From MarketWatch:
Existing-home sales drop 2.7% in August to 5.1 million pace
Resales of U.S. homes dropped 2.7% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the first decline in five months, prompting the National Association of Realtors to again plead for more taxpayer subsidies for their business.
The August existing-home sales figures represent “a mild retreat from a very strong gain in July,” when sales rose 7.2%, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the real estate trade group, which reported the August sales figures on Thursday. The August sales pace was the second highest in 23 months, he said.
…
The median price of a home sold in August was $177,700, 12.5% lower than in August 2008. That’s the smallest year-over-year decline in prices in 10 months.Sales fell in three of four regions last month, with only the West showing a small increase — 2.7%.
Sales of single-family homes fell 2.8% in August to a 4.48 million rate, up 2.5% compared with a year earlier. Sales of condos fell 1.6% in August and were up 10.1% compared with August 2008.
Sales were concentrated in the low end of the market. About a fifth of sales were for less than $100,000, and 70% were for less than $250,000.
From the WSJ:
Rebound in Home Sales Hits a Bump
U.S. existing-home sales slipped in August, as the housing market stumbled on its path to recovery.
…
Sales of existing homes declined 2.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.10 million units, after four straight months of increases, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That represented a swift change from July, when sales rose at the fastest rate in 10 years to a pace of 5.24 million.
From the NYT:
Northeast August Home Sales Post Monthly Decline
Home resales in the Northeast dropped off in August, reversing four straight months of gains and echoing the national trend.
The nine-state region registered 92,000 home resales last month, down more than 12 percent from July, but nearly 6 percent higher than a year ago, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
The median price tumbled almost 11 percent from the year before to $241,100.
Nationally, sales of existing homes fell from July to August but were up 2 percent from the previous year, without adjusting for seasonal factors, while the median sales price slid almost 13 percent to $177,700.
…Eight of nine major Northeast cities tracked in the Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report showed annual decreases in home sales in August, while all registered price declines. The report analyzed sales transactions in the metropolitan statistical areas recorded by all real estate agents, regardless of company affiliation.
FIRST!WOOHOO
Recovery, my ass. The real plunge hasn’t even happened yet.
Clot, have you scrolled through those pittsburgh stories i linked last night?
those are some angry, fired-up, blue-collar protesters. wonder why it hasn’t been all over the news?
Bargain Homes in the Best School Districts
Hundreds of parents turn out for update on Edison High School’s status
Whoa…the Edison article was too much. The “fired up” principal..
Check out this snatch and grab job from pittsburgh…
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=32e_1253844339
yikes (3)-
The only news that comes out in the mass media is the news approved by the secretariat. Please go back to your CNBC and let Beaker assure you that all is well.
IMO, rabble-rousing and petty violence at G-20 meetings isn’t really news anymore. It’s become part of the program.
G-20 has become a yearly party for gutter punks with mommy and daddy’s ATM card. Retarded.
Hamptons market on fire again. Buy now, before prices go up.
Hamptons Show Signs of Life
Market remains shaky, but newly emboldened Wall Streeters are returning
“Then 30 brokers showed up at the first open house, resulting in an offer, at full asking price, in four days.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574417302619367922.html
Hedgeable’s Search for America’s Worst Investor Contest
Deadline to Apply: October 7th
Hamptons market is mainly driven by Wall Street bonuses. Plus sellers have cut prices from Spring. GS is planning record bonuses at YE. Plus in Hamptons people want perfect house. It is not unusual to look at over 100 houses and can take a few months. Now is time to look find housr by Jan or Feb, close deal with bonus money and move in April/May so you can have it good to go for Memorial Day weekend.
Durable goods fall a sharp, and unexpected, 2.4%. Last month revised downwards as well.
Barbara,
Zing!
Barbara says:
September 24, 2009 at 9:01 pm
re: stay at home mom discussion. LOVE the irony, buncha “working” men who spend an insane amount of “work” time posting on a blog, characterizing stay at home moms as margarita making play date divas. Meanwhile, 9pm and this is the 2nd chance I’ve had to read, let alone post.
Rock on.
September 25, 2008 (Thursday): Bailout Deal Stalls Out; WaMu Collapses
SmartMoney.com
SMARTMONEY — 7:16 AM ET 09/25/09
Kabooom!
What in the morning looks like a deal on the $700 billion bailout unravels by day’s end, with House Republicans bailing on the White House, the Treasury Secretary pleading with the House speaker for support, and President Bush issuing dire warnings. The New York Times quotes a source who describes Bush declaring, “If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” as he watches the plan disintegrate. By 10:30 p.m., Congressional negotiators call it a night and plan to reconvene on Friday. The fate of the presidential debate, planned for Friday night in Mississippi, is also uncertain. (For more on this news, click here.)
Et tu, WaMu?
The financial sector takes another big blow as one-time high-flier Washington Mutual is seized by federal regulators, marking the largest bank failure in U.S. history. The Seattle-based thrift collapses after a wave of deposit withdrawals, and the government reaches a deal to sell WaMu’s banking operations to J.P. Morgan Chase for $1.9 billion. J.P. Morgan will also assume the thrift’s loan portfolio, and with assets of $307 billion. The bank’s depositors will be able to access their cash as usual, and the FDIC’s insurance fund won’t have to pay out, but shareholders aren’t likely to recover any value. (For more on this news, click here, here and here.)
Couric’s Comeback, via Palin
In what becomes an instant YouTube classic, Katie Couric boosts her evening-news cred by interviewing vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin. Couric draws some good reviews for her even-handedness and for drawing the Alaska governor out on topics from the economy to Henry Kissinger. Of particular note are the VP candidate’s views on Russia, which she describes as “just right over the border” from Alaska. “It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to — to our state
Actually, the term “working mom” is the ultimate oxymoron. My wife always says I would love to be in my fancy clothes sitting in my cube with a cup of starbucks surfing the net and wondering where she is going to lunch. Instead she is home with three kids and tons of work in a job that starts at 6:30am and ends at 10pm. I think women who work who roll their eyes at women who stay home should be bitched slapped.
A.West says:
September 25, 2009 at 8:36 am
Barbara,
Zing!
Barbara says:
September 24, 2009 at 9:01 pm
re: stay at home mom discussion. LOVE the irony, buncha “working” men who spend an insane amount of “work” time posting on a blog, characterizing stay at home moms as margarita making play date divas. Meanwhile, 9pm and this is the 2nd chance I’ve had to read, let alone post.
Rock on.
On Edison high school – When are the Chinese and the Indian parents going to band together and throw out the white kids for dragging down the school average test scores?
What I find deficient at Edison High is the air conditioning. I attended Sunday Chinese kindergarten there with my daughter a couple years ago (she did better than I did), and it was sweltering during the warm days, with no AC.
On that Durable Goods Order. Time to restart Cash For Clunkers no?
Any time the government removes their subsidies, the recession returns. Is it really a recovery if all of the positive gains in the economy comes as a direct result of printing money and issuing debt?
“I attended Sunday Chinese kindergarten there with my daughter a couple years ago (she did better than I did), and it was sweltering during the warm days, with no AC.”
They were most likely trying to simulate the learning environment in China.
re: #16 – John – Cash in those bonds already big guy, it will only cost you about 35k a year to keep the wife very happy.
A “real” smart man hires a cleaning service and a nanny (preferably one from Sweden) to watch the kids so the wife can go for spa treatments and spend time with the other rich moms at the gym.
grim (13)-
No deflation here; please move along.
Ron Paul’s bill gets some action this morning.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/fchr_092509.shtml
Testimony expected this morning from the Fed.
“These concerns likely would increase inflation fears and market interest rates and, ultimately, damage economic stability and job creation,” Alvarez said in the prepared remarks for the House Financial Services Committee hearing.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/09/24/fed-lawyer-audits-called-for-by-ron-paul-could-hurt-monetary-policy/
stu (18)-
Like transfusing cadavers.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/09/25/marc-faber-takes-on-krugman-links-bernanke-and-mugabe/
Clot – Just for you…
“Marc Faber Takes on Krugman, Links Bernanke and Mugabe” WSJ
Faber dissing Krugman for never mentioning the massive increase of credit for today’s problems….
