From the Press of Atlantic City:
Beach rentals enjoying stronger season than 2014
It may seem a bit too early to worry about your plans for July and August, but it may be too late already to rent some local beach houses in the prime weeks of those prime summer months.
Real estate agents from Cape May to Long Beach Island report that their weekly rental homes are moving faster than last year — considerably faster, in some places.
“Interest is strong,” said Frank Shoemaker, of Ocean City’s Berger Realty. “We’re running about 35 percent ahead of where we were last year. We’ve already booked 7,000 rentals for 2015. Last year, we booked over 12,000” for the whole summer, he added.
Two counties to the north, Prudential Zack Shore Properties — which has three Long Beach Island offices — is ahead of even that impressive pace. On a mid-week in late winter, AnneMarie Aresco of the Beach Haven branch ran the numbers and found that “so far, as of this moment, we’re up 37 percent from last year.”
And while no agents expect potential renters to have any trouble finding a place to enjoy a week at the shore, they say customers may have to adjust either their desired locations or desired vacation schedules —or both. Because while there are plenty of homes on the weekly market, some of those prime July and August weeks are booking up, particularly in the most desirable spots.
…
Still, for all the demand they’re seeing, agents say most renters don’t have to worry about paying a lot more than they’re used to.“We haven’t seen too much change,” says Allan Dechert, the broker and co-owner of Ferguson Dechert Real Estate, which is based in Avalon but also covers Stone Harbor. “We advise owners that unless they made substantial changes to their property, they should maintain their pricing. We’re competing against a lot of different markets, so you need to stay in line.”
Farther south, Justin Aftanis of Cape May Realty agreed with that assessment.
“We’ve seen some small increases, but not anything we’d put a percentage on. Call them cost-of-living increases,” Aftanis said.
Frist!
Buying a House Was the Worst Mistake of My Life
http://www.themid.com/livelihood/buying-a-house-was-the-worst-mistake-of-my-life?u=fmGYs1yTD9
Buying a house in Montclair in 2004? Yeah, I’d agree.
[77] NJT
“They’d always ask the same questions so once, as a joke, I replied: “…I don’t know but once in a while I see him out on his deck kneeling on a rug praying and facing east…”. ALL of them flipped out and I got another visit that wasn’t so friendly”
Yeah, I found that out. While in law school, I was undergoing a background check for an internship with the DOJ. The examiner called me up because there was a missing piece of information. While the examiner was on the phone I asked if there was anything else they might be looking for because DOJ was anxious for me to start. She said “well let’s go over your application. I see you were born in Cambridge. . . .”
I quipped “I see you’ve discovered my secret communist past”. Dead silence.
I said quickly “you know I was joking right?” She said, In a rather droll tone, “oh I got it but you probably don’t want to do that again”
This was pre-9/11. I can only imagine the same joke would get you dropped in a heartbeat now.
[2] grim,
“Think of me as a freedom fighter sent back from the wreckage of your suburban future to save you from the blond realtor-terminator hunting you down in her Lexus SUV.”
ROFLMMFAO! Destined to be a NJRER classic!
From Marketwatch:
Opinion: America is full of slackers and deadbeats who won’t work
If you’re inclined to think that America has too many people who take, and not enough who make, then you’re probably skeptical that the economy really is improving.
The drop in the official unemployment rate from a high of 10% in late 2009 to 5.5% in February is simply a hoax, the skeptics say, because there are 93 million Americans who’ve dropped out of the labor market, refusing to work or even look for a job. And if you didn’t look for a job in the past month, you aren’t counted as unemployed.
…
The share of civilian non-institutionalized adults who participate in the labor force (either working or actively searching for a job) has declined from 66% on the eve of the recession to only 62.8% in February, close to a 37-year low.
…
Don’t tell Zero Hedge or Breitbart or Sen. Ted Cruz, but it’s much worse than that! Using exclusive data from the Census Bureau provided to me on the Internet, I’ve learned that a majority of Americans are doing nothing while the rest of us slave all day long!
It’s not 102 million who aren’t working; it’s 172 million!
…
It turns out that we’ve always had a lot of children, and old folks, and housewives to support. Indeed, in the 1950s and 1960s, the portion of Americans who had a paid job was always less than 40%. In 1962, it was just 36%.
I suppose you’re angry with me. Why should we count infants as unemployed? You’re right: We shouldn’t count infants as unemployed any more than we should count 85-year-olds. But that is what people do when they carp on about the 93 million adults who’ve “given up” on work.
The 93 million figure is meaningless bunk, just as my 172 million number is. Both figures arbitrarily include millions of people who can’t work, don’t want to work and don’t need to work.
…
It’s no surprise that many millions aren’t in the labor force. About 42 million have retired and are collecting Social Security, and millions more are about to. About 46 million Americans are over 65, and another 40 million are between 55 and 64. About 40 million Americans are between 16 and 24, and many of them are in school: 19 million people are in college and 17 million are in high school. About 14 million people under 65 are too disabled to work. And millions of men and women aren’t working because they are taking care of their children, their grandchildren or their parents.
They aren’t in the labor force, and probably shouldn’t be. They are doing other things with their lives. We want people to be able to make choices that are right for them: to retire, to go to school, to take time off work to care for family.
…
These 6.6 million people who want a job should be considered just as unemployed as the 8.8 million who did actively look for a job last month. That would make the “real” unemployment rate around 9.4%, down from 13.4% at the worst of the recession, but considerably higher than the 6.8% low reached in 2000. That’s a measure of how much slack remains in the labor market.
The other 86 million adults who aren’t in the labor force aren’t unemployed. They just aren’t interested right now. Those of us who pontificate about the economy and politics should just leave them alone. They’ve earned it.
This should have probably been the headline post today, from the WaPo:
A legacy of the housing bubble that won’t go away: bidding wars
The housing bubble brought bidding wars — wars over $500,000 properties that ultimately sold for $600,000, wars over under-listed condos that drew dozens of would-be buyers, wars over starter homes that a few years earlier would have fetched a fraction of the price. This manic bidding was, in effect, a sign of the bubble, as well as a factor that helped inflate it.
But a curious thing has happened since the housing market has returned to something more rational: The bidding wars haven’t gone away.
