Jersey Shore Views...

Please check out this link to Jackie Kyles' blog...help is needed for 8 legs of a dog rescue transport...TOMORROW, January 31st!  So my friends and fellow animal advocates, if you can't help maybe some organizations you know of can! 

*****************************BEGIN TRANSPORT********************************  THIS TRANSPORT IS EASTERN TIME ZONE  

Leg 1 ~ Needed!  Rock Hill, SC to Greenville, SC 1 hr 45 min ~ 93 miles 8:00 am to 9:45 am

Leg 2 ~ Needed!  Greenville, SC to Asheville, NC 1 hr 15 min ~ 63 miles 10:00 am to 11:15 am

Leg 3 ~ TAKEN - Thank you Peggy!!! Asheville, NC to Knoxville, TN 2 hr ~ 115 miles 11:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Leg 4 ~ Needed! Knoxville, TN to London, KY 1 hr 30 min ~ 98 miles 1:45pm to 3:15 pm

Leg 5 ~ Needed! London, KY to Lexington, KY 1 hr 15 min ~ 74 miles 3:30 pm to 4:45 pm

Leg 6 ~ Needed! Lexington, KY to Cincinnati, OH 1 hr 30 min ~ 89 miles 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm

Leg 7 ~ Needed! Cincinnati, OH to Indianapolis, IN 2 hr ~ 115 miles 6:45 pm to 8:45 pm

Leg 8 ~ Thanks Alisa & Chauncy from Dogs Deserve Better Indianapolis, IN to Plainfield, IL 3 hr 25 min ~ 200 miles 9:00 pm to 12:25 pm

   **********************************END TRANSPORT**************************** 

 Alisa Rhodes & Chauncy Zwicker ~ Dogs Deserve Better IL Reps

Whether planning to buy or sell a home, or just looking for some ideas to make your home feel new, you've got to check out Ocean County's 6th Annual Home and Remodeling Show at the Ritacco Center in Toms River, Friday February 6th through the 8th.

The Ocean County Home & Remodeling Show will feature more than 150 of the area’s top craftspeople and home improvement retailers, as well as a guest appearance by Doug Wilson of TLC’s Trading Places and Moving Up.

The Ritacco Center is located at 1245 Old Freehold Road, convenient to Routes 37, 70 and the Garden State Parkway and parking is free.

Homeowners, first time home buyers or investors from Waretown, Barnegat, Manahawkin, Long Beach Island, Little Egg Harbor and Tuckerton can jump on the Parkway, head north to Exit 82 (Seaside), use the jughandle to Route 166/Main Street, cross over 37 and make a right on Old Freehold Road to the Ritacco Center.  

At this Show you'll discover hard-to-find products and services you can't get at the big home improvement centers and save time searching for local qualified home improvement professionals..

TLC's Doug Wilson will do two appearances on Sunday February 8. Admission is $6. for adults and $4. for kids between 12 and 17. Friday, February 6th you can take advantage of the two-for-one admission.  Hours are Friday, 4pm - 9pm, Saturday from 11am til 9pm and Sunday, 11am til 6pm.

The Home & Remodeling Show covers a broad range of home improvement specialties and products from many of the area’s most innovative manufacturers and sellers of home furnishings, window treatments, kitchen cabinetry, appliances, security systems, air conditioning and heating systems, indoor and outdoor furniture, pools and spas and cooking products. Specialists in architecture and space planning, interior and landscape design and healthy cooking will share their expertise. See you there!

I'm looking for a little advice on safeguarding my computer projects and I humbly ask for your guidance...
 
My computer went on an inter-galactic trip a few days ago, and I was concerned that everything would be lost.  Well, she's back and good as new!  Maybe even a little better.

After a very expensive clean up, she's back on planet earth and actually moving faster than I can remember. It appears that everything is intact!  Whoo Hoo!

I've learned a little from this episode.  Back up documents and photos!  I know, I know and I should have known! But I haven't done that in years.  So now I'm looking for suggestions, should I use on line accounts for this or buy the hardware and do it myself?

Any advice is appreciated...

Well, it hasn't been a happy few days at the Jersey Shore!  Yesterday morning, got up and as usual grabbed some coffee and began to check my email...

In the middle of returning a client's email my home office went on red alert...I was waiting for the Star Trek music to begin, at warp speed my computer began accessing the same web page over and over, flashing warnings and moving more quickly than it had since I downloaded Office Professional.

I was waiting for Captain Kirk, or at least Mr. Spock, to whisper some solution in my ear...but no, only my poor computer groaning and bleeping.  I had no photon torpedoes, my ship had entered the self destruct mode without the top officers shouting the code words!

I was sure the explosion was eminent...but then everything just stopped...frozen in time, like we entered a wormhole or something.

I gently picked up the overheated (and I'm sure exhausted machine) and took it to the computer doctor. He's not sure the old gal will make it, but he'll do his best.

So for now I'm back to using the old dinosaur, slow but steady!  I only hope the doctor can salvage my pictures and word documents.  If not, January 2009 really will be a brand new beginning!

