The following statistics were pulled from the Jersey Shore MLS system (www.jerseyshoremls.net) on home sales statistics from January 1st, 2009 through July 1st, 2009. The statistics come from closed sales on single family homes, townhomes, and adult community homes in the Little Egg Harbor & Tuckerton market areas. 

UPLAND

There were 79 upland homes to sell with an average days on market of 127 days (roughly 4 months)

Average list price of an upland home was $215,800.

Average selling price of an upland home was $204,500

The highest sold upland home listed for $449,900 and sold for $410,000.

The lowest sold upland home listed for $72,500 and sold for $60,000.

WATERFRONT

There were 32 waterfront homes to sell with an average days on market of 172 days (roughly 6 months)

Average list price of a waterfront home was $286,000.

Average sell price of a waterfront home was $260,000.

The highest sold waterfront home listed for $619,000 and sold for $595,000.

The lowest sold waterfront home listed for $161,900 and sold for $142,000.

**THERE ARE CURRENTLY 60 HOMES UNDER CONTRACT AND AWAITING TO CLOSE**

** Please keep in mind these numbers are AVERAGES only. Your home may be worth considerably more, or less, than the averages stated above. When trying to determine individual value, please consult with a LOCAL real estate professional.**

The following statistics represent the Little Egg Harbor/ Tuckerton Market home sales statistics, and were taken directly from the Jersey Shore MLS. The time periods represented in this market analysis run from January 1st, 2009 - June 2nd, 2009.

UPLAND

There were 62homes that sold and their days on market averaged to @ 129.

Average list price - $214,000

Average sell price- $204,800

The highest sold property listed for $399,900 and sold for $408,000.

The lowest sold property listed for $72,500 and sold for $75,000.

WATERFRONT

There were 20 homes that sold and their days on market averaged to @ 202.

Average list price - $305,900

Average sell price - $277,200

The highest sold property listed for $619,000 and sold for $595,000.

The lowest sold property listed for $199,000 and sold for $142,000.

*There are currently 49 homes under contract and awaiting to close*

** Please keep in mind these numbers are AVERAGES only. Your home may be worth considerably more, or less, than the averages stated above. When trying to determine individual value, please consult with a LOCAL real estate professional.**

About two years ago, I was involved in a couple of sales with first time home buyers in which they choose to use the state first time home buyer lending program with a smart start grant. This program was a very useful and appropriate program for many first time buyers, with the rates around 6 1/8, nearly a full percent lower than conventional rates at that time, plus they could obtain up to a 4% grant from the state towards closing costs, that would be completely forgiven if they stayed in the home for 7 or more years. However since then, rates have dropped down into the 5% range, but the first time home buyer program rates are still up around 6%. However, if you choose to not take the smart start assistance money, you can obtain a rate of 5.5%, but what is the point with normal rates at 5%. If the buyer decided to take advantage of the full 4% smart start assistance, they would obtain a rate of 6.25%. My opinion, this program used to be fantastic considering the rates were low compared to normal rates back then, plus 4% of the purchase price in a grant from the state in smart start assistance.
Now however, it seems like going with the pre-fund program through the tax credit makes more sense.

I am sure all of us are familiar with the $8,000.00 tax credit that will be available for first time buyers purchasing a home PRIOR to December 1^st, 2009. Now New Jersey, only 1 of 3 states to offer the program, is introducing the "Pre-Fund" program. This program allows the home buyer to be able to receive up to $5000 of the tax credit PRIOR to purchasing their home that can be used toward down payment and/or closing costs. The qualifications for this program are similar to the qualifications for the tax credit. In order to qualify you must meet both sets of requirements and reasonably expect to receive the tax credit. This is a loan which must be repaid upon receiving the tax credit from the government. This can be used with either conventional or FHA financing and is offered at a competitive interest rate. There is also grant money (the program talked about above) that may be available in addition to the "Pre-Fund" Program that can also be applied to the down payment and/or closing costs. These programs can provide the opportunity to take advantage of the current real estate market, as home prices have decreased and interest rates are low.

I am currently involved on the listing side of a short sale with Wells Fargo.  I had received their "Realtor Short Sale Guide" and decided it would be helpful to others to share. This document was mailed directly from them and provides a list of everything they require to getting a short sale successfully approved in the quickest amount of time. Below are these steps;

How to get started?

* Homeowner is required to call the Short Sale Phone team at 1-866-903-1053. Financial Information is   reviewed and pre-foreclosure sale counseling is completed.

* The Realtor faxes the complete short sale package to 1-866-359-1975

Documents Required to Begin a Short Sale Application From the Realtor

From The Realtor

* Fully executed listing agreement
* Net sheet/ HUD (our payoff is not necessary)
* Fully executed purchase contract with all pages initialed by buyer(s) and seller(s)
* Buyer pre-qualification letter or proof of funds if cash offer

From the Homeowner

* Signed and dated financial worksheet listing all monthly expenses
* Signed and dated hardship letter (why they are unable to pay their mortgage)
* Letter authorizing the Realtor access to information on the account. It must be dated and include the last 4 digits of the borrower(s) Social Security Number, their signature, the full account number, and the property address.

