"Seasons of the Year ... A Turning Point for Your Business" ... Ocean City, New Jersey   As we move in and out of various seasons here on our barrier island just off the mainland in South Jersey in general, and Ocean City, NJ in particular; I see that "changing time period" as a real opportunity to make "real changes" in your how you approach your personal life, your real estate business ventures (or any type of business ventures), and even improving relationships and personal avenues of interest to yourself and/or others. In particular, due to our location and these changing time frames, we move in and out of a lot of different ongoing activities or dimensions.  For example, we leave the busy summer rental season which overlaps the "spring buying period and continues into the summer re... 08/27/2013

"Open House on Labor Day Weekend" ... in Ocean City, New Jersey   All the rental properties slowly make the change back to either sale properties, week-day vacant properties and week-end owner-used properties, or some other interesting configuaration because the kids are back in school and summer rental season is ever so slowly changing to the "fall buying period." We at Goldcoast Sotheby's International Realty are getting a jump start on "OPEN HOUSES" with two available on Saturday and one available on Sunday ... that's August 31st (Sat) and September 1st (Sun).  Here is all of the information for your review: Two Northend Single Family Properties ... "Open House" on Saturday or Sunday (DETAILS BELOW)   824 St James Place ... Northend "800" Long Beach Block, only a short walk to the be... 08/27/2013

"So You Want to Buy a Shore Property in Ocean City"   There were five earlier blog postings on this topic.  Please visit my Active Rain account at www.ActiveRain.com/DustinAPeters to review the earlier blog postings. The topic of this blog is ... finding the right mortgage vendor.  Unless you are a "cash buyer," you will need to obtain a mortgage loan for a certain amount of money in order to make the deal.  Now not all mortgage vendors are the same ... just as not all lending institutions are the same.  The absolute best advice that I can give you is that you should deal with local mortgage vendors in Ocean City, NJ.  Now that does not mean that you will be only working with people in and around Ocean City, or with smaller companies.  What it means is that if you work with people who h... 08/25/2013

Feng Shui Assessment for your Ocean City New Jersey Apartment Buying a home, selling one or moving into an apartment?  Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island can make your home feel warm and inviting while incorporating simple Feng Shui remedies to attract that perfect buyer, great help and get your home sold…Quickly.  I work with Real Estate Agents to give them the “edge” they need with the constant evolving market. In today’s Real Estate market, including a on-site home Feng Shui assessment along with the other required services is extremely common and is requested by clients and Real Estate agents across the Nation., If you are unaware of this lifestyle in home buying and selling, I invite you contact me so you can enhance your knowledge and understanding, for this service is becoming a nec... 08/25/2013

"Shoulder Seasons Play a Significant Role" ... in Ocean City, New Jersey   What exactly is a "Shoulder Season."  Let me give you an example:  we have our "Summer Rental Season" that runs roughly from "Memorial Day to Labor Day," but also have our "10-Week Major Rental Season" which takes place from about 6/22/2013 to 8/31/2013 (this year).  Of course, we had rentals before 6/22/2013, and we will have rentals after 8/31/2013.  We now have a "Fall Shoulder Season" which will run from the day after Labor Day and continue until the day after January 1st, 2014.  The major part of that season will be the months of September and October when the Boardwalk remains open, and we have a number of weekend activities continuing to bring visitors to our island.  In November we hit the holiday period ... 08/25/2013

"Final Saturday Check-In for August/A Short Rush in the Buying Season" in Ocean City, New Jersey   In mid-week it looked just like a normal rental week of the summer season, maybe a bit slow as it is the end of August, but that was mid-week.  By Friday afternoon, I had three or four requests to see some of my sale listings, particularly those that had been difficult to get into due to the rental season.  Well, it was a busy Friday pm and Saturday am, but we will be able to get them into the sale property. And with only ten days remaining until Labor Day, it is starting to look like "the fall buying period." I wanted to have an "open house" this week, but I was unable to do it because of rentals.  At least I am able to get interested buyers into the sale listings. The really interesting ... 08/24/2013

"My 'Pre-Fall' Listing Log Update" for Owners & Some Buyers" ... in Ocean City, New Jersey   As many of you might know, I write a "Listing Log Update" monthly or a bit longer for my Listing Owners ... and I also share some of the information with Buyers as well.  Two of the more important "Updates" occur before the "Spring and Fall Buying Periods."  The character of the community (of Ocean City) changes during these time frames.  We move from a "Winter Mode" to the "Spring Buying Period," which is a major change in behavior and activity.  Coming up in about nine days, we move from a "Busy Summer Rental Period" to the "Fall Buying Period" which is a much more relaxed and calm time frame (unless you are negotiating a real estate contract). You can't rent a shore property and also allow in... 08/23/2013

