Home Buyers Market In South Jersey

 Excerpt

A new national survey says affordability is a growing concern across the country for people considering buying homes, but that’s not such a major problem these days in Rose Kelly’s corner of the market.

In a recent ad, the Galloway Township-based agent with Century 21 Frick Realtors featured five residential listings. Two were in Egg Harbor City, the others were in Galloway, Mullica and Egg Harbor Townships.

“A lot of homes are upside-down right now,” Kelly said, meaning the owners owe more on them than the houses are worth. “A lot of people haven’t been able to pay their mortgages because of casinos closing. The availability is definitely here. It is a buyer’s market.”

Over the first seven months of this year, the number of closed sales increased in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean counties, but prices were lower in three of those counties.

In Atlantic County, the number of single-family home sales climbed almost 23 percent from January through July over those same months in 2015, but the median price dropped more than 13 percent.

“You can actually own a home for less than you pay in rent,” she tells customers, who probably don’t know all the programs available to encourage first-time buyers.

In rural areas of the county, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program lets first-timers wrap closing costs into their mortgages.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/business/real_estate/housing-affordability-less-of-a-concern-in-south-jersey/article_13a204ac-7c58-11e6-a0e9-7f4aa1a20a4d.html