From Bloomberg:
Pipe-Swipers Take Toilets as U.S. Homes With Plumbing Ebb
Bill Heaney gets about two calls a day from people who bought foreclosed, vacant Detroit homes that lack basic plumbing — victims of thieves who strip pipes, water heaters and toilets.
“All the pipes will be gone,” said Heaney, 70, who has run Heaney Plumbing & Heating in Detroit for more than four decades. “It’s really gotten bad, probably the last four years, and we’ve been getting a lot of calls. The furnaces, the water heaters and all the pipes, even the sinks — gone.”
Amid the worst recession since the Great Depression, pilfering cut the number of U.S. homes with complete plumbing by about 10.4 percent from 2008 to 2011, according to U.S. Census data compiled by Bloomberg. That reversed a five-decade trend. The decay of housing adds another obstacle to recovery in Rust Belt cities already beset by crime and poverty.
Detroit leads U.S. cities in homes that the Census Bureau says lack basic plumbing. The agency found similar devolution in Flint, Michigan; Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio; Camden, New Jersey; and Buffalo, New York.
“It’s a vicious circle,” said John George, who has run the nonprofit Motor City Blight Busters in Detroit for a quarter century, trying to rehabilitate crumbling neighborhoods. “Blight is like a cancer. If you don’t nip it in the bud, it spreads. Before you know it, you look up, the whole street is gone. It’s a major problem.”
…
The problem is distinctly urban and insidious, said Alan Mallach, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.“When a unit becomes vacant in large parts of Detroit, Cleveland, Camden, you name it, it gets stripped,” he said. “Where you have these roving stripping gangs, as well as vandalism, the houses will go pretty fast.”
To qualify as having full plumbing, a house must have hot and cold running water; a flush toilet; a bathtub or shower; and a sink with a faucet, according to census criteria. Almost 3 million homes in the U.S., about 2.2 percent of the total, lacked plumbing in 2011, according to the census figures.
IOC and International Federation of Urban Pentathlon are considering the removal of the team row/assault rifle shoot and replacing it with copper stripping relay, citing desire to remain culturally relevant, emotionally sensitive, and maintain a format that is convenient for international TV viewership. The inner city run (for your life) will be slightly modified as well. Runners will be required to utilize the ribbon and perform an interpretive dance as part of the run.
In Newark, whipping a naked kid with a belt qualifies as interpretive dance.
The strippers don’t stop at houses either. In Detroit it’s common to see someone throwing a garden hose over power lines and pulling on both ends to bring the wire down, hopefully disconnected from the transmission side. They then yank the whole wire down, bring it to a “burn site”, anyplace abandoned with a a concrete flat surface, pour accelerant on the wire and set it a ablaze to burn the insulation off. Then it’s off to the guy who buys copper scrap by the pound.
Detroit = Mogadishu
grim
For me any new plumbing is done with PEX.
I remember hearing a few years back of a womans and kids shelter in Paterson that was stripped overnight. For me in these cases if a non profit gets hit I want to set up to be able to drop a few 1000ft of Pex with fittings to get them back and running. If there is no copper there is nothing to hit again.
Reposting this, got posted in an older thread:
Anonymous in NJ says:
February 13, 2013 at 8:35 pm (Edit)
Looking for advice on my situation….
Married & mortgage for the townhouse is only in my name.
Combined savings: 195k
Combined annual income: 200k
Current home mortgage: 330k (Paid 355k at the peak of the bubble)
Current home value: approx. 270-290k (40k-60k underwater)
Credit Score: 800
Had our first child recently and we’d like to move out of the townhouse and into bigger diggs and somewhere with good schools. Looking @ Bergen county.
Anyway.. the question I had is if you were in my position would you:
1. Rent out the townhouse (it’ll rent for around 1900-2000$ which leaves about 600-700$ out of my pocket. $500 of that is principal) Also I read that because of high income I wouldn’t be able to write off hardly anything on the rental.
2. Put 20% down on the new house, walk away from the townhouse and hopefully they don’t come after me down the road. I believe only my credit would be affected.
