From Bloomberg:
Mortgage Market Losses May Be $400 Billion, Bank Says
Losses stemming from falling values of subprime mortgage assets may reach $300 billion to $400 billion worldwide, Deutsche Bank AG analysts said.
Banks and brokers will be forced to write down as much as $130 billion because of the slump in subprime-related debt, based on a “seat-of-the-pants” estimate the firms will account for a third of total mark downs, Mike Mayo, a New York-based analyst at the bank, wrote in a report today. Banks may have to write off $60 billion to $70 billion this year, he wrote.
The world’s biggest banks and securities firms including Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. have written down more than $40 billion of assets as mortgage-related bond prices slump on record U.S. foreclosures. About $1.2 trillion of the $10 trillion of outstanding U.S. mortgages are considered to be subprime, Mayo said in the note.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Mondher Bettaieb- Loriot, who helps manage the equivalent of about $58 billion at Swisscanto Asset Management in Zurich. “There are more losses to be taken and there’s more negative news to come. At some point it will be a buying opportunity but we’re not there yet.”
Deutsche Bank expects 30 percent to 40 percent of subprime debt to default. Losses on loans to people with poor credit histories may be as much as half the sum lent, Mayo said.
The estimate for banks’ and brokers’ losses in 2007 is based on known charges of $43 billion and expected additional losses of $25 billion, Mayo said in the note.
Loss rates on about $200 billion of securities based on derivatives linked to subprime debt will run as high as 80 percent, according to the note.
From the WSJ:
Countrywide Issues Ratings Warning
By JAMES R. HAGERTY
November 12, 2007; Page C2
Countrywide Financial Corp. warned in a securities filing that further cuts in its credit ratings to junk-bond levels could “severely” limit its ability to raise money in public debt markets and cause it to lose bank deposits.
In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday, the Calabasas, Calif., home-mortgage lender said that a cut in its ratings to levels below investment-grade could prevent it from placing funds from custodial accounts at its savings-bank subsidiary, Countrywide Bank. Ratings below investment grade also might cause Countrywide Bank to lose commercial deposits and limit the trading activities of the company’s broker-dealer unit, Countrywide said.
The company’s long-term debt is rated Baa3, the lowest investment-grade level, by Moody’s Investor Service. All three ratings agencies “have placed our ratings on some form of negative outlook,” the company noted.
Countrywide said it has lined up additional sources of funds to try to maintain its investment-grade rating. Among other things, Countrywide is relying more on loans from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. In addition, the company is heavily promoting above-average interest rates on certificates of deposit to attract funds.
Countrywide said it believes it has “adequate funding liquidity,” but that “the effect of future developments on the company may require us to … procure additional sources of financing.” In August, Countrywide raised $2 billion by selling preferred stock to Bank of America Corp. That preferred stock is convertible into a stake of about 16% in Countrywide.
Another uncertainty is whether Countrywide will have to make further large write-downs in the value of the loans and mortgage securities it holds. Because trading in such assets dried up in recent months, the company said in its filing, it was harder than usual to estimate values. Countrywide said it had to “apply more judgment to the valuation of nonconforming prime, home equity and nonprime loans because of a lack of executed trades that could be used to assure the valuations are reflective of fair value.”
From Bloomberg:
Goldman Held Bigger Share of Level 3 Assets Than Citi, Merrill
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. held a bigger proportion of hard-to-value assets at the end of the third quarter than Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., two of the firms hardest hit by subprime mortgage losses.
Goldman’s Level 3 assets, for which market prices are so scarce that companies use internal models to gauge their value, accounted for 6.9 percent of the New York-based firm’s $1.05 trillion total at the end of August, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Citigroup classified 5.7 percent of its assets as Level 3 on Sept. 30 and Merrill reported 2.5 percent.
Investors have grown wary of banks and brokerages with difficult-to-sell securities on their books, after profits at Citigroup and Merrill were crippled by at least $19 billion of writedowns, mostly from bonds backed by home loans to borrowers with poor credit histories. While Goldman officials say the firm won’t report an “extraordinary” drop in its subprime holdings, investors have remained skeptical, pushing its shares down 15 percent this month in New York Stock Exchange trading.
“It’s hard to believe Goldman is perfect,” said Jon Fisher, who helps oversee $22 billion at Minneapolis-based Fifth Third Asset Management and sold his Goldman, Merrill and Morgan Stanley shares in the past 12 months. “Their losses might be smaller than others, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem.”
From the Record:
Trump on EnCap: I’m fired (up)
Donald Trump is known for his Manhattan real estate deals, but a piece of the Meadowlands is in his heart — and pocket — he says.
“I’ve always liked the Meadowlands,” said Trump, who last week signed a deal to take control of the struggling EnCap golf and housing project in Rutherford and Lyndhurst. “You know, the sports authority once gave me a lifetime pass to go to any event at Giants Stadium or [the Izod Center]. It’s made of silver, very nice. I carry it around with me in my wallet.”
Trump’s involvement in the Meadowlands dates to at least 1984, when he bought the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. Trump hoped the Giants Stadium tenant would become as popular as the Jets or Giants. That effort failed after two years. Trump subsequently explored building an amusement park, a major league baseball stadium and a NASCAR track in the Meadowlands, but those proposals never bore fruit.
The 61-year-old mega-millionaire says this time he’s going to strike it big in the swamps of Jersey with what could turn out to be a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the EnCap plan.
“I do developments all over the world, but this one here in the Meadowlands will be one of my most important projects,” Trump said Friday in a wide-ranging interview. “What I like about it is that it’s in my back yard, and I understand it. The Meadowlands, if properly done, can be a great location. If improperly done, it’s a big loser. It won’t be good.”
Area’s new-home doldrums
By Alan J. Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Writer
If one word could describe the new-home market in the Philadelphia metropolitan region today, it probably would be sluggish.
The market actually has been that way for more than a year, and neither builders nor real estate agents nor housing economists nor non-housing economists say they see any change in the short term.
Except for the 55-and-over active-adult housing market – which exists primarily for people who have built up 30 years of equity in their current homes and can, in theory, afford to take a lower offer than they would have gotten a year or two ago – the new-home market here, and elsewhere, is in “stasis,” to use the description given the region’s overall market by Philadelphia economist Kevin C. Gillen, a Wharton School research fellow and vice president of Econsult.
“I don’t really understand why it should be so bad,” said Diane Williams, of Weichert Realtors in Spring House, Montgomery County, who has been selling new and existing homes in the eastern part of the county for 24 years.
“It’s an enigma,” Williams said. “It’s bad even though interest rates are great. Some builders are even going as far as saying that it’s dead.”
Maybe not dead, but as Wayne Norris, regional sales director of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, observed, the new-home market “is showing varying signs of stabilization.”
Hanley Wood Market Intelligence is an independent collector of new-home sales data. Its third-quarter figures show that sales in this region declined 13.4 percent from the same period in 2006 – much less than in Phoenix (down 56 percent), Washington (down 50.1 percent) and Chicago (down 40 percent).
“Most markets have experienced a tougher third quarter than year-to-date,” Norris said, “due, in large part, to the subprime crisis, which has kept buyers out for psychological reasons or because many cannot qualify in the current environment.”
Still, the Center City condo market is suffering from decisions, made three to five years ago, to focus on newly built units more expensive than this market can sustain.
“How many million-dollar condos can you build?” Naroff asked. “This is not New York. They’re supplying to the wrong level.”
The demand is for new and existing homes in the $250,000-to-$500,000 range, real estate agents say, and there isn’t much available.
New Jersey’s foreclosure rate rose almost 57 percent year over year, with a large portion of the increase attributable to areas outside this region (north of Trenton).
When will the downturn hit bottom and the market return to near equilibrium? Some housing economists continue to predict and end up being wrong. Others decline to venture a guess.
From Newsday:
Business across Island feeling mortgage crisis squeeze
Business owners across Long Island have long depended on the cash flow of the local consumer. Now, because of the housing slump and subprime loan crisis, there’s less money for homeowners to spend.
So area business owners are watching their budgets and finding ways to do things differently. For those who are cutting, each move they make – from not replacing a computer to buying less materials to hiring fewer people – affects other companies and individuals as well. And that, experts said, is the fundamental danger to the local economy.
Anyone watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition? Last night the builders were J & S Hovnanian & Sons. How are they related to K. Hovnanian? Is the building quality just as poor? Just hoping these people will have a house that’s still standing in 10 years.
“Why FAS 157 strikes dread into bankers”
“The risk of a worldwide banking crisis – one that is particularly damaging to mortgages, private equity, hedge funds and the banks themselves – is higher than it was a month ago, and the storm is rising.”
“The global banking system now faces the risk of a general flight towards cash and liquid level one assets on a scale that has not been seen since the early 1930s. Already British banks are showing signs of near panic. I hear of London banks going back on recently agreed loans to parties of good credit, presumably on orders from head office.”
“There have also been cancellations of offers of credit cards that had already been approved. One need have little sympathy for the US investment banks; they found it profitable to make speculative loans, and now they are paying the price.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/william_rees_mogg/article2852547.ece
“There have also been cancellations of offers of credit cards that had already been approved.”
I can attest to the tightening of credit card issues. Recently, I asked Bank of America to increase my limit to $15K from $10K since my wife put some expensive business travel and we booked a future cruise on it. Well they denied the increase. We both have excellent credit, do not carry balances and have some other credit cards with >$75K limits.
I also had a conversation this Saturday with two homeowners in Middletown and Red Bank who feel their properties are immune to price drops to their proximity to New York. I told them point blank, their housed will be worth 20 to 30% less in two years time. They thought I was smoking crack. Absolute denial runs rampant still.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzcov5457398nov12,0,6066033.story
Newsday is going to do negative multi page real estate articles all week and we are headed into the last two weeks of buying before the market shuts down from Thanksgiving till New Years, that combined with FAS 157 and the Feb really nasty anual reports and 10Ks coming out might gets us to a good discount on current prices in just three months.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/11/RE1AT6PPT.DTL&ref=patrick.net
at least someone is making money.
Talked to a friend this weekend whose house has been on the market about 45 days. They have had three open houses, no offers and no price deductions. The husband has already moved out of state for a new job and the family is staying until they sell the house. There are people who are “interested” and they are counting on them to come through with offers. They don’t want to reduce the price when these people are still “interested.”