…
They find, in research published in the journal Real Estate Economics, that only around 3 to 4 percent of homes on the market across the country were selling in bidding wars for years prior to the bubble. Then at the bubble’s peak, nearly 30 percent of homes in metropolitan D.C. were selling this way, the highest share of any metro Han and Strange studied. The same was true of about 22 percent of home sales in Baltimore and Norfolk, 23 percent in Las Vegas and 26 percent in Los Angeles.
Since the housing collapse, these crazy numbers have declined, but not back to their earlier levels. As prices have fallen and the number of home sales has, too, bidding wars haven’t disappeared apace. That means that we’re probably seeing not just a lingering effect of the housing bubble, or even a pure product of high housing demand, but a new strategy for selling homes that was embraced during the bubble.
“The persistence of this suggests that people have decided that this is a good way to think about selling these kinds of goods,” Strange says, “selling housing in a more auction-like way.”
Some photos from the distillery for those interested:
https://www.facebook.com/silkcitydistillers
[7] grim
>like<
These are the kind of idiots that should not be sharing their opinion with anyone. If you bought in one of the biggest bubbles ever, just understand that you are extremely biased. YOU MADE A HUGE MISTAKE. Buying a house is not the problem, it was your timing. In 2004, I was 24 and telling anyone that would listen to me to not buy a house, but of course they thought I was a young naive idiot. Now I’m telling people to buy and once again they are calling me an idiot. I hope this time around they understand who the real idiot is.
grim says:
March 13, 2015 at 7:19 am
Buying a House Was the Worst Mistake of My Life
http://www.themid.com/livelihood/buying-a-house-was-the-worst-mistake-of-my-life?u=fmGYs1yTD9
Buying a house in Montclair in 2004? Yeah, I’d agree.
5- Amen!! During this bull run, I swear that people are making every excuse in the book to smack down the idea that the economy is improving. They have been giving their doom and gloom assessment for years now and have been wrong every time.
My uncle who was very high up in the FBI used to tell me some funny stories on background checks.
FBI standard policy would do a background check on neighbors, close relatives, close friends etc. Anyhow this guy applies to FBI and this is like 40 years ago before computers etc. So they send an agent to knock on neighbors door and it is very apparent he is a drug dealer, even worse applicant lived in an Apartment building. My uncle and all the agents were laughing as in follow up interview he said how am I supposed to know my neighbor is dealing drugs. Then added but if I was an FBI agent I would be more aware of stuff like that. Obviously he was not hired. Kinda like applying to CIA and not knowing your father in law is bin laden
The fed would not even be considering raising rates if the economy wasn’t improving. The fact that some in the fed are getting anxiety due to no rate hikes as of yet should be all you need to know that wage inflation and inflation in general are on the way.
There are bargains to be had in the million range
—–
PIE IN THE SKY PRICES: Buyers are finding there’s wiggle room at the top of the luxury real estate market
“Million Dollar Listing New York” star Fredrik Eklund and business partner John Gomes of Douglas Elliman are cutting the price on their ritziest listing — the stunning 7,061-square-foot penthouse at 11 N. Moore St. in Tribeca — by more than 25%. Initially, they were seeking $40 million. Now it can be yours for $29.95 million.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/big-price-cuts-order-day-luxury-real-estate-article-1.2146917
Why Zillow Group Inc MLS Listings Are Better Than Ever
Whether you’re a home buyer, seller, or real estate agent working to seal the deal, it goes without saying how important it is to work with the most up-to-date Multiple Listing Services, or MLS, data possible. But with hundreds of MLS maintained individually across the country, to bring them all together under one cohesive platform is an extraordinary challenge.
Luckily for investors, that is a challenge Zillow Group (NASDAQ: Z ) just proved it has no problem tackling. A few days ago, Zillow announced that 25 new MLS joined the Zillow Partnership Platform in February alone — almost one per day — bringing thousands of new direct listings to the site.
If one door closes . . .
So why is this a big deal?
First, keep in mind that in January, many investors were concerned when Zillow announced that after April 7th, the company will let its long-standing agreement to receive MLS listings from ListHub expire.
After all, when the deal was announced nearly four years ago, ListHub pointed out that it would send roughly 2 million direct listings from 358 MLS to Zillow every day. As of this writing, ListHub shows over 500 supported MLS in its network.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/11/why-zillow-group-inc-mls-listings-are-better-than.aspx
I would really love to see the regional MLSes eliminated. I suspect that many of them are monopolistic cash cows for the owners.
I guess if you limit this to houses at 2X income it might work but seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
—–
The 2% Down Payment Mortgage: Can You Get One?
The biggest barrier for many would-be homeowners is the pile of cash that’s needed before a bank will even discuss a mortgage. The Federal Housing Administration, in an effort to boost the housing market, recently lowered down-payment requirements to 3.5% of the purchase price, but by the time would-be buyers consider closing costs, they still need roughly 7%. Even in an FHA loan, families buying a typical $300,000 home need a $21,000 bank account — no small feat when median American household income is about $54,000.
Building up a $6,000 mortgage war chest is a lot easier, and puts homeownership within reach of far more low and moderate-income families. That’s the goal of Homewise, an organization that arranges low-cost financing that covers 98% of the purchase price for buyers. But an easy-to-reach down payment requirement is only one benefit of Homewise, which serves New Mexico residents. Borrowers also get to skip high-cost mortgage insurance, high upfront FHA fees, or expensive second loans often required of less-than-20%-down purchases. And, if they use Homewise real estate agents, they pay a lot less in closing costs, too.
To qualify, buyers must complete a program designed to teach them the ins and outs of homeownership, including what it takes to ensure mortgage payments arrive on time. And their household income can’t exceed about $82,000.
http://blog.credit.com/2015/03/the-2-down-payment-mortgage-110841/
2- This kind of story will continue to play out for years to come. In Montclair for example, how many Millennials are going to be able to afford a $600,000 mortgage in addition to $17,0000 a year in property taxes? This situation is wholly unsustainable.
Thomas,
If the real truth could be illustrated in pictures, people would be horrified. The number of people in the sought-after towns that are suffering financial misery is massive. It took me until just recently to really realize how bad the housing market is in our area.
To say things are reasonably normal because transactions are happening is the same as saying the person is alive because we have feeding tubes and a ventilator attached.
Buying a house in Montclair in 2004? Yeah, I’d agree.</I
Why is it any different today?