“You have to give credit to [Ben] Bernanke and [Alan] Greenspan. They have achieved something no central bankers have achieved in history. They created a bubble in everything….The only asset that went down from 2002 to 2007 was the U.S. dollar.”
“G-20 has become a yearly party for gutter punks with mommy and daddy’s ATM card. Retarded.”
Barbara [9],
If you are referring to the G-20 participants, I agree.
Sean @ 20 – You have something there….
John – Hire someone to help out from 3:00 to 7:00 – You would have one happy wife….
John [12],
Heard the same sh*t last year.
I had a friend who was hired as a nanny for a rich family. They had just moved from England and the nanny the kids had grown up with refused to come to the U.S. The kids ranged from 3 to 8. She stayed six months because the kids were a mess after losing the previous nanny. They couldn’t understand why the mother wouldn’t pay attention to them. The mother was just living the good life…tennis, lunches etc.
My friend left after 6 months because she couldn’t deal with the situation. She swore she would never work for any family where the mother was at home again.
“The only asset that went down from 2002 to 2007 was the U.S. dollar.”
Cindy,
Ain’t seen nothing yet.
“Foreign central banks and governments likely would be less willing to engage in financial transactions with the Federal Reserve if these transactions were subject to policy review by the GAO,” he said.
Sean,
Did this dolt say this with a straight face?
Over 80K at Giants Stadium, more than the Pope vist. Where’s the recession?
Gary – What a deal! Only 725k!
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO PURCHASE A HOUSE AT NEARLY $100,000 BELOW RECENT TOWN ASSESSMENT. This house features an authentic in-law suite accomodation.
So not only can you have the privilege of being overtaxed in prestigious Upper Haughtyville, Essex County, you can spend quality time with your Mother-In Law every day. I am sure she will love the “authentic” accomodations you’ll have for her.
PS I love the 80’s white and wood colored kitchen cabinets. Just like what my aunt got from the builder of her 80’s Manalapan Condo-Shack.
http://www.50hardingavenue.com/
29 – renter @ 27 – I’m thinking more like: Help with getting dinner on the table, a few loads of laundry so mom CAN spend time with the kids, do homework, etc.
BC (31)-
These Fed dopes are grasping at straws.
Sadly, I believe the whole Fed audit/shutdown movement will come to naught. There will be a massive, overreaching power grab at the next convenient crisis moment…and that event will set us onto the final path to oblivion.
9.Barbara says:
September 25, 2009 at 8:01 am
G-20 has become a yearly party for gutter punks with mommy and daddy’s ATM card. Retarded.
Barb: one of the more spot on things you have posted in my opinion….
I say jam your kids with as much Adderall as they can ingest, put ’em in front of the TV and party on.
Federal Reserve = world biggest, worst-run pawnshop
Whoops. I think I hear the black helicopters again.
Tax news of the day:
“Tax Proposal Could Lead to Company Flight,
Loss of Millions of Jobs, NYSE CEO Says
NEW YORK—An Obama administration tax proposal aimed at curbing tax havens and shifting corporate tax incentives could lead to the loss of millions of U.S. jobs and compel companies to reincorporate outside the United States, NYSE Euronext Inc. Chief Executive Officer Duncan Niederauer, said Sept. 24. . . .
Niederauer, who spoke at the Investment Company Institute’s 11th annual capital markets conference, said the proposal may even compel NYSE Euronext, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange that is incorporated in Delaware, to incorporate in the Netherlands, where it currently has a legal presence.
Policy Would Cost Millions of Jobs
Niederauer said U.S. companies would resist the change, in part by contemplating incorporating outside the United States. “[I]f the government thinks all U.S. headquartered companies are going to sit still and not move their incorporated jurisdiction, or not change how they do things, if they don’t think jobs are going to leave the United States, they are really, really mistaken,” Niederauer said.
He said he already has discussed the matter with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, describing the talk as a “difficult conversation” . . .
“By my count, three to four million jobs will leave the country if this tax policy went through,” he said.
He also said Dutch officials contacted him “about 15 minutes” after the policy was announced. . . .”
Yawn. Old News. NJREReport readers had this analysis loooong ago.
I always wondered how much of that crisis was fabricated in order to squeeze a $700B bailout out of Congress. We went from the brink of collapse to everything’s OK in about two days once they decided that there would be TARP.
I wondered why the system did not collapse in the two or three weeks that it took to divide up the money.
And now a word from our sponsor….
RE/MAX
Outstanding Agents
Outstanding Results
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su54aO1muOg
Strongly considering accepting a new position out of state.
Bye bye NJ?
How far away?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125383359689939119.html
Speaking of TARP…”Battle Brews Over Unused TARP Funds” – WSJ
More tax news of the day:
“Finance Committee Rejects Effort to Scrap
Penalty Excise Tax on Uninsured Individuals
The Senate Finance Committee inched closer to completion of its health care reform markup Sept. 24, issuing new details on modifications to the chairman’s mark and rejecting efforts to scrap the penalty excise tax on individuals who do not buy insurance.
The committee voted 9-14 to reject an amendment from Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) that would have required the Department of Health and Human Services to provide an insurance exemption to any individual who requests one. . . .
Both Bunning and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) echoed earlier criticisms from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that the excise tax on individuals could be unconstitutional. Although proponents of the penalty equate it to state requirements to have automobile insurance, Bunning noted that no one is required to own a car.
“The only way to avoid having to buy health insurance under this is to stop breathing,” Bunning said. . . . .”
BUT REMEMBER. IT ISN’T A TAX. THE ONE SAID SO.
(so forget that old saw about if it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck. . . . instead, simply OBEY. And take another hit of that hopeium).
Grim – Was it the trip to Napa earlier in the year? Are you headed my way….?
You did mention last week you were interested in a more challenging position – you have peaked our interest…
“Bye bye NJ?”
JB,
Maryland Vulture Fund? GTG at Riordan’s, Annapolis?
Will the NJRER survive?
Ha Ha, I know a girl in BC of all places has a 47 year old husband who makes 750K a year. Well she quit work around 34 had two kids and said she wanted no more kids. She then complained about work and hired a nanny and maid to help and got a little out of shape. Well the guy had a smoking hot 29 year old girl he worked with in office who basically said she doesn’t cook, clean, watch the kids, won’t have anymore kids with you and she no longer is hot in bed what pupose does she serve? Well guy figured out good point divorced her now she gets along on child support and almony but no money left over for maid or nanny so she is alone with two kids in house scrubbing toliets and cooking. Guy is with smoking hot new wife who still works. Bottom line once your looks go don’t outsource your job as there is always some younger lady in office looking to make a move.
Sean says:
September 25, 2009 at 8:51 am
re: #16 – John – Cash in those bonds already big guy, it will only cost you about 35k a year to keep the wife very happy.
A “real” smart man hires a cleaning service and a nanny (preferably one from Sweden) to watch the kids so the wife can go for spa treatments and spend time with the other rich moms at the gym.
Current Global Public Debt as GDP%
http://buttonwood.economist.com/content/gdc?source=features_box4
This map has been put up by the Economist.
[43] grim
Must keep us posted, and allow enough time for the assembled to organize a massive Grim Appreciation GTG and Dinner event.
I suggest black tie optional. Would love to see Stu in a tux (only because it means we get to see Gator in an evening gown ;-)).
“I suggest black tie optional.”
Nom,
I only own sweats.
Grim,
Congrats.Good thing you don’t have to sell a house to move ha?
“Durable goods fall a sharp, and unexpected, 2.4%. Last month revised downwards as well.”
Unexpected my @ss. With what are Joe and Jane Mainstreet supposed to purchase durable goods. Oh, sure, as they wear out and break, peope will buy replacement washers and driers and cars, etc, but the frenzy of buying just to buy and to buy before needed has ended.
As with 80k for U2 (or special shoes or such for women) , the simple pleasures will still get funded but the pull-back is real and is going to show if we ever get the USG out of the business of consumer finance.
JB,
Do the nuggets stay in NJ?
Grim-
Get a job working with John. What you lose in salary you will make up for in bond profits.
Then write that book….