Keller Williams
Atlantic Shore
Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
    

It was sort of a gray day at the Jersey Shore today...fog, snow and a chill in the air!  Nonetheless, fresh snow on the pines is beautiful...

This is a photo from the Park just up the street from my house in the Ocean Acres section of Manahawkin, NJ.  Everything looks great with a little snow!

I'm sure the kids weren't happy the snow came today, when they already had a holiday!  (Snow days are still my favorite!)  The kids are behind me sledding and sliding down the hill (actually it's a small slope, but that's the Jersey Shore)!

Getting your home ready for sale today takes a little more work than it did just a year ago, or even a few months ago!  You've got to look at things from the home buyer’s perspective and stay up to date on pricing in your local housing market.

 
Home buyers can pick and choose from a wide variety of homes on the market.  They are a lot more thorough with their searches, so as a home seller be prepared for that.

Home buyers can get a great house at a great price right now, so the home seller must differentiate themselves from the competition.

Here are some techniques you, as a homeowner, can use to change the way a buyer views your home.
 
Set a realistic price.
 
Keep in mind, the value of your home is what the buyer will pay.  Some of the factors which affect their perspective are local characteristics like commuting time, job opportunities, housing supply, school systems and more.

Sellers should stay realistic and set the price with a REALTOR^® who can help determine which factors are at work in a given marketplace.

Remember, if you're on a short time line to sell, or if your home needs numerous repairs, this will affect your pricing strategy.
 
All Out Marketing.
 
A successful marketing plan is no longer just a newspaper ad and a listing on REALTOR.com.  

Explore innovative and creative marketing techniques that make home buyers aware of your home.  Photos, virtual tours and web presence are essential.

By using virtual home tours and concentrating on well-lit, high quality digital photos for website listings you can give your home a chance to be noticed by the increasing majority of home buyers who turn to Internet listings, with photos, first.
 
Looking Good.
 
Home buyers will look for the least expensive home in the best neighborhood they can afford. The goal is to make your home the best value in the area.

Stage your home to maximize space and give home buyers a chance to see themselves in your home. Cosmetic improvements like paint, wallpaper, and yard clean up, are good low cost investments to make a home generally more appealing.

If you have the money, mechanical repairs should be completed to ensure that all systems and appliances are in good working condition.  Well functioning heating and cooling systems are required to get a top price.
 
Entice Home Buyers with Curb Appeal.

As beautiful as the inside of your home is, it's no use if prospective buyers don't want to enter.

Curb appeal sells 49 percent of all houses, whether you have a townhouse, condo or detached home, according to the National Association of REALTORS^®.

Replacing light fixtures, removing dead leaves and removing snow and ice from walkways and drive are easy and inexpensive ways to entice buyers during the winter months.

If you're unsure of what a home buyer is looking for, ask friends and neighbors for a fresh perspective, or take a picture from across the street and look at it carefully.

If you’re planning to buy or sell a home in Waretown, Barnegat, Manahawkin, Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton, Eagleswood or anywhere on Long Beach Island, let’s talk!  Put my experience in southern Ocean County, NJ to work for you!

Has anyone tried this, and if so what kind of results have you had?

I read recently of some new tactics, to get home buyers the pull the trigger, that are surfacing around the country.  One tactic is an offer written by the seller!

It's called a reverse purchase agreement, an unsolicited offer that gets written by sellers for prospective home buyers.  According to RISMEDIA some agents say that the strategy could be the next weapon in the ongoing battle to get home buyers to take notice and get off the fence.
 
Since home buyers control the market now, with so many choices, there's really no incentive to decide on a purchase quickly.

One agent had a market worn listing.  After months on the market, professional staging, aggressive price reductions and weekly Open Houses, there was one qualified out of town buyer who viewed the property twice.  There was interest and his agent continued to keep in touch with the listing agent.  So there was hope that this might turn into an offer.

But months later, still no offer. The buyers agent continued to keep in touch with the listing agent, so there was some interest.

With no other prospects in sight, the listing agent and his clients decided that if the buyer wouldn’t make an offer, they would. So they wrote an offer, complete with a quick closing date and an unsolicited $10,000 price reduction on top of a $20,000 price reduction earlier in the month.

The prospective buyers are reviewing the sellers offer and haven't yet made a decision.

I'm wondering if this might be a way for sellers to gain a little control in this buyers market.  What do you think?

One area you do not want to skimp on is homeowners insurance.  Just because property values may have dropped, it does not automatically mean you need less property insurance!

Even if your home value has decreased, that doesn't mean you want to lower the amount of coverage.  Chances are it will still be more expensive to rebuild your home now than when you first bought it.

So it's important that your homeowners insurance keeps pace with rebuilding costs, rather than the market value of your home.  This is particularly true for homes at the Jersey Shore which face hurricanes, pinelands brush fires and the dreaded winter nor'easter!

Make sure you know how your home will be replaced.  Sometimes insurance policy language can be tricky.  Get verification in writing that your insurance company will pick up the entire cost of replacing your property with new versions of your current home and possessions in the event of a loss.

Too many times consumers believe that's what they've purchased but find themselves getting an insurance check for pennies on the dollar.  That's because the policy covers "fair market value," which is what your  property would bring if you sold it today.