Test
[17] Thomas
I agree even with a low 4 handle interest rate, you are looking somewhere around $4300/month. The sustainability of purchasing a home where property taxes are as much as your mortgage is going to be challenging. Granted there are plenty of people (current bagholders) who are currently paying that amount so it’s not a big deal but how is the next bagholder going to be able to afford it?
On top of…
Their $100k+ student loan debt (hopefully they didn’t an English degree from an Ivy)
Car payment
$600 iPhone and $400 iWatch
Imagine you go months/years of losing bids. You get desperate and start to question your criteria in a home. You capitulate, lower your standards to something not move in ready but workable and you finally have the winning bid. You are all excited during the closing process and finally get the keys.
It’s got to be a sick feeling to open the door of your new home and realize you just purchased a POS and don’t have any significant amount of money to fix it up and have to wait a few months.
You have become a bagholder.
You have become a bagholder.
They become white as a sheet the moment they open the door for the first time and realize no one will catch them if they fall. There’s nothing in the till and your whole existence, your whole life now depends on an acceptable performance review at work. And that’s praying that no disasters occur in the meantime. Congratulations, you now have a $600,000 mortgage and sublime property taxes. F.uck you, pay me.
$4,300 a month? A $600k loan and an $17k property tax bill. Who right out of school is buying a $660-750k house? It’s not even a realistic example. I know plenty of couples bringing in $300k a year that wouldn’t even consider buying something that expensive. The folks I know that own houses that would sell for that much purchased them as trade ups, and had rolled in the full proceeds from the previous house (which was paid off).
23. Eddie,
The 600k number is what gets me.
Even if 600k bought a house twice the size and half the age, it’s still 600k. They still have to deal with a job that has no floor underneath it.
Grandpa had a union. He had a pension/real healthcare plan/gold watch at retirement.
Social Security, Medicare not going bankrupt as long as he has a pulse (even with a pacemeker)
Grandpa only paid 27k for the house he wants 600k for.
A 27k house does not go up to 600k without someone sucking all of the cream off the top.
It won’t be a millenial with the cream that’s for sure…….
Why is a college bill 100k? Would it be 100k if students could not get loans? Why do credit card companies pitch tents on college campuses? Why are student loans one of the only loans not dischargeable in bankruptcy…….
Who right out of school is buying a $660-750k house?
Scores of muppets between the approximate years of 2003 and 2007 who merely had to place an “X” on a piece of paper.
[23] Grim
Agreed not realistic right out of school, they are not looking to buy any property. I’m talking about the person who has been working for 10 years, feeling cramped in their rental.
However the that’s the price for a decent house in the area. Property taxes are going down. Interest rates are going to go up.
If people making $300k/year wouldn’t buy that today…then who will? Some people buy expensive homes so they can be around similar people in the same economic situation.
Meant to say property taxes are NOT going down.
Most young kids have a lot of money to buy a house. For instance my wifes younger cousin had a big Long Island fancy Wedding with around 400 people that was totally paid for by Mom and Dad. Lots of generous relatives as her Mom always gives a large gift at any wedding. It was payback time. I would say on average she got 250 a person a person. So she cleared 100K at wedding. She was a 28 teacher marrying a guy who was also 28 who worked for a bank. She is a tenured teacher from age 22 six years into system on Long Island. He has 7 years into 401k and savings.
Their first house was 850K bought Spring 2010 . His Mom and her Mom also chipped in a bit at closing to help them out so they would not have to trade up. He did a ARM Variable loan with 2 percent interest. He told me he does not prepay it as a waste. Instead he puts money each month into Stock funds which has more than doubled since 2010, he then said when rates rise right before loan resets he will throw funds towards principal.
The 3,000 square foot 800K one acre starter home is in style. Think about it with low rates and 100K seed money from wedding a newlywed couple in their late 20s can buy a huge house to start with a teaser mortgage and by time it resets their salary will have doubled.
Who here is dealing with student debt? My wife had about $20k, which she paid off prior to getting married. I never had any student debt, having worked full time through most of the undergrad, and through both of my graduate degrees. So we are zero. I hardly think we’re long-tail exceptions, there are too many anecdotal stories here for me to believe that to really be the case.
On a macro basis, but you can grieve on your own.
FKA 2010 Buyer says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:07 am
Meant to say property taxes are NOT going down.
I know plenty of couples bringing in $300k a year that wouldn’t even consider buying something that expensive.
Expensive? That’s the entrance price for a dilapidated piece of sh1t.
My Mom and my wife’s parents forbid the use of debt to graduate college. We both grew up poor and debt scared us.
grim says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:08 am
Who here is dealing with student debt? My wife had about $20k, which she paid off prior to getting married. I never had any student debt, having worked full time through most of the undergrad, and through both of my graduate degrees. So we are zero. I hardly think we’re long-tail exceptions, there are too many anecdotal stories here for me to believe that to really be the case.
The folks I know that own houses that would sell for that much purchased them as trade ups…
You can subtract this blogger from that potential group.
Something is going bad here in Hunterdoom. The street next to me has 4 houses 4sale. There was a fifth that sold last year. They are all contiguous. next door neighbor’s SIL house, about 3 miles away, went from 575k asking to under contract at 485k. possible oil issues there. These are all modern 4br colonials.
1 house on next street was once asking $1MM+. Now I get a postcard saying it is govt owned asking 525k. Jeez. 3200sq ft house
Looks like foreclosures are starting to hit. Local paper, Hunterdon Democrat, has many sheriff sale listings now , which it did not have recently.
phoenix,
A 27k house does not go up to 600k without someone sucking all of the cream off the top.
Of course. In this neck of the woods, every time a transaction takes place, a sucka gets his wings.
If everyone didn’t already automatically ignore the post… i hope you stopped reading after this sentence.
JJ says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:07 am
Most young kids have a lot of money to buy a house.
If the 2008 depression left you with depleted reserves. If your shiny diploma didn’t get you a job to service your student loan. If you didn’t play it smart and move back to Mom’s basement and save all your money.
My point is, it doesn’t matter if it’s $400-600k for the house. Property taxes of $12-17k. That’s about the average for a decent house. Along with interest rates, they are going up.
Who is the next bagholder? Sorry, who is going to get what is known as the NJ RE market going? I thought the “first time” buyers are the who drive the market?
