The land where unicorns roam

From the NY Times:

Demand for ‘Estate’-Like Condos

REAL ESTATE optimists have been picking up blips on the radar in Bergen County lately, most recently this one: 24 of 68 “attached manor” condominiums with prices starting at $1.25 million sold in a single weekend — before they went up, and before a sales office had time to open.

The preview sales event for the gated development Saddle River Grand, for which ground was broken in Saddle River in September, was held last month at a gated complex in Montvale built by the same developer, Woodmont Properties.

The Enclave at Montvale is smaller — 34 “villa estates” — but 18 months after opening, it has only three units left, said Woodmont’s president, Lewis Zlotnick.

Gabe Pasquale, a longtime marketing consultant in Bergen County as well as in Rockland County, N. Y., said there was pent-up demand for opulence — particularly among “very affluent empty nesters.”

“These are retired or semiretired captains of industry, older couples that are very ingratiated in their communities, with strong ties to Manhattan,” Mr. Pasquale said. “They do not want to leave the towns in which they already live in Bergen County, or the conveniences or the luxuries. But they do want more of a seamless lifestyle — no maintenance, no hiring groundskeepers and pool maintenance companies.”

The developments are not age-restricted, but they were specifically designed to appeal to an “affluent baby boomer niche,” Mr. Zlotnick said.

Certainly, this notion is not new in Bergen County, or the rest of northern New Jersey.

The Bellaire, a 34-unit gated town-house community, overlooking the Alpine Country Club Golf Course, went on the market five years ago with prices starting at $1.6 million and rising to $3 million. But the finished product — in all its 24-foot domed-ceiling, mahogany-paneled glory — arrived at the same time as crises began detonating on Wall Street.

Units sold very slowly, and only a handful of contracts were signed in 2009, the year of the national real estate crash. Now, two units are listed as resales, one at $1.95 million and the other at $3.398 million, according to the broker, Michele Kolsky-Assatly of Coldwell Banker.

High-end sales have been on the upswing in Bergen County in 2011.

Seven percent of total sales in Bergen involved houses sold for $1 million to $1.25 million, according to Jeffrey Otteau, the president of the Otteau Valuation Group of New Brunswick, which analyzes sales data for the industry. That is the highest percentage of sales in that category of any county, Mr. Otteau said; Morris and Hudson counties each had only 3.3 percent of total sales in that niche.

In the few towns where sales price averages about $1 million — Saddle River, for instance — values have increased by 2.5 percent this year while prices continued to decline statewide, the analyst said.

Affluent towns also have few foreclosures in process, and prices won’t be affected when the state’s big backlog of foreclosed properties eventually hits the market, Mr. Otteau noted.

Still, he suggested, a niche is just a niche: “The phenomenon of ultraluxury, 4,000-to-5,000-square-foot ‘downsizers’ selling well is particular to only a very few communities in northern New Jersey.”

Mr. Pasquale, who worked with several large development firms before starting his own consulting business, said he thought the wealthiest buyers were leading the pack on the way to overall market recovery.

“Many of these buyers are savvy entrepreneurs with strong connections to the financial markets,” he said. “I think they are leaders in buyer sentiment.”

This entry was posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, North Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

106 Responses to The land where unicorns roam

  1. speedkillsu says:

    Foist ………..

  2. Mike says:

    Good Morning New Jersey

  3. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Morning, Mike

  4. serenity now says:

    Apparently you guys who keep saying real estate is dead do not know
    what you are talking about…….. all is well. By the way my unicorn has
    zebra stripes!!!

  5. Dee says:

    I saw a similar development (assuming) beginning in Woodcliff Lake yesterday.

  6. Feh. You can probably find mega-rich enclaves like this selling like hotcakes in Argentina right now, as well.

    That developer in Montvale should get ahead of the curve and install machine gun turrets and broken glass-encrusted security walls.

  7. Got physical?

    “That paper gold, in the form of electronic ones and zeros, typically used by various gold ETFs, or anything really that is a stock certificate owned by the ubiquitous Cede & Co (read about the DTCC here), is in a worst case scenario immediately null and void as it is, as noted, nothing but ones and zeros on some hard disk that can be formatted with a keystroke, has long been known, and has been the reason why the so called gold bugs have always advocated keeping ultimate wealth safeguards away from any form of counterparty risk. Which in our day and age of infinite monetary interconnections, means virtually every financial entity. After all, just ask Gerald Celente what happened to his so-called gold held at MF Global, or as it is better known now: “General Unsecured Claim”, which may or may not receive a pennies on the dollar equitable treatment post liquidation. What, however, was less known is that physical gold in the hands of the very same insolvent financial syndicate of daisy-chained underfunded organizations, where the premature (or overdue) end of one now means the end of all, is also just as unsafe, if not more. Which is why we read with great distress a just broken story by Bloomberg according to which HSBC, that other great gold “depository” after JP Morgan (and the custodian of none other than GLD) is suing MG Global “to establish whether he or another person is the rightful owner of gold worth about $850,000 and silver bars underlying contracts between the brokerage and a client.” The notional amount is irrelevant: it could have been $0.01 or $1 trillion: what is very much relevant however, is whether or not MF Global was rehypothecating (there is that word again), or lending, or repoing, or whatever you want to call it, that one physical asset that it should not have been transferring ownership rights to under any circumstances. Essentially, this is at the heart of the whole commingling situation: was MF Global using rehypothecated client gold to satisfy liabilities? The thought alone should send shivers up the spine of all those gold “bugs” who have been warning about precisely this for years. Because the implications could be staggering.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/gold-rehypotecation-unwind-begins-hsbc-sues-mf-global-over-disputed-ownership-physical-gold

  8. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Grim,

    Overtones of nompounding there.

