Government program helps fix that fixer upper

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

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We've written before about a special loan program commonly called the FHA 203(k).

 

This is from the Star-Ledger:

Marcus Gaither lives in East Orange, but he saw a three-family home in Newark he thought would be a good investment. Unfortunately, it was not fit to be lived in.

“It needed windows, doors, sinks, kitchen cabinets,” he said. “It needed pretty much everything. It was a total rehab.”

Gaither is a mortgage broker and had done his research on the lending industry. He knew about a mortgage that would let him buy the house and pay for the repair work before he moved in.

He purchased the property for $120,000 and made it livable.

“Some people are afraid to put themselves out as far as buying a property and making mistakes,” he said. “I’m not afraid of the loan. I think it’s a good one.”

The loan he knows about — and few others do — is the little-heard of 203(k) mortgage. It’s a primary mortgage that isn’t based on what the house is worth, but what it will be worth after repairs are made. It’s available to everyone, including first-time homebuyers, but fewer than 300 have been approved so far this year in New Jersey.

Read more . . . . .

 

 



For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Ah, “deregulation for the sake of competition. Bad days ahead for telephone customers?

This Star-Ledger story caught my eye because it affects me. Well, it affects everyone in New Jersey who doesn’t use cellular service to obtain residential telephone service.

According the S-L,

“Most of the state’s regulation of basic cable and land line telephone service would come to an end under a controversial bill that passed the state Assembly on Thursday.

“Supporters of the "Market Competition and Consumer Choice Act" (A3766) say it removes outdated rules that go back to the era of Ma Bell.

“But Stefanie Brand, the state ratepayer advocate, said in a letter to lawmakers that it would leave New Jersey residents "at the mercy of cable and telephone companies."

“And local officials are complaining it allows Verizon to go back on pledges it made to towns in exchange for getting a statewide franchise in 2006 so that it would not have to negotiate town-by-town to offer its FiOS service.”

What’s the fuss?

“Currently, companies offering basic telephone and land line services have to get the okay from the Board of Public Utilities before they can raise rates. The bill, which passed 66-7 with four abstentions, would eliminate that oversight.”

“It would also roll back rules requiring cable companies to give credits to customers whose service is out for more than four hours, correct billing errors and protect customers from "slamming," in which their telephone company for local or long distance service is switched without their permission.”

Now you know we are in trouble when a bill sponsor says,

"This is a competition bill," said Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan (D-Union), a sponsor. "The telecommunications industry is one of the industries we can point to where deregulation actually works."

So, if you use a telephone in your home, you might want to read the full article and contact your elected representative.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Title Inc.

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 201-656-4506

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Avoid probate yes, but taxes no. Living trusts work for some.

Every so often, we in the title industry get to see that someone has bought a book that attempts to teach the reader how to avoid probate. The idea behind these books is that the person who follows the plan will not only not have to have an estate administration but can avoid estate taxes, too.

So we were pleased to see that Karin Price Mueller writing for the Biz Brain in The Star-Ledger, answered the following question:

“What are the benefits to having a living trust fund compared to a regular will?”

“Living trusts, also called revocable trusts or revocable living trusts, are sometimes touted as an absolute essential.”

“While the person who set up the living trust is still alive, there are advantages for those who will help manage that person’s affairs if they’re unable to.”

But living trusts are not fool proof and must be done with the assistance of an attorney. Rely on a do-it-yourself book and you’ll get burned.

Read the full article here.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Title Inc.

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 201-656-4506

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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The Morris Canal, a true piece of New Jersey history

A photo in the Sunday Star-ledger caught my eye. It’s a picture of a Morris Canal plane house located in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

There are some good publications on the Morris Canal, the remnants of which are located throughout the northern part of the state from the west to Jersey City, and a quick on-line search will reveal them

(I must confess, that at the age of 7, a counselor told us Camp Loyaltown hikers near Hunter, New York, that we were going to see an "inclined plane." Now, I knew that an incline meant a hill or a rise, but, boy, was I disappointed when I didn’t see a Cessna nose down in the ground.)

