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Good morning everyone!
From the NY Times:
Solving the Mortgage Crisis May Require a Guardian Angel
I knew it was the Christmas season. There on television was Henry F. Potter, the mean banker, quizzing Pa Bailey, the idealist from the building and loan society.
“Have you put any real pressure on these people of yours to pay those mortgages?”
“Times are bad, Mr. Potter. A lot of these people are out of work.”
“Then foreclose!”
“I can’t do that. These families have children.”
“They’re not my children.”
I’ve always loved “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with its happy ending that renews our faith in humanity. There is a reason it blankets the airwaves every December.
I would have liked to watch the entire movie again but duty called. I needed to study the latest government effort to deal with the subprime mortgage crisis. To great fanfare, the Federal Reserve proposed rules this week to keep bankers from doing mean and stupid things.
And now, for something completely different.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4BeyrQVUQ30&refer=home
From MarketWatch:
Popular Inc. sees quarterly loss, to take impairment charge
Puerto Rico-based banking group Popular Inc. said Friday that it expects to report a fourth-quarter pretax loss of $90 million to $165 million following the recharacterization of a number of prior mortgage loan securitizations as sales. The company said the move will reduce its $3.1 billion subprime mortgage portfolio by around $2.4 billion. The firm also said it would take an impairment charge of up to $175 million on the goodwill and trademark value of its E-Loan business.
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSPAB00369620071221
“The effects that we can measure, notably at the IMF, are significant. Growth will be weaker. It will not necessarily be catastrophic, it will continue to exist.”
Words of the month:
Unwinding
Infusion
Layoff
Bonus
Do not be alarmed at the confusing array.
If we formulate a sentence, we better understand the current economic reality:
One bonus of a layoff is the possibility of unwinding on a southern beach with an infusion of rum.
peace (from #291 yesterday)-
Public schools cannot be improved. Unions and tenure have sealed their fate- and have guaranteed mediocrity- forever. Being lazy pays. And don’t even get me started on the administrators and other peripheral toadies.
On the bright side, though, we now offer public education that’s helping us fill the jobs of the future. Want fries with that?
The lack of incentive/punishment doesn’t work in business; why should it work in education?
‘“She cries about that bike every night, and she wants me to buy her another one, but I can’t afford it right now because I have my own financial problems,” says Savannah’s grandmother, Anne Marie Wynter, whose home is also in foreclosure.’
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=avuHjSdAT8Ik
—
Great, thanks, J.B. Now you have me scanning for subprime and kids. Right before Christmas, I’m reading about 6-year-old kids crying for their Dora bikes.
I’d almost rather be reading about shades of skin, 700k condos and crappy schools.
Go chunky.
“..Where will the money come from…
“It could be a refinance corporation, like the one coming out of the Depression. We had the Resolution Trust Corp. for the savings and loan debacle….”
http://tinyurl.com/33q6ad
Pat says, “How about letting people rent and telling them to stop spending money for five years before they buy?”
From the APP:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071220/BUSINESS/712200423/1003
But those officials said they are keeping a close eye on the faltering housing market and the impact on jobs connected to it, such as mortgage brokers and home-improvement retailers.
One example: The number of people with real-estate licenses in New Jersey declined to 101,992 in 2007 from 105,222 in 2006, or 3 percent, according to the state Department of Banking and Insurance.
“To this point, (the fallout) has been relatively modest,” Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow said. “We’re watching very closely to see what the impact is on employment.”
Lockwood said the decline in the housing market might seem worse than it actually is because it has fallen from record heights. She said she knows real estate is cyclical and the good times don’t last forever, but the cutbacks have come as a shock.
“We kind of never anticipate it’s going to go anywhere other than stay up,” Lockwood said.
Interesting little note up at the NJMLS..
Words from Tina Griffin, Executive Director
The media would have us all believe that our professional world of Real Estate is doomed. We need better press because most of us know better. Those of you who have been around the business awhile have already been on this roller coaster ride. Those of you who are new to the industry, welcome to reality.
Re: public schools
I am seeing right now the effects of tenure on my child’s education. Both of his teachers are horrible. Complaints go no where and these particular teachers will take it out on the children if they find out whose parent complained. I had offered to put my son in the Catholic school, because I knew what was coming this year, but he didn’t want to leave his friends. Our middle school is much better and that’s where he will be next year. My daughter is going to private high school. When looking at the public high school, it is good but I’m looking for more. I have a child who will fly below the radar but that’s not what I want for her. The private school wants the children to succeed (looks really good when recruiting that every graduate goes to a 4 year college and that there are millions in scholarships received by graduates) while I really feel that our public high school doesn’t really care if the children succeed. There are always going to be those high achievers but that’s not a reflection on the school itself but on the children.
“Words of the month:”
Pat [6],
On the top of my list;
Balanced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/realestate/21condo.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
New York Condos Lure Deal-Seeking Europeans
By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
Published: December 21, 2007
The sidewalks of Manhattan are crammed this month with European tourists on shopping sprees, picking up gifts that cost far less in the United States than they do at home because of the weak dollar. But they are not just crowding into boutiques and department stores. Some are also shopping for condominiums.
“There’s bargains to be had,” said Kerry Miller, a public relations executive who with her husband, Marty, a disc jockey, was working through her Christmas gift list by buying sweaters at Abercrombie & Fitch and makeup at MAC, as well as touring 32 apartments. The Millers, from Malahide, Ireland, a suburb of Dublin, searched for a one-bedroom condo. They made an offer for $700,000 on one apartment in the meatpacking district and are waiting to hear back from the seller.
While natives remain wary about real estate and worry about bonuses and the economic climate, foreign tourists are keeping brokers busy with their eagerness to buy up Manhattan apartments, which many see as investments.
“The exchange rate is like a gift from God for Europeans,” said Danielle Grossenbacher, the broker for Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy who showed the Millers around. “Everybody is feeling they have an opportunity to purchase a piece of Manhattan.”
These buyers are transforming a traditionally slow month for Manhattan real estate brokers at a time when brokers nationwide are struggling to sell homes. This year, Manhattan brokers are waking before dawn to talk by phone with European buyers about amenities and closing costs and working late advising foreign buyers in town on the best places to shop for gadgets and clothes.
The number of foreign buyers has doubled in the last two years, according to data from the research firm Radar Logic. In just the last 18 months, they have bought one-third of all new condos that were up for sale, said Jonathan J. Miller, an executive vice president at Radar Logic and its director of research.
“We’d have had difficulty absorbing the elevated level of new development coming on the market without foreign buyers,” Mr. Miller said. “They are a key source of demand for new development.”
X-Mas gift for taxpayers;
“Fitch Places 173,022 MBIA-Insured Issues on Rating Watch Negative”
December 20, 2007 05:09 PM Eastern Time
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Concurrent with its related rating announcement earlier today on MBIA Inc. (MBIA) and its financial guaranty subsidiaries, Fitch Ratings has placed 173,022 bond issues (172,860 municipal, 162 non-municipal) insured by MBIA on Rating Watch Negative.
Fitch placed MBIA’s ‘AA’ long-term rating and ‘AAA’ insurer financial strength (IFS) rating on Rating Watch Negative following the rating agency’s updated assessment into MBIA’s current exposure to SF CDOs backed by subprime mortgage collateral and various CDO-squared transactions, as well as MBIA’s exposure to RMBS.
Willow (12)-
We are training the sheeple of the future. Frankly, I believe the status quo is perpetuated by acquiescence at the highest levels of government. It benefits both parties to have a populace that is easily-manipulated and prone to voting for bread and circuses. It’s the perfect fit for a system rigged toward easy re-election of incumbent officeholders and constant growth of bureaucracy. All those desks need to be filled with fat, compliant, TV-sedated drones. Once you’ve reached the tipping point of having enough gubmint employees who will vote for themselves and their own jobs, election results become a foregone conclusion.
Fat, compliant, TV-sedated drones tend to shop a lot, too. Go to the mall, buy a bunch of stuff, then cram 3,500 calories down your gullet at the food court. Go home, watch Oprah, drink a gallon of Pepsi, take a nap and order in Domino’s for dinner. Great for our new “service” economy.
Clot #16
That has been my frustration – the attitude that nothing can be done about the situation so why even bother. So many parents just accept the status quo rather than demanding more. I have tried various times to change things in our elementary school but mediocrity is the standard and they are not going to change at this point. I have given up on the elementary school and barely ever show my face there. As I said, the middle school is very good thanks to many dedicated teachers and an administration that doesn’t tolerate mediocrity.
If the parents would just realize that the teachers and administrators work for them and then demand better “customer service,” then there might be some hope but the “sheeple” don’t even realize their not getting their money’s worth.
#16 Clot – I agree, especially about the tipping point, but can it last? Where will the money come from for the 3500 calorie snacks to sedate the masses? Higher taxes? Even that won’t last – intelligent productive people will look out for their own self-interest (as they should) and opt out. (and I haven’t read “Atlas Shrugged” in years)
From Reuters:
probing three dozen securitization cases: report
U.S. regulators, led by the Securities and Exchange Commission, are probing how financial firms priced mortgage securities on their books and whether they should have told investors earlier about the declining value of those securities, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
…
The SEC has set up a working group to tackle some three dozen probes, which are in their early stages, the article said.
Regulators are also looking at whether the Wall Street firms put higher values on their own securities than on the ones they assigned to customers’ holdings, the Journal reported.
From Bloomberg:
A Complete Subprime User’s Guide, 2007 Edition: Caroline Baum
Anyone looking to reflect on the high points of the year in business and finance can pretty much do it in one, maybe two, words: subprime mess.
How the non-payment of mortgage interest by a homeowner in Ft. Myers, Florida — and others like him — morphed into an international credit crisis, heaping such huge losses on Wall Street that its biggest banks had to look overseas for a capital infusion, is a story that will be told for years to come. Maybe Wall Street memories will be longer than the crisis this time around.
For those who may have missed the subprime press coverage or been too intimidated by the acronyms to dive in, herewith is a user’s guide to the subprime year of 2007
(snip)
Willow (17)-
The parents are that way because they’ve already been co-opted by the thought police. The system of gubmint mind control is now entrenched across multiple generations.
However, I’d take a bit of issue with your assertion that a demand for better “customer service” might be effective. A real education is not a consumer experience. It’s an ongoing dialogue that’s based on a mutual and public acceptance of what represents the “highest and best” across a scope of academic disciplines. Once there’s consensus upon what the “Great Books” are, the process becomes a self-sustaining and self-policing one. Amazing what can happen when there’s a shared culture, shared values and shared effort. Questions of competence and discipline are easy to resolve when viewed in light of the prevailing standards. The problem today is, there are no standards. We’ve abandoned the hard work of identifying and defending an ideal in favor of promotion of false self-esteem and multiculturalism without context.
Unfortunately, the pursuit of such disconnected and ill-conceived short-term goals has led to the spread of consumerism in education. When the agenda of education aims so low and holds itself to such a low and transient standard, public dissatisfaction is bound to take hold. Someone’s little angel inevitably doesn’t feel special enough…or, his ethnicity is not sufficiently validated. The natural and inevitable reaction is public complaint. However, it’s not a complaint that comes across as a demand for standards to be upheld; rather, it’s the demand for MORE: more time, more recognition, more service. And, in far too many instances, schools attempt to appease the peanut gallery, which further debases the quality of whatever “education” is still available within public schools.
As long as schools are about the appeasement of the individual- rather than the development of the individual through communication of shared values and culture- we’re doomed.
I agree, especially about the tipping point, but can it last?
It’ll last until the empire crumbles.
Out (18)-
I read Ayn Rand at far too young an age. That’s why I think (among many other reasons) that my brain is so f(*&ed up.
Clot,
I’m faced with a dilemma. It’s too soon to buy RE but for various other reasons it may be justified.
As we are well aware, incentives are rampant; free car, closing costs, vacations, etc… I am looking fo a house, where the owner is offering a free silo as an incentive. Unfortunately, I can not locate this in Bergen. Please keep your eyes ope, let me know.
But Willow I thought according to everyone on this site public school teachers at the best!!
A few weeks ago I saw a 4th boy grade boy getting pummeled right when school ended by two 5th grade boys who were waiting for him, teacher comes out and says you have to do this off school property so they drag the kid to the lawn across the street and continue to pummel and the teacher goes back in. Don’t worry I broke it up. But it is just my daily example how for most teachers it is just a job.
My other favorite school policy is you can’t request teachers, otherwise as the principal puts it none of the bad teachers would have any students and that would be unfair to them.
Don’t get me wrong there are some good teachers and I know they are equally frustrated by the school protection of bad teachers and how the union tries to block rewarding the better teachers.
Maybe I’ll read Atlas and the Greenspan autobiography back to back over the long weekend.
Wall Street Bonuses Surge 14%
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071221/ap_on_bi_ge/wall_street_bonuses
I wonder what the bonus structure’s are going to look next year when foreign sovereign funds control 10% of most of the Wall Street firms?
BC (24)-
Ever see a silo explode? They get filled with dust, and something sparks the dust, and BOOM! Like a damn tactical nuke going off.
HE (28)-
The bonuses will be that the exec’s who perform won’t get tortured with power drills.
Clot,
I can picture you blowing it up.
From MarketWatch:
U.S. Nov. core PCE price index up 0.2% vs. 0.3% expected
U.S. Nov. PCE price index up 0.6%, most in 2 years
U.S. Nov. core inflation up 2.2% in past year
U.S. Nov. personal incomes up 0.4% vs. 0.5% expected
U.S. Nov. consumer spending up 1.1% vs. 0.9% expected
U.S. Nov. real consumer spending up 0.5%
U.S. Nov. personal savings rate falls to negative 0.5%
U.S. Nov. real disposable incomes fall 0.3%, 2nd drop in row
Inflation up, incomes down, spending up, savings down.
Sustainable?
John (25)-
“A few weeks ago I saw a 4th boy grade boy getting pummeled right when school ended by two 5th grade boys who were waiting for him, teacher comes out and says you have to do this off school property so they drag the kid to the lawn across the street and continue to pummel and the teacher goes back in. Don’t worry I broke it up.”
Good you mentioned that you stepped in. I would’ve thought you’d be taking bets on the outcome.
JB,
Regarding spending, inflation adjusted spending on durable goods rose 0.6%.
I think John got pummeled by the 5th graders.
Willow btw the number of kids going to four year colleges isn’t always much of a statistic. In blue collar neighborhoods with great schools lots of kids can’t afford to go to a four year school and start at a cheap two year school to save money.
That said I know plenty of crappy schools in rich neighborhoods that all the rich kids go to school at. For instance CW Post in Old Brookville Long Island. Is a beautiful school set on a former estate surrounded by mansions and minutes from the tony miracle mile shopping center. Tuition is expensive and with a checkbook and a C average and a nice pair of Uggs and a new BMW you are more than welcome to mingle with the other psudo well to do paris hilton look alikes. The camplus is so nice it is a huge spot in the summer for for wedding pictures. The beautiful mansion and rose gardens in the background actually makes for some great shots.
grim (26)-
Ever read any Walker Percy? It’s right up your alley. Apocalyptic, yet weirdly uplifting. Try Love in the Ruins.
Grim,
You ask too many questions. Go read something by Ben Stein or Larry Kudlow. Everything is good in the goldilocks economy, this subprime issue is contained.
“I wonder what the bonus structure’s are going to look next year when foreign sovereign funds control 10% of most of the Wall Street firms?”
hehe,
Funny you mention that. When I walked past the bull[Broadway], this morning, there was pandemonium. A large contingent of Arabs and Chinese were involved in heated discussions regarding the removal of the bull. It became tumultuous when the final choices for replacement came down to either a dragon or a camel.
here’s a question…
a contract states that if radon is found, the seller needs to remedy the situation. If not, buyer can cancel contract.
what if you didn’t want the house now…even it was remedied? does a person still have to buy the house?
Clot,
I prefer the pliers/fingernail routine myself. Makes it harder for them to use their Blackberry’s.