  9. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (7) meat,

    I know you are no fan of paper but GLD is good for traders, and when it comes to shiny, I prefer to trade for now. And my gains go into hard assets that would be easily tradeable in a barter-subsistence economy, perhaps more easily than gold. And unlike gold, they have uses beyond store of value.

    As for taxes, I run trades thru my daughters’ accounts to get their tax rate, pre-kiddie tax threshold. And I may give my older one a job emptying wastebaskets so she can use IRAs to shelter additional income. Later, in a no gain year, she can convert them to Roths

  10. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Damn. Toon fails to clear and Norwich up a goal in an ugly one with the yellow cards flying.

  11. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Damn again. WTF was Gosling thinking?

  12. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    And now he’s gone. Red card. Oh well, hopefully the Gooners collapse.

  13. dan in debt says:

    Why aren’t these being built in River Edge?

  14. Plume (9)-

    Just make sure your kiddies aren’t knee-deep in GLD the day JP Morgue, DB, the Goldman Sack and the entire jury-rigged short of PMs goes up in smoke.

    ‘Cause we all know that day will come.

  15. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (14) meat,

    That’s the idea. Take gains when gld is frothy and hope the obamunists don’t try to claw it all back.

    I’m not adverse to physical though.

  16. Anon E. Moose says:

    Meat;

    Lookers look. Buyers buy.

    You say that like sellers and their flacks have no influence on the process.

  17. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    You know Obama is concerned about the center when he attends the Army-Navy game. Has he ever attended before?

  18. ivlideta says:

    Buy health and beauty products online from the UKs most popular chemist, Boots.- How much pill dos – [url=http://rxmdusa.com/cialies/female-cialies.html]unless female cialies[/url] -sequoia medical center concord california

  19. Mike says:

    Good Morning Again New Jersey

  20. cobbler says:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/opinion/sunday/on-the-middle-class-lessons-from-latin-america.html

    IN a Bertelsmann Foundation study on social justice released this fall, the United States came in dead last among the rich countries, with only Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey faring worse. Whether in poverty prevention, child poverty, income inequality or health ratings, the United States ranked below countries like Spain and South Korea, not to mention Japan, Germany or France.

    It was another sign of how badly Americans are hurting their middle class. Wars, famine and violence have devastated middle classes before, in Germany and Japan, Russia and Eastern Europe. But when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, a social structure roughly similar to what existed before would always resurface.

    No nation has ever lost an existing middle class, and the United States is not in danger of that yet. But the percentage of national income held by the top 1 percent of Americans went from about 10 percent in 1980 to 24 percent in 2007, and that is a worrisome signal.

    So before the United States continues on its current road of dismantling its version of the welfare state, of shredding its social safety net, of expanding the gap between rich and poor, Americans might do well to glance south. The lesson is that even after a large middle class emerges, yawning inequities between rich and poor severely strain any society’s cohesion and harmony.

    The United States has never had the type of robust welfare state that Europeans built after World War II. It didn’t need that. Through private initiative and efforts to equalize opportunity, Americans long ago ensured that a huge middle class would provide the social glue to hold their society together.

    If that middle class withers, what might America look like? Well, what Latin America used to be, and in some ways still struggles to stop being.

    So here are two questions: Does the United States really want to look like what Latin America was? And is there a lesson to be learned from its neighbors to the south — that once inequality becomes entrenched, reversing it becomes incredibly difficult?

    The statistical measures of inequality known as Gini coefficients have begun to fall slightly in Latin America, but remain the highest in the world, with the wealthiest 1 percent, 5 percent or 10 percent of the population controlling incredibly high shares of total wealth or income. In Brazil, Chile and Mexico, which together account for nearly 70 percent of the region’s G.D.P. and population, the wealthiest 10 percent held an average of 42 percent of national income in 2008-9; the equivalent figure for the United States was 29 percent.

    This is why hundreds of thousands of Chilean students have brought their country’s government to a virtual standstill this year, even though Chile is the most successful Latin nation by any economic or social standard. It is why Colombia, Brazil and Mexico have murder or kidnapping rates far higher than those of the richer nations, which are, despite their wealth, less unequal.

    And yet, as all of this is occurring, the United States — that epitome of the middle-class society, of the egalitarian dream that pulled millions of immigrants away from Latin America — has begun to go Latin American. It is in a process of structural middle-class shrinkage and inequality expansion that has perhaps never occurred anywhere else (again, possibly excepting Argentina).

    WHICH leads to a question for the United States: why would you allow that to happen, when we in Latin America can show you how difficult it is to achieve the kind of exemplary middle class that you invented in the first place, and that gave you such economic power and social cohesion — at least since the 1920s? Especially when we all know its existence is crucial to preserving some of the best traits of your own national character.

  21. scribe says:

    Good morning, Mike …you beat me to it. :)

  22. moose (16)-

    You’re an idiot.

    Disclose, or shut up.

  23. Anon E. Moose says:

    The developments are not age-restricted, but they were specifically designed to appeal to an “affluent baby boomer niche,”

    The Locust Generation.

  24. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Was watching a very good CNN panel on the state of our society. On the subject of social justice and our unfulfilled expectations as a middle class, Deepak Chopra said “moral self righteousness is jealousy with a halo.”

