LITTLE SILVER

Little Silver and neighboring peninsula towns Fair Haven and Shrewsbury borough all have been ordered by the Monmouth County Tax Board to conduct revalulations of property this year, said Stephen Walters, tax assessor for the three municipalities. The last revaluation was done in 2002, he said.

Fair Haven officials filed an appeal of its revaluation order in October after Mayor Michael Halfacre announced at the Oct. 12 meeting that the council “determined it is not in the best interest of the taxpayers” to take that action.

Officials in Shrewsbury and Little Silver decided to proceed with their revaluations, Walters said. Little Silver’s request for proposals are out and are returnable on Jan. 31.

Usually a revaluation is ordered either when 10 years has passed or when the ratio between market value and assessed value has dropped under 80 percent. County tax board data show that Fair Haven’s ratio is 77.02 percent, Little Silver is 77.40 percent and Shrewsbury’s is 74.72 percent for 2011.

“It’s the dynamics. Some towns fight them off, others feel it’s in best interest to make (tax burden) distribution fair,” Walters said. “No one will step up and say they like taxation, but there is some comfort level if people know there’s a uniformity in assessments.”

A Jan. 31 return date for proposals could allow the Little Silver Borough Council to hire a company in February, meaning that inspectors could be on the streets starting in March and working into the summer, looking at individual properties, he said.

No cost has been estimated because there are only nine companies qualified by the state to conduct revaluations, he said, and a price will vary by availability and workload.

After the company analyzes the data collected, property owners will get their opportunity to look at the results and correct any physical errors in the inspectors’ findings, Walters said.

“Many times the meetings with owners is to confirm facts, such as how many bedrooms there are,” he said. “If there is a question (raised) during the meeting, the firm will send someone to the property and make a correction.”

The specific assessment for a property is not addressed in those meetings, he said. That would be addressed by filing a tax appeal in county tax court.

Despite the decade old assessments, Little Silver hasn’t seen many tax appeals filed by property owners. Last year there was one tax appeal filed for every 100 properties in the borough, Walters said.

Based on past history, Walters said that 20 percent of the properties will go up in assessed value, 20 percent will go down and 60 percent will stay the same.

Larry Higgs

Here’s a closer look at rates for the week ending Jan. 19:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.88 percent, with an average 0.8 point, a new all-time low and dropping from last week’s previous record of 3.89 percent. A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.74 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.17 percent, with an average 0.8 point, up slightly from last week’s record low of 3.16 percent. Last year at this time, 15-year rates averaged 4.05 percent.
• 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.82 percent, with an average 0.7 point, the same as last week’s average. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.69 percent.
• 1-year ARMs: averaged 2.74 percent, with an average 0.6 point, dropping from last week’s 2.76 percent average. Last year at this point, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.25 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac

FREEHOLD, NJ – Did you face foreclosure in 2009 or 2010? If so, the Monmouth County Office of Consumer Affairs says you may be eligible for a free independent review of your case.

“If you underwent foreclosure action in 2009 or 2010, a review of your case may be a good idea,” county Consumer Affairs Director Annmarie Howley said. “A review will determine whether an individual suffered financial injury and should receive compensation or other remedies due to errors or other problems during the home foreclosure process.”

Independent foreclosure reviews let borrowers who faced foreclosure on their primary residences between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010 request reviews of their cases if they believe they suffered financial injury as a result of errors in the foreclosure processes of these loan servicers:

America’s Servicing Company, Aurora Loan Services, Bank of America, Beneficial,

Chase, Citibank, CitiFinancial, Citi Mortgage, Country-Wide, EMC, EverBank/Everhome, Freedom Financial, GMAC Mortgage, HFC, HSBC, IndyMac Mortgage Services,

MetLife Bank, National City, PNC Mortgage, Sovereign Bank, Sun-Trust Mortgage,

U.S. Bank, Wachovia, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo.

The reviews were ordered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in April 2011 after federal regulators found unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices among these large, federally regulated mortgage servicers.

Situations that may have led to financial injury include, but are not limited to:

• The mortgage balance at the time of the foreclosure action was more than you actually owed.
• Fees charged or mortgage payments were inaccurately calculated, processed or applied.
• You were doing everything a modification agreement required but the foreclosure sale still happened.
• The foreclosure action occurred while you were protected by bankruptcy.
• A foreclosure proceeded on a military member in violation of Service members Civil Relief Act protections.

“You can start the process by completing a form and submitting it prior to the April 30, 2012 deadline,” Howley said. “You must obtain a review form from the Office of the Comptroller of Currency directly. Our staff may also be able to answer some general questions about this process, but getting the form is the first step.”

Nationally, more than 4 million letters were mailed to potentially eligible borrowers with request-for-review forms and instructions on how to complete and return them. The form lets you describe what you think went wrong. Simply answer the questions to tell your story, include any additional documents you think relevant and return the form by April 30, 2012.