“an authentic in-law suite ”
Gator,
An authentic in-law dungeon or tower might be more appealing to many.
[53] BC
Maroon and gold, with a faded eagle on them, no doubt.
More news on the moving market (or lack thereof)
“Moving down the block
The Census Bureau also reported that fewer residents were moving within their home states.
The percentage of people who lived in different homes within the same state dropped to 12.6% during 2008. It was 12.8% in 2007 and 13% in 2005, when housing markets were hopping.
The decline came despite a boost in the number of people forced to move. More than 860,000 delinquent mortgage borrowers lost homes to foreclosure in 2008, about three times as many as in 2005.
More Alaskans moved within the state during 2008 than any other place; 16.3% of them occupied a different house. That increased from 14.6% in 2007.
Oklahoma (15.8%), Nevada (15.7%) and Texas (15.2%) residents also moved around a lot.
New Jersey residents, if they weren’t leaving the state altogether, stayed put: 8.2% of them moved within the state during 2008. . . . ”
I love the dig about leaving altogether.
NJ also saw one of the lowest percentages of new residents, 1.7% of residents this year came from somewhere else (I make up 0.002 of that figure), which was 47th overall.
Grim,
Say it ain’t so! Of course I hope it works out for you. So many congratulations! Hope the njrereport survives. If not, we still have to keep in touch. It’s not everyday we find someone like you to take on something like the “biggest housing bubble in 100 years” so passionately. Keep us posted if you can.
Nothing better than early brain washing I always say.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/24/elementary-school-students-reportedly-taught-songs-praising-president-obama/
Congrats, grim!
Life is a journey :)
Just curious, is anyone going to look at houses this weekend (agents/brokers not included)?
Jim 62-
Did you run out of other blogs to post that stuff?
Nom, #46
See this one from Monday’s WSJ?
Obama’s Nontax Tax
On a Sunday show, the President offers a revealing definition.
President Obama didn’t make much news on his round of five Sunday talk shows yesterday, with one notable exception. The President revealed a great deal about his philosophy of government and how he defines a tax increase. It turns out the President thinks a health-care tax is not a tax if he thinks the tax is for your own good.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Obama was asked by host George Stephanopoulos about the “individual mandate.” Under Max Baucus’s Senate bill that Mr. Obama supports, everyone would be required to buy health insurance or else pay a penalty as high as $3,800 a year. Mr. Stephanopoulos posed the obvious question about this kind of coercion when “the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t [buy insurance]. . . . How is that not a tax?”
“Well, hold on a second, George,” Mr. Obama replied. “Here’s what’s happening. You and I are both paying $900, on average—our families—in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now what I’ve said is that if you can’t afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn’t be punished for that. That’s just piling on. If, on the other hand, we’re giving tax credits, we’ve set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we’ve driven down the costs, we’ve done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but you’ve just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, that’s . . .”
“That may be,” Mr. Stephanopoulos responded, “but it’s still a tax increase.” (In fact, uncompensated care accounts for about only 2.2% of national health spending today, but that’s another subject.)
Mr. Obama: “No. That’s not true, George. The—for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore . . .” In other words, like parents talking to their children, this levy—don’t call it a tax—is for your own good.
Mr. Stephanopoulos tried again: “But it may be fair, it may be good public policy—”
Mr. Obama: “No, but—but, George, you—you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase.”
“I don’t think I’m making it up,” Mr. Stephanopoulos said. He then had the temerity to challenge the Philologist in Chief, with an assist from Merriam-Webster. He cited that dictionary’s definition of “tax”—”a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.”
Mr. Obama: “George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. . . .”
Mr. Stephanopoulos: “I wanted to check for myself. But your critics say it is a tax increase.”
Mr. Obama: “My critics say everything is a tax increase. My critics say that I’m taking over every sector of the economy. You know that. Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not we’re going to have an individual mandate or not, but . . .”
Mr. Stephanopoulos: “But you reject that it’s a tax increase?”
Mr. Obama: “I absolutely reject that notion.”
If you can follow this reasoning, then you probably also think that a new entitlement is the best way to reduce entitlement spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Senate’s individual mandate will result in new revenues of some $20 billion over 10 years because some people will choose to opt out of ObamaCare—or because they can’t afford to buy in, given that other taxes and regulation will make health care more expensive. If that $20 billion doesn’t count as tax revenue, then what is it?
And for that matter, what doesn’t count as a nontax under Mr. Obama’s definition? All taxes can be justified in the name of providing some type of service, however wasteful. Mr. Obama complains that “My critics say everything is a tax increase,” as if that is his political problem. His real problem is that the individual mandate really is a tax, but the President doesn’t want voters to think of it that way, because taxes are unpopular.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574425294029138738.html
*61 It will be the end of the NJRE blog. Sad, day indeed.
From NY Magazine’s Daily Intel:
Corzine Calls Christie a Fat Guy Who Can’t Drive
* 9/24/09 at 3:00 PM
* Comment 7Comment 7Comments
At least, that’s how the Awl is repainting Jon Corzine’s negative commercial about Chris Christie “throwing his weight around.” We’ve seen this ad at least 50 times, but it never occurred to us that, yes, it really does seem as if the Corzine campaign wants us to notice that Chris Christie is overweight. Low!
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/09/corzine_calls_christie_a_fat_g.html?mid=daily-intel–20090924
66 – I love that interview.
It’s not a tax b/c I say so. Brilliant.
Can’t drive and lives in NJ Who is this impostor. Where does he think he lives, Manhattan?
Grim,
Wouldn’t blame you…I seem to be the only wanting to move into NJ…good luck whatever you decide, but if you do leave, we should have a huge GTG blowout going away party.
John will be required to come, of course.
“It turns out the President thinks a health-care tax is not a tax if he thinks the tax is for your own good.”
Scribe,
No surprise. Sounds like CPI and hedonic adjustments.
“Corzine Calls Christie a Fat Guy Who Can’t Drive”
Can’t make this sh*t up. From a guy who was thrown head first on the GSP, not wearing a seat belt.
What was your old position?
grim says:
September 25, 2009 at 9:34 am
Strongly considering accepting a new position out of state.
Bye bye NJ?
Home,
What did Nixon say, “If the president does it, it’s not illegal.”
Bush said, essentially, in his role as president the president can do anything.
B.O. stinks, and for all his pretentions to change, those of us who actually listened to what he said could see that he was going to be just what he is.
Ironic that a rich guy with a driver criticizes someone else’s driving.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/25/news/economy/Americans_on_the_move/index.htm
Americans tame their wanderlust
Census Bureau statistics show that fewer Americans are uprooting. And when they do move, they’re favoring D.C., Alaska and Texas.
Except of course those of who are renting…
that’s “those of us who are renting”
“Strongly considering accepting a new position out of state”
So, obscure cultural reference of the day:
Does this new position involve “Iguana style”?
Shore-
I feel the same way about Corzine. Here’s a guy that really could have instituted serious change. Instead he caved into every special interest and union.
All for nothing because he will probably lose in Nov.
d2,
A big problem for politicianns is that the lust for reelection. Were they to come in and seek to make a positive difference, regardless of the ramifications on any future reelection bid, they would likely accomplish things tht would benefit such a bid. Instead, they pu$$yfoot around and try to avoid saying anything or doing anything that might possibly hurt their reelection prospect that they end up cozing up to the dregs and doing nothing of any value.
TAKE AWAY ELECTED OFFICIAL’S PENSION ELIGIBILITY and things will improve as the quest to hold a legislative seat at all costs vaporizes.
Muni Yields Plummet to 42-Year Low as Issues Slow, Funds Grow
Share | Email | Print | A A A
By Jeremy R. Cooke
Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Benchmark borrowing costs for highly rated state and local governments dropped to a 42-year low this week, as the pace of new municipal-bond issues slowed and cash flowing into mutual funds accelerated to a record.
Municipal issuers led by Ohio sold about $5.7 billion of fixed-rate bonds with final maturities longer than 18 months, down from $9.9 billion last week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. California sold $8.8 billion of notes to be paid off by the end of its fiscal year that began July 1 at yields of 1.5 percent and 1.25 percent.
