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From the WSJ:
Brave New Economy
By DAVID HALE
February 22, 2008; Page A14
There is a delicious irony in the fact that U.S. banks have sought equity capital from the sovereign wealth funds of Asian and Middle Eastern countries to repair the balance-sheet damage inflicted by subprime mortgage securities. These same countries helped finance America’s housing bubble and subprime debacle.
Stung by the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago, central banks in developing countries began defensive actions to accumulate foreign-exchange reserves. Economies blessed with significant natural resources accumulated yet more dollars. The problem is their overflowing coffers contributed to a major misallocation of capital in recent years that is likely to continue.
…
As a result of their large current account surpluses, the developing countries also account for 75% of the world’s $6 trillion of foreign exchange reserves. They also have sovereign wealth funds with assets of $2.5 trillion. And there has been a huge expansion of developing-country stock markets during the past decade. Their market capitalization now exceeds $17.8 trillion, compared to $2.2 trillion in 2000. The capitalization of the U.S. stock market is $17.5 trillion.
In the decade before 2005, American consumers were the growth engine for the world economy, accounting for more than half of global consumer spending. The balance of power is now shifting.
In 2000, the consumer spending of the world’s 17 largest emerging-market countries was equal to 48% of U.S. consumer spending; last year it was equal to 65%. At current growth rates, the developing countries could exceed U.S. consumer spending by 2015.
This consumption boom is changing global trade patterns. America’s share of global imports has fallen to 14% last year from over 20% in 2000. The import share of the developing countries has grown to 40.6% last year from 33% in 2000.
From the WSJ:
U.S. Fixed-Rate Mortgages Rise
February 22, 2008; Page C2
U.S. fixed-rate mortgages inched higher in the latest week, according to Freddie Mac’s survey released yesterday.
The national average interest rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 6.04% in the week ended yesterday, up from 5.72% a week ago but lower than the year-earlier 6.22%.
The 15-year fixed-rate loan averaged 5.64%, up from 5.25% a week ago but down from 5.97% a year ago.
The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 5.37%, compared with 5.19% a week ago and 5.96% a year ago.
“After trending up in the past two weeks, long-term fixed mortgage rates are back up to nearly where they were at the beginning of the year. In contrast, average rates on adjustable-rate mortgages are about 0.5 percentage points below levels of the first week of this year,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “As the spread between long-term fixed rates and adjustable rates widens, it’s possible we could see a slight increase in the popularity of adjustable-rate mortgages.”
From Bloomberg:
Banks Lose to Deadbeat Homeowners as Loans Sold in Bonds Vanish
Joe Lents hasn’t made a payment on his $1.5 million mortgage since 2002.
That’s when Washington Mutual Inc. first tried to foreclose on his home in Boca Raton, Florida. The Seattle-based lender failed to prove that it owned Lents’s mortgage note and dropped attempts to take his house. Subsequent efforts to foreclose have stalled because no one has produced the paperwork.
“If you’re going to take my house away from me, you better own the note,” said Lents, 63, the former chief executive officer of a now-defunct voice recognition software company.
Judges in at least five states have stopped foreclosure proceedings because the banks that pool mortgages into securities and the companies that collect monthly payments haven’t been able to prove they own the mortgages. The confusion is another headache for U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as he revises rules for packaging mortgages into securities.
“I think it’s going to become pretty hairy,” said Josh Rosner, managing director at the New York-based investment research firm Graham Fisher & Co. “Regulators appear to have ignored this, given the size and scope of the problem.”
More than $2.1 trillion, or 19 percent, of outstanding mortgages have been bundled into securities by private banks, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a Bethesda, Maryland-based industry newsletter. Those loans may be sold several times before they land in a security. Mortgage servicers, who collect monthly payments and distribute them to securities investors, can buy and sell the home loans many times.
…
Each time the mortgages change hands, the sellers are required to sign over the mortgage notes to the buyers. In the rush to originate more loans during the U.S. mortgage boom, from 2003 to 2006, that assignment of ownership wasn’t always properly completed, said Alan White, assistant professor at Valparaiso University School of Law in Valparaiso, Indiana.
“Loans were mass produced and short cuts were taken,” White said. “A lot of the paperwork is done in the name of the original lender and a lot of the original lenders aren’t around anymore.”
More than 100 mortgage companies stopped making loans, closed or were sold last year, according to Bloomberg data.
Some Krugman from the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/opinion/22krugman.html?hp
Will the next president be the second coming of Jimmy Carter? Given Thursday’s economic headlines, full of dire warnings about the return of 1970s-style stagflation, you might think so.
From the Washington Post:
Lenders Fighting Mortgage Rewrite
The nation’s largest lending institutions are lobbying hard to block a proposal in Congress that would give bankruptcy judges greater latitude to rewrite mortgages held by financially strapped homeowners.
The proposal, which could come to a vote in the Senate as early as next week, is being pushed by Democratic congressional leaders and a large coalition of groups that includes labor unions, consumer advocates, civil rights organizations and AARP, the powerful senior citizens’ lobby.
The legislation would allow bankruptcy judges for the first time to alter the terms of mortgages for primary residences. Under the proposal, borrowers could declare bankruptcy, and a judge would be able to reduce the amount they owe as part of resolving their debts.
…
But the banks argue that any help the proposal might provide to troubled homeowners in the short run would be offset by the higher costs that borrowers would have to pay to get mortgages in the future. The reason, banks say, is that they would pass along the added risk to borrowers in the form of higher interest rates, larger down payments or increased closing costs.
If banks were unable to pass on the entire cost, they could be forced to trim their profits.
“This provision is incredibly counterproductive,” said Edward L. Yingling, president of the America Bankers Association. “We will lobby very, very strongly against it.”
From the Long Island Business News:
Foreclosures sink RE prices
Blame the banks.
With foreclosures surging, banks are selling off their inventory at lower-than-market prices, causing regional home values to slide.
Long Island foreclosures rose 48 percent in 2007 to 9,700, according to RealtyTrac.com. At the same time, the median closing price in Nassau County fell 2 percent in January to $440,000. The median closing price in Suffolk tumbled 6 percent to $373,500, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island.
“The prices can only go in that direction,” said Alan Rosenbaum, founding principal of Guardhill Financial, a New York-based mortgage brokerage. “I do live on Long Island and I do see what’s happening.”
From the Record:
Housing slump hurts furniture stores
A slumping housing market put Domain Inc. out of the furniture business. Now it has to fight for customers in another crowded area: the going-out-of-business field.
The same housing slowdown that claimed Domain has made life tougher for companies such as Hudson Capital Partners LLC, which is handling the liquidation of the seven Domain stores in New Jersey.
“You are seeing a huge amount of furniture liquidations,” said Jim Schaye, president and chief executive officer of Hudson Capital. Liquidators, Schaye said, now have to be cautious in bidding on liquidation opportunities because of the multitude of furniture clearance sales. “You have to be very careful in evaluating what the recoveries are going to be, because they’re going to be different than they were six months ago,” he said.
Domain, the latest furniture retailer to fall victim to the housing slump, will be holding a going-out-of-business sale at its Paramus showroom, and six other New Jersey locations for the next six to eight weeks.
The Domain bankruptcy and liquidation follows the bankruptcy filings and liquidations of The Bombay Co., Levitz and Sofa Express. Another large chain, Wickes Furniture, with 43 stores in the Midwest and West, filed for bankruptcy this month.
Lawsuit settled; 180 apartments will be built
FREEHOLD — A state Superior Court judge on Wednesday approved the settlement of an affordable housing lawsuit that will allow the development of a 180-unit apartment complex in West Long Branch, with 15 percent of the units to be set aside for low- and moderate-income tenants.
The lawsuit was filed in 2006 by West Long Branch Venture Partnership LLC, which maintains that the borough did not create any realistic opportunity to develop low- and moderate-income housing.
AvalonBayCommunities Inc. is seeking Planning Board approval to construct the complex on the 10-acre site on Monmouth Road previously occupied by Frank’s Nursery.
The developer will set aside 27 units for low- and moderate-income households, according to Elizabeth C. McKenzie, the court-appointed special master who helped broker the settlement.
From Bloomberg:
U.S. Economy: Philadelphia Factory Index Declines
The U.S. moved closer to a recession as manufacturing in the Philadelphia area shrank the most in seven years, while a measure of the economy’s future performance declined for a fourth month.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index fell more than forecast this month to minus 24, showing the margin by which more firms reported a decrease in activity instead of an increase. That was the lowest figure since February 2001, weeks before the last downturn began. The Conference Board’s index of leading indicators dropped 0.1 percent in January, matching December’s decline.
…
“The economy is shrinking and business sentiment is as bad as it can be,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “We’re very close to a recession.”
A two-year housing slump that has caused the first nationwide decline in prices since the Great Depression, coupled with higher borrowing costs for companies and households, has pushed the economy to the brink of a recession. The Fed, after cutting rates in January at the fastest pace since 1990, has said it is ready to move in a “timely” manner to help growth.
…
The Philadelphia Fed report provides one of the month’s earliest clues to the state of manufacturing nationwide. Similar data from the New York Fed released last week showed manufacturing contracted in the New York region for the first time in almost three years.
Municipalities worried by changes to affordable-housing rules
To accommodate the increasing numbers, the state Council on Affordable Housing increased the number of affordable-housing units needed statewide to 115,000 units, up from 52,000 in the previous rulings. Towns have until 2018 to fulfill these new affordable-housing obligations.
South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese said he was concerned that more affordable-housing units would mean more children attending the schools, causing a rise in taxes and increased traffic.
“It will have a devastating effect on the township,” he said.
His concern was shared by officials in other municipalities.
New ratios are set at one affordable-housing unit for every five residential units created. Originally, the numbers were one unit per nine housing units.
“If municipalities can prove to us that they don’t have enough vacant land, we are willing to work with them,” COAH’s Voorhoeve said.
Monroe municipal-housing liaison John Riggs said COAH wants an urbanization of the entire state, which he said will not solve the problem of low-income families.
“In Mt. Laurel township, we had 140 affordable-housing units, and more than 2,500 people showed up to buy it. That’s the kind of demand that’s out there,” Gordon said.
Gordon said that towns want as much tax revenue as possible and as few kids as possible.
“The reality is that this is becoming an anti-kid state,” he said.
He argued that towns allow a huge amount of development that affects traffic and taxes, but they choose to pin it on affordable housing, which is just a small contributor.
The proposed third-round obligations are currently going through a public comment process. Written comments can be submitted to COAHmail@dca.state.nj.us until March 22.
Resident: Young adults can’t settle in Mid’twn
“Younger people can’t afford tomove into houses in the town where they grow up,” Morehead said. “There is nowhere to move to in Middletown to start our own families without the affordable housing.”
Young adults are being shut out of living in the town they grew up in because Middletown sends affordable housing funds out of town, a resident told the Township Committee last week.
Middletown currently has RCAs with Long Branch, Red Bank andAsbury Park.
Middletown has used RCAs more than any municipality, according to Scharfenberger, sending $12.1 million to other municipalities to handle 649 of its affordable housing credits that would otherwise have been built in the township.
The township’s liberal use of RCAs has been criticized by affordable housing advocates, while Scharfenberger had defended it as a necessity.
“We are paying $12.1 million to other municipalities for this,” Morehead said. “Our parents did not pay taxes for the development of other towns.”
Morehead said that there are many homes for sale inMiddletown, and the township should convert those homes to affordable housing.