  25. Deepak Chopra can kiss my white ass.

  26. evildoc says:

    Uh oh. They used that word again…. savvy.

    Bubble 2.0 should end well ;)

  27. Mike says:

    Dinner at Garlic Rose last night and I’m still wreaking

  28. Shore Guy says:

    A quick break from the salt mine:

    Nom,

    Have you seen this?

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204319004577086441475822300.html

  29. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [29] shore

    I hadn’t, thanks. Of interest is that Bryan Skarlatos, and not his boss, Bob Fink, is getting a lot of press time. Both of them co-taught my Penalties and Prosecutions course at NYU Law when I was getting my LL.M. in tax.

  30. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Now back to the salt mine for me. In fact, it has been my busiest week of the year.

  31. NjescaPee says:

    Looking more and more like a police state in the contiguos 48. Glad I’m here At the end of the road.

  32. NjescaPee says:

    Trimming palm trees today.

  33. timlithoudam says:

    We pride ourselves in being able to bring you How is pills – [url=http://rxmdusa.com/nizagara/buy-online-nizagara.html]look buy online nizagara[/url] uae medical insurance company!

  34. Shore Guy says:

    Unicorn with bearnaise sauce, yum.

  35. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (36) shore

    And if you do open pit roasting on the spit, the horn will hold vegetables nicely.

  36. JJ says:

    Back from Europe. Visited Germany and Luxemburg and pretty much entire trip can be summed up in one sentence. “We no longer have saucers”. One company I visited with executive cars, artwork on walls, brand new state of the art building during bonus week and was treated to a wonderful expensive french dinner I was chatting about cuts as a result of the financial crisis while being handed a wonderful free cup of gourmet coffee with a nice teaspoon in a real glass cup from one of the many many coffee stations that all use real cups and spoons that are free to all employees. The response was yes there were cuts for instance we no longer have saucers to go with our tea cups to save on the cost of washing them. That is a cut? OMG The europeans need to do some real cuts.

  37. JJ says:

    BTW I have been to the two largest gold vaults in NYC. Both are located two levels below street level in bedrock, armed with multiple cameras and guards have cameras on them from an unknown location. To get to gold you have to steal it during business hours with a fork lift as once vault is locked down no way in as it is bedrock. They both have motion dectectors, heat sensors, weight sensors on floor. Both have no stairs leading down and only one elevator. The guards manual states if someone reaches gold it is assumed they killed the guards upstairs, disabled alarms, over road elevator, killed guard at elevator exit which leaves them headed towards last guard. That last guard is to assume trained terroists or killers who have already killed other guards and wearing bullet proof vests are headed his way and it is STK HSO only, Shoot to Kill Head Shot only. Ok terroists shoot him first into vault. Now vault which goes in to overide mode, lock thiefs in and either suck out oxygen or pump in halone gas your choice. Ok thieves have gas masks and get out of vault again with tons and tons of gold, all exits are locked except for one which leads them to dead end which once again a guard is manned with STK HSO, ok they survive that now off to load a massive truck with tons of gold either by Bryant Park or Water Street in broad daylight. Ok STKHSO while loading truck, ok you don’t get shot. BTW NYCPD has prearranged sniper points, once again STK HSO, ok you make it into truck. Plan is to let truck leave NYC and follow, which every way it goes there is a planned tire stips, block road stop truck kill point where it is safe from killing inocent people and at that point you have one hundred cops and snipers which final STK HSO. I asked the guards why do you show your plan well the fact is everything ends with STK HSO pretty much means no body is executing plan. We also have cameras that read plates and facial recognition software that warns us if a felon or criminal is approaching and barbwire. And bullet proof man traps and panic buttons everywhere. No one is stealing the gold. Those guards are also ex FBI, CIA, Secret Service, NYPD, Military. A 60 year old retired FBI agent who did two tours in Vietnam will shoot you in the head as easy as you drink a cup of coffee. In fact the Fed Reserve Vault has never had any gold stolen in the histort of the vault including all the shipments in and out they make. And I did not even cover the dogs and AK47’s out on street or homeland security. Just internal secutity

  38. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    JJ

    That gold just got a lot cheaper. May have to buy this dip.

    And the futures are getting crushed. The market must have read your saucer post.

  39. Juice Box says:

    JJ – the modern Fed is run out of a facility on Rt 17 in East Rutherford NJ. They process a billion checks annually and it is the location of the Fed Wire RTGS system. It also has the largest cash vault in the world with 60 billion stored in a three story high automated currency vault, no people allowed in except for perhaps maintenance on the robots that move the pallet system. No Gold there, as Bernake said it is a relic or tradition.

  40. yo says:

    Why Is Anyone Asking Why We Don’t Have Enough Jobs?
    Friday, 09 December 2011 17:52
    If we see a car that runs into a brick wall at 80 miles an hour, we don’t ask why its front end is messed up. In this same vein, why on earth would be looking for a reason for a lack of jobs in an economy that has a gap of close to $1 trillion a year in annual demand.

    This is what Robert Atkinson does in a column in the Huffington Post. If we take him at face value, Atkinson is actually confused about the reason that the economy is lacking jobs. He must have missed the housing bubble and its collapse.

    See, the housing bubble was directly creating hundreds of billions of dollars of annual demand by spurring record levels of construction. The housing wealth effect also generated close to $500 billion in annual consumption through the housing wealth effect. The bubble generated more than $8 trillion in additional equity, almost all of which has now disappeared.