3. Pay off 150k of the mortgage on the townhouse, refinance, and create a positive cash flow of about 300$ per month by renting it out. (This one leaves us without our 20% down on the new house)
4. Stop paying and attempt a short sale? Pretty sure the bank won’t go for this if they find out our income and savings.
Thoughts?
From MarketWatch:
RealtyTrac: U.S. Jan. foreclosure filings down 28%
The number of U.S. properties with foreclosure filings fell 28% in January from a year earlier, while foreclosure starts fell to a six-year low, according to market researcher RealtyTrac.
There were 150,864 U.S. properties with default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions in January, a 7% decrease from December, RealtyTrac reported. One in every 869 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing last month.
RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said the U.S. foreclosure landscape last month was altered by the effects of new legislation in California that took effect at the start of the year. The new law extends many of the principles in the national mortgage settlement, including a prohibition on so-called dual tracking and requiring a single point of contact for borrowers facing foreclosure, to all mortgage servicers operating in California, Mr. Blomquist noted. The law also imposes fines of up to $7,500 per loan for filing of multiple unverified foreclosure documents.
“As a result, the downward foreclosure trend in California accelerated into hyper speed in January, decisively shifting the balance of power when it comes to the nation’s foreclosure activity,” Mr. Blomquist said.
Properties starting the foreclosure process fell 28% on an annual basis to the lowest level since June 2006. The decrease was largely due to a sharp drop in California notices of default, which slipped 75% in January from a year earlier to the lowest level since October 2005. U.S. bank repossessions slipped 24% last month.
Good Morning New Jersey
grim (7)-
I’m pretty sure high income could be offset by gambling debts.
#6 what isbyour interest rate on the mortgage? If it is more than 5% I will refi with harp2. 30 year at3.5 and 15 at more than 2.0 , while it is still your primary then decide what to do with the house later.
[1] The medal awarded for first place in the new metal stripping Olympic relay event will be copper.
10 – $150k into a 3.5% 30 year, 10k for taxes, maint, insurance. This would bring the piti down to around $1500/mo. This should throw off at least $400-500 a month, enough to cover incidentals and maintenance on an annual basis and still show a profit. Even if you are only looking at 11 months occupied annually.
Secondary benefit is that this will lower your overall DTI for qualification on the new purchase. Remember, you’ll be qualified on the combined DTI, two mortgages, and you won’t be able to “assume” rental income. No evidence of it, it doesn’t exist. Can’t qualify on intent anymore, liar loans are gone.
3. Pay off 150k of the mortgage on the townhouse, refinance, and create a positive cash flow of about 300$ per month by renting it out.
This math doesn’t jive.
Bloomberg wants to ban Styrofoam.
Welcome to New Francisco.
Wish Bloomberg would ban hipster douchbags, lumberjack chic is so 2009.
Happy Valentines Day!
Kisses for all! Yes, even for Fabius, cobbler and Dope!
And don’t forget to pick up a nice scungilli roll for your sweetheart. Scungilli: the gift that keeps on giving.
A combination of investment gains and worker contributions helped push the average amount stashed in a 401(k) to its highest level ever by the end of 2012, according to the latest Fidelity Investments analysis of the retirement-savings plans it manages.
Bring home your 401K statement and a box of chocolates for wife, tonight we are going to party like it is 1999!!!
Got ketchup? The oracle speaketh.
Whole thing makes no sense. Townhouses have more than one bedroom they only just had one kid, why do they need to move? Also what the heck is he talking about schools with an kid about to be born. Kindergarten is just day care, so until kid is in first grade schools dont matter.
He does not yet know if his wife will continue to work after the kid is born, my wife tried it and lasted four weeks. Lots of women try to come back to work after kids and I say 50% by 2 or 3 kid are gone so you can count that income.
Finally, he is only down slightly on townhouse. Buying a new home would add a tone of extra expenses. If he just stayed put and threw and extra 1k a month at the mortgage on town house by five years if house keeps rising 3.5% a year he will have a ton of equity.
Anonymous in NJ says:
February 13, 2013 at 8:35 pm (Edit)
Looking for advice on my situation….