Morehead said that the Monmouth County BayshoreYoungDemocrats will continue to advocate for affordable housing and will circulate a petition at Brookdale Community College and throughout Middletown so that young adults are informed about the issue.
NJ is becoming an anti-kid state because it can. And it’s the right thing to do for the state.
People with kids can easily move to NY, PA or DE. Who cares if Mt. Laurel can’t educate enough kids when they can just go live in Bucks and get a good old-fashioned, open-minded Quaker education?
Like we said a while ago, the deer should be moved over, too. In trucks, in the middle of the night, so NJ doesn’t have to pay any wildlife load charges.
When all the kids and all the deer are over in PA, then we can think about moving over some of the other nasty things in life. Eventually, Princeton can be moved over. There’s a nice plot right above Fort Washington.
On an ongoing basis, if we’re diligent, this process will fix the tax problems.
Schools closed today. Stay indoors and enjoy the weather.
That stinks that Domain is going out of business. They had that $15,000 oven I wanted.
grim Krugman link does not work. An hour and a half Garfield to Parsippany this morning stay home!!!
From the NY Times:
Rescues for Homeowners in Debt Weighed
Prodded in part by some of the nation’s biggest banks, the Bush administration and Congress are considering costly new proposals for the government to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners whose mortgages are higher than the value of their houses.
Not since the Depression has a larger share of Americans owed more on their homes than they are worth. With the collapse of the housing boom, nearly 8.8 million homeowners, or 10.3 percent of the total, are underwater. That is more than double the percentage just a year ago, according to a new estimate of the damage by Moody’s Economy.com.
Administration officials say they still oppose any taxpayer bailout for either people who borrowed more than they could afford or banks that made foolish loans during the height of the speculative bubble in housing.
But with the current efforts to arrest the housing collapse so far bearing little fruit, Washington is being forced to explore new ideas, among them the idea of a federal mortgage guarantee for troubled borrowers.
And policy makers are listening to proposals from industry and community groups to use government funds to purchase and refinance billions of dollars in mortgages now in danger of default.
From GlobeSt:
Panel: Market’s Bottom Still Out of Focus
NEW YORK CITY-Everything in life has cycles, and the real estate industry is no different. But just how long it will last and when the cycle will reach is breaking point is anyone’s guess, according to a panel at the Distressed Real Estate Investing Summit held here yesterday and today.
“We are all old enough to have been through several cycles,” explained Steven Wolgin, managing director of US Real Estate Advisors Inc. “And I don’t necessarily believe this cycle will be short,” adding that the conditions are different market to market.
Even though the cycle has to bottom out eventually, that point could be far off, the panelists agree. “I don’t think we are anywhere near the bottom,” said Robert Sheridan, principal of Robert Sheridan & Partners, which deals exclusively in the for-sale and multifamily residential market. “Today is basically a non-market because there is a great gap between the bid and the ask.” There will have to be a significant price correction for the market to equal out, he added. “This is the worst I ever lived through and the worst is yet to come.”
One element of this cycle is that there are still issues that have not surfaced yet, explained Keith Rosenthal, co-founder and president of Phoenix Realty Group. “I don’t know what it is going to be but there other shoe has yet to drop.”
No Friday is complete without a generous helping of vigilante justice..
Police: Bank robber blamed bank for taking his home
Authorities are investigating a bank robbery in which the gunman apparently blamed the bank for foreclosing on his home.
According Athens-Clarke County police Captain Clarence Holeman, the man, who was wearing a ski mask, entered the bank around 11:45 a.m. Thursday, pointed a gun at a teller and said “You took my house, now I’m going to take your money.”
The man then fled the scene after taking money.
Holeman says the FBI plans to review bank foreclosure records to try to find the robber.
He also says bank officers told investigators they haven’t had problems with customers upset over house foreclosures.
BC Bob: here ya’ go goldbug….
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=am.TmEULuVpo&refer=us
Question for investors….I’m thinking of buying a two family house. I’m running through the numbers, looking at rent, expenses, tax deductions for interest, expenses, depreciation, etc. So far, the houses I’ve looked at seem so-so as investments, meaning that they don’t look much more profitable than putting my money long-term into stocks/bonds.
My question is, for the investment properties that you buy, do you hold off on buying until the numbers show that the property is clearly better than you other investment options? What level of profitability do you wait for before buying?
People with kids can easily move to NY, PA or DE.
———————————–
Why should I be forced out of my state. I have been here since I was 8. So since I am 28 married and have twin boys I should leave NJ? I have said it before and I will say it again. There needs to be a balance in this state. I don’t expect to move to the town I grew up in, nor would I want to. But there needs to be areas for middle class and middle class in people who make between 55-70k. I know people on here have other ideas about it, but 70% of NJ residents have household incomes of under 100k.
I find it funny that people keep saying well middle income in blah blah town is 150k. Well thats great and dandy, I dont care about some Yuppie town. I am reffering to NJ all of it.
Yes maybe some families will not be able to move to yuppie towns like Milburn or Mendham
but most people do not want to.
I want to move to a nice middle class suburb. Which they do have them, prices just need to fall more.
Maybe the people who commute 2 hours into the city should move to the city or agleast back to Burgerking county and out of middle class Subuurbia
People really need to stop
Chi [19],
They’re lucky that it’s not made out of platinum.
Ryan Howard can certainly afford to buy a few?
Grim
Have you looked into the “false advertising” aspect of relisting?
Using Jim’s analogy of “socks from Target” posted yesterday….Target “moves” old merchandise by cutting the price to get it “off of their shelves.” If Target took those old socks and added a “Just Arrived” sign – that would be false advertising.
The NAR has a Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice in place. Currently, relisting not being illegal, trumps the Code. It just appears to me as though they are shooting themselves in the foot. What happened to 1.3 “Realtors in attempting to secure a listing shall not deliberately mislead the owner as to market value.” or “requires that you present a true picture of the property and yourself at all times.” Or section 1-12 “The duty extends to all parties involved (buyers.)” It is just a bunch of words if Realtors are allowed to relist and put up a sign that says “Just Arrived.” That smacks of false advertising.
Cindy,
It’s a wasted argument. While realtors should disclose many things, they often do not. The sleazy ones will twist information in their favor and then say there’s nothing wrong with what they did. Because of this, the buyer has to really do their homework to ensure they are getting all possible information. I remember asking a realtor for comps. He gave me current (at the time) asking prices. When I told him I meant sold comps he looked at me with surprise. I mean I know we’re first time buyers and we look young but I didn’t realize he thought we were that stupid. It took that incident for me to realize that no one was going to look out for us better then we could for ourselves. The buyer must beware. It’s just so sad that these kinds of things lead to such little trust of agents and that the bad ones give them all such a bad reputation.
16 grim
Everyone should read that article. All of the people in that story are world class a-holes who should have bamboo shoots stuck in their eyeballs. Ms. Tuttle most of all.
G+dd@amn but that article put me in a foul mood.
My question is, for the investment properties that you buy, do you hold off on buying until the numbers show that the property is clearly better than you other investment options? What level of profitability do you wait for before buying?
My rule of thumb is that you need a minimum 5-6 family if it’s gonna be considered an investment property only. You can’t assume anything more than 80% capacity even if it’s fully rented. You must aloow for deadbeats. You should at least beak even in the first couple of years. Then rents will increase, maintance will deacrease as renovations become completed, and if you are a salary employee you will be able to claim big losses and save a chunk on taxes.
RE investing was never meant to be for flipping. In order to make serious money you will own the property for 10+ years.
Two family could get you in trouble as if only one guy doesn’t pay rent for 6+ MONTHS THEN YOU WILL BE COMING OUT THE POCKETS SUPPORTING YOUR TENNANT.
With foreclosures surging, banks are selling off their inventory at lower-than-market prices, causing regional home values to slide.
It is more likely that these places are selling for what the market will bear and your perception of fair market value is simply too high. For the most part, we don’t truly have price discovery because sellers refuse to offer their homes at a prices that will clear the market. Well, here it is.
Homer: But there needs to be areas for middle class and middle class in people who make between 55-70k. I know people on here have other ideas about it, but 70% of NJ residents have household incomes of under 100k.
The main reason: There is no organized Lobbying for Middle Class NJ family, or least I have not heard of them.
So much for Bermuda this weekend.. Bollocks.
Hi,
I am looking to buy a home in Basking Ridge, NJ within few months. The prices seem to be unreasonably. Can anyone tell me the base for Low Ball bidding on a home in Basking Ridge? Is it based on the 2007 Assessed value or the List price?.
Thanks.
Anon (20)-
Positive cash flow. Positive cash flow. Tattoo this to the inside of your eyelids. Of course, your ROI equaling or bettering alternative investments doesn’t hurt, either. Bond investors don’t have to go bang on anyone’s door to collect payments that are late. Finally, don’t forget to account for a reasonable vacancy factor when you work your numbers. You won’t have 100% occupancy of all your units, all the time…but it seems every landlord thinks his property will be the exception.
The serious investors I know right now are keeping their powder dry. If, however, you intend to owner-occupy, there may be a couple of deals out there for you now.
patient [25],
Some things old become new again.
It’s back to the 1930’s, Home Owners’ Loan Corp.
Paulson has figured out a way to get out of this mortgage mess. He’s begging the KGB to buy our Freddi and Fanni. We are selling our country to the Saudi’s, Chinese, Japanese, and now Russians. No worries though our children will live in freedom right?
For those of you that still hold to the idea that we are a great county to invest in and everyone want’s to invest in America blah blah blah,then,
Why are only foreign gov’t buying our country and not the private wealth funds from around the world?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aSYm9ue3ZkM0&refer=europe
Homer (21)-
Please leave. Now.
Or figure out how to make more money.
Signed,
Gov. Corzine
Grim, et al-
Any more news on the Gold Coast get together?
JM
patient [25],
“In June 1933, the Home Owners’ Loan Act, following the president’s lead, sailed through Congress. The law authorized $200 million to set up the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) with authority to issue $2 billion in tax-exempt bonds. The money raised would enable the HOLC to rescue imperiled mortgages by offering financing up to 80 percent of assessed value, to a maximum of $14,000. There followed a rush to file applications in 1934 by those holding 40 percent of all mortgaged properties, of which half with lowest risk were accepted. As intended, the main beneficiaries were homeowners at the lower end of the middle class with incomes in the $50 to $150 monthly range, persons who in the private market would have lost their homes.”
“The HOLC permanently changed the prevailing mortgage system. It offered money at 5 percent, provided insurance for its loans through the Federal Housing Authority and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, and allowed up to twenty-five years for repayment. To reach far-flung clients the HOLC dispersed into regional centers. Every loan situation was handled individually, including personal visits to prevent default. Given wide discretion to act, agents improved the chances clients would meet their obligations by helping them find work, collect insurance claims and pensions, attract tenants for rental space, qualify for public assistance, and even locate foster children to take in for a fee. The success of this sympathetic outreach was best demonstrated by the fact that the foreclosure rate for HOLC’s risky mortgages was no greater than that for much safer mortgages accepted by banks and insurance companies.”
http://www.answers.com/topic/home-owners-loan-corporation?cat=biz-fin
make money: Well Paulson is bring us into 21st or 22nd century, just little faster.
If a Middle Eastern investor buys the GM building, does that mean commercial has finally “jumped the shark” (think Japan and the Rockefeller Center)?
