From the Asbury Park Press:
Rumson mansion sells for $12 million
A spectacular grand estate on the Navesink River in Rumson built by Pete and Judi Dawkins sold for $12 million on Friday, a figure less than half the initial $29.9 million asking price.
The 18-room house at 80 W. River Road — 18,000 square feet with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms — was sold to an unidentified area buyer, said the buyer’s agent, Kelly Zaccaro, a sales associate with Gloria Nilson Realtors Real Living in Rumson.
“They bought this because it was really beautiful and very well-done,” Zaccaro said. “It was the most amazingly built house. The attention to detail they put into it was beyond anything I have ever seen.”
The selling price breaks the previous record — last July’s $9.9 million for the seaside Spring Lake mansion formerly owned by the late New Jersey Devils owner John McMullen — on the Monmouth/Ocean Multiple Listing Service. A private sale for a waterfront home on Navesink River Road in Middletown netted nearly $13.2 million in 2005, and is now on the market for $11 million.
The Dawkins house was originally listed at $29.9 million in March 2010 by Turpin Realtors in Tewksbury before it dropped to $19.5 million in July. The Dawkins’ real estate agent had no comment on the sale. John Turpin, the agency’s broker-of-record, could not be reached.
…
Dawkins and his wife, Judi, bought the property over 10 years ago for $4.5 million. After a year, they decided to dismantle the existing house. They brought in noted architect Bernard Wharton, who designed their dream house, which was completed in 2004.
From the WSJ:
Why It’s Time To Buy
Back in June 2006, when the housing market peaked, the prospect of a five-year national housing bust seemed unimaginable to most people. And yet here we are, with the latest Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index showing that prices hit new bear-market lows, falling back to 2002 levels nationally and to 1990s levels in some battered regions.
Despite all the gloom, however, there are growing indications that it is a good time to buy. Mortgage rates, which fell to 4.55% for the week ending June 2, according to Freddie Mac, are near 50-year lows. Homes have become more affordable than they have been in years: According to Moody’s Analytics, the ratio of home prices to income is now 20.9% lower than the 15-year average through 2010, and 12.5% lower than the 1989-2004 average. A historic glut of homes, meanwhile, has created a buyer’s market: There were about 15 million vacant homes in the U.S. last year, according to John Burns Real Estate ConsultingInc.—some 3.1 million more than normal.
Such conditions might not last long. Moody’s Analytics predicts that the number of distressed sales will begin to fall in 2013, and that prices will begin to edge upward then. Home building is at a virtual standstill, so the supply overhang isn’t likely to get much worse. Meanwhile, demographic indicators such as “household formation”—the number of new households each year—are on the rise, and promise to take a bite out of the glut in coming years.
The upshot: “While we might not see rapid growth in the next couple of years, there are a tremendous number of positive signs that could lead to a rebound,” says Anthony Sanders, a real-estate finance professor at George Mason University.
The short-term outlook isn’t encouraging. Job growth remains weak, foreclosure sales are making up more of the market, and economists are predicting that home prices will fall more in the coming months.
From HousingWire:
Disappointing economic reports do not point to double-dip: Barclays
Reports about the U.S. economy were generally negative this week, with jobless claims stagnating and the unemployment rate rising. But Barclays Capital assured Friday these signs do not indicate a double-dip back into recession.
“The U.S. economy has clearly hit a soft patch, with nearly every data point this week surprising to the downside,” Barclays said. “We do not see data over the past month as the start of a double-dip but rather as a temporary soft patch.”
Barclays believes this temporary downturn is driven by concerns over inflation, which have hindered consumer spending. However, unless energy prices keep rising, real consumer spending should now improve, Barclays said.
While the research firm is not calling a bottom to the market, it does expect things to get better, even in the housing market. Home prices continued to fall in the first quarter, hitting a new low and reaching levels seen in 2002, according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.
“We do not believe this decline has macro implications,” Barclays said of falling home prices.
Barclays noted that rates will fall substantially lower than the current 4.69% due to the lackluster nature of the refinance market. A significant proportion of refi activity from the second half of 2010 was derived from streamline Home Affordable Refinance Program channels as opposed to looser underwriting standards.
“We feel that primary rates need to head to at least 4.15% before we see the refi index (see graph below) back to the levels seen last August,” Barclays said.
Good Morning New Jersey
From article post 1.
