From the Record:
NJ mortgage woes easing, but still worse than US
The worst may be over for distressed homeowners in New Jersey, though foreclosure misery remains higher in the state than in the nation as a whole, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.
About 16 percent – one in six – of the mortgaged properties in the state were either in foreclosure or late on payments in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the MBA. That’s down from almost 18 percent a year earlier, according to the MBA.
New Jersey’s rate of mortgage distress compares with a national rate of 9.57 percent, or about one in 10 homes with a mortgage. New Jersey has been slower than the nation as a whole to work through the foreclosure crisis, which grew out of lax lending standards during the housing boom, as well as the recession that cost many homeowners their jobs. New Jersey is among the roughly two dozen states in which foreclosures go through the courts, which slows the process.
“States with judicial foreclosure systems still account for most of the loans in foreclosure,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s chief economist.
In addition, New Jersey foreclosure activity slowed to a trickle in the wake of questions about whether the mortgage industry was trampling on homeowners’ legal rights in their rush to evict.
But New Jersey has started the foreclosure pipeline moving again. According to the MBA, the state ranks second in the number of foreclosures started during the fourth quarter, right after Maryland.
Nationally, foreclosure and delinquency rates fell to their lowest levels since the first quarter of 2008, the MBA said.
“We continue to see substantial improvement in both delinquency and foreclosure rates, with most measures now back to pre-crisis levels,” Fratantoni said. He said the percentage of foreclosure starts, at 0.54 percent, is back to long-term norms.
Good Morning New Jersey
But New Jersey has started the foreclosure pipeline moving again.
It’s not a pipeline when nothing comes out the other end (cue constipation jokes).
From the Star Ledger:
NJ life: Here comes the snow thaw, and the roof leaks
This is just too hard to resist.
But when it comes to ice build-up dams in gutters, you’re ice dammed if you do, and ice dammed if you don’t.
Try to chip away the frozen stuff, and you break your roof shingles. Break your shingles and the roof becomes porous, and melting snow meanders into the house like a gently trickling stream, but the trickle is in your living room.
But if you wait for the ice to melt on its own, it will block the faster-melting snow from running, creating a rooftop pool, not of the sunny resort kind.
So here comes the thaw, and here comes the boom.
“When you get a rapid thaw, ceilings will be falling all over the place,” said Arnold Roeland, owner of Roeland Home Improvers in Denville.
The snow, the ice, the bleakness, the claustrophobia of mountains of plowed, dirty white stuff. All of that was just a preamble to the thaw.
Now come the roof leaks, ceiling collapses, bursting pipes, all the stuff your father called “the joys of home ownership,” while pumping out the basement.
The big problem, for now, are the ice dams. There are few things as wondrous and beautiful as icicles glistening in the sun. But they are, as the saying goes, the tip of the iceberg, because behind every icicle is a gutter full of the hard, impenetrable stuff. Hundreds of pounds worth, that will rip a gutter from a house. That’s if the homeowner is lucky.
Gee – So why would there be a concerted effort to block thousands of homes in the foreclosure process? Could it be because the state wants come in and scoop them up? Becoming the largest low-income landlord in the state? Suppose if this was the plan, you’d need to hold up the foreclosure process until you had legislation in place to allow it, otherwise, they’d just go back into the private market.
From the Star Ledger:
Bill to let state buy foreclosed homes passes Assembly panel
Shocked..
A state Assembly committee yesterday passed a bill that would let a state agency buy foreclosed properties and convert them into affordable housing.
The bill (A-470) would create the New Jersey Foreclosure Relief Corporation under the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. The corporation would buy foreclosed residential properties and turn them into affordable housing.
“Abandoned properties are a burden to municipalities,” Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Burlington) said in a statement, “especially ones already struggling financially. … This bill would not only help rid municipalities of these troublesome properties, but replace them with affordable housing.”
Under the measure approved by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, the municipality with the foreclosed property would have the chance to buy it using its own funds or money from its affordable housing trust fund.
No way this isn’t going to be rife with corruption…
If a municipality declines, the corporation could buy the foreclosed property and transfer the deed to a community development organization or a developer.