#34 clot,
You’re mean.
Homer,
If you work for a public sector or have a recession proof job you will be fine. Many of these positions will disapear quickly.
From the NY times article:
“All I’m asking is for enough so that I come out even.”
Sorry….. wrong answer. What you should’ve said is, “I should’ve waited and mapped out a better plan instead of trying to portray a false, haughty image.”
24
I had a realtor somehow lose the lowest sold comp on the block this past fall. It was in the public database already, and I asked about it, and she said it wasn’t in MLS.
Then we were getting ready to make an offer for a house on this street, and she did one of those canned reports and what do you think showed up? The missing low comp! She didn’t even know it snuck itself in there. She almost fell off her seat.
Good morning everyone,
I was hoping someone could give me a little history on this listing in Monmouth Beach:
MLS ID# 20806272
I seem to remember it listed at a much higher pricepoint about six months ago. At this price it doesn’t seem like all that bad a buy……
Thanks.
#11 SG Lower housing prices is/will take care of that problem. Nobody can be closed out forever.
30 KS
There really aren’t any rules for “lowballing.”
We just bought and sold at 2004 comps. So, one place to start is to try to figure out what the house sold (or one like it) sold for in 2004. List prices are really all over the board right now, some are totally crazy, some aren’t. So to say, always bid 20% less isn’t that useful.
One place to dig is the property sales database, one site is http://www.app.com under Data Universe.
(P.S., I’m not saying that a 2004 price is the fair price, that’s just where we ended up. Things may be lower right now, you may be willing to pay more or less.)
HTH
make (39)-
That’s not my position. It IS Gov. Corzine’s.
He isn’t going to stop until NJ is a colony of the rich, serviced by a captive population of the urban poor.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/21/business/gold.php
Ladies,
This Gold and precious medals will turn into a bubble and it will eventually (5yrs) end in a mania. buy buy buy
Clotpoll Says:
Positive cash flow. Positive cash flow.
How many years has it been since you saw that on any property?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23292153
3b: Not really. Even the most pessimistic estimates are for 25% to 30% real estate price downturn. The prices are 7 to 10 times the Median Income in NNJ and CNJ.
For e.g. in Middlesex county (very middle class towns), Median Household income is $62,354 and Median Home price is about $400,000. This is 7 times median income. Even 30% drop would put home price at $380,000 making the ratio equal to 6 times the earning.
Post 49: Sorry wrong calculation. 30% downturn would make median price $280,000, making it about 5 times median income.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102687.html
When these Democrats pass this I ask you who is going to be willing to lend money for a 30yr mortgage in single digits APR?
Hey, let me borrow 300K and if I can’t afford to pay you back then the judge will say it’s ok for me to pay you back 150K.
This will crush housing not save it.
How many years has it been since you saw that on any property?
I’ll tell you with 20%DP it’s been around 6yrs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/business/22norris.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
good read. it shows the lack of leadership these markets crave for.
make [46],
SHHHHH!!
#16
again, I still have not seen a single article on the mortgage crisis where I felt sorry for the debtor.
this lady Tuttle doesn’t want to cough up $6,000 from her retirement? Tough sh*t! The arrogance of these people that everyone else but them should pay for their mistakes is amazing.
45 min Leonia to PABT this a.m.–like any other day I don’t cycle across the River Hudson.
Sic semper MASS transit, suckers!
make money Says:
I’ll tell you with 20%DP it’s been around 6yrs.
Maybe on multi-family, but certainly not single families in something other than ghetto.
this lady Tuttle doesn’t want to cough up $6,000 from her retirement? Tough sh*t! The arrogance of these people that everyone else but them should pay for their mistakes is amazing.
55 Skeptic
I believe this is the general feeling in all of our American society today. For example, in a restaurant, the dishwasher had a death in the family and left in the middle of service. One of the owners (who never worked in a restaurant until she opened one) says she just got a manicure so she won’t do the dishes. Are you kidding? When your livelihood, roof over your head, food in the kids’ mouths, etc. is in jeopardy, it’s time to get over yourself.
#49 SH Then the prices will drop more, otherwise there will simply be no demand for those houses, as people simply will nto be able to afford them.
Look at what all the creative financing has done so far to houisng.
Prices shot up in the late 80’s, and they came back down again, making them affordable again for buyers.
BC #54
Sorry. Hurry up and built your positions.
If I told all of you that I opened up my emails last night to look at the sh*t listings and still saw peak prices, I know what all of you are going to tell me. So, I’m not going to tell you that I opened up my emails last night and still saw peak prices.
RE 33:
I saw that on Fast Money last night. This country is so going down the sh*tter.
Isn’t it amazing you have taxes go through the roof at the expense of a housing boom. Example I know people in NJ who in a 5-7 year span went from property taxes of $6,000 to over $10,000 in that time period.
The first words out of a Mayor and Governor is how affordable housing requires education money and they are going to have to raise taxes? Do they assume everyone has kids today? I guess there are no people without kids in NJ? Why is the answer to everything raise taxes in NJ?
SC actually reduced peoples taxes which amazes me because I have never heard of this happening before. The income from the lottery allowed SC to reduce people property taxes. I know a guy who has a 3,000 sq ft home who’s taxes went from $1200 a year to around $600. I would guess Hillbilly’s knows math much better than NJ’s vastly superior educated does.
Did anyone track the % increase of taxes that were increased in the last say 10 years. How does that fall in line with the average persons cost of living increases they received.
Where did all those tax increases monies go for the past 7 years?
Crooks. NJ is bankrupting itself because of all these A-holes.
make money Says:
I’ll tell you with 20%DP it’s been around 6yrs.
Maybe on multi-family, but certainly not single families in something other than ghetto.
Anything less then 5-6 families stay away from.
None should never buy a single family house as an investment. It’s fullish.
and by the way there’s nothing wrong with owning a piece of the ghetto. rememeber when you past go in monopoly it was the ghetto properties that you had to pay before you collected $200. I always thought that they provided the biggest ROI. but everyone made fun of me for owning them.
Mitchell,
You simply don’t understand, NJ is very prestigous and if people can’t afford to live here, they’re simply jealous wannabes.
#65 Ah Gary it really is Bergen Co. that is prestigious and only minutes from NYC.
The rest of NJ is a Bergen Co. wannabe.
Please do not lump us in with the rest of NJ, we are special.
make money Says:
Anything less then 5-6 families stay away from.
That’s going from owning a simple investment to professionally managing properties. You know what you’re doing but I wouldn’t reccomend it for someone with no experience at all.
I agree with you on the 80% quick rule of thumb. If you put 20% down and it still won’t pay for itself, stay away.
Any seats left on the plane for Costa Rica or Panama? Hell, a raft may work.
“The nation’s largest lending institutions are lobbying hard to block a proposal in Congress that would give bankruptcy judges greater latitude to rewrite mortgages held by financially strapped homeowners.”
“The proposal, which could come to a vote in the Senate as early as next week, is being pushed by Democratic congressional leaders and a large coalition of groups that includes labor unions, consumer advocates, civil rights organizations and AARP, the powerful senior citizens’ lobby.”
“Currently, bankruptcy judges cannot rewrite first mortgages for primary homes. This restriction was adopted in the 1970s to encourage banks to provide mortgages to new home buyers.”
“At least a dozen industry associations have banded together to fight the proposed legislation. They include the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Consumer Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association. These groups and others have signed joint letters to lawmakers on the issue.”
“In one of their letters, sent to Senate leaders last week, the groups wrote that the legislation would “have a very negative impact in the financial markets, which are struggling in part because of difficulties in valuing the mortgages that underlay securities [and] would greatly increase the uncertainty that already exists.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102687.html
3b,
Forgive the lapse of reason on my part. :) We should list the towns that are prestigous and the ones that are jealous, wannabe, whiner towns. lol!
I’ll start…
Ridgewood – Give blood, sell your first born to move here, platinum haughty club member.
Glen Rock – Same as Ridgewood except limited gold haughty club member; can possibly keep first born if you have a leased BMW in driveway.
Fair Lawn – House must have Granite, be greater than 2500 sq. ft. and be in certain neighborhood to qualify for membership in snooty club.
Ok, your turn.
Talk about shooting your nose to spite your face.
#65 LOL
I just don’t understand how NJ government officials aren’t investigated for what is essentially organized crime.
Take something from everyone, give nothing in return, no witch hunt yet?, repeat process over and over. When is NJ finally going to stand up to its government and say enough is enough. At what point do you want reduced taxes? You no longer live in million dollar homes but pay million dollar taxes. Yet the sheep keep doing it and accepting it and keep hearing how you need increased taxes.
The fed obviously don’t want to prevent what has happened either. They keep telling everyone that reducing the rates will keep America out of a recession. They say it enough times that people actually believe it. Anyone with half a brain knows that interest rates alone don’t make up for every dollar in your pocket.
The real problem with the US economy is Heavily increased Taxes, Skyrocketed Insurance costs, and Fuel Charges. The rates are just a shiny nickle saying look over here pay no attention to increased taxes. Interest rates are responsible for why you don’t have money in your pocket is just a scapegoat. Before long people assume the taxes were this way all along.
NJ needs to stop putting up with the increasing taxes, tolls, etc. It has to end and start going down.
Grim, et al-
Any more news on the Gold Coast get together?
JM
hawk [35],
How about a NY happy hour, some Thurs/Fri after work? There seems to be enough New Yawkers on this board.
so i (well me and my brother) made a move.
We have initiated a purchase in Dominica (carribean) and am talking to the GC about starting construction in the fall.
This ill not be a rental, but for family use and will be paid for in cash. I have written off the NJ market for a min of 24 months possibly longer, but in general renting is not significantly different then owning in NJ as far the needs of my family are concerned.
SO grim some of us will buy, just not in NJ
#68 Awesome at what point does Mexico complain about the number of American immigrants moving there because they cant afford homes in the United States.
72 – I could do that
kettle 1
Welcome to the 40% Club
btw, you may be interested in this idea for new construction:
http://www.tomatech.net/TomaTech.asp
good prefab tech with a showroom in Jamaica
Grim #38-
Maybe, but with oil hovering near $100 per barrel. They probably can’t find enough places to put all their money.
JM
For bcamp #42-
I took a look at that ML #20806272 here’s the story….
Address 23 Seaview, Monmouth Beach, 5 beds 3.5 baths 2880 sf built in 1905, not oceanfront but oceanview. Sold in June of 2000 for $625K and then substantially improved. Was then listed in Feb 2006 for (gasp) $2.25M. Spent 569 days on market and was reduced to $1.65M and finally expired in Sept 2007. New agency listed it last week at $1.35M Let’s see where it goes from here.
kettle [73],
Great move. Sounds exciting. All the best. Will you rent out to bloggers?
Fiddy,
Thanks for your help. I knew it was listed in the $2MM+ range not too long ago. Should be interesting to see how the sale (if any) ends up.
Thanks again!
SG Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:19 am
Homer: But there needs to be areas for middle class and middle class in people who make between 55-70k. I know people on here have other ideas about it, but 70% of NJ residents have household incomes of under 100k.
The main reason: There is no organized Lobbying for Middle Class NJ family, or least I have not heard of them.
Homer: I am making an objective statement. I apologize for the tone. $55K-$70K is lower middle class in North and Central NJ. If you are not receiving any assistance from outside sources, then to be looking to buy a house for the first time after 2004 is asking for a lot. I know it is hard to accept, but you are being unreasonable.
