From the Record:
Spring housing market: Prices are up but number of sales is down
Two weeks after the Vermeulen family put their Woodcliff Lake home on the market this spring, they had a signed contract.
The Burghoffer family also sold their house, on Greenwood Lake in West Milford, this spring — but that sale took more than a year and a half.
As the two deals suggest, this spring’s housing market has been uneven, with some towns that are hot and some that are not. Overall, prices are up, but the number of sales is down from 2013, which was the healthiest spring since before the housing bust.
“There’s no question that home-buying activity is slower this year than last year,” said Jeffrey Otteau, a widely followed East Brunswick appraiser who tracks the market statewide. He said that from January through April, home sales were down about 10 percent statewide. (The New Jersey Association of Realtors reports a similar sales drop for Bergen and Passaic counties.)
The slowdown in activity surprised Otteau, who said, “I thought the momentum in 2013 was going to carry over to 2014.”
The spring market is an important bellwether for real estate because it’s traditionally the busiest time of year. Many people like to move in the summer, so their children can start at their new schools in September.
…
Even with the drop in sales, Otteau said prices are up statewide about 4.8 percent in the first quarter over the comparable period last year — and up a stronger 9.6 percent in Bergen County and 5.8 percent in Passaic.A lot of real estate agents blame the cold, snowy winter for delaying the start of the spring market, which — despite its name — typically gets under way in February.
“It took sellers a lot longer than expected to get their homes ready for the spring market because of the long, harsh winter, so many sellers are just getting their homes on the market now,” said Ron Aiosa, a Coldwell Banker agent in Butler.
“You might get a delayed spring market,” said John Pordon, a Century 21 agent in Totowa. “The spring market might be in the summer.”
But Otteau said that other factors were at play this spring, including higher prices, which made homes less affordable; tight inventory, which gave buyers fewer choices; mortgage lending standards that remain strict, which have shut many potential buyers out of the market.
The market’s overall profile masks a patchwork — some towns are hot, agents say, and some are not. Buyers snap up properties in towns with lower property taxes, commuter-rail access to New York City or the highest-ranked school systems. A number of real estate agents say they’ve never been busier and that well-priced, well-maintained homes often attract multiple offers because there are not enough of them on the market.
…
“This has been my best spring since the crash in 2008,” said Rita Lutzer, a Re/Max agent in Saddle River, who sells a lot of homes in Ramsey.“Once the warmer temperatures hit in March, activity went through the roof on listings and sales, especially in the price range of $300,000 to $450,000,” said Barbara Ostroth of Coldwell Banker in Oradell.
Other agents see a more subdued market.
“I just don’t think it’s as busy as it should be for this time of year,” said Margrit Vogler, a Coldwell Banker agent in Oradell. She sees a lot of activity in towns with lower property taxes, like Paramus, but less movement in others.
…
But those buyers have fewer choices this year. Inventory has been tight, especially of well-priced, well-maintained homes.According to the New Jersey Association of Realtors, the supply of homes for sale in April was down 12.5 percent from a year earlier in Bergen and down 8.6 percent in Passaic. The reason: Homeowners are unwilling to list their homes because they can’t get the prices they need or want. In particular, homeowners who bought during the housing boom often owe more on their mortgage than the home is worth.
“They can’t sell their houses for a price high enough to pay off the existing mortgage and leave them with equity,” Otteau said.
Although the low supply has begun pushing up prices, buyers are wary of overpaying after seeing how earlier buyers were hurt in the recent housing boom and bust. Even with recent increases, property values in the region are still an average 20 percent below their peaks, according to Otteau and the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index — though Otteau said prices have recovered more in Bergen County than in the state as a whole.
Frist
Vol is low, VIx is low, interest rates low, jobless claims data okay, retail sales data tbd, CDS spreads on financials way down, stock market reaching new highs and will probably keep going awhile.
Where do you want to invest?
[2] juice,
One metric I am following is pension drawdowns. When the boomers start drawing on 401(k)s and pensions faster than others pay in, managers are gonna have to start selling and selling a lot. It may not lead to a crash because the selling is expected and incremental but it will put a lid on the market.