One way you might be able to save on property insurance for homes in Manahawkin's Ocean Acres section is to report to your insurance company as soon as your street is hooked up to the municipal water service.  

With municipal water service, we now have fire hydrants every block so adjustments to your your policy should be made and with that possibly a premium reduction!

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Manahawkin or anywhere in southern Ocean County, contact me.

In an attempt to reduce foreclosures and further assist New Jersey homeowners at risk of losing their homes, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine has signed the Mortgage Stabilization and Relief Act into law. The legislation is another component of the Economic Assistance and Recovery Plan.  

It establishes the Mortgage Stabilization Program and the Housing Assistance and Recovery Program.

In addition the new laws also impose more requirements on lenders foreclosing on mortgages. The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) will be responsible for the administration of the two new programs.

Through the Mortgage Stabilization Program, HMFA will promote modifying or refinancing of first mortgage loans in imminent danger of foreclosure to qualified homeowners by offering non-amortizing (no monthly payment) second mortgage loans.

The State will provide a mortgage stabilization loan of up to $25,000 to match the lender's contribution.  This is an attempt to bring the mortgage payments down to an amount that the borrower can afford. Both the State's and lender's assistance loans will be repaid by the homeowner upon sale of the property.

To qualify for assistance, a home owner's household income may not exceed 120 percent of the area median household income or the HMFA's Mortgage Program income limits, which vary by County. In Ocean County, the income limit for home owners is $114,660.

The lender must agree to write the mortgage down to the current value of the home. Homeowners who accept program assistance are required to participate in agency approved household budget counseling sessions.

The $25 million needed for this Mortgage Stabilization Program is appropriated at $25 million through Long Term Obligation and Capital Expenditure Fund.  

The Governor's original proposal would have funded this through an assessment against every bank filing a foreclosure action against a New jersey home owner.  Now the funding comes from money set aside to pay down the state's indebtedness.

A second program, the Housing Assistance and Recovery Program (HARP), will help homeowners who face imminent foreclosure stay in their home while paying affordable rent until the homeowner is able to buy back the property.

HMFA will provide financial support through the Housing Assistance and Recovery Program Support Fund to certain nonprofit and public entities to execute lease-purchase agreements with existing homeowners who meet program requirements.

$15 million from the Long Term Obligation and Capital Expenditure Fund is appropriated for the program.  This program is also funded through money set aside to pay down the state debt.

This action follows enactment of separate legislation, signed last month, that called on the Administrative Office of the Courts to provide mediation services between the homeowner and their creditors to assist in negotiating an agreement that allows the borrower to remain in the home with an affordable monthly mortgage payment.

The new laws also protect neighborhoods, according to Governor Corzine, by requiring creditors who initiate foreclosure proceedings to notify municipalities where the foreclosed property is located. As a result, municipalities now have recourse against those creditors who fail to comply.

In addition, the legislation also adds a six-month forbearance period prohibiting creditors from taking steps to remove the borrower/homeowner from a property.

If you're facing problems meeting your mortgage commitment, and own a home in Waretown, Barnegat, Manahawkin, Long Beach Island, Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton or in northern Atlantic County, contact me for more information on these programs and others that can help you!

Further information on foreclosure assistance in New Jersey is available if you click here.  This link will take you to NJ Legal Services.  Or you can call 1-888-989-5277 Monday through Friday from 8am through 6pm. 

Keller Williams
Atlantic Shore
Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
www.JerseyShoreViews.com

Our Gang Players, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is southern Ocean County's not for profit community theater group! And this Easter they're bringing Kansas to southern Ocean County with a production of the Wizard of Oz.

Right now they're looking for little munchkins (not the doughnut kind) for the show, and a well behaved little dog to play ToTo.  If you're small of stature or have a little dog that's itching to be a star, contact the Our Gang Players at 609-597-0553 or email them.

The Easter show will be held at the Stafford Township Arts Center OceanFirst Theater on April 8 - 13, with no shows on Good Friday or on Easter Sunday.  

Click here for a complete schedule of 2009 shows. 

The first 'Our Gang Players' show in December 1977 was performed in Surf City, since then the group has called numerous southern Ocean County venues home.  In 2006, the Our Gang Players, Inc. expanded the troupe’s production locations, to include the new STAC’s OceanFirst Theater which allows seating for 808 patrons. The Holiday Inn in Manahawkin has created an opportunity for Our Gang to offer a dinner theater experience. Performances are also scheduled in the historic town of Barnegat, either at the Barnegat High School theater or the Elizabeth V. Edwards School.

The Our Gang Players can also use monetary contributions.  Right now they're seeking funds for a flight crew so the actors can fly, and they continue to solicit funds for individual microphones for their actors.  If you can help, contact the Our Gang Players.

Are you craving the bright lights, or think acting might be fun?  The troupe is open to anyone wishing to experience the joy of performing regardless of age or ability. All you need is the desire and lots of heart!

Need information on homes for sale in southern Ocean County, homes for sale in Manahawkin or housing market conditions in Manahawkin or other areas in New Jersey, contact me or visit my website!

Keller Williams
Atlantic Shore
Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
www.JerseyShoreViews.com