    After the bubble collapsed, housing fell from more than 6 percent of GDP to less than 2 percent of GDP, a loss in annual demand of more than $600 billion. The loss of housing wealth, coupled with the loss of close to $5 trillion in stock wealth, led to a falloff in annual consumption of close to $500 billion. Lost tax revenue also led to cutbacks in annual government spending at the state and local level of close to $100 billion.

    In short, we have lost more than $1.2 trillion in annual demand. The stimulus package came to around $300 billion. Guess what, $1.2 trillion is much more than $300 billion.

    The long and short is that the economy is operating way below its potential because there is nothing to replace the gap in demand created by the collapse of the housing bubble. The lack of demand means a shortage of jobs and high unemployment. There is nothing mysterious about this picture, it is about as simple and straightforward as it gets.

    I suppose, in this weak economy that it is good people can get jobs looking for solutions to mysteries that do not exist. (Make work jobs can make sense if there is no productive employment available.) But there is no reason that the rest of us should be bothered by solutions for non-existent problems.

    [btw, the fact that the stimulus was too small is not 20/20 hindsight, it is what those of us who know economics said at the time.]

    Dean Baker

  41. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    This is a tax debate that has existed for a very long time. So far, a wealth tax has never gotten any traction, and the practice described in the article will only be more pronounced as the uber wealthy further cut their earned income and rely on unearned income.

    If (really, when) a wealth tax starts to get traction, this is the one factor I believe will cause massive capital flight, preceded by a lot of levering up.

    http://www.npr.org/2011/12/10/143508437/just-what-do-the-rich-have-thats-taxable

  42. Juice Box says:

    re: #41 yo – Output Gap Trap

    Just wait untill the FED begins to target nominal G.D.P. inflation.

    Worst part is if they do nominal wages cannot rise with an output gap stuck around 7%. Due to rising inflation wages are falling rapidly in real terms. The only sector with wage inflation that is keeping up with goods price inflation is in the manufacturing and mining industries. Manufacturing and mining you say? Who works there anymore?

    The Drum beats loudly for the FED to target nominal GDP inflation, Obama’s inner circle of advisers want it and so do the banksters.

    Screw the middle class no matter who gets in come November.

  43. Shore Guy says:

    “the horn will hold vegetables nicely.”

    Nice touch. I will try that at Christmas.

  44. Shore Guy says:

    “Screw the middle class no matter who gets in come November.”

    See guys, we have only gotten what we wanted in high school, to be continually scr-ewed.

  45. JJ says:

    Funny story back in college I did a Fed Bank run for Mastercard as driver and back up driver was out sick. Drove van full of checks and cash to Fed facility and the guards meeting me with guns and everything. Funny stuff a 20 year old with fast food wrappers in truck by himself pulling up. But when overnight rates were 8% and midnight was deadline to deposit it was me or nothing. All for five bucks an hour.

    Juice Box says:
    December 12, 2011 at 9:33 am
    JJ – the modern Fed is run out of a facility on Rt 17 in East Rutherford NJ. They process a billion checks annually and it is the location of the Fed Wire RTGS system. It also has the largest cash vault in the world with 60 billion stored in a three story high automated currency vault, no people allowed in except for perhaps maintenance on the robots that move the pallet system. No Gold there, as Bernake said it is a relic or tradition.

  46. yo says:

    For as long as the middle class have money to spent capital will never leave this country.It was always the middleclass the foreign and domestic business are after.Kill the hand that feeds you then it is a different story.There were always more billionaires in this country than any where else in the world because of the middle class.We are always a consumer country.

  47. Juice Box says:

    yo – mining is 1% and manufacturing is 10% of the workforce, they are the only middle class beating inflation right now and it is only by 2%. All other sectors are suffering from a wage-price spiral.

    Bernake tolerates inflation in goods prices well above its desired level of 2% and the FED will continue to maintain ZIRP and buy across the yield curve to preserve what’s left of the housing market, and wages for most middle class working americans will fall in real terms.

    What happens to the middle when Bernake’s 2% target becomes 9% which is what they desire…

  48. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [47] Yo,

    True, but how much capital supports and relies on the US middle class? Further, it is likely that a lot of capital that leaves still supports business in the U.S. It will be that a lot of names that were once domestic will become foreign-owned. So instead of Chevron stations, you go to Total stations. Indeed, this is rapidly becoming the case due to asymmetries in our tax system versus the territorial tax systems of other nations, notably our tax treaty partners.

    Remember, it doesn’t take a lot of capital going offshore to have a pronounced effect, and in the case of domestic ownership becoming foreign ownership, that pronounced effect is attenuated by time but like compound interest, it will erode our country’s wealth.

    I’m not rich, but I understand that we kill the golden goose at our peril. This is something that many nonrich on the right understand, and it befuddles the left that the nonrich right still exists. This is because the lefties haven’t made this connection between jobs and keeping productive capital at home. Their response is to rattle the sabers of redistribution, but this version of the Red Guards won’t find lands and factories to seize, but will find debt and a vapor trail from the wire transfers offshore.

  49. gary says:

    Giants 37 – Cowboys 34

    Any Questions?

  50. yo says:

    Any business that wants to do business in the US will be tax in the US foreign or domestic.Some gets tax breaks.It does not matter if taxes are not corporate friendly,this gets passed on.Capital will flow in if they can make money.Cash staying in the country is a different story.