3 – Strongly suspect this was the same reason that none of the housing bailout options included a penalty free 401k withdrawal option (which might have made sense, in the context of bailing yourself out).
yes, truly shameful the way we treat our veterans, neither W nor Obama were able to do anything about it. we just don’t want to pay. they fight for profits for big oil and the the freedom of 1%, but fukc if they are going to pay for it. Sen Sanders has a bill to address this situation and will see what happens. we all are proud irrational, extreme right wing Fundamentalist like Ragnar and don’t care about our veterans.
Godzilla knows corruption says:
June 8, 2014 at 4:59 pm
Anon #23.
But do you realize the amount of these foster kids whose choice is either homelessness or The Armed Forces? Who then sign up for the Armed Services and did tours in our wars in the last 20+yrs, and went on to see nasty things.
So start out emotionally compromised/cripple because of lack of family. Add a nice dose of nice traumatic experience leaving the 96% that are not sociopath suffering PTSD (the 4% sociopath can handle it and actually thrive in it).
Compounding the problem is the following. The armed forces are very good at screening out the mentally ill. Mental illness usually shows up in late adolescence and early twenties. During the draft era these kids were medically discharged and sent to the VA Health System. During our present volunteer era, the armed forces needs all the bodies it could get, so they get heavily medicated and sent back or kept in duty.
So add up all of the above, and you can see there is no VA, or entity that is able to put humpty dumpty back together. What we as a society going to encounter socially over the next 40+ yrs is nasty. As all these angry PTSD humpty dumpty stumble through life. Anyone here that dealt with a Viet Nam service era dysfunctional relative think of that and double it.
anon (the good one) says:
June 8, 2014 at 3:11 pm
@kasperka: For many of the 1.1m homeless children enrolled in US public schools, college education just seems out of reach http://t.co/wvxZTFzaDG
Here is your 1%:
http://www.northjersey.com/mobile/news/north-jersey-police-retirees-cash-in-while-lawmakers-stall-1.1031530
According to the New Jersey Association of Realtors, the supply of homes for sale in April was down 12.5 percent from a year earlier in Bergen and down 8.6 percent in Passaic. The reason: Homeowners are unwilling to list their homes because they can’t get the prices they need or want. In particular, homeowners who bought during the housing boom often owe more on their mortgage than the home is worth.
“They can’t sell their houses for a price high enough to pay off the existing mortgage and leave them with equity,” Otteau said.
Any questions?
(From Yesterday):
I went to see this one. Beautiful, right? Awesome price, right? Wrong and wrong. Pictures are deceiving, are they not? A vast, cavernous space greets you as you walk through the front door. I saw a zillion dollar signs trying to heat the place. The open foyer and landing above has got to be 40% of the house. Immense open, wasted space!
The whole place was totally illogical. The kitchen was a wreck – both in layout and otherwise. Look at it. It’s 10 times worse in person. The cabinets were cardboard. The upstairs main bath had a tub inlay over the old one. The master bedroom didn’t have a walk in type closet but the other two bedrooms did. There was an obscure office space on the first floor.
There were so many little wasted openings, carpet over plywood and strange layouts – too numerous to mention. This one was a real chop shop job. What a shame.
http://www.trulia.com/property/3153981294-17-Cottage-Ln-Upper-Saddle-River-NJ-07458
gary, your tolerance for schlepping to look at these shitboxes is baffling.
6- Grim, this is what I have said all along. Too bad the regular workers making nothing take the heat for this bs. Btw, I don’t consider cops to be regular workers. They all make 6 figures and retire with way higher pensions than all other govt workers.
“Those are legislators and executives and school boards and governors and freeholders and town council people,” he said. “Those are the people where the light should shine.” -See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/north-jersey-police-retirees-cash-in-while-lawmakers-stall-1.1031530?page=2#sthash.eszsMNTl.dpuf
Shelter in place.
This will be the catchphrase for the first half of the millenium.
Meat,
You would have been stunned at the number of things wrong with this house. The pictures do zero justice. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.
Anything that makes it all the way to the MLS is garbage…or the seller isn’t qualified.
That is all.
Me likey the crunk juice.
