Here is a summary of what Revel Casino Resort has to offer:

• Resort size: 6.3 million square feet
• 47 stories high
• situated on 20 acres
• 1,898 guest rooms (all with ocean views)
• 14 restaurants with world class chefs
• a 31,000 square foot spa
• 55,000 square feet of retail shops
• 2 theaters (5,500 seats and 700 seats)
• 3 nightclubs and 1 dayclub
• at least 10 swimming pools
• a 150,000 square foot casino
• 2.5 acre sky garden
• dramatic views of the beautiful beaches and Atlantic ocean

To see a video on the new Revel Casino….A NEW KIND OF DESTINATION  go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgAwClHOw44&feature=related

“American Cut gives me the opportunity to redefine and reset the bar for the American steakhouse experience,” said Executive Chef and Owner Marc Forgione.

The name American Cut is a nod to Marc’s father, Chef Larry Forgione, whose iconic New York City restaurant was called An American Place.

The restaurant comes to Revel in partnership with LDV Hospitality, a leading hospitality group headquartered in New York City. The space will feature approximately 300 seats, an energetic lounge, a grand meat bar and seafood raw bar, two private dining areas and a lively main dining room with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean. Guests at American Cut can look forward to an indulgent experience driven by Chef Forgione’s passion for locally influenced American cuisine, a sexy and vibrant ambiance and genuine hospitality.

Signature items will include his take on the ultimate surf and turf – a show-stopping, 28-day aged, 48-ounce Tomahawk Rib Eye Chop served with his delicate yet fulfilling Chili Lobster dish – as well as his famed Chicken Under-A-Brick dish for two that he also serves at his New York City restaurant.

Brooklyn-based Crème Design will take premium steakhouse dining to the next level by combining modern design with Art Deco accents in an 11,000-square-foot space. Upon arrival, guests are led toward the bar by a curving exterior glass window set upon a black and white marble floor with stacked grey stone walls and large-scale custom pendant lights. A monumental backdrop of dark stained wood showcases the bar offerings and tempers the daylight from the windows beyond.

The main dining room will be marked by the symmetry of leather wrapped structural columns with the bar at one end and the open show kitchen on the other. Guests looking to be part of the action can choose a table close to the kitchen to perhaps catch a sight of the Tomahawk Rib Eye being drawn from the large wood burning oven. A wine display showcases the extensive bottle selection and runs the entire length of the dining room. American Cut will also feature a private dining room fit for up to 60 people.

For the third consecutive year, Chef Marc Forgione has been awarded a Michelin star in the 2012 Michelin Guide for his New York City restaurant that shares his name, making him the youngest American-born chef and owner to receive the honor in consecutive years (2010, 2011, 2012). The restaurant also holds a two-star rating from The New York Times. Prior to opening Restaurant Marc Forgione, he served as chef de cuisine at BLT Prime, and played a key role in the openings of BLT Fish and BLT Market as well as the Washington D.C., San Juan, Puerto Rico and Dallas locations of BLT Steak. In 2010, he earned the coveted Iron Chef title after winning Food Network’s Next Iron Chef competition.

Minimum Age – 62

Maximum Age – None

Maximum Loan- Determined by the borrowers age and property value. Generally the borrower will need between 25% – 35% down plus closing costs of approximately $10,000- $12,000. Generally the maximum loan amount will be $485,000.

Income Requirements- None

Credit Requirements- None.

Time- 60 day closing.

Primary Residence Only.

Buyers may remain in the property until both spouses pass away. (Providing the taxes and insurance has been paid on time.)

Buyers can sell the house at any time and receive all proceeds after paying off the loan.

Heirs can sell the house and receive all proceeds after paying off the loan.

Heirs are not liable for the loan. But must pay off loan in order to receive any proceeds.

Loan Balance is increasing, not decreasing because they are not making any payments.

FORECLOSURE
In a foreclosure situation, a homeowner has defaulted on their loan so the bank takes it back as their property.  Sometimes, this is done with a Sheriff standing over you as you vacate your former residence.  This can have a devastating affect on your credit rating.  Your credit score, which is what is typically used by banks to determine your creditworthiness as well as the interest rate they will charge to lend you money, can be reduced by anywhere from 100-150 points. 