Married & mortgage for the townhouse is only in my name.
Combined savings: 195k
Combined annual income: 200k
Current home mortgage: 330k (Paid 355k at the peak of the bubble)
Current home value: approx. 270-290k (40k-60k underwater)
Credit Score: 800
Had our first child recently and we’d like to move out of the townhouse and into bigger diggs and somewhere with good schools. Looking @ Bergen county.
He loves mcdonalds to death and coke to death. Shocked he never thought of buying Heinz while eating his mcdonalds cheeseburger with his favorite cherry coke before
Comrade Nom Deplume, the original maker of Scungilli Roll says:
February 14, 2013 at 8:29 am
Got ketchup? The oracle speaketh.
You know, you could probably replace Scungili with Lamb Testes and be equally as hilarious. Lamb Fries are more up the Oracle’s alley, being in cattle country and all.
I wouldn’t be in a hurry to move out of the townhouse. Refi, paydown as much principal as possible. Kid won’t be in school for 5 years between savings and income they shoudl have no problem getting the lowest rate. When they are ready to move refi again if rates are still low into a 10 year and rent. Should clear more than enough to cover PITI.
Agree with JJ don’t count on her going back to work. Mine is thinking going yoga instructor/consultant so she can spend as much time as possible at home. I have already accepted the fact that she is not going back to being FTE, and have planned accordingly.
[20] grim,
I dunno. Scungilli is funnier and I need all the help I can get in the hilarity dept.
Wow, another big drop in jobless claims this week, down 27k to 341k. Consensus was around 360k. More statistical anomalies? 4 week moving average at 352.5k, best performance since 2008.
Only people unemployed are people who want to be unemployed.
grim says:
February 14, 2013 at 8:58 am
Wow, another big drop in jobless claims this week, down 27k to 341k. Consensus was around 360k. More statistical anomalies? 4 week moving average at 352.5k, best performance since 2008.
Grim [23];
How’s U6 and the participation rate? Any upward revisions to the previous big drops?
#9 Clot
Works for you with your football picks.
#6 Anon
If you move, you will be out a boat load of money between fees, moving costs. Renting in BC may cost you more than the $2K you will get for your current place so add another $500. If you rent your old place, be ready for worst case scenario that you will have to cover the nut for up to two years if you need to evict a tenant with kids that is not paying.
Finally, renting a house while you still own is a big red flag to a landlord. They will figure that you will stop paying rent before you stop paying the mortgage.
My advice stay in the house and make it work. Put the money saved towards schools. If your nearest private school is a Pingry/Kimberly and you can’t afford it, find g0d and go parochial.
U-6 is interesting, but BLS Table A-4 is more interesting.
Unemployment, Age 25 and Higher, Bachelors Degree and Higher – 3.7% in January 2013
You have 75 percent participation rate and 4 percent unemployment for people with bs degree and higher. Interesting
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm
gluteus (26)-
Best you worry about Bayern. They could put 4-5 in against your back four of zombies.
The equivalent for high school dropouts is 12%, HS completers without college, 8.1%. Participation rate for the dropouts is hovering around 45%.
Same story, different statistic. Continued bifurcation of the USA. Hollow out the middle and we’re going to be left with either the rich or the poor.
Pick a side.
31. I choose “rich”, without the dysfunction of course.
I’ve got a social policy suggestion based on the above data.
Drop out of high school? You are no longer eligible to receive any social support or benefits. No welfare, no food stamps, no Obamaphone, nothing.
Does this make me Romney? Satan? Worse, a 1%er?
Is that too much to ask?
Do you think we could fix our deficit problem by exporting these people to China? Eh, they’d probably just send them right back.
Scratch that, wouldn’t change a thing, they are too stupid to understand the implications.
Drop out of high school? You are no longer eligible to receive any social support or benefits. No welfare, no food stamps, no Obamaphone, nothing.
Take away the bennies from the deadbeat parents too. They are ultimately responsible for the conduct of their children.
Or we can steal manufacturing from china to keep them employed
We rather pay for prison than to educate our kids.$ 30k a year to keep a person in prison
#30 Clot
I had to google Metalist Kharkiv.