Near me very few good houses go on sale. There are no good houses to trade up to so if you have a half way decent house you sit and stay
Add in Flood Insurance the wild card which is still making folks nervous
Then add in escalating property taxes on bigger houses, underwater houses, and homes that require permits to fix for sale that drive up taxes and the whole market is a mess.
A good house, on a good block, with a good backyard in a none flood zone with low taxes and realistically priced is like Best Buy on Black Friday mobbed. at first open house.
But most houses are not. In particular new construction from 2003 to 2008 is an extremely hard sale as the property taxes are SKY HIGH
Anything that makes it all the way to the MLS is garbage…or the seller isn’t qualified.
Definitely!! There is not even a doubt! This is why I’m trying to find out how to tap these exclusives or pocket listings or even a qualified, f.ucking seller.
7.Grim,
Amazing to me how cops get to retire so early. You would think all of that experience would be good. I guess after 25 years you are no longer able to look for a missing kid or dust for a fingerprint? I understand giving up the beat and patrols, that makes sense. To claim that these guys are worthless after 25 years does not make any sense when soon after they are retired they suddenly become so valuable again. They never lost value to begin with.
“Regardless of profession — whether you’re a doctor, lawyer, schoolteacher — for some folks in terms of their intellect, it’s probably a bit young,” said Assemblyman David Wolfe (R-Ocean), the lead sponsor of the ballot initiative.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/06/debate_swells_on_raising_nj_judges_retirement_age_to_75.html
Debate swells on raising NJ judges’ retirement age to 75
And by the way, I was the only one at that house I went to see yesterday. I was there for 30 minutes and not a single soul showed up. For a house in Upper Saddle River with a price tag in a “lower” range for that town, one would think there would be some activity. Nothing.
This is the 2nd week in a row that I went to a house and no one else showed up. Last week I was in Wyckoff. Never have I seen anything like it. For sure, this is anything but a normal market.
In fact, it may be sicker now than when the sh1t hit the fan. Or, it’s just that we’re in the middle innings of a long, painful slog. There are so many people truly f.ucked and underwater, that it’s mind boggling.
@ussoccer: Arrival Photo: #USMNT exits the plane in São Paulo, Brazil. #1N1T #OneNationOneTeam http://t.co/oFdfhwOOxF
House across the street went relatively quick, but also wasn’t MLS listed:
http://www.century21.com/property/23-sherwood-st-wayne-nj-07470-BHG22061205
They got asking.
This one is MLS listed, and isn’t a bad deal. Wish it had a nicer kitchen, but it also won’t close at $550k.
http://www.coldwellbankermoves.com/property/details/4027280/MLS-1421697/4-Raleigh-Ln-Wayne-NJ-07470.aspx
grim,
Geezus H. C#$#!! That house went for 525K!! Omg! And it wasn’t listed. Go, f.ucking figure!
I could have got it for you cheaper, they would have gone private party. It’s a large house, 5br, 3000sq. I think it sold to a couple with no kids.
Well said
JJ says:
June 9, 2014 at 9:31 am
Near me very few good houses go on sale. There are no good houses to trade up to so if you have a half way decent house you sit and stay
Add in Flood Insurance the wild card which is still making folks nervous
Then add in escalating property taxes on bigger houses, underwater houses, and homes that require permits to fix for sale that drive up taxes and the whole market is a mess.
A good house, on a good block, with a good backyard in a none flood zone with low taxes and realistically priced is like Best Buy on Black Friday mobbed. at first open house.
But most houses are not. In particular new construction from 2003 to 2008 is an extremely hard sale as the property taxes are SKY HIGH
I agree. No guys under 50 should be making chief. When they get to 55, these guys then should get the office jobs in the police department while the 55 and younger stay on the beat. Cops are a joke. They have power and everyone is afraid to go against them.
Phoenix says:
June 9, 2014 at 9:37 am
7.Grim,
Amazing to me how cops get to retire so early. You would think all of that experience would be good. I guess after 25 years you are no longer able to look for a missing kid or dust for a fingerprint? I understand giving up the beat and patrols, that makes sense. To claim that these guys are worthless after 25 years does not make any sense when soon after they are retired they suddenly become so valuable again. They never lost value to begin with.
