The Asbury Park Press (APP) is running a three-part series looking into the refi boom. The first part of the series can be found here:
Home Roulette: Gambling with your house
BY JASON METHOD
Some interesting findings:
New Jersey homeowners, using refis and HELOCs, borrowed approximately $183,000,000,000 (Yes, $183 Billion) between 2003 and 2005. One can only imagine that this trend has continued through 2006 and into 2007. Extrapolating the yearly increase over that time period, we could be closer to $250 Billion.
Monmouth and Ocean counties accounted for $33.5 Billion over that time period.
Ocean county saw approximately 42,000 refinanced mortgages in 2004 and 2005. However, keep in mind the low interest rate environment during that time period. The article seems to point to this level of volume as negative, however, in many instances it was benficial to the borrower to refinance into a lower rate mortgage. Not every refi is a massive cash-out teaser deal.
Joseph Seneca, a favorite here, makes an appearance as well with the following quote, “What we’re realizing now, and it’s a hard lesson, is that the housing market goes down as well as up”. It’s amazing that these quotes are starting to see print now. Two years ago this kind of statement wouldn’t have been printed. Heck, I wonder if even Seneca himself would have said it two years back. I think it’s important to note that we “realized” the same thing in the early 90’s, it’s only that we chose to forget.
Some other interesting pieces of data, the APP is stating that in 2005, 1 in 5 mortgages (20%) in Monmouth and Ocean were subprime. They put the number at 1 in 10 in 2004.
Economist Mark Zandi, of Moody’s economy.com fame, also makes an appearance. Zandi has been incredibly bearish on the housing market lately. Zandi expects forclosures and mortgage delinquencies to rise (who doesn’t?), and prices in New Jersey to fall. “The market has another level to go down,” says Zandi, and I agree.
A Refi Heat Map from the APP:
Refinancings and Home Equity Loans 2003-05
A Subprime Heat Map from the APP:
Look at the “Equity to value” for home owners with mortgage.
The ratio was 52% in 1985. Ratio at the end of 2005 was 37%. Add to that property value decline and MEW in 2006-2007 and the picture looks pretty bad.
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2006/12/equity-cushion-is-getting-smaller.html
Greenspan can talk more; you can listen less
Bloomberg News
MORE THAN A YEAR after he stepped down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan is very much with us, handicapping recession risks (a one-third probability) for anyone willing to cough up a reported $150,000.
No one seems to have appreciated the irony in his recent comments that “imbalances” can build up after six years of expansion. The numero uno imbalance — a housing bubble that is rapidly deflating — went unmentioned by the maestro, which is interesting since his easy money policies were primarily to blame.
Too little, too late
Greenspan kept short-term rates too low for too long, ignoring signs that economic growth and inflation were accelerating. The overnight federal funds rate was at 1 percent through the second quarter of 2004, a period that saw year- over-year real gross domestic product growth of 4.5 percent, the peak annual rate for the current cycle. Nominal GDP rose 7.5 percent in the four quarters ended that June, the widest gap in almost 30 years for this proxy for the stance of monetary policy. (The spread represents the difference between the cost of financing and the return on investment.)
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_5465407?source=rss
Come on guys 700-800 K is not too much for 1/2 a duplex…I know of another bid involving a 26 year old and a suitcase of his parents,grandparents,extended families cash.
And think about it INSTANT EQUITY then you can get those two Benzes or Lexus that are required to live right in Fort Lee
Any prediction on Fed today??
Hold, Raise or Lower??
If Fed lowers – it will be clear that “holding inflion in check policy” is all but history.
And currency trade will be very interesting next day.
Al,
2 days of meetings. A complete non-event regarding the ffr. The only possible market mover is any significant shift in their statement.
Also interesting – couple years ago this would not even appear in the media:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17632793/
Is the U.S. economy headed for depression?
Granted they are dismissing it all together, but still…
Greenspan was the worst Fed chairman ever, solely responsible for the mess we are in right now and should be in jail with the Enron, Worldcom and Tyco guys.
This morning CNBC covering mortgages and the markets…
Barry Glassman of Cassaday & Company predicting ARM tidal wave to hit this April.
I promise to get a Lowball! up. I’ve been meaning to do it, I really have, it’s just that time has been in short supply lately.
jb
sitting on my brain JB. I was just about to post a question about lowball. needed my monthly fix.
