From Reuters:
U.S. pending home sales post surprise drop in October
Contracts to buy previously-owned U.S. homes unexpectedly fell in October, dropping to their lowest level in four months and casting a shadow over the housing market’s recovery.
The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, dropped 1.1 percent to 104.1.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast pending home sales rising 0.5 percent last month. These contracts become sales after a month or two. Contracts rose in the Northeast, but fell in the South, West and Midwest.
Compared to October of last year, contracts were up 2.2 percent. The level of contracts signed in September was revised slightly higher.
Frist. Happy Thanksgiving.
Secodn. Happy Thanksgiving
Loose and easy credit 2 harbinger? Soon after the financial crisis, probably late 2008, early 2009, I head tale the banks would be contracting available consumer credit and I heard from some people that their credit card companies had reduced their credit limits. For myself and my friends with very good credit, we observed a different personal phenomena. Our credit contracted, but it seemed like a different bankd “quit” us all. Most of us had credit cards with all the majors but used just a couple of them and paid them off monthly unless we had 0% deal going. For me it was Citi that quit me. I had 1 or 2 cards with them but I hadn’t used either of them for quite a long time, both with zero balances. They cancelled both cards. It seemed like each of my friends had the same thing happen, they were each quit by 1 bank that they weren’t using for quite some time. I remember thinking that maybe it was a quiet little collusion where the banks got together and said, “OK, for our high credit score customers we’ll limit ourselves to only one of us can completely quit a customer, that way each customer only gets pissed at one of us but we can all contract credit that way without them going all cash on our asses.” I had other cards I wasn’t using, but none of those were cancelled or lowered, only Citi quit me completely. I have heard a thing from them since then…until this week. They sent me an application in the mail for a 0% card on purchases for 18 months. I applied online and they gave me a paltry $5500 credit limit, probably because they know what I’ll do with it (charge up $5500 worth of purchase, make the minimum payments, then pay it off in full at the end of the term). Just a data point.
All major banks are like Dracula on a blood jones. They can’t help themselves. They just keep moving forward until someone drives a stake through their hearts.
Contracts to buy previously-owned U.S. homes unexpectedly fell in October, dropping to their lowest level in four months and casting a shadow over the housing market’s recovery.
Yes, the housing recovery. This is to say it recovered in the first place. I keep reading and hearing anecdotes of part time jobs, two jobs, flat salaries and underwater owners – except for here, where it’s different. Ok, so we can now expect rates to rise to the trend line because everyone’s solvent again. Right?
This one sold for 759K at the height of the scam in 2006; currently asking 779K. This one was listed a year ago or maybe a little longer when I went to see it. It didn’t sell then and it won’t sell now. It’s another example of an underwater owner hoping for a way out:
http://www.njmls.com/listings/index.cfm?action=dsp.info&mlsnum=1437804&dayssince=&countysearch=false
North Dakota names landfill after Obama http://dailycurrant.com/2014/11/17/north-dakota-names-landfill-after-obama/
The Boston to Blairstown midnight run worked out great the other night. Left exactly at midnight and arrived ahead of the weather in Warren County 4.5 hours later, including a quick run through the White Castle drive-thru in Clifton. I don’t think I ever saw 95 so empty between Stamford and the GWB.
Don’t burn the turkey, live on the edge, you’ll appreciate it. The FDA does not approve of this message.
[8] There was supposedly a tractor trailer rollover on route 80 in Montville around 3AM so we took Route 46 from Clifton to Parsippany. Haven’t been on Route 46 when it was that empty in probably 30 years. Surreal.
Despite all of the negative musings of Fast Eddie, the real estate market is very “normal”. Clearly there problems with the economy but the real estate market is neither dead nor over heated. Good opportunities bring buyers running. Properly priced homes sell in a reasonable time period. Over priced homes do not sell.
Got myself a free range turkey from whole foods, when they called the other day to tell me what time I could pick him up I asked if it was ok if I came earlier so I could whack him myself. These hipsters have no sense of humor. Gobble Gobble bang bang.
