|
Real Estate
in Marlboro New Jersey
Real Estate in
Marlboro New Jersey is very valuable.
Whether you are interested in a colonial, bi-level, townhouse,
condo, ranch, adult community, split level or just a nice piece of land Marlboro New Jersey is for
you. This is if you are interested
in selling or buying. Marlboro NJ Homes for sale are a good
long term buy. Homes for sale in NJ are good
to have.
Search Homes for Sale in Marlboro NJ
Search NJ Homes for Sale
This is from a recent
article from APP
Their dream home a living nightmare
Builder's bankruptcy leaves new residents in lurch
MARLBORO — When the Jarashow family moved into their new
home this summer, they thought they were leaving their struggles with
flooded backyards and drainage problems behind them.
David Jarashow will be the first to tell you, half in good
humor and half out of frustration, that he is cursed. Two years ago, he
lived in Marlboro Summit, a 70-unit development on Tennent Road where entire backyards
would become lagoons whenever it rained. In June, hoping to escape that
scenario, and with dreams of living in a bigger house with a bigger —
and dry — yard, he moved into his new $1 million home in Crine West.
The Jarashows are one of the last families to purchase and
actually move into a home in Crine West. The builder, Kara Homes Inc., one
of the largest builders in Monmouth and Ocean counties, filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection on Oct. 5. It owes creditors — including banks,
suppliers, employees and customers — $227 million.
Crine West is one of three developments within Marlboro's
boundaries that have been abandoned by Kara Homes
as it struggles to pull itself out of a tangled pit of debt and
mismanagement. Yet unlike the smaller Emerald Hills and Buckley Estates
developments in Marlboro, Crine West is less than half finished, as roughly
35 homes of the approved 84 have been built.
No one living in Crine West is happy about their environs. The
roads have not been completely paved. Storm drains jut out from unfinished
curbs, still encased in wood bracings. Manhole covers rise from the roads
like giant molehills. Whenever it rains, it floods: The incomplete drainage
system within the development gets overwhelmed quickly, said resident Mark
Ellenberg. Striking $1.3 million homes border on vast swaths of debris, mud
and black tarp fencing, as well as skeletal wooden frames or naked concrete
foundations of houses that may never be finished.
"It's weird how there's a row of finished houses, and
then at the front, near the entrance, there's that concrete foundation and
nothing else," Jarashow said. "It's not exactly the rolling hills
and vistas we expected when we moved here."
But there may be some light at the end of the tunnel for
Jarashow and his neighbors. On Nov. 20, Marlboro became the first
municipality in the state to pursue the $4.75 million in performance bonds
posted by Kara
Homes for Emerald
Hills, Buckley Estates and Crine West. If the township can get the bond,
the money will be used to finish the incomplete roads and drainage systems
within the three developments, said township construction official Joseph
LaBruzza.
"We had to do something to help our residents," said
Mayor Robert Kleinberg. Officials with Kara Homes Inc. and David Bruck, the
company's bankruptcy attorney, could not be reached for comment.
Other municipalities have explored taking action similar to
Marlboro's, but have opted to wait and see what happens in bankruptcy
court. In Stafford, officials put Kara Homes
on notice that they would pursue the performance bonds posted on the
half-finished The Landings at Manahawkin development if water and sewer
work is not completed, but they have taken no further action.
Eric H. Lindenman, an attorney representing Bond Safeguard
Insurance Co. and Lexon Insurance Co., through which Kara Homes
issued $12.2 million in escrow deposit bonds, said it is too soon to
comment on what impact Marlboro's action will have.
"Everyone has to protect themselves in a situation such
as this," Lindenman said. "Everyone is staking their claim and
positioning themselves as the case goes forward."
Whether Kara
Homes can escape
liquidation is unclear. On Thursday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael B.
Kaplan ruled that the company can receive a $350,000 loan from Bear Sterns
that will allow Kara
Homes to remain
afloat for two weeks.
Kara's agreement with Bear Stearns will give the company
enough money to pay administrative costs, rent, insurance premiums and
security at its developments. Kara needs to repay the loan at a 15 percent
annual interest rate. The agreement gives Bear Stearns a say in Kara's
decisions. The parties are scheduled to return to court Nov. 29 to argue
about the rest of the $2.6 million loan originally requested by Kara Homes.
Kara Homes Inc. currently lists part of its assets as $5.3
million in cash bonds posted for various construction projects throughout
the state, according to its bankruptcy filing.
David Jarashow considers himself lucky to be living in Crine West.
He finds perspective on his situation simply by walking out of his
driveway. There to the side of his property is a towering hill of topsoil,
where, by now, Brian Briskin's home was supposed to be standing.
Briskin said he is one of the last homebuyers to put a
six-figure deposit down on a home at Crine West. He did so 30 days before Kara Homes filed for Chapter 11
protection. Briskin is now among 300 homeowners around the state who paid
deposits for a house in a Kara
Homes development
that has not been built.
"It's really quite unfortunate, because when I paid my
last check, (Kara
Homes) had to know
what was happening with the company," Briskin said. "Now I think
about it every day. We paid into the six figures, I'll leave it at that. We
were so excited at this opportunity, and committed to the builder. And we
were just really let down."
Briskin and Jarashow tell similar stories about what prompted
them to buy homes in Crine West. Briskin lives in the Woodcliff development
in Marlboro and was looking for a bigger home in a neighborhood that
offered more of a sense of community. In shopping around for a new home,
Briskin was quickly seduced by the interior beauty of the models shown by Kara Homes, and made fast friends with
the people who would be his neighbors — soon his kids were running
through hallways with their kids.
"They build a sexy house," said Mark Ellenberg, who
gave an impromptu tour of his home and the half-finished neighborhood. A
retired attorney turned real estate broker, Ellenberg's was one of the
first 10 families to move into Crine West.
He, too, purchased his home after being impressed with various
show models. Ellenberg's home is a stunning example of why Kara Homes grew
so fast: A foyer that greets visitors with dramatic sweeping dual
staircases; soaring cathedral ceilings; spacious rooms; a sprawling kitchen
with a panoramic view of his back yard, a small forest of slender white
birch.
Briskin said that on the advice of his attorney, he must wait
until Kara Homes builds his house or his
contract is declared void due to inaction, which will occur in June.
"The only thing that keeps me with a reasonably
optimistic viewpoint is this: It's a resonably desirable piece of land in a
desirable town," Briskin said. "Someone is going to build this at
some point. The only problem is the uncertainty. You don't know if it's
gonna be a year or a decade."
|
Tip #23
Home Buying Tip, Big Ticket Items:
Before you buy a home you
should avoid buying any big ticket items.
When this is found out during the credit process or reporting it
can make mortgage banks nervous.
Even if you will be able to get a loan, you might not be
able to get the best available interest rate.
|
|
Tip #24
Home Selling Tip, Listing Right:
A common mistake when people list their house (especially in a
buyers’ market) is list the house at a high price that they
don’t anticipate to sell it at.
They figure that if they get it then GREAT but if not they can
always lower the price.
This is not a good practice because what
mostly happens is it will stay on the market for a while and make
potential home buyers
nervous because it’s been on the market so long.
|
|
Home