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Title Inc.

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 201-656-4506

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Foreclosure freeze may have grim future

The slow-down in foreclosures by several of the big lenders is not all good news. As reported in the Star-Ledger:

“A halt in home foreclosures at the largest mortgage firms may sideline buyers worried about legal issues, further depressing sales at a time when distressed properties account for almost a quarter of all transactions.”

Why? Because doubt on the legal sufficiency of the foreclosures will result in those houses not reaching the real estate market.

“Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. lender, extended a freeze on foreclosures to all 50 states on Friday as concern spread among federal and state officials that homes are being seized based on faulty data. JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit stopped repossession cases in 23 states where courts supervise home seizures — including New Jersey — amid allegations that employees submitted documents with unverified or false information to speed the process.”

Statistics from around the country demonstrate that foreclosure sales play a major role in the rebound of the real estate market.

"’Our preliminary review of September foreclosure activity doesn’t show any obvious or notable impact," said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac. The effects may show up in the October data, he said.’”

 On the other hand,

“A reduction in foreclosure sales may result in a short-term boost to the nation’s median home price as buyers shy away from distressed properties, said Thomas Lawler, founder and president of Lawler Housing and Economic Consulting in Leesburg, Va.”

 The halt to pending actions by several lenders means that many property owners are living rent free. That would include those who have made so-called “strategic defaults.” Let’s hope the system straightens out sooner rather than later.

Read the full story.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Title Inc.

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 201-656-4506

E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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No tax credits for N.J. homebuyers; impact of end of Federal program being felt in New Jersey

We previously told you about a plan to give N.J. homebuyers a tax credit. Well, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed the bill that would have given tax credits of up to $15,000 to homebuyers. The reason-- the state could not afford to forego $100 million in tax revenue over the program’s proposed three-year lifespan.

According to the report in the Star-Ledger, Christie has said that while he would support some economic development programs in other times, the state does not have the luxury of paying for them now.

Responding to criticism, “Christie argued in his veto the money would have been used by people already committed to buying homes and would “’briefly and artificially inflate home values.’”

Read the full article.

The New York Times reports on the impact,

“After the expiration of the federal tax-credit program for buyers on April 30, the number of contract signings in New Jersey abruptly fell to the lowest point in six years — after more than a year of continuous gains.”

Well, I guess we are not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

For your next title order or
if you have questions about what you see here,
contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453,
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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Selling a vacation home? Tax treatment of furniture can catch you.

Karin Price-Mueller, the BizBrain at the Star-Ledger, fields questions from readers on a variety of matters. Here's one regarding tax treatment of furniture when selling a furnished home. (The question is shown in full.)

Q. When selling a furnished vacation home, can I add to my original basis the replacement costs of the furniture and accessories that came with my condo and that I have replaced over the years, such as TVs, rugs, couches, chairs, drapes and air conditioners? The condo unit was originally purchased for $80,000 plus a $5,000 furniture package, and we sold it furnished for $250,000. While I rented it out at times, I didn’t depreciate it. It was primarily a vacation home.

— Bob

"A. Even though you bought the home furnished all those years ago, you can’t include the furniture as part of your cost basis."

Essentially, you can only add improvements to the cost basis of the home, not furniture.

"Some examples of capital improvements that would qualify as an increase in cost basis include the cost of putting an addition on the home, replacing the whole roof, installing central air-conditioning, paving the driveway or rewiring the home."

"Adding the furniture to the cost basis is only asking for trouble, said Douglas Duerr, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with U.S. Financial Advisors in Montville. "

Read the full article Furniture sold with home does not count toward cost basis.

And, as always, we recommend you speak to your tax advisor when undertaking any major financial transaction.

For your next title order or
if you have questions about what you see here,
contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453,
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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