The weekly Bond Buyer 11-Bond index, which tracks tax- exempt yields on 20-year general-obligation debt with an average Aa1 rating, fell 14 basis points, or 0.14 percentage point, to 3.79 percent, its sixth straight decline. That’s the lowest since May 1967, when Lyndon B. Johnson was U.S. president.
“Portfolio managers often get annoyed when a market moves in a straight line, with yields just dropping,” said Tom Dalpiaz, who manages municipal bonds for individuals at Advisors Asset Management in Melville, New York. “The bonds in your portfolio, they’re going up in value, that’s a great thing, but each day the merchandise gets more expensive.”
The Municipal Master Index has returned 7.5 percent since the end of June, heading for the best quarterly performance since Merrill Lynch & Co. started compiling the total-return gauge in 1989. Treasuries are up 1.7 percent during the quarter and corporate bonds have gained 8 percent, according to other indexes from Merrill, now part of Bank of America Corp.
Here is a same-sale home in my town – a townhome. This summarizes my frustration perfectly…
26 Chippin Ct – 3/2.5 bath
Aug 1999 – $130K
July 2003 – 160K
Jan 2004 – 223K
Aug 2005 – 280K
July 2006 – 227K – Ooh , nice 19% correction.
Asking today??? – 265K
Roughly early 2005 price levels,
Only a 5% reduction from peak for an aging 20 yr old townhome that is probably closer to the end of its useful life than anyone realizes…
veto,
If they can get their price they deserve it; and, the buyer deserves to get what is coming to them too, except we will all be asked to pitch in and bail them out in the interest of fairness.
*83 I see. However, it has not sold yet, so time will tell
[66] scribe,
Yeah, I was laughing about that one for days.
It was something right out of “Animal House” or “1984.”
My description of Obama’s explanation is: “Can you smell what the Crock is cooking???”
Digging around the old bubble blogs to see who is still around, came across this gem from Bens blog:
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=5650
The story of a home just sitting on the market due to a realtors inability to function or see reality. (Sorry Clot).
Too long to post, but this from the comments section is indicative:
“Also about the “babs” of the world. Me and Mrs. Chile had a Babs moment a few years ago (2005 IIRC). We made an offer about $15k lower than asking and in line with comps during the height of the mania, the sellers came back having lowered their asking by $200.
Me and Mrs. Chile saw realized there was too much distance. We told Babs no, we weren’t even going to bother countering agian, that we were obviously on two different planets with pricing.
Babs had the gall to call Mrs. Chile and accuse her of wasting her time, getting cold feet and needing to grow up. Mrs. Chile called me at work to report this.
Babs got a call from me. I asked her why wasting $15,000 was a grown up thing. Her answer was $15,000 wasn’t that much money. I countered if it wasn’t that much money maybe she could cover the difference. She accused me of cold feet. I told her that if she thought the house was a great deal she could buy it. She told me I was wasting her time. I told her we contacted her on the advice of friends and brought the listing to her, that only only thing she did was pull out a pre-printed form and fill it out”
Concerted activity is one of the most powerful tools people have. It would benefit every buyer, including the ones who MUST buy NOW, to agree not to go to any open houses, not to look at any properties, not to call any RE agents or to respond to their calls or e-mails for ONE WEEK. The silence would shock the sellers.
Shore, They wont get ask, but it will probably sell for close to it, which kills me.
So lets say closed price will be 10% off 2006 peak and thats with 10% unemployment and a near collapse of banking system.
So then i ask myself, whats it going to take for the price to correct another 10% in the future???
i’m going to look for some more recent sold comps so that you can really have a laugh. I’ll see what i can drudge up here. stay tuned…
[68] scribe,
Wow. Weight as a qualification for office. I think that is a great idea. Who needs idiot sheep picking our leader? Just get out the scale and have a weigh-in. Biggest Loser gets to be governor (just like the last election).
veto,
Asking price means sheet. I put out a sell limit, gold at 2K. Such a surprise, nobody bit.
[87] lisoosh.
My response would have been “well, I apologize, and be assured we won’t waste any more of your time.” Then I would ignore her calls.
Wonder if the guy in Westfield ever found out why we fired him? Lost a nice commission, he did.
veto,
You cannot concer yourself with what others are willing to pay. If a given property is only worth $X to you but is worth moe to someone else, so be it. If you are only willing to mortgge 3X income and someone else is willling to go 4X so be it. These things are only houses. It is only the past 20 years that they have been blown up into something more; it is like the NFL coverage nowadays — they are only football games but every one gets treated like an epic battle of some real importnce. I owe my current life to football, and apreciate the role sports can play but, c’mon folks, they are games of no real importance. The same holds true for housing. We store our stuff there, we eat and sleep there, any one of thousands of places will work for nearly anyone. There is no need to frett over any given house, neighborhood, town, or state.
twiggy for governor
Marilyn M@ns0n is pretty scrawney too
Grim…..sell the site to the NAR….then see how long it takes for the visitors to figure it out.
BC, Shore, LT,
You are all right i agree… throw the asking prices out the window. Done.
Here is one i found real quick…just a small taste of insanity…
802 Cypress, robbinsville nj
April 2004 – $475K
Aug 2009 – 535K
13% above mid 2004, thats solid mid 2005 territory… just last month.
Here is the solution to growing unemployment and expensive housing…
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/realestate/20deal2.html?ref=commercial
I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more of this going forward. Way too much supply, especially in NYC. We are over retailed, over hoteled, over luxury condoed, over storage spaced and over commercial spaced. Prices will drop, places will get reconfigured to their highest and best use. Unfortunately for some places, it may be as a boarding house.
Shore,
Good point…
side question: How do you owe your life to football? Was that your career? or are you just saying die-hard fan?
It paid for college.
The FED Lawyer they sent is a wet noodle. Rep. Alan Grayson blasting FED lawyer regarding the FED manipulating the US Stock Market…..lol
Shore… you should brag more. If that was me or John, we would bring it up at least once per day in our posts.
But now that i look closer at comps in my hood, it is a mixed bag, there are some corrections here and there although smaller than expected.
The asking prices are deceiving.
The pockets of strength are odd to me but whatever…
Forget my rant for now.
Let the housing collapse continue.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125348373308426061.html
Shore,
Running back, wide reciever or defensive back?
Rep. Grayson off the deep end on Gold manipulation, FED front running and market manipulation.
Good Stuff.
RE: “Check out this snatch and grab job from pittsburgh”
Excellent — the only thing missing was “Don’t tase me bro!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE
veto,
This cat has nothing to brag about, besides the accomplishments of his offspring, which are mainly a testament of my wife.
The best thing I can claim is working my @ss off to climb way above anyplace anyone ever expected me to end up. I am an example of how native talent is only worth so much and how hard work is a great equalizer. Thus my anger at people like B.O. who think it is proper to redistribute what little I have earned to support a whole lot o others who have not worked the same way and who have not acted prudently.
The Federal Reserve System has disclosed to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. that it has gold swap arrangements with foreign banks that it does not want the public to know about.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090923005709&newsLang=en
While the letter, GATA says, is far from the first official admission of central bank scheming to suppress the price of gold (for documentation of some of these admissions, see http://www.gata.org/node/6242 and http://www.gata.org/node/7096), it comes at a sensitive time in the currency and gold markets. The U.S. dollar is showing unprecedented weakness, the gold price is showing unprecedented strength, Western European central banks appear to be withdrawing from gold sales and leasing, and the International Monetary Fund is being pressed to take the lead in the gold price suppression scheme by selling gold from its own supposed reserves in the guise of providing financial support for poor nations.
I could have played football too in college, I had a roomate who was the star of his HS football team, guy was like a rock, but he was only 5:10 and he came close to a few scholorships but they all said if you were only above 6 feet tall. Then he was drunk one night and he went all “Heaven Can Wait” on me. Kept saying if I only had your body and was six feet two inches oh what I could do with it, I could mold it into shape and get my four year scholorship and maybe NFL. Guy was giving me the creeps like he was going to go all Young Frankstein and remove my brain. Even worse at Stony Brook they had the cadaveir lab, I was thinking OMG maybe this guy is going to steal my body. I really think if I didn’t run from this guy there was a good chance for around 100 bucks and a couple of ludes he could have got some pre-med student to put his brain in my body and Shore if that happened I could of had a football scholorship.
