Designated Realtor®—April 2022

DESIGNATED

REALTOR

®

ISSUE 2: April 2022

BRIDGING THE FAIR HOUSING EDUCATION GAP Five Most Expensive NJ Towns

Free CE Classes for Fair Housing Month

NJREALTOR.COM

I M P O R TA N T D AT E S & D E A D L I N E S

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

1 April Fools’ Day

1-6 National Association of

7 4 Board of Directors Meeting Independence Day

2 Ramadan Begins 5-6 NAR Realtor Summit

®

Broker

10 Palm Sunday 15 Good Friday

Passover Begins

17 Easter

Realtors® Legislative Meetings

2 Eid al-Fitr 5 Cinco de Mayo 8 Mother’s Day 30 NJ Realtors

® Office Closed—Memorial Day

9 Realtors

®

JULY

Day in Trenton

9 Eid al-Adha Begins

14 Flag Day 17 NJ Realtors

® Office Closed—Juneteenth

19 Father’s Day

18 Tax Day 22 Earth Day

Orthodox Good Friday

24 Orthodox Easter

WHAT’S BUZZING IN REAL ESTATE?

1

NJ Realtors® President White and NJ Realtors® CEO Jarrod Grasso testified at a New Jersey Assembly Housing Committee meeting, expressing support for A2246, which creates a tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

2

National Fair Housing Month commemorates the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Click here to identify discriminatory real estate practices and complete the National Association of Realtors® Fairhaven training simulation.

3

Help your buyers through the unpredictability of bidding wars with debunked myths from Apartment Therapy.

4

2023 National Association of Realtors® committee applications are now open! Submit up to five applications for committees of interest and submit your applications before May 13.

Click here to apply.

5

It’s official! NJ Realtors® is hosting Realtors® Day in Trenton on June 9. Follow us social media @njrealtors for updates.

6

Click here for tools and resources to share with your office to celebrate Fair Housing Month.

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Sustainability Swaps for Your Home and Business

BY ERIN McFEETERS

Climate change and global warming aren’t going away, and the ecosystem in our state must be protected. It may seem like a daunting task, but there are simple swaps you can make in your home and your business that can help.

1

Always have a reusable bag on hand.

Starting May 4, 2022 in New Jersey, plastic bags will be banned.

The NJ Department of Enviornmental Protection will prohibit retail, food service, and grocery stores from providing and selling single-use plastic bags for customers, as well as polystyrene food containers from restaurants.

Keep reusable bags in your car or have a designated spot for them in your home.

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Use refillable hand soap and cleaning products.

Make the switch and stock your home or office with cleaning product containers that you can refill. Eliminating single-use plastic is often the first step to taking the pledge to be more sustainable.

Install a smart thermostat.

Wi-fi-enabled thermostats in your home and business can help you save on heating and cooling costs while cutting down on your energy usage. Many top brands allow you to modify the thermostat from your smartphone or computer so you’re not wasting energy when it’s not needed.

Some thermostats even get to know your routine and take the weather forecast into account to ensure your space is always comfortable when you arrive.

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Shop Local Help cut down on shipping materials for your every purchase and consider shopping local. Major online retailers may be convenient but fueling your local economy can ultimately help your own business and boost your home’s value. Go a step further and try to purchase more seasonal food at a local farmer’s market to help reduce food miles or how far food must travel to reach your plate.

Use a reusable water bottle.

Rather than grabbing a plastic water bottle every time you leave the house, fill up a reusable one and take it with you. Encourage your agents to do the same and consider providing a water fill-up station or filtered pitcher.

Overall, reusable water bottles use less oil to produce and don’t end up in the landfills at the same rate as single-use plastic water bottles.

6

Start a garden or join a community garden.

NJ is the Garden State for a reason. Consider starting one in your backyard to reduce your carbon footprint and food miles. If you don’t have a green thumb, many communities have a garden program you can join and help out when needed and still benefit from fresh fruits and vegetables.

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NEW JERSEY REALTORS® FAIR HOUSING MONTH EDUCATION SESSIONS Free Virtual Education Sessions in April Smart and Sensitive?

You, Technology and the Law April 7, 2-3 p.m.

Trista Curzydlo, J.D. 1 Fair Housing CE Credit

Is your smart home culturally sensitive? Does your website allow everyone to ‘see’ the latest properties for sale? Technology has changed the way a consumer experiences home buying and selling. If technology is used correctly, everyone benefits; if technology isn’t used correctly, a portion of the population can be neglected. Find out how the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act to advertising, websites, apps, and smart home technology will impact your business.

Register Here Designated REALTOR® | April 2022 | 2

Code of Ethics & The Fair Housing Act April 13, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Eileen Cahill 2 Ethics/1 Fair Housing CE Credits

This three-hour course will satisfy both the NAR’s ethics requirement and the New Jersey Real Estate Commission Continuing Education requirements for ethics and fair housing. Join us for an understanding of how to practice real estate in the most ethical way possible and the actions taken when ethics are in question. In addition to the ethics component, the course will also review both the Federal and State Fair Housing guidelines in order to ensure equal housing opportunity for all.

Register Here

The Secrets to Embracing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion April 19, 10-11 a.m.

Robert Morris 1 Elective CE Credit

Attend this course for an increased knowledge and awareness of cultural and personal biases that may inhibit you from fully embracing diversity and creating a successful multicultural real estate business.

We’ll define diversity, inclusion and equity and how understanding these terms and concepts help us not only as Realtors®, but in everyday life. We’ll distinguish between personal and implicit biases, how each can adversely shape our perceptions and behaviors when dealing with clients, and explain the importance of mentoring, recruiting, and performing meaningful multicultural outreach in our communities.