“But the long-term benefits of homeownership remain very much intact. For now, at least, you can deduct the mortgage interest on your taxes—a big perk for people in higher tax brackets. You get to paint your walls any color you wish, without having to clear it with a landlord. And assuming you can buy a home for about the same price as you can rent one, buying will give you the ability one day to live rent-free. Come retirement time, a paid-off mortgage means your monthly expenses are significantly reduced, and you have a chunk of equity to play with.
So what might the next five years look like? Once the foreclosure mess begins to clear up, say housing economists, the traditional drivers of the housing market—demographics, affordability, loan availability, employment and psychology—should take over. ”
“Homes have become more affordable than they have been in years:” Compared to the greatest run up in prices in our history a**holes.
“deduct the mortgage interest on your taxes” maybe maybe not.
“You get to paint your walls any color you wish” and fix the roof, boiler or anything else that goes wrong. Some trade off.
“And assuming” never assume.
“Come retirement time,” the taxes will be more than the original PITI. Think NJ.
“chunk of equity” how is that working out right now, cycle dependent.
“demographics, affordability, loan availability, employment and psychology—should take over. ” Did I read demographic what 10,000 boomers turning 65 for the next 20 years.
“Moody’s Analytics predicts that the number of distressed sales will begin to fall in 2013,” What do they think psychology will be with 2 more years in the negative.
Green shoots!!!!……..
Did anyone see the new NAR commercial? Buy a home it creates X number of jobs, yes be a debt slave, save the banks & us!
“We’re in a soft patch”
“But Barclays Capital assured Friday these signs do not indicate a double-dip back into recession.”
The same Barclays that had a bunch of lay-offs last week?
Soft landing
8.grim says:
June 6, 2011 at 7:45 am
Soft landing
Into Quicksand?
Despite all the gloom, however, there are growing indications that it is a good time to buy. Mortgage rates, which fell to 4.55% for the week ending June 2, according to Freddie Mac, are near 50-year lows. Homes have become more affordable than they have been in years.
If you think a 3/2 split listed at $549,000 with $10,000 in taxes is a good deal, then go for it. That’s $3000/month without food, gas, electric, gasoline, cable, phone, insurance and 27 other expenses I haven’t mentioned yet. Oh, and wait until the water heater blows in July and the CAC compressor blows in August. I’m a homeowner for 17 years, you think I’m kidding? Sure…. it’s always a great time to buy.
freedy (6)-
Last time I checked, shit is soft.
“We’re in a soft patch”
Great time to buy an automatic weapon.
It’s contained to subprime… nothing to worry about.
No one will be spared.
#13/14 There is a place………
11.Hobo With a Shotgun says:
June 6, 2011 at 8:30 am
freedy (6)-
Last time I checked, shit is soft.
If it isn’t, try taking colace stoool softner tablets, with magnesium suppliments. Should make the patch both softer & more regular.
“all markets are local” just ask them in River Edge and Montclair
Greeks hit the ramparts, looking for some summer fun.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/biggest-protest-athens-under-way-tens-thousands-ask-where-did-our-money-go-demand-no-more-au
#8 I thought we did that already?
#5 miw
Your close to a slogan for a tee-shirt/bumpersticker
My new jersey slogan is I’m a servant for a civil servant
Did anyone see the new NAR commercial? Buy a home it creates X number of jobs, yes be a debt slave, save the banks & us!
A 3br 2ba townhome in my community is listed at 114,000$. This is in stark contrast to 250,000$ that they were going for at peak. It has new appliances and all hardwood floors. Thats a 55% decline from the top of the bubble, hows that action feel?
(1)
I had no idea that colleges had professors of real estate finance
wtf is there to teach?
I think most people would agree that with the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index showing that prices hit new bear-market lows, this would be an excellent time to buy.
Danny W. & most people bought at peak &/or took out HELOCs how is that working out for them. Don’t run with the sheep Danny.
Joyce, usually the profs teach general stuff in the undergrad/grad program (e.g. Economics/Finance 101/202; blah, blah), and specialized classes in their area of expertise (special topics in Finance — e.g. buzz-word laden stochastic ). Sometimes, many don’t even teach — and guide researchers.
I don’t know much about finance and know even less about RE, but there seems to be enough to teach — not just the students, but the professors and general population as well!
laden with buzz-words like “stochastic” [more often than not, those buzz-words are the exact technical terms — otherwise, one would have to use a sentence or two].