On a more interesting note, I’m heading over to the Nereid Boathouse in Rutherford early this evening for a class in Rowing and Sculling. I’m looking to take up rowing this year, and no, I don’t mind taking a swim in the mighty Passaic.
In typical obsessive fashion, with Spring comes new hobbies. Sculling looks like the top candidate this year.
jb
Number two on the list is target shooting. Unfortunately, my wife and I have yet to put in our handgun paperwork. I don’t think we’re going to see our permits any sooner than July.
jb
Grim (12)-
Why not combine the two? Shoot things from your rowboat. What better spot for it than the Passaic River?
Call it “urban pentathalon”.
BTW, I’d get a diptheria booster before taking a dip in the scenic Passaic.
I can see it now…sculling Newark Bay on a 97-degree day in August…Glock in lap…locked and loaded.
Hey Honey, what’s that moving in the bushes?
“I’ve been meaning to do it, I really have, it’s just that time has been in short supply lately.”
JB,
Spending too much time in Shannon Rose??
From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passaic_River
Much of the lower river also suffered severe pollution during the 19th and 20th centuries. Although the health of the river has improved due to environmental legislation and regulation and the decline of industry along the river, it still suffers from substantial degradation of water quality. The sediment at the mouth of the river near Newark Bay also remains contaminated by such pollutants as dioxin which was largely produced at the Diamond Shamrock Chemical Plant in Newark as a waste product produced during the production of the agent orange defoliation chemical used during the Viet Nam War. The cleanup of the dioxin contamination on the bottom of the Passaic River is the subject of a major environmental lawsuit that has been ongoing for decades regarding the responsibility for the cleanup.
The decline of manufacturing on the lower river has also left a post-industrial landscape of abandoned and disused factories and other facilities. In particular the stretch of the river along downtown Newark came to be regarded in the later decades of the 20th century as particularly wretched. Starting in the 1990s, the lower river became subject of federal and state urban restoration efforts which have resulted in new construction along the riverfront, including a regional headquarters of the FBI.
While there has been a decline in the industrial use of the river recreational use has increased since the early 1990s. While there has been a long tradition of high school rowing by Kearny, Belleville, and Nutley High Schools, in 1990 the historic Nereid Boat Club (originally founded in 1868) was revived broadening the sport of Rowing on the Passaic River. In 1999, the Passaic River Rowing Association became the second Rowing Club along the banks of the Lower Passaic River. Today, the rowing community is very active through the two Rowing Clubs (Nereid Boat Club & Passaic River Rowing Association) and eight Hgh School Crews (Kearny, Belleville, Nutley, Don Bosco Prep, Montclair, Ridgewood, Teaneck, and Westfield.)
So, what harm can come from an occasional dioxin bath?
Got to look at the positive side Clot, with all the chemicals and pollutants that make up that toxic swill, you really don’t need to worry about exposure to bacterial and viral pathogens..
jb
…or the occasional severed body part.
Personally, it’s the 50lb carp that scare the hell out of me.
jb
it’s just that time has been in short supply lately.
…unlike the number of houses on the market. GSMLS now at 30,025
I question the doom and gloom of this article. I am one of those who refied from 8.3 % with 22 years remaining. The new rate was 4.99% 15 year with a 50K equity withdraw for impovements. The new payment was aprox $100 less per month and I saved 7 years worth of interest payments. The 50K was put back into the property increasing it’s overall value. Yes I live in one of those towns where over 50% of residents refied. I am extremley conservative with my finances. In my case I would of been STUPID not to refi for a lower rate and term and yes the $50K was a nice also.
JB hope you are a morning person if your are joining the rowing team, I see them every mornig at the crack of dawn.
I just read my post, no I am not Italian. I have to slow down when I type, no time to proof-read when at work.
JB wach out for river garbage scow
nwbergen,
you did well but most of your neighbors did not.
http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/2825/754/1600/742997/BOFA3.jpg
Refinance- in and of itself- indicates little. Just like nwbergen in (22), a buyer who purchased with an 8%+ rate in 2000 would have to be brain-dead not to have refi’d out of it in the intervening years. And, a HELOC or cashout for legitimate improvements would not be something that drives a refi like that into toxic territory.
Perhaps a better indicator of poor economic health would be a color chart overlay showing REJECTED refi applications.
“Greenspan was the worst Fed chairman ever, solely responsible for the mess we are in right now and should be in jail with the Enron, Worldcom and Tyco guys.”
