Author Archives: grim

FHFA: Home prices up in March

Posted on May 24, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 152 Comments

From Bloomberg: Home Prices Rose Most in Two Decades in March, FHFA Says U.S. home prices jumped 1.8 percent in March, the biggest monthly increase in at least two decades, as the housing recovery builds momentum, the Federal Housing Finance … Continue reading →

April home sales make positive gains (but ignore the price data)

Posted on May 22, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, National Real Estate | 117 Comments

From Bloomberg: Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Rise as Market Stabilizes Sales of existing U.S. homes rose in April, driven by broad-based gains in demand that signal the market is stabilizing. Purchases, tabulated when a contract closes, increased 3.4 … Continue reading →

The perks of campaign contribution

Posted on May 22, 2012 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 134 Comments

I’d be more surprised if this wasn’t going on everywhere. Will they be charging the contributors as well? Probably not, I’m sure they had no idea this was going on. Time for an investigation in NJ? From Bloomberg: L.A. Appraiser … Continue reading →

Just a little bump in taxes

Posted on May 21, 2012 by grim
Posted in Property Taxes, South Jersey Real Estate | 149 Comments

From the Philly Inquirer: In Burlington County, a 458 percent tax hike with Christie’s blessing When two New Jersey towns asked voters to approve a property-tax hike last month, Gov. Christie scorned them. The state’s other 564 municipalities didn’t seek … Continue reading →

Farmland Assessment Fix – Does it go far enough?

Posted on May 19, 2012 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 64 Comments

From the Star Ledger: Bill to stop ‘fake farmers’ from getting large property tax discounts passes N.J. Senate panel A Senate panel has approved a bill to make it tougher for property owners to qualify for large property tax discounts … Continue reading →

April sees both jobs and unemployment grow

Posted on May 17, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 134 Comments

From the Record: NJ added 2,600 jobs in April New Jersey added 2,600 jobs in April, a slight rebound from the March’s job losses, but unemployment remained high. The state added 6,300 private sector jobs, and lost 3,700 government jobs, … Continue reading →

NJ moves closer to the top … 8.4% of mortgages in foreclosure

Posted on May 17, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, New Jersey Real Estate | 151 Comments

From the Asbury Park Press: N.J. foreclosure inventoryspikes; 2nd most in nation New Jersey’s percentage of home mortgage loans in foreclosure continues to rise, even as rates nationally have fallen to the lowest level since 2008, a report released Wednesday … Continue reading →

Tax cuts (income or property) not looking likely as NJ revenue misses

Posted on May 16, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Property Taxes | 144 Comments

From Bloomberg: Tax-Cut Pledge May Trap Christie as N.J. Revenue Misses Governor Chris Christie, a Republican who has spent the past four months promising New Jersey income- tax cuts, now confronts the challenge of selling his plan’s feasibility against a … Continue reading →

April Revenue #’s Gone Missing

Posted on May 15, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 112 Comments

From the Star Ledger: N.J. Treasury delays release of April revenue figures without explanation A joint news conference between Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney wasn’t the only thing that didn’t go off as scheduled today in Trenton. … Continue reading →

Waiting for Godot the Bulldozer

Posted on May 14, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Foreclosures, New Jersey Real Estate | 125 Comments

From the Record: North Jersey foreclosures haunt neighbors Maywood homeowner Joe Leichtnam spent some time recently trimming the shrubs, mowing the lawn and fixing the siding. Not at his house; at the empty house next door. It’s a small effort … Continue reading →

Come to NJ – Get Rich!

Posted on May 10, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate | 163 Comments

From the NYT: Memo to Would-Be Members of the 1%: Move to the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic Reaching for the American dream? Your best chances are probably in New York, New Jersey or Maryland. Those states are best at helping Americans … Continue reading →

Mixed bag for Jersey prices

Posted on May 9, 2012 by grim
Posted in Employment, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate | 144 Comments

From the APP: Home prices rise in half of U.S. cities, fall in NJ Prices for single-family homes climbed in half of U.S. cities in the first quarter as real estate markets stabilized. But in the region that includes Monmouth … Continue reading →

North Jersey Contracts – April 2012

Posted on May 7, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery | 294 Comments

(Source GSMLS, except Bergen which is NJMLS) Pending Home Sales (Contracts) ——————————- Bergen County April 2011 – 669 April 2012 – 813 (Up 21.5% YOY) Essex County April 2011 – 324 April 2012 – 402 (Up 24.1% YOY) Hunterdon County … Continue reading →

Shocking News: Banks Screw Borrowers

Posted on May 7, 2012 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate | 81 Comments

From Bloomberg: Look Who’s Pushing Homeowners Off the Foreclosure Cliff One of the more confounding aspects of the U.S. housing crisis has been the reluctance of lenders to do more to assist troubled borrowers. After all, when homes go into … Continue reading →

The water is nice, but don’t turn your back on the waves

Posted on May 5, 2012 by grim
Posted in Economics, Housing Recovery, Shore Real Estate | 29 Comments

From the NYT: Partly Sunny at the Shore JOEL NAROFF, an economist who last year won a prize from the National Association for Business Economics as the country’s most accurate forecaster, found his prediction skills wanting four years ago when … Continue reading →