# 49,
since most houses have 2 incomes it would make sense to use median family income which is in the $80,000 area.
Grim has posted the ratio before.
Rent vs. Buy
If you look at homes that are for sale and for rent in the mls you could never come close to the monthly payments rent is much cheaper. using %20 down of course. and if we bring in 20/28/36 forget about it!!
#69 gary: Saddle River is of course the town in Bergen Co that all must attemot to emulate. However, ironically I know a couple of very wealthy (as in real wealthy) people there who are the most normal down to earth people you could ever meet.
It is not so much the Saddle River’s that are so annoying but rather the towns that peceive themselves to be the same as or even better than Saddle River, or getting there. (although I am nto sure how one gets there)
Oradell- Ridgweoowd wannabe, but does not have the same cachet, much to some of the residents consternation.
River Edge- Oradell wannabe, although a love hate realtionship, River Edge wants to be Oradell, but at the same time accuses them of being snobby.
We used to be comfortable being RE, but apparently not any more.
RE cannot be Oradell as we do not have any names for our neighborhoods, such as Solider Hill and Lactchstring, like Oradell does.
New Milford is in residents minds better than Bergenfield and Dumont. However, to be prestigious in NM you have to live near the Oradell border, the closer the better.
We were at a friend’s social function a few years back, most of the people there were from New Milford.
A major part of the conversation was bickering over who’s house was closer to the Oradell border, by blocks streets, number of houses away. One woman could see from her deck actually into Oradell.
The best comment howver came form one woman who said when her daughter gets married she will be actually getting married in Oradell, as the local Catholic church is on the border between NM and Oradell. Apparently the altar (where the marriage will take place) is in Oradell, and the rest of the church is in NM.
This is a true story.
New Milford ignores River Edge, because of the school connection between RE and Oradell. In their minds NM (the part bordering on Oradell) and Oradell are sister towns.
Back to River Edge, believe it or not I have hard some residents say we are probably the best town in Bergen Co, and we are equal to Saddle River.
So with Bergen Co, while it is all prestigious there are degrees of prestige, and you must know how to define the prestigie.
If you like I can move up the line and discuss Park Ridge, Hillsdale, River Vale etc, east of Kinderkamack, west etc.
These are all things you will need to know, if you want to maximize your prestigiousness. Its critical if you wish to reside in Bergen County.
#73 kettle: I have written off the NJ market for a min of 24 months possibly longer.
Why such a long time period?
Anon Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:36 am
Question for investors….I’m thinking of buying a two family house. I’m running through the numbers, looking at rent, expenses, tax deductions for interest, expenses, depreciation, etc. So far, the houses I’ve looked at seem so-so as investments, meaning that they don’t look much more profitable than putting my money long-term into stocks/bonds.
My question is, for the investment properties that you buy, do you hold off on buying until the numbers show that the property is clearly better than you other investment options? What level of profitability do you wait for before buying?
Anon: I defer to albani, because he is clearly the expert here. To add….there continues to be an arb in the market where renting is cheaper than owning. It is always supposed to be the reverse. As a result, you will continue to project poor yields, and the numbers are only going to work if you can front load expenses and depreciation. You have the worst of all worlds right now, because “sticky” real estate prices are causing major distortions.
Go elsewhere to deposit your coin is my prescription…
Homer is a Computer Tech. Companies do not want to pay. I enjoy working with computers.
I live in NJ and work in NJ. I hate NYC and do not want to go work there, hence living in central NJ. Plus I have looked at jobs there and they pay around what I currently make.
I think I make decent money but most jobs pay less than what I am making. The computer industry is screwed up. I have always fiddle with computer since I was around 13 or 14. I have considered other options but it seems these other jobs pay less than what I make. And the good paying computer jobs require programming which is not my cup of tea. So if someone her can suggest a high paying job in NJ not in NYC please by all means let me know. I am all ears :)
#81 chgofinance: I am not sure I am following you regarding your comment to Homer.
Are you saying that he should not look to buy a house at his income range because he did not do it prior to 2004?
#65 Substitute US for NJ.
gary Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
Mitchell,
You simply don’t understand, NJ is very prestigous and if people can’t afford to live here, they’re simply jealous wannabes.
Re-Mitchell #71
I have to agree with you about NJ, the unions really do not care about the people, just their members. Many families do not fight about the excesses because they benefit from them. I.E. Essex.
Many people take full advantage of NJ’s corrupt Government, but now more and more people are leaving NJ.
The gravy train will end,pension fund is down 4 billion dollars according to today’s Star Ledger, this must be made up by taxpayers.
The sooner this hits the fan the better, NJ may well become insolvent, and we can thank all the corupt POLS and their union buddies. PBA, NJEA, CWA.
Many people retiring now have pensions from $50,000 to $90,000, which is more than many people make.
I own a contracting business, which is just about dead, and apartment buildings, that are being taxed constantly. Now the state and the towns both inspect them ad charge more $$, to increase their revenues, that is besides paying exhorbirant real estate taxes.
State bankruptcy seems like a viable answer, or just watch the continuing erosion of business and real estate ,neither will be a easy pill to swallow.
JIM
3B,
They’re back
2807346
ACT 672 CENTER AVE $459,999 2/21/2008
Same broker and agent
3b Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
#81 chgofinance: I am not sure I am following you regarding your comment to Homer.
Are you saying that he should not look to buy a house at his income range because he did not do it prior to 2004?
3b: I did not say that…..do you disagree with any of my comments? To me it is at a mathematical equation with variables, and some of the ones he is quoting are relatively low. Hence, the result is not going to equate to his aspirations…..
#90 Rich: Thanks for the heads up, Will this be a classic case of relisting, after being on the market for 6 months? And only a 10k price drop?Oh and the train runs through the backyard.
Meanwhile across the street a few houses down is a Cape, little smaller listed at 359K; and still sitting.
#91 chgo: No I do nto disagree, with your comments, just not quite sure what you were telling him.
#89 Jim:The sooner this hits the fan the better, NJ may well become insolvent, and we can thank all the corupt POLS and their union buddies. PBA, NJEA, CWA.
No we can thank the clueless residents who refuse to demand change, and let the incompotents continue to destroy the state from top to bottom.
Homer – Have you ever considered transitioning to an admin role? You could start the process by picking up a cert on your own time.
Way too many wage pressures being a tech. Admin work is not impervious to wage pressures but it’s a few links up the food chain from tech and seems to be a gateway to other positions.
ChiFi,
Congratulations on our Independance. Free at last. Kosova is free at last.
With no taxes on some things and minimal taxes on other, limited an no gov’t oversight and regulation, now is the time to go back home and built a factory from stratch, labor is around 300 Euros a month. Management is at 500 euros a month, land is cheap, and Europe is at your doorstep as a consumer.
A couple of us are getting together and going down there at the end of next month to look into starting something big. A friend of a family who own Samvera restaurant in Marlboro and a Carparts factory in Prishtina supplys Opel and Peugeot with brakes and ssome other parts is spearheading this.
It’s part patriotic and part opportunity and at the end everyone benefits. Are you interested?
Homer,
Consulting.
MM
fewer people wanna be REs
http://realestate.msn.com/buying/Article_csm.aspx?cp-documentid=6009539>1=10932
sl
Article mentioned by JIM:
New Jersey’s underfunded pension funds, already billions of dollars short of what they need to cover future retirement benefits, have been battered by stock market turmoil on Wall Street and overseas, a report released yesterday shows.
…
Overall, the funds’ investment return for the fiscal year is -1.26 percent. Unless returns surge in the final five months of the budget year, the losses will haunt future taxpayers because of a complicated formula actuaries use to determine how much taxpayers should put into the system each year. It assumes the funds will earn an average of 8.25 percent each year. Whenever investment returns fall below that average, taxpayers are tapped for the difference.
This year, for instance, the state was scheduled to deposit $2.2 billion into the accounts to cover benefits for 700,000 government workers and teachers and to start paying down a $24.8 billion deficit. Instead, lawmakers agreed to make 50 percent of the required contribution.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1203658518146420.xml&coll=1
From Reuters via Yahoo:
Stocks falls further on Fannie, Freddie
Stocks fell on Friday after a brokerage’s downgrades on Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), the two biggest U.S. home-funding companies, sparked a sell-off in financial shares.
Merrill Lynch cut its rating on shares of Fannie and Freddie to “sell” from “neutral,” citing more deterioration in financial markets and credit conditions.
Stocks were reacting to the latest woes of financial services companies, which stem from defaults in the subprime mortgage market and led to tightening credit conditions.
i think the s…t has hit the fan in NJ.
how about a short payment to the pension
holders? how would that go over.
bc 79
perhaps to a few fellow real estate jihadists ;)
there probably wont be a complete structure to live in for at least a year. we are in no immediate rush, as this is a long term project for us, giving back to the family if you will. plus now i have somewhere to run to when the next depression hits.
3b 83
primarily priorities. i would rather buy on the upside then the downside and am not really in any general rush. while there are reasons we would like to own they do not override the benefit of renting ( based on our individual family circumstances) for at least 2 years. for the kettle family it is a combination of getting careers settled down a bit and also our opinion that it will take at least 1 more year for things to make the majority of a downward move. I also think that there is potential for things to continue in a negative trend past that point depending on how politics in nj evolves, and how the national/international business world handles the current solvency issues etc.
Pat- Keep Princeton where it is. I work in that plot above Fort Washington. It’s nice up here!
This blogg needs a couple of bulls on the economy, RE, anything.
it’s much more exciting that way. Even a Kaynsian economic view, something.
Everyone in here seems to be, well, GRIM.
make money Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
ChiFi, Congratulations on our Independance. Free at last. Kosova is free at last.
make: I was with my Uncle and cousin on Tuesday at JB Winberie in Princeton. My uncle came here in 1997, I met him for the first time in my life 3 years ago. He explained the whole Hoxha/Tito thing to me. It is crazy what the Serbs did to the embassy yesterday.
You are absolutely right about getting in on the ground floor there, but we have too many thing going on with the family right now. My uncle is working with my two aunts that live in Brindisi, Italy to try and get back the land the communists took from my grandfather.
They have all the documents that prove they hold title. However, there many people in and around Dures and Tirana that have forged documents and also paid off officials. They don’t know whether they will be able to reclaim about EUR2-3M worth of property that is adjacent to the main highway.
Homer even tried starting up his own busisness, I have learned a lot of the ins and out of running a buniness from my father, have decent marketing but nothing ever came of it.
I have a few ideas in the works. So we shall see.
#102 kettle: Undestand, it is more than just price declines for you. Lining everything up so to speak.
As far as politics in NJ evolving, just going to get worse.
There will be a massive push this year in my town to get the school budget passed. The local BOE (politburo), is making a concerted effort to convince the Seniors in my town to vote yes.
They attribute the defeat last year to Seniors voting no.
If only they knew how many non-seniors, (those with kids in the school) voted no last year.
With all of the recent news of government sponsored ideas to right the housing market or to end the credit crunch, I feel that at best they will simply delay the agony.
What ever happened to allowing the bubble to burst. Economies are cyclical. They go through prosperous periods and recessionary periods.
Why can’t we just let the market, be the market?
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 9:16 PM
Subject: Mortgage Crisis Explained
If anyone wants a lesson about the subprime mortgage debacle, this is exactly how it happened. Enjoy…
Eric
http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?revision=_latest&fs=true&docID=ddv7hj34_03774hsc7&skipauth=true&pli=1#
#104 chgofinance; I am a history buff, and this stuff fascinates me.