“Regardless of profession — whether you’re a doctor, lawyer, schoolteacher — for some folks in terms of their intellect, it’s probably a bit young,” said Assemblyman David Wolfe (R-Ocean), the lead sponsor of the ballot initiative.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/06/debate_swells_on_raising_nj_judges_retirement_age_to_75.html
Debate swells on raising NJ judges’ retirement age to 75
grim,
Omg… talk about setting the bar. It doesn’t hurt to send them my way – worst thing we can do is take a look. Another “exclusive listing.” I don’t blame the sellers any longer for slapping some of these prices on their POS houses but some of the buyers that capitulate need an open hand slap.
@EamonJavers: NBC News has obtained criminal complaint in Walmart/Tracy Morgan crash. It says driver Kevin J. Roper had not slept in previous 24 hours.
Eddie,
Why don’t the kitchen cabinets have knobs? Was this a home depot special to try to sell the place?
Fast,
The stare down between buyers and sellers has been going on for 6 mos. now and very few buyers have blinked. Unfortunately sellers are not reducing either, or at least not quickly or meaningfully yet. A 5k reduction when you are 80k overpriced is not going to cut it. My guess is muppets can’t qualify now. When thar loosens, the bubble is back. Right now, the smart wait it out. Desperation coming late this summer then pounce. NAR liars trying every excuse except reality that homes are unrealistically priced.
They should pass a rule you CANT be a cope BEFORE your 35th birthday. You cant offer pensions after 20 years and then hire young people at same time. Bad business model
27 – 9 times out of 10 the contractor provides a price for installed hardware, and inevitably folks fall over at the price of it, decide they are just going to “do it themselves”, and then get overwhelmed by the selection of hardware and the effort associated to install. Or, by that point, they are over budget and it gets axed.
A typical contractor would have charged me, for my kitchen, $2,500 for installed hardware. I paid about $1,200 for the hardware and did the installation myself, which took about 3 days in total (much of which was sitting with a drill in hand, paranoid to put a hole in the cabinet.) Wouldn’t have cost nearly as much, but those shaker latches are brutally expensive compared to knobs, and the fridge/dishwasher pulls are astronomically expensive.
I try to convince myself that it was a good deal, since none of our cabinets actually need childproof latches, since they’ve got them already.
Bystander, I have the said this over and over. The prices are not coming down. Why? Because they can’t. We just had the biggest meltdown in real estate history 6 years ago, and you guys expect it to be humming along by now? Wait for the next decade. 2020s will be very kind to people who buy real estate this decade.
QE program was used to prevent a total collapse of the stock market and real estate. That’s where we are right now. It didn’t collapse, which is what the program intended to do. So if you guys are waiting for sellers to start panicking and selling for you want to pay, you have another thing coming. They rather just sit in their home and wait it out. The sellers are not going to blink. They are in no position to. They need a specific selling price. Until the real estate prices reach this level, they won’t sell, they will just leave their house on the market praying someone will pay this price.
The reason the stock market has rebounded higher than real estate is because wealthy people buy stocks a lot more than they buy avg properties. The top of the real estate market has more than recovered because that’s where QE has put the money, in the hands of the 1%, and the 1% buy expensive real estate. The 1% are not buying avg homes.
Bystander says:
June 9, 2014 at 11:31 am
Fast,
The stare down between buyers and sellers has been going on for 6 mos. now and very few buyers have blinked. Unfortunately sellers are not reducing either, or at least not quickly or meaningfully yet. A 5k reduction when you are 80k overpriced is not going to cut it. My guess is muppets can’t qualify now. When thar loosens, the bubble is back. Right now, the smart wait it out. Desperation coming late this summer then pounce. NAR liars trying every excuse except reality that homes are unrealistically priced.
[26] anon
Regs tell you to take time off but nowhere is actual sleep mandated
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-27/pdf/2011-32696.pdf
Also, lots of people probably thought it was a joke or an Onion article when they heard that New Jersey will charge you for “driving while sleepy” but its true. NJ has this law.
I agree.
I don’t know, maybe I am just jealous. This job seems too good to be true.