From my personal experience, when someone asks me with a certain tone, “You are in a univ! Why do you have to work late nights on Friday and then on Saturday” My answer is, “I am slow!” or if I am particularly offended, “I don’t get along with my wife!” and then move on — I am pretty boring, so any JJ type remarks will simply fall flat.
Joyce,
I took a real estate finance course once, 20 yrs ago, undergrad. It was mostly about commercial property, coming up with NPVs of apartment buildings given assumptions about occupancy levels, etc., and coming up with comps for buildings, but not a lot of real-world insight, like most finance classes. Back then real estate finance was at the low end of the totem pole in the finance department, probably still is. My professor was a 30 something hottie working in commercial RE, who I later found out occasionally boinked my first (50 something) boss.
#23 Yeah and property taxes in many areas are up 60 to 70% over the last 6 or 7 years. More price declines to come.
25.
The way it first struck me was that it was a useless class, assuming that professor (in addition to other things) teaches a specialized class of RE Finance. That can easily be consolidated with other finance classes. If it’s a stand alone class, it’s a waste like a lot of other college classes.
#24 Yes. And now they want buyers to bail them out. Hey I need an extra 50k, cause the Mercedes S Class cost me 50K, so the buyer has to pay for that.
I am surprised Phil Hodgens, expatriation attorney to the well-off, is just getting around to this now. Readers of the NJRER knew this weeks ago.
http://hodgen.com/phils-blog/
To quote Bluto “cough, cough, bullsh1t, cough . . .”
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/06/irs-responds-.html
“A spectacular grand estate on the Navesink River in Rumson built by Pete and Judi Dawkins sold for $12 million on Friday, a figure less than half the initial $29.9 million asking price.”
The Navesink is far inferior to the Hackensack, on whose blessed shores rests The Little Community That Could (TM) where prices are up 26% from last year.
Finally, how coincidential is it that he gets indicted not long after a tax shelter gets named after him?
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/01/irs-targets-.html
Nom,
Let me get this straight, First the Obama NLRB tells Boeing where it must produce airplanes and now the Obama IRS is telling business owners how much to pay themselves?
“Mr. Watson, who had a graduate degree in tax and 20 years’ experience, received only $24,000 of salary for each of those years, far less than the $40,000 a year earned by recent graduates in accounting with no experience, according to one expert for the IRS.
“The agency cried foul, saying his pay was far too low. Why object? Unlike profit distributions, all salary is subject to a 2.9% Medicare tax and some is subject to a 12.4% Social Security, or FICA, tax. … By reporting low pay Mr. Watson didn’t save any income taxes, but he did save nearly $20,000 in payroll taxes for the two years, the IRS said, pegging Mr. Watson’s true pay at $91,044 for each year.”
http://ia700202.us.archive.org/4/items/gov.uscourts.iasd.37557/gov.uscourts.iasd.37557.35.0.pdf
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF IOWA
CENTRAL DIVISION
v
DAVID E. WATSON, P.C, *
* 4:08-cv-442, *
*
*
*
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, *
* ORDER ON BENCH TRIAL
How about Vikram or Jobs or any of those other $1 a year CEOs?
Shore
Why would this bother you? This person was avoiding tax by keeping his salary artificially low. Taxes blow. But if everyone paid the correct amount then us honest taxpayers would shoulder a smaller burden. Cheating on taxes is a growing problem and in my opinion the younger generations and new arrivals are the worst offenders.
If we justy had a single flat tax and funded the FICA social programs etc. through general revenue, all these issues would go away.
Either they took a page from the Ramones or this Norwegian family found an interesting way to keep the kids busy.
http://www.myspace.com/thedahlmanns
(38) He was following the law, however poorly written.
Btw, what is the correct amount of taxes to pay?
Is it what the law says it is? Because that’s what he was doing.
I got an idea, eliminate the income tax, problem solved.
Well not really solved…
joyce says:
June 6, 2011 at 10:58 am
25. The way it first struck me was that it was a useless class, assuming that professor (in addition to other things) teaches a specialized class of RE Finance. That can easily be consolidated with other finance classes. If it’s a stand alone class, it’s a waste like a lot of other college classes.
If you thought it useless, then what you were studying was watered down or offered by hacks…
http://real-estate.wharton.upenn.edu/
still looking:
If you need my e-mail, then use chicagofinance at yahoo
Joyce,
“Btw, what is the correct amount of taxes to pay?”