** Another important fact to note with Wells Fargo, along with many other companies as well, is that the short sale approval is good for 30 days. If closing does not occur within 30 days the entire short sale package may need to be resubmitted with updated information, or the approval process may need to start over.**

With all the negative exposure short sales get, I felt it was my duty to disclose the comforting information. That is right folks, just like the title reads. I just received an approval on a short sale I was working on in 4 days. Both my buyer and I are ecstatic. And to answer your next question, the bank that was holding the mortgage was Columbia Home Loans.

On another note, what is proving to be true that I am informing my buyers and sellers about short sales is that there is nothing basic or standard about a short sale. The process and the swiftness doesn't vary on the bank or lender that holds the mortgage.

The difficulty in getting a short sale approved quickly in lies that the bank or lender needs to review every deal on a case by case basis to determine if the homeowner can truly no longer afford the mortgage, or if the homeowner is simply trying to get out of something they no longer want to be in. So the lender/ bank must decipher between these two sets of homeowners.
 You must look at every single short sale on a case by case basis.

Don't ever quote your buyer on a time frame the short sale will b expected to be approved by, you are only setting yourself up for future blame. Just let your buyer know right off the get go that you have seen short sale approvals take from 1 week through 12 weeks, so if they are considering a short sale they should be able to handle the worst case of 12 weeks, even if it may only take 2.

The end result of this blog is, don't always be discouraged when you face a short sale in the face. You can't run away and hide from them, because most of business going on today involves them. At the current time 3 of my five deals under contract are short sales. Become friendly with them, learn everything you can about them, and be patient when your involved in them.

Again today I hear another horror story of the "online mortgage" borrower. Came time for closing at the closing table and the lender wasn't funding. Needless to say while going over the HUD statement, the buyer was being charged nearly 5 points, oh wait not points, "deductions."

Buyers, I can not stress enough to try and steer clear of those advertisements online that state
"rates as low as 1.25% or "bad credit, no problem." Please understand the difference between these advertisements and when a loan officer you have met or spoken with asks you to go onto there website to fill in information. If you have a Real Estate agent confer with them and I am sure they have more than one loan officer that they consider reputable and would be happy to refer you to them.

Please do yourself a favor as a buyer and find a local lender that you can personally meet with and go over your information with. Like I state above, be sure to aks your agent for names of loan officers, being that we work closely and often with them. Generally names that an agent is going to give you are of reputable professionals, otherwise the agent probably wouldn't refer them.

BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, STEER CLEAR OF THE ONLINE MORTGAGE ADVERTISERS.

I found this little poem that I thouhgt just perfectly fit the occasion. To all you moms out there today, wholeheartedly, have a wonderful Mother's Day, you all deserve it so very much.

Without You

Mom, without you, there would be no me.
Your love, your attention, your guidance,
have made me who I am.
Without you, I would be lost,
wandering aimlessly,
without direction or purpose.
You showed me the way
to serve, to accomplish, to persevere.
Without you, there would be an empty space
I could never fill, no matter how I tried.
Instead, because of you,
I have joy, contentment, satisfaction and peace.
Thank you, mom.
I have always loved you
and I always will.

By Joanna Fuchs

The following information is provided from the Jersey Shore MLS system and is as follows for the properties sold between April 1st, 2009 and April 30th, 2009:

There were 10 upland homes to sell and had an average of 141 days on the market.

The highest sold property listed for 319,000 and sold for 317,000.

The lowest sold property listed for 72,500 and sold for 75,000.

The average list price for the month of April was 183,285 and the average selling price for the month of April was 178,690.

There were 3 waterfront homes to sell and had an average of 287 days on the market.

The highest sold property listed for 429,000 and sold for 395,000.

The lowest sold property listed for 249,000 and sold for 213,000.

The average list price for the month of April was 325,000 and the average selling price for the month of April was 296,000.

** Please keep in mind that these selling and listing prices are AVERAGES, and individual properties will variously differ from these averages. Also keep in mind that these statistics were pulled only from the month of April of 2009. For the best idea of the value of your home, or if you are considering buying a home, my best adice would be to consult with a real estate professional in your area. **

With all this hype about the 100 days in office, the big question is what grade is Barrack Obama going to receive for his works in the first 100 days in office. I can see this blog getting heated already, but I am going to ask the big question....

You are the teacher and you get to fill out the report card, what grade are you giving our President for his first 100 days, A,B,C,D, or F, and why?

With times a changing and the economy the way it is, I am starting to see more and more buyers compromising there location for other aspects of the property.

First and foremost, buyers are compromising location over PRICING. Pricing is what sells a home right now, it doesn't matter in what country, state, city, or town you are in, it is pricing that is going to be the #1 determining factor on a buyer's purchase decision. It is like the American way of bargain shopping has hit the housing market and the buyers are only concerned about the deals. "Well I don't really know how much I want to spend, I am really looking more for a deal than anything." That is one of the key phrases I am hearing right now. If I have a buyer qualified for $250,000.00, they might look anywhere from $200,000 to $280,000, and it is the "value factor" that makes all the difference.

The second biggest thing, literally that buyers are compromising location for is SIZE. When it comes to home buying SIZE matters. 3 bedroom seems to be the most popular "minimum" request right now for buyers, generally they have at least one child or would always like that extra space for a computer room/ office.

There are many other little things that I see coming into play when it comes to compromising location, but those are the two biggest aspects I keep encountering My advice to buyers is just make sure that you are considering the re-sale of the property when purchasing, no matter the location or size, or price. Try to foresee if you think when buying this home it will be a positive invest for you in the future.