Category Archives: Politics

This won’t end well

Posted on January 22, 2011 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, National Real Estate, Politics | 80 Comments

From the NY Times: Banks Want Pieces of Fannie-Freddie Pie As the Obama administration prepares a report on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, some of the nation’s largest banks are offering a few suggestions. Wells Fargo and … Continue reading →

Settlement in the works for NJ robosigners

Posted on January 19, 2011 by grim
Posted in Mortgages, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 150 Comments

From the NY Post: NJ judge OKs talks for ‘robo-sign’ banks The nation’s six largest mortgage lenders — chastised by a New Jersey judge last month for shoddy foreclosure practices and threatened with the freezing of thousands of foreclosure actions … Continue reading →

Two and a half thousand billion? Oh bother.

Posted on January 18, 2011 by grim
Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, Politics | 117 Comments

From Financial Times: States Warned of $2 Trillion Pensions Shortfall US public pensions face a shortfall of $2,500 billion that will force state and local governments to sell assets and make deep cuts to services, according to the former chairman … Continue reading →

Unemployment too generous?

Posted on January 17, 2011 by grim
Posted in Economics, Politics | 136 Comments

From the Daily Record: Some think NJ’s unemployment program is too generous Speaking as a panelist before the state’s biggest business lobby last month, Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce must have thought his opinion that the state’s unemployment benefits were … Continue reading →

Time to fix Farmland Assessment

Posted on December 10, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 250 Comments

From the Courier Post: ‘Fake farmers’ avoid paying $82M in taxes Spotty enforcement and an outdated state law allow thousands of landowners to pay pennies on the dollar in property taxes. The Farmland Assessment Act of 1964, intended to preserve … Continue reading →

NJ’s “new normal” an unwelcome reality

Posted on August 3, 2010 by grim
Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 97 Comments

From Bloomberg: NJ Assembly panel to discuss possible shortfall Just weeks after New Jersey’s current budget went into effect, a dispute is simmering over projections of a possible $10.5 billion shortfall when officials start compiling next year’s spending plan. The … Continue reading →

Las Vegas East? When is the razing scheduled for, Governor?

Posted on July 22, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Development, Politics, Shore Real Estate | 118 Comments

From the Star Ledger: Gov. Christie pledges to turn Atlantic City casino district into ‘Las Vegas East’ With more flair than a traveling road act, Gov. Chris Christie stood on the 50-yard line of the New Meadowlands Stadium today and … Continue reading →

Looking down the barrel

Posted on July 20, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 182 Comments

From the Star Ledger: N.J. faces $10.5B budget deficit heading into next year New Jersey faces a $10.5 billion budget deficit heading into next year — nearly the same size as the gap that opened up before this year’s spending … Continue reading →

CAP 2.0%! (But will it help?)

Posted on July 13, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 168 Comments

From Bloomberg: Christie Signs 2% Cap on New Jersey Property Taxes New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose state has the highest property taxes in the U.S., signed legislation capping annual increases in the levies at 2 percent. The measure reduces … Continue reading →

Let it sink into the swamp

Posted on July 9, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 214 Comments

From the Record: Xanadu may get $180M from state Meadowlands Xanadu developers, after more than a year of looking for new investors, may soon add an important new partner: you, the state taxpayer. Three sources familiar with a proposal under … Continue reading →

Lower cap looks likely, but will it be 2.9% or 2.5%?

Posted on June 21, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 193 Comments

From New Jersey Newsroom: Sweeney to propose 2.9 percent cap on N.J. property tax hikes Contending a cap on property tax hikes needs “realistic numbers,‘’ Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-Gloucester) Monday will introduce a proposal to set a cap … Continue reading →

NJ Sales Plunge – Realtors Beg For Bailout

Posted on June 19, 2010 by grim
Posted in Economics, New Jersey Real Estate, Politics | 224 Comments

From the NY Times: Reviving a Housing Market in a Swoon ACCORDING to the early evidence, the New Jersey residential market went a bit weak in the knees in May — or even swooned — after the federal home buyer … Continue reading →

Will consolidation ever happen?

Posted on June 16, 2010 by grim
Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 284 Comments

From the Star Ledger: Gov. Christie says property tax cap could force N.J. town, school district mergers New Jersey’s notorious but beloved patchwork of towns and school districts could be transformed under a new limit on annual property tax increases, … Continue reading →

Madoff victims screwed by NJ

Posted on June 14, 2010 by grim
Posted in Politics | 240 Comments

From the Record: Kelly: N.J. refuses to return Madoff victims’ overpaid taxes If you invested with convicted Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff and you live in New Jersey, you may have gotten robbed twice. First, Madoff fleeced you. Then, Trenton likely … Continue reading →

Deeper into the hole we go

Posted on May 25, 2010 by grim
Posted in National Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 334 Comments

From the Daily Record: State revenues continue to fall short State revenues continue to fall below projections, putting New Jersey in potentially tighter budget squeeze. A new analysis by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services predicts that taxes and other … Continue reading →