The market calls bs! If people are willingly paying current prices, that is the market. Doesn’t matter what the hell you think the justified price should be, the market doesn’t agree with you. Why? Because they are selling. When will you realize that prices can’t go lower? If the prices go lower, your retirement will be a living hell. Why are you rooting against yourself?
Fast Eddie says:
March 13, 2015 at 10:04 am
Thomas,
If the real truth could be illustrated in pictures, people would be horrified. The number of people in the sought-after towns that are suffering financial misery is massive. It took me until just recently to really realize how bad the housing market is in our area.
To say things are reasonably normal because transactions are happening is the same as saying the person is alive because we have feeding tubes and a ventilator attached.
In 2012 – buyers aged 18-24 represented 2% of home buyers in NJ. 25-34 represented 27% of home buyers.
I don’t have any student debt but I know kids today have plenty of it.
And I know plenty of people who got caught up in layoffs and decided to go to grad school. Yea they have student loans now.
The median age of a home buyer in NJ was 43 years.
59 percent of first-time, full-time students who began seeking a bachelor’s degree at a 4-year institution in fall 2006 completed the degree at that institution within 6 years. Graduation rates are calculated to report the percentage of students that complete their program within 150 percent of the normal time for completion, which is within 6 years for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40
If the prices go lower, your retirement will be a living hell.
Wanna make a bet?
I did most of my house hunting in 2010. The aftermath of the housing bubble was still on full display. The homes we looked at in Green Brook were the worse, the fanciest development connecting to “Top Of The World Way”. One open house there, for nearly a million dollar home, was clearly inhabited by a multigenerational Guatemalan squatter camp. Either had tons of kids or were secretly running a daycare operation out of the house. And it had some cedar sauna in the basement. That was bizarre.
The other house in Greenbook, we actually wrote up an offer. Also for nearly $1million. The owner was deeply underwater, had bought for 1.2 or 1.3 in 2006. So the town was squeezing something like $27k/yr of property taxes out of the place, and the owners weren’t negotiating down, maybe they had Pumpkinhead pride in the town’s estimate. The house was big but otherwise not that special, vinyl siding, cheap HVAC system, etc. I remember the wooden back porch was genuinely falling apart and our realtor stuck her foot through a broken stair, and we ran off of that for our lives. Anyway, we wrote up an initial bid maybe 9% below their ask to get the ball rolling, citing clear needs for repairs, etc. The owner answers back that everything is in great condition, great location, etc. We come back hiking $10k, noting that with property taxes at $27k/yr, the town has already extracted the value of that location via the taxes, we’re not going to pay for it twice. We were still about $70k apart, and the seller came back with a price $1,000 lower, saying that’s their lowest offer. We basically said nothing, they can call us if they want to sell at a realistic price. No word for a week or two, then our realtor mentions during a visit to see another house that through the grapevine she heard the police paid a midnight visit to that house, pulled the man of the house into their police car wearing only his underwear, and apparently the house is now off the market.
There is some weird stuff happening behind the facades of homes in upscale NJ neighborhoods.
When will you realize that prices can’t go lower?
Buy now or be priced out forever?
Grim, it is game over for rising home prices in New Jersey. If you believe otherwise, you are in denial.
Grim,
I’ll bet NJ has a relatively tight spread of the age of home buyers. In general, the young can’t afford to buy in NJ, and the old can’t afford to buy (or stay). People tend to buy in their prime earning years, and even then, as I’ve mentioned, they’re really just renting from their towns while it pays to work here.
It might be too far from nyc or philly. Just a thought, you know your area better than me.
Xolepa says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:13 am
Something is going bad here in Hunterdoom. The street next to me has 4 houses 4sale. There was a fifth that sold last year. They are all contiguous. next door neighbor’s SIL house, about 3 miles away, went from 575k asking to under contract at 485k. possible oil issues there. These are all modern 4br colonials.
1 house on next street was once asking $1MM+. Now I get a postcard saying it is govt owned asking 525k. Jeez. 3200sq ft house
Looks like foreclosures are starting to hit. Local paper, Hunterdon Democrat, has many sheriff sale listings now , which it did not have recently.
Keep dreaming.
Thomas says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:30 am
Grim, it is game over for rising home prices in New Jersey. If you believe otherwise, you are in denial.
NJ Buyers by Age (2012)
FTB
18-24 5%
25-34 53%
35-44 27%
45-54 8%
55-64 5%
65-74 3%
75+ n/a
Repeat Buyers
18-24 n/a
25-34 9%
35-44 26%
45-54 20%
55-64 20%
65-74 2-%
75+ 5%
2-% is 20%
Let’s explain it as simple as this. Taxes are reflective of what people earn in this state. Taxes will be high in a high cost of living state. It’s as simple as that. A high cost of living means you make a lot of money in that location. People complaining about high taxes should also be complaining about their high pay, that is the cause of their high taxes.
Also, your home price could go down 10,000, but your property taxes will be the same. Why? Because those taxes pay for the cost of living in the state. It costs to live. Pay taxes is a part of your survival. They are required in order to keep up society so that people can survive. It’s not about rent, it’s the cost of survival in this state. Simple as that.
prices can’t go to zero. at Eddys budget, you are mostly paying for land. house is a freebie
The Great Pumpkin says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:24 am
The market calls bs! If people are willingly paying current prices, that is the market. Doesn’t matter what the hell you think the justified price should be, the market doesn’t agree with you. Why? Because they are selling. When will you realize that prices can’t go lower? If the prices go lower, your retirement will be a living hell. Why are you rooting against yourself?
anon,
house is a freebie
Is that part of the Oblama care and Oblama phone package?
Show me a place where the top tier neighborhood around a major metro job center is “affordable” to the median income.
And please, don’t play the game where you’ll settle for a marginal town there, when you wouldn’t even remotely consider that here
Amazing when someone tells me they won’t consider anything but Millburn, Short Hills, Franklin Lakes, Ridgewood or Westfield and in the same breath they’ll make a comparison to one of 300 identical tract houses in the middle of nowhere.
Try me.
@conradhackett:
Highest cost-of-living
1 Singapore
2 Paris
3 Oslo
4 Zurich
5 Sydney
6 Melbourne
7 Geneva
9 Hong Kong
22 NYC
The Great Pumpkin says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:38 am
Let’s explain it as simple as this. Taxes are reflective of what people earn in this state. Taxes will be high in a high cost of living state. It’s as simple as that. A high cost of living means you make a lot of money in that location. People complaining about high taxes should also be complaining about their high pay, that is the cause of their high taxes.