Good luck operating an uber car in Nj.
http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2014/11/negotiations_stall_cases_against_latino_taxi_companies.html#incart_river
30 year,
We both the know the new “normal” is not normal at all but merely acknowledgment of the remaining plateau in the Kübler-Ross model. It’s for those who dare to give in and hope for the best. Those so-called reasonably priced homes should set the benchmark for all others yet it doesn’t work that way now because the others are trapped. They need “their” price, not the price the market should dictate. The only choice they have is to pay, literally and figuratively. Thus, there’s nothing normal about it except for trying to justify it.
Re Ferguson,
I think a bigger problem is prosecutorial overreach and discretion (and they using their discretion to help people they know and to hurt people that are usually unable to defend themselves):
See this case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Morton_(criminal_justice)
the prosecutor was eventually convicted of multiple cases of misconduct and received five days in jail (ten days, but “good behavior”). If there was ever a case of prison rape justified, he would be one to deserve it.
Anyway, personal anecdote. Got a careless driving ticket (80 bucks, 2 points), but contested it. Prosecutor wasn’t budging at all (he could have downgraded it, but thought the downgrade would be far too easy a deal for me — and there was no intermediate solution). We went round and round multiple times, and the offer was just pay the ticket and move on. I said I’ll take my chances and he said that in that case he’ll even ask for a suspension of license (I had zero “net points” at that time, though I had about 10 tickets in a 15 year time frame), so suspension is a wild thing to come out. I was polite, but said, if that happens, I have bigger problems — I wouldn’t want to live in a township that screws its people like that (and made sly references to the previous judge that had to resign).
Anyway, I lost the case, paid a bigger fine (200 or so), and while the lawyer did say “consider suspension”, the judge didn’t bother with it and hit me just with the max fine for that violation. Of course, I didn’t do something majorly stupid, so there was no extra danger.
There was a woman that had a hefty fine put on because she missed part of a fine. I asked another cop if one can volunteer to pay for others and it didn’t go far, but I could have got in trouble if I asked the judge if I can pay and if the woman says no, and the judge slaps a “solicitation” charge on me.
I have no dress sense (and work in a place where occasionally shorts are OK to meetings), but threw on a jacket and tie, so looked pretend “professionally dressed”. I was polite, was from the neighborhood, and was prepared to explain and was convinced myself as to why I had to drive the way I did (a bit of a stretch, but not too far).
Imagine if I were a bit rude to the prosecutor and the judge, and was not able to pay the fine, had additional prior offenses, and was from a bad part of town. Small mistakes would have cascaded, and five days of prison would have been a possibility.
Isn’t it nice having that store in your back pocket……I remember when I lived off Bamm Hollow I could start a 4-minute song in my car and leave the driveway, shut the car off and run in the store for a couple of minutes, and come back out and pull up as the song was finishing…..it was 2008, and #1 the store was discounting, #2 at that time there were really no substitutes for things that are now readily available elsewhere in 2014…..
Juice Box says:
November 27, 2014 at 8:55 am
Got myself a free range turkey from whole foods, when they called the other day to tell me what time I could pick him up I asked if it was ok if I came earlier so I could whack him myself. These hipsters have no sense of humor. Gobble Gobble bang bang.
People can argue all they want about organic food being a ripoff etc., and there are many rational points……I think a good rule of thumb is to pick and choose your spots….I will say one of the most distinct benefits is on Thankgiving……you can stuff yourself with organic turkey and a few hours later not feel as if a freight train hit you…….
I am posting this article purely as information…..not as an argument for or against anything…..
AT&T Backtracks on Threat to Halt Fiber Rollout
Company Assures FCC It Will Pursue Plan to Expand GigaPower Fiber Network
By THOMAS GRYTA
Nov. 26, 2014 3:09 p.m. ET
AT&T Inc. on Wednesday backpedaled from a threat to freeze the rollout of its ultrafast Internet service because of uncertainty around the government’s net-neutrality rules.
In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T said it isn’t limiting its fiber expansion to the two million homes it committed to as part of its $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV , in contrast to recent comments from its chief executive.
“To the contrary, AT&T still plans to complete the major initiative we announced in April to expand our ultrafast GigaPower fiber network in 25 major metropolitan areas nationwide,” Robert Quinn, AT&T’s senior vice president for federal regulatory matters, said in the letter to the FCC.
Two weeks ago, Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said AT&T would put a stop to the additional fiber-rollout investment.
