Monthly Archives: December 2006

Revaluation Pains

Posted on December 22, 2006 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Property Taxes | 20 Comments

From the News Transcript: Impact of reval will become clear in 07 The recently completed property revaluation of 14,720 taxable properties in Manalapan resulted in 700 property owners requesting an appeal of the new assessment they received. Manalapan Tax Assessor … Continue reading →

Closing costs falling

Posted on December 22, 2006 by grim
Posted in General | 17 Comments

From theday.com: As Home Prices Fall, So Do The Closing Costs Lately, buyers have gotten at least some relief from the skyrocketing cost of real estate. Similar relief could be coming from another less obvious, but significant, expense — namely, … Continue reading →

Wouldn’t it be easier to sell the state?

Posted on December 22, 2006 by grim
Posted in Property Taxes, Risky Lending | 6 Comments

From the Asbury Park Press: New bill would allow lease of toll roads The state may raise as much as $10 billion by leasing its toll roads, said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who plans to introduce a bill next month … Continue reading →

Is a lawyer really necessary?

Posted on December 21, 2006 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate | 119 Comments

Interesting piece by Stuart Lieberman (lawyer) on the use of lawyers to assist in real estate closings, from RealtyTimes: Do You Really Need a Lawyer For a Real Estate Closing Real Estate practices and procedures are all local. For example, … Continue reading →

“Foreclosure Factories”

Posted on December 21, 2006 by grim
Posted in Risky Lending | 7 Comments

From BusinessWeek: The “Foreclosure Factories” Vise Randy and Jennifer Rimstad of Minnetonka, Minn., refinanced their mortgage in 2004 to replace a 50-year-old furnace and pay for their youngest daughter’s wedding. In May, their interest rate jumped to 8.55% from 5.55%, … Continue reading →

Building affordable housing where needed

Posted on December 21, 2006 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate | 8 Comments

From the Times, Trenton: Ending shift in low-cost housing Proposed ban sparks debate on town pacts A proposed reform of New Jersey’s affordable-housing rules would bar all municipalities from dealing away any of their state-mandated affordable-housing obligations by paying other … Continue reading →

Mortgage Insurance or Piggyback?

Posted on December 20, 2006 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate | 28 Comments

From the Wall Street Journal: What to Do if You Can’t Put 20% Down Home buyers may now need to pull out their calculators when tackling a common dilemma: what to do if they don’t have enough money for a … Continue reading →

Massive subprime defaults? Or not?

Posted on December 20, 2006 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, Risky Lending | 243 Comments

From the Center for Responsible Lending: Losing Ground: In this report, the Center for Responsible Lending presents research on how homeowners have fared with subprime mortgages. Analyzing the performance of more than six million subprime mortgages made from 1998 through … Continue reading →

NJ jobless rate edges up to 4.5%

Posted on December 20, 2006 by grim
Posted in Economics | 19 Comments

From the Asbury Park Press: State adds jobs, but it trails the nation New Jersey’s job market grew in November, but it failed to keep up with the rest of the country, according to figures released Tuesday by the state … Continue reading →

Housing Starts down 25.5% YOY, Permits down 31.3% YOY

Posted on December 19, 2006 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 165 Comments

From MarketWatch: U.S. housing starts rise 6.7% in November Construction on new homes rebounded in November, rising 6.7% after a whopping 14% drop in October, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Building permits, meanwhile, fell 3% to a fresh nine-year low, … Continue reading →

Can shared services really save money?

Posted on December 19, 2006 by grim
Posted in Politics, Property Taxes | 5 Comments

From the Courier News: Shared services can save county millions If a penny saved is a penny earned, credit shared services in Somerset County with 1,950,000,000 pennies. On Wednesday, the Public Affairs Chamber of the Somerset County Business Partnership is … Continue reading →

New Jets HQ and Training Facility (and Age-Restricted Housing)

Posted on December 19, 2006 by grim
Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | Comments Off

From Commercial Property News: Gale, Rockefeller Close on Parcel for 493-Acre Mixed-Use, Jets HQ Gale Real Estate Services Co. and Rockefeller Group Development Corp. have closed on the acquisition of the former ExxonMobil campus in Florham Park, N.J. The purchase … Continue reading →

15 years for housing to recover?

Posted on December 18, 2006 by grim
Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 102 Comments

From BusinessWeek: Housing: Curb Your Enthusiasm About A Recovery Home prices still have room to decline, and it may take 15 years or more to reach new inflation-adjusted highs Housing booms are short and exciting. Housing busts, on the other … Continue reading →

“Housing decline steeper than economists’ original predictions”

Posted on December 18, 2006 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 76 Comments

From Inman News: 2006 real estate forecaster report card Last year at this time, NAR chief economist David Lereah was predicting a “modest cooling” in the real estate market in 2006. Like most experts, NAR’s top economist didn’t anticipate that … Continue reading →

Cendant to be acquired by Apollo

Posted on December 18, 2006 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate | 28 Comments

From Bloomberg: Apollo Agrees to Buy Realogy for About $6.4 Billion Apollo Management LP agreed to buy Realogy Corp., the owner of the Century 21 and Coldwell Banker real-estate brokers, for about $6.4 billion in a sign the U.S. housing … Continue reading →