When have you ever advocated for removing the countless laws from the books that make non-violent people criminals (for victimless crimes) that ruins their lives forever whether they stay in or get released from prison?
yome says:
February 14, 2013 at 11:41 am
We rather pay for prison than to educate our kids.$ 30k a year to keep a person in prison
Headscratcher Alert:
The expat report for the last quarter of 2012 is out. And I cannot understand why it was delayed.
It had only 45 names. This is the lowest level of expatriation since Obama took office. It is a virtual non-story except to highlight that the diaspora of the wealthy, be it over the FATCA fatwa or our ticking tax bomb, appears to be over.
So why sit on it? To wait until after the SOTU? Seems pretty stupid since its absence would be noticed and this is a pretty good number for the administration–this level of expatriation is low even by historical standards. Maybe it was deliberately held in order to generate some buzz, only to throw cold water on the buzz. Seems like a long run for a short slide since only a few weirdo wonks like me follow this statistic.
Or maybe they are just lazy over at IRS.
In any event, this stat has been trending down. Will be nice if it continues.
Zuckerberg fundraiser with Christie protested by pro-choice and women’s rights groups.
Did I miss something? When did Christie and Zuckerberg become anti-choice, anti-female?
#33
Drop out and its either on your own or to a gvmt training program for Plumbing , auto repair, carpentry, welding, painting right down to street cleaning. You can have a job pushing a broom down the streets of Newark or cleaning the parks.
38. Very true. We suck where our laws are concerned. Land of the free to do what we tell you.
Ah, the rites of spring. Pull that POS listing with a DOM of 322 and relist it at a higher price.
Saw a house several months ago in the desirable Radley Run subdivision. Was priced well below others but upon view, it was apparent why. Older house, older mechanicals, small rooms. You couldn’t stand up in the “finished” basement without hitting your head, and there was ample evidence of water infiltration. Tip to sellers: You probably want to take all your basement furniture off of blocks when you have an open house.
In any event, it languished as the higher priced but nicer houses sold.
Now it is re-listed, DOM of 2, and at a price 90K HIGHER than the prior listing. Even my agent, who is starting to sound the “buy now or be priced out forever” mantra, said it was the same house we saw, and is grossly overpriced.
If they sell anywhere near their price, I will be sorely disappointed.
More OT:
Cabela’s announces quarterly results. Profits up 12% to record levels on . . .
Wait for it . . . .
Record gun and ammo sales!!!
Cabela’s stockholders must be raising their glasses to pictures of Obama this morning.
Nom [40];
Reflex reaction. Christie’s a Republican! Duh!
[39] “Or maybe they are just lazy over at IRS.”
That can’t be; they’re government employees, after all.
#33..EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you did not make it through High School, you should not be entitled to benefits…
I made it through HS!!!
What does making it through school even mean? Only an idiot think it means something.
Other than joking on this site, I never tell folks I have a Graduate Degree. I need street cred.
Bottom line I kinda like the concept of school, place to go, hang out, meet people, kinda fun. I just dont like homework or tests. So I kept going and I got a HS, Bachelors and Masters. Nobody at my age asks my GPA or what I did there. A 2.0 and a 3.75 are the same thing at my age.
In fact after Sandy the fact I knew how to steal gas from a car, do demo, mold removal, electrical, play the game with the blue collar folks is all that mattered. The degree is not good to mention all the time. Street cred is what I need not book smarts at my age
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Current “rather low” readings on inflation may give the Federal Reserve leeway to continue buying bonds and mortgage-related assets longer than otherwise would be the case, said James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, on Thursday. The Fed’s $85 billion per-month asset-purchase plan has no end date. The Fed has said only that it wants to see a substantial improvement in the labor-market outlook. Being more specific about what “substantial improvement” means may be a “bridge too far” for the Fed, Bullard said in a speech at Mississippi University. Bullard favors tapering purchases rather than bringing them to a sudden stop. Some Fed officials have said they think the purchases could end well before the end of the year.
