Returning To Island Time...

September 2007

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times... not Dickens, but the resort communities in the summer. And as many a local throughout South Jersey has said (at least a couple of times)...ah, but it is nice to return to “island time.”And what exactly is that you might ask...it’s much more of “an attitude” than it is anything else. And, of course, it is “a location.”And, finally, it is September after the busy summer season is over.

But all of that changed on the day after Labor Day. Sure some of the very smart rental tenants remain... lower rental rates, no lines for much of anything.

But the locals have regained their sanity. That’s really what September is about. Traffic just got better; biking can be done side-by-side again without looking back for cars too much. Even just walking around is easier.

Some locals are now spending more time at the beach...September sun, warm ocean water, no one kicking sand all over you except for the weekends. It’s local time...island time for most of us for the next eight plus months. And September and October may be the two best months of the calendar year.

So what does that have to do with real estate...just about everything.

When talking about shore real estate, it’s “the time you spend here,” and “the amount of time too.” As a working real estate agent, I have several personal theories about Buyers: (1) if they rent for two or more weeks, they are definitely potential buyers even if they do not know it as yet, (2) if they come down in the off-season, they again are potential buyers, or “becoming buyers," and if they are involved in an extended family who rents one or more properties or has someone in the family owning shore property, they are “PWBP”...“Persons With Buyer Potential."

Now for the best part...it may just be one of the better times to start, or continue, looking for shore real estate.

Why?

The “boom” is off the market, and “back-to-normal” are the buzzwords of the day. We are now entering our third year of the extended slowdown in real estate here at the Jersey Shore, and in many other areas throughout the country. It’s a “Buyer’s Market,”one where you should be able to find more than one opportunity out there. Don’t get me wrong...South Jersey property won’t be cheap, but a lot more properties are available. And in spite of a lot of print and television reports regarding mortgages, interest rates are historically still good. Don’t overspend, do compare sale property inventory, and do review recent sold property stats. But, a word for the wise, don’t pass up an opportunity for “island time.”

It’s difficult to predict real estate “market changes,” but it is a nobrainer that the South Jersey real estate market has mostly bottomed out in spite of the national credit issues and more.

Somewhere in 2008 we should be seeing the kind of changes that many of us have been waiting for. If and when that happens, you will have missed the best buying opportunity of the past seven or eight years.

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.