The Federal Reserve System has disclosed to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. that it has gold swap arrangements with foreign banks that it does not want the public to know about.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090923005709&newsLang=en
John,
Your last post brings back great memories of Gross Anatomy. I loved tha cadavar work. There is nothing quite so, humbling, as slowly working one’s way through a human body, stripping away the layers.
Zieba,
They’re like nats and mosquitos. Really annoying. In teh end Market wins. Always.
Here are a few more comp sales to blow your mind…
1223 Park
Feb 2005 – 450K
Mar 2009 – 515K – 14% above feb 2005… this is 2006 price levels
8 Hulse
July 2005 – 600K
July 2009 – 572K – 4% below Mid 2005
These are insane but i do see some correction as well on some other comps, so i would say we are at early 2005 or late 2004 levels on avg which is ok i guess. The recent strength is what kills me though.
Anyone think Corzine has driven himself anywhere in the past 20 years?
Stu,
To Carla’s house, maybe.
“I could have played football too in college”
J,
I really wish you would make a GTG. I want to tell you, face to face, that you are full of s*it.
Would the wifey permit you to go out on a Fri/Sat?
Sean [105],
The fed admitted to swaps in the gold market. How do they get their hands on an item owned by the treasury and US taxpayers?
“I could have played football too in college”
John – good story but im glad you stopped being rediculous and finally admitted that you never played football in college.
When you initially claimied that you played football in college a couple months back, I though to myself “This guy has endless stories of drinking and s e x ing and partying in college. How did he find time to be an athlete and wake up early and still make practice?”
In fact, for a long time, i also wondered how you found time to study at all but then recently realized that you didnt do that either.
Water under the bridge now but i like when all the details tie together seamlessly.
A man suffered a serious heart attack and had open heart bypass surgery. He awakened from the surgery to find himself in the care of nuns at a Catholic Hospital .. As he was recovering, a nun asked him questions regarding how he was going to pay for his treatment.
She asked, ‘Do you have health insurance?’
He replied in a raspy voice, ‘No health insurance.’
The nun asked, ‘Do you have money in the bank?’
He replied, ‘No money in the bank.’
The nun asked, ‘Do you have a relative who could help you?’
He said, ‘I only have a spinster sister, who is a nun.’
The nun became agitated and announced loudly, ‘Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God.’
The patient replied, ‘Send the bill to my brother-in-law.’
“The fed admitted to swaps in the gold market.”
BC, id like to read more about this…
Any links or is it breaking now?
John says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:35 am
Then he was drunk one night and he went all “Heaven Can Wait” on me. Kept saying if I only had your body and was six feet two inches oh what I could do with it, I could mold it into shape and get my four year scholorship and maybe NFL.
JJ: Reminds me of these two guys I used to work with 15 years ago. Both really smart and had endless stories from college. One story was exactly like yours, except one day you fall asleep drunk, then in the middle of the night you wake up and your roommate is blowing you. You wake up and say WTF are doing? The guy a few days later take a leave for the semester and then after that transfers out of the school. It was at Lehigh….
Chi 120-
Doesn’t that happen to everyone?
Seriously, if it did happen, I would absolutely take that story to the grave with me. Wouldn’t even share it on a blog.
re#116 -BC Bob – I read that too.
Too bad Rep. Grayson did not have that info when the FED lawyer said they did not trade in the gold markets and only foreign central banks did.
“Then in the middle of the night you wake up and your roommate is blowing you. You wake up and say WTF are doing?”
This is awesome. No wonder college is so expensive.
His roomate was megan fox right?
Co-ed dorms???
Or was it F.I.T., where the guys dont even want co-ed dorms??
re: College football days.
The week after our last football game in high school we had our last team meeting with the coaches as graduating seniors. We were all sitting in a classroom joking and they coaches came in. They asked anyone who we would like game films to be sent out to the colleges for scouting, to stand up. Everyone in the room stood up.
The coach then said everyone but “Lou and “Mike” to sit down. He then asked “Lou and Mike” to leave the room. The coaches then thanked us all for being great players, and when on an on how we all played with allot of heart but then told us none of us was college football material. That was one of the saddest days of my life…
Bye the way, how was u2 last night?
Did they sober the crowd with any political rants about the un?
veto,
Fed/gold swaps
http://news.goldseek.com/GATA/1253754000.php
“Bye the way, how was u2 last night?”
OK, I’ve seen them much better. The stadiums can not compare to the arena shows. Over 80K.
faggots in training = FIT
U2 is the English term for the Unemployment Form – I wish U2 Was Unemployed they suck.
d2b (80)-
Are you serious? He’s a world-class lunkhead, who couldn’t even hold the attention of a leech like Carla Katz.
Change? Maybe he can get a job making change at a tollbooth after he loses the election.
“Here’s a guy that really could have instituted serious change.”
ChiFi – I didn’t know you went to Lehigh.
chicagofinance says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:51 am
John says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:35 am
Then he was drunk one night and he went all “Heaven Can Wait” on me. Kept saying if I only had your body and was six feet two inches oh what I could do with it, I could mold it into shape and get my four year scholorship and maybe NFL.
JJ: Reminds me of these two guys I used to work with 15 years ago. Both really smart and had endless stories from college. One story was exactly like yours, except one day you fall asleep drunk, then in the middle of the night you wake up and your roommate is blowing you. You wake up and say WTF are doing? The guy a few days later take a leave for the semester and then after that transfers out of the school. It was at Lehigh….
#108 is the reason I keep coming back here.
Grim,
Say it ain’t so! What about law school?
sl
John (130)
Not sure about U2, but you might be thinking about UB-40, the UK unemployment benefits form.
New [135],
Forgive him, he gets confused easily.
He was a Bruce fan up to Born In the USA. Subsequently, he then turned negative after the “later”, his words, River album.
Funny, The River was 4 years earlier than BITUSA.
It’s possible that John is the real Benjamin Button.
Born to run, born in the usa, his crap is all the same. I am dreading when he drops dead and the radios and tv spend three days playing his god awful “working man” music.
BC Bob says:
September 25, 2009 at 12:44 pm
New [135],
Forgive him, he gets confused easily.
He was a Bruce fan up to Born In the USA. Subsequently, he then turned negative after the “later”, his words, River album.
Funny, The River was 4 years earlier than BITUSA.
It’s possible that John is the real Benjamin Button.
Veto That says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:59 am
This is awesome. No wonder college is so expensive.
vito: then there is the story about the quick thinking after diarrhea
ThunderRoad – Bruce Springsteen 2031 Tour
The Wheel Chair Rolls
Mary’s Depends Leak
Like a wrinkled hag she sits out on the porch
As the orderly says
Stop being so lonely
Hey that’s me and I want you only
Don’t turn my nursing home again
I just can’t face myself alone again
Don’t wheel back inside
Darling you know just what I’m here for
So you’re scared and you’re thinking
That maybe you ain’t that young anymore
Show a little faith there’s magic in that viagra and there’s ladies KY for your vagina!!
You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re alright
Oh and that’s alright with me
John says:
September 25, 2009 at 12:26 pm
ChiFi – I didn’t know you went to Lehigh.
JJ: It is not my story. My former colleague went to Lehigh.
d2b says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:55 am
Chi 120- Doesn’t that happen to everyone?
Seriously, if it did happen, I would absolutely take that story to the grave with me. Wouldn’t even share it on a blog.
d2b: not me; actually it was one of those “…whatever happened to XXX…”. Guy disappears from campus as a sophomore. The non-consensual party discloses cause 2 years later when everyone is a senior.
They were both on the football team.
I guess what people used to say is true, the Lehigh team does blow.
“is all the same.”