  51. yo says:

    Capital will always flow where the investor can make money.Taxes is the last thing they will worry about.By that time they figure a loop hole

  52. Double Down says:

    RE: gold robbery

    JJ never watched “Die Hard with a Vengeance.”

  53. freedy says:

    The Giants will fold like a cheap suit.

  54. The Original NJ Expat says:

    Funny story back in college I did a Fed Bank run for Mastercard as driver and back up driver was out sick. Drove van full of checks and cash to Fed facility and the guards meeting me with guns and everything. Funny stuff a 20 year old with fast food wrappers in truck by himself pulling up. But when overnight rates were 8% and midnight was deadline to deposit it was me or nothing. All for five bucks an hour.

    Those were good jobs for a college student. One summer, 1980 I believe, I was a “bonded messenger” for Ayerst Labs in South Plainfield, NJ. Bonded Messenger = Kid who works in the mail room, does van runs back and forth to post office, and most importantly, drives to NYC to pick up payroll checks from HQ every Thursday. I thought it was the best job I ever had, doing burnouts in brand new V8 Chevy van with A/C. Push the mail cart around the A/C office and talk to pretty girls. Hang out with the black guys who were full time in the mail room. Being a student with a paid off car and rent share of $80/month in my off campus Rutgers apartment I thought I was king of the world when I got my $160 pay check every Thursday and put down the roof of my Fiat Spider and drove off into the setting sun. I actually entertained the idea of not going back to school in September because I couldn’t imagine life getting any better than that.

  55. chicagofinance says:

    gary says:
    December 12, 2011 at 11:08 am
    Giants 37 – Cowboys 34

    Any Questions?

    FUKING JETS!

  56. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [50] Gary

    I don’t know if that says a lot about the Giants or very little about the Boys.

    My fervent hope is that both NY teams go down in flames. Especially insofar as I cannot see my Patriots advancing to the AFC title game, and even if they do, I cannot see them winning it. We have waayyyyy too many holes in what is left of the defense. We have some guys playing both ways, and have so for several games. No way we limp through the playoffs in that condition.

    In short, if we can’t win the Lombardi Trophy, I don’t want to see it going to NYC.

  57. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Like rats deserting a sinking ship . . . .

    I just got my annual law firm alumni newsletter, and I saw that the partner I used to work for (and hated with a white-hot passion), who had jumped ship to BofA in 2004, has jumped again and landed in the banking group of a BIGLAW firm in NYC.

    Damn. And I was beginning to believe in karma.

  58. JJ says:

    Well Jets and Giants both will not go down, that Jets Giants game in Christmas eve however will be a huge flame out for one of them.

    Oddly Jets share revenue in new stadium so Jet fans have to root for Giants in any game the Jets are not playing them as if they don’t do well we may end up covering short fall in revenue and vice versa.

  59. chicagofinance says:

    December 9, 2011 at 4:01 pm
    My brush with greatness…..I got to use the urinal next to Peter Schiff.

    My brush with greatness #2
    I was in Whole Foods on Saturday down by us and my son was running around. He turned the corner and ran into Peter Criss’s leg, who was standing over a barrel holding a full scoop of coffee beans. The Catman was rather gracious about it.

  60. Anon E. Moose says:

    Expat [55];

    I actually entertained the idea of not going back to school in September because I couldn’t imagine life getting any better than that.

    Not sure exactly how it worked out for you, but for those of us still here in NJ it hasn’t. ;-)

  61. chicagofinance says:

    JJ: Jets need to win Giants game. If Jints beat Skins this week, then Jet game is meaningless to Jints.

    JJ says:
    December 12, 2011 at 12:22 pm
    Well Jets and Giants both will not go down, that Jets Giants game in Christmas eve however will be a huge flame out for one of them.

    Oddly Jets share revenue in new stadium so Jet fans have to root for Giants in any game the Jets are not playing them as if they don’t do well we may end up covering short fall in revenue and vice versa.

  62. JJ says:

    Chifi are you on BAC conf call right now. Talking Trups. Claims they had 40 billion outstanding and after this “voluntary” offer will have 35 billion. Plan on doing a lot more trup offers. I consented and did not offer up bonds but I have a feeling they will jam me down the road. What do you think? Good call so far.

  63. Shore Guy says:

    This is too good, in a road kill sort of way, to edit. So, read it and cringe:

    Hi Lauren,

    I’m disappointed in you. I’m disappointed that I haven’t gotten a response to my voicemail and text messages. FYI, I suggest that you keep in mind that emails sound more impersonal, harsher, and are easier to misinterpret than in-person or phone communication. After all, people can’t see someone’s body language or tone of voice in an email. I’m not trying to be harsh, patronizing, or insulting in this email. I’m honest and direct by nature, and I’m going to be that way in this email. By the way, I did a google search, so that’s how I came across your email.

    I assume that you no longer want to go out with me. (If you do want to go out with me, then you should let me know.) I suggest that you make a sincere apology to me for giving me mixed signals. I feel led on by you.

    Things that happened during our date include, but are not limited to, the following:

    -You played with your hair a lot. A woman playing with her hair is a common sign of flirtation. You can even do a google search on it. When a woman plays with her hair, she is preening. I’ve never had a date where a woman played with her hair as much as you did. In addition, it didn’t look like you were playing with your hair out of nervousness.

    -We had lots of eye contact during our date. On a per-minute basis, I’ve never had as much eye contact during a date as I did with you.

