About Ocean County, NJ

I first signed onto Active Rain in August of 2008. It took me a few months to really get the idea of the benefits here and to really get started.

From reading many posts, I discovered that the public was reaching out to members for their real estate needs.

At that point, I quickly realized that:

So, I began my mission!

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OCEAN COUNTY

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LACEY TOWNSHIP

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STATUS OF MY MISSION!

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Toula N. Rosebrock (of Diane Turton, Realtors) – Broker / Sales Associate

Specializing in all of Ocean County - Lacey Township Real Estate, Forked River / Lanoka Harbor

Unique Name … Unique Agent … Unique Service!

Websites:

www.Toula.org

www.OceanCountyNJRealEstateSales.com

www.Toula.info

Waterfront Properties, Single Family Homes, Multi Family Homes, Condos, Townhomes, Adult Communities, Vacant Land, Commercial Properties, 1031 Exchanges

SHARE THE JOY!

One of our local radio stations, 100.1 WJRZ & Investors Savings Bank will unite again for the 10th annual live broadcast of "Share The Joy,"

DATE: Friday & Saturday, November 20th & 21st, 2009

LOCATION: Walmart, 950 Rt. 37 West in Toms River, NJ

Being collected will be food, towels and blankets for our four legged friends on behalf of the Jersey Shore Animal Center.

This includes an effort to fill a tractor-trailer with non-perishable food items, gently used clothing, new unwrapped toys, as well as monetary donations - all to benefit Ocean County Hunger Relief & Big Brothers Big Sisters.

At 6 am on Friday the 20th, 100.1 WJRZ will begin accepting donations while having a live broadcast on location. The broadcast will go on through the weekend and will end when the tractor-trailer is full.

Pre collection drop off sites are located at Investor Savings' Branches, Route 37 West in Toms River and North County Line Road in Jackson.

Clean out your closets and pantries. There's got to be some stuff you haven't used in some time, which will assist a pet or family in need.

Toula N. Rosebrock (of Diane Turton, Realtors) - Broker / Sales Associate - Specializing in all of Ocean County - Lacey Township Real Estate, Forked River / Lanoka Harbor

Unique Name ... Unique Agent ... Unique Service!

Websites: www.Toula.org www.ToulaRosebrock.com

www.OceanCountyNJRealEstateSales.com

Waterfront Properties, Single Family Homes, Multi Family Homes, Condos, Townhomes, Adult Communities, Vacant Land, Commercial Properties, 1031 Exchanges

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has extended the tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence. It also authorized a tax credit of up to $6,500 for qualified repeat home buyers.

$8,000 First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

•The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase.

•The tax credit does not have to be repaid.

•The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.

•The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

•The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.

•For homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before November 6, 2009, the income limits are $75,000 for single taxpayers and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.

•For homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010, single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

The $6,500 Move-Up / Repeat Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance

•To be eligible to claim the tax credit, buyers must have owned and lived in their previous home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years.

•The tax credit does not have to be repaid.

•The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500.

•The tax credit applies only to homes priced at $800,000 or less.

•The credit is available for homes purchased after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, the home purchase qualifies provided it is completed by June 30, 2010.

•Single taxpayers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

For more information, including a F.A.Q. list, visit www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com

New Jersey's coastal counties have been declared a disaster area by Governor Corzine.

Though the rain and wind subsided over the weekend, yesterday was the first day local and state officials could take a firsthand view of the damage. They were out in force on Long Beach Island, calling last week's storm the worst in a decade.

Most lagoon front property in Little Egg Harbor and Manahawkin fared well, some of the beaches on Long Beach Island were not so lucky.

Bulkheads and jetties saw some real action during the 4 days of wind and rain.

The beaches in Surf City handled the storm far better. Last year, Surf City received beach replenishment help from the Army Corps of Engineers. The wider beach and plenty of dune grass helped against the winds and high tides.

That's not to say the Surf City beach was debris free...

So as state and municipal officials continue to tally the costs to repair the damage on the Island, some were just enjoying the remnants of the storm.

Last week ended up on the positive side with a gain of 12/32nds on 30 year Fannies which is a noticeable change on a rate sheet. That makes 3 positive weeks in a row. Over all we have been in a tight range all year with hic ups along the way. I expect more of the same in the near term as Uncle Sam will continue to buy mortgages as necessary to calm the market down. So far Uncle Sam has purchased over $800 Billion in Mortgage backed securities and that number is expected to rise to $1 Trillion by time they step out of the mortgage market in early 2010. This buying has been the Fed's way of keeping rates low since they have no way of dropping Fed funds any lower. It is not likely we will see the Fed even consider an upward move in rates until the end of the 2nd quarter of 2010, at least that's what the financial wizards are saying this week.

This is a busy week of financial calendar, here is what to look out for:

• MondayNovember 16: October retail sales expected +0.9% ex auto +0.4%. This number pretty much came out in line with expectations and over all the market had a nice gain for the day
• TuesdayNovember 17: October PPI expected +0.5% with a core of +0.1%. The UP piece of this number is clear to any of us filling up our gas tank. Energy and food prices are up ... but the core rate is staying subdued which the market should like if things come in as forecast.
• Tuesday: October Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization expected +0.4% and 70.8. It appears that manufacturing is up a bit but the capacity is still low enough to keep prices from climbing. As capacity increases you can expect prices to climb which is the typical supply and demandequation. As this stands it is not likely to move the market.
• Wednesday November 18: October CPI expected +0.2% with a core of +0.1%. if the core stays at or below 0.2% it is a good news scenario for mortgage rates
• Wednesday: October Housing starts and Building permits Up 1.7% and up 0.9%. It continues to look like new construction has hit bottom.. it will take a few more positive months to prove this to the market before it exerts any pressure on the mortgage world.
• ThursdayNovember 19: Initial jobless claims expected up 3,000. I don't think that I have ever seen Thursday's number move the market. But it is always on the calendar! UE remains high and it is a lagging indicator, it will take some time before companies are secure enough to hire.
• Thursday: October LEI expected +0.4%. This is a step down from last month. LEI is a very forward looking number and the dip down is supportive of steady to lower rates.
• Friday: No news to worry about.

The biggie of the week is a coin toss, it could have been retail sales, that ended up being a good number for the credit markets. There are a lot of inflation pieces in CPI PPI and LEI which have the potential to push rates one way or another if there is a shocker. It would take a significant deviation in the real number vs the forecast number to have any significant effect on rates. I think we will need to look mostly to the stock market for direction. If stocks have a strong week it can be bad news for mortgage rates. So far I think it would be safe to say we may see a slight improvement by weeks end... Time will tell if my crystal ball is clear or not!

Have a great week!

Rob

Robert Rauf

Mortgage Banker

www.RobertRaufHomeLoans.com or my blog: http://activerain.com/blogs/rrauf

(732)223-1630 x102

Since 1987 I have been helping my clients fulfill their dream of home ownership!

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