I grew up in the Bronx we got pummeled in Kindergaten. By 4th grade we were street smart and doing the shakedowns. Kindergarten in the Bronx is like prison, four choices – take the beatings, give the beatings, be the bitch or be the snitch.
BC Bob Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 8:48 am
I think John got pummeled by the 5th graders.
BC,
I propose a lead paint covered barrel of oil.
Waler Percy’s Love in the Ruins:
http://tinyurl.com/2j9m27
I can also highly recommend The Moviegoers.
Does anyone have the actual price drops of homes in NJ for 2006 and 2007?
thanks,
Tony
John (43)-
“…take the beatings, give the beatings, be the bitch or be the snitch.”
John, thanks for that warm holiday sentiment.
About Schools: My wife is a Catholic School teacher and my child attends the same school. The pay is sh*t but the teachers give every ounce they can and the educational standards are tough. They encourage and expect you to succeed without coddling you. The Catholic schools are still a community which donates a lot of their time and money that public schools take for granted. If you’re considering sending your children to a Catholic school, I recommend it.
Tony,
S&P Case Shiller Tiered Price Index (XLS)
You are looking for the New York Metro numbers.
Tony,
Or the aggregate numbers:
S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index (XLS)
NY Metro Area (commutable area)
June 2006 – Peak
Index: 215.83
September 2007 – Current
Index: 206.28
Peak to current decline is 4.4% aggregate
September year over year decline is 3.6% aggregate
(nominal, not adjusted for inflation)
If you want that in dollars, it means that a home valued at $500,000 in June of 2006 is currently valued at $478,000.
This was a segment on Nightline last week:
Bankruptcy judges have begun to respond. Gardner has a wall covered with copies of checks from judgments he’s won against a variety of mortgage-servicing companies.
“We display these checks on the wall to sort of give my boot campers some encouragement,” Gardner said. “That even though it’s very difficult, there is some financial incentive for them to do it.”
And he cautions that it’s not just financially distressed homeowners who find themselves the victims of mortgage servicing fraud. He warns all mortgage holders to be cautious.
“If you have a home mortgage you need to do the same thing whether you are in bankruptcy or not,” Gardener warned. “Whether you are AAA credit or single D credit. And you need to write your servicer at least once every six months and ask for your transaction history.”
He says the fees often are very small — $25, $100, $200 — but if they happen to thousands of customers they add up to millions of dollars in revenue for servicing companies. And, critics warn, with less business coming in from new loans, mortgage servicers will be even hungrier for other ways to make money.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/RealtyCheck/story?id=4002397&page=1
#17 willow: Most peeople believe their schools to be good, if not great, as such the whole empahasis on Blue Ribbon (which no longer exists and all the rest).
What I am saying is the majortiy of people, do not haev a clue. The BOE’s and teachers/administrators tell them that their schools are great,and that is it.
The only input they want from parents, is to vote Yes on the school budget or, your property values will fall, then please go home.
gary (48)-
My brother went to Catholic school (Jesuit). His primary memory is six years of constant beatings. No paddles, no rulers, but fist-to-jaw beatdowns. One of the brothers beat him so bad that it dislocated his shoulder. My brother says he got used to the beatings, but he had to draw the line when a couple of teachers started making passes.
Of course, it had no effect on him…other than the fact that he went off to college and was arrested several times for either starting- or jumping into- fights. Wonder how he got a taste for that?
Clotpoll [53],
I’m surprised to hear that. I went to Catholic schools from K through 12 and had nothing but great memories. Coming out of high school, we already had 2 years of college under our belt with classes like Elementary Functions, Histology, Physics, etc.
From the AP:
Panel pushes minimum-wage boost, annual increases
A state commission has recommended that New Jersey immediately increase the minimum wage to $8.25 per hour and then boost it annually to keep pace with inflation.
New Jersey’s minimum wage is $7.15 per hour. The Minimum Wage Advisory Commission, in its first report since it was created by legislators two years ago, determined it should be increased to $8.25 per hour followed by cost-of-living adjustments each year.
The minimum wage increase would have to be approved by the Legislature and Gov. Jon Corzine.
It would give New Jersey the nation’s highest minimum wage, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The state panel found the $7.15 per hour level is no longer adequate to maintain the same purchasing power as when it was implemented in October 2006.
…
However, some say the increase would be too much, too soon.
“Small businesses that rely on entry level minimum wage employment simply cannot afford this increase in a single step,” he said. “As these businesses struggle to try to cope with other rising costs such as energy and transportation, they simply can’t afford a 55 percent increase in wages over three years.”
In 2005, the state’s minimum wage started at $5.15 per hour. The Legislature increased it to $6.15 per hour that year, then to $7.15 per hour in 2006.
gary (54)-
My brother came away from the Jesuits with a great education, too. He ended up getting a Masters’ in forestry. However, it came at the price of social disorders and ongoing anger management issues.
I’m sure the number of Catholic schools that treat kids well and educate far outnumber the exceptions, but it’s no secret that there has always been an element of violence and abuse within Catholic education.
Hell, they invented self-flagellation!
Gary,
Except for your sentiments regarding the market, I think I may be related to you. Catholic school K-12, Jesuit college.
Checking out. Market’s gonna be a rocket sled today.
40 BC …that wasn’t heated arguing about the bull, it was interpretive dance. I just know we’ll convert ’em once they own us, right?
Clotpoll,
Believe me, they don’t beat the kids. They’ve come out of the dark ages. :)
BC Bob,
LOL! We’re cut from the same cloth, dude.
#58 BC Bob: Catholic School K-12. Christian Brothers college.
i went to a public school and our main rival (in sports) was a catholic school. as long as i can remember, every sporting function ended in bleacher clearing brawls and eventually demanded police presence for all events.
i can not talk about the difference in education but at face value, the catholic school kids had nicer clothes, nicer cars and the all of the girls seemed to be beautiful debutantes. however the main difference in the schools….drugs. there was a major heroin problem at the catholic school while my school was dazed and confused on pot.
Clot[pol # 29
Ever see a silo explode? They get filled with dust, and something sparks the dust, and BOOM! Like a damn tactical nuke going off.
That is a fuel-air explosion and is actually the most powerful type of non-nuclear explosion you can produce…. FYI
A little fun info for you that is way OT. The thermobaric weapons that the marines have been using in Iraq and Afghanistan (thermobaric weapons are fuel air explosion based weapons) work by using a small detonation to release a fuel component (the military often uses Ethylene Oxide. That fuel compoenent is then detonated a split second later. The pressure wave that is created is the ost dangerous part of the explosion and is what does most of the damage, the heat and fire is just secondary. The pressure wave can crush your chest. A fun side effect is that if the fuel (ethylene oxide ) fails to ignite, then it just fills the air and does not explode. BUT, ethylene oxide will kill anything it comes in contact with, people, microbes, anything. It is used in Pharma to sterilize equipment. So if the fuel fails to ignite, the thermobaric weapon just became a chemical weapon. of course the military will not acknowledge the issue, but i bet they enjoy having a weapon that kills people even if it fails to work.
Secondary,
LOL! The same regarding the rivals. However, I wore hand me downs, my Chuck Taylor’s were my car and we drank cheap beer.
#66
nice!
ironically i ended up going to college with some of the rivals and eventually became friends. like many things, the grass is always greener on the other side; i found out they “envied” our school because there was diversity in the student body and we had rebellious swagger to our teams. its funny how human nature really doesn’t change.
Willow, CLot
I agree 100% with both of you. What kills me is why do people insist on maintaining the status quo when it doesnt work?? At this point i would be opne to trying anything besides the status quo. There are phenominally successful school system all over the world. Finland is a great example. Why not take their system and mimic it here? I know that this will never happen because there is way to much vested interest in the status quo as there are a large number of people who are fat and happy with the current system and most people are afraid of change. I am still trying to figure out how to send my kid to private school in a few years ( he’s still working on the walking thing)
From Page One of the WSJ:
Fraud Seen as a Driver
In Wave of Foreclosures
Atlanta Ring Scams
Bear Stearns, Getting
$6.8 Million in Loans
By MICHAEL CORKERY
December 21, 2007; Page A1
ATLANTA — Skyrocketing foreclosures are a testament to how easy it was to borrow from mortgage lenders in recent years.
It may also have been easy to steal from them, to judge from a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that federal prosecutors unraveled here in Atlanta. The criminals obtained $6.8 million in mortgages from Bear Stearns Cos., including a $1.8 million mortgage to Calvin Wright, a New Yorker who told the investment bank that he and his wife earned more than $50,000 a month as the top officers of a marketing firm. Mr. Wright submitted statements showing assets of $3 million, a federal indictment alleged.
In fact, Mr. Wright was a phone technician earning only $105,000 a year, with assets of only $35,000, and his wife was a homemaker. The palm-tree-lined mansion they purchased with Bear Stearns’s $1.8 million recently sold out of foreclosure for just $1.1 million. Bear Stearns, meanwhile, posted the first quarterly loss in its 84-year history as it wrote down $1.9 billion of mortgage assets yesterday.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119820566870044163.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
Look, I know I’m much older than most people on this site, and therefore attended public school during a different era. I had teachers who inspired me, but I also had teachers who never actually taught. (One sat at his desk and read the NY Times during class.) Can it be so totally different now? I think not. My niece recently graduated from public schools—in NJ—and is now at “seven sisters” college, which she got to on her own initiative, not by being a legacy.
So much of a good education depends on one thing: parents. Mine (only one of whom graduated high school) were very involved with their kids’ educations. Unfortunately, this seems to be a luxury for parents today.
But I also repeat what I post most often on this site. If you want change, you have to work to make it happen. Not getting results when you complain to school officials? Then send your rants to the local paper as a letter to the editor. Is there a parent/teacher asociation at your school? Do you belong? Do you go to meetings? Talk to other parents? Write letters to your representatives? Doing these things are also part of the educational process for your children, otherwise they will definitely grow up to be “sheeple.”
Okay, go ahead. Flame away.
Count me in too, though it was in a different continent – Catholic School for 6 years taught by Irish brothers, then military school through age 17, then Christian College for undergrad.
Won’t ever forget the beatings we took and gave.
My wife was a public school teacher before Catholic school. The system is a bloated mess. The super, assistant super, assistant to the assistant super, etc. There are so many layers of administrative waste, it’s hilarious.
Another question….
Why are people so afraid of private school/ voucher systems? The entire concept of voucher systems drives the status quo people to frothing at the mouth. Do they really believe that only the government can effectively educate a child or are they afraid that they may actually be that inadequate?
#70 peace: I agree with you. The problem is people are happy for the most part with their schools, they perceive mediocre as excellence, because thats what they have been instructed to believe.
New facilities with state of the art palying fields, and lights for night time games, that is what is important.
The only way you will get people to a meeting is if the BOE threatens to cancel a sports program, nobody cares if AP Western Europeasn history is cancelled.
Plus if you are perceived to be a gadfly, and you write letters to the local paper, and all the rest, your children will pay for that.
I’m generally a supporter of public education. When I say public education, I mean free, universal education for all. I don’t think any of us would want to return to the days when only those who had the money could educate their children. Clearly, that would be bad for all of us.
But one can support free, universal and public education and still see the flaws in the current system.
It’s taken me a while to come around to this point, especially since I consider myself politically progressive, but I have to admit that the public schools are broken. The fact that families don’t have a choice and the tenure system is locked in place are huge parts of the problem.
I’m all for paying teachers well, but I do believe there are too many crappy, incompetent teachers out there. If I was a (good) teacher, it would tick me off too.
As long as the only check on power is voting for the Board of Education, which is a long, slow process, the mediocrity will continue. Only when parents can take their children out and send them (and the dollars) to another school will we see improvements.
“Won’t ever forget the beatings we took and gave.”
Dream,
Are you the Bayonne bleeder?
As clott has said, One of the main reasons that the establishment will fight tooth and nail to prevent any choice in shools is that once the government loose control of education the general population becomes much harder to control. Its much easier to control a population when you can spoon feed them the learning skills and knowledge that you want them to receive and block that which you do not want them to be readily aware of. A population taught to be intellectually critical and independent is hard for a government to take power from….
Transplant here, I can’t pass up a chance to jump in yesterday’s chat.
The ‘culture’ value of NJ is being overstated tremendously. Yes, there is a seemingly endless amount of things to do — IMO the tristate area is probably one of the most ‘happening’ regions — but the time/funds to partake is not endless. I don’t find myself actually doing much more than when I lived in PA.
The whole educated populace thing is bunk too. If you find yourself living in one of those towns with a 50% dropout rate, you find the white collared neighborhood and set up there. You’ll find a similar education rate to what NJ supposedly offers.
Also, I’ve never had a problem being the smartest guy in the room. That’s not a bad thing.
peace (70)-
“But I also repeat what I post most often on this site. If you want change, you have to work to make it happen.”
Peace, I agree. However, I think the change agent is sadly going to have to be an armed citizen militia. Things are too far gone for reason and discourse to prevail.
Ann
“But one can support free, universal and public education and still see the flaws in the current system.”
That should be our ultimate goal. An education at the institution of your choice, whether private or public ( any institution that shows they teach basic cores like math/science/civics/etc) should be ensured by the Government.
Now i have to admit i feel almost dirty saying that because i am very much for limited government, but this is one place where government has a place.
kettle1 Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 9:59 am
Another question….
Why are people so afraid of private school/ voucher systems? The entire concept of voucher systems drives the status quo people to frothing at the mouth. Do they really believe that only the government can effectively educate a child or are they afraid that they may actually be that inadequate?
________________________________________________
But people have “school choice” now–they’re called private schools. And a voucher system doesn’t magically create school quality–no matter what, some schools will be better than others, and all the parents will want to send their children to the better schools. How would vouchers be any different than the current dynamic, where all the parents just try to squeeze into the school districts with the “better schools”?
#21
Clot– great post. Education is definitely a two way street, not analogous to consumerism. The decline of standards comes from both directions– from the many teachers and administrators who are too comfortable, but also from parents who will not allow their children to be challenged. The goal of many, many parents in so-called top schools unfortunately is simply for the school to give their children the stamp of approval in the form of high GPAs, while otherwise not getting in the way of the kids’ lifestyle too much.
OK totally unrelated question (excuse me). What the alternate electrical and gas providers in NJ? I have PSE&G and JCPL but it looks like I can use a different generator for each and use them for distribution only. Are there any worth while looking at. In CT I did this and saved about 10% but not sure if this is possible in NJ.
re: 7
And yet YOU’ve gotten prickly when someone here says all realtors/real estate brokers are corrupt, lazy morons?…
Not starting a flame-war here, just trying to separate fact from generalization: Let’s try not to tar too many with the same messy brush, mmmkay.
#81
If you had vouchers of some sort, the idea is that the cruddy schools wouldn’t get as many or any “customers” and therefore would go out of business.
this isn’t really a PC thing to say, but everyone knows the worst schools are where the poorest, least educated portion of the population lives. This is one reason why the voucher concept seems to me to be a pipe dream. If all of the kids who live in the ghetto all of a sudden abandon the ghetto school for the school in the rich neighborhood, what do you think would happen? First, all of the rich families would abandon this school. Second, many of the best teachers would abandon the school. Third, the school would fall to the level of the school the ghetto kids left. The reality is that kids are only in school for 6 hrs a day and the family environment and prevailing values in the community are far more important in determining the quality of education that results in schools.
Grim,
Thanks for your advices in other column, just two more questions:
“I’d suggest exploring REO offerings if you are interested in foreclosure properties.”
– what is a REO? sorry for my ignorance.
“Given the fact that a significant percentage of foreclosures taking place have either no equity, or negative equity, you won’t find a deal at a foreclosure auction. As mortgage balances are higher than market prices (underwater), upset prices are higher than market. Just doesn’t make sense to bid on these.”
– do you mean they will still asking higher than market price?
Thanks,
007
What state’s public schools produce a higher proportion of collegebound students?
