Believe It or Not
There is a methodology for decluttering and clearing out your house of unwanted or unneeded clutter.

One of the methodologies for accomplishing this is called the KonMari system. The KonMari method is a step-by-step system for decluttering and cleaning out your home, as created by Marie Kondo.

One of the secrets to this method is to organize your decluttering campaign into five distinct categories:
1 Clothing
2 Books
3 Papers
4 Miscellaneous (which includes DVDs, pantry spices, picture frames, sheets)
5 Sentimental items

The clothing category is further broken into sub-sections such as jackets, tops, bottoms, pajamas, handbags, belts, shoes, hats, socks, underwear, jewelry and such.

The book category includes cookbooks, magazines, kids’ books, reference materials, textbooks and phone books (do you still have those????).

The paper category includes coupons, taxes, files, warranties, greeting cards, wrapping paper, checkbooks, lecture notes and such.

The miscellaneous category includes kitchenware that you no longer use, utensils, cups, mugs, picture frames, sheets, tools, pots and pans, yard tools, soaps, makeup, lamps and such.

The sentimental category includes photo albums, journals, diaries, memorabilia, trophies, personal letters.

Buying a home for the first time is always more than an adventure. Your home will become not only the basecamp for your life, but depending upon its location, the economic trends and population migration, can help become the cornerstone to your future financial stability.

But the facts are clear that buying your first home earlier rather than later in your life can make a significant difference in the quality of life later on.

So if you’re considering purchasing a home, and waiting for the right time to invest in the market, chances are you may be putting off an opportunity to accumulate a significant amount in what is called home equity.

Individuals who buy their first home before they reach the age of 34 turn out to be financially more secure in their 60s, which usually translates into the home equity they’re able to amass.

Currently, Millennial home ownership ranks at about 38%, which is just a bit above the national rate. How does that compare with prior generations? Well, baby boomers and generation Xers became homeowners on a comparative basis at about 20% earlier.

In many cases, Millennials may be laden with student debt, making such a purchase harder to do. The down payment blues is very real, and Millennials are even choosing to live with their parents longer. Instead of just living with their parents, it would prove to be prudent to use that windfall to put away some of the down payment necessary to buy their first home.

The other smart fact is that with a 20% down payment, they will not have to pay for mortgage insurance, which translates into even greater savings.

Considering that summer is less than 60 days away, we can actually take some steps now to cut back on the cost of energy the summer.

Small and medium-sized businesses are those that can best benefit from taking certain steps now to cut back on costs.

According to an article in Entrepreneur magazine, approximately 10% of small business owners rank energy cost as their single greatest overhead cost. This is taking into consideration salaries, materials, and other costs within an organization.

In addition to the 10% of business owners that feel energy comprises their biggest cost, another 25% of businesses feel that energy is their second to third largest business cost.

• Energy-efficient thermostats
• Insulation
• Energy-efficient appliances
• Switch to LED light bulbs
• Install high-efficiency products and appliances
• Change business hours to accommodate high temperatures
• Tap into utility incentives

As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 91,239. The median home value in Toms River is $273,200. Toms River home values have risen 3.3% over the past year. 

The Toms River was known as Goose Creek until it was renamed in the early 18th century for English captain William Toms, farmer and ferryman.

A Safe City: In 2006, Toms River was ranked by Morgan Quitno Press as the 15th safest city in the United States, of 369 cities nationwide. In 2007, Toms River was again ranked as the 14th-safest city in the United States of 371 cities nationwide.

The Census Bureau’s 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that median household income was $71,934 and the median family income was $83,924. Males had a median income of $59,860 versus $42,192 for females.

According to the website Realtor.com, the March average home listing price hit $300,000 for the first time ever.

What is driving prices higher can be attributed to the shortage of inventory, the shortage of new construction, the stronger economy, and the increased buyer demand, the result of higher overall rent costs.

The analysis provided by Realtor.com indicates that homes priced below $200,000 decreased by 9% year-over-year, representing a greater squeeze on first-time home buyers to pay more.

The good news reported by the website is that there were an additional 56,000 homes for sale in March 2019 as compared with 2018. This calculates into a 4% increase year-over-year.

On a negative note, the number of newly listed properties fell by 0.4% in 2019 as compared to 2018.

The New Jersey Market
Many markets continue to suffer from significant inventory shortages, including New Jersey’s Bergen, Monmouth and Morris Counties, all of which have less than six months supply. Passaic County recently reported that its supply of properties for sale has fallen to 3.5 months supply with only 945 properties on the market. Even Ocean County, which historically has had up to 15 months supply of homes for sale, has fallen down to just 5.8 months supply or only 3,989 properties.

What is even more remarkable is that Salem County, located in Southwest New Jersey, has seen a remarkable recovery from 2018. The number of homes for sale has fallen dramatically from 668 to 545, representing an 18.4% decline. In addition, the total month supply of inventory has fallen by 27.5% from 9.1 months to 6.6 months from 2018 to 2019. On the value end for Salem County, the median sales price jumped remarkably by 19.3% from $110,000 to $130,250.

The expectation is that spring 2019 home prices are expected to continue to rise as inventory lags behind due to shortages in building supplies and skilled labor.