Solely responsible? Naa, the Greater Fools who ran like lemmings off a cliff into financial ruin are solely responsible for their own actions.
While many of these Greater Fools are seeking a scapegoat, all they need do is look in the mirror.
“I just read my post, no I am not Italian. I have to slow down when I type, no time to proof-read when at work.”
Does that mean Italian people have poor writing skills? How about the Chinese?
It was a small joke.
was a nice also.
Being part Italian, I thought it was funny.
Clot,
The subprime heat map is more interesting.
http://www.app.com/multimedia/maps/20070318_subpr/
jb
damn
Unfortunately, it is based on 2005 data.
jb
Grim (29)-
Damn! There’s the beef.
Damn (29) indeed. Never saw that. As you suggest…2006 certainly didn’t DECREASE the amount.
It seems we (as a group) are even more contrarian than we give ourselves credit for.
That’s a great subprime map.
Guess the people in Summit really are rich — only 6% used subprime loans and the average income for these subprime borrowers was $191,555.
http://www.app.com/multimedia/maps/20070318_subpr/
Guess people can hurry up and pick up one of those $600K crapbox Cape Cods, with bathrooms from 1935, and a 20×30 “back yard.”
From the Washington Post: The Pros, Getting Conned.
A Financial Meltdown, Courtesy of the Big Boys
By Sebastian Mallaby
The Great Mortgage Meltdown of 2007 recalls the beginning of the dot-com implosion in 2000. Once again, paper wealth is going up in smoke; once again, Wall Street banks that created the dud securities turn out to have been imperfect guides as to their value. But the current financial meltdown also differs importantly from the tech bust.
The danger is that Congress will see only part of this distinction.
The Internet bubble was a textbook popular delusion. Its guiding spirit was the “day trader,” the amateur investor who chased up the price of thinly traded stocks without asking dull questions about profits. When the party blew up, you could put it down to inexperience. The day traders had forgotten the lesson of the 1987 crash. They had never learned the lesson of the 1968 crash. Pros would have done better.
Unfortunately for this comforting theory, you don’t hear much about day traders’ role in the current mortgage meltdown. The collapsing value of riskier mortgage securities cannot be tracked on most retail brokerage Web sites, and when I called up Fidelity and asked for a piece of this rarefied action, I got a surprised “huh?” from the salesman. Mortgage securities have been sold overwhelmingly to institutional investors — the professionals who understand risk and have the smarts to value it.
Or at least they do in theory. In practice, the professionals often bought paper backed by mortgages that were almost bound to blow up — “liar loans,” in which home buyers provided no documentation of their supposed income; “exploding ARMs,” in which rock-bottom teaser interest rates leaped higher after two years or so. How could sophisticated Wall Streeters lend money on terms that invited default? The answer is that the pros were conned: Investment banks bamboozled ratings agencies into assigning misleadingly high credit scores to some mortgage-backed bonds, and money managers were too desperate for a speedy buck to kick the tires on the Ferrari.
Just as the financial actors in this drama contrast with the day traders of the tech bust, so, too, its real-world victims could hardly be more different. In the wake of the dot-com bomb, it was mainly bright young adventurers who were thrown out of work — and most of them found new jobs a half-dozen lattes later. The mood of the era was summed up by an advertisement in a sports club window: “Hey, dot-comers, look good when you lose your shirt,” it teased, as though the giant tech pop were a dating opportunity.
There’s no fodder for advertising laughs in the mortgage debacle. Many of the liar loans and exploding ARMs were extended to low-income families, who now can’t meet their payments and face the prospect of eviction. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, one in 10 recent home buyers who are black will lose their properties, 2 1/2 times the likely rate for whites.
If even sophisticated financiers make unrepayable loans, and if the victims of this craziness are families who are too weak to take a blow, perhaps the sophisticates should be reined in by regulation?
That seems to be the thinking of Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee and, perhaps not irrelevantly, a presidential aspirant. But before Congress charges down this path, it should consider a final contrast between the tech bubble and the mortgage shambles.
Silicon Valley stocks hailed from the economy’s unregulated fringe. But mortgage finance is intensively scrutinized by multiple regulators, and two vast government-chartered lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, tower over the market. This government involvement failed to prevent the mess, and it’s not clear that more regulation would work better.