I have tried to talk to her but they are strictly following the advice of their realtor who has not recommended a price reduction until recently and he is only recommending a reduction of $10,000. I told her that anyone who was going to look at their house now, and was willing to make an offer, would probably make an offer at least $10,000 less so a small reduction like that won’t make any difference in pushing for offers. A $50,000 reduction would put them into another bracket and probably sell the house. Housing is less expensive where they are going so $50,000 wouldn’t stop them from getting a house but they were hoping to lower their mortgage amount.
Even with all of the news out there, they still don’t get it.
Bond Buyers Are Losing Confidence
By VIKAS BAJAJ
Investors say they are most troubled by the accelerating pace of write-downs and credit downgrades in the residential mortgage area, but they are also starting to question the value of bonds in related areas like commercial mortgages and consumer debt. For instance, an index that tracks the cost of protecting bonds tied to commercial mortgages has surged since the end of October.
Investors are also increasingly expressing concern about the health of the commercial mortgage market after a boom that was similar to the run-up in the residential market. In recent years developers built scores of office buildings, hotels and condominium towers in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and other big cities. At the height of that market this year, bankers were lending 100 percent or more of the value of projects being built or refinanced.
RED BANK …try making a bid 10% below the offer in RED Bank and the homeowner will slam the door in your face .That town is one of the hottest at the shore .There building million dollar condo’s right in the heart of town. Tiffany’s moving in was a big plus for the town itself .Smart developers are eying the west side of town now .Walk the streets at night and you swear your in Manhattans village .The whole area has held up quite well
Citi downgrades E-Trade to sell rating
E-Trade Financial Corp. shares faced more selling pressure Monday morning, reflecting a Citigroup warning that the online broker could face bankruptcy following its latest earnings warning.
The shares fell in late trading Friday and weakened further before the bell, precipitated by the company backing off an earnings forecast made less than a month ago because the value of its asset-backed securities portfolio dropped further.
E-Trade said the fair value of its $3 billion asset-backed securities, or ABS, portfolio has continued to decline since the end of the third quarter. Collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, and other securities backed by second-lien mortgages saw the biggest hits, the broker explained.
“We estimate that trying to liquidate E-Trade’s loan and ABS portfolio would result in over $5 billion of losses, more than wiping out tangible equity,” Citi analysts said.
E-Trade had roughly $450 million in total exposure to asset-backed CDOs and second-lien securities on Sept. 30. That includes about $50 million of AAA-rated asset-backed CDOs that have been downgraded to junk status.
Countrywide warns junk rating would hurt business
Embattled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. in a regulatory filing said if its credit ratings fell below investment grade, its access to the public corporate-debt markets “could be severely limited.”
From Seeking Alpha:
Caveat Emptor: The Tumbling Housing Market
http://seekingalpha.com/article/53819-caveat-emptor-the-tumbling-housing-market
This one offers a very interesting and ‘new’ perspective of the housing drop. Lots of nice charts too :P
The chart on revolving vs. non-revolving debt should raise a few brows.
#13 Paul
Take it easy on the condo market in Red Bank. There are plenty of million dollar condos on the market but from what I can see from the tax records. NO million dollar condo sales in 2007 – at all. And with more under construction and property taxes going through the roof in Red Bank, I would not be too optimistic if I were you. Great town, great town center but still overpriced.
#9 John : I agree I think we will see some evry significant discounts coem Spring.
I also think that right after Christmas, youa re going to see a pre- Spring rush of sellers wanting to get their houses on before Spring time.
#13 Paul: No area is immune, even Red Bank, and with a slowing economy (recession?), and layoffs around the corner,its only a matter of time.
#13,
RED BANK?? Are you kidding me? The town is full of Mexicans, they are everywhere, 2 blocks from downtown you need a machine gun to get thru the streets. Newark is nicer than Red Bank.
Geez, what is it about Mexicans? Live in Los Angeles or any where else in Southern California and you will see the value of low income wage earners. Look around at work and tell me how many Mexican coworkers you see.
Be very careful about your stance on immigration. This country was essentially built on cheap labor. Get rid of it and you’ll be paying a lawyer or doctor to mow your lawn or to scan your groceries.
Condos in Red Bank or any other suburb are easy to sell at the peak of the cycle but close to impossible (a lot harder than detached SF homes) to move in weak market.
#21,
Whoever they are, they are breaking the law, that’s all it matters. If you let people break laws the entire country falls apart and that’s what happening right now.
I will take a wild guess that #13 Paul is a realtor in Red Bank
Frank,
What law are they breaking?
“Walk the streets at night and you swear your in Manhattans village ”
According to Frank, it seems like you are in Tijuana.
#25,
Immigration and tax laws.
i’ve said it many times before; i’ve been looking in red bank for months. people just don’t get it. yes the town is nice but i’ll be damned to pay over 400k for a 100year old home with 1 bath room. and yes, mexicans are coming into the east side. i looked at a newly renovated home that has been on the market for 10 months. the seller continues to refuse to drop the price — instead, there are 12 mexican construction workers “squatting” in the home for 2k a month. unreal!
Does anyone have problems with their Blackberry today?
It’s really too early for racism.
#25,
“instead, there are 12 mexican construction workers “squatting” in the home for 2k a month. unreal!”
Add occupancy laws and creating a fire hazard to the above.
Deutsche Bank’s Securitization Research group estimated that among the $1.2 trillion in “subprime” mortgage loans outstanding, 30 percent to 40 percent could reach default. This would force losses of $150 billion to $250 billion.
Plus, the bonds and securities that investment banks layered with subprime loans could lose as much as 80 cents on the dollar, Mayo said
Actually it is African American Berry.
Just an observation. I am not a RE professional or investor, although I do have some personal RE holdings. We have a well-above annual income from a partnership, a small business, and various investments and a net worth in the 7 figures. I grew up down the Shore but business interests currently have me out of the area but just a short plane ride away or a doable drive in. About 4 or 5 years ago we were looking for another house to use down the Shore from time to time. Even at that point, it became clear to us that people were making bad decisions in bidding up the price of RE in the area. Even with our resources, we did not see any value in the prices at the then-current levels. It just got even more out of control since then (notwithstanding drops over the past 18-24 months), and most of the people buying do not have our financial resources.
At the time, RE agents were pitching the idea that “Buy now, there won’t be any land left if you wait, and “all the desirable housing will be gone if youdon’t dive in now.” These are the same pitches that were made in the great Florida land rush (followed by crash) in the 1920s!
We looked again recently and people seem to think that the value of their homes is tied to what they paid for it. They have forgotten the basics. Heck, if I buy a Kia, and pay a Lexus price for it, I cannot necessarily sell it to someone else for the same price, let alone a profit. Many people bought “Kia” properties, but seem to think they are sitting on something more valuable.
For now, I see far better value traveling to Europe for long weekends, taking a villa on St. Barts from time to time during the year, and other such lifestyle activities than sinking dollars into an asset that is overpriced.
As much as I love the Shore, the access to NY is overemphasized. The ferry is the only good way to get there. Other than that, the Parkway is an undersized nightmate, Rt.9 ,Rt 35, and Rt 36 heading north are worse. The train takes forever and is an exhausting process, and the “good option” of catching a 5:30 a.m. bus is even less appealing.
Now, where I am now, I pay higher taxes but I get more value for the money in terms of amenities and services. And, the commute to the center of the city is about 15 minutes away).
The key to nearly any investment is the concept of value. And cheaper does not always the best value. That said, I see no value down the Shore right now.
Over the weekend, someone posted information about Spring Lake. Now, there is no question about it, Spring Lake is a lovely town. Still, for those in the market to spend $5 million or more on an occasional use beach house, there are far better values elsewhere. Remember that fractional jet ownership is only a couple hundred grand a year and it offers the ability to get the family from Teterboro, etc., to the blue waters of the south, without fighting to get down the shore, in very little time. It also allows for a better use of cash resources because even a villa in the BVI, etc. is less expensive (even considering the jet travel) and provides a far better experience overall.
I dont know whether the top-rung RE got pushed along by the lower rung properties, or if the lower-rung properties got sucked up by the top end of the market. Either way, from my vantage point, the value is just not there yet.
I know there are many who may say, “yea but look at even traditional rates of return, RE is a great longterm investment.” Maybe, maybe not. After calculating taxes, maint., and the opportunity cost of not investing the money elsewhere, I am not convinced that it is the best return on thr dollar. I know that ona cannot entertain clients in or have a child’s wedding in the backyard of stock certificate, or other investment vehicles. There is a lifestyle component to this. Nevertheless, paying even 40% of monthly income on a home (especially if it is 2 incomes, thus limiting a family’s ability to bring in extra income (by sending the other spouse to work if needed) should times go bad)is just not wise.
Notwithstanding the lifestyle component, RE takes capital that could otherwise be put to work and ties it up. Right now, I do not see how but a small percentage of families living downthe Shore or looking to buy inthe area can really say that a purchase – as current prices — makes any economic sense.
There seems to be a belief that purchasing NOW is good because purchasing BEFORE was good. Just like investors bought CDOs on the assumption that mortgage debt IS safe because mortgage debt WAS safe; even though the old rules that made mortgage debt safe had been abandoned.
Any thoughts?
Frank,
Here is one example…Governor Corzine pays on average between 6% and 12% of his enormous income in income taxes. You could ensure that every Mexican in NJ pays their fair share in taxes and it wouldn’t come close to the breaks that this one wealthy ‘white man’ receives.
I’m not suggesting that we sock it all to the wealthy, but when I’m paying >20% on my
Red Bank or as the PC likes to say “Native American Indian Bank” is about to topple big time. The place is priced as if people work in NYC yet it is in the middle of nowhere. Went to a nice wedding there at a catering hall that is also a hotel on the water. Don’t drive too fast or you will miss that itty bitty spec of a downtown. Wedding place was a nightmare, friend had the day wedding and we stayed over, the night wedding had a rock band and the whole hotel shook to 1am and no one from the day wedding who stayed over could sleep a wink. Nothing to do there in the morning and it is waterfront with no beaches. What a pure CRAPHOLE. Jersey Shore, AC and NYC are all too far to get to and that little town makes mayberry seem like a swinging town.