    -You said, “It was nice to meet you.” at the end of our date. A woman could say this statement as a way to show that she isn’t interested in seeing a man again or she could mean what she said–that it was nice to meet you. The statement, by itself, is inconclusive.

    -We had a nice conversation over dinner. I don’t think I’m being delusional in saying this statement.

    In my opinion, leading someone on (i.e., giving mixed signals) is impolite and immature. It’s bad to do that.

    Normally, I would not be asking for information if a woman and I don’t go out again after a first date. However, in our case, I’m curious because I think our date went well and that there is a lot of potential for a serious relationship. Of course, it’s difficult to predict what would happen, but I think there is a lot of potential for a serious relationship developing between us one day (or least there was before your non-response to my voicemail and text messages).

    I think we should go out on a second date. In my opinion, our first date was good enough to lead to a second date.

    Why am I writing you? Well, hopefully, we will go out again. Even if we don’t, I gain utility from expressing my thoughts to you. In addition, even if you don’t want to go out again, I would like to get feedback as to why you wouldn’t want to go again. Normally, I wouldn’t ask a woman for this type of feedback after a first date, but this is an exception given I think we have a lot of potential.

    If you don’t want to go again, then apparently you didn’t think our first date was good enough to lead to a second date. Dating or a relationship is not a Hollywood movie. It’s good to keep that in mind. In general, I thought the date went well and was expecting that we would go out on a second date.

    If you’re not interested in going out again, then I would have preferred if you hadn’t given those mixed signals. I feel led on. We have a number of things in common. I’ll name a few things: First, we’ve both very intelligent. Second, we both like classical music so much that we go to classical music performances by ourselves. In fact, the number one interest that I would want to have in common with a woman with whom I’m in a relationship is a liking of classical music. I wouldn’t be seriously involved with a woman if she didn’t like classical music. You said that you’re planning to go the NY Philharmonic more often in the future.

    As I said, I go to the NY Philharmonic often. You’re very busy. It would be very convenient for you to date me because we have the same interests. We already go to classical music performances by ourselves. If we go to classical music performances together, it wouldn’t take any significant additional time on your part. According to the internet, you’re 33 or 32, so, at least from my point of view, we’re a good match in terms of age. I could name more things that we have in common, but I’ll stop here. I don’t understand why you apparently don’t want to go out with me again. We have numerous things in common. I assume that you find me physically attractive. If you didn’t find me physically attractive, then it would have been irrational for you to go out with me in the first place. After all, our first date was not a blind date. You already knew what I looked like before our date. Perhaps, you’re unimpressed that I manage my family’s investments and my own investments. Perhaps, you don’t think I have a “real” job. Well, I’ve done very well as an investment manager. I’ve made my parents several millions of dollars.

    That’s real money. That’s not monopoly money. In my opinion, if I make real money, it’s a real job. Donald Trump’s children work for his company. Do they have “real” jobs? I think so. George Soros’s sons help manage their family investments. Do they have “real” jobs? I think so. In addition, I’m both a right-brain and left-brain man, given that I’m both an investment manager and a philosopher/writer. That’s a unique characteristic; most people aren’t like that. I’ve never been as disappointed and sad about having difficulty about getting a second date as I am with you. I’ve gone out with a lot of women in my life. (FYI, I’m not a serial dater. Sometimes, I’ve only gone out with a woman for one date.) People don’t grow on trees. I hope you appreciate the potential we have.

    Am I sensitive person? Sure, I am. I think it’s better to be sensitive than to be insensitive. There are too many impolite, insensitive people in the world.

    I suggest that we continue to go out and see what happens. Needless to say, I find you less appealing now (given that you haven’t returned my messages) than I did at our first date. However, I would be willing to go out with you again. I’m open minded and flexible and am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. I wish you would give me the benefit of the doubt too. If you don’t want to go out again, in my opinion, you would be making a big mistake, perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in your life. If you don’t want to go out again, then you should have called to tell me so. Even sending a text message would have been better than nothing. In my opinion, not responding to my messages is impolite, immature, passive aggressive, and cowardly. I spent time, effort, and money meeting you for dinner. Getting back to me in response to my messages would have been a reasonable thing for you to do. In addition, you arrived about 30 minutes late for our date. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if a man showed up thirty minutes late for a first date with you.

    If you’re concerned that you will hurt my feelings by providing specific information about why you don’t want to go with me again, well, my feeling are already hurt. I’m sad and disappointed about this situation. If you give information, at least I can understand the situation better. I might even learn something that is beneficial.

    If you don’t want to go out again, that I request that you call me and make a sincere apology for leading me on (i.e., giving me mixed signals). In my opinion, you shouldn’t act that way toward a man and then not go out with him again. It’s bad to play with your hair so much and make so much eye contact if you’re not interested in going out with me again. I have tried to write this email well, but it’s not perfect. Again, I’m not trying to be harsh, insulting, patronizing, etc. I’m disappointed, sad, etc. I would like to talk to you on the phone. I hope you will call me back at xxx-xxx-xxxx> (if it’s inconvenient for you to talk on the phone when you read this email, you can let me know via email that you are willing to talk on the phone and I’ll call you). If you get my voicemail, you can a leave a message and I can call you back. Even if you don’t want to go out again, I would appreciate it if you give me the courtesy of calling me and talking to me. Yes, you might say things that hurt me, but my feelings are already hurt. Sending me an email response (instead of talking on the phone) would better than no response at all, but I think it would be better to talk on the phone. Email communication has too much potential for misinterpretation, etc.