New Jersey seems overrepresented at nearly every university (except evangelical Christian) in this country. I’m not saying public schools in this state are perfect, but something good must be happening.
On vouchers 86
I’m not sure it would solve all of the problems. The idea is that, even for middle class or even wealthy families, being able to pick your school and where to send those dollars, would infuse the system with a healthy sense of competition that is currently lacking.
For those stuck in inner city schools, I believe that many families would be helped. There are always some families that are motivated, even in the poorest communities. Give them a chance to pick their school.
since everyone here put so much weight on education, i cannot resist putting my thesis here again: the property value in the towns with best school systems will hold well. how much are you going to spend for private school? say you have 2 kids and $20K each so you have to spend $40K annually.
John: I’d have guess’d you went to Great Neck North based on how much you talk about it
NJ public schools number 1 in country on key performance metric.
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_08_t06.htm
pret says
“What state’s public schools produce a higher proportion of collegebound students?
New Jersey seems overrepresented at nearly every university (except evangelical Christian) in this country. I’m not saying public schools in this state are perfect, but something good must be happening.”
That could be seen as a result of the demographics of NJ (income, education levels), not as some triumph of the public schools here in NJ.
Let’s be real, the reason that the top schools in NJ are the top schools is because of the families, not the schools. It’s no coincidence that the richest towns end up with the best schools. It’s not because the teachers and admins are so great, it’s because the children come from families that value education and grew up in educationally-rich environments.
Although I enjoy when teachers and admins in rich school districts take all the credit for the successes of the students.
Yet when they are in poor districts where the children come from educationally-deficient homes, they are quick to load the blame onto the families.
bubbleyum
in the current system if a school is average or poor, then the only way to change is to physically move. In a voucher system the idea is that i just send my child to a different building during the day and i do not have to move my entire family to a new house. An school that does not perform would and should go out of business, whether it is a public or private school. The current system has 0 choice. the debate is simply how a school performs. I want choice in curriculum. I can find a private school for montasorri/catholic/etc, but the only way i can get my child into one of those schools is for me to pay DOUBLE, one in private school tuition and a second time in taxes that go to public schools. why should the portion of education money allocated for my child not follow my child???
And while there are both good and bad teachers in public schools, it is ultimately the system that is broken, not the individual teachers. The fight is not against teachers as individuals, but against teachers and administrators as part of the “system”
Oh and bubble yum, what percentage of the general population can actually afford to pay for private school??? people do not have an equivalent choice! But people have “school choice” now–they’re called private schools.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The United States is deep in its worst housing slump since the Great Depression, and according to a new report, it’s not going to get better any time soon.
In a new survey, Moody’s Economy.com says many metro areas will record losses of 20 percent or more during the downturn, with the national median price for single-family homes dropping 13 percent through early 2009. Factoring in discount offers from sellers, the actual price decline would be well over 15 percent.
80 of the 381 metro areas covered by the report will record double-digit losses, according to the report. Most of the worst-hit markets are in once high-flying areas such as California and Florida.
The steep losses were bound to arrive sometime. Throughout the housing slump, which began in the summer of 2006, experts kept expecting prices to tumble, but it wasn’t until recently that they dropped substantially, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com.
“There has been a sea change in seller psychology since the subprime shock this summer,” he said. “Sellers now realize they have to drop their prices to make a sale and prices are coming down very rapidly in some markets.”
One such place is Punta Gorda, Fla. In Moody’s outlook, prices there will undergo the steepest correction of any U.S. market. From their peak during the first three months of 2006, to their bottom, forecast for the second quarter of 2009, prices will decline 35.3 percent. That’s in nominal dollars; adjusted for inflation, the loss will be even greater.
Other metro areas expected to go through crushing price drops include: Stockton, Calif., where prices are forecast to drop 31.6 percent, Modesto, Calif., (-31.3 percent), Fort Walton Beach, Fla, (-30.4 percent) and Naples, Fla. (-29.6 percent).
The worst hit market outside the Sun Belt is expected to be Ocean City, N.J. where prices will fall 24.9 percent, according to Moody’s. Prices in St. George, Utah (-21.8 percent), Grand Junction, Colo. (-18.9 percent) and Atlantic City, N.J. (-18.6 percent) will also suffer. In the Washington, D.C. metro area, Moody’s forecasts a decline of 18.4 percent.
Home prices are being pulled down by an even more severe decline in home sales, which Moody’s expects to bottom out in early 2008, when unit sales will be down more than 40 percent from their peak.
Home builders continued to add to inventory even as the slump got well underway, contributing to what it now an 11-month back-log of homes for sale, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Many of these homes are sitting completely empty: The Census Bureau reported a total of 2.1 million vacant homes for sale. Vacant homes add pressure on prices because owners of these houses are usually more willing to slash prices to move the properties. They cost out-of-pocket cash each month while providing neither income nor shelter.
Even though home construction has now contracted severely – the Census Bureau reported Tuesday that new housing starts were down to an annualized rate of 1.187 million units in November, the lowest in 16 years – it will take time to work through the excess inventory.
The housing slump will have a substantial impact on the overall economy, according to Moody’s, which says it will depress real gross domestic product by more than a percentage point this year and by 1.5 percentage points in 2008.
Speculative investment in the mid-2000s helped fuel the current slump. Zandi pointed out that 16 percent of mortgage originations during 2005 were for non-owner occupied housing, twice the number of a few years earlier.
“And that’s a very conservative estimate of investor demand,” he said. “Many home buyers lied on their mortgage applications.” That’s because interest rates are lower for owner/occupied dwellings.
Buying for investment was especially prevalent in many resort areas, such as Ocean City, N.J. Many buyers were betting they could hold onto the property for a short time and sell it for a quick profit, a difficult feat to finesse, considering the high transactional costs. Many speculators came late to the party and got caught in the slump. Now their properties are adding to mountainous inventories.
Another factor was excessive new home construction, especially in once hot markets. As prices skyrocketed, builders rushed to take advantage of the increases, contributing to the now high inventories.
Also adding homes to markets was the increase in foreclosure filings. When lenders take back properties, they put them back on the markets. Foreclosures have just about doubled this year.
For the slump to end, much of the excess inventory will have to be worked through. Zandi doesn’t envision that happening much before 2010, which he forecasts to be a very modest recovery year with low, single-digit growth.
I guess I just don’t understand how school choice would work in practice. Why wouldn’t every parent choose the very best school? Could the better schools actually absorb the population fleeing the worse ones?
I’m not saying nothing about public schools needs to change. I just don’t see how vouchers would be practically effective.
clot (and others)
I’m with you. Our system is set up to keep sheep(le.)
Keep folks uneducated, sick (look at our current system’s failures) poor and above all feeling hopeless and utterly discouraged and you have the perfect system to manipulate and abuse them to your benefit.
Our legislators, laws, courts and spirit have been hijacked by special interests all across this country.
Our medical system is yet another canary in the coal mine. Got money? you might be ok. Got NO money? Good Luck.
I’m losing my very own OB/GYN to New Mexico because his malpractice insurance is unaffordable in NJ. [for the record, he’s NEVER been named in a suit.] If he (with a thriving practice in NJ) as an exceptional doc can’t make it. Goodbye to the rest.
We are a sinking ship.
sl
Skeptic #86
You are correct, the school is only 1 piece of the puzzle. For a child to flourish they also need a supportive home life that encourages education and learning as a life style, not just a necassary evil.
But why should we not try to fix one part of the problem even if we have no immediate solution to the other half. Their is no easy answer to rebuilding family integrity in poor families. But we can change our school system for the better in the form of vouchers and other reforms. Change in schools is not an all or nothing proposition and I am not suggesting that a voucher system would be a silver bullet, just a step in the right direction.
How long are public schools going to scream for more money and say that they could improve but only with more money , even though we already spend more then any other country in the world on education yet rank some around 15 or 20 in results?!?!
NYC public schools actually have a variation of school choice, I believe. My understanding is that families rank the schools they would like to go to. People do not always get their top choices and many kids remain stuck going to the worst schools. The system as a whole is still pretty awful, though it seems to have improved slightly.
Skeptic,
please atke a look at this link, its to a study on the comparison of USA and Finland schools. I would personal suggest that we overhaul our system and model theirs. You question about vouchers is answered by their system
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/sadowska.356/introduction
“If he (with a thriving practice in NJ) as an exceptional doc can’t make it. Goodbye to the rest.”
sl [97],
Very troubling.
#93 Ann: I agree, education has to be stressed in the household, and many wealthy families, do however, just as many do not, as many of those parents are self involbved absorbed in their own lives.
For instance in the HS that my Son attended, the summer reading program was voluntary, he was the only one of his friends who had to do it, every year.
Now college, same thing, I pay for it, but you have to make Dean’s List every semester, he knows what is exepcted, and that came from home.
I cannot tell you how many kids I know, all from middle to upper middle class affluent families, with all the trappings, whose kids have bombed out after the first or second year in college, 50 to 100K just pssed away. That is just not acceptable.
Its the quiet people who many times make the difference.
For instance some of the biggest school champions, who adovocate spending scads of money on everything and any thing, their kids are some of the biggest screw ups,and sadly it is not their fault;its the parents.
Many times its just the simpel things. Instead of running around making sure everybody votes yes on the latest bloated budget proposal, how about just making sure your child’s homework is done,
“We didn’t kill the market…” (sing-a-long)
http://www.wallstrip.com/2007/12/20/12-20-07-haha/
i put in the wrong link…
This is closer to what i meant to put in. I couldnt find the exact link i was looking for in a quick search. This will give you an over view though
http://www.bestofgooglevideo.com/video.php?video=654
It was a great 70’s band, REO members are now real estate brokers and would be more than happy to show you some properties.
“I’d suggest exploring REO offerings if you are interested in foreclosure properties.”
– what is a REO? sorry for my ignorance.
#95 grim: BAsed on that articel posed, is it also your belief that the market peaked in the Summer of 2006? I always thought the general consensus here was Summer of 2005.
SCHOOL IS FOR FOOLS AND I PITY THE FOOLS!!!!!
3b,
I think the market peaked at different times in different areas.
Exurbs and inner cities – 2005
Suburbs – 2006
Hudson County waterfont – 2007
#98
Kettle– my personal belief is that money is in fact the issue and kids with ghetto backgrounds cannot be saved by shuffling them (and their currently designated education funds) around.
For schools to really make a difference in these kids lives, they essentially need to supply the structured homelife they are missing. This would cost a lot of money which people quite simply aren’t willing to pay.
I am talking about class sizes of like 4 students instead of 25. Every kid assigned a counselor/mentor to help with everyday problems (and counselors given caseloads of like 10 instead of 200 kids).
Massively increased school hours and calendars. Curriculum which goes beyond the three Rs and teaches life skills and morals. Maybe even boarding.
I have a pretty bleak view of the situation of course and do not think that a real solution such as the above is politically feasible.
A late comment from SA yesterday
# sas Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 12:20 am
Why does NJ’s situation remind of years leading to the economical collapse Argentina??
yikes.
SAS
he has a point, i mean massive levels of debt, a withering industrial sector, and lack of business growth isnt a problem in NJ
I was educated Catholic, K through undergrad.
If I have kids I truly debate sending them to Catholic schools. Benefits: Pretty good education, ingrained sense that you have to work hard in this world and nothing will be given to you. Cost: Fear based morality that really begins to weigh on you after a while and affects your emotional development.
I am 36 noe and stopped going to Church when I was 14 and I still feel guilty about sh*t most people wouldn’t even consider feeling guilty about but at the same time I don’t expect any handouts and can provide for myself.
Yes I went to HS in Great Neck and we were either number one or two in the nation in US News Ranking that year. Even now Great Neck is way way ahead of any school public or private in NJ.
We even had an equistrian team and 32 tennis courts!! My favorite was had an on campus go cart track and in 9th grade I used to take the go carts out and crank it up to 50 mph, nice stuff. Great Neck South HS the sister school of Great Neck North HS is on over 100 acres of land!! Great Neck North even has valet parking for its students. Both North and South is way up there on the list. Other than the nice campus and great clubs the teachers were the worst ever.
That school is a complete piece of crap which shows the rating services mean nothing.
102 3b
I agree, a wealthy family can screw up too.
But just growing up in a home where the parents went to college makes a huge difference, no matter how anti-intellectual they may be now.
There are studies that show that children whose mother went to college do significantly better overall (can’t remember the measure) just because those mothers have a wider vocabulary.
Skeptic # 109,
Scary… I have suggested essentially the same solution for poor/poor inner city kids to my wife. She agreed that it will happen the day pigs fly. Basicalkly the environm,ent that most of those kids grow up in ids the problem and the most effective solution is to either remove them from the lacking environment or to minimize exposure.
But hey that was way unPC, what am i thinking, there are no bad parents
pretorius Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am
New Jersey seems overrepresented at nearly every university (except evangelical Christian) in this country. I’m not saying public schools in this state are perfect, but something good must be happening.
pret: as close as you have come to complementing any aspect of NJ, other than what is located within 5 miles of the Lincoln Tunnel.
#114 I know it’s a TV show but if you caught the last season of The Wire it gave a pretty vivid account of why inner city schools are so f’d up!
re: 5th graders.
Here is something close for John and BC.
http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/
#100
Kettle– had a look at the link and my guess is that certain aspects of the Finnish system would be transferable to the U.S. and very helpful (such as smaller class sizes– #1 difference between public and private schools by the way). I am skeptical of the degree to which the Finnish system would be successful in the U.S. in a wholesale manner though given that the U.S. and Finland are very different countries.
NJ panel pushes minimum wage hike, annual increases
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) _ New Jersey’s minimum wage should immediately be increased to $8.25 per hour and then boosted annually to keep pace with inflation, a state commission has recommended.
New Jersey’s minimum wage is currently $7.15 per hour.
The Minimum Wage Advisory Commission, in its first report since it was created by legislators two years ago, determined it should be increased to $8.25 per hour followed by automatic cost-of-living adjustments each year.
The minimum wage increase would have to be approved by the Legislature and Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
It would give New Jersey the nation’s highest minimum wage, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The state panel found the $7.15 per hour level is no longer adequate to maintain the same purchasing power as when it was implemented in October 2006.
“New Jersey’s minimum-wage workers are struggling to make ends meet,” said Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow, the chairman of the Minimum Wage Advisory Commission. “Without an immediate increase in the minimum wage and annual cost-of-living increases every year these workers fall even further behind.”
At $7.15 per hour, a minimum wage worker earns about $2,000 less than the federal poverty level of $17,160 per year; an $8.25 per hour wage would bring that worker even with the poverty level.
New Jersey would be the 11th state to automatically increase their minimum wage based on inflation rates. Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington already have such a policy.
“Minimum-wage workers in New Jersey need a raise and a real opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through their hard work,” Socolow said.
However, some say the increase would be too much, too soon.
“Small businesses that rely on entry level minimum wage employment simply cannot afford this increase in a single step,” said Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. “As these businesses struggle to try to cope with other rising costs such as energy and transportation, they simply can’t afford a 55 percent increase in wages over three years.”
In 2005, the state’s minimum wage started at $5.15 per hour. The Legislature increased it to $6.15 per hour that year, then to $7.15 per hour in 2006.
Corzine spokeswoman Lilo Stainton said the governor will review the report but supports increasing the minimum wage and tying it to inflation.
“The governor believes that New Jerseyans who work hard and play by the rules should be able to make a decent living,” Stainton said.
Ann, I agree that parenting quality is the key differentiator for kid’s educational attainment.
But NJ parents have a lot of influence over local schools. More than almost any other state, NJ public schools are managed and funded locally. This empowers parents. School meetings happen nearby. They get to vote on budgets, and in most districts, elect the school board. They elect the people who negotiate the union contracts. Most places have a local newspaper that reports, more than anything else, on public school issues and are happy to publish letters to the editor about school topics.
If a whiny parent is looking for somebody to blame, a convenient starting point would be the person they see in the mirror.
John Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 8:48 am
For instance CW Post in Old Brookville Long Island. Is a beautiful school set on a former estate surrounded by mansions and minutes from the tony miracle mile shopping center. Tuition is expensive and with a checkbook and a C average and a nice pair of Uggs and a new BMW you are more than welcome to mingle with the other psudo well to do paris hilton look alikes.
John: Thanks for a little inside poop here…..I feel bad for my cousin and her husband. They are smart and successful, and have a nice home, and their three kids are just nothing. The oldest is 24 or so and doing some useless coursework at CW Post. The middle is the nicest guy, but didn’t even think twice about bailing on college and doing a trade job. The youngest was ostensibly the super-scholar of the bunch, and managed to skate down the LIE to SUNY Stoneyland……the whole thing is a clusterf- cess pool. What a disaster…these kids are going to be on the permanent take unless married off properly :( :( :(
111 HEHEHE
Is that where my guilt problems come from? All that Catholic school? Damn.
120 pretorius says
Ann, I agree that parenting quality is the key differentiator for kid’s educational attainment.
“But NJ parents have a lot of influence over local schools. More than almost any other state, NJ public schools are managed and funded locally. This empowers parents. School meetings happen nearby. They get to vote on budgets, and in most districts, elect the school board. They elect the people who negotiate the union contracts. Most places have a local newspaper that reports, more than anything else, on public school issues and are happy to publish letters to the editor about school topics.
If a whiny parent is looking for somebody to blame, a convenient starting point would be the person they see in the mirror.”
Yes, that is one plus of our 600+ school districts. As bad as property taxes are, at least they are spent locally, giving a bit more local control. If they were all just funneled up to the county to state, it would be total disaster.
I agree that local control gives parents accessibility, but at the end of the day, the only way a parent, or a citizen for that matter, can affect change is to vote out the School Board. That is a long and slow process. If parents could choose schools, it would be a more effective process, infusing a bit of competition into an environment that badly needs it.
As long as a town knows that you are going to cough up thousands of dollars a year to the school district, no matter what, what incentive do they have to improve?
Ann,
It’s a long unwinding process, good luck!!
#116
my mom is a social worker (not in Baltimore, but another city) and my impression from the stories she tells is that the show is very accurate.
I’m sure many people on this board know people who grew up in very poor circumstances and turned out OK. The difference is family or some approximation thereof. My grandmother grew up in an orphanage and turned out fine.
Well, we are sitting outside the seller’s attorney’s office waiting to close. Should start in about 15 minutes. Who would have thought that the entire group of people that sign off on CO’s in our area would be on vacation… Whether or not we close depends on whether they were able to find the last person on vacation who is reportedly hanging around town. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until after xmas. Yuk.
BH
OT: The Commerce Dept actually said this today:
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. consumers spent more than they earned in November, driving the personal savings rate negative for the first time in 15 months but giving a much-needed boost to a sagging economy, the Commerce Department reported Friday.
HEHEHE 124
Sometimes I think it might just be easier to give in and go back!
Ann & Pre,
Unless you live is some crooked @ss town like Hoboken or Patterson where the local bd of ed is just another branch of crooked government out to give relatives and cronies no-show jobs and no-bid contracts. Hoboken is finally shaping up but that was like pulling teeth.
Jamey (84)-
Big diff between Realtors and the education biz. Just to note a few:
– No Realtors’ union. It’s an eat-what-you-kill business. BTW…please don’t waste bandwidth by trying to tell me NAR is a union. Real unions help their members.
– No tenure for Realtors, either. See above.
– Realtors compete. In education, who competes?
I’ll admit I should temper my remarks, but all too often, the exceptions one encounters in education are the exceptions that prove the rule.
From CNN/Money:
Pain Street USA: ’08 housing outlook
The United States is deep in its worst housing slump since the Great Depression, and according to a new report, it’s not going to get better any time soon.
In a new survey, Moody’s Economy.com says many metro areas will record losses of 20 percent or more during the downturn, with the national median price for single-family homes dropping 13 percent through early 2009. Factoring in discount offers from sellers, the actual price decline would be well over 15 percent.
RE: Catholic Schools
Thanks for the insights. Growing up, we were too poor to afford Catholic School, but as an Undesirable Public Student, I got the guilt in extra heapings down in the basement after the 9 o’clock mass.
My sister’s daughter attended one full of families that were just shy of being able to afford Real Private School. They were the vicious hen-peckers. If your daughter is chunky or you drive a ’94 Buick, do your kid a favor and don’t send her to a Catholic School with a wanna-be-rich crowd.
Our dilemma is now continuing to send our daughter to Catholic school, or moving into a better school system. She’s the Female Fonzie among Richie Cunninghams. The teacher recently told me that her behavior has improved, and she is now fitting in much better with the other students (Scary, isn’t it?).
Last week I asked her why her jumper always smells from top to bottom of lead pencil shavings and I have to send in a box of 30 pencils every week.
She told me she spends a lot of time sharpening pencils. What is that?
129 HEHEHE says
“Unless you live is some crooked @ss town like Hoboken or Patterson where the local bd of ed is just another branch of crooked government out to give relatives and cronies no-show jobs and no-bid contracts. Hoboken is finally shaping up but that was like pulling teeth.”
I don’t think you need to go to Paterson for that. Plenty of “better” towns with totally uses BoEs. Amateur politicians who use it as a way to try to try to break into the pol gig. The only thing that saves the “better” towns are that the families are more on track. Propping the whole charade up.
Kettle1 said:
“For those stuck in inner city schools, I believe that many families would be helped. There are always some families that are motivated, even in the poorest communities. Give them a chance to pick their school.”
———————————————-
I lived in Jersey City for about five years during the late 90s. At the time, the school system graduation rate was between 20 and 30%. Although ‘Head Start’ was available to any parent who wanted to put their prekindergarten child in it, less than 5% took advantage of the program. I remember talking to my neighbor about the wonderful opportunity that this offered for their youngest child. Unfortunately, the uneducated parent could only respond by saying that he wasn’t educated and is doing just fine, so his son doesn’t need the education neither. Of course, his definition of doing so well was collecting welfare and living in section 8 housing. A year later, that toddler burnt their brownstone down when he lit a mattress on fire when playing with matches. The JC fire department destroyed the walls of my apartment in their effort to extinguish the fire next door. I moved out about 2 weeks later.
Surprisingly, I drove by about a year later and they were back in their brownstone as if nothing at all had happened. Of course their toddler was still not in school, which is the modus operandi of the youth of Jersey City.
This is a single example of why the voucher program will not work. It is all about the environment in which the child is raised. The parents don’t care about their children’s education so the vouchers will only serve to help the wealthy pay for their children’s private school tuition. This will hurt many middle-of-the-road schools as more talented students will abandon the public schools for the private prep schools as they will now become more affordable. Many voucher advocates say that this competition will increase the quality of the public school as they will need to if they want to continue to exist. I might agree with this argument if someone pointed out a single example of a public entity that ever improved when faced with competition from a private entity. Every time I have witnessed such an attempt, the public entity was allowed to continue as our elected officials never reduce spending or cut heads. We simply end up with what will be another tax cut for the wealthy paid for by the sheeples.
The voucher money would be better spent requiring welfare recipients to attend vocational schools.
From Minyanville re the coming commercial RE collapse:
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/housing-subprime-real-estate/index/a/15299
“Here’s what we know about what happened in commercial real estate: Lending standards fell, starkly. Or as I prefer to see it, they were thrown out of the 60th-floor window of that gleaming office tower in downtown Atlanta/Phoenix/New York/San Francisco/insert your city here. The gap between the cost of debt servicing and the cash actually being generated by the buildings narrowed. What’s more, it used to be that banks made loans for no more than 80 percent of the value of a property to ensure a healthy cushion of protection, but by the early part of 2007, loans were sometimes made for 120 percent of a property’s value. Who would be so crazy as to lend more than a property is worth? Anyone who believes in perpetual-motion machines—that is, that rents and underlying property values must always go up.”
I have a question about voucher proposals. Would a private school that accepts vouchers have to accept them from every student who presents one, even one from a poor academic or social background?
If not, I can’t see how vouchers will change anything in many places, where the private schools cherry pick athletes and scholars from the public schools and the only students that don’t have these qualifications that can get admitted are legacies.
#132 Pat: I agree with much that you say regarding Catholic Schools.
For many today especially on th HS end, going to Catholic Schools is a status symbol. And I laugh,as I am a prduct of Catholic schools.
Many now refer to it as private school, hey guys we are talking Catholic School, not Horace Mann.
I do like the ability they have to expel problem students, and believe public schools should have that same ability.
People need to understand that education is a privledge, not a right.
As far as the academic standards Catholic vs Public, I cannot say from what I know that the Catholic schools are better, they have a very small % of teachers with Masters and PHD’s not that necesarily proves any thing.
The other thing I find odd, is that the Catholic HS’s do not publish their SAT scores.
One final note I was at a social gathering a few years back we were the only ones whose children attended public school.
Anyhow to make a long story short, the adults there engaged in some incredibly vicious and mean gossip about other parents and kids that attended the school. So much for kinder and gentler.
And finally drugs and alcohol are also big problems in Catholic HS’s.
John: I didn’t know about the go-cart track – where is it, I assume you’re referring to something other than 14 yr old persian kids drag racing BMWs on Brokaw; also, Valet parking, what on earth are you talking about?
skep-tic – I share your concern about vouchers – everyone would want their kids in the “top” schools which would just pick the top kids and the poorer or less promising kids would still end up in the hole.
I think it is less about offering parents choice and instead lets the popular schools take off the cream.
On another note – I read about a program in an inner city school where they actually focussed on the parents. They actually graded them on their parenting, ran classes to help them know how to help their kids with their homework and so on.
By all accounts it was a roaring success. The school finally realized that kids with parents who were not academic and who had failed at school were hardly in a position to help their kids, even if they wanted to – so they went to the problem at the source.
3b 137
Catholic schools are a status symbol? Ha. I find it amusing when people try to lump non-competitive (meaning everyone gets in) Catholic schools with competitive private schools.
Education is a privilege, not a right? So you don’t think that children in this country have a right to education?
OT- I’ve overpent
Bought lots of stuff that I can’t pay for now.
Thought these purchases were a “good buy”
Now my account is overdrawn by a few million (maybe billion, I’m not sure).
Any cash donations to my personal bank account by a foreign investment fund is much appreciated.
In exchange, you may have a 8% stake of my soul.
P.S. I promise to be a smarter shopper next year.
Everyone gets in but everyone can’t stay. That is why Catholic schools are good as they can boot the troublemakes and have parents that are involved. Plus come 7/8 grade if you don’t make the cut you can’t get into a good Catholic HS. My nephew goofed off in 7 grade catholic school and blew his chance of getting into Chaminade HS and now he is hanging out with the pot heads in public HS.
A private school that only excepts students that are already smart, wow now that is a joke job. Even better they can take credit for their students being smart when they are already smart. Maybe I could open an auto repair shop and only work on cars that are in perfect condition.
Ann Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 12:18 pm
3b 137
Catholic schools are a status symbol? Ha. I find it amusing when people try to lump non-competitive (meaning everyone gets in) Catholic schools with competitive private schools.
Education is a privilege, not a right? So you don’t think that children in this country have a right to education?
John, she’s 6 and IS in Catholic School, and the teacher is controlling her behavior by having her stand and stand and sharpen pencils all day in the front of the room until there is nothing left of the pencil.
Thanks for your weird humor, though. I also like the air conditioning unit story.
Regarding “Edumacation”:
1). If you can’t bring kids to good schools, bring the good schools to the kids. What do you think of placing teachers in a rotational system? We all know that it’s the teachers that make a good school, correct? So why don’t we rotate the good teachers to under performing schools, bring the bad ones to good schools to learn how it’s supposed to be done? It may even have a positive psychological impact on the educators at the same time.
2). Send the parents to school too. Many sperm donors and recipients are just that – not parents – therefore teach these givers and takers how to handle their kids by supporting them throughout the educational process.
John 142 Good point. Catholic schools can kick kids out, which is good for the other kids.
Pat 143
Not to be too blunt, but tell me you are joking, please. What is your daughter doing that is causing her teachers to make her sharpen pencils all day? No matter what your daughter is doing, there has to be more effective way to guide her behavior.
#13 BC Bob and #6 Pat….how about adding “normalizing” to the list. There was an add in our local paper last week. A real estate agent was having a seminar for brokers to educate them on how to work in a “normalizing” market! too funny
When I posted about people getting involved with their school system earlier today, I fully expected to check in later and read that you all had been going to meetings and working to change what you didn’t like. But instead you’re talking about vouchers and complaining (whining) that sending your kids to private schools will cost you double.
Okay. You want vouchers? That’ll take a ton of work. You want to overhaul the education system so it resembles Finland? That’s going to take work, too. But none of you are going to do it, are you? You’re just going to whine. (Note to Ann, if you think voting out a school board is a long drawn-out process, instituting vouchers and totally revamping the school system would take even longer.)
Hey—here’s an idea. Why don’t you all run for the Board of Ed in your respective towns?
Ann, I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but you’re quite an elitist, aren’t you? In one of your posts you practically imply that only kids with college-educated parents will get ahead. You’re simply wrong. As I said, only one of parents graduated high school; neither went to college. My father worked in a factory for his entire life. Nevertheless, I was a National Merit Scholar, placed out of several college semesters with AP tests, graduated college summa cum laude and went on to graduate school. My brother is an attorney.
To all of you: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
007
REO = bank-owned real estate.
From the Countrywide REO site:
Looking for a bargain on a home?
A Countrywide owned property (lender-owned), also sometimes referred to as a REO (real estate owned) home or property is often a way to get a good deal on a home or an investment property. You can use the tool below to search for Countrywide owned properties in your area.
http://www.countrywide.com/purchase/f_reo.asp
007
A REO is a house where the bank has completed the foreclosure process, and now they have to sell it to recoup as much of their money as they can.
A lot of the banks have REOs listed on their Web sites. Also, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have foreclosures on their Web sites.
#146 peace: As I said, earlier. I have been at BOE and Mayor and Council meetings many times over the years. And in many instances I have been the only person there. so yes I have been involved.
BOE’s and Mayor & Councils, may pay lip service to residents getting involved, but in reality prefer to work in isolation, and yes many have their own often times misguided or uninformed agendas.
Trust me they do not like hard hitting intelligent questions to be asked, nor do they like any one who goes against the conventional wisdom as it pertains to the town and or the school.
If you are perceived to be a trouble maker or gadfly, or go against the conventional wisdom, you kids will pay for that.
And that is why there are many I believe who would speak up, but do not wnat to subject their children to any reprecussions.
I learned over the years you have to go along to get along,and it is why I am no longer involved.
Be silent or agree with me, those are the choices in small town surburbia.
actually, education is a right. my understanding is that with a lot of effort, you can expel a kid from a public school, but he will just be placed in anther public school. Administrators are understandably highly reluctant to do this since it will just be saddling another school with a known problem. The practical reality of course is that kids are almost never expelled. The very worst kids soon learn this and it is like a green light to bad behavior.
#140 I believe education is a privledge, and should be treated as such and treasured.
You do not get the right, without the responsibilty that goes with it.
You do not know how many times I have heard, well I pay all these taxes, let the school figure it out
#147 (scribe),
Thanks for the info. I need to dig a little bit more. The area I am looking at seems still keep at level, althought the big picture is going down. :-(
007
Ann 144, in this instance, I’m guessing the teacher must have worked out a triage strategy based on very limited resources (21 kids, no assistants and two kids with learning disabilities). Fonziegirl tells the teacher something like, “I’m not doing this worksheet today, because my hand is on break.” Up to the sharpener she goes.
Our dilemma over moving to a good public system is whether or not the extra public resources outweigh the excellent teaching she’s getting.
146 PeaceNow
“Ann, I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but you’re quite an elitist, aren’t you? In one of your posts you practically imply that only kids with college-educated parents will get ahead. You’re simply wrong. As I said, only one of parents graduated high school; neither went to college. My father worked in a factory for his entire life. Nevertheless, I was a National Merit Scholar, placed out of several college semesters with AP tests, graduated college summa cum laude and went on to graduate school. My brother is an attorney.”