JJ says:
June 9, 2014 at 11:50 am
They should pass a rule you CANT be a cope BEFORE your 35th birthday. You cant offer pensions after 20 years and then hire young people at same time. Bad business model
I took the Suffolk county test when I was 23 and got called when I was 27. I could have been retired by now. At the time Suffolk County Long Island was second highest Police force in country. Even more amazing it was a three day workweek wth 8 weeks paid vacation and holidays.
If I did it I would have worked 30 years and gone out on 3/4 pay 57 but still nice to know on my 47 birthday anytime I got sick of it I could walk off.
I turned it down not only I really did not feel like being a cop but the boring factor. Suffolk has single cops in cars and I dont really know anyone in Suffolk county and other than the hamptons pretty boring out there. For a single guy moving from a Manhattan job to driving around god foresaken parts of suffolk in January would be very boring
33.Michael says:
June 9, 2014 at 12:07 pm
I agree.
I don’t know, maybe I am just jealous. This job seems too good to be true.
JJ says:
June 9, 2014 at 11:50 am
They should pass a rule you CANT be a cope BEFORE your 35th birthday. You cant offer pensions after 20 years and then hire young people at same time. Bad business model
Michael,
Nice generalization- I’ll tell that to my buddy who took a 20k hit to sell his home at 2004 price. He said he took an offer that made him wretch the least. He is now leaving with his family for NC. He can live much better life down there. Not everyone is sitting at pole position. People will have to leave and suck it up. Right now, hoping and praying will not change it. Some will bite bullet..have to be patient.
Speaking of knobs, tremendous savings can be had by shopping around for them. I completely freaked when I saw what ALL kitchen places I visited were charging for them. I did a combination of bars for the cabinets and pulls for the drawers all in satin nickel. In total, about 40 pieces of hardware. With a bit of luck and a visit from my father in Florida to the place where they were being sold for a quick quality check, I paid $180!!!
My original estimates were over $1,000, which prompted the search in the first place. I ended up going with a brand named Hafele. Why this particular store was selling the hardware at 10% of what everyone else did is beyond me. Free shipping and no tax too.
20 k hit, no problem, esp leaving for a lower cost of living where you will spend a lot less on housing. Someone staying in the area is most likely not going to take a hit. They are better off waiting it out.
Bystander says:
June 9, 2014 at 12:25 pm
Michael,
Nice generalization- I’ll tell that to my buddy who took a 20k hit to sell his home at 2004 price. He said he took an offer that made him wretch the least. He is now leaving with his family for NC. He can live much better life down there. Not everyone is sitting at pole position. People will have to leave and suck it up. Right now, hoping and praying will not change it. Some will bite bullet..have to be patient.
8 weeks of vacation? Damn, that’s almost as much as teachers get, yet these guys get paid 6 figures, get a way better pension, and can retire early.
JJ says:
June 9, 2014 at 12:22 pm
I took the Suffolk county test when I was 23 and got called when I was 27. I could have been retired by now. At the time Suffolk County Long Island was second highest Police force in country. Even more amazing it was a three day workweek wth 8 weeks paid vacation and holidays.
36 – Agree, find a place to see them – I recommend Hardware Designs in Fairfield (you will not believe this place, they have millions of knobs on display) – and then buy them online. If you are installing them yourself, please do yourself a favor and buy the installation gauges, they will save you quite a bit of time and pain. Do not waste your time with anything at home depot or lowes, it’s mostly garbage.
Here is the deal with cops’ pay in NJ. First look at that 48hrs Cable Shows with homicide investigators. If you notice all the cops in TX and the South are in their 50+. When they do a northeaster show, all the investigators are in their 30’s-40’s. Part is tradition. New Orleans pays their cops really low, and they are also extremely corrupt. So it’s the local/regional areas idea of what is a cop worth.
But NJ is very special. Star Ledger had a list a bit back of the 100 top people making over $100,000 in retirement. No one in the State payroll was on the list. Everyone came from political machine towns. The Hackensacks, Union City, Elizabeth and many like that both Democratic (usually northern NJ) and Republican (Shore areas). ALL of them were politically connected when they got the job and got promoted because of politics.
If you look in depth at that list you’ll see plenty of people that started at 18 and move up the ranks, did their 25yrs and left at lieutenant or higher. When that lieutenant’s position pays $165,000 base pay – retirement at 25 yrs with 65% of salary outs you at $100,000+. Now realize that public safety pays higher into pension (8%) vs regular public employee (5%) so the pay out are totally different.