Unfortunately, many people seem to be aiming for an answer that fits in a 20-second commercial…
Sastry,
While that is somewhat true, much of the problem comes from a complex code designed to gore someone else’s ox. I have found that my liberal friends are all too happy to have government raise taxes on others.
Who was the guy from Charlotte who used to post here now and then:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/06/census.charlotte/
#33 Thank You my friend. Could not have said it better
Shore, #35…
Surely you must be joking… You should know it better than most here since you get income via consulting. An independent consultant with an S-Corp can put all money as “profit” and zero salary and save over 10% tax on the amount [especially if they make less than that the FICA limit in net profits]. There are very very reasonable ranges for what salary is appropriate — just like there are ranges for hiring foreign workers, one cannot put in a $10/hr job for C++ programming and claim there are no Americans willing to work for that low salary [at least not yet! once GOP screws the country enough, people will be willing to give free BJ’s for the protein content].
24k for grad degree in tax with 20 years experience wouldn’t pass the laugh test. He probably has a better chance of success by declaring that he doesn’t need to pay no taxes to no stinkin kenyan. Or, he should simply hope for Palin/Bachmann ticket succeeding.
S
Mitchel.
This poor, poor child. Clearly, the kid is misunderstood by society and needs our love:
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/grader-28060-nose-teacher.html
“once GOP screws the country enough… content”
John? Is this you posting as our misguided liberal friend?
48- what can the government not regulate?
(parts of your post sound like jamil in reverse)
Why are some so afraid of freedom?
“people will be willing to give free BJ’s for the protein content”
Then thre are people willing to do our part to feed the poor good looking women.
Shore, if there are loopholes in tax code, they will be exploited (even by people that preach otherwise). The best approach is to close the loopholes completely. Kerry paying ridiculously low taxes by parking his yacht is the juicy part, but that is a symptom rather than the problem. The loophole that allows that should be closed as much as possible and enforced as much as possible.
#1 – According to Moody’s Analytics, the ratio of home prices to income is now 20.9% lower than the 15-year average through 2010, and 12.5% lower than the 1989-2004 average
So it’s 21% below one artificial high and and 12.5% below another artificial high. That’s like saying returns of this new whiz-bang investment are 8% below Ponzi A and 5% below Ponzi B, so since they’re so much lower the returns must be honest and real.
Take any home price/income year range that ends in ’99 or 2000 and then see how where we are now looks.
“The best approach is to close the loopholes completely. ”
Amen, brother. Close them all. Flat tax, now.
Time to feed the tax beast. At least we get to keep the income earned after Labor Day.
#54, I know you are joking… and my question is also a bit rhetorical… Would you want to live in a society where that happens or is considered OK?
#52, which part of “government has some very reasonable ranges” and “numbers should pass laugh test” sounds extreme? If the IRS assessed wages at 91k salary for that guy, it automatically implies that his “net profits” were more than 91k. So, basically the guy is saying, “I made 91k [or more], but I won’t call it wages because that way I pay lower taxes”. That number often comes after deducting everything under the sun as “business expense”. There are already rules to handle that, and if he violates rules blatantly, he should expect to be penalized. What is so extreme about that position?
It is not unimaginable to have a case where someone made 250k, deducted over 100k as expenses, put close to 50k in retirement income, and showed 76k as profit and 24k as wages — all without a single employee. It won’t pass the laugh test. For comparison, a wall street guy making 250k in wages plus bonuses will have to pay tax on all of it. Do you think that imbalance (without even using the “fair” word) is good and that supporting enforcement of existing rules to fix some of it is some reverse jamil position? If so, your high school debating skills should be excellent, since you have no facts supporting your argument!
How do you reconcile your silence on Joe Louis’ case (90% tax, had to pay tax on all the prize money he donated to troops, paid back welfare money his family received, but ended up as a greeter), but your outrage that a experienced tax professional has to pay taxes and a small penalty (often very small, unless one drags it through the court for a long time)?
Simple tax systems don’t have many loopholes. The current system is an overly complex mass of social engineering decisions and means by which politicians collect rent by granting and witholding favors. So by necessity it has many loopholes.
Any budget deal needs to massively simplify the tax system, as it’s far past due for a reset. It’s much better to create a simple and sturdy structure than attempt to patch this rickety old tax structure, which needs to be torn down and rebuilt.
Joyce, #52…
what can the government not regulate
The government can stop regulating a woman’s uterus, what people do in their personal lives, what religion is allowed within what distance where?
