Monmouth County Real Estate

Despite the rumors that in the new year, mortgage rates would start to increase, this week rates on 30-year mortgages remained almost flat this week. The Federal Reserve said it would keep rates near record lows to help the economy recover.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.98 percent this week, down slightly from 4.99 percent last week. Last year at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.10 percent.

Rates are still above the record low of 4.71 percent set in early December. They’ve been held around 5 percent by a Federal Reserve program to pump $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to keep rates low and make home buying more affordable.

Yesturday the Fed stated that it still expects to end the program as scheduled on March 31. The central bank did say that it remains open to changing that timetable if necessary.

Before the spring market kicks off, take a look at the benefits of buying a home right now. Low rates guaranteed till at least the end of March, a tax credit for buyers anywhere from $6500-$8000 depending on your situation, and a great inventory of homes priced lower than ever!

There have been talks of the Federal Housing Administration making changes to its lending policies and standards, but it was announced this week that the changes are official. In order to avoid a taxpayer bailout, the FHA is raising fees and implementing more strict lending standards.

In the first half of this year, homebuyers will be required to pay a higher mortgage insurance premium. Before the changes, the fee was 1.75 percent of the total loan amount. Now buyers will be paying 2.25 percent. It is important to know that the fee can still be built into the mortgage and does not have to come out of pocket.
Also, even though many FHA lenders already require a higher credit score than the FHA has set, the FHA says that buyers need a minimum credit score of 580 to qualify for a FHA home loan. If the borrower has a lower score then a larger down payment of at least 10% will be required.

It is important to know that the Federal Housing Administration does not provide the loan, it only offers insurance against default. The lenders offering FHA-backed loans are guaranteed FHA insurance if a borrower defaults. Borrowers are willing to pay for higher mortgage insurance premiums that come with these new changes because the FHA is still only requiring a 3.5% down payment on the mortgages they back. That remains the same as before.

“A healthy FHA is vital for the housing market because it insures roughly 30 percent of new loans, and is the largest backer of mortgages to first-time buyers. ‘The new changes are among the most significant steps to address risk in the agency’s history,’ FHA Commissioner David Stevens said in a prepared statement.”

Click here for a breakdown and schedule of the changes
Summary Overview of FHA Changes

Considering Asbury Park, NJ as your next home? Want to know what there is to do in Asbury? What is a typical weekend like?

A lot of locals in Asbury Park wake up on Saturday morning and take a stroll or jog around the boardwalk. Nothing better than crisp fresh salty air and the sound of waves crashing in the background of whatever the latest tune on your iPod is.

After your morning jog, meet some friends for a scrumtious brunch at Sunset Landing. Enjoy a homemade breakfast with a rustic feel overlooking Deal Lake. Sunset Landing has a Hawaiian phrase – E Komo Mai (eh como my) Welcome, come in, and that is exactly how you feel when you sit down to eat!

Not sure what to do after brunch? Why not stop over at hotel Tides and walk through the gallery. Famed artist Bruce Waldman, is on display till February 5th. The title of his work being showcased is “The Human Condition – Asbury Park”. The works were created in Asubry Park during last summer specifically for Hotel Tides Gallery. The Metropolitan Museum recently acquired one of the pieces for their permanent collection.

Grab some coffee after the gallery and head home to get ready for a night out. There are theaters, movies, bars, restaurants, and events scheduled throughout the year for all ages. If you are looking for a fun night with friends, check out Asbury Lanes this Saturday for the Artcap film Benefit Screening of “the Big Lebowski”. This venue has it all – drinks, bowling, bands, and much more. You cannot go wrong with a trip to Asbury Lanes!

Sound good so far? Come check Asbury Park out for yourself. Once you fall in love with it, give me a call and we can find your dream home in your dream town!

This past December the federal governmet implemented the RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) Reform Requirements for all new applications with a property identified. The purpose of the new requirements is to help borrowers avoid surprises at closing by placing tolerance levels on all charges for services associated with obtaining the mortgage where the vendor is not borrower-selected.