J [137],
Not to be confused with chronic/pathological.
like others thst suck
“gold swaps, transactions in which monetary gold is temporarily exchanged between central banks or between central banks and bullion banks”
BC, I read the article. what exactly is going on here? The only swaps i know about are interest rate hedges.
so feel free to explain as if im 15 years old. thanks,
[101] sean
Who’s the lawyer? Not Scott Alvarez?
looting of the vault under Knox or Lower Manhattan? Sounds like a Bretton Woods mechanism.
re #145 – yes General Council Alvarez.
gold swap? uh…keep moving, nothing to see here…
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-hiding-gold-swap-arrangements-foreign-central-banks
sl
[147] sean
Yeah, I just found out. Good guy, very smart, but testifying before Congress probably isn’t his forte. These guys tend to the bookish, wonkish quality. I would not want to try to retool him as a litigator.
Nom,
As anyone who has ever written or delivered effective testimony before a legislative or administrtive body knows, writing/devliveing effective testimony is hard work and requires far more than subject-matter expertise.
[147] sean
I am sure that Virgil Mattingly (Alvarez’ predecessor) is happy that this isn’t his problem.
Perhaps they will be shot while trying to escape:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gT-Kwm3eHQPp5qw5B5yzpuy07XuwD9AUFIGO3
[150] shore
my point exactly. Alvarez should have farmed it out to a deputy that could at least defer. The fact that he didn’t is either hubris or he was subpoenaed to appear and couldn’t delegate
Probably the latter but knowing Alvarez, it could have been hubris.
We may one day regret having retired the W-79.
[141] shore
D’oh.
I am sure that they say that a lot at Lafayette.
Nom,
Too many people are afraid of saying “I don’t know” or “I am not in a position to anser that” or “That is above my pay grade.” Being able to say “I will get back to you on that Senator” cn be priceless.
[154] shore
Tactical nukes?
Were you an NBC guy?
BC (136)-
Naah. Benjamin Butt? Maybe.
“It’s possible that John is the real Benjamin Button.”
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/bhvr/631342.html
[152] shore
What would really be embarrassing for the administration is if these guys were discovered through a means or process, or under a law, that Obama said he wants to get rid of.
[159] shore
That explains a few things. As one that received his fair share of leather behavioral modification treatment, it would account for Victorian’s low opinion of me.
[158] schump
Did John go to Lehigh???
Plume (162)-
Nah. He went to Miss Porter’s, pre-op.
http://www.porters.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1
John, pre-op:
http://rodonline.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c6d4753ef0120a5074a19970b-800wi
Pilot’s Error Disrupts Plans For Bloomberg
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/nyregion/25copter.html?bl
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plans to attend the U2 concert at the Meadowlands were disrupted Thursday night after the pilot of his private helicopter made a mistake during a test flight to Giants Stadium.
[164] schump
So john underwent an addadicktomy?
VERY VERY NICE
from ESPN
Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has apologized for an off-the-cuff joke he made about a rural area of the state at a charity fundraiser Thursday, calling it “inappropriate.”
Pearl, speaking without notes, was addressing Tennessee Valley Authority employees about the challenges he and his staff face in getting players from diverse backgrounds to play as a team.
[+] EnlargeBruce Pearl
Cliff Welch/Icon SMIBruce Pearl, seen coaching in last season’s SEC tournament, made his remark during a charity event hosted by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
“I’ve got a tough job. I’ve got to put these guys from different worlds together, right?” Pearl said. “I’ve got guys from Chicago, Detroit … I’m talking about the ‘hood! And I’ve got guys from Grainger County, where they wear the hood.”
“And I’ve got guys from Grainger County, where they wear the hood.”
That is a riot!!!
Chi [167],
Not surprising.
I knew him at BC. He talks so damn fast, his thoughts are at the batters box, while he is rounding third base with his words.
Grim: godspeed
Veto. Thank you. Megan needed to be a part of Chi’s story.
Chi[167],
No hood required;
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee241/tigerlaw_photos/bp1.jpg
“Thank you. Megan needed to be a part of Chi’s story.”
yeah, no problem Relo. Then he woke up in the morning and she was doing his term paper…
Football teams have Glory Holes so something like this would never happen. Actually, the whole male bonding thing in sports is creepy. In HS the swim, which I was not on, would shave each other before the game, creepy.
chicagofinance says:
September 25, 2009 at 12:58 pm
d2b says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:55 am
Chi 120- Doesn’t that happen to everyone?
Seriously, if it did happen, I would absolutely take that story to the grave with me. Wouldn’t even share it on a blog.
d2b: not me; actually it was one of those “…whatever happened to XXX…”. Guy disappears from campus as a sophomore. The non-consensual party discloses cause 2 years later when everyone is a senior.
They were both on the football team.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30642987/ns/entertainment-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1
Actual picture of Chi with Megan Fox
sorry look at slide five
172: Grim, move to Tenn.
#’s 172 & 50 related?
PORK — it’s what’s for dinner.
“WASHINGTON – A large military spending bill moving through Congress contains a little-noticed outlay for Boston that has nothing to do with national defense: $20 million for an educational institute honoring late Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
The earmark, tucked into the defense bill at the request of Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, requires US taxpayers to help the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate realize its goal of building a repository for Kennedy’s papers and an accompanying civic learning center on the University of Massachusetts at Boston campus in Dorchester, next to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.
The item is drawing fire from fiscal watchdog groups, who assert that military funds should not be raided to pay for an institution that has nothing to do with improving military readiness . . .”
I know that there are more egregious examples to be beaten back, but this one is now high profile.
Call your (republican) congressman. Better yet, call Fox News. They’ll jump on it.
Building a fcuking repository next to UMass-Boston. As if anyone is gonna use it.
Sometimes I wonder if they got halfway done and changed their minds………
John says:
September 25, 2009 at 11:35 am
I could have played football too in college, I had a roomate who was the star of his HS football team, guy was like a rock, but he was only 5:10 and he came close to a few scholorships but they all said if you were only above 6 feet tall. Then he was drunk one night and he went all “Heaven Can Wait” on me. Kept saying if I only had your body and was six feet two inches oh what I could do with it, I could mold it into shape and get my four year scholorship and maybe NFL. Guy was giving me the creeps like he was going to go all Young Frankstein and remove my brain. Even worse at Stony Brook they had the cadaveir lab, I was thinking OMG maybe this guy is going to steal my body. I really think if I didn’t run from this guy there was a good chance for around 100 bucks and a couple of ludes he could have got some pre-med student to put his brain in my body and Shore if that happened I could of had a football scholorship.
Can anyone recommend a safe, simple duplicate file killer?
Thanks in advance.
sl
plume (179)-
Here’s a good repository for Kennedy’s papers:
http://tinyurl.com/28zjah
Repository, as in suppository.
BC, #72
You said:
Sounds like CPI and hedonic adjustments
“For your own good” is borrowed directly from the play book on tobacco.
They got away with outrageous tax increases and didn’t get a taxpayer revolt by getting the MSM to carry their water on second-hand smoke and junk science … so the next stop is taxes on soda “for your own good”… and this is part of the progression … “for your own good,” so you buy health insurance, but they know you can’t afford it, and won’t …ka-ching … more cash for them …but you still don’t have health benefits.
The WSJ did a big story on Massachusetts and how the obvious is happening – people with low-middle incomes are getting zapped by the tax. Too much income to qualify for the low income subsidized plan, but not enough to pay the huge premiums for the type of coverage the state has mandated.
Gratefully, there’s a terrific amount of organized resistance to all of the proposals for soda taxes. Because once they cross that line, and start taxing ordinary food & drink, there will be no end to it.
I’m wondering … at what point, do we get serious rebellion?
Is Christie favored to win?
The Associated Press September 25, 2009, 2:20PM ET
Burning down the house? IRS nixes tax deductions
By MEGHAN BARR
The battered house on Sherwin Road was put to good use before the fire department burned it to the ground.
SWAT teams barged through the front door in an exercise on dealing with domestic violence. Rescue crews scattered mannequins around the house and blew smoke through the halls to simulate a meth lab explosion. Firefighters set fires in one room after another and practiced putting them out. Then, in one last drill, they torched the whole place.
Five years later, though, a dispute still smolders over the homeowner’s attempt to claim a $287,000 charitable tax deduction for donating the house to the fire department, which has burned down at least 32 such homes in Upper Arlington since 1988.
The Internal Revenue Service is trying to stop homeowners from claiming such deductions.