Also, your home price could go down 10,000, but your property taxes will be the same. Why? Because those taxes pay for the cost of living in the state. It costs to live. Pay taxes is a part of your survival. They are required in order to keep up society so that people can survive. It’s not about rent, it’s the cost of survival in this state. Simple as that.
Working under the assumption that sellers can’t afford to fix (move in ready homes are selling right) up their homes. What’s going to move the dial for buyers?
5-10% reduction in price
5-10% reduction/abatement on property taxes (which wouldn’t happen)
I guess it’s dumb luck that there’s a backlog of foreclosures in the state, otherwise there would be downward pressure on prices now.
53. Pumpkin,
I’m all on board except for this. The underfunded pension plans, Social Security and Medicare going bankrupt. If people are paying in the correct amounts, nothing is being stolen, and there are not years of gross incompetence, these 3 areas should be balanced and not underwater. And if they are IOU’s, then who gets to pay for them and why?
Your tax dollars are being shifted from the young to the old, no different than shifting money from wealthy to abbott or NJ money to southern states.
Kids in schools are standing up against the PARCC test. High school kids already smell the sh** that the adults are trying to pull off on them, at least the smarter ones are.
Grim, it is game over for rising home prices in New Jersey. If you believe otherwise, you are in denial.
I can imagine few viable scenarios where the cost of living and housing in the United States becomes less burdonsome.
The Myth of Working Your Way Through College
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myth-of-working-your-way-through-college/359735/?google_editors_picks=true
A credit hour in 1979 at MSU was 24.50, adjusted for inflation that is 79.23 in today dollars. One credit hour today costs 428.75.
In 1979, when the minimum wage was $2.90, a hard-working student with a minimum-wage job could earn enough in one day (8.44 hours) to pay for one academic credit hour. If a standard course load for one semester consisted of maybe 12 credit hours, the semester’s tuition could be covered by just over two weeks of full-time minimum wage work—or a month of part-time work. A summer spent scooping ice cream or flipping burgers could pay for an MSU education.
The cost of an MSU credit hour has multiplied since 1979. So has the federal minimum wage. But today, it takes 60 hours of minimum-wage work to pay off a single credit hour, which was priced at $428.75 for the fall semester.
It’s impossible to work your way through college nowadays
http://www.randalolson.com/2014/03/22/its-impossible-to-work-your-way-through-college-nowadays
grim,
Of course it’s still possible to do so (work through college and come out debt free), but it’s much more difficult. And if I may assume, it’s likely that for you to do so you must also have aid in the form of genuine scholarships or parental assistance.
Unless you’re part/full time job(s) during college are paying a HUGE amount of dough, it’s impossible to pay the full boat for school yourself.
I recall Libtard (and maybe others) doing the on campus job route which offered some cash as well as reduced costs… if my memory is wrong please correct me. This is another good way to go about saving money. Is this option available to everyone? Not enough spots to go around.
There is the sugardaddy website that matches college aged girls with men.It is called Seeking Arrangements.For instance it said 179 girls at GW university are getting a “free ride”
Men in college can also do it but it is a “pain in the butt”
Been following the tenor of the sentiment regarding income inequality for some time and I find it amusing that only recently is the media and left starting to figure out what so many of you all pointed out months or years ago, that QE=Trickle Down Economics.
Amazingly, some even attribute it to Obama, which, to be fair, is wholly inaccurate. I guess because he is taking so much credit for it, that’s understandable, but it’s still wrong.
[65] JJ
Does your wife know you frequent these websites? [I had a follow on line but it was just too cruel a burn; just trust me on that and gimme the eagle for this hole]
Joyce, my dorm when I went away to school for freshman year had a coke dealer, a pot dealer, ticket scalper, a fence. And folks who sold fake concert t-shirts, term papers and knock off stuff. They also worked part time jobs.
Heck the coke dealer, always had brand new cars and went on spring break.
Funny the coke dealer and pot dealer on my hallway are both attorneys. In fact both are Partners in White shoe law firms. For obvious reasons.
The guy who sold ludes on my hallway is now a Doctor, once again for obvious reasons.
Also had a guy who had a stolen hubcap and car stereo business in summer at the flea market.Interesting business kinda a no tell model. Kids would sell him inventory as well as some OEM stuff right from factory and he would resale.
That guy never quit doing it, I see his stores called AL Hubcaps still in business. Crazy business model but a perfect business model SUPPLY = DEMAND
Come outside and your four rims are missing and car is up on blocks from your 1992 Honda Accord. Can afford new ones and you dont have theft on car anymore. Dont worry Al just got in four rims that will fit your car.
Grim,
My girl has 140k left of student loan debt for a BA from Columbia. She finally consolidated her fed loans to IBR. Private is another matter. One of my good friends had 50k left (on 70k) to pay off on wife’s masters for child ed. She decided 4 years ago to stay at home and raise their 3 kids. He is paying 500 mo. for degree she won’t use. I heard 4 women in late 20s complain yesterday about alma mater fund drives, stating my six figure debt was enough. They all agreed. Its 1.2 trillion- kind of naive to think people are not drowning. Bankruptcy has to come back. I hate the argument that they got the education already. If you don’t pay loans then you get no diploma therefore can’t claim graduate degree. Think legit employers don’t check? I just converted to FT and the hardest part was clearing my education. I had to order transcripts from 20 years back. Take away the diploma. Colleges could easily do it. Lie and no job for you.
I checked the 3 people who outbid in Nov and Dec. 2 of the 3 were millennial dinks. The third I could not confirm but they looked late 40s. Between LinkedIn, the knot and the bump, you can find everything out.
My wife is a college aged girl.I have a pre-nup that gives me automatic anulements on their 22 birthday
Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:
March 13, 2015 at 12:46 pm
[65] JJ
Does your wife know you frequent these websites? [I had a follow on line but it was just too cruel a burn; just trust me on that and gimme the eagle for this hole]
Were I to do it all over again, I probably would still have gone to my alma mater but not worked my ass off at a job, which I did for four years. Even though that job experience later got me a terrific offer in DC, it was a fluke. I would have been better off going deeper into debt, double-majoring, getting a great job right away, then going to law school 4 years earlier than I did. Even though I would have had 4X the debt, it would still be low by today’s standards and easily paid off, and I would have been far wealthier today.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, ain’t it?