I’m an elitist? Why because I don’t agree with you on vouchers?
Yes, a voucher system would inject the education system with a much-needed dose of competition. Much quicker than trying to vote out a school board.
As far as my comments regarding children who come from affluent homes with college-educated parents doing better in school, that is a fact. So there is no argument there. Do you think it is a coincidence that the best high schools in NJ are in the richest districts, with the highest levels of parental education? I guess it must be that the teachers are so great in those districts. Or that’s what they would like us to think anyway.
As for your bragging that you made it despite your humble upbringing, give me a break. Neither of my parents completed high school and are both immigrants. I graduated with honors with a degree in a physical science and I went on to get a Ph.D. in that subject. I did all of this DESPITE the fact that my parents weren’t college-educated.
Yes, my parents were good and kind people. But you know what made the biggest difference? I went to a high school filled with rich kids, who came from homes with college-educated parents. So the standards were higher, and I kind of just followed along as they were prepping for the SATs, getting good grades and applying for college.
I spoke to a coworker today who is also a realtor, he claims home values are stable in South Brunswick, haven’t gone down at all. For those of you with access to the MLS database, is this true? I guess I don’t understand why it would be, given that surrounding communities have seen decreases.
Interesting conversation on schools and education, btw!
153 Pat
Oh, I see. The teacher is trying to motivate her to do her worksheets with a threat of sharpening pencils. Which your daughter doesn’t seem to mind!
Do you think your daughter might be bored? Maybe the material is too easy for her?
Sounds like the teacher has quite a workload on her hands too. Why does she have kids with learning disabilities? I thought Catholic schools generally filtered them out to public schools, so they can get the resources they need?
Good luck with it, your daughter sounds very spunky : )
Peace (146)-
Vote out the B of E?
Meet the new boss; same as the old boss…
3b (149)-
In my sleepy little burb, a resident who called the school board to account found his car vandalized and his kid beaten up by the son of the school board member who took the heat from the parent.
No action was taken against the school board member or his kid.
The best reason to close “All Public Schools” is the deceased Justice Brennan 1981 (5/4 decision)requirement that they educate For Free all the Children of the World who can slip across the boarder. In NJ that is a significant portion of the 31% Immigrants. The remaining Citizens cannot afford, through their property taxes, to pay for educating all of the World’s non Citizens. Yet, without any type of viable Immigration Policy, that is the worst case scenario.
Over at Great Neck North the students have so many cars that they started parking over at the nearby Parkwood pools complex. When the parents heard that God Forbid their children were walking down the block they demand that GNN said up a shuttle service to valet the students back and forth to the other parking lot.
GNS has a pretty good summer program and over at the Junior HS they have a go cart program in the summer, I took out a wicked cool duel tank go cart once that cooked up to 60mph. They also had a summer HS marine biology program and I remember taking the school district motor boat out of stepping stone park to collect samples over by city island and the throgs neck bridge. Even cooler they would let me drive the motor boat and even the school jeep to tow the boat back to the garage. Being able to back up a stickshift CJ5 with a 21 foot boat on the rear into a garage at 16 years of age is some skills that were of actual use.
Speaking of Persian kids, I had last period drivers ed and I remember all the rich Perisian kids getting into their beemers and benzs right after drivers ed and driving home while the teacher just looked pissed. At one point everyone including me were driving to school everyday I guess we were better drivers back then cause we rarely cracked up our cars.
Herring123 Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 12:16 pm
John: I didn’t know about the go-cart track – where is it, I assume you’re referring to something other than 14 yr old persian kids drag racing BMWs on Brokaw; also, Valet parking, what on earth are you talking about?
sync (155)-
That’s a baldfaced lie. The sales pace in S Brunswick could be kindly described as a dribble, and scads of properties fail to sell and either withdraw or expire.
SNITCHES GET STICHES
Clotpoll Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 1:37 pm
3b (149)-
In my sleepy little burb, a resident who called the school board to account found his car vandalized and his kid beaten up by the son of the school board member who took the heat from the parent.
No action was taken against the school board member or his kid.
Clot #161,
Hmmm. This person is someone I’ve worked with on and off for years. That he would lie or is just plain ignorant of the facts is quite disappointing.
Thanks, Clot. You da man!
The Constitution does not constitute us as ‘Platonic Guardians’ nor does it vest in this Court the authority to strike down laws because they do not meet our standards of desirable social policy, ‘wisdom,’ or ‘common sense.’ … We trespass on the assigned function of the political branches under our structure of limited and separated powers when we assume a policymaking role.
— Chief Justice Warren Burger1
If there is one area of law that should be universally understood as being largely outside the purview
of the Supreme Court’s social engineering reach, it is immigration. Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power to “establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.”2
That, however, is not how events have transpired. For the last several decades, the Supreme Court has effectively trampled on Congress’s constitutionally mandated, separate, and exclusive power and taken upon itself the task of rewriting America’s immigration laws. The Court has abused its limited authority and has become, effectively, the architect of the rules governing not only how immigrants enter and remain in America, but whether those immigrants can avail themselves of social benefits that states and even Congress have sought to limit to U.S. citizens.
Thanks to succeeding Supreme Courts, illegal immigration—not legal immigrants but aliens who have broken U.S. law to enter this country—are entitled to a public school education at the U.S. taxpayers’ expense. The Court has also ruled that despite laws to the contrary, noncitizens who are legally in the U.S. can qualify for welfare, can seek tuition assistance to attend colleges and universities, and can take competitive civil service jobs and practice law.
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Arizona spends $1.3 billion each year on illegal immigrants.3 The same FAIR study reported that every Arizonan essentially pays a $700 annual tax to support the direct costs of illegal immigration. The New York Times reported in 2002 that “a wave of immigrants in the last 10 years, particularly in rural areas far from traditional immigration hubs, has left school districts across the country desperately short of people qualified to teach English.”4 In fact, the number of students who have limited English skills has doubled to approximately five million in the past ten years.5 Educating illegal immigrants in the public schools costs the states at least $7.4 billion annually, according to FAIR.6 California alone spends an estimated $2.2 billion annually to educate illegal immigrant children.7 And the Washington Times reported that hospitals near the U.S.-Mexican border spent, in 2000, almost $190 million to treat illegal aliens and another $113 million in ambulances and follow-up fees.8
regarding schools
There are several different opinions here as to which direction should be taken for schools. What we need to do it ontroduce choice! why not construct a system that allows all of the various options we have been debating??? A system that allows for government run public schools, vouchers, parent education classes etc.
it is unlikely that any one group has the RIGHT answer, because there is no one solution to the problem. The only guarantee in this situation is that the status quo is broken and change is needed. No one entity should have control over all education. SO set up a system where the money follows the student, where ever that may be, institute parent education classes, inner city boarding school and so on.
sync (163)-
If he’s a part-time agent, chances are he’s just parroting the office’s “party line”.
Lots of managers out there have bonus comp that rides on how many licenses they can hang and retain. Why tell a part-time agent the truth about what’s going on? If a lot of these people understood what’s really happening, they’d quit in a nanosecond.
Clot #166,
If he’s a part-time agent, chances are he’s just parroting the office’s “party line”.
That makes sense. He also told me that Pway is an ‘up and coming’ town; I live here and know that isn’t true. It does sound like he’s being spoon-fed.
Might wanna think twice before going to Wikipedia for info. From Excite, 12/20:
“The foundation that runs – and accepts donations for – the online encyclopedia Wikipedia neglected to do a basic background check before hiring a chief operating officer who had been convicted of theft, drunken driving and fleeing a car accident.
Before she left in July, Carolyn Bothwell Doran, 45, had moved up from a part-time bookkeeper for the Wikimedia Foundation and spent six months as chief operating officer, responsible for personnel and financial management. In March, she signed the small nonprofit’s tax return, which listed more than $1.3 million in donations.
At the time, she was on probation for a 2004 hit-and-run accident in Virginia that had landed her seven months in prison. Doran had multiple drunken-driving convictions, and records show earlier run-ins for theft, writing bad checks and wounding her boyfriend with a gunshot to the chest.
Danny Wool, a former Wikimedia staffer who described Doran as personable, stylish and funny, recalled that she revealed being the daughter of a CIA official. That is supported by a 1992 Washington Post obituary on the CIA’s James Bothwell, listing daughter Carolyn Bothwell as a survivor.
Doran also had a picture on her desk of her late husband – intelligence officer Sean Doran, a former CIA employee and Air Force major who drowned on their honeymoon in the Cayman Islands in 1999.
There had been other trouble she didn’t talk about, such as the 1989 shooting of her then-boyfriend, the father of her son. Bothwell allegedly had been beaten by the boyfriend and received probation after he asked that the case be dropped.
Bothwell also popped up in 1995, when a former roommate was accused of poisoning a man for insurance money. Bothwell worked with investigators to secretly record incriminating conversations with the ex-roommate. Defense attorneys countered that she helped authorities so she could win leniency in a pending credit-card forgery case.”
sync (167)-
“up and coming” = “dead and buried”
Clot #169,
LMAO.
pat –
when my kids were small, we lived in hudson co. and i had to send them to catholic school. i was very happy, i felt as if i had found an oasis from the chaos of the public schools in the area: calm, disiplined, and the kids seems happy to me (no hitting going on at all!)
when my son was going into 4th grade, i noticed the 5th grade teacher was a nincompoop – it was about the time that the movie titanic came out, and she had them waste a lot of time doing a project about the titanic – (maybe she had a crush on leonardo dicaprio)
at that point, i pulled my kids out of that school, and put them into a much more serious catholic school – cost more, but it was worth it to me. the point is, i had the money, so i had the choice. if they had gone to public school, i would have had no choice.
with regards to your daughter, why don’t you talk to the teacher and find out the story. if it seems that the problem is with the teacher, and not your child, and you can’t resolve it, then you may have to vote with your feet and dollars like i did.
#165
Kettle– again, at the end of the day, my belief is that it all comes down to money. if we truly believed in education as a public good and that a highly educated populace was in this country’s best interest, then we would throw the money down. Imagine if we spent multiples of the rest of the world on education in the way in which we do for defense. We would not be having this conversation. Somewhere along the way we as a society prioritized education as not being that important. Many other advanced societies have taken the other side of this bet and will be handing our @sses to us in the coming decades as a result.
Voucher’s, following the kids for US Citizens, won’t help, if you’re still on the Hook for paying for the Public Education of illegal aliens. Remember, the illegals for the most part, are not paying the property taxes to support public schools, you are.
Confused #173,
the illegals for the most part, are not paying the property taxes to support public schools, you are.
How so? The only people who don’t contribute to property tax revenue are the homeless and the church. Renters pay property taxes in the sense that landlords pass the cost through to them.
Are you saying most illegals are homeless or live in church basements?
in some ways i feel that this is the debate we, and future generations, will be having if we have public health care.
i believe, (i hope), that most people on both the left and the right truly do want quality health care for everyone, as most want quality education for all children, but have an issue with how to get there.
what makes people believe that we are going to find a whole bunch of motivated people, free from bureaucracy and unions, if the govt. pays, and we have no choice? where are theses people going to come from? they’re just going to come from the same pool of people that work in our education system, or at the post office, or irs, motor vehicles………….
p.s. – i found myself and my family without insurance at one time in my life – it’s scary
with regard to vouchers – i fear that if public money goes into vouchers, then, the govt. has a voice in how the school is run, what can and cannot be taught, who gets kicked out, and all the rest. it may evolve into the same mess we have now.
Clot, read the the book “Freakamonics”, there is a section on teachers. Especially with no child left behind…funny, my 5th grader gets great grades (he can use his notes on science tests and the math tests are more like quizes)no surprise there is a big math and science component with NCLB. “oh we are just preparing them for note taking…they have to learn for next year” I don’t buy it for a minute. Bad state stats in math and science have consequences, that is the real story.
Kettle1—Ann:
I repeat (and you have not said one thing to refute this): To effect changes in any system, people have to do some actual work. So far, only one person (3b) has admitted attending a Board of Ed meeting.
Posting on a real estate blog about how you need choice, or vouchers, or a different kind of school system might make you feel like you’re doing something, but you’re not. If all of you just showed up—just sat in the room if you feel your kids would be singled out because of your involvement—maybe something might get done to address the problems in education.
syncmaster Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Confused #173,
the illegals for the most part, are not paying the property taxes to support public schools, you are.
How so? The only people who don’t contribute to property tax revenue are the homeless and the church. Renters pay property taxes in the sense that landlords pass the cost through to them.
Are you saying most illegals are homeless or live in church basements?
No, it varies. Many live in subsidized low Income Housing like Mt Laurel Rentals. I know of one family, seven kids, in a three bedroom Mt Laurel Rental. I also know of four families, sharing a single small house. The one thing you can take to the bank is that most illegals do not command market rate salaries for private houses or market rate rentals, in NJ. There was one illegal family I knew about, in Boundbrook, that had a zero down payment home, but the INS caught them. The house was sold privately and is now multi illegal family 1/2 duplex. There was one illegal family in New Providence paying market rate tax a few years ago, but they were arrested for Cocaine Distribution. So it varies. Most are not homeless or living in churches. But, the little that is paid to support school costs is insignificant.
Wow, shuttle service from Parkwood to the high school, I guess that $20K per student needs to be spent on something other than teachers. Its really out of control how young some kids are allowed to drive around town, I can’t count the number of times I’ve almost been mowed down by a 13 or 14 year old in a 60K car yapping on his or her cell while running or cycling down kings point road.
How come todays teachers think 21 kids are a lot of kid? Both of kids classes have 21 kids, yet the teachers need a full time assistant and an aid.
When I was in 1st though 6th we had 40 per class and teacher did lunch duty.
My favorite teacher Sister Patrica had close to 45 plus in first grade and had all the worst of the worst including me. One kid after we took her ruler smacking and then sharp end ruler smacking across the knuckels told her is “that all you got” Mind you don’t threaten a 50 old nun in the bronx, well she put him at the front of the room against the wall and she was all set to smack him across the shins full trottle when last minute he jumps and the pointer hits the wall and breaks in half and goes flying across the room. Well Sister Partrica tells him ” If He want to act like a baby she is going to treat him like a baby” She dragged him over to the teachers chair and threw him accross the LAP and gave him the spanking of his life while the other 44 of us watched quietly. At lunch he got teased and got beat on and called a baby and when he got home the nun had already called his Dad and he got the final and hardest beating of the day. Well that was week two of first grade and we were all very very good students for rest of the year.
I sat right next to that kid and the next day we all knew his butt was red hot like fire and he sat 7 hours on that chair without a complaint and thanked GOD it was a friday.
Peacenow 177
How do you know I don’t go to BOE meetings? For all you know, I could be on a BOE.
The only way a parent can make real change in education this way the system is currently set up is to vote for the BOE. On that note, my only point is that this is often a very slow and cumbersome check on power, and infusing some competition into the system would be healthy for it.
Academic motivation?
B is for Belt, which is what you got when you brought home a report card that included one.
Funny story, a guy from school’s Dad wanted to get the new transam and also bought from Beiner Pontiac. Well he tells the dealer he is going out of town on busines and asks if he they can deliver it to his garage while he is gone and they say sure no problem, so the car comes and they put it in his garage. The kid from HS could not resist a 400 ci Black Transam with T tops and of course takes it out and over by the merchant marine acadmeny loses control and nails one of the big old trees and totals the whole thing with 3 miles on the odometer. My friend towed it back into the garage and man was their some fireworks when he got home.
Herring123 Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 2:57 pmWow, shuttle service from Parkwood to the high school, I guess that $20K per student needs to be spent on something other than teachers. Its really out of control how young some kids are allowed to drive around town, I can’t count the number of times I’ve almost been mowed down by a 13 or 14 year old in a 60K car yapping on his or her cell while running or cycling down kings point road.