I’m not suggesting that we sock it all to the wealthy, but when I’m paying >20% on my
The median income for a household in Redbank was $47,282, and the median income for a family was $63,333. Males had a median income of $45,922 versus $34,231 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $26,265. About 6.3% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.
How the hell do they sell million dollar homes in a town with 63K income is beyond me.
Weird…Why does it cut off certain messages like that. It’s very hard to make an argument when more than half the post doesn’t come through. Did you forget to pay the bill JB? One more try…
greater than 200K income and Mr. Corzine is paying 11% on his 11.8 million income, then I feel you are barking up the wrong tree.
Corzine paid 1.3 million on adjusted gross income of $11.8 million in 2004.
Go back to 2003 and Corzine paid only 6% on closer to 40 million income. Now go try and blame the Mexicans for NJ’s budget deficit.
I wonder what those 12 mexicans will do to value in area.America was built on cheap LEGAL labor, our Grandparents ,not what we have today.A country that can’t control it’s borders is doomed.Open up a history book its in their.Cheap illegal labor is a short term fix in the long run it will ruin use.Just like the short term fix of exotic loans it will blow up .The results will be much worse.
#35,
What does this argument have to do with Governor Corzine? what about a little guy like me that gets up every morning at 5am just to pay my taxes and live a decent live. One missed mortgage payment and I am done. One missed tax payment and I am in jail. Meanwhile the Mexican next door cares less about taxes, laws or even the English language. He is getting free health care free schools, free town services, and works tax free, meanwhile sucker like me pays thru the roof. This has nothing to do with begin Mexican or any one else, it has to do with being fair.
Re: #38
“How the hell do they sell million dollar homes in a town with 63K income is beyond me.”
Fear of “being left out?”
Mortgage bankers who bear no long-term risk?
People who are not realistic about their ability to pay debt obligations over the long term?
Just plain-old garden-variety stupidity?
But then again, it is only an hour to midtown, well, at midnight.
I love this canard about how America, back in the good ol days, was built on legal labor.
Has anyone forgotten slavery? Sure, it was LEGAL but what is legal ain’t always good. This country was, to a large extent, built on the backs of slaves. Not to mention on the backs of exploited Irish and Chinese labor as well.
And one more thing – in the days of Ellis Island, there was no dual bureaucracy to deal with. You showed up and they decided on the spot. Now, you spend years in legal limbo while the USCIS and then the Department of State and then the USCIS again decide the status of your application. There is simply no comparison for the so-called “legal” immigration in vogue when European immigration was in full force to the situation today.
“Most markets have experienced a tougher third quarter than year-to-date,” Norris said, “due, in large part, to the subprime crisis, which has kept buyers out for psychological reasons”
I love this excuse. It has nothing to do with housing being unaffordable, it’s just that buyers are crazy.
mike,
The Irish and Italian and Jewish and all of the other Eastern and Western European immigrants that came here in the the early 20th century were about as despised as the Mexican is today. There is definitely some inherent racism mixed into your political stance. Isolationism and closed borders is a recipe for disaster, read the history books.
So would you support legalizing all immigrants then? It is the argument you are using above. I highly doubt it!
This is the house: As you can see, very nice but 525! Lets get real here. When I went inside there was 1 sofa with a bed sheet covering it, an end table with a scale, yes a scale to measure oh i don’t know… crack!?
Upstairs in the bed rooms had mattresses all over the floor with 2 people to a bed sleeping– it was 2pm. i could go on and on but it really pains me to witness this as my wife and i are looking to start a family and move to town that a young couple can enjoy and get a start on our life, even the option to rent this place would be a good start. instead, this place is housing for cheap fort monmouth labor. i’ll bet a nickle it’s the same crew that worked on restoring the house.
wooops:
http://www.weichert.com/search/realestate/PropertyListing.aspx?P=10447769&cityid=42570&ptypeid=32&minpr=525&maxpr=525
“He (that pesky Mexican) is getting free health care free schools, free town services, and works tax free, meanwhile sucker like me pays thru the roof. This has nothing to do with begin Mexican or any one else, it has to do with being fair.”
So why don’t you labor for $5/hour and squat with 11 of your compatriots? Nothing is stopping you from doing so. I bet when you think about it a little more thoroughly, you will come to the conclusion that it’s better to just pay your taxes and live a significantly better life than your free loading friends.
#45,
This country does not stop immigrants, there’s about million of them coming each year. One big difference, they follow the law!!!
schab (from #462 yesterday)-
Yeah, I should have acknowledged Brady as being above the pack. No argument from me on that one.
I didn ‘t say close the borders.Isolaionism is a recipe for disaster.But we must control our borders they are wide open.Immigration in a orderly controled fashion is great.What we have now is not.I am not a racist I am a realist.
I don’t see any other way than legalize people who are here.Not part of the ship them all back crowd.Then we get a handle on things at border and bring people in the right way.Medical checks ,background checks ,maybe we know you the hell is here.Wouldn’t that be nice
we did it in the past.(Irish,Jewish,Italian,Cuban)
We can do it right, would be better for these new Americans.I would be happy to welcme my fellow countrymen.
I do not welcome just anyone walking on over.
#48,
What’s stopping me is the possiblity of jail time, because I am legal, if I don’t pay my taxes I goto jail for a long time.
OK Mike and Frank,
What is your quota for Mexicans vs. Asians?
There’s no quota, let people come as they want but obey the law!!!!
From the FT:
Insurers to pay $2bn in subprime cases
By Andrea Felsted in London
Published: November 11 2007 20:02 | Last updated: November 11 2007 20:02
The cost to insurers of claims brought against directors of companies caught up in the US subprime mortgage crisis could be more than $2bn, according to Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance broker.
Guy Carpenter, part of Marsh & McLennan, estimates that this level of insured losses could be incurred on directors and officers (D&O) policies, which protect a director or officer of a company from paying out from their own pocket in a case arising from their duties as a director of a corporation.
“There was never any doubt that the subprime mortgage market collapse would have an insurance impact. The question was one of extent. While estimates vary from $1bn to $3bn, it looks like the reality may settle at the upper end of the scale. The final answer will not come until 2008 or maybe even 2009, but history, litigation tendencies and capital markets point toward the worst case scenario,” Guy Carpenter said in an update on the professional liability market.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73ec7c02-907b-11dc-a6f2-0000779fd2ac.html
Frank, if that was our policy, then I would agree with you. I don’t feel blaming the Mexican though will further your case. You need to blame the correct party, who in this case is our government.
Anyone watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition? Last night the builders were J & S Hovnanian & Sons. How are they related to K. Hovnanian? Is the building quality just as poor? Just hoping these people will have a house that’s still standing in 10 years.
JS was K’s brother, Javier(?) died recently.
Indirectly I used to do some business with JS Hovanian, quite a few of the plumbers I do business with worked for them. I’ve been in quite a few of their buldings in one phase of contruction or another.
The quality is pretty typical of any other larger builder these days, pretty poor IMHO. They go for the lowest cost products they can get away with, and hope the warranty runs out before a problem arises.
In regards to the Philly market. Residential new construction is pretty much dead, at least on the Jersey of the river where I operate. Some apartment work and assisted living type building is going on, but SFH starts are almost nonexistent. One of the last big projects to get started was Park Place at Garden State. When I was in the office last week they were selling about 1 townhome a week. When the project kicked off they were raffling off the rights to put a deposit down.
http://www.gardenstatepark.net/
Stuw Sync Be positive, change system for immigration,it can be done.Do we have the will,I can only hope & vote.
Wow, an argument with a positive outcome. I love this place!
Reduced/Action Priced
Now this is a new way to describe a house, saw it in an ad today.
mikeinwaiting,
The legal immigration system is a mess and there is no attention being focused on it at all. All the attention is on illegals.
Focusing on the illegals gets you votes from the ill-informed population.
illegals are the one breaking the law, legal immigration system is the best thing we can agree on and that’s the way it will stay until we agree on something else. There are many problems in this country but we resolve them as democracy, not because we like them or not.
as indicated last friday, all this subprime drama is near the end except e*trade looks like on 1:2 split.
NY/NJ wasn’t built by slaves. ALso the Irish and Chinese had it worst than slaves. Actually we have a shortage of hot Sweedish women in NYC so I say we should re-open Ellis Island for “select immigrants and green light them. But we need to have a balanced approach so when the boat arrives at Ellis with the good immigrants lets fill it up wit the bad immigrants and send them on their way.
Also todays immagrants come hat in hand looking for a hand out which is part of the resentment. As recently as the last 1950’s when a relative came from Germany he had to join the US Army first and do a tour to get his citizenship expedited (at that time german citizens living in germany could directly join the US army) then he had to have his aunt sign for him that she would provide a place to live and his other Uncle gurantee him a job before he even set foot in the US and that is after he did his US army tour.
If every single Mexican immagrant was willing to do a tour in the army first and then have a relative gurantee them a on the books job, a place to live and they would pay taxes and learn english and actively obtain citizenship they would be no backlash. My German relative had to do this all first while his finance waited in Germany for several years till he got his papers and could legally bring her over.
Has anyone forgotten slavery? Sure, it was LEGAL but what is legal ain’t always good. This country was, to a large extent, built on the backs of slaves. Not to mention on the backs of exploited Irish and Chinese labor as well.
Frank, the legal immigration system is broken. I have dealt with it and continue to do so. It is broken. Do you have any idea how many individuals legally enter this country, intend to maintain their legal status and are pushed into undocumented status because USCIS or Department of State loses their paperwork or simply fails to action their application/petition in a timely manner? This is despite the fact that they charge around 700 USD per applicant to process a citizenship application. Other fees are also similarly high.
Hello,
Can anyone get me info on listing No. 20731432 in Manalapan.. (i.e. OLP, days on market, etc). thanks!
Gold futures tumble over 3% as traders rush to sell
Gold futures fell 3% early Monday, as a rebound in the U.S. dollar and a spike in global risk aversion gave traders reason to lock in profits following the metal’s recent bullish run.
