Jersey’s New Slogan – “Will The Last Person Out Please Turn Off The Lights”

This one is going to take the prize for the oddest source of information yet. It turns out, United Van Lines (the residential mover), has been conducting migration studies annually, since 1977.

United Van Lines Releases 2005 Migration Study

During the year 2005, many people packed up and moved their homes to the Southeast and West, while the Midwest and Northeast experienced an increase in residents leaving, as measured by the business trends of United Van Lines, the nation’s largest household goods mover.

United has tracked shipment patterns annually on a state-by-state basis since 1977. For 2005, the accounting is based on the 226,353 interstate household moves handled by United among the 48 contiguous states, as well as Washington, D.C. In its study, United classifies each state in one of three categories — “high inbound” (55% or more of moves going into a state); “high outbound” (55% or more of moves coming out of a state); or “balanced.” Although the majority of states were in the “balanced” category last year, several showed more substantial population shifts.

States in the Northeast and Midwest generally showed an outbound trend, according to United’s records. New York (59.8%) has been an outbound state since the survey was established, but after eight years as a balanced state, Rhode Island (57.0%) jumped to the high-outbound list this year. Continuing their outbound tradition, New Jersey (60.4%, outbound since 1997) and Pennsylvania (56.0%, high outbound for the past two years) also saw residents depart.

Interesting that we’re approaching almost 10 years of out-migration. The New Jersey residential real estate market detached from fundamentals starting in 1997. Affordability is certainly taking it’s toll on population. We all have anecdotal stories of friends or families picking up and moving away because of our high cost of living.

I’m sure many of you have heard about the contest for new state slogan. Here is my proposal:

“Will The Last Person Out Please Turn Off The Lights”

Caveat Emptor!
Grim

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13 Responses to Jersey’s New Slogan – “Will The Last Person Out Please Turn Off The Lights”

  1. grim says:

    Thanks to SocketSite for the tip!

    grim

  2. Metroplexual says:

    I think alot of the outmigration is retirees and corporate tranfers. I did an analysis at the county level and found that the pattern was to warm places from NJ.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Another real estate myth proven wrong.
    It ain’t going to be pretty.
    Major employers downsizing laying off in state, Incomes stagnant, little job growth, soaring property taxes, home prices out of wack = disastrous next 20 years for house prices in New Jersey.
    How bad will it get?
    First time buyers must refuse to accept things the way they are. They must question the viability of owning a house at these levels. Puttin your financial future at risk and working just to pay bills is it really worth it?

  4. grim says:

    anon,

    You forgot about the state pension issues.

    Crippling pension costs threaten state’s future

    It doesn’t seem likely that Corzine will live up to his campaign promise of lower property taxes. Cost of living in NJ will remain high while quality of life here continues to decline.

    grim

  5. Speaking of corporate downsizing.

    I used to work in the AT&T complex in Basking Ridge. They sold the building to Pfizer and the goshed darned thing has sat dormant for almost three years.

    I had a pathetic little anecdotal gauge of the NJ economy that I used to call the “rush hour index”. It was basically as simple as “..when you are driving to work at 8AM, how bad is the traffic on the main highways..”

    Obviously with all the development, certain roads such as east/west bound 78 & 80 in western NJ and north/south 202 & 206 in central NJ are much worse recently than in years past.

    However, for me personally, the worst traffic I ever saw was the fall of 1999 with tech, telecom & pharma booming.

    The core of NJ business is being hollowed out with nothing and no one interested in replacing it.

    Once the real estate related industries of construction and finance are shuttered, the state will need to be merged with NYS on the north and PA on the south to remain solvent (just kidding).

  6. Anonymous says:

    Verizon will be filling the Basking Ridge location with managers at the District level and above. There will be a number of relos into the area, but many of the Verizon managers who were told to move to NJ or leave are opting to leave.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Verizon? Stinks. Service and pricing.
    Verizon is losing it’s core business land lines. Wouldn’t count on Verizon saving the day.

  8. Gary says:

    A co-worker told me anyone who gripes about the cost of living in NJ is just jealous because they can’t afford it. He also said housing will continue to go up because of supply and demand. Since he said this, it must be so. (sarcasm off)

  9. Anonymous says:

    being a homeowner who has benefitted from this insane market, I can assure you that the housing market is extremely inflated. I feel badly for those that are savers and can’t afford a house since they have to bid against morons that have no money while using creative financing.
    The Gov’t regulators should come down hard on financial institutions that are fueling this lunacy.
    Also looking forward for home price collapsing cuz too many homeowners have an entitlement attitude.

  10. sue says:

    Pretty disgusting that the powers that be would let this happen. Haven’t any of them been to upstate NY?

    If not, they should go up and take a look at what happens to an area when everybody decides to leave-

    Ugh- What a mess!!!

  11. iron56 says:

    You probably know this already, but–

    “Will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights”

    was the saying in the early 70s after Boeing’s big downturn. (No Microsoft in those days :)

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