From the Star Ledger:
Judge throws out infamous Westfield ‘Watcher’ lawsuit
A Superior Court judge on Wednesday dismissed the remaining counts of a civil lawsuit involving the infamous “Watcher” house, ending years of litigation about the Westfield home that gained international attention for its apparent stalker.
Judge Camille M. Kenny threw out three counts of fraud in the civil lawsuit that claimed the home’s previous owners knew about an alleged stalker, who referred to himself in letters sent to the home as “The Watcher.” The sellers, the suit claimed, maliciously withheld the information from the new owners out of fear they would lose the house sale.
The judge said she dismissed the counts because there was no evidence the former owners, John and Andrea Woods, intentionally hid a letter they received from “The Watcher” from the new owners, Maria and Derek Broaddus.
The Broaddus couple, who have three children, bought the old Dutch Colonial house on Boulevard for $1.35 million in June 2014. Within the first two weeks, they received three letters from a writer who called himself “The Watcher,” claiming he had ownership and control of the house.
Days before the closing, the Woods received their first and only letter from “The Watcher.” Andrea Woods said she found the letter to be odd, not threatening, and threw it out in the process of moving out of the home, the judge said.
In her reason for dismissing the counts, Kenny said sustaining the complaint would have put a burden on future sellers to speculate about what they need to disclose to buyers. Since the Woods, who lived in the home for 23 years, received just one letter from the apparent stalker, longtime owners would have consider disclosing one-time issues with a neighbor, such as a loud party.
“We’d be putting uncertainty in real estate law,” she said.
Richard Kaplow, the Woods’ lawyer, said the judge made the right decision because state law requires owners to disclose physical elements associated with a property, not an off-site social condition, such as undesirable neighbors.
Did the letters start before or after the town rejected the proposed subdivision of the property?
Happy Diwali!
From Bloomberg:
Greenwich Mansion Owners Pull Listings to Wait for a Better Day
Listings of mansions in Greenwich have dropped for the past four quarters. But this time it wasn’t because sales were brisk.
Luxury-home listings in the Connecticut town plunged 31 percent from a year earlier, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. That’s largely because sellers who failed to get their hoped-for price quit trying to find buyers and took their properties off the market to wait for a better day.
“Inventory is declining but sales aren’t rising,” Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, said in an interview. “It’s mostly listings being pulled off the market.”
Tastes are changing in Greenwich, home to many Wall Street executives who take the 50-minute train ride to Manhattan. Lavish mansions on several acres have languished, while smaller homes closer to downtown get scooped up. In the third quarter, sales of luxury homes — the top 10 percent of deals by price — fell 13 percent from a year earlier to 21, the firms said. Condo purchases, meanwhile, jumped 35 percent to 58 transactions, the most for a quarter in data going back to 1999.
“Small is the new big,” said Scott Durkin, chief operating officer of Douglas Elliman. “Millennial buyers, they want to be in town, they want to be close to services, they don’t need 5,000 to 10,000 square feet — they’re OK with 1,600 to 2,200.”
“We really don’t have enough of those listings to sell,” he said. “We need more.”
Luxury market is struggling even in the best locations!
About 6 months ago I thought we were nearing a short-term top in housing prices.
30 year any thoughts on why?
The pharma industry may not be dead in NJ but it’s s shadow of what it used to be. The jobs have gone to San Francisco Maassachuetts and other areas.
Will be interesting to see what happens to big pharma when they get hit with a massive class action suit over opiates. Is suspect we will see a settlement to the states that makes the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement look like kids play. $300 billion? $400 billion? $500 billion? Who knows, but it’s not going to be pretty.
I wouldn’t touch any pharma that made an opiate in the last 20 years. Jansen, J&J, Pfizer, Teva, Perdue, Watson, Endo, Abbott, Novartis, etc etc.
The parallels with big tobacco are unarguable, even down to Mike Moore, who will win again. I think this will be the major pharma story of 2018/2019.
Will be interesting to see what happens to big pharma when they get hit with a massive class action suit over opiates.
People are f.ucking id1ots. God really needs to pull the plug. Does anyone own up to their own deeds? Is anyone strong enough to take care of themselves? Blame everyone else for my obesity, low IQ and stup1dity – the rallying cry of America.