A foreclosure will stay on your credit report for seven years.  This will most likely set your credit rating too low for most reputable banks to want to lend you money for any reason.  Also, since many employers run credit checks on prospective employees, this can reflect negatively upon you, resulting in the possibility of denying your job application.

You will be ineligible to purchase another home on the Jersey Shore (or anywhere else) for 5-7 years after the foreclosure proceedings are finished.  If the home that goes into foreclosure was not your primary residence, you cannot purchase another home using Fannie Mae secured funding for at least seven years.  On any loan application you fill out after a foreclosure, they will ask if you have ever had a property foreclosed on.  Answering yes to this question may mean denial of the loan.  Lying (saying no) could mean mortgage fraud and possible legal charges.

SHORT SALE
A short sale occurs when a homeowner or their representative negotiates a deal with their mortgage company that allows them to sell their home for less than what is owed on it.   While this will still negatively affect your credit, a short sale is definitely the lesser of two evils.  For any homeowner who has had a major life change (loss of job or spouse, for example) and needs to move out of their current home before they fall too far behind, a short sale may be a possibility to consider.  If you have never been 30 days late, your credit score may only be hit by 50 points or less.  However, homeowners typically see a 50-100 point drop in their credit score after a short sale. 

Like a foreclosure, a short sale stays on your credit for seven years.  Unlike a foreclosure, it isn’t labeled as a “short sale”.  Instead, it appears as a loan that was paid off for less than was owed.  This shows prospective lenders on future loans that you didn’t just walk away from your financial responsibility.  Also, as long as you have kept your credit in good standing after a short sale, you will be eligible to purchase a home with a Fannie Mae backed loan within two years.  FHA will allow you to buy after three years.  When it comes time to fill out the paperwork for a mortgage loan, you can legally say you sold your home rather than lost it in foreclosure. 

If you have found yourself in a hard financial situation, don’t despair.  Many homeowners have faced similar situations.  Knowing the difference between a short sale and a foreclosure can help you make an informed decision.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have or if you need someone to negotiate a short sale deal with your mortgage company.  I’m here to help!

Like the rest of Margate and other barrier islands across the East Coast, we moved everything outside indoors, tied down anything that can move with strong winds, moved valuables to higher levels in the house and will be taking our jewelry and cash with us and put plywood on our windows.

We pray for minimal damage to everyone affected by this storm. Be safe and we hope to be in touch with all of you after the storm.

Home Affordability vs. Mortgage Accessibility

Emily Trinks
April 28th, 2011

Summary: One silver lining about the current state of the real estate market is that, for homebuyers with good credit and savings for a down payment, homes are more affordable than they’ve been in the past 35 years. However, affordability is not the only factor that impacts homeownership rates—we must also consider a prospective buyer’s access to mortgage credit. The research team at Zillow constructed indexes for home affordability and mortgage accessibility dating back to 1975. While affordability is at its highest level seen in the data, current mortgage accessibility is significantly lower than during the housing peak but still slightly stronger than historical levels. 

With home prices still falling and mortgage rates remaining near historic lows, optimists are reframing the picture of continuing home declines by pointing out that homes are more affordable than they’ve been in years. And this is, without a doubt, true. Of course, what’s changed considerably is accessibility to mortgage credit. In order to understand these two components of the housing market—affordability and accessibility, let’s look at each independently.

Our first step was to construct a time series that shows what percentage of gross income is consumed by mortgage expenses (Figure 1). We used the US median household income, the median value of a US home, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and assumed a 20% down payment as inputs in this time series. As the line gets lower, mortgage payments take up a smaller share of one’s income, and buying a home becomes a more attractive decision.

Current Mortgage News 3/10/11

What a week……..

 The Libyan crisis, Worsening employment news and now the Japanese Tsunami all contributed to large swings in the bond market the past week. The end result…. Not much change in mortgage rates. They are still hovering in the high 4’s to low 5’s.

 With rates low and inventory starting to stabilize, this may be the last chance to get a good deal on a new home. The shore market continues to remain strong with prices holding better than most areas of the country.

__________________________________________________________________

Gary Freedman has been in the Mortgage and Real Estate Industries for over 20 years. He has directly originated or managed the originations of over $700 Million in mortgage loans. He completed the prestigious B.F Saul Mortgage Company management training program in nine months. This training included working as an Underwriter, Appraiser, Processor and Closer. This training gives Gary the unique ability to understand the process from start to finish which allows his clients to experience a remarkably smooth loan process. Gary served as President of Granite Mortgage Corporation and Millennium.

