Spring has sprung in South Jersey...

May 2007

If you’re not going to buy a property in South Jersey this Spring, now is the time to lock up your rental property We are now in the heart of the spring season here in South Jersey. What does that mean? Weekend traffic increases with much more Friday evening commutes from “places north” to South Jersey. They return in the opposite direction on late Sunday afternoon and evening. The assorted resort communities have much more activity in their boardwalk areas and downtowns throughout the weekend. Check the calendar, and you will find the start of many more weekend events and activities that draw even more down to South Jersey. Finally, many of the second home and investment property owners are out and about with their weekend projects getting properties ready for the summer season.

But that is only part of this ongoing cycle. Let’s move into the buying and selling and renting aspects of most resort communities throughout South Jersey. Saturdays and Sundays are “open house” days all over town.

One could make it a day in most shore towns just walking or biking or driving around and visiting open house properties.

Indeed, it is a good way to check out what is available and for what listing price. Another group out there checking out properties would be the “rental folks.” Although not nearly as many as before (since the internet makes it so easy just to stay at home), many prospective rental tenants still make the weekend day trip to their favorite shore town to physically check out what is available for a particular summer week.

Spring is also “the repair time of the year” in South Jersey. Many owners have waited all winter to get down here to complete that special “spring project.” Often it involves exterior painting which is the “major spring activity” throughout many shore communities.

But walk down almost any street in a resort town, and you will see owners involved in some aspect of repair to their shore property.

Finally, it’s also an important time for the conclusion of city government efforts... street and road repairs, park projects, landscaping efforts, work in the downtown areas, bridge work (like the major effort with the causeway linking Ocean City with Somers Point), and more. If you get here too early in the spring, you are right in the middle of most of this work. Get here too late, and you may not realize what has happened. Another city effort that lets you know that late spring is here would be the arrival of the dreaded “parking meter heads,” and the start of paying to park downtown in many shore communities.

Probably the best aspect of spring for many people is the clear knowledge that the weather will get better and better, that the countdown for summer has begun, that the ocean water will indeed get warmer, and that time on the beach is as close as the next hot day. Spring has sprung...and it will continue for all of May and a good part of June.

Real Estate “Tip of the Month”

Let’s go back to the “open house” concept mentioned in the full column.

If knowledge is power, getting out and seeing a wide range of sale properties is one of the best ways to get to know what you can buy, at what price, in a particular location. You can also meet a number of different real estate agents and possibly form a working relationship with a particular one. That can often happen after you have met and talked with five or ten agents in that many open house visits.

Don’t want to visit the open houses? Just select a particular location in your favorite shore community...and go for a walk or bike ride. It’s another great way to see what is for sale. Jot down some addresses, and you can always follow up at a later time.

Working with a good agent is always the best way to organize your real estate activity, but sometimes many of us want to try it on our own first. If so, one other useful activity is to read the local paper...particularly the real estate ads usually in the second half of the paper.

Dustin A. Peters is an Agent with French Real Estate, Inc. – Ocean City, NJ. He invites readers of this column to submit comments and questions to him at DustinPeters@Realtor.com.