That business cycle based on the pharma industry in nj has come and gone. Nothing lasts forever, and it’s better this way. Opens the door to new industry in our state. Give it some time, some good will come of this
Really? That was your answer? The business cycle? What phase are we in? It grew for 60 straight years and shrunk the past 10? Closing up buildings that employ thousands and moving operations to a another state is not a cyclical process. That would imply they plan to come back at some point. BASF, Merck, Armen Hammer and countless others have moved all they could out of this state. As a result, pharma in NJ is a mere shadow of what it was in the past 20 years yet growing in states not named NJ. We are too hostile to business and they have voted with their feet.
About 6 months ago I thought we were nearing a short-term top in housing prices.
CoreLogic released a new report this morning on the accuracy of their housing predictions. Among the most accurate predictions over the last year, NY Metro.
They are forecasting that NJ is up 5.4% August 2017-2018.
Take it for what it’s worth, the previous NJ forecasts have all been pretty low, around 2% a year I believe. This is pretty bullish for them.
Don’t worry Eddie, we know you got stupid all on your own.
Fast Eddie says:
October 19, 2017 at 9:24 am
Will be interesting to see what happens to big pharma when they get hit with a massive class action suit over opiates.
People are f.ucking id1ots. God really needs to pull the plug. Does anyone own up to their own deeds? Is anyone strong enough to take care of themselves? Blame everyone else for my obesity, low IQ and stup1dity – the rallying cry of America.
No, you are too busy svcking corporate d!ck to realize capitalism is a blight on this world.
“ We are too hostile to business and they have voted with their feet.”
Case Shiller NY Metro Tiered Index release from July shows absolutely no signs of slowing across any single family tiers or condos. Actually, incredibly consistent upwards movement. No herky-jerky, just a slow smooth unbroken upward trend.
Grim,
My housing top was based purely on anecdotal evidence. Houses seemed to be sitting longer and renters are beginning to complain about their rents. I could very well be wrong. Major tops and bottoms are much easier to pinpoint. Minor one’s are impossibly tough.
Purdue Pharma and the others a very dirty business. First they get you hooked and then sell you additional drugs for constipation and then additional drugs for addiction treatment.
interesting comments over here http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/
Interesting tidbits this article.
Nyc not offering any incentive above what is normally available.
Nys backed multiple locations.
One developer put in his own bid in the cities for sites he has.
Nyc buildingS all bathed in orange last night
NYTimes: In Amazon Bid, New York Brags About, Well, Everything
In Amazon Bid, New York Brags About, Well, Everything https://nyti.ms/2l0KIPq
re: “for what it’s worth”
Last bubble has to be bigger folks. It must must must be bigger….
How do we accomplish that?
1) New Fed Chair
2) Tax Reform
3) Gutting of Dodd-Frank ( I hear even Barney Frank wants them to loosen capital requirements on US banks.)
Fun times ahead strap in folks.
Lol posting by mobile. Developer, Related Co, puts in three packages for sites it has in Chicago, Boston, and I think nyc.
Nobody is going to come right out and say it, but trend/bias against chemical manufacturing destroyed large parts of NJ’s manufacturing base forever.
For decades, if it had a color, flavor, or fragrance, if it was a personal or household product, it was made in NJ.
All gone.
Here is a fun analogy.
American Cyanamid build a glorious headquarters on hill and lake in bucolic Wayne NJ in 1963. Moved their HQ from Rockefeller Center. They made everything. Old Spice? Formica? Centrum? Pine-Sol? You even remember Breck shampoo? Just about everything with a Pierre Cardin label on it. Probably a ton more that everyone’s already forgotten about.
Come and gone. Now it’s home to struggling retailer Toys R Us. Cyanamid’s subsidiary Shulton that made personal products? Located in Clifton? It’s now townhouses so dense your neighbor can hear you fart.
So just in one place (two really) we can witness the growth of an industry in NJ, the transition from manufacturing to services and retail, and now the demise of that. All in one place.
These will never return, it’s not possible. NJ is far too anti-industrial to ever permit it again. You an not reverse de-industrialization. One you’ve moved commercial and residential properties into previously zoned industrial areas, the opposition will be massive.
At the peak they employed 1500 in Wayne, and 1000 in Clifton. These were GOOD jobs.
3b – I am very skilled at determining the value of real estate. Not so good at determining why.
Lol. I’ll take the answer to ‘what’ over ‘why’ any day.
Despite politicians’ hype about NJ’s deep pharma workforce, Big Pharma is shifting jobs to states such as California and Massachusetts because NJ’ workforce is inferior and the best researchers won’t relocate to NJ.