Gold for December delivery dropped $26.50, or 3.2%, in early action to stand at $808.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“Global risk aversion and fears of further write-downs from subprime losses this week, along with a 4% decline in China’s market to start the week off, have all driven the metals and currency markets in a strong counter-trend fashion this morning,”
Now this was counter intiutive. I was under impression that due to all Doom/Gloom scenarios (Subprime, Risk, China speculation, Dollar Weak etc…), Yellow Metal was going up. Why is it off then today? Did things change suddenly today morning?
# 11 Willow Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I have tried to talk to her but they are strictly following the advice of their realtor who has not recommended a price reduction until recently and he is only recommending a reduction of $10,000. I told her that anyone who was going to look at their house now, and was willing to make an offer, would probably make an offer at least $10,000 less so a small reduction like that won’t make any difference in pushing for offers…Even with all of the news out there, they still don’t get it.
I am seeing the same thing here. We are trying to buy and I am really coming to conclusions that it is the REALTORS giving the bad advice to these sellers. I see it on both sides. We just recently sold. Our realtor priced our home too high and I knew it, but I went with it for 10 days. We had no showings. We then dropped the price to 5% below competition, with a nicer home overall, AGAINST OUR REALTOR’S ADVICE, and we had over 15 showings the next week, and three good offers out of the open house. And when I say I dropped it, against our realtor’s advice, I mean, I had to go over there myself and practically hold her hand and make her fill out the change form because she was stalling so bad on dropping it and told us that we messed up her market (joking of course, ha ha).
Now, on the buy side, if we even mention making an offer significantly below the price-that-the-realtors-and-sellers-have-pulled -out-of-the-air, I mean, the asking price, we get scolded by our buyer’s agents.
I really believe that the realtors are the ones desperately trying to hold on to these prices and are giving out bad advice. Many sellers are not super-savvy and trust their realtors too.
short term market is counter intiutive in nature. that is why i seems not follow the logic
68#, Now this was counter intiutive. I was under impression that due to all Doom/Gloom scenarios (Subprime, Risk, China speculation, Dollar Weak etc…), Yellow Metal was going up. Why is it off then today? Did things change suddenly today morning?
#64 bi: all this subprime drama is near the end.
It is ? I must have missed that. Thank You.
#66,
If you have a problem with the legal immigration system, leave. Try India or Mexico for change. I heard they are both wonderful. Do you need help with one way tickets?
Market Crash Imminent: Get Out While You Can
http://seekingalpha.com/article/53863-market-crash-imminent-get-out-while-you-can?source=feed
Frank #72,
Are you really that fu**ing stupid or is that just an act?
I just checked the crime lab index in Red Bank and its got a fairly high crime rate compared to most other nice places in NJ. And who cares if its commutable to NYC. Everywhere is an easy commute to NYC according to realtors.
And if everywhere is an easy commute than everywhere in NJ would be immune to this…Wait that means Burger King county should be immune to this because its a very easy commute to NYC from BK county.
I think people were duped and they are trying to use the same reasoning that suckered them in. Well HAHA to Rubber Bank prices are going down there. Way down. And when there home vaule declines 50-60% it will put a big smile on my face and make me jump for joy. :)
“I don’t really understand why it should be so bad,” said Diane Williams, of Weichert Realtors in Spring House, Montgomery County
“It’s an enigma,” Williams said. “It’s bad even though interest rates are great. Some builders are even going as far as saying that it’s dead.”
PRICES ARE TOO HIGH!
Why does this seem like such a difficult concept to grasp? Is it simply denial? Or, are people genuinely puzzed why everyone isn’t running out to drop $500k on a tarter home?
It’s really nice that interest rates are low, but what good does it when housing prices have doubled over the last 6 years. Houses are unaffordable despite low rates.
#74,
I guess you can’t take criticism lightly. Ability to understand someone’s opinion is a major part of growing up. Grow up and stop cursing.
If there is a problem with legal immigration system, where would you go..
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/03/12/inv.flight.school.visas/
as indicated last friday, all this subprime drama is near the end
Then I guess its time for the Alt-A and Prime drama to begin. Same stupid loans, just to people with higher credit scores.
stu, fast yur seat belt and welcome to the second roller coaster run of srs.
Regarding all the comments on Red Bank…..I’ve worked here for the past 3 years. I take a daily WALK from my office to buy coffee.
To be clear, most people do not live in Red Bank, many people visit or conduct business in Red Bank. People live in Fair Haven, Middletown, Holmdel, Rumson, Little Silver, Shrewsbury, Tinton Falls etc.
There is a less desirable area of town, but it is confined, almost purely residential and there is no reason to go there…SO WHO CARES.
Regardless of what anyone want to say, Red Bank and Hoboken are more alike than they are different. The main differences are: no affluent residents live in Red Bank, but rather the surrounding towns; proximity to Manhattan; use of car; Hoboken has a concentration of people aged 25-35 that work in Manhattan; Red Bank is Joisey.
Red Bank is better than Hoboken in many ways…and if you are looking east of Broad Street, then any of this xenophobic nonsense is irrelevent.
Personally, if you worked in Manhattan and were considering this area, I would only do so if you work in proximity to WFC or Pier 11. The train (as noted) is a good option for ease of use, but for a daily commute it is a lot to tolerate from this distance.
ETRADE
I think they are DEAD> Down 83% YTD
Price
3.960 Change
-4.630
% Change
-53.900
Bid
3.950 Ask
3.960 Open
5.470
Volume
100,826,966 High
5.650 Low
3.880 52-Week High
26.08
(01/16/07) 52-Week Low
3.88
(11/12/07) 1-Yr Return
-82.835
#74,
With your attitude and lack of understanding for others I bet you, you’re from India, gee how did I know?
chicagofinance,
You commute from Hoboken to RedBank? How long does it take?
At just over 7% rate of return, any investment wil double in value over a 10-year hold period. For many investments, there are few carrying costs. For RE, the carrying costs costs can be quite high (insurance, taxes, repairs, utilities, etc). When one crunches the numbers, the bang-for-buck for a typical family investing in real estate for their primary home is not always what they think it is, especially when one considers the future value of money because of inflation.
Even if a suburban homeowner is getting 7-9% on the house over 30 years, after correcting for inflation and subtracting all of the carrying costs (not to mention the cost of financing the purchase in the first place), they very likely will not be ahead in terms of real dollars.
Of course, one must factor in the benefit of living in an asset that one controls, etc. But that gets to RE as a place to live, not an investment vehicle. If more people did the objective analysis and then viewed a primary residence as A PLACE TO LIVE and not as a piggy bank or 401(k) they would be better off and, I suspect, would make different decisions about the price they are willing to pay. Anyway, as costs outstrip the baility of even two-income families to pay the out-of-wack prices, the laws of supply and demand — cold and unforgiving as they are — will force a change in behavior, and with it a price correction.
Also regarding restaurants….Hoboken’s food is more consistently better, but the best restaurants down here blow away Hoboken.
#74,
Are you another frustrated H1-B visa holder? Opps we have hit the limit.
Frank,
The H1-B visa limit does not apply to H1-B visa holders..
Frank Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 11:20 am
chicagofinance,
You commute from Hoboken to RedBank? How long does it take?
Frank: No longer, but I did it for 3 years. From the Tea Building to my office was 47 miles, using the Skyway, Turnpike, Parkway. It usually took just short of an hour. Granted, if I caught it wrong on the way home, I had to learn how to finesse things, especially on a Friday. Bear in mind that I am an aggressive driver, so I find inventive ways to consistently shave 5-10 minutes out of every drive.
Bi says:
“stu, fast yur seat belt and welcome to the second roller coaster run of srs.”
My arms and legs will remain in the car for the duration of the ride. I have not sold a share yet. But, don’t worry BI, I’ll be sure to let you know when I do. FYI, I’m now down less than 7% since boarding. I should make that up easily on the day Goldman Sachs announces their writedown.
89#, frank, when people give you the commute time you have to ask if it is the case of best, worse or average. what chica gave is apparently best case scenario (plus bonus of 5 to 10 minutes by aggresive driving) and what you co-worker gave you was the worst case. so on average i would say 1.5 hour to 2 hours for a place about 50 miles to nyc.
Ann (69)-
“I had to go over there myself and practically hold her hand and make her fill out the change form because she was stalling so bad on dropping it and told us that we messed up her market (joking of course, ha ha).”
She wasn’t joking. Lots of agents think they have to show a history of increasing prices on their listings in order to continue to attract seller business.
That’s valid for an up market, but today, a seller is best advantaged by getting out of his home ASAP. When equity dwindles daily, getting out fast should be the goal.
bi (70)-
Go ahead. I think you can safely short gold now. :)
Please go ahead. I can feel you thinking about it…
Funny Clot!
93#, guess what? i got out of dug at 43.75 this morning and now back to re.
BI,
My window for trading is usually two to three years, not hours.
It significantly helps to pay taxes on long term gains, rather than short term gains. When you make enough dough to pay AMT, you will realize this.
the other component of the baffling prices in red bank: public schools rank 4 out of 10.
http://www.Greatschools.com
if the stock market has any indication on future economy, i would say the drama of sub-prime is over! look at citi and every other banks. they are on fire since last friday. i miss the boat.
Banks are moving due to SIV announcement BI. They did after the original SIV announcement as well, but are significantly lower today than they were after the original announcement. There is another way to read into these announcements. It is that things are probably way worse than they want you to know. These SIVs are just another means to delay the pain. I’m not sure why I bother trying to educate you. Perhaps its out of sympathy?
I used to live in River Plaza and wouldn’t think twice about walking the kids across the river to watch the trains come in.
Red Bank may not seem like much compared to the city but it is an island in a suburban wasteland… there are cool things to do there but it still feels like a small town.
That being said the 1200sf shole I bought in 98 for 175 sold for 300 in 04, the lady flipped it a year later for 70k more.
I think the house is still overpriced @175! People are out of their minds with home prices and I think there will be significant losses in this area.
Amare Stoudemire has purchased Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Matt Leinart’s Ahwatukee home for $1.9 million, about $500,000 less than what Leinart paid for it last year.
Leinart put the 6,800-square-foot Ahwatukee home on the market in June for $2.4 million, after he moved to a $2.3 million home in a gated community that real estate agents have nicknamed “the Beverly Hills of Chandler.”
RE Appreciation. If you took the original 24 dollars paid for NYC and invested it at 6.4% you would have the current value of all the buildings in NYC in 2007.