Any thoughts on Kosova and Albania uniting, since they are all Albanians?
Do you think anything will come of the Serbians threat to partition the north and merge it with Serbia?
#107 stu: the bubble has already burst.The government is trying to clean up the mess, something they cannot do. The market will always be the market, and as always the market will clean up the mess.
if anyone is curious, here is alink to some dominica pictures, not mine
http://tinyurl.com/39l7uy
northeastern states with bloated beaurocracies cannot tax their way to solvency. capital and jobs are too mobile. population is already declining in these states and businesses are fleeing. raising taxes will not result in increased revenue over the long term.
it is interesting that in my home state of RI people are starting to realize this. The state is about as democratic and union dominated as they come, but there are massive short term and long term deficits at this point. The state is ranked dead last in its tax policy toward business and has even higher individual income tax rates than its high tax neighbors, CT and MA. Consequently, it is losing population at the fastest rate of any state, particularly young and high income people.
The local politicians are in a panic at this point because they know that raising taxes will not get them out of this hole. They have done it over and over again and it is the only way they know how to solve fiscal problems. Now they are trying to cut state jobs and reduce benefits but none of the unions are willing to give up anything. They are in crisis mode at this point and in my opinion RI is a harbinger of what is to come across the Northeast.
RE 64
‘rememeber when you past go in monopoly it was the ghetto properties that you had to pay before you collected $200. ‘
actually, you pass Mediterranian and Baltic after GO.
The best block is Orange because of the outflow from jail and the change in rent when you add houses.
107
Not saying I’m for all these new ideas about the housing crash, but I don’t think the housing market has ever been just the market for a long time.
There are tons of gov’t subsidies. Whether it was building all of those highways so suburbs were possible, the mortgage interest deduction, the VA loan program after WWII. Even propping up our oil-based economy subsidizes home ownership.
106 3b
Special ed is a huge funding problem. For example, it’s ludicrous that individual towns have to fund the education of children with severe handicaps.
Educational catastrophes, which is what an $80,000 per year tuition for a severely autistic child is for example, should not have to be paid through the property taxes of a small town.
I can’t remember where I saw this, but I believe I read that 15% of students in an average NJ town are classified.
#89 Rich: just checked out the listing on njmls. It is the exact same picture, and it indicates that it is a new listing in a punchy yellow and red banner.`
What a scam.
#115 Ann: yes special ed is a huige problem, but only part of it. Massive school construction and additions over the last few years have driven taxes to an insane level.
Nobody seemed to care, becasue house prices were rising, and the the more you spent on the schools the higher the values would go.
That was the flawed analogy. Anyone who urged caution (like myself), was branded anti- children, or a malcontent.
Now we have POS capes etc, with a 10k a year property tax bill.
Yes what a wonderful way to draw young families into town as our local BOE (politburo) likes to say.
Also some towns advertise themselves as experts in Special Ed, and as such people with special needs children gravitate to those towns.
Yes a town is legally and morally obligated to educate special needs children.
However, one has to ask does it make sense to advertise your school as the special needs school of choice?
As far as classified, yes believe it or not some parents actively seek to have their children classified as one set of parents who did it told me “now it is the schools problem, not mine”.
Well with the lastes numbers out of the
pension shortfall, does not look to good.
Seem to me that the Carpetbagger will be leaving after just the first term.
117 3b
I can’t understand why a town would ever advertise themselves as a great place for special ed. They should advertise themselves as the opposite. My old town in Central Jersey used to pay for kids to go to this excellent autism private school because they were too small to have their own program. People would come and buy townhouses or condos just to live in the town so they could get their free ticket to the school while keeping their big houses up here in BC. At 80K a pop, while they would pay 6K in prop tax.
I don’t blame parents or the kids, if they need help, they need it, but the towns can’t keep paying for it.
Ann #115 –
The towns pay for the first $40,000 – then the state picks up the rest of the tab. Additionally, if the kids are labeled autistic towns also get more funding than other special needs. There is a hierarchy for special needs funding from the state and autism classifications are at the highest. So for each autistic child they get more funding than for each Cerebal Palsy child – even if the required services are identical.
120
Is that right? That’s good. But still, the first 40,000? Crikey.
The special ed parent community is very well-organized in NJ. I imagine that’s why the autism funding that you mention is the way it is.
Ann,
Special Ed has been a taxing nightmare for Montclair as well. It has an excellent reputation for their Special Education program.
The unfortunate son of my tenant has just recently been diagnosed with a mild form of autism which should provide a bit of stickiness to their desire to continue to lease from me.
Of course, what I gain in non-vacant rental income, I’ll just end up paying out in ever increasing property taxes.
Ann – I’m going to second BC – a LOT of people get their kids classified so that they can “GET what they need” or to put it more honestly, get other people to pony up more for their children. But it is not always what they need, more just what they want.
My younger kid’s vocal articulation is a little slow, though within the normal spectrum. He doesn’t have any disabilities but I constantly have people telling me that I should get him classified so I can get stuff. The pressure, socially is actually quite intense, to the extent that I have thought about it, and I am a complete contarian. I’m not surprised so many other people do it.
So actually, I do in part blame the parents.
Re: Special Ed
My 8-year-old son has a slight case of cerebral palsy due to an in-utero stroke. It’s hardly noticeable and he’s a normal kid for the most part, but he does require occupational and physical therapy. He has some sensory issues and the damage on affected side of the brain interfere with his reading, writing and comprehension. Our school system, while fabulous for autism and Down’s Syndrome, refuses to pay for his therapy. I’ve been told to fight it, but I feel I’d rather just pay for it myself than fight the system.
On another note, the special ed classes in his school are ALL autistic kids. The Down’s kids are all mainstreamed.
Lawmakers eye home-buyer tax credit as way to move inventory
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A substantial tax credit for home buyers is likely to be part of any second economic stimulus package enacted by Congress.
Senate Democrats reportedly already have crafted a measure that includes a credit for taxpayers who help take down the record inventory of unsold homes. And when the Senate Finance Committee meets in a few weeks, Republicans are likely to join them in pressing for a version of a plan that worked in the mid-1970s to help clear off a then-record glut of completed but unsold houses.
But earlier this month at its annual convention in Orlando, Fla., the National Association of Home Builders took the unprecedented step of suspending all political contributions to federal candidates and their political action committees.
The inventory of unsold houses, both new and used, is considered the main reason why the market is in the doldrums. And NAHB chief economist, David Seiders, insists that housing is at “the root” of the nation’s economic woes.
In 1975, when there was almost a three-year supply of vacant houses on hand, lawmakers approved a $6,000 credit spread over three annual installments of $2,000 per year.
This time around, the builders are angling for a $10,000 credit, maintaining that on a price-adjusted basis, that amount is equal to the 1975 credit.
Another big problem is that a second stimulus package also is likely to contain provisions that are rigidly opposed by the Mortgage Bankers Association, namely a proviso that would allow the courts to write down the value of troubled borrowers’ mortgages. If that happens, the package would pit two of the housing industry’s strongest lobbies — and which are often allies — against one another.
“What we really need is something to stimulate sales,” he said at the convention. “It’s housing and the financial markets that are taking the economy down. We’ve got to get home buying going. If we don’t get this thing knocked down, the prospect for recovery is tenuous.”
Kelly Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Ann #115 –
The towns pay for the first $40,000 – then the state picks up the rest of the tab. Additionally, if the kids are labeled autistic towns also get more funding than other special needs. There is a hierarchy for special needs funding from the state and autism classifications are at the highest. So for each autistic child they get more funding than for each Cerebal Palsy child – even if the required services are identical.
Kelly; when did the $40K rule go into effect? In New Providence, year 2000, the Superintendant of Schools attributed their skyrocketing costs to 57 special needs students costing $100K/yr for out of district education. Evidently, the earlier decision to sell Hillview Elementary School to the Morris/Union Jointure (Special Needs), really backfired, when people moved in for services that the school couldn’t handle. The deal to sell the school, naturally came from the school board, some of whom had special needs kids. Ironically, they later moved. But the new school proved to be a magnet, which stressed the local tax structure significantly.
At that time they indicated state aid was meager?
The Titanic was also anchored.
09/28/2007 — Fed’s Lockhart: Inflation Expectations Remain Anchored
10/09/2007 — Fed’s Poole: Inflation Expectations Remain Well Anchored
11/05/2007 — Fed’s Mishkin: Inflation Expectations Remain Well Anchored
11/16/2007 — Fed’s Kroszner: Inflation Expectations Reasonably Well Anchored
**no anchoring necessary during holiday season
01/10/2008 — Fed’s Bernanke: Inflation Expectations Reasonably Anchored
01/11/2008 — Fed’s Mishkin: Inflation Expectations Reasonably Anchored
02/07/2008 — ECB’s Trichet: Successful in Anchoring Inflation Expectations
02/07/2008 — Fed’s Yellen: Must Ensure Inflation Expectations Stay Anchored
02/19/2008 — Fed’s Stern: Inflation Expectations Well Anchored at Low Levels
02/20/2008 — FOMC: Inflation Expectations Edged Higher But Still Anchored
“What we really need is something to stimulate sales.”
Hey, here’s a novel idea! How about the sellers adjust their expectations, put down the Dewars and lower the f*cking asking prices on their fecal stained rat hole?
Italics off
40 gary
She’s a 60 year old, divorced, empty-nest itinerant furniture saleswoman who admits she was speculating when she bought a 4 bed/3 bath McMansion to live in by herself. Surprisingly enough, she is having no problem making her payments.
Why does she think she deserves a bailout, you might ask?
Here’s the paragraph that sent me to the moon:
“Her house payments and utilities come to nearly $2400 a month. That is affordable, she said, on her present income. But very little is left over to replace her 11-year old car, to travel, to pay down her credit card debt, or to buy new clothes.”
TRAVEL?!?!?!? WTF??? This person gets a front page of the A Section above the fold article in the NY Times because she needs a government handout so she can see Europe? This is supposed to be sympathetic?
Change the oil in your 11 year old car! Don’t run up your credit cards! Shop at the secondhand store! Get a tent and some Amtrak tickets! There! PROBLEM GODD*MN SOLVED!!
123 lisoosh
“Ann – I’m going to second BC – a LOT of people get their kids classified so that they can “GET what they need” or to put it more honestly, get other people to pony up more for their children. But it is not always what they need, more just what they want.”
I’ll third BC, and Mrs. Patient, who studies this stuff, would fourth. Folks get their kids classified so they can have extra time on tests, or so they can put them on anti-parenting drugs, etc.. What’s most awful about it is precisely the fact that it uses up resources that children who have legitimate problems need, and it makes society suspicious of children who have been diagnosed, whether or not legitimately. My friends who are parents of children with genuine challenges to face are most unhappy with this state of affairs.
njpatient,
The conversations my wife and I have with the other parents at the school where she works would make your head explode. A certain type of car only; vacations that require airline tickets only; high-priced restaurants a couple of times a week and so on. We look at each other and know exactly what the other’s thinking.
Here’s a good one: My cousin’s daughter still lives at home, she’s 28 and in no rush to move. Very attractive girl, with a four year degree and perfectly content. Anyway, this past summer, my cousin realizes that she was turning up the AC in her room at full blast and…. get this…. sleeping under an electric blanket because it made her feel cozy like it was the winter time. My… cousin… went… bonkers!!