But today, I would not have done that. Costs have skyrocketed so much that it would make no sense. Better to go off and work as a barista for a couple of years, then re-apply to the best schools and seek aid packages without the drag of parents on your FAFSA. Better yet, go start a charity while in HS for the application cred, take a couple of years to “run” it, and to get all sorts of liberal bleeding heart grant money.
[68] JJ
“Joyce, my dorm when I went away to school for freshman year had a coke dealer, a pot dealer, ticket scalper, a fence. And folks who sold fake concert t-shirts, term papers and knock off stuff. They also worked part time jobs.
Heck the coke dealer, always had brand new cars and went on spring break.
Funny the coke dealer and pot dealer on my hallway are both attorneys. In fact both are Partners in White shoe law firms. For obvious reasons.”
Freshman year, I got placed with one of the biggest dealers on campus. The day I moved in, he took out a triple beam and dropped a piece of hash the size of a candy bar on it. Once, when he was getting his delivery, from a guy I knew with a flower business on campus, the guy took out a trash bag full of weed. We stashed it in a drawer in his dresser and it took up the entire drawer.
Guy was perenially stoned (as was I that semester, always for free), but I moved out to a frat because I was concerned about grades and going away for life if he got busted (I’d go away just for being in the room).
Last I heard, he was a bankster in NYC.
I’m looking for someone to shake things up like Chip Kelly. This RE game is nothing but 3 and outs.
In other news, the short term memory of people amazes me. There was a gym bag sized pothole that easily caused 3 or 4 blowouts. You would think waiting in traffic and seeing the pothole, you would remember to look out for it. Nope, I saw this pothole claim that many cars every morning for 3 days in a row.
It’s amazing how many people do not understand this. They spend all this money on moving expenses to find out the hard way. Leaving north jersey in your prime earning years or younger to go to a lower cost of living location is a total mistake. Move to a lower cost of living location when you made your money and are retiring.
grim says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:44 am
Show me a place where the top tier neighborhood around a major metro job center is “affordable” to the median income.
And please, don’t play the game where you’ll settle for a marginal town there, when you wouldn’t even remotely consider that here
Amazing when someone tells me they won’t consider anything but Millburn, Short Hills, Franklin Lakes, Ridgewood or Westfield and in the same breath they’ll make a comparison to one of 300 identical tract houses in the middle of nowhere.
Try me.
I had to reread a fewer older posts to refresh my memory on something. After doing so, even with the trolls and people who think they’re funny but aren’t … Fabius is by far the biggest idiot who regularly posts here.
About post #35. Bad omens is Hunterdoom. I noticed the same when I did a comparison of houses for rent vs for sale vs in pre-foreclosure.
I know you are proud of Hunterdoom, and how those property taxes keep the “undesirable little people” away. But, I’m sorry so the say, that the line that defines “Ghetto in Woods” that applies to most of the Poconos, seems to have serroptiously moved to include Hunterdoom, and its going to start showing its true sign soon.
Joyce [75];
Give Michael a chance… he hasn’t been around as long as Fabius but is one a sure pace to catch up. :-D
72. I think we hung out….or at least knew the same people.
For joyce….
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Bill-restricting-rights-of-citizens-to-videotape-6130903.php
I agree with you. Fair is fair, bottom line. Here is my take on those issues. When the economy improves so will these programs. They are ponzi schemes. They were never intended to be fully funded. They were based on always having a growing economy, meaning always increasing the amount of workers to help pay for current retirees. I predict that whenever the economy goes into its down cycle during the 21st century, you will hear major complaints about these programs in the game of politics. When times are good, you will not hear a word.
The pension system is the same thing. It’s only bad now because we have been in bad times for close to 10 years. You had the state govt lowering the amount of workers by not hiring or laying off, and at the same time christie forced a ton of workers into retirement. Of course now there are problems. You have less people contributing and more taking. People throw around the total debt, but that is a scare tactic. Why do you need to have the total balance there in a ponzi scheme? You just need enough money to pay out the current retirees. I think when the economy is fully raging, people won’t be focused on these issues.
Yes, I think the U.S. economy will rage in the next 10 years. We are very well positioned in the global economy to take full advantage in the coming years.
phoenix says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:57 am
53. Pumpkin,
I’m all on board except for this. The underfunded pension plans, Social Security and Medicare going bankrupt. If people are paying in the correct amounts, nothing is being stolen, and there are not years of gross incompetence, these 3 areas should be balanced and not underwater. And if they are IOU’s, then who gets to pay for them and why?
Your tax dollars are being shifted from the young to the old, no different than shifting money from wealthy to abbott or NJ money to southern states.
Kids in schools are standing up against the PARCC test. High school kids already smell the sh** that the adults are trying to pull off on them, at least the smarter ones are.
Thanks for the share. Interesting to say the least.
joyce says:
March 13, 2015 at 12:12 pm
The Myth of Working Your Way Through College
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/the-myth-of-working-your-way-through-college/359735/?google_editors_picks=true
A credit hour in 1979 at MSU was 24.50, adjusted for inflation that is 79.23 in today dollars. One credit hour today costs 428.75.
In 1979, when the minimum wage was $2.90, a hard-working student with a minimum-wage job could earn enough in one day (8.44 hours) to pay for one academic credit hour. If a standard course load for one semester consisted of maybe 12 credit hours, the semester’s tuition could be covered by just over two weeks of full-time minimum wage work—or a month of part-time work. A summer spent scooping ice cream or flipping burgers could pay for an MSU education.
The cost of an MSU credit hour has multiplied since 1979. So has the federal minimum wage. But today, it takes 60 hours of minimum-wage work to pay off a single credit hour, which was priced at $428.75 for the fall semester.
#73
I call those type of people ‘train drivers’ – they stay inside painted lines and won’t swerve for ANYTHING!! Like a train on tracks. My wife is one. Giving her an F-150 HD 4×4 4D to drive around town has saved me from buying many new tires, shocks, alignments ect. over the last decade.
xolepa (35)-
You can still find Range Rovers and Benz at Hunterdon food pantries.