100#, aaron, you bought it at $175K in 98 and now you think it is over-priced at $175k. you must be most risky flipper.
bi (98)-
“i miss the boat.”
Aw, c’mon bi, just pick up some C today. Hell, make it a market order. Better yet, why not Texas hedge it with some GS, MS, JPM, LEH, etc…
I lived there 6 years. Why call me a flipper?
John,
I read that article today. It is funny because I used to live in Ahwatukee in 2002-2003. 1.9 million is still a joke. Ahwatukee is considered an upper crust area of Phoenix. You should see all the houses that the crammed in between the foothills and the 202 (the Native American reservation). There was so much demand and prices were going up 1000’s each week. I still have a flyer for a house I was going to buy there. 3,600 sq. ft. (DR Horton) – 325K loaded. That same house was selling for 750K (or at least it cookie cutter counterpart) mid 2006. I will be there over Thanksgiving I can update everyone on the situation:)
Red Bank Condos
The facts are that just about every condo sold in 2007 sold for well less than 500k. Most in the 200-300s. There was however, one clown that did buy a 2200 sq ft condo for $750k (12,000 in taxes -OUCH!). So million dollar condos are not happening in Red Bank any time soon if at all. Also(hoboken blows red bank away)
Everyone,
I should be out of attorney review today or tomorrow. I will then update you all on my purchase. Desperation with a hint of fear = fair price in this market.
105#, sorry you are not a flipper. but please give me your logic why it is over priced at $175k today, which is the same price you paid 10 years ago? you mentioned it is in so convenient location.
#34….fascinating thesis…well thought out and exceptionally worded…..but I think you want the ‘rich folks’ forum….it’s two doors down and to the left….j/k
TJ,
A blog can be a cruel place, so be sure to temper your expectations when you post your results. With that said, I hope you truly got a great deal and are not living on top of a nuclear waste site ;)
Another factor in RE being overvalued is culture. Several Indians and Asian I know view a house as a safe investment that can’t lose. When I tell them a house over time is less of a return than just a plain old convserative stock fund once again they say stocks are too risky.
So even back August when yields on CDs were high I asked so where is your money that you have saved I get all in the money market spread out over two banks so I get FDIC. I then tell them interest rates are falling up to a whole percentage point in the near future. I then say why don’t you lock in some CDs at least at those banks before rates go down. Both say too risky I may need my money. Once again I explain on a one year CD the worse case is there is only a three month interest penalty if you break the CD that is tax deductable and since you will be gettng a higher interest then the money market that would most likely cover it anyhow.
I still get too risky, I then try to explain that inflation is 3% and soon money markets will be 3% and since you are in 40% tax bracket you are realy only geting 1.8% so you are actually losing money each month. I still get too risky. So I finally get to well when the money market money piles up to a large amount then what. Final answer buy a bigger house or investment property cause RE is a safe investment. Even more amazing these people work on wall street.
I worked in a bank years ago and till this day I never understood the people that leave a large amount of money in the money market that they don’t touch for years on end while rates are falling. Chase has money markets that pay 1% and will only raise it if you ask and they do that cause there are tons of people who will let money sit in the bank at any rate.
bi, it was a crummy little house and salaries in the area do not justify the price. That is why I don’t live in NJ any more!
They have lost Bell Labs, Lucent, and Fort Monmouth (as well as many surrounding defense contractors) in the last 10 years.
bi Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 11:38 am
89#, what chica gave is apparently best case scenario (plus bonus of 5 to 10 minutes by aggresive driving) and what you co-worker gave you was the worst case. so on average i would say 1.5 hour to 2 hours for a place about 50 miles to nyc.
bipolar: what are talking about? Shut up. The commute was very regular except for the Pulaski Skyway piece. EVERY morning was 55-60 minutes. The aggressive driving comment means, MY 55-60 minutes is unique to me, not that it is a best case scenario. Every time I drive I commit mutliple moving violations, mostly related to excessive speed, but at the same time, I become very familiar with my route and become adept at anticipating other driver’s mistakes. Highway driving is very important to me, because I can take advantage of controlled excessive speed.
I also am familiar with almost every permutation of traveling from the South and West of Hoboken and finding a way into Hoboken. Most people I know shake their head and say “how the hell did you figure this out?”
Teacher convention con
Posted by Star-Ledger editorial board November 11, 2007 10:30PM
This time each year virtually every school in New Jersey shuts down for at least two days so a fraction of the state’s 176,735 public school teachers can go to Atlantic City for the annual New Jersey Education Association convention.
This has to rank among the biggest scams perpetrated on the public. Name one other profession in which people are given time off from work for professional development but are free to go nowhere near the convention.
Yet, since 1920, state law has dictated that teachers must be permitted to attend the convention without using a personal, vacation or professional day, which means this is not something won at the bargaining table.
Most school districts have responded by closing schools altogether. Because the convention often falls near Election Day and Veterans Day, some districts close schools for the entire week or four of five days.
If most teachers actually went to Atlantic City last week for this free event, which by most accounts was enriching, it would be difficult to be snarky. But that isn’t what happened.
On Thursday, the first day of the convention this year, 28,788 teachers attended. That’s roughly 16.2 percent of the teachers who belong to the NJEA. Disrupting public education statewide for such a small percentage of teachers just doesn’t make sense.
But the absurdities don’t end there. Schools were closed in the three districts where educators belong to the American Federation of Teachers, a competing teachers’ union. Why do these teachers need that time off?
Professional training is important. Teachers should be given opportunities to improve their skills. What’s untenable is keeping hundreds of thousands of children home, in some cases for a very unproductive week, so a handful of teachers from each school can attend the convention.
How about shifting the convention to the summer? Or requiring that those who take the day off actually attend the convention?
John what you mentioned about Asians is true for most Americans as well. Otherwise how do you explain the 2005 mentality where everyone was saying RE never goes down. On Stock thingy, the retail investor population is pretty low even among US natives. The majority investments is due to 401K and Pension funds anyway.
John Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Another factor in RE being overvalued is culture. Several Indians and Asian I know view a house as a safe investment that can’t lose. When I tell them a house over time is less of a return than just a plain old convserative stock fund once again they say stocks are too risky.
Aaron Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
They have lost Bell Labs, Lucent, and Fort Monmouth (as well as many surrounding defense contractors) in the last 10 years.
A: the ferry offsets that quite a bit from what I see….and there is a hell of a lot of money down here….you don’t have to believe me, but you see the outward signs…..Tiffany/Garmany, the Grove, Whole Foods, the (bring you suitcase of money) restaurants, the wirehouse brokers (Merill, SB, MS). This stuff can’t just exist here without the embedded base.
John (112)-
Why do you think the idiocy (which you correctly describe in #112) is confined to certain cultures?
In my experience, I’ve found people of every ethnicity spout this nonsense.
#89,
chfi, just thinking of driving to Hoboken everyday, makes me want to drink heavily.
The median income for a household in Redbank was $47,282, and the median income for a family was $63,333. Males had a median income of $45,922 versus $34,231 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $26,265. About 6.3% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.
How the hell do they sell million dollar homes in a town with 63K income is beyond me.
Most are business owners who hide their money from those 3 letter agents. You need to uderstand the economics here. How can someone afford a million dollar mortgage if he only claims to have earned from his restaurants, bakaries, tire shops etc only 65K?
Since he’s current on his mortgage that leaves only one explanation does it?
115#, how many points you got so far?
> MY 55-60 minutes is unique to me, not that it is a best case scenario. Every time I drive I commit mutliple moving violations, mostly related to excessive speed, but at the same time,
#102 John
I come up with $441,541,464,831.90. I don’t know if 441 Billion is enough.
Clotpoll (#119), knowing Dr Jekyll’s thinking, I am guessing what Mr. Hyde meant to say was Indians and Asians (who are perhaps less 2% of the buyers) caused RE prices to bubble towards the end….
ChiFi,
I too am highly skilled in the many different routes into the tunnels by car. Just don’t try cutting through the Holland Hotel (I think that is the name) parking lot outside of the Holland Tunnel. It cost me a vehicular trespassing ticket years ago and the only ticket I have received in the last 20 years.
When we finally have our blog get together, we can share shortcut war stories.
ust about every condo sold in 2007 sold for well less than 500k
I still cannot figure out why people waste money on “condo’s”
All a condo is, is an apartment you own. I would never waste my money on a condo. I would rather rent an apartment same thing.
Townhouse, is a multifloor apartment. Usually 2 floors, sometimes a basement.
Why anyone would throw away there money on that I will never know. The money you would spend on maintenec fees you could have you kid or a neighbor kid mow your lawn in the summer and rake leaves, and shovel snow.
Plus they all have so many rules and regulations. I mean paying 50-75 K for one OK, but anymore than that for a condo, you have to be pretty damn stupid. And paying over 130k for a townhouse is pretty stupid too. And don’t get me started on the cookie cutter home developments. Thats possible the dumbest thing I have ever seen. If I but a house I do not want my house looking like everyone of my neighbors houses within a 2 mile range.
I mean its no wonder they are starting to bring back old cartoons and reamking old things. People have no imagination, no indivuality anymore.
I say get rid of condo’s get rid of townhomes, and these tacky cookie cutter house developments, build sturdy houses like the ones built in the early 1900’s.
Most important people need to realize
Granite is tacky
Stainless steel is tacky
Travertine is tacky
But hey everyone has no inviduality and since those are the “in things” everyone has to have them.
I would rather have yellow/gold appliances and old school counter tops.
And my last things is people spend 20k on a small bathroom. What is this world comming to. A bathroom is a place to shower and do your business when nature calls. As long as the the bathroom is clean and is useable who cares if the bathroom has granite countertops
112#, john may have a point. most asian countries are very dense in population. examples are japan, china, india,…
when people come here, they feel it is a bargain to get so big space even for a gold coast condo. no mention mamansions in monroe.
116 Renting
It may be upsetting that NJ gives its teachers off so they can attend a conference even though most don’t. However, in NYC, the powers that be added days for teachers to come in, increased their salary because of it and do not offer and centralized professional development. As a matter of fact, many schools don’t offer professional development at all. It is a day for people to catch up on paperwork- paperwork that would have been done at home on their own time. So I ask you- which is worse?
#126
lol, so which of the 3 little piggy’s homes would you choose?
bi Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
115#, how many points you got so far?