This is part of a broader trend of high paying jobs draining out of the suburbs. This is why suburban luxury market struggling.
I believe the switch back to urban is not a trend but rather a more permanent shift. Cities have a far longer history then suburbs. Declining birth rates will also impact as well. Small family size do not need the big house. And with two income couples now the suburban commute is not attractive. I can’t believe with all this urban renewal that people at some point are just going to pick up and move to the suburbs. Some will but many won’t.
Givaudan site in Clifton shut in 1990s. Pollution lawsuits launched in 1980s finally concluded this year when NJ Supreme Court said insurer must pay for the cleanup.
Yes, cycles do come to an end. This wasn’t based on a cycle that repeats itself into infinite. The void will be filled by some tech industry, for all we know, this industry has not even been invented yet. Life finds away, life moves on. Nj’s location will also be lucrative to some industry no matter what the haters say.
“Really? That was your answer? The business cycle? What phase are we in? It grew for 60 straight years and shrunk the past 10? Closing up buildings that employ thousands and moving operations to a another state is not a cyclical process. That would imply they plan to come back at some point. BASF, Merck, Armen Hammer and countless others have moved all they could out of this state. As a result, pharma in NJ is a mere shadow of what it was in the past 20 years yet growing in states not named NJ. We are too hostile to business and they have voted with their feet.”
And what do you think is happening right now as we speak with all the industry that left this state and moved to low cost locations. They are polluting the hell out of a new area…..that’s the real reason they moved, because they can’t dump their crap here anymore.
Price to pay for manufacturing jobs that deal with chemicals.
Yo! says:
October 19, 2017 at 10:19 am
Givaudan site in Clifton shut in 1990s. Pollution lawsuits launched in 1980s finally concluded this year when NJ Supreme Court said insurer must pay for the cleanup.
You are thinking in extremes again. Just understand that if everyone abandons suburbs and moves to the urban areas, the urban area becomes ultra expensive and the suburbs become a steal. So like lemmings, everyone goes to the deal. This relationship is what you seem to miss. It’s not all or nothing. It’s a balance based on market fundamentals that drives people away. I wish everyone would leave jersey like some people state……then we would see a drop in housing prices and I would buy as much as I can before the lemmings return.
3b says:
October 19, 2017 at 10:09 am
I believe the switch back to urban is not a trend but rather a more permanent shift. Cities have a far longer history then suburbs. Declining birth rates will also impact as well. Small family size do not need the big house. And with two income couples now the suburban commute is not attractive. I can’t believe with all this urban renewal that people at some point are just going to pick up and move to the suburbs. Some will but many won’t.
The deputy mayor of NYC is on CNBC talking their Amazon bid. Priceless quote:
“I hear Gov Christie is throwing $7B at Amazon….for a $5B project. As a former banker I’m not really sure how that makes sense.”
bazinga.
She just got carved a new one by the hosts when she says that NYC is one of the most business friendly environs.
So we agree, this bubble is going to be the mother of all bubbles. Who knows how long it will last since people will be in a trance thinking real estate will only go up. Lots of money going to be made, lots of money lost.
Juice Box says:
October 19, 2017 at 9:43 am
re: “for what it’s worth”
Last bubble has to be bigger folks. It must must must be bigger….
How do we accomplish that?
1) New Fed Chair
2) Tax Reform
3) Gutting of Dodd-Frank ( I hear even Barney Frank wants them to loosen capital requirements on US banks.)
Fun times ahead strap in folks.
“business friendly environs” = an environment in which businesses can do whatever they want and suffer no consequences. AWESOME! SIGN ME UP, SCOTTY!
Market fundamentals. Simply based on the demographic buying power of the market participants. Simply stated, the buyer pool for luxury market has hit demographic headwinds. The millennials (biggest demographic group -meaning drivers of the market) are still at the entry level market, they are not in peak spending years yet, therefore luxury market won’t return till they get to that mark.
3b says:
October 19, 2017 at 8:52 am
30 year any thoughts on why?
“NJ’ workforce is inferior and the best researchers won’t relocate to NJ.”
Not going to get sucked into a “NJ is the Promised Land, no it’s not” argument today but…
The first part of that statement is patently wrong. Other than geographic happenstance – being contiguous to the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen in NYC – the workforce in NJ is its prime asset. There would be no corporate headquarters or campuses absent the workforce. It made all the sense in the world for corporations to establish here – provided they did not need a physical presence in the City – to avoid NYC costs. It made more sense for their workers to not travel 2.5 hours a day if they did not need to and to take a 20 minute suburban drive instead. That disintermediation of NYC gave, and continues to give, NJ one of the top workforces anywhere.