    Best, Mike

    http://thestir.cafemom.com/love_sex/129871/this_is_officially_the_worst

  64. Shore Guy says:

    Ladies, I hear this fine lad “Mike” still may be available in the dating pool. Don’t miss your chance; finally, a guy who likes to communicate and share his feelings.

  65. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [64] Shore

    Yikes. Talk about a slow motion train wreck. I’m no sociopathologist (is there such a thing?), but he sounds a lot like the jr. tax partner I used to work for at my last law firm.

    In the future, I predict that the most romantic thing he will hear after sex is “this one’s on the house.”

  66. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [65] shore

    “Ladies, I hear this fine lad “Mike” still may be available in the dating pool. Don’t miss your chance; finally, a guy who likes to communicate and share his feelings.”

    Date now or be priced out forever?

  67. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [64] shore

    “(FYI, I’m not a serial dater. Sometimes, I’ve only gone out with a woman for one date.)”

    Sometimes???????????????

  68. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Okay, “mike” the closet misogynist is depressing the hell out of me. Off to the gym.

  69. chicagofinance says:

    Lauren is going to be found in a dumpster. If I were Lauren, I would have my father contact this guy to tell him to fcuk off…..there is no telling what direction this could go…..

    I would bet Aspergers or Schizotypal…….

  70. freedy says:

    Hello, It’s now starting . Just spoke to a friend who’s kid has now has the degree.

    Student loan payment is 800 per month. Kid is making 60k,, do the math with
    the rent ,car payment, a few drinks on friday night . Sad ,

  71. Juice Box says:

    re # 64- Shore – if he was dating strippers instead of women who go to the NY Philharmonic, he would at least got something for his money namely experience.

  72. yo says:

    This guy Tebow is starting to make me believe in the power of prayer.

  73. Dan in debt says:

    Double Down,

    I think Clot is building that tunnel when’s he not writing here.

    Dan

  74. JJ says:

    I will give you some good dating advice. Always say I love you on the first date. Did not figure this out till my late 20’s. Girls like to hear it before they do it with you, girls like to hear it if they consider you their bf, girls ask girls if their BF said it yet and it the BF did not they get harrassed. My technique is sadly simple. Wait till girl does something nice and throw it in such as girl pays for round of drinks out of blue on first date, look at them and jokingly go Wow I love you, click the drinks and move on. Then throw it in now and then and you are set. The wait ten dates and girl throws down ulitmatium and awardness is ugly. Towards end I generally said it before I got their number, usually in the first five minutes. Example met girl who told me she had a few tall boys in car before coming into club as drinks are expensive inside and she always does that. I love you was response. Now for the only downside, apparantly girls for some reason think you must take them out on valentines day if you love them. I was unable to juggle that one year and lost two of my three girlfriends. A sad day indeed.

    BTW Tebow will suck next year and we will be calling him TEBLOW.

  75. gary says:

    Giants have to beat Dallas on New Year’s day and either the Jets or the Redskins. It was beautiful to watch the reaction of plastic face Jerrah Jones when that kick was blocked. And not for nothing, I hate the Ryan twins. Hate!! And I enjoy watching the Pats… when they’re not playing the Giants! ;)

  76. JJ says:

    WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Data on sales of existing homes from 2007 onward will be downwardly revised, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. The adjustment will be announced during the next release of existing-home sales data on Dec. 21. The NAR said while total sales will be downwardly revised, there is little change to previously reported monthly comparisons, no change to relative month’s supply and no change to median house prices. The NAR said the “up-drift in sales projections developed over time between the fixed model for calculating sales rates and the actual marketplace, including growth in multiple listing service coverage areas, geographic population shifts, a decline in for-sale-by-owner transactions, some new-home sales trickling into MLS data and some individual sales being recorded in more than one MLS.”

  77. gary says:

    There’s nothing to the this Tebow thing. It’ll pass, he’ll be exposed due to his limitations and it’ll all be history. It’s a marketing thing right now… we all know it. If Marion Barber falls down in bounds, it would’ve been over by now.

  78. Libtard in Union says:

    “Giants 37 – Cowboys 34

    Any Questions?”

    Yes, just two. How did Big Blue lose to Seattle? And while you are at it, how did Big Blue lose to Washington?

  79. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Only in America:

    “A California woman who won’t face felony charges for pepper spraying Black Friday Walmart shoppers is considering a lawsuit claiming that the national retailer didn’t provide enough security for the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree.

    Elizabeth Macias, 32, said she fired the stinging spray after shoppers attacked her two teenage children as they tried to obtain X-Box video game consoles for purchase, attorney Michael Champ, Macias’ lawyer, told CBS News’ Los Angeles station KCBS Friday. . . .”

    Gives new meaning to getting a black friday deal.

  80. gary says:

    Stu,

    Washington’s got a tough defense and Seattle beat the 10 and 3 Ravens a few weeks ago as well as the Eagles. It’s why they play the games. :) This week alone, seven games came down to the last play of the game. I guess it’s called parity.

  81. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [73] yo,

    Factor in Tebow, altitude, and a shaky patchwork defense, and I am not holding out much hope for my Pats on Sunday in Denver. Home field is likely out (Baltimore should win out) and the bye is shaky as Houston could also win out.

  82. gary says:

    Nom [83],

    When the Pats are up 34 – 17 midway through the 4th qtr., Tebow ain’t doing jack sh1t. Period.