> MY 55-60 minutes is unique to me, not that it is a best case scenario. Every time I drive I commit mutliple moving violations, mostly related to excessive speed, but at the same time,
bipolar: consistently have 2 points…I average a violation every 3 years or so…although I bought one off in Hoboken in 2004 for $395.
And since I’m on the education topic right now, I need to correct some English. I apologize if it offends anyone but it annoys me to no end.
there- adverb- as in -you go over there
they’re- contraction- as in- they’re (they are) going over there
their- possessive- as in- it is their home
So many people on this blog complain about about immigrants and english language learners yet people who use English as their first language can’t seem to get it right. Go figure.
Homer Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
homes: Kitchens and bathrooms need to be cleaned thoroughly and often. New and well designed versions of these rooms make this tedious task easier.
Condos stink? I beg to differ. I hate everything about a house. I wish I didn’t have any property to maintain. Garbage, recycle what a disaster!
Red Bank and Hoboken have at least one thing in common, which is that you can’t send your kid to either public school system.
While local Red Bank Realtors might think they are making headway pitching Red Bank’s nightlife to Hoboken couples looking to move to the ‘burbs, the Hoboken couple is much more concerned with getting their toddler into a decent school system in a few years. If they wanted to send their kids to crappy schools, they could easily stay in Hoboken where Dad would have a much better commute to the city anyway. If they need the extra living space that come with having kids, soon to be ex-Hoboken families are much better off buying in almost any of the towns that surround Red Bank than actually buying in Red Bank since those towns at least have safe public schools and in some cases excellent public schools.
Condos stink? I beg to differ. I hate everything about a house. I wish I didn’t have any property to maintain. Garbage, recycle what a disaster!
Well lets see, condos developments I have seen, have garbage piles sky high, people leave there crap laying everywhere. Neighbors making all sorts of noise. But hey if you like that kinda stuff to each there own. I don’t see a point to them. But again thats just my opinion. I also think anyone who pays over 75K for one is an idiot. Who cares where it is. Its an apartment with a different name.
It makes me laugh people paying all sorts of money to live in a apartment which they could probably rent for less.
may be John has solved the equity premium puzzle
lost (131)-
Most non-Americans (especially Indians) I encounter have far superior written English skills than the natives.
Go figure.
Here you go folks, hurry and bring our checkbook for this charmer, it won’t last. I bet you the seller still has a 2005 calendar on their fridge…. sort of frozen in time.
http://homes.realtor.com/realestate/hillsdale-nj-07642-1090857613/
stuw6,
I am extremely thick skinned. How else can one make 20-35% off OLP lowballs?
cfinance– trust me I know very well that there are a ton of opportunities to make money in the city.
I still don’t understand what that has to do with the price of a 1200sf 70 year old home. You have to make big $$ to make it worthwhile to ferry into NY; I didn’t know many ‘average’ people like me who worked in the city. All of us depended on the local economy.
In metro areas such as New York, San Francisco, and Boston, urban condos provide easy access to areas of intense and growing economic activity.
It is proximity to economic activity that underlies real estate values. The reason why a Hoboken costs more than a Monmouth County mcmansion (on a per sf basis) is because Hoboken is closer to the biggest concentration of economic activity in the world, Manhattan.
gun lovers diveristy
http://www.thoseshirts.com/diversitybk.html
Forgot to write “condo” after Hoboken.
#92 Clotpoll,
Oh no, she wasn’t joking at all about not wanting to do the price drop and telling me I was wrecking “her market.” She’d tried to make it sound like that. Then she’ll take credit for the fact that our house was under contract in under three weeks.
And your reasoning is exactly right, she wants to keep showing increasing prices.
Although I don’t know how it helps a realtor’s rep to have stuff on the market for months and years either. Maybe they should start focusing on moving stuff off the market. And start living in reality.
Actually when I last sold a house in the spring of 2004 I had 200 People at the open house. Not one single professional couple made an offer. One nice couple who worked for Chase who got the employee discount told me that 20% down for a 550K house was too much for them given they were getting married. If they did less money down they did not get employee rate which made it even worse. In the end the Chinese “investor” who bought it did not even know what a home inspection was as he was not in the country too long, he bought it as is for cash. Bottom line 200 people at open house, ten offers and offers 1-9 were from Asians. They were spending it like casino money. One old asian lady was yelling, “you take $535 I got check” She was waving her checkbook around while we were discussing a $540k offer, my favorite was when she yelled “you take check YOU GET OUT NOW”. I tried to explain to her neice that you can’t just hand me a check like that and you need to have your lawyer call my lawyer on Monday and we will review the offer and schedule a closing, she just started yelling you take check you take check!!The guy I sold it to was going to renovate it and sell it to yuppie white people, he said those “yuppie white people like house near train – go to city and make big money – pay me lot for house”.
So anyhow he renovates the house top to bottom and a year nine months later is on market, I go to open house as he is not there, he has a nice asian realtor showing it who can speak maybe two words of English, keeps saying “look around, you like you buy, not my house, don’t know answer you like you buy” Anyhow house is now on market for $749K and for 3/4’s of a million dollar you need more than like you buy and if you are trying to sell to yuppie white couples why have a realtor who only speaks mandarian? Anyhow that was spring 2005 and the house is rented out to an asian couple while he waits for this price. I also sold a coop in 2000 and it was same thing, I wanted to sell to a nice young couple starting out both times and if teh offers were even withing 5K would have picked a nice newlwed coupls as in both places I knew the neighbors. But both times when you have these subprime knuckleheads offering you crazy money you had to take it. In the houses case the Couple from Chase was the highest offer from a professional couple and it was 500K, every other offer was from a tear down, cut up, flip, illegally subdivide, blow-out crowd with easy cash and not a care in the world that they could get stuck with a small house by the train one day.
And btw when I say nice couple I don;t mean white, the nice couple was an amerasian girl with an africian american finance. I mean nice as they wanted to fix it up, be friendly with neighbors and raise a family there. Not just wreck and flip and maybe have the house end up in a foreclosure.
Re: John what you mentioned about Asians is true for most Americans as well. Otherwise how do you explain the 2005 mentality where everyone was saying RE never goes down. On Stock thingy, the retail investor population is pretty low even among US natives. The majority investments is due to 401K and Pension funds anyway
#126
Homer,
So anyone who buys something you cannot afford is an “idiot”… and anyone who works in the city and makes good money is a sell-out that neglects their children. Does that about sum it up?
You’ve got some serious envy issues going on my man… may want to see a therapist.
Aren’t you the Homer that was looking at townhomes in PA some time ago? My apologies if I have you confused with someone else.
96#, stu, the closed i can found about AMT is: Acid Mothers Temple,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMT
Homer wrote: ” A bathroom is a place to shower and do your business when nature calls. As long as the the bathroom is clean and is useable who cares if the bathroom has granite countertops”
For you maybe. I see a bathroom (especially the shower) as one of the most important rooms in the house. It’s basically the place I wake up every morning, so when I buy a place I’ll probably spend 5-10k redoing the bathroom into a asian spa style (to mimic Cathay Pacific lounge’s private lavatories in Hong Kong airport I was lucky enough to experience). On of my many pet peaves about MLS is how rare it is BR photos are included
Also, granite countertops can be very nice, but I agree they are a big cliche now. I was way ahead of the curve when I built a granite tile topped bar while at Trenton State college in 1993. It’s still with me today, travelling to 5 different apartments in 2 countries and 4 states :)
cheers
Kurt
Somebody mentioned something about the lack of value in an earlier post. I can’t be that cordial anymore. I used to laugh when I opened the links and looked at the asking prices. It’s now become downright despicable.
FYI here’s a shower mod tip – don’t waste $400+ on one of those fancy “body jet” deals. Go to home depot and buy a T fitting, 5 ft’ shower extension with massage head, and an adjustable shower head bar (like they use in Europe).
For under $75 you’ll have water hitting you front and back, or one per person when sharing the shower…
Alternative Minimum Tax bi!
I hope you were trying to be funny.
“sharing the shower”
My virgin ears are ringing.
#144,
John, your stories are priceless. Thanks!!
It is tempting, isn’t it?
http://homes.realtor.com/realestate/fuquay+varina-nc-27526-1086859785/
#153 gary,
Not even a little……..
#153, it is, but I don’t know if I’d buy from a cartoon realtor in a bowling shirt…
153,
Not tempting to me. Don’t think I’ll ever want to live on a street called Wyndchase Court. Especially when nearest city is 25 miles away on a local road.
FYI here’s a shower mod tip – don’t waste $400+ on one of those fancy “body jet” deals. Go to home depot and buy a T fitting, 5 ft’ shower extension with massage head, and an adjustable shower head bar (like they use in Europe).
For under $75 you’ll have water hitting you front and back, or one per person when sharing the shower…
All sounds good, but your price? The bars alone are more than that.
Here
And thats w/o the drop elbow.
That house is nice, does it comes with slaves?
But who would live in a town called Fuq-uay?
gary Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
It is tempting, isn’t it?
http://homes.realtor.com/realestate/fuquay+varina-nc-27526-1086859785/
Ann (143)-
Sadly, the goal for too many in my biz is to serve ourselves before we serve our clients.
So anyone who buys something you cannot afford is an “idiot”… and anyone who works in the city and makes good money is a sell-out that neglects their children.
No in the city I understand that you have to build up, I mean when your in a town like east bob 2 hours away from NYC and they are charging 300K for it. Than yes your stupid for paying that much. Regaurdless of if I could afford it, I would not waste 300k on a condo in east bob.
The only way you are neglegting your kids is:
If you are commuting 2 hours each way to work leave at 530 get to bus for 6am get to NYC at 8 am get to work my 8:30. Work till 6. Get 630bus take 2 hours to get home. 8:30 to bus station at maybe home a little before 9. So if you are doing that everyday, you are never there to spend time with your children. So in that sense yes you are negleting your children. Working all day and maybe seeing them for 1 hour at night and maybe spending time with them on weekends, that to me sounds like neglect.
That person could find a job closer to home, but they won’t becuase they won’t make as much. So that to me says money is more important than spending time with your kids.
People would rather commute 1 and half to 2+ hours each way and live in the suburbs and keep there fancy paying job as opposed to making less and live closer to home and spend more time with there children.