Ann #126 –
I don’t know when the went into effect – I found it out last year during a lawsuit with my district to get my son proper services. I know for the past several years there have been new state funding changes for autistic children.
Also, my son (at 8) is already eligible for SS when he turns 18 – it will be significantly cheaper to educate him now to be self-sufficient rather than paying for him for the rest of his life. With autistic children the earlier and more intensive treatment will save $$ down the road. That is why the push for early intervention and intensive services.
As for town advertising special ed services – I have found that some of the best towns in NJ (other than Brick) keep it quiet because they don’t want their districts inundated. There are numerous people I have met that have relocated here because even the bad special ed towns in NJ are much better than what is offered in other states.
Does anyone have a opinion of Executive MBAs? My work will pay for part of it, but I want to go back regardless of that. I’m in Sales and I want to get into something different.
Quitting my job is not an option. I must work. I’m just not sure if the placement support is there with an EMBA. It appears that you graduate with an general MBA degree. You can’t specialize in Finance or Accounting.
I’m looking at programs at Drexel, Villanova, and Penn State. St. Joseph’s also has a program. I don’t have the grades and work experience for an Ivy league program.
Thoughts on EMBAs and the programs mentioned would be appreciated.
grim in moderation
SG [125],
What are buyers going to do now? Wait for the law to be passed so they know the cut off date?
#123 – lisoosh
I have found quite the opposite – many parents who are afraid to get their children the proper services – either too expensive, don’t want to “rock the boat” or just think they are OK. It is very costly and stressful to fight in many districts. The current rules are the parents have to prove that the districts are not meeting the children’s needs.
The first advice from my lawyer, advocate and “our” doctors (as opposed to the district doctors) was to consider relocating to a better district. I found out that the case manager knew he needed more help but we had spent about $10K to get all of the proof we needed to get my son the proper services. From talking to other parents we had it cheaper and easier than lots of others.
Some towns may want the non-classified children to be labeled autistic to qualify for state funds- I think they gave away $1.5 million to district last year.
well since houses will be 25% less in 2009 the kids are in luck!!
when I was little the nuns called me stupid and hit me with a ruler, today I would be “special”, how precious.
One-tenth of U.S. homeowners hold mortgages that are larger than the worth of their homes, Moody’s Economy.com said on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2259847620080222
#139 John
You will always be special to us.
One explanation for schools touting or advertising their spec. ed. services is that if you have enough students (and sending districts pay tuition) you can service your students on their dime. Think about it… if it costs $100k to send a child out-of-district, but you hire an experienced teacher at $50k + an aide at $20k for a classroom of 4-6 students you’re saving money. That’s why schools develop in-house programs- it’s a cost saving measure.
For every parent who “wants” their child classified, there is one who doesn’t. Neither serves the best interest of the child.
Gary, you are out of control!! :)
& I’ve also heard school business administrators tell staff they may not classify anyone else b/c it’s too expensive. I guess like everything else, it comes down to $$.
Special needs is always the perfect Straw Man arguement. The taxes are high because of the cost of the school budget. The budget is so high because special needs cost so much.
Get real.
If I have a small district with 500 pupils. NJ average is around 10K per pupil. So I have a 5M budget. If I have 2000 households in the district that is $2500 per family. If I have 10 special needs kids @40K. I will add an extra 300k to the budget. That will take the overhead up to $2650 For a small district that might be a problem and noticeable, but for the larger districts with a few thousand students, it is barely noticeable and you get economies of scale.
I think the bigger question to ask is “If my district is spending $10K per child, then why are the test scores and the education levels not better.” Where is the money going. Its not to the special needs programs.
A house I bid on last year is now in foreclosure. I tried again and my realtor told me today that we have reached agreement on the price with the bank. However, no one will tell me the name of the bank/company that now owns the house. My realtor doesn’t know. She’s dealing with the bank’s realtor and he won’t say. Is this normal? Could this be one of those situations they are talking about on the news today where a house can’t be foreclosed on because the bank or whomever can’t come up with the proper documents to show they own the mortgage because the mortgage has passed through so many hands? Can anyone shed any light on this for me?
Looks like current local special ed funding is 57%.
School Districts, State Try to Tackle Special-Ed Funding Issues
NJBIZ, Oct 8, 2007 by Lee, Evelyn
Industry Report
SPECIAL EDUCATION has been a top priority on the agendas of many of the state’s local school districts. The rising costs of special education, which refers to services that schools provide for students with learning disabilities, and the growing struggle to fund those rising expenditures have been the primary concerns surrounding this issue.
Special education costs more than $3.3 billion annually in the Garden State, according to a report released by the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) last month. Local school districts contribute 57 percent of the amount through local property taxes. The state pays about 34 percent of the costs, while federal funds account for 9 percent.
The chief executive of real estate development powerhouse, the Related Cos, thinks the U.S. economy is already in a recession and is going to get worse.
“This could really be as bad as anything I have seen in my lifetime,” said Stephen Ross, who founded Related in 1972.
“I think things are going to get worse,” he told the Reuters Housing Summit in New York on Thursday. “The biggest problem today is people don’t recognize how bad things are and getting worse.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/Housing08/idUSN2151608620080222
PGC – your problem is that far more than 1 in 50 kids are special needs
Can’t find stats for NJ offhand (have to ask Mrs. Patient) but in NYC over 10% of students are special needs – that’s a lot more than 2%.
Any thoughts on any potential revisions to the conforming loan limit? Is it definately changing in this area?
Specifically, for current mortgage rates that are about 100 bps less for conforming mortgages I wanted to know if there was a particular price point in homes in the NJ area where a buyer can take advantage of this with a larger down payment?
Eighty-five percent of those with payment-option loans currently owe more than they did when they originally took out the loan. And about 75 percent of these borrowers have been making the minimum payment.
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/chairman/spfeb2208.html
Homer Resolution to this countries problems…
1-People who do not need large SUV’s don’t buy them. Stop making absurd cars that get 8 miles to the gallon. All the rich and famous folk driving 10mpg escalade or v-12 mercedes. Hmm that could be who is using up the gas. There are alot more rich/famous people than there were 10-15 years ago. And there are more luxury cars.
2-Stop driving 80mph there is no need to drive that fast. I dont care if everyone does it. Driving that fast, in suv’s and cars does kill gas.
———————————
My comments for #1 and 2
The solution to making Hybrids is not the answer, all that is, is a bandaid. The problem is people who don’t need large SUV’s or who don’t need absurd v-12 cars buy them.
——————————————-
3-Stop building mega mansions. I dont care if people can afford it, if its 1 or 2 people living in there is a waste of energy.
Also, how many times you see people on MTV cribs that have 10,000+ Square foot manisons and they live alone and are hardley there. Give me a break.
4-Stop the 2 hour commute nonsense. If you can’t afford to live close to where you work get a new job. If it pays less Too bad.
—————————————
Being green is just another bandaid. If we made normal size houses and people only bought what they needed and a smidge extra thats fine. All these mega mansion are sucking up all our energy. Making it a big problem. And if people stopped the crazy commutes we would not have a gas crises nor would our roads be so consumed. And again we would cut down on the over use of gas.
——————————————
But I know this will never happen. But I bet if we did this it would solve there gas and energy crises, and who knows maybe even lower our gas prices since we would be using less :)
Lowballing is a waste of time KS. Don’t even bother. There are plenty of reasonably priced houses out there, so to say that none of them are well priced is fasle.
BOSTON (Reuters) – Meredith Whitney, Oppenheimer & Co’s banking analyst who was the first to say Citigroup Inc. (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) needed to cut its dividend last year, said on Thursday the bank would need to cut payouts again and raise more capital.
Whitney also told television channel CNBC she believes financial stocks, which have been weak recently in the wake of the credit crisis, housing crunch and fears of a recession, could fall at least another 15 percent and as much as 50 percent.
“The best case downside scenario is that there is a 15 percent downside in the financials; worst case is 50 percent downside in the financials,” Whitney said.
Citi has already raised $12.5 billion from foreign funds this year after posting heavy losses last year. It also cut its dividend 41 percent. Citi’s shares have lost a third of their value since Whitney’s call last year
#150 NJPaitent
And I doubt 10% of the school district is classified As Autistic.
If we look at the numbers we will get a better picture. Let’s start with what is the actual NJ school budget and how many children are there overall.
Per Mrs. Patient, 13.4% of Westfield school disctrict students are special needs.
Lowballing is a waste of time KS.
What a silly statement to make.
In Summit, there has been a 69% increase in special education enrollment in the past twelve years. Must be the water.
From ’02-’06, statewide NJ special education cost increased almost 40%.
How is that a silly statement? According to the last lowball offer feature you posted, the overwhelming majority of houses did not sell for substantially less than asking price. And if you scroll down to the bottom of the data sheet, a large number of properties sold for over asking price.
162
Re Special Needs
When I was a kid (on LI), myself and 3 siblings were all told by the speech therapist at our grade school that we had to go for speech therapy – with her, a full time speech therapist hired by our grade school who of course had to justify her job. There wasn’t lisp between us, not even a Long Island Accent. My parents put a stop to that nonsense. Why couldn’t they have hired a guitar teacher to determine if her job was necessary? I could be rockin out right now!
Wow, so many people here hate NJ. If you don’t like it, there’s the door. Don’t let it hit you on the way out.
NJ statewide special ed population (direct from the department of education) for 2006: 17%
“Jim (NOT a Realtor) Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Wow, so many people here hate NJ. If you don’t like it, there’s the door. Don’t let it hit you on the way out.”
You’re a bit slow, aren’t you?
Yes, a number of us are deeply dissatisfied with NJ. A number of us will be leaving. I’m one, and I’ve never been hit by a door.
So – what do you do for a living, Jim?
“What ever happened to allowing the bubble to burst. Economies are cyclical. They go through prosperous periods and recessionary periods.
Why can’t we just let the market, be the market?”
Because the system favors homeowners, not renters. That is why.
Jim,
Did these folks waste their time?
205 Linwood, Bogota
OLP: $460,000
Last Ask: $450,000
Sold: $390,000 (13% under ask, 15% under OLP)
SD: 2/18
19 Bethany, Closter
OLP: $1,290,000
Last Ask: $1,190,000
Sold: $990,000 (17% under ask, 24% under OLP)
SD: 2/15
15 Winterburn, Edgewater
OLP: $699,000
Last Ask: $650,000
Sold: $505,000 (22% under ask, 28% under OLP)
SD: 2/18
309 Hobar, Franklin Lakes
OLP: $1,289,000
Last Ask: $1,199,000
Sold: $1,075,000 (10% under ask, 17% under OLP)
SD: 2/18
145 Piermont, Norwood
OLP: $1,369,000
Last Ask: $999,999
Sold: $885,000 (11% under ask, 35% under OLP)
SD: 2/14
8 Longview, Old Tappan
OLP: $1,899,000
Last Ask: $1,749,000
Sold: $1,460,000 (17% under ask, 23% under OLP)
SD: 2/19
159 Ridgewood, Washington Twp
OLP: $649,000
Last Ask: $585,000
Sold: $500,000 (15% under ask, 23% under OLP)
SD: 2/15
if anyone is curious, here is alink to some dominica pictures, not mine
Hey kettle,
I swam on the Waterfall that supposed to make me 10yrs younger last year. I think it was called the Emerald pool.