  83. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [84] Gary

    From your fingers to God’s ear. One hopes, but I see a lot of exploitable weaknesses in our D.

  84. Commanderbobnj says:

    40.Juice Box says:
    December 12, 2011 at 9:33 am
    JJ – the modern Fed is run out of a facility on Rt 17 in East Rutherford NJ. They process a billion checks annually and it is the location of the Fed Wire RTGS system. It also has the largest …..etc

    Commanderbob sez:
    I was at this facility six years ago to do a contractor estimate on pipe covering for their central AC system’s evaporator on the building’s roof. After a complete Federal criminal checkout at the entrance by the armed guards , I was brought up to the roof by the building’s director of maintence and one Fed cop. Camera’s were everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE !~
    I bid on the job, It was OK’d by the ‘powers-that-be’, but I turned it down. I did not feel comfortable being in nor working in such a place !

  85. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    How’s this for irony?

    I have a friend from DC (fellow alumnus) who has been ekeing out a living by doing god knows what for years now after losing his jobs and returning to bum off of friends and family in New England. He is also a hard core “progressive” and OWS supporter. He knows my politics and we agree to disagree.

    He wants to move in with his girlfriend and calls me up the other day to try to “borrow” $500 to cover moving costs and deposit. Ever persistent, he kept dropping the amount. I’m tempted to give him a fraction of it to see how long it takes him to go from deadbeating to simply declaring that it was rightfully his in the first place.

    Or not.

  86. gary says:

    Nom,

    The Pats Dee is weak like the Giants Dee but Tim Tebow cannot put up sick numbers like Brady even with divine intervention.

  87. Confused in NJ says:

    Americans give Congress lowest ethics rating in Gallup history
    By Rachel Rose Hartman

    A record 64 percent of American adults surveyed by Gallup in a poll released Monday rated the honesty and ethical standards for members of Congress as “low” or “very low.” Those numbers mark the lowest rating that Gallup has measured for any profession since it began polling the question in 1976.

    The 64 percent rating ties members of Congress with the 64 percent low rating that lobbyists received in Gallup’s 2008 survey.

  88. Libtard in Union says:

    Yeah Gary,

    But Tebow doesn’t need a big O or a big D, since the big JC has his back.

  89. JJ says:

    Tebow may be Gods QB but Richard Todd is God

    gary says:
    December 12, 2011 at 2:31 pm
    Nom [83],

    When the Pats are up 34 – 17 midway through the 4th qtr., Tebow ain’t doing jack sh1t. Period.

  90. joyteconsi says:

    Pharmacists are no longer the last line of defense against medication errors; consumers are. – How to – – [url=http://cheap.gnplls.info/livitra/livitra-order-online.html]their livitra order online[/url] – medical care development agusta!!!

  91. Juice Box says:

    What’s the emergency? Easy: YOU LIVE IN NEW JERSEY

    From CNN.

    At 12:26p today, an alert was issued by the National Emergency Alert System and received on the mobile handsets of thousands of residents in New Jersey.

    Those affected, mostly in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, New Jersey, received the message via their mobile handsets and were instructed to “seek shelter immediately” due to the “extreme threat to life”. This alert was received by consumers across all major cellular carriers in the Monmouth County area.

    While no actual emergency appears to have occurred requiring residents to seek immediate shelter, residents of Monmouth and Ocean counties were left panic-stricken and in a state of shock and confusion.

  92. AG says:

    93.

    Juice,

    Preprogramming.

  93. NjescaPee says:

    Hi Al, we’re about to buy some silver coins for our grandson as Christmas gifts. Should we hold off or go for it. Thanks!

  94. chicagofinance says:

    chicagofinance says:
    December 9, 2011 at 4:37 pm
    The highlight of yesterday was near the end of Mark Faber’s speech and he was running out of time. He put up a map of the entire Middle East/Northern Africa and he was told he only could say as few summary comments. “In short, just assume this entire thing will go down in flames.”

    SLIDE 29
    http://www.indexuniverse.com/docs/presentation2011/4thannualconference/MarcFaberLuncheonKeynote.pdf

  95. Neanderthal Economist says:

    Holy shyte shore, 64 is like a jj post.

  96. AG says:

    95,

    I would go for it. Good choice I might add.

  97. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    This makes sense . . .

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45645743

    I mean, if Canada has us on the defensive, why wouldn’t they continue the press? Going to the right while we are going to the left is smart politics for a conservative government that can better position itself for poaching american employers, and thus american jobs. And dumping Kyoto when no one else of significance is adopting or enforcing it also makes sense.

    Bad for us, good for them.

  98. jj (38)-

    Maybe they guard this stuff with such fail/safe/overkill redundancy, because the contents of that vault are actually tungsten bars, spray-painted gold.

  99. plume (39)-

    BTFD. However, the biggest dip will come when everybody is liquidating gold to meet margin calls.

    This WILL happen.

  100. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (101) fabius,

    I don’t even have to finish the base post. You and the writer conflate avoidance with evasion. Evasion is a crime, avoidance isn’t.

    That’s why the liberal call for dealing with such “evasion” is for higher rates and not better enforcement.

  101. I’m not for evasion or avoidance. Why go to all that trouble when you can mail a simple package bomb to your local, friendly IRS facility?

  102. Shore Guy says:

    “‘seek shelter immediately’ due to the ‘extreme threat to life.'”

    Not to worry. This is just the new way of announcing property tax increases. Sit back, open your wallets, and relax.

Comments are closed.