Dear Oracle of Scores (aka jj),
thanks for your yesterday comments about home trading up. in a couple of weeks i’ll ask about bonus allocation.
from last nite
Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:
February 20, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Define “irony”:
From CNN Money:
“Colorado expects to take in about $184 million in tax revenue from marijuana in the first 18 months after legislation — and much of that money will be funneled into teaching kids to stay away from pot.”
anon (the good one) says:
February 20, 2014 at 6:28 pm
Define “advanced civilization which realizes that the war on drugs is hugely wasteful on many levels and therefore regulation, taxation and prevention are better options”
From CNN Money:
“Colorado expects to take in about $184 million in tax revenue from marijuana in the first 18 months after legislation — and much of that money will be funneled into teaching kids to stay away from pot.”
“If a municipality declines, the corporation could buy the foreclosed property and transfer the deed to a community development organization or a developer.”
F.*cking joke. Nepotism running wild…..
Doesn’t anyone remember Sharpe James?!
War on pot seems a bit silly when our own Presidents are celebrated pot smokers. Always wanted to start a band – thinking about Slick Willy and the Choom Gang.
“On April 16, 2008, Sharpe James was convicted on five counts of fraud by a federal jury for conspiring to rig the sale of nine city lots to his mistress, who quickly resold them for hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit.”
all wars are big, profitable business
@MotherJones: Why there’s an even larger racial disparity in private prisons than in public ones: http://t.co/Xv7p6fJUG5 http://t.co/DGuVma6gZJ
grim says:
February 21, 2014 at 7:52 am
War on pot seems a bit silly when our own Presidents are celebrated pot smokers. Always wanted to start a band – thinking about Slick Willy and the Choom Gang.
I’m all for allowing people the means to destroy themselves should they choose to do so.
Just don’t come to me looking for money when they do.
[8] anon,
And your point was . . .?
that the war on drugs is hugely wasteful on many levels and therefore regulation, taxation and prevention are better options
Comrade Nom Deplume, back as Captain Justice says:
February 21, 2014 at 8:17 am
[8] anon,
And your point was . . .?
[10] grim
” Slick Willy and the Choom Gang.”
Sounds like KC and the Sunshine Band. Got a lyric for you.
“Roll yourself a bone, smoke a little weed,
Get Stoned Tonight,
Get Stoned Tonight!”
Lucky for Christie he didn’t have to ask you to finance the high price lawyers defending his obvious lies, he just took your tax money. Also lucky for the port authority, since they get 13 bucks a pop for every car in their tunnels they don’t have to ask you either.
“I’m all for allowing people the means to destroy themselves should they choose to do so.
Just don’t come to me looking for money when they do.”
[15] anon,
Yes, painfully obvious, that. But I fail to see how it vitiates the view that there seems to be a certain irony, even hypocrisy, in the fact that Colo is taking tax revenue from pot and spending it to keep people from smoking pot. Admittedly, states do the same for cigarettes. And I won’t even go to the point that the left wants cigarettes outlawed.
Now, if you’re saying that we have irony upon irony here, well that’s fine. It’s a nice commentary on the problems of governing a deeply conflicted electorate. But when you reply to a post of mine, it usually isn’t to expand on my remarks.
I’d be for decriminalizing it. Punishments for posession and distribution are too harsh. Marijuana users should not be felons.
15.anon (the good one) says:
February 21, 2014 at 8:20 am
that the war on drugs is hugely wasteful on many levels and therefore regulation, taxation and prevention are better options
Comrade Nom Deplume, back as Captain Justice says:
February 21, 2014 at 8:17 am
[8] anon,
And your point was . . .?
17 Otto
They are all criminals, as are most politicians, dem or repub, with few exceptions.
They have legal protection as they and their friends have written the laws together for mutual benefit.
The game is rigged as always.
5
Buy the distressed properties for how much? the amount of the outstanding balance or 16 cents on the dollar?
19
Prisons and the justice system make their money thru churning.
21.
If the prices go low enough (even for Eddie to purchase), maybe people will stop complaining about the taxes………
Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. SNL reference.
“But when it comes to ice build-up dams in gutters, you’re ice dammed if you do, and ice dammed if you don’t.”
Gutter along the front of the house came crashing down last night around 11:30. Woke us up. Full of Ice, heavy, crash.
23- Lmao
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/02/nj_woman_sues_dunkin_donuts_after_getting_burned_when_hot_cider_spilled.html#incart_river_default
Great suggestion over on CNN for the grudge match between Canada and the US in hockey.
“Loser has to keep Justin Bieber.”
Nom the Horror
Hope the men don’t pull a choke job like the women
[28] pain,
I’m waiting for JJ to weigh in on that.
[19] street,
Twice I tried to post an excursus with policy points however for some reason, my iPad isn’t uploading it. I give up.
