Ocean County doubles rate of foreclosure
December 1st, 2008 // 9:11 am @ admin
(Published: Monday, November 17, 2008)
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP – Cars line the curb and Halloween decorations still hang in the front yards of the houses on Reel Avenue, a short street in the Ocean Acres section of the township.
Two houses are set apart from the others by their emptiness, by the uncollected leaves covering their lawns and by an open, overstuffed mailbox. The two homes, which sit across from each other, are in foreclosure.
“It’s really a sad situation, but a lot of times it gives other people the opportunity to purchase a home,” said Jean Ball, a real estate agent with Remax who is listing the home at 148 Reel Ave.
Sad, but not unique. New Jersey’s rate of foreclosures jumped 75 percent this October compared with last year, according to the Research firm RealtyTrac. According to the California-based real estate Web site, New Jersey had the eighth-highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
In Ocean County, foreclosures this year have more than doubled since 2006. On average, about 30 people per day are losing their homes, said Beatrice M. Nitche, chief clerk to Ocean County Clerk Carl Block.
“In the past, in a month, we used to get four, five or six foreclosures a day. Now we’re getting about 30 a day and 700 a month,” Nitche said. “People are just really extending themselves.”
The situation is not as grim in Atlantic County. In 2006, 1,151 homes were listed as going into foreclosure, and in 2007 that number jumped slightly to 1,849 properties. To date for 2008, 2,546 homes have gone into foreclosure. Deputy Clerk Peggy Lamaina said the numbers for 2008 are less than they anticipated, but she wonders if Atlantic County is just beginning to feel the effects.
“I’ve started to notice people have actually given up their properties instead of going to foreclosure,” said Lamaina. “Hopefully, Atlantic county will be insulated a little more because of the casinos.”
And although foreclosure numbers in Cape May County don’t seem high, County Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti said she has never experienced such high numbers.
“Cape May County is lower than other counties, but these are still high numbers for our county,” Fulginiti said.
In 2006, Cape May County saw 385 foreclosures, but in 2008 that number has already more than doubled to 840, she said.
“In the past you would see a larger number of discharges so it meant people were working out their problems, but now there are less and less discharges so people are not able to work out their problems,” she said.
In Cumberland County, a similar trend is evident, as the number of foreclosures grew frm 483 in 2006 to 813 so far this year.
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Forty-two-year-old John Cibelli and his girlfriend Angela Lubrano bought their home in July 2005, in the Ocean Acres section of Stafford Township. It was the American dream, said the father of four.
“We left Staten Island because I couldn’t afford it anymore. Down here, I thought it would be a better life,” Cibelli said in his thick New York accent. “I had a beautiful house with a pool and a big backyard,” he said of the two-story colonial at 149 Reel Ave.
Cibelli said Lubrano held the mortgage on the house, but they both shared in paying it back. When he lost his job as a cook at Southern Ocean County Hospital and their mortgage payment increased, the couple’s home went into foreclosure. They eventually lost it. The financial burden also strained their relationship and the couple split up, he said.
“The mortgage went up to like $2,000, and we couldn’t pay it. We were paying as much as we were in Staten Island,” he said.
They went through three sale attempts through the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office before the home was finally sold for $121,000, he said. It was purchased for $250,000, Cibelli said.
In 2006, 2,969 homes in Ocean County went into foreclosure. In 2007, that number increased to 5,834 and so far for 2008, the number of foreclosures countywide is 6,838.
According to the Stafford Township Assessor’s Office, Cibelli’s home went into foreclosure in September. Across the street, at 148 Reel Ave. – a foreclosured home that has been registered with the Ocean County Clerk’s Office – has a for-sale sign that says it is bank-owned. The driveway of the two-bedroom home is empty, and you can see through the home’s front windows to the backyard. There is no furniture, no family and no curtains anymore.
The tan ranch with hunter green shutters was not on the market long, Ball said. The home is already under contract after being listed at $192,000, she said. But how fast the homes in foreclosure turn around and are sold depends on the market, according to Ball.
“I have seen the market change a lot since we entered the financial crisis. There are a lot of homes in foreclosure,” she said.
So far, at least on Reel Avenue, the impact of the home foreclosures has been muted. Several residents there said they weren’t even aware one of their neighbors had become a victim of a tanking economy.
But Cibelli is feeling the strain. One recent evening, Cibelli stood outside the Wawa in Ship Bottom, lighting a cigarette as he waited to start his midnight shift. This is where he works now: part time, with no benefits.
He pulled a pay stub out of his brown leather wallet and pointed to the amount he brings home for four days of work each week: $143.
“That’s what I have to live on for a week,” he said. “I’m worried about where the next meal is going to come from.”
He lives with one of his daughters in a winter rental in Ship Bottom and walks to work each day. In the spring he will have to find another place to live and the pressure weighs heavy on him, he said. He has not been able to find much help since losing his home two months ago and says he does not want to go on welfare.
“To sit there and imagine your children living on the street in a cardboard box. I can’t imagine it,” he said. “I don’t want this for myself, but I’m a fighter. I don’t want this for my kids. They don’t deserve this.”
The pressure to find work and care for his family is enough to make him want to give up, he said.
“I’m trying my hardest,” he said through tears. “I sit and I cry, and my kids, they tell me how much they need me.”
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Category : Ocean County Foreclosures
Short Sales Afford Opportunity for Smart Buyers
March 17th, 2004 // 9:38 am @ admin
Southwest Florida has some of the most sought-after high priced oceanfront real estate in the nation, but many buyers are also finding great deals here. A wide variety of new custom condos and homes in the area are being sold at surprisingly affordable rates, discounting the notion that only the wealthy can afford to live in cities like Fort Myers and Cape Coral.
In fact this trend can be spotted in high-end markets throughout the nation, and not because of anything wrong with homes in these areas. In many cases it’s due to a high percentage of “short sale” properties. A short sale can occur just before a property enters the foreclosure stage when the owner is behind or defaulting on mortgage payments. At this point the bank or lender may decide to re-sell the property at a discount, rather than go through with a time-consuming and expensive foreclosure.
During the most recent national real estate boom, high demand in hot markets like Southwest Florida drove prices way up and left many property owners with mortgages and property taxes they couldn’t afford to pay. The lenders who financed much of this speculation found themselves willing to take a slight loss in the short sale market for a couple reasons: a) with property slightly overvalued due to speculation, any resales would necessarily fetch a lower price; b) foreclosures take much longer to complete than short sales, require a lawyer in most cases, and risk leaving the lender with a much lower price if the property goes to auction.
Also known as a “pre-forclosure” sales, short sales represent a great opportunity for savvy buyers and investors. Those willing to do the little extra work can often obtain a discount of 20-25 per cent, without waiting for a further decrease in the market. So what extra work does a short sale require? It is a bit of a process, but knowing the steps can save you a lot of time and energy. Short sale transactions typically start with the original borrower who’s defaulting on the mortgage. It’s up to the investor to liase with the borrower and lender, and make sure all financial information is shared. The investor must also work to portray the short sale property as one that’s lost market value, and in need of improvements. A high contract bid for repair work on the property, forwarded to the lender, can be a convincing piece of evidence here. Finally, the lender will ask to see a contract between the investor/buyer, and the seller, to make sure the seller isn’t making any money from the deal – the “net cash” paid to the seller in this transaction should be the same amount paid to the lender.
Smart buyers can make a good return for their investment in a cooling but dependable market like Southwest Florida, and short sales are an effective strategy for this.
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Category : Short Sale Questions