The Bergen County Homes Blog

If you own a Bergen County home or anywhere else in the New York City area, the past few months were a challenge indeed.  Winter weather in Bergen County was very unusual this year.  We had multiple storms that wreaked havoc throughout the NYC area and Bergen County was right in the middle of things.     

One snow storm after another for weeks on end with even a full blown blizzard gave us over 30 inches of snow.  Once that melted then we had a series of rain storms culminating in a vicious nor’easter that came with winds at hurricane force toppling tree limbs and entire trees  knocking out power with such drenching rain that many local towns resembled lakes or raging rivers.  We had 7 inches of rain within 24 hours.  It was so bad that Berten County and 11 other counties in New Jersey were declared Federal Disaster Areas. 

Bergen County homes suffered with days of power outages, flooded basements, cars smashed by trees, 100 year old trees strewn across lawns like  toothpicks or thrown across a roof ripping it to shreds and impassable streets everywhere.  Because of this mess, the IRS has delayed tax day to May 11th from the traditional April 15th date.  So if you own a Bergen County home, you’re getting additional time to file your taxes from both the IRS and the State of New Jersey.  Of course you should consult with your tax preparer to make sure of things but tax day for Bergen County homes this year is May 11th.

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 On January 15th the IRS released a new form for home buyers who want to claim the tax credit when they file their taxes this year.  This is Form 5405.  Form 5405 is a revision of the previous  2009 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit so that the current 2010 Home Buyer Tax Credit program is covered. 

I would like to point out 2 important changes:  Along with Form 5405 you MUST include documentation such as your RESPA closing statement.  Because there is more documentation required to claim your tax credit for both a repeat and a first time home buyer, your tax return must be filed manually.  So remember – more documentation and manual filing is what you’ll have to do. 

For more information, just go to the IRS website .  It’s really not hard to take care of this and since you will have purchased your home recently, it shouldn’t be difficult to access your RESPA closing statement.  As always, I recommend that you consult with a tax professional.

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Simply put, a short sale occurs when a home that is sold is worth less than the mortgage amount and the homeowner cannot make up the difference.  For example, you sell a home for $75,000 but the mortgage is $100,000; you’re short $25,000.  The bank enables the homeowner to sell the house by forgiving the $25,000 difference.  So while the bank doesn’t own the house, the owner can’t sell it without the bank’s cooperation.   Of course, in an actual short sale, the bank would be forgiving the mortgage amount, any other liens and the closing costs. 

If you are interested in pursuing a short sale in Bergen County, please contact an attorney who specializes in real estate before you do anything.  It is always best if you begin by being fully informed.

To get the bank to allow a short sale, a homeowner completes a “workout package” for the bank’s approval including a ”hardship letter” in which the circumstances of the homeowner’s difficulties must be explained along with supporting documentation (pay stubs, account statements, etc).   

Why would a bank do this?  Because the other alternative is a foreclosure which will cost the bank much more in time and money. 

Why would a homeowner do this?  A short sale erases the debt – most of the time the bank forgives everything; infrequently it may insist on a promissory note for part of the loss but that’s still much better than a foreclosure.  In a foreclosure, the debt is still owed so creditors can take your vehicles, garnish your wages, clean out your checking account etc.  This can last for years until the debt is paid off.  A foreclosure ruins your credit for about 10 years – this is a disaster like the Titanic.  You can recover your credit in a few years with a short sale plus the IRS does not consider the forgiven debt as income.

In Bergen County we have 3,703 single family homes for sale according to the New Jersey MLS today; 346 are short sales.  That’s 9.3% of all homes for sale.  Real estate can be negatively impacted by foreclosures; it’s not nice to drive down your street and see a boarded up house with a “Sheriff’s Sale” sign on it so there are many reasons why a short sale is a better idea; it helps the bank, the homeowner and real estate in Bergen County.

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