So if thats not neglect than I dont know what is
153
What scares me the most is how to pronounce the name of the town.
You need a real job, at six am it is pitch black when I get up and I got ten minutes to do the three S’s. (Shit, Shower, Shave)
It’s basically the place I wake up every morning, so when I buy a place I’ll probably spend 5-10k redoing the bathroom into a asian spa style (to mimic Cathay Pacific lounge’s private lavatories in Hong Kong airport I was lucky enough to experience). On of my many pet peaves about MLS is how rare it is BR photos are included
For you maybe. I see a bathroom (especially the shower) as one of the most important rooms in the house.
And see to me your reasoning is understandable of having a bathroom of that nature. But most people have it cause its trendy. You can make a nice bathroom without spending all sorts of money, maybe it won’t be trendy but it will be nice a it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
#153
Not interested
25 miles from a real class C city
500 miles from a pork roll egg and cheese
just keepin it real
25 miles from a real class C city
Honestly if you blink you miss it.
Driving around NC reminded me of driving Rt 46. Forever.
schabadoo – I bought this one at a local Home Depot:
http://tinyurl.com/36v6fs
Maybe it was on sale because I would never pay $72 for this, seem to remember $45.
Cheap showerhead&hose packs start under $25.
T connection (with push button for turning off the second head) was no more than $7.
Couple bucks for large stick-on cable hold-downs for routing the hose along the shower wall.
Sure you’re using more water, but that’s a good excuse to shower 2 at a time :)
“the closed i can found about AMT is: Acid Mothers Temple,”
Bi, are you for real?
The closest I can find typing “AMT” into Google returns the first search item linking to:
Alternative Minimum Tax – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Now don’t go shorting the stock with the same ticker.
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc. may slump below $30 a share, a drop of 14 percent, as U.S. bank shares extend declines on writedowns that will have a “severe impact” on their capital ratios, according to CIBC World Markets Inc.
Meredith Whitney, the New York-based analyst who on Nov. 1 triggered a 2.6 percent slide in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after saying Citigroup may cut its dividend, reduced her recommendation on the biggest U.S. banks to “underweight” from “market weight,” relative to the S&P 500.
“The optics for the group are not good at the moment, but they are poised to get worse,” Whitney and Carla Krawiec, also based in New York, wrote in a report to investors today. “We expect Tier 1 ratios to drop materially in the fourth quarter.”
“pork roll egg and cheese”
You must be from Trenton. My mouth is watering thinking of a PRE&C at Pat’s diner…
Homer,
I am aware that some people commute 2+ hrs to the city, but please stop making it seem like that is the majority of NYC commuters. I would guess that is the minority. There are nice suburbs very close to NYC and the commute from them via train probably compares to the drive to work for most NJ workers (or close to it).
I realize you work down the street, but again, you are probably in the minority.
It is tempting, isn’t it?
It is tempting.
Nice pool.
It should be very tempting. People should move to make a better life for themselves and their family.
Sell here. Buy cash. Keep wife home with kids. And live happily ever after
171 Renting
My brother is having that very same pool put in at my parents house as we speak. I will have a very happy summer.
#170
To correct myself: I realize you presented a scenario in your post of the 2+ hour commuter and didn’t say it was the majority of commuters (this time). However, every time the subject comes up you go on and on about a 2+ hour commute. I really think you believe that is the norm, but correct me if I am wrong…
I was never trying to make it seem like anything. Your the one stating I am calling people neglectfull. And I say they are sellouts becasue making money is more important than spending time with your children. I am not saying everyone is like that in NY. My issue is once you get out of Bergen county, into Morris, somerset, Mercer, ocean, monmouth, Bethlemem PA area than your spending a good amount of time commuting. Why not get a job somewhere in NJ if you have a family? Becuase money is more important.
Not all commuter have families but it would be I am sure quite a few do, enough to stand to my point that money is more important than family.
John Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
You need a real job, at six am it is pitch black when I get up and I got ten minutes to do the three S’s. (Shit, Shower, Shave)
J: Can’t you extend that to be the three SH’s
I am about to walk to Starbucks…..if I see any Mexicans, what should I do?
ask them how much their rent is at 36 marion street.
My issue is once you get out of Bergen county, into Morris
Having lived in both, the shades of gray you are describing are largely indiscernible. Midtown direct, the bus, etc.
#175
You throw out a lot of very general, angry statements pretty frequently. Thanks for clarifying what you meant. Although, I am pretty sure you said that people that make $200k+ on Wall Street are sell-outs a short time ago. I don’t have time to dig it up, but I believe that is about what you wrote. Maybe you just meant the ones in that live in Morris, Somerset, Mercer, Ocean, Monmouth and Bethlehem, PA.
And you never answered my earlier question. Was that you that was looking at townhomes in PA some time ago? If not, my mistake.
CF…you crack me up!
That house is indeed beautiful but it still doesn’t justify a reason for us to be fleeced to the Nth degree in The Peoples Republic of New Jersey. That house in North Jersey goes for at least 3 times that asking price with 3 times the property taxes.
It’s still scandalous the asking prices and taxes for the plywood dive holes these st*pid b*stards are demanding. F*ck them. And again, I’m a homeowner.
Quite honestly, most of you are taking this all with a lot more dignity and grace than I. This is a f*cking outrage what has happened the last 5 years and I do take it personally because the actions of others has interfered with my interests.
Hey, it’s a two way street and honest, hard-working souls who saved and invested with the hopes of raising a family got shafted and now they have every right to turn around and say, “F*ck you” to everyone who had their greedy little mitts in the jar and scr*wed everyone without a shred of decency.
Well Doyle I lived in Somerset NJ and that was agleast 1 and half hours into nyc and there were tons of commuters there. Plus the reason I talk about 2 hours plus is how many places I looked that people were commuting to NYC from 2 hours away. There are a truck load of people commuting from Bethlehem PA into NYC everyday. How many open houses I went to easy commute to NYC. Hunderton co, Mercer, places that would take you 2 hours to drive, and many people live there commute to NYC. So thats my 2 hour speal. If a realtor is using that sale phrase and saying people commute to NYC and when talking to people in the area who do commute than that confirms my point. I make a big thing about it becuase people act like everyone in NJ commutes to NYC. People assume we all make 6 figure salaries. And to me if you live that far and have a family than you are neglecting them.
“I am about to walk to Starbucks…..if I see any Mexicans, what should I do?”
Chi,
Then walk to Murphy’s and order some tequila.
#177,
“I am about to walk to Starbucks…..if I see any Mexicans, what should I do?”
Ask them for immigration papers just to see how fast they can run.
…And the Giants s*ck. They’re not in the same league as Dallas.
“I am about to walk to Starbucks…..if I see any Mexicans, what should I do?”
Pick up the peso ;)
Sex and the subprime market…
Amid the foreclosures, Countrywide Financial has repossessed one interesting property, points out Michelle Leder of Footnoted. Apparently a house in Holmes Beach, Fla., now owned again by Countrywide, had been previously used for Internet sex parties. “So it wasn’t just Countrywide’s mortgage brokers who went wild — valuing a house for about 50% more than it is now worth,” she writes. “It was the people inside the house, too. Maybe they should have charged more for the parties!”
http://www.footnoted.org/subprime-mess/sex-and-the-subprime-market/
182 Gary
Quite honestly, most of you are taking this all with a lot more dignity and grace than I. This is a f*cking outrage what has happened the last 5 years and I do take it personally because the actions of others has interfered with my interests.
I’m not taking this with so much dignity. I would love to get Bill back in the White House. But if she signs off on bailing out the reason that I haven’t been able to buy a house, I am not voting for Ms. Hillary. And to me this is an outrage.
I hope no one followed the heard and put a large percentage of their hard-earned moolah into China. It is beginning to look like their bubble is bursting.
Gary,
Do what I’m doing. Dollar cost average into real estate. Buy a second home and then your total pain will be divided in two. Of course it helps if your first home is a multi-family ;)
Doyle
I looked at townhouse. Even considered it. But the only reason was not becuase I wanted a townhouse but becuase houses were higher priced. I honeslty would never buy a townhouse becuase that would not suit my needs. I would like to have a yard so as my boys get older they have a yard to play in. I also want a yard so besides the numerous walks me and the dogs go on they could also have a yard to go nuts in. And from my view on them also, it just does not feel like a home. To me paying more than I mentioned above outside the city is crazy. Than that also screws with house prices. Well Bob down the road got 300k for his townhouse, I have a house with a yard no maintence fee I will charge 450k. Thats my other quarrel with them. There fine for cities but not for suburbia. I have seen townhouse 3 bed 2.5 bath in NJ in morris county going for 650k 400/month maintence fee and 8000k per year taxes. I have seen them in other place go for 450k etc. Theres nothing special about them. They are townhouses, not mc manision.
Homer,
I could care less if you don’t like townhouses, it just seems hypocritical to state that anyone who buys one is “stupid” or and “idiot” when you “considered” one recently.
We’ve wasted enough blog space for one day, good luck to you…
Actually, todays news said the average bonus on wall street this year will be 200K. The guys on the train will hit the 200K mark on their W2 well before Presidents Day. Plus, lots of traders, and such blow out the door at 5pm sharp and let their staff take over and are eating dinner with their wife and kids at 6:30pm every night. If they worked in NJ with hte traffic maybe they would be home at six pm. Wow, a 300K paycut for 30 minutes extra with the wife, maybe if she was a victoria’s secret model. Most housfras I see I would pay money to avoid.
RE: You throw out a lot of very general, angry statements pretty frequently. Thanks for clarifying what you meant. Although, I am pretty sure you said that people that make $200k+ on Wall Street
lostinny 189,
I’m not talking about politics. It has nothing to do with who’s in the Whitehouse.
>>There is a less desirable area of town, but it is confined, almost purely residential and there is no reason to go there…SO WHO CARES.
every time i drive through red bank there are mexican people all over the place. i don’t know how you can say confined with a straight face.
Doubling down on a global downturn
ProShares funds short booming Chinese stocks, other emerging markets
By John Spence, MarketWatch
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Investors who believe that China’s soaring stock market is due for crash now have a new tool to put their money where their mouth is.
