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Real Estate
in Spring Lake
NJ and the Jersey Shore
Real Estate in
Spring Lake New Jersey is a very valuable commodity. It’s one of the most exclusive New
Jersey Communities and probably the most exclusive community by the New Jersey Shore. The proximity to the beach make this
small shore community a beautiful place to live or vacation. The New Jersey Shore
area is a relaxing and beautiful place. NJ
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Spring Lake
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News
Clouds gather over housing market
BY DAVID P. WILLIS
BUSINESS WRITER
If nothing else, 2006 will be remembered as
the year the housing market came back down to earth.
Area home prices, which nearly doubled in the first five years
of the decade, rose more modestly in '06 and, in at least one quarter,
declined. Homes that would have been snapped up in a matter of weeks a year
earlier, sat on the market for months. Realtors and home builders alike
struggled to attract buyers who, sensing that the market was turning down,
sat on the sidelines waiting for the dust to settle.
And then in October, in the most graphic example of how
quickly the market had declined, Kara Homes Inc., one of the state and
region's largest home builders, went into bankruptcy court, seeking
protection from creditors who were owed $270 million in loans, bills and
back wages. Among the creditors: about 300 customers who had made hefty
downpayments on their homes and now wondered if they would ever move in or
recoup their deposits.
"The psychology changed dramatically from "I have to
get on board the housing train before it leaves the station' to "Am I
going to be a peak-of-market buyer and is the market way, way overpriced?'
" said economist James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School
of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. "We
switched from that fear or greed of not being able to participate in the
boom to fear that the market is going to slide downward."
The situation was evident in the numbers:
The median sales price for an existing home in the region that
includes Monmouth and Ocean counties rose 9 percent in the first quarter,
fell 0.1 percent in the second quarter before rising 7.3 percent in the third
quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Those were down from the double-digit increases in the
previous five years.
Economists pointed to rising mortgage rates earlier in the
year and said that income levels had not kept pace with the increases in
home prices.
The number of unsold homes on the market increased in Monmouth
and Ocean counties, according to the latest figures from The Otteau
Valuation Group Inc. of East Brunswick.
In the third quarter, 6,919 homes were for sale in Monmouth County, up 51 percent from the 4,594
on the market in the same period in 2005. In Ocean County,
6,870 homes were for sale, up 53 percent from the 4,499 on the market in
the third quarter in '05.
It amounted to an 11-month supply of houses in both counties.
In the same quarter a year ago, the market had a five-month supply,
according to The Otteau Report.
Meanwhile, the number of homes sales fell. In Monmouth County, the average number of
monthly sales in the third quarter was 621, down 29 percent from the
average of 871 homes sold in the same period in 2005. In Ocean County,
there were an average 654 sales a month in the third quarter, also down 29
percent from the average of 915 sold in the third quarter of '05, The
Otteau Report states.
Home builders, in particular, felt the sting of the slowdown
in the housing market. Some home buyers, unable to sell their current
houses, canceled contracts on new homes. Other customers demanded price
reductions or incentives before they would make a commitment.
Builders felt the heat. Red Bank-based Hovnanian Enterprises,
the state's largest home builder, posted a third-quarter loss, its first in
nearly 10 years, as customers canceled more than a third of their contracts
for new homes.
When it filed for Chapter 11, Kara
Homes of East
Brunswick also blamed the housing slowdown, saying it ran out
of cash needed to keep building new homes.
The bankruptcy filing has left prospective Kara home buyers,
some of whom had put down tens of thousands of dollars in deposit money, in
limbo.
"It couldn't have been more devastating," said
retiree Peter Tiano. He and his wife are renting a home in Sea Isle City
because their new home in Mays Landing is not completed.
Woes in the real estate market were not the only big business
stories in 2006.
Booming stock market
The stock market, for example, had its best year in three
years in 2006.
The Asbury Park Press/Bloomberg 75 index, made up of 75
companies either based at the Shore or with significant operations in New Jersey, was up
16.81 percent for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average started a
march toward 12,000, hitting the mark in October. It closed the year at
12,463.15, up 16.29 percent for the year.
Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp. of Holmdel
went public in May, raising $531.3 million in an initial public offering of
stock.
But shares tumbled from its $17 initial price to $14.85,
dropping 13 percent on its first day of trading, and analysts called the
IPO a dud. Shares tanked even further in proceeding months before hitting a
low of $6.38 in August. The stock ended the year at $6.94 a share.
The offering left the company with angry customers who bought
the stock at the IPO price. Some later refused to pay for the shares.
Oceanport-based CommVault Systems, a data storage management
company, had a successful IPO in September. Shares rose from $14.50 to $17
per share, up 17 percent, in the first day of trading after the company
raised $161 million. CommVault closed the year at $20.01 a share.
Economic plan
The state's economy continued to underperform in 2006, at
least compared with the nation. With no new cutting-edge industry in its
sights, New Jersey's
job market is expected to lag the nation's for the rest of the decade,
according to a report released in July by the Rutgers Economic Advisory
Service.
Nancy H. Mantell, director of the service, said the state is
expected to add 36,600 jobs a year, a 0.9 percent growth rate, through
2010. The nation's rate is expected to grow by 1.3 percent a year.
Rutgers economists Hughes
and Joseph J. Seneca have said the state's high costs have forced
well-paying industries to look elsewhere to set up shop.
