Why Long Term Investment at the Shore is Still a “Sure” Thing

Much has been written about the real estate market and the housing bubble since the collapse of the financial industry and the troubles on Wall Street. Most of these accounts either cover national trends as a whole or tend to focus on areas that exhibit an extreme, for example “The Sand States” areas of Florida, Arizona, California, or Nevada that have been hit the hardest or areas like New York or Philadelphia (such as the Main Line as an example) where real estate has better held its’ value and has not been hit as hard by a weakening market.

Real Estate in Avalon NJ and Stone Harbor NJ reflect an example of an area that has not been hit as hard as some other regions in the country. We differ from an area like Main Line Philadelphia in that we are primarily a second home market, however, most of our clientele is from an area like the main line or similar suburbs throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. This is not to say that we haven’t seen a decrease in market value since late 2005, we have, but the decline in home prices has been gradual if not stagnant for the last 12 months. There is an occasional transaction that at the time appears to be a “steal” for a Buyer but overall property sales reflect current market value. Any short sales we’ve seen also reflect current market values. The best buys have not been the limited number of short sale transactions that have occurred. Our 2008 statistics during July, August and the beginning of September were showing clear signs that we had hit the bottom price wise and that people were confident about buying again. This changed dramatically mid September with the fall of Wall Street. However, since then we haven’t seen anything but paralysis. Nothing profoundly good or bad has happened. We seem to be waiting for a sign of confidence in the financial future of our country. This does not necessarily translate into a bad time to buy real estate at the shore. In many respects, if you have job security, and are financially able to qualify for a loan, this is a good time to invest your money in real estate at the shore as well as enjoying all the benefits of owning property in a town like Avalon and Stone Harbor.