20% discount depending on the property and the sellers circumstance with the bank

For the seller:
- Understand the gamble a short sale will preserve credit worthiness but will give your credit a black eye
- Foreclosure destroys your credit for 7 to 10 years
- 70% of short sales close saving the forclosure process
- The seller can ask for a short sale while in foreclosure status
- The seller does not have to default on the mortgage to ask for a short sale. If everything around you is dropping like a rock your bank might be delighted to assist.
- The seller will always walk away from the closing table with zero balance on the Hud1. The payoff is being fully released from your debit obligation and saving foreclosure.

I went to the Asbury Park council meeting last Wednesday night as I try to every month. Its a great way to keep up with and learn about the issues in particularly city’s like Asbury Park or Long Branch and Eatontown with all of the fort redevelopment that is about to take place.  I like to meet the “officials” ask questions about community issues etc, no better place to get the real facts if  you ask me.  However, I do enjoy the part of the meeting when they allow the “public” to stand up and voice concerns or give thanks to the council.  This time a resident was very upset about getting a parking ticket and came that night to make sure he was heard.  Music to my ears because I had also received a ticket about a week earlier up on the Asbury Park beach front and I was so mad about it because I parked in a questionable area and got caught. “How dare they ticket me for not parking in a legit spot, don’t they have anything better to do” and I went on and on…  Anyway, this man was saying everything I wanted to say and more, he was clearly as outraged that night as I was last week. I stood quitly and listend as the entire room chuckled and also shared a bit about their wife or son or brother getting parking tickets in Asbury Park as well.  Well the basis of his compliant was that the spots aren’t marked properly, no notice as to when everyone is to start paying for parking etc.  And he is right, some of the questionable parking spots aren’t marked properly and there isnt any kind of notice on the meters as to when meters will take effect.   Let it be known that the council members are talking about starting the meters up on August 13th,  the meter stations will charge 50 cents a hour from 9 AM to 2 AM and all spots will be marked properly.