Lured by the prospect of free demolition, homeowners around the country sometimes offer their houses to the local fire department for training purposes. The department burns down the house, clearing the way for the owner to build a bigger and better home.
In court cases in Ohio and Wisconsin, the IRS is arguing that because such houses are already slated for demolition, donating them for fire training isn’t an act of charity.
The dispute adds a new element of controversy to the decades-old debate over whether the risks associated with “live burns” — more than a dozen firefighters have been killed in the past two decades — outweigh the training benefits.
Fire chiefs say live burns supply invaluable training for volunteer departments, which make up the bulk of the nation’s firefighters. And some fear that the tax disputes will discourage donors from coming forward.
Nobody tracks the number of live burns each year, but fire officials say they are increasingly rare because of mounting safety and environmental restrictions and because fewer homes are up for demolition in this slumping economy.
“We need to keep our skills current. Those opportunities are going to become fewer and farther between,” said Fire Chief Mitch Ross in Upper Arlington, the wealthy Columbus suburb where the Sherwin Road home owned by James Hendrix burned down in 2004.
Churches, corporations and cities with vacant properties also donate buildings for fire training. Sometimes it is a dilapidated old barn, other times a sprawling suburban house. (The Hendrix home, not including the land, was appraised at $287,400).
It’s impossible to know exactly how many people have tried to claim such deductions; the IRS would not comment.
Steven Willis, a professor at the University of Florida who studies income tax law, said a charitable deduction can be no greater than the value of whatever was donated, and a house given to a fire department has negative value, since the owner was going to have to pay somebody to get rid of it.
“The whole idea of a charitable deduction is that you give something to charity and you don’t get anything back, right?” said Paul Caron, a tax scholar at the University of Cincinnati. “When you give $100 to the Catholic Church, you don’t get anything for that $100.”
The IRS maintains in court papers in the Wisconsin case that the homeowners do not qualify for a deduction because they are donating only a “partial interest” in their home, rather than the entire property. The agency also says homeowners are letting firefighters only use the property, not donating it in full.
But a lot of work goes into preparing a house to be burned down, including a detailed inspection by environmental authorities, said Terry Grady, a lawyer representing Hendrix, who wants the IRS to refund him $100,590 in “erroneously collected” taxes. Hendrix built a new house on the property.
“They have to, in fact, pay their mortgage off. They have to make sure there’s no asbestos in the house,” Grady said. “And you know, conversely, the benefits to the fire department are just immense.”
Although the demolition is free, the homeowner is responsible for clearing away the debris.
ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit, who also lives in Upper Arlington, let firefighters burn his home in 2004. The former Ohio State football star’s claim of a $330,000 tax deduction was rejected a year later. Herbstreit declined to comment.
A case similar to the Hendrix dispute has also unfolded in Chenequa, Wis., where Theodore Rolfs filed for a $76,000 tax deduction on his lakefront home that was burned in 1998. The trial concluded in 2006. Rolfs is still waiting for a verdict.
Rolfs, who had been told it was common practice to receive the deduction, was taken aback when the IRS rejected his.
“Their arguments didn’t make any sense,” he said.
At Rolfs’ house, firefighters wheeled a truck down to the shore and practiced pumping lake water onto the flames, a crucial training exercise in Chenequa, which has no fire hydrants, said Rolfs’ attorney, Michael Goller.
Environmental laws in some states ban live burns. In other states, most fire departments adhere to safety guidelines that say windows should be boarded up, floors inspected for sturdiness and shingles and carpets stripped away.
Three firefighters were trapped by flames and perished in a 100-year-old farmhouse in Milford Township, Mich., during a controlled burn in 1987. In February 2007, a fire recruit was killed in a training exercise in a Baltimore rowhouse.
——
www dot businessweek dot com/ap/financialnews/D9AUGJRG1.htm
Check this home out for $800K in allentown, mercer county, central NJ… 16K taxes. Not bad. Good value. This home in similar town of NNJ might cost double or more.
Allentown is nice, quaint, farms, golf, old downtown area right out the front door, nice people but it isnt close to nyc either so i guess location plays a big part in the price… nice home though.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/16-N-Main-St_Allentown_NJ_08501_1111530530
Veto,
Do I spy artificial stucco there? Sometimes you don’t find out that “stucco” = artificial stucco until later. I just walked away from a potential deal over that stuff after I learned about the class action lawsuits and problems associated with it.
Resales of U.S. homes dropped 2.7% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million, the first decline in five months, prompting the National Association of Realtors to again plead for more taxpayer subsidies for their business.
Parasites…. like the f*cking junkies that they are.
Scribe, search for political prediction markets. I saw a contract suggesting a 30% chance of victory for Corzine.
John out in LA?
Rescue Team Uses Saw to Free Trapped P*nis
Sparks fly when a trapped p*nis is freed from a dumbell ring
It’s unlikely anybody on the Costa Mesa Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue team signed up for this.
The highly trained team usually responds to calls involving people trapped in structures and vehicles. On Tuesday, squad members responded to a trapped p*nis.
In an ill-conceived attempt to increase the size of his member, a man placed his p*nis through the “hole of a steel, ring-shaped dumbbell weight fastener,” according to the Daily Pilot. The fasteners are used to secure weight plates on dumbbell bars.
“They said his comment was, ‘This will make me the chief of my tribe,'” Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard told the Pilot.
It did — if becoming chief of the tribe means restricting blood flow and causing one’s p*nis to swell to the point that the device cannot be removed. When he arrived at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, doctors tried to convince the man he needed immediate treatment.
That’s where the multi-skilled urban search and rescue team and a surgical saw came in. The Pilot reported that squad members cut through the inch-thick ring — producing sparks that flew across the room — during a two-hour process.
“They also slid a little piece of metal between the collar and his thing, so if it slipped past it wouldn’t hit his thing,” Broussard told the Pilot.
Keith Jones, deputy fire chief in Costa Mesa, told the OC Register that the man’s p*nis remained fully intact.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/health/Firefighters-Save-Trapped-P*nis-61110862.html
185….Define…”win”
scribe (184)-
I’m locked and loaded. Just need a few folk to join me.
“Do I spy artificial stucco there?”
A west – I thought the dangerous stuff was the older 1970s stucco? This house was built in 2005, top of the market, which also should be red flag #1 when trying to decide if they cut any corners on craftsmanship.
The thing that stood out the most to me was pic #12 – the bathroom suite that rivals any gourmet kitchen you would find in home magazines, complete with the granite island.
gator (190)-
I’m afraid to open that link. :)
kb homes throwing in an extra room when
you buy a new home . hurry
Gator,
That story from LA made my stomach do about 40 flips on its way to my throat. Egads!
Something tells me that this guy is pro se, and has a tin foil hat . . .
“Dalton Chiscolm is unhappy about Bank of America’s customer service—really, really unhappy.
Chiscolm in August sued the largest U.S. bank and its board, demanding that “1.784 billion, trillion dollars” be deposited into his account the next day. He also demanded an additional $200,164,000, court papers show.
Attempts to reach Chiscolm were unsuccessful. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.
“Incomprehensible,” U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said in a brief order released Thursday in Manhattan federal court. . . . ”
That brings back memories. During my first clerkship, my judge got her turn on the “pro se wheel” meaning that the pro se nutjob cases got forwarded to her chambers, where they were summarily dismissed.
We are not talking about colorable grievances, but truly clueless people, including the tin foil hat crowd (they really are out there). Some of the complaints I saw made me very glad that these folks were elsewhere, including not in the U.S. never likely to get here legally. They made the BofA guy look downright reasonable.
Nom,
Did you ever see the guy who tried to sue Satan? The federal judge dismissed it for lack of service.
[190] gator
As an old girlfriend used to say after hearing similar stories, “well, my legs just slammed shut.”
And I strongly suspect that this is more common than you might think (wonder if Still Looking ever had a case where, well . . . )
And I could never be the guy handling the power tools (no pun intended, ever) on that guy. Hard enough to do that job. Try doing it while suppressing the urge to laugh hysterically.
[198] shore
Our court had a stock order that we used to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. It was literally a fill in the blanks exercise.
Clot,
I’m with ya.