“We can’t go out and just invest that kind of money deploying fiber to 100 cities other than these two million not knowing under what rules that investment will be governed,” he said on Nov. 12 at a Wells Fargo conference. The 100 cities are included in the 25 metro areas AT&T cited in its letter to the FCC.
His remarks were in response to President Barack Obama ’s support for regulating Internet lines as a utility, and the comments prompted the FCC to ask for an explanation, requesting the number of households AT&T had planned to hook up before the freeze and whether it now considers those investments unprofitable.
The issue is complex for AT&T. As a major Internet service provider, it has a deep interest in how the Internet is governed, but the company also needs approval from the commission for its DirecTV acquisition.
In its response to the FCC, AT&T did caution that future investment plans beyond the fiber rollout could be in jeopardy because of the unclear direction of government policy. The carrier also said it never stated that further investment would be unprofitable under the president’s proposal.
“AT&T simply cannot evaluate additional investment beyond its existing commitments until the regulatory treatment of broadband service is clarified,” Mr. Quinn said in the letter.
The FCC had also asked for all documents related to the company’s decision to stop building. AT&T didn’t produce any documents because it said the FCC “incorrectly assumes that AT&T is limiting its deployment of fiber to two million homes.”
The tussle with the regulator comes as AT&T is working to ease investor concerns that its dividend could be at risk if it doesn’t generate more cash or cut back capital spending. It recently said capital spending next year would be $3 billion less than Wall Street had expected but it still has major outlays on the horizon.
Aside from the DirecTV deal, the company is planning to spend billions of dollars expanding into Mexico and is now in the middle of a surprisingly expensive government auction for airwave licenses.
OPEC doesn’t cut production. Get your money invested this bull is only starting.
Actually….in a sense, this shows the Obama Administration at its worst……create an environment of uncertainty which makes it impossible for decision makers to commit to action due to risk of capital, then blame companies for sitting on cash and not creating jobs…..
My comment is related to AT&T article
EX-Pat…..if you have WSJ…you can get fancy pictures…
http://online.wsj.com/articles/unclogging-the-heart-of-i-95-1416880244
otherwise…
NY TRANSIT
Unclogging the Heart of I-95
Connecticut Considers Fees to Use Express Lanes for 45-mile Stretch
By JOSEPH DE AVILA
Nov. 24, 2014 8:50 p.m. ET
The traffic problems on Interstate 95 are legendary.
At morning and evening rush hours, jams on the big road routinely stretch for 20 miles and last three to four hours.
The heart of the beast is 45 often-grueling miles between the New York state border and New Haven, Conn.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Acacio Goncalves, who has a concrete business in Waterbury. He said trips on I-95 that should take 45 minutes can require 2½ hours.
Now, the Connecticut Department of Transportation is close to wrapping up a study of I-95 and of Interstate 84 as part of a plan to unclog the roads.
The state is taking a close look at so-called congestion pricing that charges motorists varying fees to use the road based on demand, among other ideas.
“There is no doubt that something can be implemented,” said James Redeker, commissioner of the Department of Transportation. “The question is how much can be achieved and how much can it cost?”
Transportation-department officials said it was too early to say how much it would cost the state to implement congestion pricing or the levels of any tolls.
As bad as the traffic on I-95 can be, by some measurements it is getting worse. The number of peak travelers between the Stamford and Bridgeport region increased by 21%, from 430,000 in 2001 to 524,000 in 2011, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
The study, which the state began 21 months ago, includes a survey of drivers being conducted at service plazas along I-95 and I-84.
Among other things, the state wants to see if the implementation of either congestion pricing or tolls would send more drivers to the Metro-North Railroad.
The study will look at the impact of tolls for all lanes on I-95, adding paid express lanes or even an elevated roadway above the highway, which has three lanes in each direction.
One scenario played out in Miami. Without widening the road, engineers in Florida added a lane in both directions on a 7-mile stretch of I-95.
The lanes were added by shaving off some of the shoulder on both sides and by reducing the width of the current lanes by one foot.
Motorists in Miami can pay from 50 cents to $10.50, depending on demand, to drive in two express lanes along that 7-mile stretch. The other four lanes are free.