Here’s the teaser for the CNN show about that “seeking arrangements”. I saw the show last year, and figured JJ would be all over that. NYU appears to be the number one recruiting ground for “sugar babies”. I’ll bet JJ is ready to give these hungry ladies some guidance.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/25/living/lisa-ling-sugar-baby-essay/
No more COPS TV episodes for Texas
phoenix says:
March 13, 2015 at 1:42 pm
For joyce….
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Bill-restricting-rights-of-citizens-to-videotape-6130903.php
Show me a place where the top tier neighborhood around a major metro job center is “affordable” to the median income.
“Affordable” is defined as the figure acceptable in order to complete the transaction. It’s not a number, it’s an emotion. It’s a state of mind. It’s the lowest monthly payment finagled so that the buyer doesn’t realize they’ve been hoodwinked. By that time, the charlatans are long gone and the “buyer” has a dead asset.
We went through a seven year stretch of “affordable” where all that was required was the ability to sustain a pulse. The term “median income” is not applicable. We’re different here. We’re insulated and prestigious. Whether you make $65,000 or $285,000 per year, it doesn’t matter. Trust me, Suzanne researched it, so just sign here.
I do not understand Hunterdon.
Grim,
Is there a root cause for your misunderstanding?
grim,
I don’t think anyone expects a median income to purchase a home in a top tier town – here or anywhere else. The issue as I see it is that in most parts of the country, an income in the top 5% (nationally) will easily get you a home in a top tier suburban town – and that home will not be a “well-cared for” 1960’s split or expanded cape. This doesn’t hold for metro NY. However mind numbing this may be, I think most people understand and accept this.
However, in most other parts of the country, you can find a middle tier suburb without submitting to a soul-crushing commute. Just get in your car and drive for 15-20 minutes. Here, if you work in the job center (aka NYC) and want a decent commute from the suburbs, your options are essentially to stretch for a premier town or to settle for a marginal one. The kicker is that there isn’t much savings in terms of the property taxes in the marginal town vs. the premier one.
grim says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:44 am
Show me a place where the top tier neighborhood around a major metro job center is “affordable” to the median income.
And please, don’t play the game where you’ll settle for a marginal town there, when you wouldn’t even remotely consider that here
I am actually pretending to go to Columbia Grad school and have a few MILFs who are helping me with my tuition bills.
Ragnar says:
March 13, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Here’s the teaser for the CNN show about that “seeking arrangements”. I saw the show last year, and figured JJ would be all over that. NYU appears to be the number one recruiting ground for “sugar babies”. I’ll bet JJ is ready to give these hungry ladies some guidance.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/25/living/lisa-ling-sugar-baby-essay/
I think everything you stated has to do with the age of the nyc metro area and the access to empty land. This area was developed long ago, hence why the housing stock is much older here. Other metro areas have only recently been developed and still have room to expand.
clotluva says:
March 13, 2015 at 3:54 pm
grim,
I don’t think anyone expects a median income to purchase a home in a top tier town – here or anywhere else. The issue as I see it is that in most parts of the country, an income in the top 5% (nationally) will easily get you a home in a top tier suburban town – and that home will not be a “well-cared for” 1960′s split or expanded cape. This doesn’t hold for metro NY. However mind numbing this may be, I think most people understand and accept this.
However, in most other parts of the country, you can find a middle tier suburb without submitting to a soul-crushing commute. Just get in your car and drive for 15-20 minutes. Here, if you work in the job center (aka NYC) and want a decent commute from the suburbs, your options are essentially to stretch for a premier town or to settle for a marginal one. The kicker is that there isn’t much savings in terms of the property taxes in the marginal town vs. the premier one.
grim says:
March 13, 2015 at 11:44 am
Show me a place where the top tier neighborhood around a major metro job center is “affordable” to the median income.
And please, don’t play the game where you’ll settle for a marginal town there, when you wouldn’t even remotely consider that here
Yes, you are getting it. We are def different from most of the country. Trust me, other high cost of living areas are filled with prestigious people too. You think the sf area is not filled with prestigious people when comparing to most parts of the country? North Jersey is no different. Nj is caught in a crappy economy at the moment and we still are ranked as one of the wealthiest states in America. People can act like nj is going down and write her off, but they are dead wrong. When nj is ranked in the bottom 50% in terms of wealth, I’ll start to believe these idiots.
“We went through a seven year stretch of “affordable” where all that was required was the ability to sustain a pulse. The term “median income” is not applicable. We’re different here. We’re insulated and prestigious. Whether you make $65,000 or $285,000 per year, it doesn’t matter. Trust me, Suzanne researched it, so just sign here.”
Yikes water bill says we used 32,000 gallons! I may have sprung a leak during the winter freeze there is no way we used that much water.
I will be out in my front yard with a stethoscope this weekend listening for a leak.
“We are def different from most of the country.”
Sure are we overpay for everything.
Hunterdon County is too far from an ample supply of job opportunities. I work in that county, and I really love the people there. But I always puzzle over how there can be so many higher income households there, given its distance from any real center of employment. I guess it’s just on that outer band. It’s so beautiful though.
Pumpkin:
What does empty land have to do with the bifurcation of commutable townships?
Bronxville/Larchmont/Scarsdale vs Mount Vernon/New Rochelle/Yonkers
Millburn/Summit/Short Hills vs Maplewood/The Oranges
Garden City/Rockville Center vs. Hempstead/Valley Stream
etc. etc.
The Great Pumpkin says:
March 13, 2015 at 4:32 pm
I think everything you stated has to do with the age of the nyc metro area and the access to empty land. This area was developed long ago, hence why the housing stock is much older here.
re # 91 – ROFL – the infamous “Suzanne Researched This” ad for Century 21 made in 2006.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n-cD8ERgs
The primary reason for the lack of quality towns in a short commute to NYC is Great Society welfare programs followed by race riots, followed by the creation of a huge swath of kill zone propped up to feed the politicians who live off these people’s misery.
Open land has a lot to do with it. It’s what drives up the price. It’s like this. Every city or area of wealth must be close to poor people in order to have access to them. The rich need the poor and the poor need the rich. The larger the wealthier class gets, the larger the poor class gets. Both still need to be close to each other; you think a poor person has the money to commute an hour away? They don’t. The wealthy need all type of services performed in their towns, so it’s only natural that a ghetto will be in commutable distance to these wealthy towns so that the poor can service them.
