The Downtowner intimated that while 114 of the 124 units in BSB were now occupied, revitalization in downtown Trenton was not finished.

No kidding!

Some people want the Downtowner to be more boosterish.

However, the real story is that a quality and mostly market rate housing option exists in downtown Trenton. This is affecting the dynamic of residential living in the heart of Trenton.

This past weekend, the Old Mill Hill Society invited both the residents of BSB who border the neighborhood on the north and the residents of Trenton Ferry who border on the south, to participate in its annual fall festival in Mill Hill Park. The festival included food, music, children's games and a neighborhood tug of war. Certainly Mill Hill feels good about having new neighbors and that's good for downtown living and Trenton in general.

The DeRosa Group (Matt and Liz Faircloth and Nick Stewart) have been rehabbing a 6 bedroom 3 ½ bath house on Fisher Place in Trenton (off of W. State St.). After they bought it and marketed the property on the web, they got interest from a couple moving here from Oklahoma.

"They told us their story", said Matt, adding "they are moving to the area for a job the wife got at Rider College, and asked us questions about the house and the neighborhood. Instead of emailing them back answers to the questions, we took our video camera out to the property and shot video answering their questions."

This continued back and forth including an email from them and a video reply from the developers from the on the job site. By the time the couple came for a visit, they had verbally agreed to buy the house and put it under contract 2 days later. The couple is excited to move to the area and join the Trenton community very soon.

The moral is this story is that buyers shouldn't be shy about having this kind of personal discussion with a developer. Developers like DeRosa Group, and HHG for that matter, are your future neighbors. They're part of the Trenton community which means they have a deeper interest in your moving here than just the profit from a sale. Every new resident is a positive addition to our community and hopefully a new friend. Matt, Liz and Nick know this.

The federal "first time home buyer tax credit" is therefore causing a flurry of activity in the Trenton market. Because of the low price points in Trenton, many buyers here are "first time" though their incomes are relatively high.

The deadline for closing a purchase is November 30, which means you need to have a property under contract, ready to go, by the end of October at the latest. "Short sale" buyers take note: simple real estate transactions take about 4 weeks. "Short sales", which require negotiating terms with the seller's mortgage company, as you're buying for less than the seller owes, often take much longer. It's probably already too late for a short sale if you want to take advantage of the tax credit.

One of the hottest places for first time buyers has been Trenton Ferry which is down to 4 units in the Cracker Factory, having sold its last single family home (109 Centre) and the last Everett Corner loft (49 Centre) in the recent boomlet. All remaining Cracker Factory units are completely finished, with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops in the kitchens, and high end tile and faucets in the master baths.

The developer, HHG, has announced a price promotion where they'll kick in up to $5,000 for things like a color interior paint job, bathroom accessories such as towel bars, closet organizers, etc (the range is $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the unit you buy). According to HHG's Michael Goldstein, they designed the program to help buyers move into their units as painlessly as possible. "For most of these items, our buyers were paying out of pocket. We already have up to 100% financing available, and closing cost assistance if you need it, so this new offer means you can potentially buy your Cracker Factory loft, and move in, paying only for the moving van."

Now, two years later the show has aired (on Sept. 20). However, as Trenton Lofts readers might imagine this is bittersweet for me and Michelle as the show features our then 3 month old son Alexander who has since passed away. We know that Alexander loved his house would have loved seeing himself on TV.

The production crew did a good job making the house look great and we're happy about that The host does incorrectly position the building as a converted warehouse. In fact the building started out life as a doctor's office and home. It gets the "loft" designation from our opening up of the floor plan, lack of a door to the master bedroom and the sunken living room.

Link to the video

From Trenton Renovation

• The South Ward Council election is no time for politics of the past 10.5.2009
• The “Reinvent Trenton” Guide to Fixing the Budget 9.11.2009
• Trenton’s South Ward needs stronger candidates 9.9.2009
• Trenton is committing revitalization suicide 8.5.2009

As always, my hope is that the Trenton related blogs help city activists form their ideas about how Trenton can revitalize.