Cool island. not developed though. I think it lacks white sand beaches. anyway, good luck.
I work in the legal field. I actually welcome the idea of people moving out of NJ by the masses so that this way I will have less competition to buy a distressed property.
“How is that a silly statement? According to the last lowball offer feature you posted, the overwhelming majority of houses did not sell for substantially less than asking price.”
Jim, unless none of them went for substantially less than asking, your statement is silly. Very elementary logic.
I’m not sure whether you’re stupid or mendacious. I’ll be kind and assume you’re stupid.
njrebear Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Eighty-five percent of those with payment-option loans currently owe more than they did when they originally took out the loan. And about 75 percent of these borrowers have been making the minimum payment.
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/chairman/spfeb2208.html
Pretty soon they will all be classified as Predatory loans and will be revised down or give all the money back to the homeowner.
That list just proves my point grim. Those houses did not sell for substantially less than their last asking price. I only look at the difference between the LLP and the sold price and, based on that, only 1 of those houses are a TRUE lowball. Sellers have to lower the price themselves. A buyer cannot “educate” the seller and force a lowball price down their throats.
Hey guys, regarding your dissection of Special Education Funding…don’t forget the Federal Government also kicks in a fair amount of financial support.
These childhood programs were started because what was discovered (when Early Intervention first started) was there was a huge benefit (mainly financial from the government’s standpoint) in providing services to children while their brains are still developing, versus paying for their needs as adults.
In all honesty, having spent several years surveying the children who receive services thru our school, they all have a need, the parents haven’t simply placed the child there for a little extra TLC. Many parents I know who have a child with a legitimate need, often pay out of pocket because they don’t want the diagnosis on the child’s records.
If you look at the huge increase in Autism rates over the last decade – nationwide, it would certainly explain the increase in SpEd funding. I bet if you broke out the Autism dollars spent vs. cerebral palsy and more “traditional” disabilities, the increase would be in the autism population.
Must be the water, it’s not the oil. Summit doesn’t even have a school bus pick up.
A lowball offer is when a buyer makes an offer for substantially less than the CURRENT asking price and the seller accepts.
RE 166
I guess a lot of people are taking your advice JIM[not a realtor}, population two years ago was down 100,000 people, the year before was 72,000 people. I am sure this year will even be more.
People love New Jersey, have deep roots here, but are being forced out by the high cost of living…do you wish to see the charts?
JIM
Longview sold for $289,000 under asking, Hobar sold for $124,000 under asking, and Bethany sold for $200,000 under asking.
You must be very wealthy if you don’t consider those sums “substantial”.
Is there even such a thing as a “true lowball”?
So what just happened?
A] The fed is going to cut again Monday morning.
B] Bailout
C] PPT
D] All of the above.
make,
thats why i like it
I am not wealthy, but I look at the % off asking, not the dollar amount. In my book, a “true loball” would be 15 Winterburn, Edgewater.
pret [135],
Don’t sell jersey short, regarding corruption. Just a brief sampling;
http://www.nj.com/corruption/stories/index.ssf?/corruption/stories/rogues_gallery.html
Don’t ever leave the former Boss, Frank Hague, JC, out of any corruption discussion. His salary never exceeded $8,500 yet he was estimated to be worth over $10M at the time of his death. I thought you were a Hudson County resident?
Present Boss- “Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings, And a king aint satisfied till he rules everything.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hague
JB, 182 in moderation. Two links?
Jim,
But I don’t understand, you just said it was a waste of time.
This is from the NYT article at this link
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/realestate/17njzo.html?ref=realestate
Renting Beats Buying (or Not)
At Dixon Mills, a condo conversion project in Jersey City that offers mostly one- and two-bedroom units, Jon Ha, the sales manager, detailed the scenario he typically presents to prospective buyers: A one-bedroom unit at the complex is priced at $329,000. With a 20 percent down payment, and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with 5.5 percent interest on the remaining $263,200, the monthly payment — including property tax and common charges — is $3,025. But when the tax savings on the mortgage deduction is figured in, the net payment is $1,869.
OK, I’ve never owned, I was ready with downpayment in hand in 2005, and we all know what happened then. I may or may not be in Clotpoll’s group who will never ever buy, (I still have that down payment – no LCD TV or $300 jeans for me). So I have a math question – could that statement be accurate? A $3025 monthy mortgage/tax/cc resulting in a net of $1869?
I said it is a wate of time becuase the number of accepted true lowball offers are very low. People win the lottery every mont, but I consider playing the lottery a waste of time because the odds of winning stink. What is not a waste of time, however, is to wait for the seller to lower the price THEMSELF. If you wait, your odds are much better.
For all the realtors out there, I have a simple question:
Where are all the foreclsoures (in Bergen COunty)? I keep hearing about all the skyrocketing foreclsoure rates, but I can’t find any of these foreclsures. I want to buy an REO, but only if I can pay 50% of market value. I spoke to 2 realtors and they recommended buying short sales, but I don’t want to deal with a private seller. In my opinion, I think banks give better deals.
Is Jim the new troll?
BC Bob,
I’m aware of the Hague story, but that was generations ago. Shows that while things might be bad today, they used to be much worse. Hague got away with everything.
Recent Hudson crew – Lindsley, Musto, Iceman, Russo, Barry, Janiszewski, and many other I don’t know about – had to do the time.
Star Ledger does a nice job on corruption.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/corruption_in_nj/
No, I am not a troll. Just a realist.
Jim,
What, you want them handed to you on a platter?
http://apps.indymacbank.com/Individuals/Realestate/Search.asp
http://www.banking.us.hsbc.com/HICServlet?cmd_PropertySearchDefault=cmd_PropertySearchDefault
http://www.premierereo.com/reo/consumerSvlt//nav/ConsumerNavL1.jsp/requestPage/consumer/PropertySearch.jsp
http://www.ocwen.com/reo/residential/res_reofindbystate.cfm?proptype=VA
http://mortgage.chase.com/pages/other/co_properties_landing.jsp
http://www.reoexperts.net/
http://www.countrywide.com/purchase/f_reo.asp
http://www.citimortgage.com/Mortgage/Oreo/SearchListing.do
http://bankofamerica.reo.com/search/
I have a solution on how to lower property taxes and fix the NJ budget: Stop paying cops over $100,000 a year. PROBLEM SOLVED. NEXT…
location, location, location. middle class has these:
1) condo
2) house near RVL (Somerville, Boundbrook, Dunellen!)
or MBL (Hacketstown, the ‘Congs, Dover!)
3) house with 2 of 3: septic, oil, well.
There’s plenty of pickins!
Thanks grim. I am just curious as to why none of you bloggers here have looked into foreclosures. I have been lurking here for quite a while, and I rarely hear REOs discussed.
Ray [185],
Approx 18K a year for taxes and common charges to live in a condo conversion with hooligans as neighbors?
Who says we don’t?
PGC just got himself a super REO deal in Bergen County…
Purchased 08/02/05 – $630,000
SOLD – 02/12/08 – $471,000
25% under 2005 purchase price, and he got a $10k repair credit to boot.
“So, I’m not going to tell you that I opened up my emails last night and still saw peak prices.”
In the good areas, I still see peak prices. Houses are not selling that far off of their peak prices. I saw a house in Ridgewood that was purchased for $1 million in 2005 and sold last October for $970,000.
That is a good deal. I’m having trouble locating good foreclsoures because I’m only looking in the snobby high falutent towns like Uppper Saddle River, Cresskill, etc. I just got off the phoen with a raltor and she tried to sell me a foreclsoure in Hudson County. Sorry lady, but I have better things to do than dodge bullets in the Jersey City Heights!
BC Bob
Don’t worry, I am not interested. The only hooligans I want to live near are blood relatives, and I have done that. My question was really about his math on the deductions. I have never owned, so have never seen the mortgage interest deduction first hand. Now I know there are tons of variables, but is his math reasonable?
[131] NJP…
Amen, brother!
I wonder if prices in Manhattan will ever go down. Inventory is up 22% over the last 6 months and prices are down slightly from the last quarter, but year over year prices keep going up.
Jim (NOT a Realtor),
I didn’t know YOU wrote the definition of what a low-ball offer is. I know many sellers who would disagree with your definition.
So you’re not going to submit any low-ball offers? Great strategy.
How long will we have to wait for you to contradict yourself this time?
And what does being in the legal field have to do with you being happy people leave the state so you’ll have less competition to buy distressed properties (which you won’t low-ball)?
I think your correct to worry about passing the bar.
NJrebear
Please do not confuse JIM and Jim{not a realtor}.
Two different people with separate ideas,although I do agree with him about overpaid police!
Ray,
It depends on your tax bracket.
In your example take the annual mortgage interest plus re taxes and deduct them. See what you come up with. Maintenance fees can not be deducted, unless it is investment property.
http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/buying_a_home_turbotax/article
I said I was in the legal fierld beause njpatient asked what I do for a living. Sorry you don’t like me lumping my thoughts and the answer to the question together in one post. And my situation is different because I only want to buy a house from a bank, not a private seller.
That Asparino needs to limit his reporting to after hours:
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080222/ambac_bailout.html
You talk about market manipulation
Cops in NYC make only $60,000 and, despite their low pay, there is no crime problem there. So the argument that politicians recite about the need to pay cops high salaries to keep crime down does not bear any weight.
207
There’s no crime in NYC? Are you kidding me?
Pepsi paying Xanadu guys $100 million to put Pepsi logo on the Xanadu ferris wheel.
http://www.globest.com/news/1099_1099/newjersey/168489-1.html
Maybe state should fix fiscal problem solely by selling ad space along Turnpike and Parkway.
I wonder how low rates will be dropped when this is all over. Why don’t they just get it over with and drop rates to 0% in one shot?
“I saw a house in Ridgewood that was purchased for $1 million in 2005 and sold last October for $970,000.”
Jimbo,
I guess the definition of “not bad” is relative.
If they paid a 4% realtor commission, they are down approx 100K in 2 years or less. Remember they are also out closing costs, in/out and of course the dreaded NJ realty transfer fee.
Every city has crime. Heck, even Alpine has crime. I just meant there is no crime epidemic. I don’t have to fear being mugged when I step out of the PA Bus terminal.
Why don’t they just get it over with and drop rates to 0% in one shot?
Au/Ag to the moon!
A buyer cannot “educate” the seller and force a lowball price down their throats.
Jim,
A potential buyer ( some one who makes an un accepted offer) educates the seller, it was those potential buyers that educated the seller’s first, it was the the actual buyer who gave them their diploma.
KL
Anybody have the listing history for:
#2491323
6 Sherwood Circle, Linden City (2909)
1 day on market, Green grass in lawn.
pret [209],
Just sell the naming rights. The Abu Dhabi Turnpike in NJ or the Temasek NJ Parkway.
Story time again…
I had just started out in business. (started with $100.00 bill, our 3rd month had gross receipts of $28.00…)
For several years we lived so frugally I grocery shopped every other week with $100.00 and had to keep the total calculated thru every aisle…
So we are gaining steam slowly when we hire a part-time helper. (I still have a shower curtain as a table cloth at this point…)
Part time guy is working just 2 weeks when his wife calls me. Tells me “not to tell him she called.” She proceedes to tell me she’s “got a little behind” in their bills and doesn’t have the nerve to tell him they’re about to be evicted (due to non-payment of rent for 7 months…).