Before the express lanes were added in 2008, the average speeds for peak traffic for the carpool lane was 18 to 21 miles an hour and 15 to 20 miles an hour for general-purpose lanes. Now during peak traffic, the express lanes average 60 to 64 miles an hour and general-purpose lanes average 40 to 45 miles an hour.
“The speed differentials have been really dramatic,” said Debora Rivera, director of Transportation Operations with the Florida Department of Transportation.
The study in Connecticut is expected to be done in early 2015. The use of congestion pricing or the reintroduction of tolls would require approval from state legislators and the governor.
Connecticut state Sen. Toni Boucher, a Republican and ranking member on the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee, said she liked the Florida model and could support it as long as the tolls were voluntary and as long as some free lanes remained.
The state’s study examines the use of electronic tolling structures mounted over the highway that would charge motorists using EZ-Pass devices.
There would be no toll booths and motorist wouldn’t need to stop.
Cameras would record license plates to send toll bills in the mail to drivers without EZ-Pass.
Connecticut ended tolling on I-95 in 1985 and removed tolls from other parts of the state later in the 1980s.
Democratic state Rep. Antonio Guerrera, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee, said he wasn’t persuaded by the case for congestion pricing but backed reintroducing highway tolls to pay for road and bridge maintenance and to reduce the state’s gas tax.
Karen Burnaska, coordinator of the Transit for Connecticut Coalition, said she would support a congestion-pricing system because it could generate new revenue for roads at a time when federal funds for highway programs were decreasing.
“Everything has to be on the table,” she said.
Some drivers who use I-95 in Connecticut, such as retiree Rod Vyskocil, said they were concerned congestion pricing would create a class system for those who can afford express lanes and those who can’t—and get stuck in traffic.
“I think it’s going to stress a lot of people who can’t afford it,” said 60-year-old Mr. Vyskocil, who drives every week from Cape Cod to a Shambhala meditation center in Manhattan.
Others such as Michael Leviseur, who runs a fish-smoking business in Gloucester, Mass., said he would rather pay a toll than sit in traffic.
It can take 3½ hours to get into New York from Massachusetts, and six to eight hours on the way back.
Said Mr. Leviseur: “If it gets me from A to B, I would be prepared to pay.”
—Thomas MacMillan contributed to this article.
From comments section of that article….
bruce miller 2 days ago
The traffic situation on I-95 in CT is a disgrace. It badly inconveniences commuters to Stamford from the north and is a huge bottleneck for anyone trying to get to New England from points south.
By the way, the guy who complained about affordability of potential tolls while going from the Cape to his meditation meeting in Manhattan was laugh-out-loud funny.
@BenedictEvans:
I sometimes sense that most Americans’ view of when it IS perfectly OK for police to shoot someone is quite different to that in Europe.
@BenedictEvans:
@akag9 @akarve are you sure he has a gun? What kind? Where is he pointing it? At you? Is he angry? Shouting? How close? Any civilians near?
@akag9:
@BenedictEvans
Please consider this. You loved one is near the car where a guy is trying to wrestle a gun from cop’s hand. Would you…
@BenedictEvans: @akag9 you miss the point. That’s only one example. But there are many others where a policeman must make a decision.
@akag9:
@BenedictEvans
One example. Sure. But that’s what happened in Ferguson. No?
@BenedictEvans:
@akag9 Your line of argument is essentially that he should always shoot. Which is not my attitude. And that difference was what I observed
@akag9:
@BenedictEvans
Always shoot? If someone is trying to wrestle the gun from him while hitting him?
@BenedictEvans: @akag9 you’re not listening. Try harder.
@akag9:
@BenedictEvans
I’m not listening?
Try harder? How very polite of you.
Thank you. Was I ever condescending while replying?
@BenedictEvans:
@akag9 you keep asking about one scenario where my whole point is that there are lots of different scenarios. That’s what you’re not hearing
@BenedictEvans: @akag9 what happened in Ferguson is not as clear as some people wish.
@BenedictEvans: @akag9 @akarve because imminent danger is s matter of opinion. Very vague
Sold for 550K in 2004; asking 645K. Like the majority of houses listed, they’re 15% to 20% overpriced. They’re in financial trouble and are looking for a way out. It’s an endless sea of stranded muppets:
http://www.trulia.com/property/3153633219-206-Canterbury-Dr-Ramsey-NJ-07446
Here’s one more, 15% overpriced. The long term trend would have this house at the mid to upper 500s, not 675K. These sellers are f.ucking high like most others.