While RESPA Reform has many process impacts for lenders, settlement agents and attorneys, the transaction experience should remain relatively unchanged for the consumer, REALTOR® and Builder. To help ensure a smooth experience for all parties involved, I wanted to make sure you are aware of these changes and how they impact home financing transactions.

Click here to read FAQ about the changes - http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/ramh/res/…

“I want to create an environment that feels like you’re in New Orleans, but if you lived there it wouldn’t be exactly like you know. We never do anything traditionally, so I would never want our customers to think that we might. we always go with names that leave things open to imagination.”
That is what the triCity’s famed female, Marilyn Schlossbach stated about her new restaurant opening in February, Trinity and the Pope. The name is the term for the two ingredients in most Cajun & Creole dishes, and if you have not guessed it, is the type of cuisine that will be featured. (Schlossbach explains that “trinity” is celery, carrots, & onion, and “the Pope” is garlic.

“Trinity and the Pope” is debuting in the former location of the Mattison Park lounge. The building was originally a bank when it was built about 100 years ago.

Mattison Avenue in Asbury Park has not come close to meeting its potential but with this new restaurant, it is one step closer. There are already two successful and popular restaurants open on the avenue called “Bistro Ole” and “Taka”. “Trinity and the Pope” will be right up there with them!

In an interview, Schlossbach said that she loves the neighborhood and she is “excited to be across from Taka.” She thinks “that the whole intersection needs some more light and life and it will help the other businesses out a lot.”

Marilyn Schlossbach also stated that she “envisions an expanding group of creative business owners here finding their niche – and making the city stronger as a whole.”

“Trinity and the Pope” is due to open next month. I will keep you posted on the opening date.

Asbury Park is always expanding the arts and culture events that take place and as we all know, St. Patrick’s Day is quite a big event for all. First Saturday Asbury Park (FSAP) is going green on St. Paddy’s Day in more than one way… FSAP’s tag line for March is going to be “Go Green in Asbury Park.” Along with the Irish-theme, First Saturday Asbury Park is partnering with green initiatives like Project Porchlight to distribute energy efficient compact fluorescent lights, for example. Details have not been finalized, but the vision for FSAP’s concept is pretty clear.

FSAP is currently in the process of screening music and talent to participate in the Irish-themed FSAP. Although the budget is tight, PR and publicity is great!

Do you know of any Irish bands or bag pipers that you would like to recommend for FSAP? If so, please send a message to either  cindi at asburyparkchamber.com or  mikeh at thepassiongroup.com. We are also reviewing additional “Green” partners, if you have any recommendations.

One of the most important questions I get as a realtor when showing homes to families concerns the neighborhood schools. How are they ranked, how many children per teacher, what were the assessment scores, etc.?

This week the NJ Department of Education announced the 2009 AYP Results and releases the Statewide Score Summaries.

Schools throughout the state were tested for student proficiency in language, math and science. “Almost 64 percent of the 2,222 New Jersey schools in which tests were administered in the spring of 2009 met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards mandated under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), state Department of Education officials announced today. Finally, Assistant Commissioner Gantwerk noted that DOE has implemented several programs to work with with teachers and administrators to improve the learning environments in schools that have struggled in the past. ‘Next year, New Jersey will have the data base available to allow us to calculate an individual student growth rate, which will give us greater information on the performance of individual students and schools,’ the Assistant Commissioner said.

Go to http://www.state.nj.us/education/news/20… for more information how the testing is administered and how a school’s “grade” is determined.

To see how a NJ elementary school or high school did, check out http://www.nj.gov/education/schools/achi… or http://www.app.com/article/20100114/NEWS….

The Obama administration’s mortgage relief plan provided help to only 66,500 out of 900,000 of the borrowers that enrolled into the plan last year.

The Treasury Department stated that about 900,000 borrowers have enrolled in the $75 billion program since it launched in March. About 66,500 homeowners had received permanent relief and 46,000 have been approved and should be finalized soon.