"Wrapping Up the Rental Season" Ocean City, NJ   So the seasons of the year tell a story around here ... where ... Ocean City, NJ - that little barrier island just off the coast of Somers Point, New Jersey.  Our new entry to the island, and the town, is the newly completed 2.5 mile bridge and causeway which also includes a biking route, a walking section, a welcome center, a fishing area, and obviously a lot of room for cars ... two lanes each way. This Saturday will mark the start of the 10th major rental week of the 2013 Summer Season.  Additional rentals will take place in Ocean City throughout September, but effective on Labor Day we switch gears ... the summer rental season slowly wraps up and the "fall buying period" slowly opens up.  So how do you know the difference?  Easy ... a... 08/22/2013

"So You Want to Buy a Shore Property in Ocean City, New Jersey"   This is an ongoing series of topics for Buyers. We have covered (1) Find the Right Agent, (2) Pick your Property Category, (3) Location is always a Consideration, and (4) Your Initial Meeting with your Agent.  In this blog posting we will cover "the Buying Time Frame" in more detail. There are two poles along the continium:  "Every Always Goes Right" which is on one side, "Everything Always Goes Wrong" which is on the other side.  Mostly, Buyers tend to be somewhere in the Middle most of the time.  But clearly this is not like the purchase of a property in "the real world."  Things in the real world generally are a bit more cut and dried.  You live in this town, you decide to buy another property, you find it, and you mak... 08/21/2013

"So You Want to Buy a Shore Property in Ocean City, New Jersey   This is an ongoing series of topics for Buyers. We have covered (1)  Find the Right Agent, (2) Pick your Property Category, and (3) Location is always a Consideration.   In this blog posting we will cover (4)  Your Initial Meeting with Your Agent. There is always a question regarding "how much you may know about Ocean City, New Jersey.  If you know the area ... we can skip the 1.5-2 hour orientation drive around the island.  This is an important factor if you aren't quite sure about either your "location"or your "property category." A second orientation process involves visiting 5-8 sale properties so that you can get some time of understanding about the ongoing search for your particular sale property. I refer to "the dri... 08/20/2013

"So You Want to Buy a Shore Property in Ocean City, New Jersey   This is an ongoing series of topics for Buyers. (3)  Location is always a Consideration You have found the right agent ... first blog, and you know your property category of choice ... second blog.  It's time to think a bit about "location."  Ocean City (NJ) is a barrier island so you have about choices for location:  Ocean or Bay, Southend or Northend, and anything else in the middle.  Now that may appear to be too easy ... but considering a location isn't always an easy choice.  Let's review some options. "Ocean or Bay" really means how important is it to be close to either the ocean or the bay.  If you like the beach or plan to rent your shore property, you may want to consider a location closer to, or near, the beach. ... 08/19/2013

"So You Want to Buy a Shore Property in Ocean City, New Jersey" This is an ongoing series of topics for Buyers. (2) Pick your Property Category... 3 or 4 Choices You have found the right real estate agent ... first blog.  It is now time to work on your property category.  You have three or four options in terms of a "property category."  Let's review them for you.   "The condominium property category" is one in Ocean City ... in other words, the most sale properties at any given time.  And you have options in terms of location, interior size as well as the number of condominiums in the complex, condition, and price.   That is why the condominium property category is the biggest selling product here in Ocean City, NJ. "The single family property category" is another one that many potenti... 08/18/2013

"So You Want to Buy aShore Property  inOceanCity, New Jersey" This is an ongoing series of topics for Buyers. (1)  Find the Right Agent ... 2 Options You need to find the right real estate agent for "you."  They are all just a bit different from one another ... and there are a lot of them in Ocean City, New Jersey.  So how do you go about finding that "special real estate agent."  Quite simple.  You interview them.  You should write out a number of good questions, review your list, narrow it down, organize it in some fashion.  Now try to determine from your questions what kind of agent you might want ... try to explain it so that you could tell another person what you are looking for in a real estate agent.  Call three or four Brokers (that's the leader of a particular agency or office ... 08/18/2013