From the WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119826733522845631.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Banks to Abandon Super-SIV Plan
By DAVID ENRICH and DIYA GULLAPALLI
December 21, 2007 3:06 p.m.
The banks orchestrating a bailout of troubled investment vehicles that were hit by the subprime mortgage crisis are throwing in the towel after struggling to raise money for the planned fund, according to people familiar with the matter.
At the behest of the Treasury Department, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have been working since September to set up the fund, which would buy assets from so-called structured investment vehicles. SIVs have been battered by the credit crunch, with investors refusing to buy the short-term commercial paper that the funds’ issue to buy higher-yielding assets, in particular securities backed by subprime mortgages.
Lack of interest has led the banks to drop the plan — known as the Master-Enhanced Liquidity Conduit, or M-LEC. In many cases the banks, in particular Citigroup, that were supposed to sell assets to the fund have instead bitten the bullet and moved the assets onto their own balance sheets, alleviating a key rationale for the rescue fund.
When I was a kid, we walked to school two miles up hill, both ways, in the snow, with holes in our shoes after doing the morning chores, with only a piece of rye bread for breakfast. Not like these kids today…..
John: In your case the kid stole the car, but it’s crazy how common it is to let kids drive as early as 13 or 14. I was at a Mashadi bar mitzvah a while back and in the middle of the party the kid was thrown in the pool with his suit on and then handed the keys to a Z3, it was like something out of my super sweet 16…
Peace 177
When i was school (elementary and highschool) i watched both of my parents constantly fight with the school board over various issues similar to what we discuss here. All they ever got out of it was grief and backlash towards me and my siblings.
Perhaps i am to pesimistic, but i agree with clotpoll in a sense, that things are to far gone for one or two parents on a school board to change things. Real change would require changes in core social values, such as getting rid of this zero tolerance crap and actually valuing intelligence and education instead of bling and blondes.
My child is still an infant, but my goal is to go around the swamp instead of through it! to follow the analogy, if someone can get a group of people to build a road through this mess i will be happy to join the crew, but i do not plan on leading the revolution. In my opinion it makes more sense for me to bust my hump and put my child into private schools that meet my personal standards then to bang my head against the wall that is public school and have to worry about undoing the damage that public schools can do to a childs desire to learn.
According to your comment about being part of the problem….. perhaps i am according to your standard.
grim [185],
So, I guess these banks are now SIV negative?
# 32:
“U.S. Nov. personal incomes up 0.4% … pending up 0.5%….personal savings rate falls to negative 0.5%… real disposable incomes fall 0.3%, 2nd drop in row”
That about says it all, no?
“…take the beatings, give the beatings, be the bitch or be the snitch.”
Wasnt that a line by Tiny Tim in Dickens’ Christmas Carol?
The banks have abandoned the bail-out fund.
I think the driving age in Great Neck is like 14. I had a kid in my school who drove to school every day in 9th grade in a sweet car.
Actually it applies to Merril Lynch and Smith Barney come bonus time.
Shore Guy Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 3:35 pm
“…take the beatings, give the beatings, be the bitch or be the snitch.”
Wasnt that a line by Tiny Tim in Dickens’ Christmas Carol?
57 “Clotpoll Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 9:23 am
Hell, they invented self-flagellation!”
I thought that made one blind?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22361874
Major banks have abandoned plans to set up a bailout fund for subprime-related debt, mainly because not enough banks were willing to participate.
[snip]
But a source close to the situation told CNBC that the fund is being dropped because of a lack of interest from banks in contributing to the fund and a lack of high quality assets that these SIVS were willing to sell.
[snip]
105 “It was a great 70’s band”
Yea, REO Speed Finance’n
Pre…you’re not into this one, are you? Because its
” a very serious development for the commercial property sector”
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3273206.ece
163 “John Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
SNITCHES GET STICHES”
Or kneecapped.
syncmaster Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
“I spoke to a coworker today who is also a realtor, he claims home values are stable in South Brunswick, haven’t gone down at all. ”
Psshhht!!
I’ll second Clot. I live across from S. Bruns., many friends live there and some are trying to sell. I follow the market there in part because some people keep trying to get me to buy there (though I think it is overpriced and overrated) and also because some get a bit snooty, so there is some schadenfraud there.
Nothing is moving, prices are dropping or houses are dropping off the market. Lowest prices seen in many developments are hovering around 2004 and still not going anywhere. I have seen some properties sit unsold for a year and a half. South Brunswick residents frequently believe themselves to be the Westfield of the Route 1 corridor so asking prices are frequently inflated.
#187
from what I can tell, the Z3 is the preferred spoiled kid car these days
#181 John: Yes and the Nuns were definitely into building your self-esteem. One of my all time favorite nun quotes form the 7th grade.
“They shot men like Lincoln and they let you live.
183 “B is for Belt, ”
In our house it was, “S” is for strap. Same thing, in the end.
Before getting back to oppressing the masses, here is the best headline of the day: Roofing Mogul Dies After Fall From Roof
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22359869/for/cnbc/
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22361440/site/14081545
As crazy as it sounds at first, there might be something to this: For a Better Log Cabin, Use — Concrete?!
#163 John: Does not surprise me at all.
There is a BOE memebr in my town, almot 2 years ago i asked a question that he did nto like (operating expenses). Almost 2 years ago, and to this day, I get the old if “looks could kill look” from this guy.
That was my last attempt (after many other futile ones),and now I simply do not give a shyte.
lisoosh..what’s with the pathetic development behind the new Target that has like two houses built?
200 lisoosh says
“South Brunswick residents frequently believe themselves to be the Westfield of the Route 1 corridor so asking prices are frequently inflated.”
So true! They crack me up in S.B. I also enjoyed the people in that entire area with the Princeton zip codes who tell people they live in Princeton with a straight face.
Pat,
Fonziegirl tells the teacher something like, “I’m not doing this worksheet today, because my hand is on break.” Up to the sharpener she goes.
Not to sound too harsh, but why is your six your old giving those kind of answers to her teacher? Cool is not cool in the 1st grade. Cool kids are hard to handle when they need to be cool, 7th and up. There’s no place for cool in 1st grade.
KL
#206 Should have been to Clot #159
#178
I have been to many BOE meetings but you do have to be careful. Unfortunately, children will feel the brunt of parents being outspoken about problems within the schools. I have seen it happen. One of my son’s current teachers has done this. When challenged by a parent, she then takes it out on the child until the child asks the parent to stop challenging her. How far can you take it? It’s then a she-said/he-said situation. I gave up on BOE meetings because of the frustration I felt.
Recently our board president was quoted in the newspaper saying “I don’t know why question 2 wasn’t passed.” Question 2 was a bond for $2.5 million for a turf field and improvements to the football stadium at the local high school. If she’s so stupid that she doesn’t realize people don’t want their taxes to go up for a turf field, then you can imagine how difficult it is to deal with her.
Off topic queston, Can an employer in NJ order a criminal backround check without getting a consent form from there employee??? thanks
KL, from a mother, a good question. You would think automatically that it’s because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and I MUST say those things.
But it’s not like that.
I asked her why she said that, and remember yelling at her so much that night when she told me what happened that I could hear the mirror on the medicine cabinet shaking as I brushed her teeth.
She just tells me that “My hand WAS tired.”
Or, “My hand WAS on break.”
Ann – My town has lots of Princeton zip coders. Same schools as us plebes though.
Best South Brunswick quote: “We may have trailer parks but we have a much better class of trailer park resident”.
Seriously.
It’s an OK town, but the self-congratulary ego trips of many of its newer residents are beyond the pale. The words “Blue” and “Ribbon” pop into every third sentence.
REO Price Reduction, sub $400k in Mendham!
7 Birch Street, Mendham NJ
Purchased: 8/2/2005
Purchase Price: $568,000
MLS# 2444676 (REO)
Current Asking: $399,900
30% under 2005 purchase price
Who said it could never happen?
Those Princeton people are the worst, though.
I remember somebody on here, right around last Christmas, saying, I dare any of you to find me a decent house, not a townhouse or condo, within an hour of NYC for under $400k.
grim #215,
Suddenly, Mendham is looking affordable. But wait, if Mendham is 399, what horrible fate awaits my dinky little middlesex county townhome when I put it on the market?
I have goosebumps.
All I have to say, is how depressing! Is the school situation that bad in NJ? That’s one of the main reasons I’m moving out there!
As for Catholic school, my daughter is in kindergarten at a Catholic school because the school I was zoned for was very crowded. My friend who lives in another zone — well, her kid is reading already in public school (mine is not). Oddly enough, some of the better public schools around here are very, very intense because of the high concentration of immigrants.
I’m happy with the pace at her school — I don’t need her to have two hours of homework a day at this point. I didn’t when I was kid (I went to public school – two lawyers, a doctor, and a PhD economist in my family. I’m the dud — I work at a Big 4 firm). But I must say, it’s pretty freaky to have your kid coming home saying God has a long gray beard and how Jesus is in her heart (and I’m a Catholic). No one here seems to mind that?
Pat #217,
Yesterday, someone said there was nothing livable in this area for under 700k.
“syncmaster Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Those Princeton people are the worst, though.”
Depends though – you get some long term residents of Princeton who are pretty nice, funky academic types. And some real geniuses too. for fairly obvious reasons.
The trouble are the ones who move to Princeton for the cache, just to say they live in Princeton, usually neither funky/kooky academics or geniuses but utter prats.
They are tearing down lots of small olderl homes in Princeton and squeezing in McMansions. Funnily enough, friend of a friend works for a furniture rental company. He says they get called out to these places to furnish them for parties – the owners are too tapped out to afford furniture. In fact in one, the owner was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. I’m guessing he was a flipper.
lisoosh #221, Agreed. I was thinking about the people I meet at parties, who love to work the fact they live in Princeton into every conversation. These are mostly 2-IT-income couples who moved there from my part of the state in the last few years.
Oh, and Monroe. I’ve never been to Monroe but I hate them too. LOL.
By the way, what are peoples thoughts on the proposed West Trenton Line from Bridgewater’s station on the RARV to the SEPTA station in Ewing? Think it’s gonna happen? Bridgewater’s station is less than 3 miles from me, so just wondering.
according to recent WSJ/NBC News poll:
A 55% majority approves administration-backed agreement for lenders to freeze interest rates for some subprime borrowers facing 2008 foreclosure threat. Just 33% are opposed.
A comparable 52% majority complain that approach isn’t enough to address the problem. Republicans are most resistant to additional steps, with one in four saying the Bush plan “does too much.”
More-affluent Americans are more willing to stand pat, with just 43% of those earning more than $75,000 saying Bush plan isn’t enough.
Pat [217],
Was it the same dolt who said you must be arrogant if you own gold?
Leaving,
I mind that, my children are in public school. They have problems, oh yes they do. I am as close to the school as you can get without being one of them. I walk the halls freely during school hours,not daily but enough to see and hear it all. But….. catholic schools are no better. Parents feel if they are paying they are getting a better deal, that the teachers are better,that the kids behave better and yes they seem to have a faux rich attitude. And somehow they believe that religion is required to have moral children. That’s the funniest to me. I know meaner children from catholic schools than public, but the’re not perfect, just forgiven. Love that line.
Pat, I have secretly snickered at some lines my youngest son has uttered, at home, -neither would be so daring at school,- but secretly is the key word.
Off to shopping again, and I think I have that new super bug!
KL
Question 2 was a bond for $2.5 million for a turf field and improvements to the football stadium at the local high school.
In a population of 7000?
I wonder if we’re neighbors…
GRIM …..I think was lil old me!!!
REO Price Reduction, sub $400k in Mendham!
7 Birch Street, Mendham NJ
Purchased: 8/2/2005
Purchase Price: $568,000
MLS# 2444676 (REO)
Current Asking: $399,900
30% under 2005 purchase price
Who said it could never happen?
214 lisoosh
That is so funny about the “Blue Ribbon Schools”… people I knew actually used to drag that into conversation all the time!
The Princeton zip posers are the worst. It’s fine to have a Princeton zip even though you live one block from S. Brunswick High, but you cannot go around telling people you meet you live in Princeton.
sync (223)-
No.
218 syncmaster
I just sold a townhouse down there. You have to price it a nice bit underneath your competition, even if your house is better. Do this from the beginning, don’t waste your time any other way. Then you’ll get the first buyer who strolls into the neighborhood. We did this and sold in a few weeks during the fall. The rest of the townhouses are still on the market, they were there before us and there after us.
Ann #231,
You’re referring to Mendham or M’sex County?
syncmaster Says:
“Oh, and Monroe. I’ve never been to Monroe but I hate them too. LOL.”
Don’t worry about Monroe, they’re just at the very beginning of finding out what happens when almost 40% of the town are senior citizens.
Kids aren’t the only ones who require services.
Pat 198,
Thanks for posting the article.
No, I wouldn’t be a seller of an interest in a UK real estate fund right now. The value of the actual real estate won’t fall much, but the funds that own it are experiencing massive redemptions and UK REIT prices have crashed.
Could be a could time to add some exposure to UK real estate – not by buying it directly, but buying the beatdown shares of a fund that does.
People in the UK are so bearish about real estate there that they make the average poster here look like a bull.
Separately, I was chatting with a guy from South Brunswick today. Yeah, he mentioned the blue ribbon schools.
Hoovervilles:
Tent city in suburbs is cost of home crisis By Dana Ford
Fri Dec 21, 8:18 AM ET
ONTARIO, California (Reuters) – Between railroad tracks and beneath the roar of departing planes sits “tent city,” a terminus for homeless people. It is not, as might be expected, in a blighted city center, but in the once-booming suburbia of Southern California.
ADVERTISEMENT
The noisy, dusty camp sprang up in July with 20 residents and now numbers 200 people, including several children, growing as this region east of Los Angeles has been hit by the U.S. housing crisis.
The unraveling of the region known as the Inland Empire reads like a 21st century version of “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck’s novel about families driven from their lands by the Great Depression.
As more families throw in the towel and head to foreclosure here and across the nation, the social costs of collapse are adding up in the form of higher rates of homelessness, crime and even disease.
While no current residents claim to be victims of foreclosure, all agree that tent city is a symptom of the wider economic downturn. And it’s just a matter of time before foreclosed families end up at tent city, local housing experts say.
“They don’t hit the streets immediately,” said activist Jane Mercer. Most families can find transitional housing in a motel or with friends before turning to charity or the streets. “They only hit tent city when they really bottom out.”
Steve, 50, who declined to give his last name, moved to tent city four months ago. He gets social security payments, but cannot work and said rents are too high.
“House prices are going down, but the rentals are sky-high,” said Steve. “If it wasn’t for here, I wouldn’t have a place to go.”
‘SQUATTING IN VACANT HOUSES’
Nationally, foreclosures are at an all-time high. Filings are up nearly 100 percent from a year ago, according to the data firm RealtyTrac. Officials say that as many as half a million people could lose their homes as adjustable mortgage rates rise over the next two years.
California ranks second in the nation for foreclosure filings — one per 88 households last quarter. Within California, San Bernardino county in the Inland Empire is worse — one filing for every 43 households, according to RealtyTrac.
Maryanne Hernandez bought her dream house in San Bernardino in 2003 and now risks losing it after falling four months behind on mortgage payments.
“It’s not just us. It’s all over,” said Hernandez, who lives in a neighborhood where most families are struggling to meet payments and many have lost their homes.
She has noticed an increase in crime since the foreclosures started. Her house was robbed, her kids’ bikes were stolen and she worries about what type of message empty houses send.
The pattern is cropping up in communities across the country, like Cleveland, Ohio, where Mark Wiseman, director of the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program, said there are entire blocks of homes in Cleveland where 60 or 70 percent of houses are boarded up.
“I don’t think there are enough police to go after criminals holed up in those houses, squatting or doing drug deals or whatever,” Wiseman said.
“And it’s not just a problem of a neighborhood filled with people squatting in the vacant houses, it’s the people left behind, who have to worry about people taking siding off your home or breaking into your house while you’re sleeping.”