The plan’s objective is to make borrowers’ mortgages more affordable by reducing their interest rate to as low as 2 percent. They receive temporary modifications, which are supposed to become permanent after borrowers make three payments on time and complete necessary paperwork, including proof of income and a letter explaining the reason for their financial hardship.

The government is asking the mortgage companies involved in the program to try and work more efficient at getting customers through the chain of steps. In turn, the mortgage companies have explained that half of the borrowers’ that submitted initial paperwork do not return the necessary documents on time or at all to continue with the loan remodification program.

“Nevertheless, homeowners and housing counselors say navigating the bureaucratic maze often seems impossible.”

Unemployment is currently at 10 percent and it is expected to remain elevated for the whole year. Industry executives and housing advocates have been in talks with the Treasury Department to develop a program to aid the unemployed, but there is no news to report on that as of today.

The market is slow to start in the new year in Asbury Park, NJ, but we are seeing some upwards movement in Monmouth County as a whole.

From 01/01/2010 – 01/17/2010:
Asbury Park has 5 new listings for the month of January so far, making it a total of 55 listings for sale. The 5 listings total $531,900 in list prices, making the average list price per home $106,380. As a whole, the 55 listings total $18,431,197 in list prices. The average list price per home currently on the market is $335,112.

As for pendings sales, there are currently two listings that changes from active to pending in January, in Asbury. Those two listings total $768,900. The average list price for the two is $384,450.

Unfortunately we have yet to close a listing in Asbury, in the new year.

Here is a quick breakdown of the entire county from January 1 – 17.
532 new listings totaling $358,517,883 (average list price -$673,905)
3802 active listings totaling $2,583,793,286 (average list price – $679,587)
136 pending sales totaling $70,118,551 (average price $515,577)
88 listings sold totaling $49,626,681 in list prices $45,828,450 in actual sale prices

Looking back at the same time frame in 2009, we had 96 properties close totaling $49,833,901 in list prices and $45,673,980 in total sales. There has been not been much change from 2009-2010, but January is the slowest month in real estate. February kicks off the spring market and the expiration date for the Homebuyer tax credit grows closer.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Haiti.  Such devastation, so unexpected…  “The international Red Cross said a third of the country’s 9 million people may need emergency aid, a burden that would test any nation and a crushing catastrophe for impoverished Haiti.” 

It is being reported that Twitter, the social networking site that has taken the world by storm, has played an enormous factor in providing communications and news.  Twitter has proven itself again as a major information provider.  

Twitter has been dominated by news from and about Haiti in the past 24 hours. It’s a replay of what happened last June during the violence following Iran’s presidential election, when communication was virtually shut down and protestors took to Twitter and Facebook to let the world know what was happening.

“We’ve been tweeting and reading all the tweets that have to do with the earthquake,” said Wendy Harman, social media manager for the American Red Cross. “Getting information out and into Haiti is a challenge, but the outpouring of people wanting to help has been extremely heartwarming.”  Harman said the Red Cross has used Twitter “in every major disaster and many smaller ones” since 2007, starting with the California wildfires.

Here are some examples of tweets the world was receiving from Haiti -

“Leaving to look for a list of people — will try hard to report back.”

“Church groups are singing throughout the city all through the night in prayer. It is a beautiful sound in the middle of a horrible tragedy”

“St. Joseph’s home for boys is demolished but the boys got out safely.”

“dead bodies are everywhere i havent seen one ambulance or any proffesionl (sic) med care anywhere in port-au-prince,”

“every other house is on the ground. people are terrified and have no hope”

“everybody is camping in the streets of port-au-prince sleeping under the stars to wake up from an awful nightmare.”

In 140 characters or less, we can read and feel the devastation Haiti is experiencing, however, I do not think any characters can express how sympathic and saddened the world feels for Haiti at this moment. 

Please go to the American Red Cross site to find out how you can help Haitians deal with this natural disaster.  www.americanredcross.com