But how much good it would do you to have an aging baby boomer with bad knees and one flat foot, I don’t know.
I’m waiting for you young’uns to rebel …
Two things:
1. Why does somebody need an island in the loo?
2. As for the weightlifter in LA, maybe the rest of the world would be better off if the mechanics had taken off the member in question (chlorine in the gene pool joke goes here).
Ah – ha
All the polls are showing Christie ahead
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2009/governor/nj/new_jersey_governor_corzine_vs_christie-1051.html
Wonder if that Corzine ad where Obama tried to say that kids in NJ were ahead in reading and math … due to John Corzine, with emphasis on Corzine’s name … actually hurt Corzine since it was such BS.
Veto [186];
In NNJ you’d have viable options to commute to NYC which is required to make enough dough to afford and 800k manse (which is why it would have been priced at $1.6MM). That house is a 20 minute drive (no traffic) to a 1 hr (express) train out of Hamilton to NY Penn. Going south? 50 Min on the SEPTA (septic) train from Trenton to Center City Philla.
What’s someone in Allentown doing to bring home $300k/yr? Delivering pizzas to Ft. Dix with seasonal work at Great Adventure?
[180] danzud,
One of these days, I am going to a GTG and tell everyone I’m John.
I think we did that at one GTG (Firestormik, did we use you as the John stand in? Or was it Gary? I can’t remember).
We can get away with that, knowing that the true John won’t show.
In fact, lets all take turns being John.
Veto,
I looked up a lot of history of EIFS. The worst problems with artificial stucco came in the late 80s,early-mid 90s, and there were class action lawsuits and a “Dateline NBC” expo piece in 1999 I think, showing rotted out houses. Some companies just stopped making it after that, calling it a flawed product, others made improvements to the building methods to try to circumvent the problems, allowing moisture to escape.
The main problem is that you have to trust that on the builder actually cares what happens to a house 5 or 10 years after building. And the problems don’t show up on the outside, they take time to silently decay the wood from within.
I saw inspection companies saying that 90% of the homes that they inspected have some amount of moisture damage.
After reading the stories, and suggestions that owners should monitor constantly, and inspect annually, I decided that I didn’t want to live in a house that I would always be worried about, in that way, and that I would eventually have to sell, dealing with future buyers’ concerns.
Too many other houses for sale. I even saw an academic paper testing a hypothesis about uninformed vs informed buyers of houses with this stuff.
THIS JUST IN . . . .
“New Jersey Man Pleads Guilty to Concealing More than $5 Million in Swiss UBS Account
Posted September 25, 2009, 4:34 P.M. ET
A Saddle River, N.J., man pleaded guilty Sept. 25 to failing to file Report of Foreign Bank or Financial Accounts (FBAR) and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $5 million in a UBS AG Swiss bank account, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service announced United States v. Homann, D.N.J., No. 2:09-cr-00724-SRC, plea entered 9/25/09.
According to DOJ, Juergen Homann pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to failing to file an FBAR for 2007 and failed to report the UBS account on his individual return for that year. Additionally, it said Homann failed to report income earned on the UBS account.
In February 2009, UBS entered into a deferred prosecution agreement in which UBS admitted to assisting U.S. taxpayers hide accounts from IRS. As part of their agreement, UBS provided the U.S. government with the identities of, and account information for, certain U.S. customers of UBS’s cross-border business.
Homann’s UBS account, originally opened during the late 1980s in the name of a Liechtenstein foundation, was transferred into the name of ELM Finance Ltd., a nominee of a Hong Kong corporation, DOJ said. It added that Homann established ELM with the assistance of a Swiss attorney, Matthias Rickenbach, who was indicted in August for conspiring to defraud the United States. DOJ said that, between 2001 and 2008, Homann held about $6.1 million in assets in the ELM account with UBS.”
Not one of my clients, fortunately.
#206 – I am going to a GTG and tell everyone I’m John.
My god, the comedy potential here is almost limitless.
I could just pay some homeless guy a couple of bucks to show up and say he’s John. That’s brilliant!
They need to open one of these new Seattle coffe joints around here.
Grab-n-Go Espresso
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090924/NEWS01/709249864&news01ad=1#Five.Everett.bikini.baristas.charged.with.prostitution
206. We are all alittle bit “john”. Right?
re# 206 -Comrade Which GTG was it?
Here are the pics. See if you can find John.
http://keggersofyore.com/
Adding to my rss reader. Great stuff. Keep it up!
gary 188
It gubmint get out of housing sales will skyrocket. Their business wil boom.
Why does media even report what they have to say?
Comrade Nom Deplume says:
September 25, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Nom…I think I may need to pick your brain re: investments outside U.S. impact on U.S. taxpayers; basis on recovered property; off-shore trusts; etc.
Do you deal in this stuff?
Veto,
That’s a first. In all my years I’ve never seen an island in teh master bathroom. The desinger had to be a “guido”.
still_looking says:
September 25, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Can anyone recommend a safe, simple duplicate file killer?
Thanks in advance.
sl
This is a good one…
http://www.easyduplicatefinder.com/
From the FDIC:
First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, Incorporated, Columbia, South Carolina, Assumes All of the Deposits of Georgian Bank, Atlanta, Georgia
Georgian Bank, Atlanta, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, Inc., Columbia, South Carolina, to assume all of the deposits of Georgian Bank.
…
The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $892 million. First Citizens Bank’s acquisition of all the deposits was the “least costly” resolution for the FDIC’s DIF compared to alternatives. Georgian Bank is the 95th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the nineteenth in Georgia. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First Coweta, Newnan, on August 21, 2009.
(215) Chifi
Yes.
(212) Sean
It was the first one at Fitzgeralds over the summer. I don’t recall that you were there but I seem to recall that we sent someone up to a group and he announced himself as John. Kettle, you were there. You recall this?
Thanks, Priced!
sl
For the wine people:
DH got a bottle of wine from a customer saying it was from his winery in Toms River. It’s Tre Paesani 2008 Sangiovese/Cabernet/Merlot
Amador Reserve.
From the Bacchus Winemaking Club.
This should be interesting.
God does have a sense of Humor.
Here is a pic of Pres of Spain’s Goth Kids with Obama at the G20.
http://gawker.com/5368039/spains-goth-first-daughters-embarrass-embarrassed-by-dad
New in NJ,
“Why does somebody need an island in the loo?”
Maybe this is where the Bobbit wife moved to, and she wants a convenient spot to slice sausages.
New Jersey the Barnyard State?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/09/25/2009-09-25_judge_dismisses_animal_cruelty_charges_against_police_officer_robert_melia_for_s.html
Ok that wine sucked. Heartburn in a glass.
lost,
any better?
sl
227 SL
I thought I was better in the morning but by afternoon, pain came back full force. I guess the positive is that I didn’t have a lot of pain, only a little, for several hours. That’s some improvement right?
Thanks so much for lending me your ear about this.
i just placed my order in for my 2 Thanksgiving turkey.
Joe & Rebecca have a little small turkey and chicken farm in western PA.
really good eats.
ain’t no way I’m eating a farm factory butterball turkey.
Butterball ain’t nothing but a 28.2 lbs of tumors, cancer, and antibiotics (Enrofloxacin).
SAS
#187 I don’t think that’s EIFS. At least around here, you can tell an EIFS house because it was put on in panels and the seams are clearly visible. An inspector told me the best way to tell for sure is to try to jam a screwdriver into it – it will go right through EIFS, but not the stucco over wire mesh.
SAS, the b&w dudes in Lancaster county make some decent turkey. You don’t have to go so far west.
http://agmap.psu.edu/Search/index.cfm?q=turkey&catalog=bus&spatial=county&county=Lancaster&state=PA&mode=adv&s=s&Submit.x=16&Submit.y=8
Anyway, find an Amish place with crap for sale on Saturdays, and they usually have homemade ice cream or something.
Kevork Hovnanian, founder of Hovnanian Enterprises, died today.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/kevork_hovnanian_founder_of_re.html
[url=”http://www.trailsofhorseshoebay.com”]Texas Hill Country Real Estate[/url] – check this out… seems like the best ranch location anywhere in the world.
Very nice site!