Disclaimer: no skin in the game, very very boring and probably very conservative life, and come from a society that suffered a lot due to islamic extremism during the time when US was sending money and arms to “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A.West,
The tax accountants lobby might feel differently about our current tax code than you do. Hence the flat tax, nor any significant reform will ever occur to our methodology of taxation.
Now is a good time to buy. With rates as low as 4% on a mortgage and with long term historical home appreciations rates at 3% you can lock in a 1% loss a year for the next 30 years if you act quick.
Sounds good JJ. Where do I sign up?
Libtard,
I once covered H&R Block many years back. Combined 2 evils in one company. Option One subsidiary was a big time subprime lender. Tax filing division feasted on growing complexity, plus turned the refund into another excuse to make high interest loans to idiots in a hurry to spend beyond their means.
It was following them that tipped me off to the RE bubble, when I started investigating how their subprime mortgage biz had turned into a magical money machine.
West, #60… But, meanwhile, why not keep plugging in obvious loopholes?
Flat tax won’t happen — or at least it won’t look like flat tax anymore when it happens. Simply because it becomes a mess to define what “income” is (do you deduct the salary you pay to employees? do you deduct raw material costs? attorney costs? company rent? paper supplies? medical costs? vehicle expense? … you see where it is heading)
We get this in our line of work frequently: why can’t the mathematical/computer model be “less complex”? We have to be polite and not say something like “it is actually a very very simple model, but for people like you it looks very complex” or worse. The building code for a really simple deck is over 10 pages and covers almost nothing (hence my q a few days ago on height of railing). Of course, the code can simply be a very simple commandment like “Thou shall build a deck that withstands the load!”
JJ,
Everybody’s got to live somewhere. Treat housing like the consumption/expense that it is, and budget accordingly. Buying can make sense for some people, renting for others.
H&R Block. I think the government cracked down on them a few years ago for their refund advances (high interest on the loan). They replaced that promotion with the chance to win millions in ‘their’ lottery if you let them do your return.
I’d personally favor a consumption tax. Rewards saving and investment. Incentivizes future growth over current reported growth. Progressives call it regressive, unless it’s focused on energy and tobacco, in which case they like it.
Of course, the political class wouldn’t dream of handing over the power to distort the tax code to loopholes. Thus they create a group of useful idiots to defend them.
Actually, it was a scratch off lottery and they took some heat on that one too. I once knew a person who worked at H&R and she swore they used TurboTax. What a joke.
http://www.advertisinglawblog.com/2008/07/new-york-attorney-general-settles-with-hr-block-regarding-deceptive-advertising-tactics-in-sweepstak.shtml
Where there is smoke…… Weiner should have wanked it as more pics now surface. Just a few short months the left was all over Rep Christopher Lee of New York who resigned over his shirtless pics sent to another woman. Now it seems Weiner is in the same spot.
I have got $50 bucks says he does not resign until the real graphic stuff comes out.
59-
I was referring to your statement blaming the GOP for most, if not all, of the mess as being reverse jamil.
As others have said, a simplified tax system is the only way for people not to game it. It is impossible to manage something so complex as the current tax code. Even if we agree that the idea of simplifying it (via a flat tax or fair tax or something) is a pie in the sky idea compared to the status quo, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be striving for it. Since, as I just said, it is the only way for people not to be searching for and exploiting loopholes.
59-
FYI, your post seems to have put a lot of words in my mouth
61-
I agree that government shouldn’t be in our personal lives. I think they are way too involved with our money.
I dk what that islamic extremist comment is doing there
Is that the same Pete Dawkins who graduated West Point and was Heisman Trophy winner? Got out of the Army as a BG to go work in financial services?
shore [35]
Actually, it’s been GWB’s IRS that flagged Mr. Watson and demanded a payment from him, not Obama’s. However, Mr. Watson clearly abuses his self-employment status. I don’t see any reason why he should contribute to say Medicare 4x less than someone in exactly similar financial situation who is honest and pays himself a salary comparable to what he’d been pulling working for an accounting firm.
I guess that there are always more than one way to look at something. I’m more of the pessimist.
Dl,
Yes. The same guy who was the subject of an artivle titled The Fine Art of Failng Upward.
The guy has always been at the right place at the right time, it seems.
Taxes are boring. IMO, the only thing worth sending the IRS is a package bomb.
Come get me, ya stinkin’ black helicopter douches.