It may be tempting, for example, to turn to Fannie and Freddie to help stabilize the mortgage market in its time of need. But these institutions are a potential source of instability themselves; they have used their government link to grow so big that a collapse would cause chaos. The policy debate needs to stay focused on cutting Fannie and Freddie down to size, not on giving them a white-knight role in the mortgage debacle.
New regulation may well hold out less hope than new financial products. Thanks to an infant market in tradable credit insurance, credit-rating agencies, the main culprits in the mortgage mess, are becoming less important. The new “credit default swaps” provide an alternative way of gauging the likelihood that a bond issuer will go bust. They reflect the collective wisdom of investors who put money on the line rather than the unilateral judgment of one agency.
If this market in credit-default swaps had been as vibrant when the mortgage bubble started as it has become, some of the mess might have been avoided. But the swaps market does not vote, so expect a regulatory push from Washington.
UnRealtor,
Subprime loans tend to be of lower value. Alt-A’s are the ones to watch out for. It will be intersting to see a map that highlights ‘stated income’.
also, average subprime income all across NJ shows up in 6 digits. Something wrong with the data or are these stated incomes?
From MarketWatch:
Subprime woes couldyou’re your neighborhood
The subprime lending debacle could come home to roost in your neighborhood, in the form of reduced demand, sluggish appreciation or declining prices, one economist says.
Dr. Christian Weller, senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank, suggested that the rise in foreclosures of subprime loans will have widespread impact on consumers and the broader economy. During a radio interview with Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch senior columnist, Weller said that subprime lending woes have much bigger implications than simply hurting the mortgage business; with the subprime business drying up, there will be fewer first-time home buyers, which slows all other housing activity.
More at the link above along with a link to audio interview,
Rich
ok not all but most show 6 digit salaries.
Biotech and finance are strong source of salaries and in NJ:
http://www.state.nj.us/labor/warn/2007/01-07warn.htm
2007 – JANUARY WARN NOTICES
COMPANY CITY LAYOFF BEGIN WORKERS
JOHNSON CONTROLS NEW BRUNSWICK 3/4/07 102
EQUITY ONE PARSIPPANY 3/11/07 44
POPULAR FINANCIAL MARLTON 3/11/07 207
GMAC MORTGAGE MOUNTAINSIDE 3/16/07 85
BERLEX WAYNE 2/28/07 50
JOHNSON & JOHNSON MORRIS PLAINS 3/23/07 512
JPMORGAN CHASE MAYWOOD 3/25/07 160
R.A.B. FOOD GROUP JERSEY CITY 3/26/07 96
NEW COMMUNITY CARE NEWARK 3/26/07 190
MCDATA LUMBERTON 1/26/07 59
COTY MT. OLIVE 3/30/07 360
TOYS R US SOMERSET 3/31/07 18
2007 – February WARN NOTICES
MAYNE PHARMA PARAMUS 4/6/07 67
ARAMARK PLAINSBORO 2/16/07 ??
WASHINGTON MUTUAL CLARK 4/16/07 60
H.C. STARCK E. RUTHERFORD 4/30/07 67
H.C. STARCK CARLSTADT 4/30/07 58
MELLON INVESTOR JESEY CITY 4/30/07 187
Does anybody know of significant # of jobs being created in NJ in Pharma/IT/Finance recently??
Also: It seems like J&J very determined on eventually leaving NJ – where is their next big offices are opening?? Is it in US or in India?
Any ideas on why the “subprime” mortgages have such high income levels (I would have guessed even mean income would be much lower), or do they qualify for “subprime” because the amount financed was too high for their incomes?
afe
Good view into the life of a serial refinancer.
http://bubbletracking.blogspot.com/2007/03/mr-senator-dodd-subprime-victims-right.html
Obviously, a $600K crapbox Cape Cod in Summit would not include a bright yellow door — obtaining that upgrade will run $800K:
http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1074267469
It is NJ. Everybody makes 100K++
I believe incomes listed are qulifying incomes for the mortgages. Which mewans it is Family Income. Two people.
In addition I wonder how may of htem stated/no doc/not full doc – something like I make 40K here is my pay stub. Another 30K comes from my wife’s job as waitress – not documented.
Another 15K comes form the sttocks we own – not documented.
But still – more importantly – I think it is income stated on the mortgage applications – whioch means in most cases it is two people/or more income.
afe,
I have a hunch that those incomes are “stated”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_Loan_Documentation
Wow I looked at fort lee I’m only going to be 1/2 as poor as the average person there :)
APP (Gannett) is upset that I posted articles/links. They asked that I take down all APP material. I’d like to argue that our use here falls under fair use provisions, due to the fact that these articles serve as a stepping off point of educational discussions in a non-commercial venue.