"Does a Rainy Day Mean that We get More Rental Problems"   Well, it's not raining yet ... but it appears that it may not be a beach day.   Maybe everybody will go to a movie, or hit the Boardwalk; but it might also mean that they may just stay in their rental property and play cards, read a book, or watch people going by.  But the real question is:  "does that mean that we may get more rental tenants contacting our real estate office identifying problems? Our agency has an arrangement for Sundays during summer rental period where each rental agent selects two Sundays ... and two agents and some office people cover from 10am to 2pm.  It is a good arrangement that allows agents to get a bit of weekend time off.  And we have rental agents able to assist tenants with problems right away. To... 08/18/2013

"So Where Was August?"  ...  Ocean City, New Jersey   I recently posted a blog entry about rentals and talked about August a bit.  Since that time, I have been thinking more about August ... which has resulted in another blog entry:  "So Where Was August?"  Part of it may have been a bit less rentals in 2013 here in our South Jersey shore town called Ocean City (NJ).  But I suspect that it is bigger and broader than that. Coming from the farmlands, fairs, and produce stands of Lancaster County ... with the sweet corn, ripe peaches, and cold ice cream, I recall August as always being a bit different.  As a teacher, I varied my summer activities by the year ... taking a graduate course and learning to play golf by first year out of school when I had lined up a teaching job for September, ... 08/17/2013

Occasional Book Review - "Year of Wonders" ... from Ocean City, New Jersey   This book, "YEAR OF WONDERS" - A Novel of the Plague (2001) by Geraldine Brooks was a book selection for our Ocean City Yacht Club "Book Club" for this summer, 2013.  We select five books each year (one per month) during the time that the yacht club is open.  We meet on a Tuesday evening (one of the evenings that dinner is served at the yacht club) so that many of our group can arrive early for dinner before our 7:30 pm meeting which usually runs until about 9pm.  Our group varies by the month depending on who is down for that particular week ... but our core is about 10-12 people going as high as about 16-17 depending on the book selection. The group is a comibination of both women and men.   In 1665-1666 in L... 08/17/2013

"The Wall Street Journal "Friday" & "Weekend" Editions ... Ocean City, New Jersey   For most of the time that I have been here in Ocean City (20 plus years), I have been reading THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "Friday" and "Weekend" (which comes out Saturday as a "Saturday/Sunday Edition) issues every week.  I'm not reading it for the conservative messages in the front sections or editorials (although I may occasionally agree with some of that); I'm reading the two sections at the back which focus on articles dealing with no books coming out, or shows on television or films, and much more topics on wine, housing, vacations, and tech topics.    This may be the best reading I do every week coming up with excellent ideas for reading, vacations, and other areas of interest.  My most significant pro... 08/16/2013

"The Roles in the Summer Rental Process" ... in Ocean City, New Jersey   There are many roles being played as we look at the "Summer Rental Process" including the "Rental Listing Agent" from a particular "Local Real Estate Agency," who obtains the rental listing from the "Rental Owner" who wants to have a "Rental Tenant" book the property with any available "Rental Agent."  They represent the five critical roles in the process.  However, often many different real estate agencies have a working connection with the same rental property.  There is certainly a coordination process involved in keeping everybody (particularly each agency) aware of what is happening, has happened, and might be happening in the future. Each local (Ocean City) real estate agency promotes a wide variety of rental... 08/16/2013

"17 Days to Labor Day" ... all over the island ... Ocean City, NJ   What started out as a damp, wet, cold spring slowly turned into a somewhat delightful June.   And everybody here in Ocean City, NJ thought it would last forever.  That June turned into a fairly hot July.  And again, the beach crowd asked for it to continue forever.  August was lovely as well with some recent cooling trends that still made it possible to hit the beach, but it also made it a wonderful cool evening breeze without air conditioning.  Almost like September.  But wait:  most people don't like that word ... September. Why? It means the summer dreams slowly turn into the fall reality ... back to school, back to work, back to "the real world."  Yes ... it happens every year, every summer ... but we still never th... 08/15/2013

"Let's Take A Trip Around the Island" ... Ocean City, New Jersey   So you have had an opportunity to meet me in some way ... a referral from a friend, a referral from an owner, maybe a visit to an open house property, or you found out that I was a teacher/high school principal from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Whatever the way or reason we met, I try a variety of methods to orient the potential buyer to the opportunities and challenges of buying a shore property here in Ocean City, New Jersey.   One particular way that often moves a potential client along the track is a trip around the island with me ... answering questions and telling stories about the various locations throughout Ocean City, NJ.  If it will be "the full island trip," we start on Asbury Avenue driving down to 34th ... 08/15/2013