Open House - Sunday, Nov. 1st - 1 to 3pm

I know, I know, the Eagles are playing @ 1pm on Sun. Nov. 1st, but Life & Business go on. One of my fellow agents, Laura Derrick, will be filling in for me at an OPEN HOUSE at one of my favorite listings. In fact, there will be 3 OPEN HOUSES on this street on Sunday, so it's a great day to go shopping! Laura can help you with any of the 3 so please stop by to see her first.

My listing, is located at 117 Magnolia Drive in Pennsville, NJ. Here's a sneak peek: http://www.117magnoliadr.com/ This terrific home is in Warren Park Estates, the newest and one of the nicest, neighborhoods in Pennsville. Go to http://www.pennsville.org/ if you'd like to learn more about this great town. One of the most charming things about my hometown is the park in the center of town. It's known as RiverViewBeach Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxaUe72Tjdo

Once upon a time, the park had a swimming pool, a roller coaster, merry-go-round, bumper cars, a whip, a donkey ride and even a tunnel of love! This was a really HOT place to visit. Folks routinely came down from Philadelphia to enjoy the day at the park, situated on the Delaware River. At some point, the park closed, there was a fire on the roller coaster and the entire area was overgrown and dilapidated. When I was growing up in Pennsville in the 70's, the park was actually an ugly mess.

That all changed in 1976, the year of America's Bicentennial, the track of land was purchased by the township under NJ's Greenacres Program. It is now one of the most attractive, natural parks I've ever seen.

Just think how nice it would be to own a home in Pennsville where you could enjoy our park, along with your family and pets, on a regular basis. Priceless..........

http://www.pvhistorical.njcool.net/museum1.htm

Workforce Investment Board aka 'WIB'

I haven't had much time in the office today because I had to attend my first WIB meeting.


The Workforce Investment Board is a committee of business people from both Cumberland and Salem Counties. It is comprised of somewhere between 31 to 51 individuals - some from large employers and some from small employers. For some reason, the Salem County Freeholders decided they wanted a Realtor on the board.

Since I don't seem to be able to say, "No" these days to requests for volunteering, here I am learning about WIB.

Today's meeting focused on some new programs at the Salem Community College. http://www.salemcc.edu/ SCC has some new, exciting programs for students like: Sustainable Energy Technology and Nuclear Energy Technology. It sounds to me like there will be a good number of GOOD jobs in the very near future. I believe SCC is one of only 6 institutions offering these degrees right now.

Another part of the meeting today highlighted Salem & Cumberland's 'One Stop Career Centers'. Boy are these offices in demand right now. The career centers help high school students, young adults who are out of school, returning adult students and even displaced adults. I'm pretty sure that most folks in my area don't even know about these services.
www.salemcc.edu/salem/one-stop.html

So, please do me a favor and spread the word. If you know anyone in this area who is struggling in a dead-end job and wants to change professions, has recently been laid off or is disabled.........there is help out there for them. Please have them call SCC @ 856-299-2100 - ask for the One Stop Career Center. Or feel free to call me, Chris Hooks @ 856-628-2710. Email works to: askchris@coldwellbanker.com

Now that I'm a WIB Board member, I should know where to point them. Best Wishes!

Pennsville Woman's Club - 'You All Have A Hidden Talent!'

This is a thank you to the Woman's Club in Skagway, Alaska. When I was on vacation in 2008 and touring the small town of Skagway, I noticed a church who was having a 'flower show' for the local Woman's Club. It caught my eye right away as I am a member of the Pennsville Woman's Club. http://www.pennsville.org/

After a small admission fee, my family was treated to a lovely display of plants and flowers - all grown by my GFWC sisters. http://www.gfwc.org/ And they were all beautiful! There were refreshments, too.

You may be wondering why I am thinking about something that happened a year-and-a-half ago. Well, at our monthly luncheon today the announcement was made that it's that time again - it's time for the annual 'contests'. You can participate in a writing contest, photography, cake baking (or cupcakes, if you prefer!), fudge making, horticulture and more.

I've been a member for 2 years but have chosen not to jump in. This year? I just might! The question is: What is my hidden talent? I have no idea!

I can frame, but that's not a category. I can bake, but not as good as my friend Cyndi Boehly - so forget that cause I don't want to embarrass myself. I'm wondering if I should try to grow some flowers? How hard can that be? The Women in Skagway made it look achievable.

Thanks, Ladies!

If you need a quick sale......

Just an idea for you. If you want to explore the possibilities for a quick Real Estate sale, consider having an auction. It's the fastest growing niche for the marketing of properties right now.