Please take a few minutes to email Gary Schoening, managing editor of the APP at:
garys@app.com
in support of our fair-use of the APP material.
jb
A little tip sheet for you Grim:
http://www.llrx.com/features/bloggersbeware.htm
I would agree with your assessment JB. Besides I doubt they’d come after you.
just emailed them jb.
JB, the Asbury Park Press upset you’re linking to them? Are they sniffing glue?
Do they know how the Internet works? A brief overview: websites link to one another.
Personally, I feel that we meet most, if not all, of the fair use criteria:
1) The site is non-commercial and generates no income.
2) The site uses this material for educational purposes.
3) Each article is the focus of criticism and serves as a starting point of further in-depth analysis. The site acts as a forum where like-minded individuals can discuss these topics.
4) We don’t have a negative impact on the market value of the material reproduced here. In fact, I believe we add value. Many users would not have visted these venues otherwise. This site drives considerable traffic to the sites that are linked. (Read: Advertising $$).
The only area that is gray, and I’ll admit to it, is the amount of material reproduced. I tend not to reproduce material in full, only posting a few paragraphs, in an attempt to get the reader to read the full-text, via the link. If Gannett and the APP think that I’m reproducing “too much”, I’ll gladly cut back.
jb
JB, the Asbury Park Press upset you’re linking to them?
They are upset that I reproduced content. If you think our use is fair and non-infringing, please email Mr. Schoening in support.
jb
a slightly different view…
on negative equity: “Still, more than 93 percent of the 32 million single-family residences’ valuations and loans in the study had positive equity.”
on resets: “The percentage of loans resetting with negative equity is expected to leap from 12.9 percent in 2007 to 24.4 percent in 2008.”
on 112 losses: “It’s less than we spend on alcohol. It’s less than we spend on the lottery and gambling,”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17686807/
MSNBC said it was fine. ;)
I live in a mediocre working class neighborhood in Bergen County. It is not as good as Upper Saddle River, but it is far nicer than Garfield or Bergenfield…anyway, my neighbors bought their house last year for $449,000. According to the listing data, they have an ARM. They also drive an $80,000 BMW. I have not idea what they do for a living, but I wonder why you would live in this town and drive such an expensive car? That extra 80k could have bought a house in a nicer town, don’t you think??
Grim-
Just gave my 2 cents USD to Kim Jong-Il over at Gannett. You’re schtupped now, for sure (LOL!!).
Fight the power!
Grim,
Usually, publications want the bloggers to notice them.
If you weren’t posting/linking to the APP, no doubt someone else over there would email you and ask why.
This is the managing editor. Take it to the top – the editor-in-chief or the publisher.
Blogging is the main means by which a lot of publications increase online readership.
One man’s opinion is not necessarily “the” opinion of management.
grim
check your email from me.
afe
I did not see ANY significant qoutation from APP web site -only links, And nobody argued so far that linking a web-content is illegal….
SO i’d remove any text excerts from app.com, describe shortly what the page is all about and place the link.
I do nto belibe you’s want to get into a fight with thie lawyers on what is considered significant and excessive citation..
Important: they can not make you to remove links and your own commentary to their pages..
This is amazing. The APP actually does a decent job on something and they don’t want anyone to know.
Anyway, my question is how bad do you have to be handling money to make $100K+, but still have to take a subprime loan?
“WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – U.S. home builders were less optimistic about the housing market in March, according to a monthly sentiment index released Monday by the National Association of Home Builders. The NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index fell to 36 in March from a downwardly revised 39 in February. It was the first decline in the index since September. The index shows that about one-third of builders have confidence that the housing market is healthy. “Builders are uncertain about the consequences of tightening mortgage lending standards for their home sales down the line, and some are already seeing effects of the subprime shakeout on current sales activity,” said David Seiders, chief economist for the industry trade group.”
No Link.
