newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2009/0819/front_page/007.htmlResidential rentals reported slowing
Real estate brokers say absentee landlords appear to be staying away
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Absentee landlords who have an interest in acquiring residential rental properties appear to be shying away from investing in Freehold Borough, and Borough Council President Marc Le Vine said that news pleases him.
According to Le Vine, the borough does not currently seem as attractive to prospective absentee landlords these days because the town's code enforcement office has built a reputation for strictly enforcing existing residential codes.
Le Vine said he was talking with real estate broker Nicholas Spachowski recently when the subject of absentee landlords came up.
"I asked him what the real estate picture looked like in Freehold Borough," Le Vine said. "Mr. Spachowski said he has been seeing a lot of interest generated from residents of New York, mostly families."
Le Vine said he asked the broker what the investment picture in Freehold Bor- ough looked like and said what he heard pleased him.
"He said the word on the street is that the code enforcement office in the borough is very strict and that these absentee landlords seem to be setting up somewhere else," the councilman said.
Over the past decade borough officials have dealt with instances of residential overcrowding in apartment complexes and private homes in which rooms are rented.
Spachowski, who works for Keller Williams Realty West Monmouth, Englishtown, said that over the past year he has seen the purchase of residential rental properties in Freehold Borough decline. He said municipal inspections and the strict application of code enforcement policies are the reasons for the change.
"In my experience these practices (inspections and application of the policies) keep landlords responsible with their rentals because of the borough's strict adherence to its codes," he said. "We will never be able to get rid of the rentals in the borough, but we can work on making landlords more responsible for their properties and that's the best thing we can do."
Borough resident Lisa Christiansen, who serves on the town's rental advisory committee, is a real estate broker at Weichert Realty, Holmdel.
"I myself have not had many purchases for rentals. I am seeing a decline in that market in the borough," she said.
Christiansen said she believes that absentee investors do not want to deal with the strict rules in the borough.
"This is the only town I know of that has a $500 landlord registration fee," she said.
Le Vine said the comments from the real estate brokers validate the work of the code enforcement department.
"We are pleased that things are moving in the right direction," he said. "Our code enforcement department is working hard along with Borough Administrator Joe Bellina and the governing body to evolve and improve the department.
"They have made improvements that have had an immediate impact on the town, such as new software that helps to track all code enforcement operations from the initial complaint right through the whole process. They have also added a part-time code enforcement officer who works on home inspections on Saturday mornings."
Le Vine said the code enforcement personnel are addressing recommendations made by the rental advisory committee to improve the town. He said there seems to be a "greater sense of purpose" with landlords and tenants recognizing that they all have a responsibility to the borough's codes.
"The code enforcement department is ensuring that the landlords and tenants are complying with ordinances including the maintenance of property all over town," Le Vine said.
He noted that extra cars on a property, garbage in the wrong place, and overgrown bushes and trees on properties are also issues the code enforcement department addresses.
Code enforcement official Hank Stryker III said his department has seen a considerable decline in residential rental property purchases since that market hit a peak in 2006. He attributes this turn of events to the falling real estate market and to his belief that many landlords do not want to come to Freehold any more.
"They know we're tough here," Stryker said. "We also have a night shift in the code enforcement department, something most towns don't have. We have not seen any purchase of property for rental purposes at all this year, so far."
He added that due to the fact that many people are having a hard time selling their home right now, some people have been renting their home until it sells.
In keeping with the idea of working with the code enforcement office, Le Vine said he has come up with a concept that he believes can work in tandem with the evolution of the code enforcement department and reach out to other towns.
He is working on preparing a regional code enforcement summit, an idea that he said he will present to the rental advisory committee at its next meeting.
"Regional management fixes some of the issues we deal with on a daily basis," Le Vine said. "We would invite code enforcement officials or representatives from a variety of small towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties that are similar to our town in size and operation. It would take the format of a panel discussion."
Le Vine said members of the panel will discuss property code issues and present an overview of the situation in their town. Representatives from each town would explain what Le Vine called their "best practices" in this area.
It is expected that the summit meeting would be open to the public. Le Vine said he believes this summit will continue to help the code enforcement department as it evolves, learns and improves.
Contact Clare Marie Celano
at ccelano@gmnews.com.