Title Insurance Company from 1994-2000. He currently holds his Mortgage Brokers License in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania under License Number NMLS ID #146492. He has held the Real Estate Broker’s license in the state of Pennsylvania.

 To reach Gary Freedman please e-mail him at gary.freedman@tridentmortgage.com or via phone 609-487-7202.

 The opinions and views expressed here are solely those of Gary Freedman and do not represent those of Trident Mortgage or any of its affiliates, officers, members or employees. Gary Freedman is not a CPA, Attorney or Financial Advisor. The information provided is deemed to be generally accurate but should not be relied upon to make any decisions. You should consult your CPA, Attorney or Financial Advisor before acting on any of the information provided herein.

General Information

This big news this week is the turmoil in the Middle East, especially Libya. They export 2% of the world’s oil and all exports have been cut off due to the current events there. This sent oil prices spiking to $120 a barrel before settling back after Saudi Arabia assured the markets it would make up any lost supplies.

The potential disruption of oil caused a flight to quality. This simply means traders started buying more US bonds and other government backed secured instruments. The benefit from this is that put downward pressure on rates pushing mortgage rates back down into the 4.875% range.

The markets continue to remain volatile. With rates still very low at least for now and housing prices at or near the bottom, there is not likely much more time left for home buyers to get any deals.

Stay tuned for future events in the Middle East that could change the market (and interest rates) very quickly.

Gary Freedman has been in the Mortgage and Real Estate Industries for over 20 years. He has directly originated or managed the originations of over $700 Million in mortgage loans. He completed the prestigious B.F Saul Mortgage Company management training program in nine months. This training included working as an Underwriter, Appraiser, Processor and Closer. This training gives Gary the unique ability to understand the process from start to finish which allows his clients to experience a remarkably smooth loan process. Gary served as President of Granite Mortgage Corporation and Millennium.

Title Insurance Company from 1994-2000. He currently holds his Mortgage Brokers License in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania under License Number NMLS ID #146492. He has held the Real Estate Broker’s license in the state of Pennsylvania.

 To reach Gary Freedman please e-mail him at gary.freedman@tridentmortgage.com or via phone 609-487-7202.

 The opinions and views expressed here are solely those of Gary Freedman and do not represent those of Trident Mortgage or any of its affiliates, officers, members or employees. Gary Freedman is not a CPA, Attorney or Financial Advisor. The information provided is deemed to be generally accurate but should not be relied upon to make any decisions. You should consult your CPA, Attorney or Financial Advisor before acting on any of the information provided herein.

Revel Casino Construction Site

Revel Entertainment Group successfully secured the financing needed to complete its half-built $2.8 billion casino project Thursday, ending months of uncertainty and potentially marking an upswing in Atlantic City’s economic future.

Revel Chief Executive Officer Kevin DeSanctis confirmed Thursday that the company finalized a $1.15 billion funding deal at about 1 p.m., which will allow 2,000 construction workers to head back to the South Inlet site in an ambitious effort to complete the casino in 15 months. He said some construction workers were on site Thursday and that the number of workers there will steadily grow.

Officials project the casino will employ 5,500 workers after it opens in summer 2012.

The company closed on two private loans for $850 million and $305 million, replacing Revel’s most recent financing plan of three separate loans totaling the same amount. The deal allowed Revel officials to award about $600 million in contracts Thursday for the continued construction.

This is great news for Atlantic City and the surrounding Jersey Shore area. I have often said that the Revel casino project will be the catalyst in bringing enthusiasm and growth to Atlantic City. Now that the construction is commencing, there will be ripple effect of positive things happening in Atlantic City from new jobs and more investors following the money trail and re-investing in the revitalization of the city. The union hall is busy and the workers have been making their way back to the city in to get their assignments and start work. You can already see things turning for the better.

To read the full story published in the Press of Atlantic City by Michael Clark, please click here.