This dolt Weiner is one of our best and brightest?
I wouldn’t hire this guy to clerk in a liquor store.
Earless mutant rabbits being born near Fukushima.
Cute.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fukushimas-earless-nuclear-rabbit-harbinger-mutations-about-hit-japan
ROFL – Breitbart hijacks Weiner’s press conference and says he is withholding the
graphic pics.
Media gathered at the Sheraton hotel in New York City on Monday afternoon to hear Anthony Weiner explain today’s onslaught of embarrassment, but got another circus instead. Before Weiner spoke, Breitbart seemingly hijacked the press conference microphone, taking questions from the media about his website’s involvement in the scandal. “I’m here to see myself vindicated,” he said before attacking the left-wing blogosphere. “It is news,” he assured the crowd, referring to himself intermittently in the third-person. “Breitbart lied, Breitbart lied, Breitbart lied,” he mocked, demanding one example of his own malfeasance. “It is news,” he said of Weinergate.
A catastrophic morning took Anthony Weiner’s #Weinergate scandal to the next level with the release of dirty messages and gradual publishing of increasingly raunchy photographs, allegedly sent by the congressman to a Texas woman.
One of the pictures in question shows Weiner with his cats, allegedly titled “Me and the pussys,” and another set has the congressman topless, with threats from Andrew Breitbart and Big Government that another photograph sent from the same email account “is extremely graphic, and leaves nothing to the imagination.”
A press conference was reportedly scheduled for 4 p.m. in Manhattan to address the matter. But Breitbart’s presence caused a stir among the media and CNN reported that he was crowded in the back of the room. Then, he took the microphone prepared, presumably, for Weiner.
“I’m doing this to save his family,” Breitbart said of not releasing the “X-rated” picture of the congressman. But he threatened that it could come out if his Big Government stories continue to be questioned. “I’m not doing this for nefarious purposes,” Breitbart said.
As of 4:22 p.m., it’s unclear if Weiner will still speak. We’ll update as we know more.
ROFL – Breitbart hijacks Weiner’s press conference and says he is withholding the
graphic pics.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/06/andrew_breitbart_anthony_weiner_pictures_big_government.php
Pete Dawkins, warmonger then bankster.
Hope he ends up homeless.
Tony Wiener refuses to resign.
WTF.
Also, regarding RE finance courses, the NYU SCPS Real Estate Institute provides excellent graduate level courses in CRE. http://www.scps.nyu.edu/areas-of-study/real-estate/
That Watson vs US case means there will be no way for small business people to escape individual mandate under ObamaCare by buying small group health insurance in New Jersey if the New Jersey health insurance laws are not changed substantially.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20069409-503544.html
Rut ro.
Memo to: Gurney’s Timeshare Owners
From: Linda Benjamin, Your Class A Director
Date: June 5, 2011, 2011
Subject: Update from “Gurneyland”
Despite the fact that we, the timeshare owners, were specially assessed over $500,000 in 2010, you should also be aware that Gurney’s “powers-that-be” are contemplating managerial bonuses for the year 2010 for certain of the 30+Gurney “departmental managers” who have attained a certain (undisclosed) departmental “performance level”. Paul Monte has stated that total amount of anticipated bonus payout is $77,000 with differing managers receiving differing amounts based on “departmental performance”. (Note: These are the same “managerial employees” who had their former pay reduction recently reinstated by a vote of the Class B directors. One can only wonder why a 109 unit resort necessitates 30+ managers…) Paul affirms that said 2010 bonuses have NOT yet been paid. Final determination of said bonuses is contingent upon PKF, Gurney’s external auditors, “signing-off” on the 2010 year-end Financial Statement, which to date they have not done.
Gurney’s secrecy fetish continues in full force and affect. Two recent examples:
1. Management is stalling with regard to our request to view certain Gurney’s stock transfer records. Management has requested of Thomas Carusona, Gurney’s Chairman and President, and also a defendant in our lawsuit, that Mr. Carusona’s attorneys intercede and try to stall our document review until the Fall. Please remember that Paul Monte is Gurney’s CEO and owes his duty of loyalty to Gurney’s, not to Mr. Carusona. How dare they attempt to halt our document review to suit their stalling agenda!