Register Here

Overview: The Fair Chance in Housing Act April 27, 9:30-11 a.m.

Representatives of New Jersey Division on Civil Rights CE Pending

Today, nearly one-third of the adult working age population in the U.S. has a conviction record. Many of these people have been denied housing, though most pose no threat to their communities. New Jersey’s Fair Chance in Housing Act remedies this form of discrimination by establishing a fair process for consideration of conviction histories during the application process. Join us for this interactive webinar that will provide an overview of FCHA, including effective implementation strategies and model forms that can be utilized by housing providers. Participants will also explore how conviction record screenings have disproportionately impacted communities of color, and consider ways to create discrimination-free housing environments.

Register Here Designated REALTOR® | April 2022 | 3

Highlight on the Top Five Most Expensive Municipalities *Data from NJ Realtors®, January 2022 Median Sales Price Year to Date

BY ERIN McFEETERS

5) Spring Lake, Monmouth County From the beginning of this resort beach borough’s establishment, it has been known for its wealthy visitors looking for a reprieve from everyday life. The Grand Monmouth Hotel, established in the 1800s, catered to upper-class

vacationers coming from Philadelphia. It was known for wellventilated rooms and a steam-powered elevator according to the Spring Lake Historical Society. Even after its ultimate demise, grand homes, hotels, and cottages sprung up and continued to market to affluent seasonal beachgoers.

Today, Spring Lake looks different, but large cottages that resemble another point in time still line Brighten and 3rd Avenue. Countless homes enjoy water views because of surrounding lakes, and most of the borough has unmatched access to the glimmering sandy beaches.

Community ties are strong in town due to much of the borough being within walking distance to the downtown area with shops, restaurants, and cafés lining the streets. In January, the median sales price clocked in at $2,750,000.

4) Alpine, Bergen County

On the other side of the Hudson River is a rural escape from downtown Manhattan. Located just 15 miles north of the city, Alpine boasts a quick commute to the city yet is a different way of life. Palisades Interstate Park, a park with more than 2,000 acres and more than 30 miles of trails, surrounds the town.

Alpine has a “high percentage of park land all of which makes for a spacious natural low-density setting despite being only a few miles away from Manhattan,” said Mayor of Alpine, Paul H. Tomasko.

New Jersey residents have always enjoyed the scenery of the Palisades, and according to njpalisades.org, there was fear the Palisades would be blown to bits in the late 1800s for industrial materials. However, residents were against the demolition and pushed the government to protect the land. More than 100 years later, residents and visitors alike relish in the myriad of hiking, cycling, boating, and fishing opportunities.

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The town is parallel with the Hudson River, and so even though Alpine is more than 60 miles from the Atlantic Highlands, you can still enjoy water views with the river shorefront.

The median sales price in January was $2,997,000. Tomasko attributes the higher-than-average prices to the spaciousness close to New York City, low property tax rates, and one of the best school systems in the state. Of the five boroughs mentioned, Alpine has the highest median household income at $130,962 and the highest percentage of year-round residents, according to the U.S. Census.

3) Harvey Cedars, Ocean County In the late 1920s, you could build a cottage in this small Long Beach Island borough for well under $1,000, according to harveycedars.org, while the January 2022 year-to-date median sales price was $3,200,000.

In this small residential community, homes line the shape of the island, and many of them have views and easy accessibility to the Barnegat Bay. There are just a few select businesses in town, such as a couple of small grocery-style

markets, a few restaurants, and the Harvey Cedars Bible Conference.

Harvey Cedars Borough is the definition of a small town—one major road in and out, but because of this, more private and quiet beaches are prevalent. If you blink driving through, you could miss it and be in the next town, since the borough makes up only 0.6 square miles of Long Beach Island, according to the U.S. Census.

2) Stone Harbor, Cape May County Stone Harbor is the southern-most borough to make the list.

It’s known as the Heron hangout of the Garden State, and the Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary has been a National Natural Landmark bird sanctuary since 1965. Exploring the sanctuary is like taking a step back in time to what this barrier island of New Jersey looked like hundreds of years ago, according to stoneharborbirdsanctuary.com.

Beautiful wetlands separate Stone Harbor from the mainland and adds to its uniqueness. Unlike other places in the Garden State, Stone Harbor is a retreat, a summer reprieve, and an immersive ecosystem.

Like Long Beach Island’s Harvey Cedars, Stone Harbor is on a small barrier island. It totals 1.4 square miles and has a population totaling 796, according to the U.S. Census. Between Stone Harbor and the neighboring town of Avalon, the barrier island has seven miles of beautiful beach. The median sales price year-to-date in Stone Harbor was $4,300,000. There are 3,207 total housing units in Stone Harbor however, only 14% are used year-round deeming it a summer getaway for most homeowners.

1) Allenhurst, Monmouth County Allenhurst Borough has the top median sales price yearto-date in the state of New Jersey at $5,150,000. It’s also the smallest in square miles, according to the U.S. Census, compared to other boroughs mentioned at just 0.3 square miles.

Iconic homes of yesteryear at the Jersey Shore line North Ocean Avenue and plentiful greenery, trees, and ample backyard spaces are prevalent throughout Allenhurst.

Downtown Main Street through Allenhurst, just a few blocks away from the beach, has unique shops and clothing stores, a couple of restaurants, and easy access to NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line.

Branches of Deal Lake line the borough boundaries, making it a great spot to kayak, fish and take in the scenery. The U.S. Census reports 369 housing units, 185 total households in town, and the median household income is $106,406.

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