Sherri Lilienfeld, Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors, 9218 Ventnor Avenue, Margate, NJ  08402, (609) 287-1795, Sherri@NJ-ShoreRealEstate.com

Recently, I received a two phone calls where my clients explained that there was repair work required by them due to a defect, and that their plumber/electrician/handyman exclaimed “your home inspector should have caught that!” The implication was that I missed the problem, and if so, I’d be liable for the repair cost. These calls naturally left me with that initial sinking feeling that I did not do my job, so I wanted to get to the bottom of things to see if I had indeed slipped up. In my fact-finding, I was alarmed to find out that in both cases, the “issues” were not so much defects requiring repair, as they were contractors looking for work in a declining home repair market. Coupled with the fact that I operate primarily in a resort area (where owners are not local and have to rely on local tradespeople to evaluate the situation), the perfect storm now exists for less than honorable contractors to create work for themselves at the expense of home inspectors, who are fingered as the culprit by the contractor.

One instance involved a client who was extensively renovating an older home she bought. In the process of changing out a vanity, the sink trap disintegrated. The contractor parlayed this small issue into replacement of lengths of copper domestic water pipe and the shower piping and valve, plus other incidentals. I was told by the client that according to the plumber the plumbing was a “mess”. And, of course, that “your home inspector should have caught that”. Fortunately, the general contractor on the jobsite saved the plumbing parts that were removed, and I confirmed my suspicions after seeing the reported “mess”. After looking over the work that was done and the pipes and components removed, I believe she was overcharged for work that was in fact unnecessary. The general renovation contractor (who did not hire the plumber) offered up that he had the same observation which he also shared with the owner.

Another instance involved a client who was told by the electrician that her electric wiring was not “up to code” and that it would need to be completely replaced. He said, of course, “your home inspector should have caught that”. Well, for the uninformed, there is no requirement anywhere that says that a home built in 1960 must be brought up to current code, except if there is renovation work being performed in that area. This is a make-work comment. If this comment were true, nearly every home built more than five years ago would require the services of a contractor to replace windows, raise handrails, install hurricane strapping, replace staircases, and perform a myriad of other things every few years to bring the home up to “code”, which changes every few years. No preexisting home would be sold in this environment. Replacing an outlet or installing a ceiling fan does not require the rewiring the entire house, unless you are a contractor looking for a Caribbean vacation. Unfortunately, this client went ahead with the work and needlessly spent the money.

Besides these two instances, I have been brought in on several situations where homeowners wanted a second opinion on items they were told needed to be done on their homes by contractors. When I examined the situations, I can only use the word “egregious” to explain what the contractors were attempting to do. Case in point: A four-year old home where a deck extension had been installed without correct flashing, resulting in water intrusion into the pressboard subfloor beneath vinyl flooring. The owner was looking to take action against the builder for the subsequent damage, which a contractor they brought in told them would cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to fix. Mind you, the area of damaged floor was about 4″ by 10″ in size in a corner of the room. No framing was compromised. After looking at the “damage” and the likely cause, I figured that on the outside, $800 to $1,000 would completely fix the water intrusion problem, probably less.

A second problem called to my attention was a leak into a ceiling over a kitchen. The owners of a recently-purchased renovated home suspected a leak from where a second floor deck attached to the home, so they called in a deck contractor, whose solution was to remove the deck, install new flashing and reinstall the deck at a cost of $7,500. The owners paid a deposit but contacted me and asked for a second opinion. What I found was a hole in the exterior wall where the air conditioning refrigerant line sets enter the home (the condensing unit was on the deck, hence the hole for the refrigerant lines). The renovator never sealed off the hole, so when it rained, the water went in the hole, into the wall and leaked onto the ceiling below. The fix? $3.00 worth of putty from Lowes. That’s a lot less than $7,500. The people were able to get their deposit back, thank goodness.

The reality is, there are a lot of contractors out there that had tons of work two years ago but are now scratching around for tidbits in this uncertain home construction/renovation market. Rather than go on unemployment, or file for bankruptcy, the less-than-honorable ones are resorting to “make-work” projects and overcharging, or both. And, it’s convenient to tell a recent home buyer that “your home inspector should have caught that”, which deflects the recent homebuyer’s anger. If you find yourself in this situation, please call your home inspector right away. If nothing else, your inspector can guide you through the process of resolving the issue without you being overcharged. Or, if the inspector indeed did miss a material defect that was present at the time of the inspection, steps can be taken to amicably resolve the dispute at that time.