In terms of development in a metro area like nyc, as the wealthy grow and poor grow, you see development take place that looks like north jersey. Reasons why stated above. It’s no coincidence that Long Island, west Chester, rockland, and southern conn all look the same in terms of development. You are really either rich or poor. So why would median pricing apply to this area. There is nothing median about it. You either have it or you don’t. Having access to some sort of open land within an hour of the city in any direction would do wonders in bringing the cost down, but obviously there is no more land, which is why you can’t lose by buying real estate within the rt 287 boundary and holding long term. It will only go up (not the ghettos- opposite happens they are worth crap). You could place a bet and hit big time by buying a ghetto property and praying for gentrification, but a lot risk comes with that kind of opportunity for profit.
Now is this providing some light as to why empty land has something to do with it.
clotluva says:
March 13, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Pumpkin:
What does empty land have to do with the bifurcation of commutable townships?
Bronxville/Larchmont/Scarsdale vs Mount Vernon/New Rochelle/Yonkers
Millburn/Summit/Short Hills vs Maplewood/The Oranges
Garden City/Rockville Center vs. Hempstead/Valley Stream
etc. etc.
Juice Box,
I hope the creators of that video are unemployed now. Along with the actors.
Yes you’re only a 7/11 clerk, and I’m an unemployed mother of 6, but Suzanne said we can afford this million dollar home thanks to this pick – a – pay interest only loan.
Great, I’m just inside the 287 semicircle. I cannot lose.
Ouch!!! Sorry to hear that. Masons and plumbers are going to make a killing off these past two winters. Also, asphalt pavers. They all can thank Mother Nature for throwing them a bone. The bitter cold has wrecked havoc over everything.
Juice Box says:
March 13, 2015 at 4:38 pm
Yikes water bill says we used 32,000 gallons! I may have sprung a leak during the winter freeze there is no way we used that much water.
I will be out in my front yard with a stethoscope this weekend listening for a leak.
re # 99 – Suzanne Ad timing was right around peak….I remember driving around looking at all of the for-sale signs and laughing at the 500k to 600k handlers on POS capes all over New Jersey wondering who in their right mind would lever up so much for a house. Well turns out plenty of family, friends and co-workers did.
Grim (87)-
Hunterdon is a case study in people who have more money than brains being slowly separated from the money.
All you need to know about Hunterdon County and why their income stats are so high.
2000 census
“The racial makeup of the county was 93.91% White, 2.25% Black or African American, 0.14% Native American, 1.92% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 0.99% from two or more races. 2.76% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.[3][27”
Who here is dealing with student debt? My wife had about $20k, which she paid off prior to getting married. I never had any student debt, having worked full time through most of the undergrad, and through both of my graduate degrees. So we are zero. I hardly think we’re long-tail exceptions, there are too many anecdotal stories here for me to believe that to really be the case.
My wife and I are both debt free. Cleared our student loan debt by age 24 while we were in graduate school. Both went to graduate school for free on stipend and research grants. She even got another masters at TCNJ that she paid cash for while simultaneously in graduate school at Rutgers. The people I know carrying student loan debt didn’t work during college and went to schools that ran 30 to 35k a year circa year 2000. Everyone that cleared their debt fast worked and went to Rutgers.
They just don’t get it. I have a coworker that was arguing with me about student loan debt. There was convo at work she was involved in where the teachers couldn’t believe some of these kids take out loans for $50k a year to go to some schools. She was basically of the opinion that price was secondary to the 4 year experience.
Normally, I could agree…if the price was $100k vs. $60k on a 4 year degree. But when its $200k vs $60k….I look at these kids coming out and they have attached a burden on themselves that will prevent them from ever getting ahead on a modest salary. I can’t see pissing future security away for a 4 year experience.
104- I’m figuring Essex and Bergen income avgs would blow hunterdon out the door if they didn’t have areas filled with poor bringing their income avgs down. Based on the stats, hunterdon really doesn’t have a ghetto area like Bergen and Essex do.
In many ways Hunterdon is like Morris except it doesn’t have easy access main arteries into NYC.
Most of the Boros (except the wanna be New Hope PA, Frenchtown, NJ) are drags full of PWT (figure it out).
Lambertville…no, it is NOT New Hope PA. and never will be (for good or bad).
HA! The bridge there reminds me of a incident when CC/’Chubby’/’Fatboy’ flashed a badge not too many years ago. Nope, I didn’t forgettaboutit.
#105
None for me wife and I, either. OK, a couple small mortgages on rental props. with great positive cash flow but that’s it.
Son wants to be a master welder. Daughter…don’t know yet but she’s thinking about a stint in the military (the girl isn’t in highschool yet) then a free ride to what she really wants to do.
BTW – Not all military personal fight. Actually it’s a very small percentage.
(98) Pumpkin
I’m sorry, but nothing you just puked out had anything to do with open land. Happy trolling to you.
109- You stated why isn’t there any middle tiered suburbs within 20 min of the city. I responded by explaining it has to do with no more land. You asked how? I explained that the nyc metro areas had become a two way street. The middle class was pushed out by the poor and rich in the areas within an hour drive to the city in any direction. Since there is no more land available, the middle class are being pushed out by the expanding rich and poor. Meaning the middle class can’t afford the rich towns and they won’t live with the poor in the cheap areas. Middle class towns were taken over by the huge expansion rich and poor, leaving the middle class with no option within a hour drive radius of the city. Maybe, I’m doing a terrible job of explaining this, but I hope this helps.
When you hear people complain about the costs of this state. That’s someone being pushed out of the state by the rich and poor. They won’t pay what it costs to live in a nice town (rich), and they won’t live in a cheap area due the poor that have overtaken it.
(110) Pumpkin,
So if I understand what you are saying, you are essentally agreeing with Ragnar in post 97. Thus your view is not that it is an “empty land” issue so much as a deleterious side effect caused by public policies that cater to low income earners at the expense of the middle class.
In any event, you haven’t added anything that refutes my perpective (privided to grim) as to why so many people in this region aspire to live in “premier” neighborhoods that are, in a practical sense, beyond their reach.
#73 Joyce
I’m sorry that I appear to be an idiot to you, I put that down to, my intelligence being outside the scope of your understanding.
Eddie Ray,
St Kitts, lets boil that discussion down for the “Crayola Set”. Simple Yes/No answer.
Leaving aside the cost considerations. If tomorrow morning, St Kitts offered you personally, a passport, would you accept it?
I say no, let me know if you want to discuss it.