2. Despite the fact that a number of real estate brokers are privy to the terms and perquisites of certain employment contracts between Limited and members of the Monte family (and one other person), I remain unable to release this information to you due to the “gag order” placed upon me. In other words, the “powers-that-be” deem it appropriate for “outsiders” to know the largesse lavished upon the Monte family et. al., but not the timeshare owners who will be footing the bill for these employment agreements and their perquisites.
I will continue to keep you informed of ongoing developments.
JJ #63
Great post. My nominee for Post of the Week.
I’m raising a glass of Franziskaner in your honor.
“JJ says: June 6, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Now is a good time to buy. With rates as low as 4% on a mortgage and with long term historical home appreciations rates at 3% you can lock in a 1% loss a year for the next 30 years if you act quick.”
boooya…
http://www.leclubavenue.com/menu/prefix5-25-11.pdf
Joyce,
As others have said, a simplified tax system is the only way for people not to game it… They will game it. The simpler it is, the more “free to interpret” it becomes.
Your “reverse jamil” comment is very valid. Most of your points are… Apologies for the GOP rant. Singling on GOP is a bit silly because the dems will do almost the identical thing anyway. The “islamist” thing was about how some states are pushing for “anti-sharia” laws by politicians that actually voted to fund the Afghan mujahideen [that later trickled into Kashmir].
Anyone familiar with Monroe 08831 NJ? Cousin just bought a house there, no I was not consulted.
Who will run for Weiner’s seat?
I think most of the female population of the US would run away from Weiner’s seat, a seat on Weiner or any other gut-wrenching permutation of that sentence.
You want tossed salad with those fries?
Wow. I can make myself acid reflux at will just by thinking that.
Monroe wasn’t bad when I grew up in East Brunswick. Was kind of blue-collar and farmer oriented. Today it’s in the distribution center corridor (Cranbury) so I imagine there are some commercial ratables that might provide some tax relief. All in all, was pretty sparsely populated and a nice place to live. Can’t speak for it today. Probably a lot of Indians since it’s near North Brunswick, which I see as a good thing.
President Barack Obama flew to the Midwest today in an attempt to promote his economic agenda – the same day a damning report revealed the number of jobs plunged in May making it the weakest month this year.
Far fewer workers than expected were hired last month painting a bleak picture for the U.S. economy while the unemployment rate edged up to 9.1 per cent.
The U.S added a minuscule 54,000 new jobs in May and of that 20,000 were created by McDonald’s.
Not to worry, Walmart is hiring too!
I like jamesbednar.com , bookmarked for future reference
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Gator thanks they live on a golf course off the the NJTP, yes taxes are low by NJ standards.
MIW,
Since no one else is responding, I’ll second Gator’s comments. I haven’t been there in many years, but I remember the area to be much as her comment described.
A few additional tidbits:
I heard that there has been a ton of residential development over the last 20 years or so.
Monroe contains the town of Jamesburg, which is the home of Mendoker’s Bakery (supposedly best in the area)the NJ Training School for Boys (Reform School formerly known as Jamesburg Training School). The facility has about 300 beds for primarily 16 to 18 year old juvenile delinquents.
“Austin Goolsbee will resign his post as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers this summer and return to teaching at the University of Chicago.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56373.html
I’d be getting out of Dodge too the way things are going.
WW4beer looked on map they seem to be on the right side of the tracks so to speak.
Thanks.
Goolsbee knows the wheels are coming off, hence head for the hills.
Clot, you should see the dailykos or Huffpo people twisting in knots to explain why this is unfair to Weiner (they don’t mention Lee), but go on and on about Vitter.
Weiner showed that he didn’t have much of b@lls the moment he hedged his response on the NYC mosque faux controversy. That’s probably why he needed to show he at least has the weiner…
The real lame-asses are the people in his district who couldn’t figure out from listening to him talk for 15 seconds that he’s nothing more than a modern-day, jerk-off Duddy Kravitz.
They have the representation they deserve. Hell, they’ll probably re-elect the idiot.
I have actually never been to DailyKos. HuffPo, I’ll admit to visiting a couple of times.
I have no interest in the bleatings of anyone on either of the far edges of the political spectrum. All these hacks do is make things worse.
Don’t you just hate it when steam explosions blow your plutonium a mile away? It takes a little more than a Tyvek suit and a long pair of tongs to pick it up and carry it back.
I wonder how the signups are going for suicide squads in Japan these days.