Please, let’s stop the bullsh1t and the rah rah cheerleading to try and justify the prices. People are m0rons and have as much financial savvy as a three year old.
http://www.trulia.com/property/3172123186-166-W-Oak-St-Ramsey-NJ-07446#photo-15
I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
VaJmc5 Hi my friend! I want to say that this article is awesome, nice written and include approximately all significant infos. I’d like to see extra posts like this .
Fcuk Thanksgiving and the horse it rode in on.
Clot: I am disappointed. I thought you would make a creative reference to tomaine, but I guess not.
Ptomaine. Sorry :(
Pffffft. Whole Foods turkey. Our hipster kids brought a turkey they knew personally that was raised on the farm down the road from their home in the Hudson Valley, along with the butternut squash they picked while volunteering there once a week. We’ll wash it down with growlers of their home made craft beer and hard cider made from apples picked in a nearby orchard. Let’s pray nobody drops by with anything that’s not home made from scratch. Oh the horror! Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving.
Gary, we all know there are plenty of overpriced listings. Even during the bubble there were people who did not sell because they never could get “their price”. That has nothing to do with the state of the market.
What resembles normal is transaction levels, availability of financing, inventory and time on market. Prices are stable.
This is not about buying real estate being a good investment or even a good decision. All this is about is calling the market what it is.
McDullard,
The concepts (with the force of law) of prosecutorial/judicial discretion and absolute immunity that they both enjoy is a disgrace. It’s even more wrought with abuse than the idea of police policing and investigating themselves.
I read an update to a case from a few years ago where a judge reached a “mutual agreeable decision” with the county to resign as a result of her [criminal] misconduct. The cop involved was fired and is still appealing for reinstatement. When Joe Schmo breaks the law, I don’t believe this option is presented to him. Lastly, it sickens me when one of our public servants is caught and when they’re deciding punishment and “their years of service” is taken into consideration. WTF is that, years of criminal behavior that weren’t noticed until now?!?
Joyce,
Unfortunately, attempts to fix the situation will have to be long, drawn out battles. When and if some progress is made, it is likely that some corruption will seep in that direction. Small, incremental changes is the what I hope for. Even the workers unions started off with a noble goal, and now they are the ones that give police a lot of leeway in what to do and reduce accountability.
There is possibly much more wisdom in Clot’s rants.
S
I shot my holiday turkey with an AK-47.
Added benefit of doing it that way is you get a head start on turkey hash.
Coast (33)-
Sometimes, only a Butterball that’s been drenched in chemical brine will do.
Love the peeps who think it’s the tryptophan in turkey that knocks you out…
Look at the fcuktard ubangis writhing around at the Cowboys-Iggles halftime. No talent losers. No talent ghetto fools.
Omg so we’re supposed to feel good when a bunch of lazy, obese future Mike Browns can stop jacking their pie holes full of soda and Big Macs and move for 60 minutes?
Conscript these inner city vermin into the infantry and don’t let them out until they’re 45.
I would like to know which sucktard at Amazon thinks it’s a good idea to send me hourly Black Friday emails.
But was it loaded?
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorado-man-arrested-after-pointing-banana-at-police/
Re #35 – my advise would be to let Gary jump from the ledge, there is no talking down a guy from Jersey City.
Are you listening, fast eddie?
30 year realtor says:
November 27, 2014 at 1:42 pm
Gary, we all know there are plenty of overpriced listings. Even during the bubble there were people who did not sell because they never could get “their price”. That has nothing to do with the state of the market.
What resembles normal is transaction levels, availability of financing, inventory and time on market. Prices are stable.
This is not about buying real estate being a good investment or even a good decision. All this is about is calling the market what it is.
We got the whole foods bird prepped. I cooked and it came out great. Lotsa compliments even though I initially thought I fcuked it up.
Best Turkey day away from Boston in ages but I felt like I was flat out all day. And no rest tomorrow. Conference calls and memos to finish. Still, I am thankful.
October pending sales dip, but still up year to year | New Jersey Real Estate Report
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