asbury park press front page, january 31, 2016

WHATIS YOURHOMEWORTH?

EXCLUSIVE

After years of being battered by the recession, the Jersey Shore real estate

market is finally climbing out of the basement. ¶ However, if you are expecting

your home to fetch what it was worth in 2006, at the height of the market before

the bubble burst, you may have a long wait. ¶ Median home prices in both

Monmouth and Ocean counties are down 7.1 percent and 15.5 percent, respec-

tively, from 2006, according to an exclusive analysis by the Asbury Park Press

of sales for single-family homes for the first nine months of 2015, the latest

data available from home sales reported to the state.

InsideOur town-by-town look willtell you if homesale prices arethe rise. 4A

OnlineVisit APP.comand search“home values”to view an inter-active list of salesin your town andacross the state.

Values tick up,but still lag frommarket heyday 

KEN SERRANO @KENSERRANOAPP

AND PAMELA MACKENZIE @PAMMACKENZIEMCJTop townsThe five towns with the big-gest sales boosts, 2014-2015:Rumson ...............................+18%Asbury Park........................+17%Lakewood...........................+12%Holmdel...............................+11%Berkeley ................................+9%

Median sale pricesMonmouth Co..................$360KOcean Co. ..........................$245KNew Jersey ........................$299KSource: Asbury Park Press analysis of firstnine months of each year of sales datareported to the state, where more than100 homes were sold

See HOME, Page4A

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01.31.16

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VOLUME137

NUMBER 26

SINCE 1879

@ISSUE 1AA

BUSINESS 6AA

CLASSIFIED 1D

LOCAL 3A

LOTTERIES 2A

OBITUARIES 18A

OPINION 4AA

SPORTS 1C

SUNDAY BEST 1E

WEATHER 12C

At least 37 migrants — in-cluding children — drownedoff the coast of Turkey.1B

How badly does low-polling Chris Christie have to doin Monday’s much anticipated Iowa caucus before NewJerseyans should expect to get their governor backfrom the presidential campaign trail?

One pundit’s view, in this upside-down world of Iowaexpectations: Christie could get a boost, even whilenearly scraping the bottom.

“If by some miracle Christie beats someone who ac-tually tried in Iowa, say Jeb Bush, he could actually getabounce out of the state and maybe even force Jeb out,”said Matthew Hale, Seton Hall University political sci-entist professor.

The hours are winding down until residents of Iowabecome the first to cast votes in the 2016 presidential

nominating process. They will gather in 1,681 caucusprecincts — with meetings in libraries, churches, localcommunity centers, and gymnasiums — starting at 7p.m. (Central Time) Monday, with no set closing time.

A caucus is a local political party meeting. Partici-pants discuss and vote upon their party’s candidates,vote for local party leaders and discuss their party’splatform.

The event kicks off state-by-state delegate selection,prelude to the national conventions (Democrats willmeet in Philadelphia and Republicans will meet inCleveland, both in July), where party nominees are offi-cially chosen.

Here are seven things to watch for in the Iowa re-

Seven things to watch for at Iowa caucusesBOB JORDAN

@BOBJORDANAPP

See IOWA, Page9A

INSIDE

» Take a peek inside the Iowa caucuses. 8A» Billionaire behind Christie super PAC. 9A» How the Iowa caucuses work. 5B

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