ALL of them have a much higher than average pay scale because THEY ARE political machine towns. Political machine towns need to keep their worker bees happy. Also political worker bees are expected to buy political machine, local political parties and local community association fundraisers dinner and event tickets. It is a QUID PRO QUO. In the old days they would have had straight cash kickbacks. No one has access to these jobs and pay, unless you know someone, or get involve and do the JJ’s way of knowing and being known at a local level.
However, for anyone planning for retirement here. The best kept secret is to be a senior citizen in one of these political machine towns. The machine revolves around your needs as long as you do absentee ballots with them, and they know they can count on you no matter what. You name it you got it. Subsidize rent, trips to AC, Thanksgiving + Mothers Day + St.Patrick’s day dinner, trips to shows, doctors appointments,etc. In short why move to another state. Let the machine take care of you. So pick your town and enjoy till you drop dead.
And a three day workweek. My neighbor who was a Nassau Cop worked a 37.5 hour work week. Get this he worked a 12 hour day. But since he put on his uniform at home the 15 minute drive to work he got paid for since in uniform expected to pull over if he sees a crime.
Even more crazy he did 7am to 7pm shift, So left house at 6:45 am and got home 7:15 pm pretty much same hours as most folks commute to the city who work five days a week.
He worked Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I asked him once why those days, he said I like a three day weekend every weekend and I take Wed off to run some errands so it dont interupt my three day weekends.
38.Michael says:
June 9, 2014 at 1:15 pm
8 weeks of vacation? Damn, that’s almost as much as teachers get, yet these guys get paid 6 figures, get a way better pension, and can retire early.
JJ says:
June 9, 2014 at 12:22 pm
I took the Suffolk county test when I was 23 and got called when I was 27. I could have been retired by now. At the time Suffolk County Long Island was second highest Police force in country. Even more amazing it was a three day workweek wth 8 weeks paid vacation and holidays.
I believe most of the sheriff departments run 10 hour shifts with 4 days on, 3 days off.
[28] – I think the qualified sellers, those with lots of equity, will be the first to blink and that will be the tipping point. As wealth and equity leave the neighborhoods, only to be replaced debtors, the prices will start a long slide. Those that can will hasten to the exits, those that can’t will just watch it all turn to sh1t around them. Suburbs = future ghetto.
The stare down between buyers and sellers has been going on for 6 mos. now and very few buyers have blinked.
#37,
Oh, I forgot to mention 60k he put into it that is lost. 20k was his cash to close. Keep believing that NY is invisible though. I’m sure these “sellers” love having open houses twice a month and their home show ready at a moments notice while living there. That might eat away at their willingness to ride it out for another decade.
44 – Let me get this straight, this person purchased a home during the bubble … and then subsequently sold at the bottom, resulting in a major loss?
Sounds exactly like the kind of guy I want to take financial or real estate advice from, let me guess, he was a day trader during the dot com boom too?
And now he’s moving to NC? Let me know when I can take the other side of that bet. He’s 2 for 2, I bet he goes 3 for 3.
Just my 2 cents.
If you can deal with the noise of 280, this looks like a nice place. Bet it goes for more.
http://www.weichert.com/52671378/
[31] Michael – Maybe you would like show us where next decade’s buyers are lurking in the demographic spectrum? As extra credit maybe you could tell us where and how they will earn their escalating incomes necessary for real price expansion?
http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/demographics_profile.html
Wait for the next decade. 2020s will be very kind to people who buy real estate this decade.
grim [45],
He’s no different than the 157,424 muppets that are waiting to get slaughtered. Just change the script slightly but it’s the same outcome. They’ll all have to wait a loooong f.ucking time to come out ahead, if they do at all before they’re dead.
And I agree with ExPat; I think these unicorn suburbs are slowly feeling the effects of ghetto creep. You think towns like Paramus and River Edge haven’t succumbed already? Take a look at Dumont and Bergenfield, they have a nice ghetto feel to them and they were once haughty in their own right. Fair Lawn? Dying. You think Wyckoff and Ridgewood are exempt? Give it 10 years. Fairview was the bomb back in the day. Now? It’s an extension of Union City.