Credit union makes news
First Atlantic Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union
in Monmouth and Ocean counties, made headlines in 2006. Decisions to
approve car loans to people who had poor credit histories led to a surge of
delinquent loans and losses in 2005 and earlier this year.
Executives later implemented tighter controls resulting in a
turnaround and profit at First Atlantic.
Area acquisitions
There were changes at some of the Jersey Shore's
largest employers.
In late November, the French telecommunications company
Alcatel SA completed its $11.6 billion purchase of Lucent Technologies,
home of Bell Labs. The company, now called Alcatel-Lucent, has about 1,000
employees working at its research complex in Holmdel.
In an unrelated development, Lucent had earlier announced
plans to close the Crawfords
Corner Road research center and move employees
to Murray Hill and Whippany by August 2007. The 472-acre campus will be
sold to Preferred Real Estate Investments, a Conshohocken, Pa., developer.
In March, Cooper Industries Ltd., which has administrative
offices in Houston, Texas,
announced that it had acquired Wheelock Inc., a major employer in Long Branch for more
than 50 years. Wheelock, which has about 280 employees in the city,
manufactures fire-safety communications systems.
An investor group purchased Foodarama Supermarkets Inc., the
owner of 26 ShopRite supermarkets, including 11 in Monmouth and Ocean
counties. The group, which included members of the Freehold Township
company's founding Saker family, took the public company private in July.
The new owners of Six Flags Inc., which includes Six Flags
Great Adventure in Jackson,
began making strategic changes in 2006. The company said it didn't want its
parks to be known as teenage hangouts anymore and wanted to attract more
families. This month, Great Adventure announced that Wiggles World, named
after the hot Australian group, The Wiggles, would open this spring.
Retail changes
In 2006, major malls in Monmouth County
announced expansions plans. Large retailers and new restaurants opened,
while one landmark business in Shrewsbury
announced it would close its doors.
Sealfons, a family-owned department store and the largest
tenant at The Grove in Shrewsbury,
said it would close because it couldn't keep up with the shopping center's
rising rent. Two clothing retailers, Brooks Brothers and Anthropologie were
slated to move into its space.
In Eatontown, plans are under way to build a two-story Dick's
Sporting Goods store on Monmouth Mall's property adjacent to the parking
garage. Plans also call for three single story buildings totally 28,000
square feet of space to be built along the mall's inner road.
Freehold Raceway Mall announced in September a plan to add
space for about 15 new stores and two restaurants in its first expansion
since 1998. The expansion will total 100,000 square feet and consist of
three buildings, including a two-story bookstore with a cafe.
Wal-Mart opened a new 150,000-square-foot store in Freehold Township in 2006. Sam's Club also
opened nearby, moving from a smaller location near the Freehold Raceway
Mall.
Boston's The Gourmet Pizza
Restaurant and Sports Bar opened its first restaurant in New
Jersey this fall at the corner of Route 66 and Jumping Brook Road
in Neptune.
Cable-TV competition
Verizon Communications won approval to offer television
service to New Jersey residents this
month, bringing a strong competitor to Comcast Cable and Cablevision
Systems, the dominant providers at the Jersey Shore.
Verizon was the first telephone company to seek approval to
offer video programming under a state law approved in August and designed
to boost cable competition and lower rates for consumers.
It started to market the service to 23 Monmouth County
towns late this month. Verizon has said it will offer television service in
316 New Jersey towns, including all of Monmouth County
and eight towns in Ocean
County, over the next
several years, adding more later.
Natural gas rebates
Lower wholesale natural gas prices and warmer winter weather
this year allowed New Jersey Natural Gas Co., the Wall utility that serves
most of Monmouth and Ocean counties, to give refunds to customers,
averaging $239 for a typical ratepayer.
The utility did not have to buy higher-priced wholesale
natural gas last winter because of the warmer weather, spokesman Michael
Kinney said. Lower wholesale costs later in the year also helped consumers.
Residents got a break on gasoline prices in 2006, at least for
a little while, when prices dropped by $1 between August and October, said
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall.
That was after prices rose above $3 a gallon for regular grade
in the summer before falling to below $2 in some areas.
"We didn't match the tops from the Katrina-inspired 2005,
and we saw one of the greatest price collapses in recent years," Kloza
wrote in an e-mail. "Volatility is the key word in oil markets, and I
suspect we'll see similar volatility, with powerful updrafts and
downdrafts, in 2007."
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Tip #19
Home Buying Tip, Online Searching:
Searching online is a very effective way to look for real estate in New Jersey, or
anywhere for that matter. Good
websites allow you to search through multiple MLS’s so you can
cover a wide range. For example
here you can Search for
NJ Real Estate.
After you find the house you are
interested in you can inquiry with the real estate agency to find out
more information or to arrange an appointment to view the house.
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Tip #18
Home Selling Tip, Targeting Out Of State:
When you sell your home you sometimes have to put yourself in the
potential buyers’ shoes. In New Jersey many home buyers are from the
surrounding area, like New York or Pennsylvania.
Knowing this can allow your agent to
market your house more effectively.
If he/she will advertise in a New York publication they can describe
the proximity to NY. This allows
your potential Buyer Base to expand.
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