Health risks are also on the rise. All those empty swimming pools in California’s Inland Empire have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which can transmit the sometimes deadly West Nile virus, Riverside County officials say.
‘TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT’
But it is not just homeowners who are hit by the foreclosure wave. People who rent now find themselves in a tighter, more expensive market as demand rises from families who lost homes, said Jean Beil, senior vice president for programs and services at Catholic Charities USA.
“Folks who would have been in a house before are now in an apartment and folks that would have been in an apartment, now can’t afford it,” said Beil. “It has a trickle-down effect.”
For cities, foreclosures can trigger a range of short-term costs, like added policing, inspection and code enforcement. These expenses can be significant, said Lt. Scott Patterson with the San Bernardino Police Department, but the larger concern is that vacant properties lower home values and in the long-run, decrease tax revenues.
And it all comes at a time when municipalities are ill-equipped to respond. High foreclosure rates and declining home values are sapping property tax revenues, a key source of local funding to tackle such problems.
Earlier this month, U.S. President George W. Bush rolled out a plan to slow foreclosures by freezing the interest rates on some loans. But for many in these parts, the intervention is too little and too late.
Ken Sawa, CEO of Catholic Charities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said his organization is overwhelmed and ill-equipped to handle the volume of people seeking help.
“We feel helpless,” said Sawa. “Obviously, it’s a local problem because it’s in our backyard, but the solution is not local.”
232 sync
Middlesex
lisoosh Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 4:15 pm
South Brunswick residents frequently believe themselves to be the Westfield of the Route 1 corridor so asking prices are frequently inflated.
Lol…so true!!
Ann #236, thanks for the pointer!
#237 dream There can be only one Westfield, AKA as Brigadoon, for it is written.
Point on Blue Riibon Schools, for those who may need that information.
1. The program ended 10 years ago, so any school that claims Blue Ribbon, keep in mind that so called designation is 10+ years ago.
2. The schools that have this distinction did not receive it, but rather applied for it,and if the criteria was met, they were awarded it.
to leavingqueens:
As a former politically active resident of NYC, and long-time reader of this blog and the opinions expressed here (especially the opinions today), I’d advise you to stay on the east side of the Hudson. Have been mulling the difference in attitudes all day. New Yorkers tend to fight for the things they believe in. Apparently in NJ people have given up.
to Ann: How do I know you haven’t been to a Board of Ed meeting? Cause I think you would’ve mentioned it.
BTW, my parents’ political activism did lead to retaliation against us kids. But you know what? It made us respect our parents, and, since some of the politicians/bureaucrats they battled with were ultimately defeated (or jailed), it taught us to fight for what we believe in.
to Kettle1: I think it’s very sad that you feel the best educational hope for your child—and, by extension, all children—is to “bust your hump” to provide a private school education. Not to mention that your choice for a serious alternative to our current education system is a country with an insular 5 million population vs. the diverse 300 million in the US. And yet, even though you go out of your way to direct people to this comparison, you’re unwilling to do anything to promote your agenda. I should warn you, though: private schools do not—and should not—negate parental involvement. I hope you’ll have the time for that while you’re earning that private school tuition. Which, I think I can guarantee, will be quite a bit more than whatever property taxes you might be paying.
Finally, a NY City Council president once told me that 3 letters to his office—just 3 letters—was an indication that there was an issue that needed to be resolved. Stop posting on this blog and start sending e-mails to your elected officials.
#132 – Pat – is your daughter in middle school? This is when both boys and girls are bullied mercilessly and never say a word about it to anyone because they are so ashamed. Hope that’s not the case, but something for parents of all middle schoolers to watch for.
OK – she’s 6 – I read your later posts. I skipped down and posted.
#241 peacenow: Apparently in NJ people have given up.
There is nothing left to fight for. As far as kids and retaliation, well I feel they grow up quickly enough, they should not have to pay for their parents battles.
peace (241)-
“Finally, a NY City Council president once told me that 3 letters to his office—just 3 letters—was an indication that there was an issue that needed to be resolved. Stop posting on this blog and start sending e-mails to your elected officials.”
Peace, it’s hard to believe you’ve reached the age you have and remain this gullible. This is NJ, pal. 3 letters or 3 e-mails to an elected official here is fodder for a shredder.
A NJ official’s idea of an issue that needs to be resolved is when the FBI enters his office with a search warrant. People on this blog are exploring the alternatives mentioned here today because gubmint here is 100% unresponsive, unfixable, unworkable and too far gone to salvage.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS all of you Crazy Real Estate Junkies! Health and Happiness and a non-leaky roof over your heads in the New Year!
[139] Lisoosh
Thank you. You said it.
My favorite saying is: “education cures all”
Reading stories of a**holes raising children (and believe me, I have my own stories!) only makes us think that every child is a lost cause.
What we don’t see, (nor remember) is the thousands of poor and middle class people trying to do right by their kids…
Give every person a GOOD SOLID EDUCATION that teachs CRITICAL THINKING and in a generation and a half, we will have a society that kicks ass.
:)
Peacenow,
Don’t take the bashing here too seriously. An objective look shows that NJ public schools are doing a great job and are possibly more effective than schools in any other state. That is why I posted the table in post 92.
The complaint I hear most often about recent NJ high school grads is that they’ve saturated top colleges up and down the East Coast. This is a huge compliment – to the students, their parents, and their schools and teachers. Of course, the high net worth of NJ families enables that to afford tuition levels that families from other states can’t.
A big problem with school boards in NJ is that a lot of school board members are affiliated with the teachers, rather than the parents. If you check the backround of people running for school boards, many are somehow connected directly or indirectly, with the teaching profession. If you want to provide balance and objectivity to a school board, you need to run for office and change it. Because of adverse Budget votes, in a number of towns you will find people associated with the Teachers Union also running for town counsel. If the school board can’t get it passed, the associated counsel can render the negative vote moot. Unfortunately, the people most likely to run for these positions, are those with vested interest and agendas.
A problem with American Educational Institutions today is they no longer maintain their standing in the World. So when we sight NJ students attending Top Colleges, these Colleges are not ranked as high as they used to be. Mediocrity exists at all levels of education. One of the reasons why we have to import Math, Science, Engineering, etc. Physics taught in some Countries at Senior High School Level, can be found here at the College Sophmore Level in some “Most Competitive Colleges”.
[24] BC Bob Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 8:38 am
Clot,
I’m faced with a dilemma. It’s too soon to buy RE but for various other reasons it may be justified.
As we are well aware, incentives are rampant; free car, closing costs, vacations, etc… I am looking fo a house, where the owner is offering a free silo as an incentive. Unfortunately, I can not locate this in Bergen. Please keep your eyes ope, let me know.
I don’t charge commission…you can throw what you want in my hat :)
http://www.realtor.com/search/searchresults.aspx?mlslid=2453873&ml=3&typ=7
Of course, it’s not prestigious Bergen County…you’d be slummin’ it in Tewksbury, but these are tough times…
Has anybody taken a look at the Yonkers neighborhoods along the eastern border of the city?
I’m talking about the ones with a suburban feel (tree-line streets, nice old homes on decent lots) that are located within walking distance of Metro North stations, like Crestwood and Lawrence Park.
Similar house on similar lot in these neighborhoods is 1/2 price and 1/3 taxes compared to fancier Westchester towns.
I know the city has a bad reputation – studied that stuff in college. Yonkers reputation among New Yorkers appears similar to Newark in NJ, even though stats show Yonkers no worse than national average on things like income, educational attainment, and crime.
But seems like Yonkers could be some nice value for $ in a city that is getting better, not worse. School system on the whole isn’t great but could be viable with variety of magnet programs and large middle class living in city.
200#, lisoosh, friends of mine bought their home in deans pond crossing (one newer development in south brunswick) in spring 2005 for $570K. from realtor.com, most houses in this development are listed above this price. by the way, total listing in this town is about 310, which is lowest level in this season since 2005.
Clotpoll–
“Peace, it’s hard to believe you’ve reached the age you have and remain this gullible. This is NJ, pal. 3 letters or 3 e-mails to an elected official here is fodder for a shredder…. People on this blog are exploring the alternatives mentioned here today because gubmint here is 100% unresponsive, unfixable, unworkable and too far gone to salvage.”
And you say this based on what? Your own pontification? Have you ever e-mailed, snail-mailed or confronted an elected official? Or encouraged your neighbors to voice their own concerns?
People on this blog can explore alternatives all they want, but they only have themelves to blame if none of those alternatives progress past the exploration phase. As one of the Adams brothers said, the outright revolution is only one percent of the battle; 99 percent is the grunt work of making sure that the gains of the revolution are carried out.
I’m quite happy that I’ve reached the age I am and still remain gullible enough to believe that I can change the status quo. And so is my 77-year-old mother, who still attends every township meeting and serves on a township board. Perhaps we wouldn’t be branded as gullible if more people got involved.
And please, don’t call me “pal.”
Monroe couple fights for reimbursement after 2005 deluge swamped their backyard
Friday, December 21, 2007
BY CHRISTOPHER DELA CRUZ
Star-Ledger Staff
Don and Tina Albach watched helplessly from the kitchen window of their Monroe home in July 2005 as the steep hill behind their house collapsed during a heavy rainstorm and unleashed a mudslide that flooded their entire backyard, including a recently installed in-ground pool.
…
More than two years later, the yard in their Ridgewood Estates home remains a muddy mess with a gaping hole left in the hill as a reminder of the disaster.
…
“Our life savings are covered in 9 feet of mud,” said Albach.
The Albachs filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the developers who built their home and the township seeking cleanup costs for the mudslide. They contend Renaissance Properties Inc. and Ridgewood Partnership, LLC, failed to properly construct and retain the man-made slope behind their home when developing the land, and Monroe officials failed to provide proper oversight of the new development.
254#, peace, you are right. to change status quo, the first is involvement. if you feel hopeless in your town, move to another town which you like – there are over 600 school districts in nj.
255# sync, i like this quote in your link. that is why i alway check chinese feng shui before buying a house.
“When your house isn’t right, nothing else is right,” said Albach. “It’s just a nightmare, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
229#, why not? they paid $30K for that address.
> but you cannot go around telling people you meet you live in Princeton.
#257
It doesn’t metter, if you spend 20 hours at work, the house doesn’t matter. Rather it should be, if your office desk and your boss is not right, nohing else matters. its just a nightmare.
#219 – leaving queens
are you upset about the beard? or the God part?
i’m surprised someone would send their kids to catholic school, and then be upset that they learn about God. it’s like saying “i want to go swimming, but i don’t want to get wet.”
why don’t you just pull your kid from the school?
pret (248)-
“Of course, the high net worth of NJ families enables that to afford tuition levels that families from other states can’t.”
Wait a minute! We’re all supposed to beat it to the hinterlands, because we can’t pay up for quality housing…but, we can afford huge tuition bills?
Which is it?
peace (254)-
I do work in the community, do participate in gubmint (or at least attempt to) and am a foundation director at Somerset VoTech HS.
Allow me to assure you that if I saw citizens’ efforts- or my own efforts- changing anything, I wouldn’t be posting the stuff I post here.
Nor would 10-12 other posters be chiming in over the course of two days with their own frustrating anecdotes.
I am heading off for the holidays. Just wanted to thank Grim for all his work this year. Merry X-mas all, even Pretard and Re101!!!
bi (257)-
“…that is why i alway check chinese feng shui before buying a house.”
Obviously, you forget to do this when buying stocks.
Sounds like Mr. Mysak has been hanging around..
From Bloomberg:
$500,000 a Year Means You’re Still Only Middle Class
From the WSJ:
How Snafus Can Upend A Mortgage
By AMIR EFRATI
December 22, 2007
Having buyer’s remorse about a mortgage? It can pay to scrutinize the fine print.
Amid the housing-market turmoil, homeowners have been increasingly turning to a little-known process for renegotiating or exiting a loan. Even seemingly minor paperwork slipups can be enough to get a “rescission” (basically, a loan cancellation) based on the Truth in Lending Act, a federal law requiring disclosure of a loan’s key terms.
Under a rescission, while a homeowner still owes the principal, the lender won’t be able to foreclose. Plus, all loan-related fees and interest that were paid are subtracted from the principal, which can mean substantial savings for the borrower.
After a rescission, the borrower must pay off the loan, typically with a new mortgage, or sell the house.
Other times, lenders will modify the terms of a mortgage instead of doing a rescission.
It isn’t for everyone. Borrowers have just three years after the loan is made to make a rescission claim. It is available only to people who refinanced their original mortgage on their primary residences.
People who haven’t refinanced can still use a bevy of state laws to seek damages from lenders, mortgage brokers, real-estate agents or appraisers who committed similar mistakes (or outright fraud) during loan origination.
Rescissions don’t require filing a lawsuit, but hiring a lawyer is recommended. A partial directory of lawyers with experience is at http://www.naca.net.
Consumer lawyers say rescissions are on the rise. Pamela Simmons of Simmons & Purdy says the Soquel, Calif., law firm has done more than 300 this year, up from 200 last year.
Until recently, some judges were loathe to cancel loans where the only violations were paperwork mistakes, says Ira Rheingold of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, a group of consumer attorneys. Now that foreclosures are mounting, “courts have gotten more sensitive” to violations, he says.
Many seemingly small foul-ups can qualify. If the APR, or annual percentage rate, is off by a fraction of a percent between the preliminary and final loan documents, the loan may be rescindable. Same goes if the total in fees is off by more than $100 (or $35, if the borrower is facing foreclosure).
Lawyers say such discrepancies aren’t unusual, especially given how aggressive lenders have been in recent years.
From the WSJ:
Option ARMs: Next Weakling
Fall in Home Prices, Rise in Loan Values Force Foreclosures
By RUTH SIMON
December 22, 2007
The Bush administration is pushing its plan to help subprime borrowers whose loans are due to reset to higher interest rates next year. But left out of the mix are hundreds of thousands of borrowers with good credit who could face sharp increases in their payments.
These homeowners could be the next wave of trouble for the mortgage industry. They took out what are known as option adjustable-rate mortgages, or option ARMs, which give borrowers a choice about how much to pay back each month. If they choose to make only the minimum payment on a regular basis, their loan balance can actually rise.
That is particularly a problem when home prices are falling. Borrowers who get in too far over their heads may not be able to refinance their loans or sell their houses for enough money to pay the loans back. The result, some economists say, may be another spike in foreclosures.
In a report issued last week, Merrill Lynch economists called option ARMs “ticking time bombs” that will start “ticking louder next year.” Merrill estimates that losses on option ARMs could total $100 billion, on top of an estimated $400 billion in losses on subprime and other mortgages.
Option ARMs generally carry a low introductory rate — in some cases as low as 1% — and often have high prepayment penalties that make it expensive to refinance. With lending standards getting tighter, refinancing may be impossible in any case.
Sheila Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who has been outspoken about the need for banks to modify large numbers of loans, says option ARMs don’t lend themselves to the kind of streamlined modification program recently announced for subprime loans — yet many of these borrowers also are in financial distress. “We’re seeing problems now, and there are going to be more problems,” Ms. Bair says.
The attorneys general of several states are also starting to focus on option ARMs. “It is a fundamentally unfair product for most borrowers,” says Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller.
Option ARMs exploded in popularity during the housing boom as borrowers were attracted to the flexible terms and low teaser rates. Some $255 billion of option ARMs were originated in 2006, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, up from $145 billion two years earlier.
237
Then there is West Windsor, who fancies themselves the Brigadoon of Mercer.
I went to the find a spot website and my number one choice was Princeton NJ.
Go Figure.
Give me a break with the NY pontificating. Oh yes, New Yorkers care more than Jerseyites. Whatever.
And again, how the heck do you know what I’ve done or not? FYI, I’ve gone to plenty of Town Council and BOE meetings and I’ve even volunteered for committees and sat on Boards myself. Does that make my opinions more valid? And you know what else, I vote in every single election, take care of my children, pay for them to go to preschool so they go to school knowing their letters and numbers unlike many parents in this state, send them to school rested and fed and pay my ridiculous property taxes on time.