What about the realtor fee to sell, transaction costs too?
44.Bystander says:
June 9, 2014 at 2:08 pm
#37,
Oh, I forgot to mention 60k he put into it that is lost. 20k was his cash to close. Keep believing that NY is invisible though. I’m sure these “sellers” love having open houses twice a month and their home show ready at a moments notice while living there. That might eat away at their willingness to ride it out for another decade.
This is just crazy 80,000 children are now entering the US unaccompanied and cannot be sent back home.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2653063/Republicans-claim-Obama-policy-enticed-tens-thousands-homeless-illegal-immigrant-children-cross-border-landing-secret-government-holding-pens.html
Do you mean 16 year old asian girls headed towards rub and tug places or actual children?
Juice – awesome i always wanted my own orphanage for making doo dads for the american people. i wonder if there will be an auction>
#45 Grim,
Pretty arrogant post. He bought when he had two young kids in Queens apt. He was working in Stamford and had to move further up line to get affordable house. He was let go in 2008 then had to commute to city, 2 hrs each way. He was promoted to director recently and now has choice to work out of NC office. He is choosing that route. Nice that you can now judge though. Bubble went on for 5 years. Some people had to make tough choices and buying in a bubble was one of them unfortunately. I am trying to avoid his fate by not buying at someone’s fantasy price.
Give those kids to the Bon Secours nuns/ Catholic Church.
I heard they know how to handle unwanted children.
Give those kids to the Bon Secours nuns/ Catholic Church.
I heard they know how to handle unwanted children.
Juice Box says:
June 9, 2014 at 3:37 pm
This is just crazy 80,000 children are now entering the US unaccompanied and cannot be sent back home.
[50] juice,
I heard that story last week but I cannot recall where; it isn’t getting any airplay here.
Probably the most shameful of the Obama defalcations. The kids are met at the buses after they cross and driven over. There’s video of it and it looks like a welcoming reception. The tacit understanding is that the administration won’t send them back and will rely on the next admin. not doing so either because of the bad PR optic.
Naturally, all the little ones will be encouraged to vote democratic and a few may be taught a new song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO3NBqT3LBc
Here are the ones I have no sympathy for:
-bagholders who HELOC’ed into oblivion and spent money on trips or putting a chef’s kitchen into a crummy ranch.
-old fools asking a bubble price while the grim reaper waits in their foyer.
-greedy kids whose parents are still warm in ground, asking top dollar for the rotting crypt.
-flippers who slapped paint on a home bought last year and now want 200k profit
Believe me, the above represents more sellers today than the poor schlep who tried to do right but just mistimed the purchase. I can’t categorize within 10 secs inside home.
Bystander [53];
My first was born in ’05, my second in ’08, I bought my house in ’12. Not everyone “had” to buy, or was a victim who tripped over the closing table and ended up owning a bubble shack. Yes, everyone faces pressures and circumstances. They also have the capacity for judgment and restraint.
Can categorize, I meant.
Anon,
Agree..he got rushed into so-so town, but he had 2 year old and 1 year old back in 2004, as well as single income. How long can you wait? This is all hindsight. He was doing reverse commute to CT. Could he have predicted in 2004 that he would be let go in 2008?
He did not HELOC, speculate or buy above his means..just unfortunate timing and issue of life moving forward.
Bystander who could forget? “Suzanne Researched This”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPIxrzmatq0
re # 57 -nice dig on Grim “or putting a chef’s kitchen into a crummy ranch.”
re# 58 – It is tough to get women to disregard their nesting instinct. I should write a book about it.
Juice [63];
We should talk, then. I’m still waiting for the nesting instinct to assert itself.
Grim, have a look at Horton Brasses for some fantastic solid brass hardware that’s Made in the USA since 1936:
http://www.horton-brasses.com
Great post!!!
grim says:
June 9, 2014 at 2:11 pm
44 – Let me get this straight, this person purchased a home during the bubble … and then subsequently sold at the bottom, resulting in a major loss?
Sounds exactly like the kind of guy I want to take financial or real estate advice from, let me guess, he was a day trader during the dot com boom too?