The second point, agree. Someone on here occasionally makes the point that people don’t wake up in the morning saying “wow, I’d really like to move to NJ”. Very true, unless you’re born here or have other ties like family. If you are a world class researcher [or substitute another similar high end job] you have your choices. You are effectively a mini-Amazon, deciding to which locale you will relocate based on a discrete set of factors important to you. In that scenario, NJ will likely land right about where it will likely land with Amazon- a consideration, probably top half of the list, but not top three.
Holy cow. Kitchenaid/Whirlpool customer service is totally incompetent. To add insult to injury…their automated call back system was crashed the other day and called me over and over again every 15 minutes and hung up on me.
I know you like your fridge grim…but damn…I’ve never dealt with people so disorganized. Their customer service sucks.
I refuse to believe any company ever moved from glorious Wayne NJ. Must be some hoax invented by the 100 million trash living their subhuman lives in the south.
South Park just did an episode about opiates.
NJ’s pharma workforce is inferior. Here is an example of Big Pharma moving jobs out of NJ to Massachusetts and California. I know for a fact the decision was driven by worker quality.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Report-Merck-to-shut-North-Wales-site.html
Did I not say some not all?? Reading comprehension.
Take a look at NJ DEP’s brownfield data. I am sure we can find Amazon a new 100 acre property for free.
http://www.njbrownfieldsproperties.com/default.aspx
“The insight eventually led to the adaptive-markets hypothesis. “Right now, we tend to collect prices and assume that those are the only things that matter” to predict investor behavior, Lo says, whereas an ecologist would try to understand investors as a population—which means accounting for their animal instincts. Lo’s hypothesis says people act in their own self-interest but frequently make mistakes, figure out where they’ve erred, and change their behaviors. The broader system also adapts. These complex interactions contribute to our booms and busts.“
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-16/mit-economist-andrew-lo-has-a-new-theory-of-finance
The pharma article seems to say the move was driven by the shift in general of exploratory R&D from PA/NJ/NY to Boston and SF.
I imagine part of their decision was potentially personnel based as it became harder to hire key personnel into NJ versus these competing areas in this highly specific area. That is definitely an issue. This State has done a poor job of holding onto its competitive advantages. Not just chemical and pharma but telecom as well.
I don’t think the article/move is an indictment of the NJ workforce in general. For those professions that are here, I would emphasize the quality is high.
The real shame is the counterfactual – what could have been.
This State had all the makings to be THE biotech and tech capital of the world. All the parts were here. Mind boggling they let it slip away.
yep, nation breaking apart with triggered melting morons cause someone taking a knee during a football game
Fast Eddie says:
October 19, 2017 at 9:24 am
People are f.ucking id1ots– the rallying cry of America.
“This State had all the makings to be THE biotech and tech capital of the world. All the parts were here. Mind boggling they let it slip away.”
NJ has always had an incredibly corrupt government. It has a very strong history of unions paying for favor. It’s why so much in the state is a flaming POS. From our bridges to our transit systems. It’s not easy to be #1 in so many negative categories.
At least our politicians are good at something lol.
In other news Morris county is the least obese county in the state.
WSJ article about how the “coworking” business WeWork has been valued by venture capitalists at $2,000 per square ft. You can rent a “hot desk” in a shared room for $500/mo on 57th street, which I think means you get to sit at a table or on a sofa next to some other person, and type on your laptop. Kind of like paying Starbucks $500/mo to let you stay there all the time and they will collect your mail for you and let you print stuff, and your coffee is free. And WeWork has edgier art on the wall.
https://www.wework.com/locations
Some of these hipsters featured in the photos look like total douches.
Speaking of corruption in NJ, anyone who hasn’t watched the classic Brando film “On the Waterfront,” set in 1950’s Hoboken, should watch it.
I currently have 2 luxury properties on the market. Both properties are on market for only a few days. First one is a property in Sparta. Toll Brothers 5300 GLA colonial listed for $689,000. Priced aggressively to capture a buyer before Thanksgiving. The other is a condo in a very high end building in Fort Lee with full river and Manhattan view. Combined annual taxes and maintenance of almost 60,000. Unit has 3 BR/3.5 baths and 2829 GLA. Listed for 1.2 and we have received a low offer.