“We rather pay for prison than to educate our kids.$ 30k a year to keep a person in prison”
Worse yet, we pay $20,000 to educate our inner city kids and only 60% of them graduate. More than one out of four of the drop outs will end up incarcerated and will cost the state $30,000.
I hope that some of these predictions turn out to be b.s., especially the part about the Yankees winning in 2013.
http://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/01/08/2013/15-surprises-2013
Stu,
You’re forgetting about the hospital bills we pay for aside from the either $20k or $30k year tuition, room and board courtesy of us.
Thought that was included in the figure. I’m guessing the legal help isn’t in that number either.
You’re forgetting about the hospital bills we pay for aside from the either $20k or $30k year tuition, room and board courtesy of us.
Don’t forget the proposed free pre-school. Not that money matters cause Uncle Ben will just print it up for Chairman Mao.
But remember 47% of people pay zero taxes
You also forget that college tuition is the only govt program that can make a ton of money if managed right.
I go my college degree 100% paid for by Uncle Sam. But think about it back then college was only 16K for a whole four year degree.
In return for getting 16K Uncle Sam gets 40% of my income for the rest of my life.
Dan in debt says:
February 14, 2013 at 1:09 pm
Stu,
You’re forgetting about the hospital bills we pay for aside from the either $20k or $30k year tuition, room and board courtesy of us.
I just read that Montclair State’s tuition went up 37.5% from 2007 to 2009. That’s crazy. Also 6% of the students default on their loans. Interesting numbers.
New Jersey Residents 2012-13 (per year)
Commuter On-Campus
Tuition and Fees $11,057 $11,057
Grim, (33)
That goes right back to Romney’s makers vs takers split, which was probably the best thing he said on his campaign, so of course he had to take it back and apologize for it.
Everybody knows that wealthy people either inherit it or were just genetically programmed to be that way, definitely didn’t work for or deserve any of it, while the poor are all just victims of the wealthy and working ever so hard to educate and uplift themselves. Just check out Camden, Detroit, etc, and you can see how much efffort they are putting forth into their education and skills. But businessmen just are too evil and selfish to “give them jobs” that they yearn for.
Great. This is like 3 blocks from my house. Guy had an ak47 and sprayed the room with bullets.
Maybe you guys can suggest what caliber scrapple cannon I should use for protection.
http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2013/02/cops_denville_man_who_shot_new.html
59:
Depends, are you partial to Bloods or Latin Kings?
Maybe you guys can suggest what caliber scrapple cannon I should use for protection.
Brian get out of the ghetto!
this is what happens thanks to COAH.
[58] Ragnar,
Plenty of people that could have been wealthy or comfortable have had the unfortunate things happen to them also (sickness, divorce, etc), or possibly have run into the following criminals (not all in these professions are bad)–contractors, bankers, plumbers, financial planners, attorneys, car dealers, etc, that took advantage of them in one way or another. Plenty of “Little Madoff’s” out there. I can count on one hand how many times I received good advise from so called “professionals”. Most of the time the only one who would benefit from their professional “advice” was them and their bank accounts.
AK47 is the tool dont make me act da motherf&cking fool.
“Most of the time the only one who would benefit from their professional “advice” was them and their bank accounts.”
Hell yeah. Which is why I try to do as much of what I can by myself. Without the internets, though, it would be a lot more difficult.
Truth is, the problem with the American kid is the American adult. Deadbeat dads, pushover moms, vulgar celebrities, self-interested politicians, depraved ministers, tax-sheltering CEOs, steroid-injecting athletes, benefit-collecting retirees who vote down school taxes, and yes, incompetent teachers—all take their turns conspiring to neglect the needs of the young in favor of the wants of the old
How much higher do school taxes need to go before you admit lack of funds ain’t the problem?
66. Re read the post.
I wonder about you sometimes, but do know that I can read.
I read your scribble. And my question stands.
That was something i read which resonated with me. I’m definitely a cynic when it comes to institutions of all types.
Replacing Charitable deductions to Credit, for everyone?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-14/congress-starts-examining-changes-to-charitable-tax-break.html
We need more people owning and willing to use AKs.
