When it comes to cops, cities are generally farm teams for the suburbs. The worst are poor satellite cities and counties. They lose cops to better-paying, safer towns constantly.

Also, a larger police force will pay less but be considered safer. Backup is worth more than salary, and since they don’t have traffic as a priority, they are generally reactive so there is actually less risk. Also, poor urban areas are ignored by cops because they are not compensated for the risk and are viewed as the enemy, so they don’t bother—that would involve undue risk.

There is also the job prestige to compensate for pay. Cops are not the sharpest knives in the drawer and don’t have mahy prospects that pay somewhat reasonably and carry the prestige (or just plain old ability to scam) that being a cop conveys.

BTW, I know this is unvarnished and harsh, but I have my sources (a.k.a. Dad)

Go to Valley in Ridgewood.

sl

“In my opinion there are only 2 options. Either it is impossible to effectivly teach these students in their crrrent environment ( which i do not believe) or the state is astronomically ineffective even given the massive amount of money they have..”

both

““There is really just no firewall around these sorts of communities that insulates them from what is going on in the housing market,” said Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.”

wait, I thought Retsinas said most of the Northeast was bubbleproof because of heavy zoning and general lack of available land. Can a reporter please do some research once in a while?

1) Whether the so-called “friends of Angelo” program was ONLY offered to politicians, or if it was a marketing ploy to make the company seem more “personal”

1) whether Dodd was TOLD this was a “friends of Angelo” program loan.

If he thought this was just marketing preferred rates to people with high credit ratings, then I don’t see a problem here. If he knew it was a special program, AND it was just for politicians (and he knew that as well), that would be a problem.

R – “Are you interested in placing an offer?”

W – “The place is nice, but on a busier street and overpriced.”

R- “What price would get you in here?”

W- “I would have to talk it over with my husband”

R – “I can represent you. Sometimes we have office exclusives that don’t go on the MLS (she started off the conversation by saying that she was a little greedy)”

W – “We are working with a buyers agent that we are happy with. Isn’t it a conflict of interest to represent the buyer and the seller? It seems corrupt and no other industry allows this.”

R- “Sometimes clients prefer to have an exclusive listing”

W – “How does that possibly benefit the client? Why wouldn’t they just sell it themselves if it isn’t on the MLS?”

R – “Thats the power of a realtor”

I posted this before but these are my thoughts on where house prices need to be. With unemployment and gas prices being what they are, it wouldn’t be surprised if it goes lower.

I was checking out NJMLS the other night out of boredom. A couple of the kitchens in the smaller co-ops caught my eye.

This is a horrible kitchen remodel. I know it’s a small space with limited options but at least get some things to line up. On the plus side, it looks like someone actually lived there and I don’t think did this solely to increase the value. http://photos.njmls.com/2817187.5.jpg

This one was my favorite. At first glance you’re like “wow” http://photos.njmls.com/2813978.6.jpg

Then I realized the space over the sink is half cabinet half empty space. I’m guessing these are ikea cabinets because in the closeups the doors don’t align properly (person didn’t take the time to get it right) and there’s a gap between the back of the cabinet and the wall which usually happens with Ikea’s wall cabinet mounting system. No effort made to get an end panel or other way to finish it off so it isn’t so bad.

In this pic you see the butcher block top and the granite looking countertop don’t match up. http://photos.njmls.com/2813978.4.jpg That’s really annoying.

They at least found a 20″ stainless range though.

But you have to ask yourself? Does a kitchen like this really belong in a small studio apartment? For reference the first picture was for a 1 bedroom.

The bathroom tile job looks amateurish too. Saw a lot of stuff like these in the past few years. And they’ll sell. Not as fast as they used to though.

Rot is your worst enemy, this is typically caused water intrusion a big problem in older homes where there has been deflection. Sealing and waterproofing an older home is continual maintenance, a penny of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Older homes require more maintenance but assuming this has been done and there are no structural problems. In a 3000 sqft home lets assume with 1 kitchen 3 baths, re plumbing the supply with PEX cost like 9-10k, plus what ever plaster/sheet rock damage. Your waste/vent again depending on usage of pvc or cast iron could range from as low as 5k to as much a 10 or 12k again not counting collateral damage, floors, walls, etc. Your best bet is to gut the bathrooms and kitchen, new floors and Sheetrock which is easier to deal with than lathe plaster or horsehair plaster walls. The other rooms can probably have their walls spared and repaired by an experienced plaster guy, not cheap but it will retain some of the character of the home. So about 15-20k for plumbing. Electrical for 200 Amp service a new box, and complete rewire about the same 20k. You need to paint probably every room after this and patch all of the holes in the plaster. Now things to consider, HVAC, a new install of ducting and an a high SEER HVAC system is about 25k, if you have sufficient ducting it is less probably 15k. But to make it look nice and avoid ugly ducting a high velocity system would run about 30k-35k(spacepak) better option in older homes. To update the mechanicals in a 3000 sqft house as a homeowner, contractors pay less, and you pay more because you are not totally gutting the building or doing a new build and thus it is more time consuming, would cost probably 100k, conservative estimate for the the kitchen and baths is 45k so 150k brings the interior up to the standards of a newer build. Now if there is exterior issues siding, roof, etc that is more.

If you don’t need central air, you could go baseboard heat for about 15k. Some older homes have systems that are in much better shape than others and still have some life left in them. You can go piece meal but it sometimes costs more if the systems fail and you replace them one at a time. But if a plumber tells you the cast iron waste lines have another 15 years worth of life there is little point in replacing them. Water supply lines, and electrical can be added with minimal disruption and probably should always be modernized if they have not been put in within the last 30 years. Once you start replacing waste lines you are probably gutting the kitchen and baths.

So it is very expensive to do things the “right way”. Most home owners do not, but to make that historic home function as if it were new, I’d probably open my pocketbook and expect to spend 200k. This applies to very old homes and assumes the previous owner was not replacing things. Many older homes have been partially updated an thus the costs are much lower. Just assume whatever you think it will be it is more as more problems will be exposed. You would be much better suited to buy a home that has been mechanically updated and as always it is very important to get a good inspection, and when the results come back to get an actual contractor give you an estimate on the probable work that has to be done. If you are buying something very old a public engineer might be a good person to have they will charge around 5k for a report detail the functions of all of the systems and the structural condition of the building. Let the buyer beware.

I think this will be the 3rd time I’ve posted this at your request.

The most up to date free site for home sales in Bergen and Passaic counties. 07/08 property taxes, too.

If this isn’t the site you’re talking about, let me know.