“In a double whammy of bad news from the mainstream media blackouted Fukushima (or perhaps the general population just doesn’t care any more) today we learn that not only did The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) double its estimate of the radiation leak in the early days of the Fukushima catastrophe, something we had predicted would happen eventually courtesy of the secretive Japanese government, but that Plutonium from Fukushima has now been found in the town of Okuma, over 1 mile away from the stricken Nuclear Power Plant.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/japan-finds-plutonium-one-mile-away-fukushima-doubles-radiation-leak-estimate
Japanese gubmint claiming the Fukushima reactor’s pet dog carried the plutonium away.
Hobo
If the japanese government actually had the least bit of concern for the citizens, then the exclusion zone would already consist of a 50+Km hard exclusion zone and would would be publishing regular testing result of the nations food supply. Of course such actions would also depopulate a fair portion of the nation.
No biggie though, they are just tax revenue generating chattel. The radiological contamination will only harm them intermediate and long term for generations, not immediately, so the mindless sheep probably wont even stir.
Hobo
And the best catch-22 of the whole mess is that western reactor design makes it next to impossible to directly intervene in the disaster once you reach this scale due to the multiple levels of (breached) containment preventing you from directly accessing the melted core.
Doom (105):
You can thank Reactor #3 for that dispersed plutonium. I do not think it was a steam explosion in the reactor but a criticality in the fuel pool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_N-wNFSGyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIqbsZCKFPw
Hype 109
Arnie gunderson explained that in detail a few weeks ago.
http://www.fairewinds.com/content/gundersen-postulates-unit-3-explosion-may-have-been-prompt-criticality-fuel-pool
There are still criticalitites occurring and there is evidence that it could be from the spent fuel pools.
Now consider that there are several dozen of the same type of reactors with the same hazards all over the US. Oh, and the US only requires a 10 mi evacuation zone even thought we told japan they should use a 50 mi evacuation zone.
Hype
here is one of them, about 1 hr north of NYC
http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&q=indian+point&fb=1&gl=us&hq=indian+point&hnear=0x89c3754c0b110fdd:0x7011ac8f0b333916,Dover,+NJ&cid=0,0,16281637850486266036&ll=41.271227,-73.951077&spn=0.01445,0.042272&t=h&z=15&iwloc=A
CNN reporting FU 1, 2 and 3 suffered meltdown in the first 3 days.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/06/06/japan.nuclear.meltdown/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
It had already said fuel rods at the heart of reactor No. 1 melted almost completely in the first 16 hours after the disaster struck. The remnants of that core are now sitting in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel at the heart of the unit and that vessel is now believed to be leaking.
We ‘came close’ to losing northern Japan
A “major part” of the fuel rods in reactor No. 2 may have melted and fallen to the bottom of the pressure vessel 101 hours after the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant, Tokyo Electric said May 24.
The same thing happened within the first 60 hours at reactor No. 3, the company said, in what it called its worst-case scenario analysis, saying the fuel would be sitting at the bottom of the pressure vessel in each reactor building.
But Tokyo Electric at the same time released a second possible scenario for reactors 2 and 3, one that estimated a full meltdown did not occur. In that scenario, the company estimated the fuel rods may have broken but may not have completely melted.
Kettle,
The bigger problem for NYC, I believe, is not Indian Point, which, as I recall has a pretty robust containment dome, and, as I recall, does not have fuel storage in the elevated pond (fricken stupid idea) but, instead, Oyster Creek, which I recall is substantially the same design as Fuk-U-Shima and the prevailing winds blow from Forked River North-ish, torwards our friends in NY, on LI, and in Providence and Boston.
Fabius,
It is about time they admitted the meltdown. Kettle and I pretty much knew about it, just based on atmospheric readings and press reports of damage and response. It is not rocket science.
Shore,
Agreed.
Gunderson points out the insanity of the US calling for a 50 mi evacuation area around fukushima but only 10 miles around US reactors. of course a 50 mi evacuation zone means that you would have to shut down a substantial number of reatcors in the US and site any new 0nes in the southwest desert.
http://www.fairewinds.com/content/white-house-nrc-recommend-50-mile-fukushima-evacuation-yet-insist-us-safe-only-10
I am all for nuclear in theory, but government and corrupt corporations have proven themselves far too incompetent to be responsible for a large scale device that can depopulate a large portion of a nation if mismanaged. I would be all for nuclear if we required any corporate executives or politicians involved to maintain a primary residence ( including enrolling their children in the local school) within 10 miles of the reactor.
I miss George Carlin…
sl
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