And now he’s moving to NC? Let me know when I can take the other side of that bet. He’s 2 for 2, I bet he goes 3 for 3.
Just my 2 cents.
Bystander, no offense, but grim and moose are on point. He made a mistake. A big mistake. You can make whatever excuse you want for him, but 2003-2009 were really dumb times to buy real estate. Anyone with half a brain when it comes to investing in real estate knew not to buy. One’s drunken on greed bought. Other buyers just lacked any type of investment mindset, which unfortunately applies to the majority of the population. You are never ever forced to buy.
Anon E. Moose says:
June 9, 2014 at 4:23 pm
Bystander [53];
My first was born in ’05, my second in ’08, I bought my house in ’12. Not everyone “had” to buy, or was a victim who tripped over the closing table and ended up owning a bubble shack. Yes, everyone faces pressures and circumstances. They also have the capacity for judgment and restraint.
Who is this guy? Man, he is good!!! Amazing breakdown of nj politics. Simply amazing!
Godzilla knows corruption says:
June 9, 2014 at 1:37 pm
Here is the deal with cops’ pay in NJ. First look at that 48hrs Cable Shows with homicide investigators. If you notice all the cops in TX and the South are in their 50+. When they do a northeaster show, all the investigators are in their 30′s-40′s. Part is tradition. New Orleans pays their cops really low, and they are also extremely corrupt. So it’s the local/regional areas idea of what is a cop worth.
But NJ is very special. Star Ledger had a list a bit back of the 100 top people making over $100,000 in retirement. No one in the State payroll was on the list. Everyone came from political machine towns. The Hackensacks, Union City, Elizabeth and many like that both Democratic (usually northern NJ) and Republican (Shore areas). ALL of them were politically connected when they got the job and got promoted because of politics.
If you look in depth at that list you’ll see plenty of people that started at 18 and move up the ranks, did their 25yrs and left at lieutenant or higher. When that lieutenant’s position pays $165,000 base pay – retirement at 25 yrs with 65% of salary outs you at $100,000+. Now realize that public safety pays higher into pension (8%) vs regular public employee (5%) so the pay out are totally different.
ALL of them have a much higher than average pay scale because THEY ARE political machine towns. Political machine towns need to keep their worker bees happy. Also political worker bees are expected to buy political machine, local political parties and local community association fundraisers dinner and event tickets. It is a QUID PRO QUO. In the old days they would have had straight cash kickbacks. No one has access to these jobs and pay, unless you know someone, or get involve and do the JJ’s way of knowing and being known at a local level.
However, for anyone planning for retirement here. The best kept secret is to be a senior citizen in one of these political machine towns. The machine revolves around your needs as long as you do absentee ballots with them, and they know they can count on you no matter what. You name it you got it. Subsidize rent, trips to AC, Thanksgiving + Mothers Day + St.Patrick’s day dinner, trips to shows, doctors appointments,etc. In short why move to another state. Let the machine take care of you. So pick your town and enjoy till you drop dead.
We are a consumer based economy. You think wages are going to stay down forever. Wage inflation will come, and it will come hard. Just give it some time to get out of the deep recession. We are almost there.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
June 9, 2014 at 2:28 pm
[31] Michael – Maybe you would like show us where next decade’s buyers are lurking in the demographic spectrum? As extra credit maybe you could tell us where and how they will earn their escalating incomes necessary for real price expansion?
http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/demographics_profile.html
Wait for the next decade. 2020s will be very kind to people who buy real estate this decade.
69- What you need to know is that a bunch of (prob overpaid) boomers are going to retire and create a bunch of opportunities for the rest.
See ya later locusts!
Mike,
Says the real estate “investor” whose granny gave him instant equity. He was not greedy. Some people don’t have family members to help them out. They try to do right for their own family at the time it is needed..but I’ll let him know that he should have waited until 2012 to purchase. Any other investing wisdom now that the crash is over? Let me me guess, he should have gone all in on Apple in 2002.
http://www.horton-brasses.com/store/handlespulls/binpulls/crescentbin
$35?
Too rich for my blood. I bought 8 of them for that.
#69, Krugman would love a facial and pearl necklace from wage inflation coming hard all over his face.
I have not checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it friend :)
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