This is Joseph F. Pino. He's my Broker and my best friend.........and he's a kick*** Auctioneer! He really is! And if your house is full of stuff.......he's your man. He and his crew can auction that off, too. No muss - no fuss - for you, that is. They work really hard, while having fun though. Pretty soon they'll have a website for you to look at. I'll let you know when it's up and running.

The last listing of mine that Joe auctioned for me was in Elsinboro, on the water. It was a mess of a house but we attracted several bidders. My sellers were very, very happy with the process but most importantly they were happy with the bid that they accepted that day. They were even happier in 30 days when they went to settlement and collected their check!

Give me a call if you want more info on this terrific option for selling property. Joseph F. Pino and The Team of Chris Hooks - we can take care of it, Lickety Split!

Dodging Foreclosure

I have 3 listings currently that are teetering on foreclosure. This is, unfortunately, quite common now-a-days. One of my listings is undercontract and we are at the mercy of the mortgage company's approval of an agreement of sale. I've written about this one before. My client has not paid their mortgage payment since 2007. I would have thought that Option One would have jumped at the chance to sell this one and move it off of their books, but that does not seem to be the case. The agreement of sale is over $140,000 less than what is owed.

The second property is now priced $60,000 less than the mortgage amount. Once we obtain a buyer, we will try our best to negotiate a short sale with that mortgage company. The house is in decent enough shape.......I've certainly seen worse! My client has not paid a mortgage payment for over a year.

The third property is just entering the foreclosure process. My clients are only 2 months behind in their payments, so nothing has been filed just yet. Our strategy for this property is to try to find an investor to offer just enough to cover all of the expenses. My Sellers would see a big, fat -0- on the bottom of their settlement sheet. The clock is ticking on this one, for sure.

The strange thing for me is how common these situations are now. I've been practicing Real Estate for 17 years. I had been involved in short sales a few times over the years..........I had done quite a bit of work for banks after they had taken possession of foreclosed properties, but I never lost one of my listings to a sheriff sale until 2008. I have now lost a total of 3 and am trying to hold off the above-mentioned 3. The thing is that in the situations where I lost the properties to foreclosure, my clients never even told me what was going on! I had no idea that they were in such distress!

Today's piece of advice is very, very simple: If you are in trouble with your mortgage.........COMMUNICATE with your mortgage company/bank and COMMUNICATE with your agent. We know what to do. We know this process. We care and most importantly, we can help you. Everything will be alright.


Chris Hooks 856-628-2710

Please Have Mercy!

I've been working on a file for over 1,000 days. It's been teetering on the brink of foreclosure for quite awhile. We are on our 6th set of contracts and hoping to settle within the next 30 days. After all this time, a new judgement has popped up against my client. It's one of those dastardly credit card judgements.......not a small amount. It's for $9,000. The credit card company knows that we can't complete our closing without this being paid, or released.

Even though the client has no money to speak of, the credit card company is unwilling at this point to release the judgement. They still hold out hope that they will receive some money. The thing is that the client has no money! They have lost 2 businesses and now their home. They are living with family and only receive approx. $1,000 per month in income.

If we are unable to go to settlement, the folks who stand to get hurt is the buyer. They will lose out on their dream home, their anticipated $8,000 first-time-home-buyer tax credit, the monies they have put out-of-pocket for applications and inspections, etc. The BUYER is the one who will really bear the brunt of this situation. The property will go to foreclosure and guess what? The credit card company will not receive any of that money when the sheriff sells this home on the steps of the courthouse on Nov. 30th.

So, I ask Capital One and their attorneys to Please Have Mercy! Please use your common sense and realize that your investment has soured and there is no hope for payment. While I am sorry for this situation.................please don't punish the buyer who is caught in the middle.

Please Have Mercy!



Chris Hooks 856-628-2710

What a Shame........

Today I was asked to look at a property that had been tenant occupied until Sept. 1st. The tenant had lived there for a year and planned on buying the home. Apparently, this individual was so excited to make the house her own that she began to renovate it, before she even owned it. She wanted to customize it to her family and their needs. Well, let me be the first to tell you that I just don't understand what her family's needs were. She removed stairs and replaced them with other stairs that just didn't make sense. She tore out the kitchen upstairs and decided to install one downstairs. She cut-up rooms that once were acceptable as bedrooms and turned them into dens, at best. She tore down fences and cut down trees. She changed closets into strange bathrooms..........and more.

As if that wasn't enough, she never bothered to share her activities with the current owner..........she never even bothered to get permission. Uh oh...............

My dilemma is how in the world to set a market value for this distressed home? How will my new client know exactly how much damage the tenant has done to her checkbook? I believe I must actually prepare 2 market analysis: one as if the house had never been renovated and is in average condition and one as it now stands. These 2 reports should show clearly what could have been.............and what truly is.

I am hoping that I can help my client out of a very big, a very stressful hole.

As I said............What a Shame.............