Nom hehe. Did not even realize it when I typed it
Another state joins Indiana in saying: ‘Court: As a matter of law, we find the arrest was unlawful but F.U. anyway… guilty.’
http://azcourts.gov/Portals/0/OpinionFiles/Div1/2009/1%20CA-CR%2008-0615.PDF
Quick summary: Customer threatens convenience store clerk. Clerk calls police. Clerk chooses to finish checking out a different customer instead of talking with the police immediately. Clerk is arrested and charged with contempt of cop (obstructing). Other charges are stacked on to try to cover the cop’s tracks (resisting arrest and assault on an officer). Goes to trial; jury trial denied (shockingly). After bench trial, judge finds that the arrest was unlawful, the assault was anything but-just an accident… BUT even though the arrest was unlawful, the person did resist and they’re guilty. And it was upheld on appeal.
The slogan of only cops and rapists: “Stop resisting”
[32] Joyce,
I direct your attention to page 12 of the opinion. State law is explicit on this point. The court could rule no other way except to overturn the state law as unconstitutional, an argument that hadn’t been made.
I’m surprised that the court entertained the appeal or wrote such a lengthy opinion. Nonetheless, it is a good overview of the topic and applicable law.
Comrade,
Thanks for the response. I’ve read the entire opinion. The individuals that wear the robe hide behind a certain law or precedent only when it suits their or some(one’s) purpose and similarly, they can and have ignored/overturned precedents and laws when they want as it suits another purpose at the time.
“Permitting an individual to resort to self-help to escape from an illegal arrest, rather than seeking a remedy through the legal system, would invite violence and endanger public safety,” …. The enlightened court carefully ignores the fact that an arrest itself IS aggresion & violence, and an unlawful arrest is nothing more than kidnapping. Furthermore, during an unlawful arrest it is possibe for one to suffer more injuries other than temporary lost of liberty such as physical injury and even death. Let’s take the former first, you’re injured and the arrest is deemed unlawful… so the taxpayers make you whole. If you die, the taxpayers make you heirs whole? Not much of a consolation for the dead.
[23] “jury trial denied (shockingly)”
The opinion says on page 4 that “Bear waived her right to a jury trial.”
[34] joyce,
Having worked in the judicial branch, I think that is an unfair characterization, especially for federal courts and state courts at the higher levels.
Happy,
I’ll respond as to why I wrote that a little later, have to find the source.
Comrade,
I could post numerous examples which I think demostrate otherwise. Whether or not they are a drop in the bucket, I wouldn’t know. Whether or not they only represent cases that are high-profile with moderate to a lot of attension, I wouldn’t know. That said, my comment was about ignoring or hiding behind statutory laws & precedents to fit their desired outcome… if I were to change that to constitutional language (state/federal), would you still respond the same way?
[34] “The individuals that wear the robe hide behind a certain law or precedent only when it suits their or some(one’s) purpose and similarly, they can and have ignored/overturned precedents and laws when they want”
[36] “Having worked in the judicial branch, I think that is an unfair characterization, especially for federal courts and state courts at the higher levels.”
I have similar professional experience, and I’d say Joyce is pretty much spot on.
At the end of the day the law is what the court says it is; at the very end of the day the law is what 5 “supreme” people say it is. End of story.
Parking garage at Short Hills mall collapsed. Must have just happened.
The laws were originally created for one sole purpose, to protect the property of the wealthy. This is the bottom line reason as to why laws were initially created. Hence, why the court follows the path of interpreting the law usually to the benefit of a chosen class. I said it before and I’ll say it again, you can rob a bank of 5,000 and go to jail for a long time. Commit a white collar crime in which you steal millions through fraud, and end up with no jail time. It’s a beautiful legal system. Fair indeed. I’m sure there are a lot of upper class individuals robbing banks, and I’m sure there are plenty of poor people pulling off corporate fraud, must be why the law is setup the way it is.
“At the end of the day the law is what the court says it is; at the very end of the day the law is what 5 “supreme” people say it is. End of story.”
Now this is my kind of bunker!
http://money.cnn.com/video/pf/2014/02/20/pf-uh-laguna-rockhome.cnnmoney/index.html
Okay, pseudo bunker.
Hey FlabMax…check this one out….so stunningly arrogant I am without words….what a fcuking as%wipe……regardless of the merits of his opinion, he should just recuse himself from any participation….
BARTONVILLE, Texas—One evening last November, a tall, white-haired man turned up at a Town Council meeting to protest construction of a water tower near his home in this wealthy community outside Dallas.
The man was Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp.
He and his neighbors had filed suit to block the tower, saying it is illegal and would create “a noise nuisance and traffic hazards,” in part because it would provide water for use in hydraulic fracturing. Fracking, which requires heavy trucks to haul and pump massive amounts of water, unlocks oil and gas from dense rock and has helped touch off a surge in U.S. energy output.
It also is a core part of Exxon’s business.
While the lawsuit Mr. Tillerson joined cites the side effects of fracking, a lawyer representing the Exxon CEO said he hadn’t complained about such disturbances. “I have other clients who were concerned about the potential for noise and traffic problems, but he’s never expressed that to me or anyone else,” said Michael Whitten, who runs a small law practice in Denton, Texas. Mr. Whitten said Mr. Tillerson’s primary concern is that his property value would be harmed.
An Exxon spokesman said Mr. Tillerson declined to comment. The company “has no involvement in the legal matter” and its directors weren’t told of Mr. Tillerson’s participation, the spokesman said.
The dispute over the 160-foot water tower goes beyond possible nuisances related to fracking. Among the issues raised: whether a water utility has to obey local zoning ordinances and what are the rights of residents who relied on such laws in making multi-million-dollar property investments. The latter point was the focus of Mr. Tillerson’s comments at the November council meeting.
The tower would be almost 15 stories tall, adjacent to the 83-acre horse ranch Mr. Tillerson and his wife own and a short distance from their 18-acre homestead. Mr. Tillerson sat for a three-hour deposition in the lawsuit last May, attended an all-day mediation session in September and has spoken out against the tower during at least two Town Council meetings, according to public records and people involved with the case.
The Exxon chief isn’t the most vocal or well-known opponent of the tower. He and his wife are suing under the name of their horse ranch, Bar RR Ranches LLC, along with three other couples. The lead plaintiffs are former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey and his wife, who have become fixtures at Town Council meetings.
Mr. Whitten, who also represents the Armeys, said they declined to comment.
The water tower is being built by Cross Timbers Water Supply Corp., a nonprofit utility that has supplied water to the region for half a century. Cross Timbers says that it is required by state law to build enough capacity to serve growing demand.
“We’re a high water-usage area,” said utility President Patrick McDonald. “People have large lots, lawns, horses, cattle, goats, swimming pools, gardens,” he said. Cross Timbers, formerly known as Bartonville Water Supply, said it would sell leftover supplies to energy companies during months when overall demand is low.
Bartonville’s population has increased almost 50% since 2000, to about 1,600, according to U.S. figures.
Mr. Tillerson, 61 years old, moved to Bartonville in 2001 and became CEO in 2006. Since 2007, companies have fracked at least nine shale wells within a mile of the Tillerson home, according to Texas regulatory and real-estate records.
The last to do so was XTO Energy Inc., in August 2009, according to Texas regulators. Mr. Tillerson had just begun talks for Exxon to acquire XTO. Four months later, Exxon swallowed its smaller rival for $25 billion, becoming America’s biggest gas producer.
XTO drills and fracks hundreds of shale wells a year, and the Exxon unit has said it recycles water and ships it on pipelines where feasible, in part to reduce truck traffic.
In 2011, Bartonville denied Cross Timbers a permit to build the water tower, saying the location was reserved for residences. The water company sued, arguing that it is exempt from municipal zoning because of its status as a public utility.
In May 2012, a state district court judge agreed with Cross Timbers and compelled the town to issue a permit. The utility resumed construction as the town appealed the decision.
Later that year, the Armeys, the Tillersons and their co-plaintiffs sued Cross Timbers, saying that the company had promised them it wouldn’t build a tower near their properties. They also filed a brief in support of the town’s appeal.
Last March, an appellate judge reversed the district judge’s decision saying he had overstepped his jurisdiction and sent the case back to the lower court, where it is pending.
Meanwhile, the utility has reached out to Bartonville voters, who in November elected two members to the council who criticized the town’s fight against the tower.
“The council is currently evaluating all options,” said Bill Scherer, Bartonville’s mayor pro tem.
In the wake of the election, Mr. Tillerson was among those who lined up in a windowless hall to address the council. He told officials that he and his wife settled in Bartonville to enjoy a rural lifestyle and invested millions in their property after satisfying themselves that nothing would be built above their tree line, according to the council’s audio recording of the meeting.
Allowing the tower in defiance of town ordinances could open the door to runaway development and might prompt him to leave town, Mr. Tillerson told the council. “I cannot stay in a place,” he said, “where I do not know who to count on and who not to count on.”
“Under the plan, the city’s retired general employees, represented by AFSCME, wouldn’t get as much as police and firefighters. If Rhodes approves the plan as-is, the general workers would be forced to take 66 percent of their current pensions. If the workers voluntarily accept the proposal, they would get 74 percent, and police and firefighters 96 percent, according to the filing.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-21/detroit-files-plan-to-resolve-18-billion-bankruptcy.html
43
And CNN’s article says bondholders receiving new securities worth 20-40% of face.
@GarySzatkowski: These storms are moving very fast, at speeds up to 60 mph. They will move in very quickly. Be prepared.
Garrick Utley<Vigoda
[38] renter,
I can’t speak to your experiences or how they informed your views.
And I can’t even begin to speak to the assertion that judges “hide behind” statutes and precedents. Is that an argument that all judges must be activist? Or is it an argument that not being activist is somehow activist? I’m not really sure.
This begs the question as to what the authors think the role of a judge should be.
Hell, I’m not even going to get into the distinction between law and equity. It would make a few heads explode.
Nice fact of the day:
Actor Kevin Spacey has an adopted German Shepherd-Mastiff mix named “Boston”.
Buying a home is no longer a no-brainer, whether you are buying as an investment or to live in it.
That is the message to draw from current measures of value in many metropolitan markets.
The fundamentals have changed from six months ago, when some economists and analysts said that low prices and low mortgage rates made it a great time to buy a home in most of the U.S.
The latest thinking is a reflection of how far and how fast home values have climbed. In the year ended in November, home prices rose 14%, as measured by the most-recent S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index.
Some markets, such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco, saw prices rise by more than 20%.
In general, “you can’t buy now and expect a big gain,” says Morris Davis, an associate professor in the real-estate department at the University of Wisconsin’s business school in Madison. “There’s more risk than there was.”
One widely tracked measure of housing costs is the average national home price divided by the average rent. That ratio stood at 14 in the third quarter, according to Moody’s Analytics, using the most recent data. That is above the average ratio of 12 between 1989 and 2003, which is considered a “normal,” preboom home market.
Another measure of value—national prices divided by income—was 1.8 in the third quarter, compared with an average of 1.9 from 1989 to 2003.
Some major cities are looking even more out of whack. San Francisco has a price/rent ratio of 32, compared with its average of 28 between 1989 and 2003, according to Moody’s. New York’s Nassau County price/rent ratio is 19, compared with its 14 average, and Austin, Texas, has a ratio of 24, compared with an average of 16.
Price/income ratios for those markets didn’t look more promising. San Francisco had a ratio of 4.8, 19% above its preboom average. The metro area that includes Nassau County had a ratio of 1.9, 8.4% above its average, and Austin had a ratio of 2.2, 27% above its average.
“Price growth has been very strong, but it’s unsustainably strong,” says Moody’s senior director Celia Chen.
Other metro areas—such as Chicago, Cleveland and Memphis—look relatively cheap, or at least not overpriced, based on both price/rent and price/income ratios.
If you are considering buying a home, there are a couple of easy steps you can take to ensure you aren’t overpaying.
No matter how expensive your overall town looks, keep in mind that all real estate is local, says Edward Pinto, co-director of the International Center on Housing Risk at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
Mr. Pinto recommends checking the estimated rent of a potential home purchase using the “Rent Zestimate” feature on the website Zillow.com. As a gut check, you can look up actual rental asking prices in the same neighborhood to see how close the estimate comes.
Divide the annual rent by the home price to see how much of a “yield” you would get if you had to rent the home in a pinch. For example, a home with an asking price of $500,000 and an estimated monthly rent of $3,000—or $36,000 annually—would have a yield of 7.2%, before homeownership costs such as maintenance and taxes.
A yield of 8% or more means that buying is a relative bargain, Mr. Pinto says. A number below 5% should make a buyer wary, and something in between 5% and 8% should be safe for a buyer who plans to stay in the same home for at least five years, he says.
The good news is that 30-year fixed-mortgage rates still are low at about 4.5%, close to where they were six months ago.
Given weakness in the economy, there is an equal chance that rates will rise or fall in the next year, making it unnecessary to rush to buy just to capture a low rate, Mr. Pinto says.
If a homeowner does buy, he should expect to about break even if he sells five years down the road, says Wisconsin’s Mr. Davis, factoring in selling costs such as real-estate agent commissions.
“You can’t buy now and expect a capital gain in the short term,” he says. “That’s over.”