Exchange-traded fund manager ProShares last week launched the first ETFs geared to short international-stock indexes, including a fund that seeks to deliver twice the inverse, or opposite, daily return of Chinese stocks.
UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ProShare (FXP:proshares tr ultra xin ch25
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 92.28+10.34+12.62%
3:25pm 11/12/2007
FXP 92.28, +10.34, +12.6%) , which shorts Chinese stocks, is generating plenty of buzz.
FXP is not for the average investor. I will stay WAY away from it. You could stand to lose 20% of your investment in under an hour with that one.
Market Update
DJIA 12,985.43 -57.31(-0.44%)
NASDAQ 2,584.13 -43.81(-1.67%)
S&P 500 1,439.03 -14.67(-1.01%)
Rus. 3000 833.60 -9.39(-1.11%)
Wil. 5000 14,541.34 -167.95(-1.14%)
Nikk. 225 15,197.09 -386.33(-2.48%)
(Real Time) as of 11/12/2007, 4:02PM ET
Market News
195 Gary
I disagree. The politicians are getting involved in a bailout for whats happened in the last 5 years. I think that’s worthy of outrage. You can disagree if you like but that’s my opinion.
#199 John,
Thanks for the market update. I don’t have access to the internet.
#29 Frank:
Does anyone have problems with their Blackberry today?
Frank. Illegal immigrants are buying up black berry’s and hogging up the network. You need to go back to smoke signals .
199#, John, with todays closing price, s&p is up 1.5% YTD. your asian/indian friends may be right…
More from The Record in regard to #3 above:
No easy road for Trump
The problems associated with the EnCap golf and housing project didn’t evaporate with Donald Trump’s announcement last week that he would take over the project.
Among the pending issues is a Nov. 20 “Notice of Intention to Terminate” set by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission in September for EnCap Golf Holdings to post an additional $16 million in security to ensure Rutherford and Lyndhurst landfills will be cleaned up even if the project collapses.
The commission also demanded settlement of at least $25 million worth of liens and lawsuits involving disgruntled EnCap contractors, as well as evidence that a gas collection system at the site has been fixed, along with a host of other environmental violations.
“Hopefully we will get an extension of the deadline,” Trump said. “I just got here.”
So far, the state is making no promises.
……
Trump vows to build one state-of-the-art golf course instead of two courses and to scrap the current 2,500-unit residential plan, replacing it with an office, hotel, retail and residential complex that may even have more residences. In Rutherford, the fate of a 300-unit condo complex and a 200-unit senior housing development are unclear.
More at the link above, Rich
Anyone know anything about this property:
http://www.njmls.com/cf/details.cfm?mls_number=2745128&id=999999
Is it possibly for sale? Is this REALLY a 2-acre lot in Teaneck? Talk to me grim!
#202,
Very funny, you may want to try comedy instead, but don’t quit your day job.
Worse years in stock market – makes this RE thing seem like a little hicup.
United States
1809 1814 –37.8 War
1835 1842 –46.6 Bank war
1853 1859 –53.4 Railroad boom
1863 1865 –22.5 Civil war
1875 1877 –26.8 Railroad boom —
1881 1885 –22.2 Railroad boom —
1892 1894 –16.4 Silver agitation –
1902 1904 –19.4 Rich man’s panic — 29.9 — —
1906 1907 –22.3 World financial crisis –6.9 —
1916 1918 –42.5 War — — — —
1919 1921 –24.5 Disinflation, disarmament
1929 1932 –66.5 Roaring 20s and policies
1936 1938 –27.0 Tight monetary policy
2000 2002 –30.8 Information technology boom —
Moderation?!
JB, Stop working for a minute and unmoderate me. (Delete a few posts while your at it. About 125 of them…)
Thanks for the market update. I don’t have access to the internet.
Ummmmmm…
Richard Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
>>There is a less desirable area of town, but it is confined, almost purely residential and there is no reason to go there…SO WHO CARES.
every time i drive through red bank there are mexican people all over the place. i don’t know how you can say confined with a straight face.
Reech: the line of demarcation is literally the railroad tracks….the only time they come across is to wire money home at the banks….most of whom I see are women pregnant or pushing newborns in baby carriages. Given that they have to walk or bike past the police station to get to the “desirable” part of town, I don’t give it a second thought.
Regardless, I used to think that there was an issue in Red Bank, and then I realized that it has more to do with it being 2007, because every town in NJ seems to have this issue. Clearly the most stark I can recall is Morristown, and in no way is Red Bank anything like that situation.
BubbleYum,
It was for sale:
ACT 333 LIBERTY RD $795,000 5/23/2006
EXP 333 LIBERTY RD $795,000 8/21/2006 (Expired)
ACT 333 LIBERTY RD $625,000 3/6/2007
EXP 333 LIBERTY RD $625,000 9/7/2007 (Expired)
Tax Records:
Deed $500,000 11/2/2005
Deed $270,634 2/26/2007
Lot: 388 X 195
Thank you Rich in NNJ–you are an officer and a gentleman!
Let the waiting game begin . . .
Anyone calling DOW under 12000. That must have been a fun 10 mins before closing as the 13K point was crossed and the programs kicked in.
I am about to walk to Starbucks…..if I see any Mexicans, what should I do?
Tell them…
Yea, I’m a good driver….5 minutes till Wapner.
Every time I drive I commit mutliple moving violations, mostly related to excessive speed, but at the same time, I become very familiar with my route and become adept at anticipating other driver’s mistakes. Highway driving is very important to me, because I can take advantage of controlled excessive speed.
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHERE YOU BUY UNDERWEAR?! UNDERWEAR IS UNDERWEAR!! IT’S UNDERWEAR WHEREEVER YOU BUY IT!! IN CINCINNATTI OR WHEREVER!!
UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ProShare (FXP)
These ETFs are for short-term traders. They have no business being part of a portfolio. For starters, they aim to capture double the inverse of DAILY return. The longer the time period, the higher the tracking error.
Do we really need a chainsaw to cut butter?
Exchanges push for ETFs as they trade a lot, short term people trades things like this multiple times a day, Exchanges only make money when people buy and sell, they make basically nothing with the buy and hold crowd. Exchanges don’t care which way the market goes except for the fact you buy and sell.
UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ProShare (FXP)
Can someone offer their opinion about bridgewater area? It seems everything is overpriced and selling at our asking price? Also some information on mls 2449611. thanks
“ALso the Irish and Chinese had it worst than slaves. ”
No.
Anyone calling DOW under 12000.
With redemption fees and excessive trading policies associated with 401ks, when does it make sense to realign or transfer a balance?
Still have 200 comments to wade through but looks like i pulled a bi: I had been making comments on how Apple would reach 200 by year’s end … naturally, it has not happened! In fact, it went from about 190 to 153 in six days. Fortunately, i got in at 137.
Plus, I’m in it for the long haul (as in years), so I’m not worried.
Now, i just eye google and wait for the right moment to scoop up a few shares. And then hold that for a few years.
schabadoo Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Anyone calling DOW under 12000.
With redemption fees and excessive trading policies associated with 401ks, when does it make sense to realign or transfer a balance?
s-Hasid-oo: throw your statements in a sock drawer; if you have online access, lose your ID and Password……………….
Where’s Grim?
Hard at work..
Most non-Americans (especially Indians) I encounter have far superior written English skills than the natives.
Go figure.
It makes perfect sense. By comparing typical americans to atypical non-americans you’re comparing apples and orangutans.
Less literate people from the other side of the planet generally stay there. Oceans provide a huge obstacle for the less gifted.
Of course, your comparison completely breaks down if you compared typical americans with the aforementioned new red bank residents who are, more often than not, barely literate even in their native language.
Interesting thread today! A few comments…
Homer, stainless steel appliances are actually classic, turned trendy-they’ll go back to classic.
Gary, you seem especially p!ssed off the last few days! Try to relax & enjoy what you have for a bit. You’re in much better shape than most. :)
There, their, they’re, your, you’re … it is annoying.
I think you all will enjoy this site… you can see all of those fun median incomes for any zip code in the U.S.A.: http://www.zipskinny.com
#205 bubble: Teaneck highest property taxes in Bergen County, followed by Bergenfield, and River Edge in third place.
john (216)-
Pity the fools who get caught up in all the short/double-short ETFs like FXP, DUG and the like.
Nothing like getting pinched in a short squeeze…in some of the most illiquid and gut-wrenching securities ever devised. Talk about a rush for the exits, and all the doors barred shut! These ETFs are living proof of PT Barnum’s theory.
prices not going down in west orange, A friend of mine made 2 offers around 88% the asking price and not counter offer. I am talking about houses that not need any kind of work.599 asking price offer 535, 524 asking price offer 460
in one of them he even offered without mortgage contingency
#116…RentinginNJ Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Teacher convention con
Posted by Star-Ledger editorial board November 11, 2007 10:30PM
This time each year virtually every school in New Jersey shuts down for at least two days so a fraction of the state’s 176,735 public school teachers can go to Atlantic City for the annual New Jersey Education Association convention.
This has to rank among the biggest scams perpetrated on the public. Name one other profession in which people are given time off from work for professional development but are free to go nowhere near the convention.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Name one other ‘profession’ where 50% of new entrants into that profession leave before 5 years. Name another profession that requires a college diploma and where the professional often has to have two jobs to make ends meet?
In the coming years there will be the need for 2 million new teachers.
For those who doubt there is a crisis in finding qualified educators:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/education/27teacher.html
shuky Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
prices not going down in west orange
shuky: it is an illiquid market….if you have a chance to wait longer you should…I vaguely recall you have some timeframe that overrides a pure price priority and deliberate pace……that is the reality for you…
#228 shuky: They will, just give it time, the sellers turing down your friends offer/s is a blessing for him/her. He will be looking at soem good deals next year.
There is absolutely no pressing reason for most people to buy now.
Those silly sellers will regret not taking your friend’s offer/s.
3b Says:
November 12th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
#205 bubble: Teaneck highest property taxes in Bergen County, followed by Bergenfield, and River Edge in third place.
________________________________________________
Oh yeah, the property taxes are through the roof–but this is a 2300 sq foot house on a 2-acre lot (which are as rare as hen’s teeth in that area) built in 1998 that sold for a little less than $271,000 in 5/07. Something funny is going on, but I at least have to investigate.
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting!
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links: