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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…. 

NORTHJERSEYCONDOS.COM REACHES 100,000 Visitors

Unique Condominium and Townhouse website achieves milestone visitor.

Little Falls… The Condominium and Townhouse Division of Prudential Damiano Realty announced today it had over 100,000 visitors to their website. This unique groundbreaking site has hundreds of interior/exterior photos and over 100 video tours of condominium and townhouse complexes located throughout northern New Jersey.

 Warren Damiano, Co-owner of Prudential Damiano, states “It is the only site on the web today where prospective buyers can sit in the luxury of their home and take exterior and interior video tours of the townhouse communities in our area that they have under consideration. The site is now averaging between 300-500 visitors per day.” 

Most real estate websites only have the capability to show you their own listings. Prudential Damiano Realty’s, NorthJerseyCondos.com allows the viewer to compare all the condominium communities in North New Jersey so they can make a more informed decision where they would like to reside based on their lifestyle and needs. The website features pricing, maintenance fees, amenities in each complex. We continually add new complexes to our database they are built. The companies sales staff has increased to accommodate the amount of inquires we receive and we are continually looking for professional real estate agents to become members of the Condominium Division. 

Prudential Damiano Realty is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Inc. For more information they can be contacted at 973-256-0303

 Prepared by: Warren Damiano-Prudential Damiano Realty

                    973-256-0303

      Wednesday, July 25, 2007

By JENNIFER H. CUNNINGHAM
HERALD NEWS

LITTLE FALLS -- At least a dozen for rent or for sale signs have sprouted up on front lawns in one neighborhood damaged during April's nor'easter.

But homeowners have insisted that the recurrent flooding -- near the banks of the Passaic River -- wasn't what motivated them to sell. The residents, most of whom did not want to be identified, cited a host of other reasons, including needing a bigger house, high property taxes and even a spouse's recent death.

Although swirling brown water filled the basement of Jong Kim's ranch on Parkway during the April floods, she said Monday that the flood wasn't the motive behind her decision to put her house up for sale.

"Property taxes are too expensive," Kim said. "That's the reason. We don't mind the flooding."

Residents with homes assessed at the borough average of $150,000 will pay about $7,035 in property taxes this year according to the township tax collector's office. Residents paid $6,585 in 2006, and $6,180 in 2005. Nearly 11,000 people live in Little Falls, where some 400 homes were affected during April's floods.

But Councilman Paul Huggins, who is also a member of the township Flood Board, said flood zone residents have repeatedly told him of their frustration in being flooded -- most recently last weekend during a walking tour of William and Louis streets.

"Some residents are discouraged," he said. "They don't want to go through this evil again."

In an effort to curb flooding, township officials said Little Falls is moving forward with plans to address the problem.

A pump station is being designed for Louis Street, local and regional flood boards have been established that advocate for flood prevention, and the township was awarded a $1.5 million grant by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to purchase homes that flood repeatedly.

Engineers are working on Little Falls' all-hazard mitigation plan -- the same plan that helped Wayne get nearly $6 million in state and federal money for 30 to 35 buyouts in the township's Hoffman Grove section.

"People have had two or three floods in two years," Council President William Liess said Tuesday. "There is a higher frustration level, but the town has never been as responsive as it's been now."

On Tuesday, signs in front of homes that advertised "Price Reduced" or "Under Contract" stood next to flood-damaged debris that residents were still removing from their homes.

Hans Prell, chairman of the township Flood Board and a resident of the flood zone neighborhood nearly all his life, said every time there's a flood, a house or two will go up for sale. But after April's flooding, at least four homes on William Street, where he lives, are now on the market. Prell said he thinks residents aren't inclined to watch their homes and belongings flood year after year.

"People, as much as they think they are prepared, when they go through it (a flood) and they lose all their possessions, they think, 'This is enough for me,'" Prell said.

Flood-plain homes are selling well below market value because of their proximity to the Passaic River. The "for sale" sign in front of one William Street house says it's selling for $320,000 -- below the township average selling price of $410,000, according to Ray Damiano, of Prudential-Damiano Realty on East Main Street. This year the highest resale price in the flood zone was $375,000, the lowest was $288,000, Prell said.

"They are undervalued," he said of the current selling prices.

Ten homes in the neighborhood -- which stretches from Grey Rock Avenue and Main Street to Riker Avenue and Main Street in the northeastern section of the township -- have been sold this year, according to real estate listing data. Fifty-five homes have sold townwide in the same period. Three homes are under contract in the neighborhood, out of 21 townshipwide.

However, Warren Damiano, a Realtor with Prudential-Damiano Realty, said houses in the flood area are in demand, but a real estate market sales slump resulted in the glut of homes for sale. Damiano added that he sold a flood-plain home a week after April's nor'easter.

"As soon as they got the street cleaned up over there, we sold it," Damiano said Tuesday. "There's always a rush to sell after a flood, (but) there is a market for these homes."

Reach Jennifer H. Cunningham at 973-569-7162 or Cunningham@northjersey.com.