Funny piece from the New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/02/a-letter-from-kim-jong-un.html
Yome those truly charitable folks would do it regardless.
i just view it as another avenue to have government replace private philanthropy. When you become the nanny you sure as f*ck don’t want competition.
Me I’m for it, and the dismantling of all tax breaks. go to a single tax rate across the board and be done with it. Every one with skin in the game.
[70] yome,
An old discussion. Problem for dems is that they have to gore a traditional ally, and run the risk of shifting burdens from nonprofit sector to government.
Oh man, this coronal mass ejection is going to be a hoot. Definitely want to make extra some popcorn for that before the lights go out.
This is from Kass’ surprises for ’13, sec 7, black swans.
Lautenberg retiring (finally, and again!).
http://atr.rollcall.com/new-jersey-lautenberg-announces-retirement/
Seriously. At this point I lean toward a sense of wonder and slight mocking disgust.
Nom [74];
They –were– useful allies, but like promises, every alliance has its expiration date. Crush private sector philanthropy with overbearing taxation and regulation, fill the void with yet another government program, and ensure an ever greater supply of inalienable voting clients.
[72] Funny indeed, illustrating why the 2nd Amendment is so important.
Happy Valentines Day! Specially you lovers out there….
http://tinyurl.com/czpfuj6
Didn’t Lautenberg die a few years back?
Boomerang Foreclosures:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-14/boomerang-foreclosures-are-back-bernankes-second-housing-bubble-begins-pop
You are confusing him with his moral compass……
Scrapple Cannon says:
February 14, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Didn’t Lautenberg die a few years back?
[75] zieba,
I would rather see a coronal ejection than a Yankees win in 2013. EMP I can handle; insufferable Yankees fans (yes, I know, redundant) are a different matter.
Anyone know where Pres O will be tomorrow around 9:30 AM?
The asteroid that could’ve wiped out the District aka Wash DC…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/video/thefold/the-asteroid-that-couldve-wiped-out-the-district/2013/02/14/a290dd7c-76ef-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_video.html
84 -A 90 minute long XClass CME won’t fry all of the iJunk, but it wold fry all of the transformers on the grid large and small, some of those very large ones take years to make, and there won’t be any gasoline since the refineries could not operate just like Hurricane Sandy.
Suffice it to say there will be no baseball, this is the year of the Solar Max too….
re: Lautenberg – he is so old that back when his family left Paterson it was actually a nice prosperous place.
You could not find a instep party line follower anywhere else in the Senate. He even voted against Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State.
http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/53324/frank-lautenberg#.UR2DRGeV9-w
C’mon Nom. Red Sox fans had their chance as winners, but after the short elation they found that losing their identity as “woe is me” losers was not worth the spoils. Now Red Sox Nation has collapsed back into their comfortable ancestral home of mediocrity and choking. Time to restore order to the universe with another run of Yankees World Championships.
I would rather see a coronal ejection than a Yankees win in 2013. EMP I can handle; insufferable Yankees fans (yes, I know, redundant) are a different matter.
[88] expat,
Sorry, you seem decent enough but I wish you eternal misery where the Yankees are concerned.
The Yankees are the biggest waste of payroll I’ve ever seen. Outside of the late 90’s, they’ve pretty much done nothing but lose when it counts. Which is pretty incredible when you consider how they have almost always won the pennant.
As for Lautenberg, has anyone noticed the statue of him shaking hands with someone at the Secaucus Junction transfer station? It actually looks like his other hand is picking the pocket of the gentleman he is shaking hands with. I’ll see if I can find it on google images.
Being s Red Scoks fan could be allot worse, just be a sad sack Mets fan. Team is like billions in debt and Piazza book is coming out. I wonder if he will mention getting hit in the chin by more balls than Gary Carter?
nope. Can’t find it. Will snap a picture next time I’m in there.
How can Piazza come out if he has a wife and kids?
Ragnar – McGreevey? No proof so we can only joke.
How can he deny it with Robbie Alomar sitting on his mustache?
How can Piazza come out if he has a wife and kids?
Enhorabuena por tu sitio web, muy interesante, lo seguiremos a partir de ahora desde Almeria