If you believe you are eligible and have not received a form, you can request one by calling 888-952-9105, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For additional information and answers to basic questions about the review process, visit www.IndependentForeclosureReview.com. Reviews are conducted by independent consultants working under the direction of the federal regulators and may take several months to complete.

“The Consumer Affairs staff is available to assist consumers who believe they may have been a victim of fraud or unfair business practices,” Howley said. “Providing information and answering questions for residents is a large part of what we do.”

The office is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is located in the Hall of Records Annex at One East Main Street in Freehold. You can stop by the office or contact the office by phone at 732-431-7900 or by emailing consumeraffairs@co.monmouth.nj.us.

The county’s Consumer Affairs department is a law enforcement agency, created and funded by the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. It protects against consumer fraud and dishonest and unscrupulous business practices by enforcing the state Consumer Fraud Act and other regulations. Additional information about fraud and other consumer affairs programs can be found on the county Web site at www.visitmonmouth.com.

“The county’s Consumer Affairs office enforces consumer laws and helps people whether violations are present or not,” said Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, liaison to the department. “Each year the department mediates more than 900 complaints and recovers more than $600,000 for consumers. This is one of the many important ways the county is able to assist residents.”

The goal of the Zumba event is to raise $100,000 to find a cure for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

The donation for the Zumbathon charity event is $35 and will be limited to the first 1,600 participants. There will also be limited box seating to view the 90-minute event for a $25 donation. After the Zumbathon, Kass will be hosting a casual luncheon that will also provide a special photo opportunity with Kass for a $25.

The doors open at 10 a.m. and the Zumba class will begin at 11 a.m. The luncheon will begin after the class at 12:30 p.m. For more information or to register to participate, please visit www.clubsforthequest.com or call 732-223-2100.

The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders has established the Monmouth County HOME First-Time Home Buyers Program (FTHB Program) that is designed to provide financial assistance to low and moderate income families to purchase an affordable home. This assistance is in the form of a deferred payment second mortgage loan not to exceed $10,000. These funds are to be used for down payment and closing costs.

The FTHB Program works together with local banks and mortgage companies to offer this program to you.

• All homes will be inspected to ensure that it meets all local codes and standards. If the inspection fails for any reason, those areas must be repaired according to the guidelines of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• All homes built before January 1, 1978 must be inspected for lead-based paint. Monmouth County Community Development will perform a visual assessment for lead-based paint. If our office sees any indication of lead-based paint, the house will fail inspection and the lead-based paint must be remediated according to the guidelines of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• New homes must comply with standard in the current edition of the Model Energy Code published by the Council of American Building Officials (CABO).
• ALL REPAIRS MUST BE COMPLETED PRIOR TO CLOSING.

If you qualify to receive assistance from the FTHB Program, you will be required to follow certain rules and restrictions for five years:

• During the five year affordability period, you will be required to maintain your property as your primary residence. You may not rent, sell, or vacate your home. You may not put your home in anyone else’s name. You will be required to abide by the Monmouth County Subordination Policy.
• If you fail to abide by the guidelines of the Monmouth County FTHB Program for the entire five year affordability period, you will be required to repay Monmouth County the entire amount of your assistance, interest free.
• Monmouth County reserves the right to contact you at any point during the five year affordability period to ensure you are following all guidelines set forth by this program.

In Monmouth & Ocean Counties 1,018 properties were sold. That means nearly 40 families per day were moving into their new home!

Looking at December 2011 Market Comparison for our core marketing area (Monmouth & Ocean Counties). Single family sales has risen by over 6% and we are still seeing a decrease in property values of nearly 4%. The properties are taking slightly less time to sell and the overall absorption rate is down by over 3.5%. Condominiums, however, tell a slightly different story. Sales are down by slightly over 8% and the decrease in property values is slightly over 10% and the absorption rate has risen by nearly 6%. Adult Communities has shown the largest change with sale up by nearly 14%, property values up by slightly over 3% and the absorption rate is down by nearly 6.5%.

When we break out single family in Monmouth & Ocean Counties, Monmouth has shown some significant improvement over Ocean with sales, property values and absorption rates significantly better.

About 50 boat slips of various sizes are available for the upcoming season, according to Councilman Jacob Hoffmann, who is also a member of the Atlantic Highlands Harbor Commission. Hoffmann informed the Borough Council at its meeting Wednesday.

“Having available slips is not unusual,” Hoffmann said.
There are 712 total spots, which includes mooring spaces for sailboats, said Borough Administrator Adam Hubeny.

Each year, in December, the contracts for the pending year are due. If a boater does not respond to the inquiries, the slip is listed as available.

For more information, call 732-291-1670.
Terry Gauthier Muessig: 732-492-8985; tgauthier@njpressmedia.com

Permits for the Church Street lot are currently on sale for $200 for residents and $225 for non-residents.
Permits are good through Jun. 30.

Contact the Office of the Township Clerk at 732-615-2015 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, for more information.

Items must be loose and mixed in one can, nothing tied or in plastic trash bags. For more info visit www.bradleybeachonline.com.

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