I really don’t buy the line that you should go and run if you don’t like it. How about elected officials do their jobs honestly and properly, even without being watched like hawks? Also, the old “why don’t you run” line doesn’t fly with me. Can GW Bush just say to me if I think he’s doing a stinky job, “Well, why don’t you run then?”
If anyone wants to send their kids to private school, why would you care about that? Hey, I’ve heard elected officials actually say, GOOD, when they hear of increasing amounts of kids going private. They still get the tax money, what do they care?
And that is actually my point, as long as the tax money is locked up and guaranteed, no matter how lazy and mediocre the schools are, there will be no real change.
250 Confused says
“One of the reasons why we have to import Math, Science, Engineering, etc. Physics taught in some Countries at Senior High School Level, can be found here at the College Sophmore Level in some “Most Competitive Colleges”.”
Probably true, but as a scientist (who left), I have to say the pitiful wages have something to do with Americans not wanting to be scientists. You can work your butt off for many years, even going to the graduate level, and at that point you might make what a 22 year old accounting major got his first year out of school. Except that was 10 years ago and now he’s rich you’re still broke.
That’s why we import scores of scientists. They are just workers in all of the government-funded university labs. Then some stay and many go back.
I hope and pray that my children have no interest in science.
270 was to PeaceNow, sorry about that.
Also, PeaceNow, my only point is that we need to infuse some competition into this system and some form of vouchers, or even more and more charter schools, would be a start.
I am for free, universal education, but it doesn’t mean that it has to be delivered the way it is now.
#227
School district population of about 18,000.
Grim – Let us know how the reading goes. As I recall, Greenspan was an early disciple of Rand. I haven’t read his book – too miffed at him to buy it but I might get it out of the library.
Getting ready to tke my kids to the all. Noth that we have to buy anything in particular, but to get a a few last minute gifts.
One interseting anecdote on this years retail season. Target had a lot of their Chistmas decorations and trees on clearence. That usually doesn’t happen until the New Year. This is a good sign, (they need the floor space) or a very bad sign (no impulse shopng).
A co-worker told me yesterday that since the American dollar is so low right now, rich Europeans and other foreigners will be buying up the land so U.S. prices are going to be going UP IN A YEAR! SO NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!
Has anyone else heard this?
re: 276 the Europeans will continue to buy Condos in NYC, and rent them to Americans just like they always have.
Don’t expect to see someone from France or England at a nearby open house in suburbia.
# Confused In NJ Says:
December 21st, 2007 at 10:26 pm
A problem with American Educational Institutions today is they no longer maintain their standing in the World. So when we sight NJ students attending Top Colleges, these Colleges are not ranked as high as they used to be. Mediocrity exists at all levels of education. One of the reasons why we have to import Math, Science, Engineering, etc. Physics taught in some Countries at Senior High School Level, can be found here at the College Sophmore Level in some “Most Competitive Colleges
Not to nay say but according to the Economist mag (9/05), 17 of the top 20 world universities are in the US.
While at first glance, that might seem positive, it’s positive only for sellers.
But not owners, or even buyers.
Why?
Because it means you live in a neighborhood, or building, of vacant units. The fact that the owners might only be in town a few weeks out of the year means the local communities see less spending, and small businesses in the area tend to fold.
I guess the thinking has shifted from RE has bottomed out to it will bottom out next year.
271:
‘I hope and pray that my children have no interest in science.’
So you will not be upset when you discover that their country has become a fundamentalist theocracy.
#252 bi I am sure th listings will increase after the holidays, it is Dec 22 you know.
#282 should be for post #253
broken (281)-
“So you will not be upset when you discover that their country has become a fundamentalist theocracy.”
I thought we already were.
This was on Nightline last night:
Climb Aboard the Bus!
Cesar Dias Takes Interested Home Buyers for a Ride on his “Repo Home Tours”
by JOHN DONVAN
Dec. 21, 2007—
With home foreclosures on the rise, one man is making the best out of a bad situation.
Cesar Dias, who has been in real estate 18 years, is making sure that the foreclosed houses in his hometown of Stockton, Calif. are getting sold, in a quite unusual way.
Dias leads the weekly “Repo Home Tour,” where he fills two large, brightly colored buses with prospective buyers looking for houses with big price reductions. There is almost an art to the way he makes the home-buying experience fun.
[snip]
“We have an abundance of properties,” said Dias. “And banks have to sell, and we have to provide buyers.”
[snip]
According to RealtyTrac, a group that monitors real estate, Stockton had the highest rate of foreclosures of any metropolitan area in the nation between last July and September.
Foreclosures Good News for Some
If there is good news for anyone in that statistic, it would be for people like Elissa and Jon Hernandez, who were on Dias’s tour this week. The Hernandez’s have been renting for years but believe they can finally afford to own a home, thanks to the decreased prices of the foreclosed homes in Stockton.
In fact, one of the houses displayed on the tour was a two-story, 2,600-square-foot house that was purchased for $504,000, but now the bank that owns it is only asking $285,000. Hearing about these price drops is part of the thrill of the tour. Participants have a sense that they might just get lucky and have a home drop right into their laps.
It happened for Daniel and Debbi Noel. They had been living in a one-bedroom rental with air mattresses in the living room since their boys were little kids. Now all four were on the tour, just to celebrate how great shopping foreclosures can be.
It was made even better because Dias threw them a party for their first day in their new house, the first that couple has ever owned. The Noels were thrilled to get the houseapparently a lot of people were looking to buy it.
“We settled on the home for $185,000. It was on the market for $179,000,” said Daniel Noel.
With all of the joy at getting a new home, sometimes it’s easy to forget about the poor previous owner who lost the home. “It hadn’t crossed my mind,” Daniel Noel said of the previous owner’s loss. “I look at it as more or less an opportunity.”
The Hernandez’s see it as an opportunity as well and refuse to apologize for buying a foreclosed home. “We get ourselves into positions and if we can’t get ourselves out, it’s our responsibility to do what we have to do,” said Jon Hernandez.
Daniel Noel’s wife could put herself in the place of the old homeowners. “If it was us and we were in whoever’s shoes who had this house, yeah I feel for them.”
Cesar Dias does feel for the old homeowners as well, but believes it is all part of the business. “In every business there’s casualties and there’s an influx of new buyers.”
A Vicious Cycle?
The homes that families like the Hernandez’s and the Noels are snatching up are empty, because their previous owners took on mortgages that were too big for them, or became too big when their adjustable interest rate ticked upward. The assumption has to be that this crop of buyers will not repeat those mistakes but there are no guarantees that the new owners won’t fall into the same trap.
The Noels themselves took on a hefty mortgage. They paid with no money down and therefore borrowed the entire value of the house at 7 percent interest. While it’s a lot, Daniel Noel believes they can handle it.
“It’s a 30-year fixed, $1,600 a month, which is good at 100 percent financing,” Daniel Noel said of the home.
The Hernandez’s have not committed yet to buying, but it seems like they still have a few things to learn about mortgages. When asked if they were planning to get an adjustable or fixed mortgage, Jon Hernandez admitted that “I personally don’t know the difference.”
Even if you can handle and understand the mortgage, getting a foreclosed house is not necessarily getting a bargain. It doesn’t really matter what the last guy paid for it. What matters is what the next guy will pay — and no one really knows if prices are done dropping yet.
Buying now takes an optimist. People like John Escove, who was along on the ride, looking for investment properties.
“When you see a house like the one we saw with the swimming pool for $225,000, that’s going to sell right away,” said Escove. “And they’ll have multiple offers on it. That’s just a bargain.”
And while the foreclosure tourists are certainly happy to be shopping for a bargain, one wonders what the neighbors think of the colorful road show home-buying circus. It doesn’t bother Stockton resident Don Bailey.
“I don’t care who sells it, you know, just sell it,” said Bailey.
It’s an answer that could have been scripted by Cesar Dias. No one likes an empty house. But in Stockton there are lots of them, and they’re on the tour.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/RealtyCheck/story?id=4041552&page=1
scribe,
I can just picture; the NJVF tour bus.
A co-worker told me yesterday that since the American dollar is so low right now, rich Europeans and other foreigners will be buying up the land so U.S. prices are going to be going UP IN A YEAR! SO NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!
Has anyone else heard this?
I heard there was supposed to be a big bird-flu pandemic in the US a year ago.
Bost,
Check out the film clip for the psychedelic bus.
OK, which one of you guys is going to drive “the magic bus”?
I am excited to read the talk about vulture investments targeting the NJ residential market.
However, there is already a NJ firm doing this – Palisades Financial. They target smaller deals, including buying foreclosed stuff from banks and doing loan-to-own investments.
#265 – i have been saying something similar to this for a long time but a cool mil. vs. 500k. look at the # of financial planners nationwide that don’t take clients unless they have a mil to invest.
Grim 265,
500k a year sounds great but better measure of wealth is net worth. 500k along with 1m+ net worth = rich if your under 35.
500k in a year but little net worth? Maybe that equals middle class to some people but to me that’s just stupid.
#265,
It costs more to live in places such as New York, Boston and San Francisco. It takes more money there to put together what one would consider a comfortably middle-class life than it does in, say, Maine or Kansas.
No sh*t, Mr. Mysak. We live in the most corrupt state in the Nation on top of the most expensive so, again, why does anyone think the other shoe is going to drop here in New Jerkme? Wow, those house prices are really dropping!! Sure, and the property taxes are going through the roof off-setting any “deal” you think you got. Take it from a home owner.
I cringe now anytime I open up a letter from the town. Taxes go up on an annual basis and not just by a little, but in huge chunks. Face it, we’re scr*wed and there’s really nothing we can do about it.
‘”fundamentalist theocracy.”
I thought we already were.’
Only when a Dawkins is jailed during the Huckabee term, will we have entered Paradiso Perduto.
293
Everything’s ‘broken Says:
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:37 pm
‘”fundamentalist theocracy.”
I thought we already were.’
Only when a Dawkins is jailed during the Huckabee term, will we have entered Paradiso Perduto.
We are in both a Corporate Fundamentalist Theocracy and a Political Fundamentalist Theocracy. We destroyed the Religious Fundamentalist Theocracy, which was the best of the three.
Warm and inviting with story book charm (lol! geezus, do these realtors write this stuff with a straight face?) and $250,000 over-priced:
http://www.realtor.com/realestate/demarest-nj-07627-1091918185/
Can we use this Flower Kings Magic Bus to do a tour to support our NJ Vulture Fund?
http://tinyurl.com/yo6nhm
Unfortunately, as BCBob mentioned previously, the monument in the background no longer accepts US dollars.
“I am skeptical of the degree to which the Finnish system would be successful in the U.S. in a wholesale manner though given that the U.S. and Finland are very different countries.”
I got educated in Finland so I know a thing or two about that system. Some of the major differences that affect the results:
– homogeneous population in Finland (no race problems or AlSharpton wannebees causing problems or riots)
– common language. Here, it is often the case that vast majority of students are illegal immigrants speaking Spanish. The results cannot be very good in that kind of environment
– long maternity leaves (~3 years or so, partly of fully paid) helping kids when they are young
– education and (healthy) school lunch are fully paid by the taxpayers
– teachers have Masters degree and it is difficult to get accepted to the teaching programs (I think the quality of teachers is much better in Finland). The salary is very good, as well.
– schools are non-political (as opposed to progressive indoctrination camps here) and curriculum is real-world based
Class size is similar to US. My class was about 30 (1st grade), and 20 (9th grade).
There is no school choice (except you can apply to some some music /math/sports oriented schools) but generally, all schools are practically similar.
#285,
are there repo tours in nj? then why are you posting it here?
From the Star Ledger:
Morganville man is accused in $2.7M mortgage loan fraud
State authorities said yesterday they rounded up six people and seized bank accounts, expensive cars, boats and property after pulling the plug on a complex mortgage loan scam that raked in $2.7 million.
The key player in the case, Spiro Pollatos, 47, of Morganville, identified himself as a mortgage loan broker to his victims, authorities said, but was really an unlicensed operator who was arrested in 2001 for committing a similar scam and sentenced to probation.
This time, Pollatos is accused of victimizing some 20 elderly people with the help of his live-in girlfriend Crystal Velitschkow, 49, and others in the case.
“He refinanced people’s homes to the extent they (the owners) could no longer afford them. He did that by arranging loans against the property far in excess of the property’s worth,” said Lee Moore, a spokesman for the state Department of Law and Public Safety.
The others arrested were Tommy Giannisis, 41, of Marlboro, owner of the Middletown Diner; George Papas, 63, of Ridgewood, a host at the diner; Thomas Prussack, 38, of Keansburg; and Marco Sigona, 32, of Hackensack.
…
Pollatos “conspired to obtain excessive mortgage loan commissions and fees for home equity loans,” according to an affidavit filed in the case. In one case, Pollatos secured loans totaling $418,500 issued on a Keansburg property valued at only $215,000. The loans are now in default with the banks beginning foreclosure proceedings.
Need help to find recent condo sale prices in Whippany NJ. Want to negotiate with the seller based on recent sale prices.
Really appreciate it.
Thanks
Vince #300
Here is a website which shows sales for Eden Lane, Oak Ridge and Hanover Hills condos. There’s no dates given, however.
http://www.edenlanecondo.com/other_communities.html
Heavens to Murgatroid!
Yankee Gal # 301
Thank you very much. I took a look at the site which was helpful. Something like county records is what I was looking for.
Can anyone with MLS access relay the address for MLS 2468701, a 1-BR 1.5 BA condo in Rahway? Thanks!
‘We are in both a Corporate Fundamentalist Theocracy and a Political Fundamentalist Theocracy. We destroyed the Religious Fundamentalist Theocracy, which was the best of the three.’
One could ask whether such a comment might be clarified, but the answer is virtually certain to be unsatisfying.
Vince 300
I believe that’s spelled w-i-p-p-e-r-n-e-y
Interesting story for everyone….
I got a phone call today from a guy who was advertising a house for rent in morris county. I had called the guy at the end of october about a house he had for rent ( i moved to a new rental in the beginning of Nov). The house he had for rent was way under market rental rates and i wanted to jump on it. He never returned my call and a few days later i saw the house relisted for $500 more per month. The house apparently never rented and finally disappeared off of the market.
SO the guy calls me today and asks if i still want to rent the place. Oh and he has another similar place that i could look at. I politely declined as i have a place already.
I am trying to figure out if this guy is a flipper who is in deep over his head or someone who jumped into the housing market and bought homes planning on renting them out but didn’t know what he was doing.
Merry Xmas All!!!!
grim 302 Remember that line well.Mental block who always said that.
# 309
I believe it was “Snagglepuss.”
As in, “Exit stage left.”
jmac,
1470 Campbell
Interesting story for everyone….
I got a phone call today from a guy who was advertising a house for rent in morris county. I had called the guy at the end of october about a house he had for rent ( i moved to a new rental in the beginning of Nov). The house he had for rent was way under market rental rates and i wanted to jump on it. He never returned my call and a few days later i saw the house relisted for $500 more per month. The house apparently never rented and finally disappeared off of the market.
SO the guy calls me today and asks if i still want to rent the place. Oh and he has another similar place that i could look at. I politely declined as i have a place already.
I am trying to figure out if this guy is a flipper who is in deep over his head or someone who jumped into the housing market and bought homes planning on renting them out but didn’t know what he was doing.
If it’s in Morris county, use the Morris County Tax Board website to look at the clerk records for the owner. You can see his oustanding mortgages if he has any on the property, along with deeds.
http://mcweb1.co.morris.nj.us/TaxBoard/SearchTR.jsp
Shore thats it!Now I remember
Now, if I could just remember other more important things…
pre#252
I live near crestwood, its great tree-lined affordable neighborhood, quick commute into GCT and the homes have alot of architectural character. Like you said, you get alot more for your money than in my town, Bronxville. We looked at crestwood but decided against it bc of Yonkers school which have a terrible rep.