These properties and their respective markets are nothing alike. Fort Lee has a pulse and the building is desirable with 2 unit sales in the same line as ours in 2017 for numbers in excess of our asking price. Sparta has no pulse. Plenty of inventory in the price range to choose from. My listing is in a very young and desirable development. House across the street with a lower assessment is under contract with an asking price 10,000 above mine. Fingers crossed.
Princeton drops the mic:
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2017/10/princeton_president_asks_alums_to_bring_amazon_h2q.html#incart_river_mobileshort_home
Moody’s Analytics released its top 10 picks for amazons 2nd headquarters.
Austin/Round Rock TX ranked no.1. Reasons noted.
IT Hub, Exceptuonally educated work force, cost of living, and, transportation infrastructure.
NYC/Jersey City/White Plains ranked 6th.
Boston was 9th and Salt Lake 10th.
I know Amazon said it wants an airport, for obvious reasons, but shouldn’t an air field capable of handling private/charter flights also be high on their list?
I don’t see much TEB type traffic in EWR and no doubt these guys aren’t flying business.
Austin didn’t bid
Grim maybe they felt they did not have to.
Grim, 3:15
Amateur hour.
This is a $5B corporate DEAL. Needs to be run as such.
What does an ‘open letter’ on the day bids are due say to me? It says the Princeton President doesn’t know Bezos well enough to pick up the phone and call him. It’s worthless. They’re scrambling, way behind the game, and looking to any hail mary to help.
How do you pitch a $5B deal to WIN?
Who are the decision makers besides Bezos? Who is on the on-the-ground evaluation team? Who do you have that knows Bezos and the latter group PERSONALLY and WELL? Specifically, people who are trusted advisors or friends of them who will pick up the phone and use their personal goodwill ON YOUR BEHALF. Who does Bezos vacation with, do you know them, would they lobby on your behalf? Who else do you know that Bezos and these people respect, even if they don’t know them? The senior execs from Goldman when Goldman moved to JC (big deal at the time)? Were Mnuchin or Cohn there? You know them well enough to ask them to lobby Bezos on your behalf? What about the wife, been together for 25 years, been through everything together, met before Amazon. Even if he doesn’t want her opinion he’s going to hear her out if she talks. Same analysis as above, how do you get someone she trusts to be your advocate?
Deals this size are won in the weeks leading up to the pitch. If whoever is point person on NJ team (is there even one, again how you win a deal) thinks the deal is won on the day of the pitch or delivery of the RFP they’re dumber than even I would have suspected.
Would have been smart to have aligned NJ’s 3 technical universities (Princeton, NJIT, Stevens Tech) along with Rutgers to provide a joint response with the bid. Along those lines, Christie and Booker should have presented a JOINT and BIPARTISAN welcome video. I agree, rookie bid management for sure, however the reason is understandable – various local regions were considering this in a vacuum. If Christie tried to take the reigns there would have been outrage.
Grim maybe they didn’t because in the end they knew NJ would not get it.
Put a horse head in Besos bed.
10:01 but we always have the Telco people…..!
3:47. An airport ? Heck sell them Atlantic City for $1. Give permission to send drones out …. bada bing bada boom
Grim,
Good jobs at what price.
http://www.nj.com/somerset/index.ssf/2015/09/post_41.html
Will DuPont ever clean up Pompton Lakes?
Why would anyone buy into this Texas market right now? What exactly is affordable?
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/real-estate/2017/06/15/housing-market-haves-nots-revealed-new-harvard-study
Only suckers are buying in Texas now. All you are doing is buying someone’s exit ticket from the bubble. Key was to buy years ago. Now it’s too late.
http://austin.blog.statesman.com/2016/06/15/austin-san-antonio-tie-for-no-1-most-overvalued-housing-market/
JJ fanboy,
If you like making money, sell now.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthasharf/2017/07/19/texas-is-home-to-the-most-overvalued-housing-markets-in-america-2017/#55afcaa33906
If amazon doesn’t pick jersey or NYC, I would be really surprised. It’s inevitable in my opinion.
That article stating Denver as the winner of the Amazon sweepstakes is laughable. People get paid to write bs like that? Must be nice.
I’ll give Boston the other chance. It’s either , NYC metro or Boston. Put my life on it.
Systemic…
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/keep_them_rolling_nj_doctor_accused_of_pushing_dan.html#incart_river_mobile_home_pop
Why would anyone buy into this Texas market right now? What exactly is affordable?
Because it’s always a good time to buy real estate