Link for # 62;
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/economic-report-home-builders-confidence/story.aspx?guid=%7B89862A79%2DB37A%2D448E%2D8FD9%2D673E65A6C76A%7D
James Bednar Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 9:22 am
Personally, it’s the 50lb carp that scare the hell out of me.
jb
I carped fished the Hackensack/Overpeck for years in HS and college. Cheap entertainment and the cops look the other way when your drinking the Meister Brau. I’d say about 5-12 lbs is pretty common with an occainsional 20lb-er reeled in. Although I had some monsters bust lines, strip reels and pull an occainsional pole into the drink. Im sure there were more than a few 20+ lb-ers that got away but I think 50lb would be very rare. i would be more affraid of the snapping turtles they are nasty and they get BIG.
TB
Clotpoll Says:
March 19th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
You’re schtupped now, for sure (LOL!!).
clot: I have yet to see that word used in that context. I actually think in context, it conveys something positive.
It reminds me of a story from high school when I was studying advanced Spanish. My teacher was el senor Diaz, who is Cuban and spoke English with a Cuban accent.
I noted this habit, and I hatched an evil plan.
One day, I walked into class and raised my hand.
El senor Diaz: Si?
chicago: Buenos dias. Dime un sinonimo de escoger por favor……[give me a synonym for “to choose”]
D: QUE?
C: Dime un sinonimo de escoger por favor
D: uh?
C: Dos zapatos [two shoes]
D: WHAT!?
C: En inlges, como se dice “escoger”?
D: To choose
C: En ingles, como se dice “dos zapatos”
D: “Two choos”
Most people think of subprime as being a poor person’s phenomenon. However subprime is related to the person’s FICO score, not their income. You would be surprised by the number of doctors, attorneys who have gone through a divorce or some serious life event and have a sub 600 FICO score. There are even millionaire actors and professional athletics with sub 600 FICOs.
Mortgage broker shares dirty tricks that are played on borrowers, and tips for dealing with brokers, getting the best rate, and not getting taken for a ride…
http://mortgageminister.com/index.html
courtesy of mortgageimplode.com
grim: The APP warning is a CYA for them. I would not read anything into it. Standard procedure. They created something unique and want to ensure that they retain exclusive control of its use. In order to reserve those rights, they must actively inform others that they are in violation. You are not generating any money from this use, so ultimately, I think they appreciate the free publicity. However, they have no way of confirming your commitment to voluntarism and further, they do not want you to feel comfortable manipulating their copyrighted content.
JB-
No need to lowball…sellers are doing it themselves…this listing went down $25,000 in about a week (may have been even higher at one point) about 8% reduction…Seller Lowball!
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/rfs/296561748.html
JM
ChiFi (65)-
That is both mean and funny.
So everyone in NNJ makes over 100K
Wow is that true
NJ NOT A STARTER STATE ANYMORE
IF YOU AINT GOT MAD MONEY
MOVE TO PA FOR A HOME!!!
RE: Gannet
Copyright is the story of 2007. Between Viacom, Ganett, and the NJREREPORT there are trillions of dollars worth of content that need to be protected.
JB, do you have a copyright on this site? (I can’t remember what the agreement said when we registered here.)
You never know who might be posting here, for all we know, Booyaa Bob might just be Ann Coulter.
$183 Billion, with a B, in re-finance activity.
And the Mortgage Brokers commission was what…say 2% or so???
3.6 Billion, with a B!!! Tony Soprano’s got nothing on these guys.
It is NJ. Everybody makes 100K++
Al,
Are you being facetious or is that a fact? Here is 2003 data for median household income (56k)..how do you get 100k?
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34000.html
Here is my more realiztic answer to anybody in NJ making 100K.
it is not a fact, I am not being serious.
However right now in order to even think of buying a house and not overstretching themselves, anywhere but south Jersey, a family have to make over 100K.
if young kids are in the picture and wife works – a lot more. HOwever if you look at census data (census.gov) for 2004, household incomes of Homeowners in Northern/Central Jersey are significantly higher than non-homeowners. Which support the theory that NJ is overpopulated and overpriced – only people with jobs well above average have some future here…
IF you make less – you will either move out of NJ or struggle.
Or you go on wellfare and do nothing.
I am not saying it is good, my family considering leaving NJ in near future despite me having a really good job here… We just can not afford NJ. And I have a feeling NJ is only going to get more expensive in the future years for people who are making decent salaries. Just look at NJ state budget deficit.
Al look I can tell you this most of my people are not making that much. And they are from all over.
I think these numbers are wrong, very very few people in UC or NB making that kind of dough.
PS on 76
Or the landlords all refied the houses their tennants are living in.
PPS
Thats the average I want to see what the Median and the Std Dev is. Or where all this cash is coming from.