She asks for an advance of his pay of like $3,000.00 to add to some other money she’s borrowing so she can catch up. I tell her I’ll see what I can do and tell her to call me again the next day.
Sitting in my newly rented space is a job (the ONLY JOB) for $5000.00 that when picked up and paid for, will leave me with a net profit of $800.00 I decide that I can stretch the vendor who supplied the raw materials and subsequently, loan her $2000.00
She calls the next day and IMMEDIATELY starts talking real fast (I literally had no time to even say “hello”) about how she’s got X amount borrowed from gramma and Y amount from dad and with the money “we’re gonna” loan her, she can pay about 5 months rent which will shut the landlord up and they’ll have enough leftover so she can take a vacation to the Poconos.
My response to her at that point was, “Sorry, we don’t have it…”
“Why don’t they just get it over with and drop rates to 0% in one shot?”
Jim,
Serious question. Are you a moron or just a simpleton?
Quan,
Sure do.
MLS# 2364870
Listed: 1/15/2007
OLP: $490,000
LP: $449,001
DOM: 168
Expired
MLS# 2429436
Listed: 7/24/2007
OLP: $389,900
LP: $369,900
DOM: 61
Withdrawn
*Rented @ $1,800/mo*
MLS# 2491323
Listed: 2/20/2008
OLP/LP: $349,000
DOM: 2
Active
Interesting remarks..
Owner Anxious Wants all REASONABLE OFFERS.
Jim
I guess you don’t hear the stories because you don’t live in NYC. Crime is alive and well.
thanks man!
Jim, not wanting to do the work for you, but heres a few.
762229 2/08/08 127 ACKERMAN AVENUE RIDGEWOOD 100 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC
762244 1/18/08 111 WORTENDYKE AVENUE EMERSON 100 the bank of new york as trustee for the holders of the ge-wmc asset-backed pass through certificates series 2005-1 under the appliable agreement
And a few to watch
761711 2/29/08 134 JEFFERSON AVENUE CRESSKILL 410553.09
762232 2/22/08 29 SUNRISE LANE UP SADDLE RIVER 191493.96
762319 2/29/08 1 HEMLOCK DRIVE CRESSKILL 1121953.88
762334 2/29/08 16 ORATAM ROAD UP SADDLE RIVER 1037603.58
762351 3/07/08 370 UPPER BOULEVARD RIDGEWOOD 664934.92
Whats your shopping list and price range, the options are endless.
Owner would have gotten REASONABLE OFFERS if they had listed at a REASONABLE ASKING PRICE in 2007.
Serious question. Are you a moron or just a simpleton
both!!
Jim{not a realtor}
This is what police make in my old neighborhood http://php.app.com/pfrs/results.php?last=&rest=&agency=MT+OLIVE+TOWNSHIP&group=Police&Submit=Search
Please note this is two years ago salaries and they have gotten aprox. 10% in those two years,plus free coffee and donuts, which I cannot understand, afterall they make enough to pay for it.
Short story, about 4 years ago Parsippany police arrested a vagrant at Quick Chek for stealing a loaf of bread, put him in jail. Ironically two weeks before that I was in the same Quick Chek, behind a police man , in uniform, who had 4 buttered rolls and 4 large coffees, clerk gives it to him free. I get waited on and tell clerk I would like to pay what he paid…his response ” the police watch our store”.
So it comes down to I pay for cops salary and his buttered rolls.
JIM
#212 Jim T
“Heck, even Alpine has crime.”
Kimberly Jones is just a misunderstood artist.
225
Why don’t we switch salaries between NYC cops and the suburbs? Would that be fair? Or in that case would NYC cops still not be worth those salaries?
174 sassy
The largest increases are in ADD, which coincided with the creation of Ritalin.
Sort of like the massive increase in awareness of cholesterol problems, which coincided with the creation of cholesterol-lowering drugs.
“In my book, a “true loball” would be 15 Winterburn, Edgewater.
Why don’t you tell us about 15 Winterburn, Edgewater, Jim (not a Realtor).
By the way, what do you do for a living?
NJPatient
re: 10% of NYC students being labeled special ed- NYC has overf 1M students in the school system. Also, spec ed covers a very wide range of services from self-contained classes to kids who may be in regular ed clases but have some kind of related service such as counseling, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech, etc.
“Jim (NOT a Realtor) Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I said it is a wate of time becuase the number of accepted true lowball offers are very low. People win the lottery every mont, but I consider playing the lottery a waste of time because the odds of winning stink.”
Wrong (your logic, that is, not just your grammar). Playing the lottery is a waste of time because the expected value of playing the lottery is profoundly negative. Unless NO lowball is EVER accepted, the expected value of lowballs is positive.
Simple math.
Simple logic.
For a simpleton.
“Is Jim the new troll?”
Clearly. He showed up the day of the Nightline story on scummy realtors lying about days-on-market, to defend the practice of scummy realtors lying about days-on-market (which he cares about profoundly even though he’s not a realtor (though he won’t say what he does)).
134 Kelly
Just to clarify, I believe that children with special needs have a right to an appropriate education.
I just have a problem with the funding mechanism and families flooding specific towns because they become well-known for providing specific services or out-of-district tuition packages. Again, I don’t blame the parents, just the set up.
Jim (not a realtor): wrong about BC foreclosures, wrong about REO discussions here. Facts don’t concern you, do they?
“By the way, what do you do for a living?”
patient,
Based on #197, probably a quant, specializing in monte carlo simulations.
This link is disturbing.
http://php.app.com/pfrs/search.php
I cant stomach these 6 figure salaries. This state is financially doomed.
“I wonder if prices in Manhattan will ever go down.”
Yes. When the downturn hits Manhattan full force, it will be worse there than it is in most other places.
“I don’t have to fear being mugged when I step out of the PA Bus terminal.”
I’ll give that about two more years, no more than that.
Kelly – the difference in perception is probably due in part to our differing experiences.
I know of a number of people pressured (mostly societally) to get their kids speech therapy and other forms of early intervention not because their kids had developmental issues or any form of disability but because, and I quote “if you wait too long THEY won’t cover it”. One friend in this position actually (an OB Gyn) had her 18 month old in speech for a few weeks till she woke up, put on her doctor hat instead of her pressured mommy hat, realized it was ridiculous and cancelled the whole thing. Her son is now 4 and wonderfully verbal. He didn’t need speech, he needed to grow at his own pace.
The early intervention race bothers me in that it encourages premature diagnoses in many cases. It is impossible to make the brain develop any faster than it is meant to and every kid is different. Behind in one thing at 2 doesn’t mean behind at 5.
That said, there are kids in my district who in many cases are severely disabled and/or have major developmental issues. I don’t doubt that there are children who truly need and benefit from the additional help, but there is a lot of waste.
“Based on #197, probably a quant, specializing in monte carlo simulations.”
LOL
Finally caught up to the “I’m in the legal field” post.
Paralegal it is.
njpatient,
Paralegal? How about barely legal?
Patient – have you gotten to where “Not a Realtor(TM)” is looking in highly flatulent towns?
ChiFi (81)-
Don’t apologize. This guy lives to smash his head against the wall.
Sassy – what does it mean that “they all need help”.
Kids are different. Some smart, some dumb. Some social butterflies, some shy. Some active, some couch potatoes. There has to be a line somewhere.
Are ADHD and autism rates up or are they being diagnosed more often? Will various forms of assistance actually perform a benefit to the society that is paying for them?
My daughter is clumsy. I’m sure dance classes would make her more graceful. Should I expect society to pay for it because she could use the help?
As a society perhaps we should be a little more forgiving of the differences and variations in people in general and in our kids. And save the special needs labels, and resources for those who truly need it.
sl (98)-
Thank God. They can’t get out fast enough. Good riddance…and, don’t come back in 7-8 years.
Of course, they will. Like hamsters on a treadmill.
Thanks PGC. I just spoke to my realtor about that house on Sunrise Lane in USR, and she said that the bank currently has it listed for $1.1 million. My max is $500,000. I will be able to afford more once I unload my ticking debt time bomb when the market improves. My area is getting clobbered right now becuase it is not that great.
She also said soimething interesting that, in order to buy a foreclosure in BC, you have to be “invited” to the sheriff’s auction and “bribe” someone to have your bid considered.
244 lisoosh
“Will various forms of assistance actually perform a benefit to the society that is paying for them?”
Great question.
make (104)-
Here’s what I’m bullish on:
-canning
-homemade munitions
-AUY, CDE, SLW, HOLX, MCD, VIVO, VIP, PCU, NOK, FWLT, DLB, WFR, ESRX, RRC, MON, MOS, POT, SQM
-distressed RE
Every disclaimer on Earth.
ChiFi (105)-
No title insurance? :)
(246),
In the mean time, now would be a good time for you to go outside your front door and shovel your parents driveway.
“”Jim (not a realtor): wrong about BC foreclosures, wrong about REO discussions here.””
Well, if I don’t know anything about RE, then that should prive once and for all I am not a realtor.
#135
Pretorios– you hit the nail on the head w/r/t to RI. I would live there if I could but it is simply economic suicide to do so.
I do think, however, that you overstate the differences between RI and the rest of the northeastern states. The most populous portions of RI are within 1 hr of Boston and the Rte 128 corridor. High paying jobs are within commutable distance and I think with the right policy changes it would be possible to lure many high tech businesses across the border, as NH has done. RI is also surrounded by the best universities in the world— to an even greater degree than NJ. As you mentioned, Narragansett Bay is vastly underutilized resource. Providence is among the nicest cities of its size in the nation. The bottom line is that I think there is a huge amount of potential there, but unfortunately most of the resources are devoured by gov’t workers, welfare recipients and the mob. It is truly a shame, but I am hopeful the present economic crisis there will cause everyone to wake up and demand better leadership
Jim (NOT a Realtor),
Most realtors don’t know anything about RE, so you’ve proved nothing.
Jim (246)-
In an absolute, open-outcry auction?
You and your agent must make a helluva team.
Clotpoll Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
make (104)-
dude: you are pulling a Heath Ledger on commodities and specialty chemicals….some of the more conventional non-steroided stuff is good though…
Yikes, some people here are quite hostile. I feel like I walked into the middle of a food fight.
ChiFi (255)-
I prefer to use the term Texas hedged.
Let’s just say I have real tight stops under this stuff. :)
So far, so good.
Anybody check out Diana Olick’s post about re-listing at CNBC?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23275875
Clotpoll Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
ChiFi (255)-
I prefer to use the term Texas hedged.
Let’s just say I have real tight stops under this stuff. :) So far, so good.
By the way, I see you are partial to pap-smears…
Re-listing featured on CNBC:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23275875
Jim (256)-
And, you’re not Bluto.
Manhattan does not have crime……
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02222008/news/regionalnews/mugger_attacks_man_in_midtown_98852.htm
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Interesting debate and topic.
Carol Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Interesting debate and topic.
Christmas:
Although you don’t need to misrepresent who you are.
Interesting, I don’t see any of my posts.
John (141)-
They should’ve hit you with a bat.
Skep-tic,
I’ve met a lot of people in NJ who are willing to travel 1 hour to work in Manhattan.
I don’t know a single person in RI who was willing to make a similar commute to Boston, even though the salary difference between RI and Boston is probably wider than NJ and Manhattan. I’m sure there are a few Rhode Islanders who do it, but most people in Rhode Island won’t consider looking for jobs that are more than 30 minutes away.
HUUUUUGE difference in commuting mindset between RI and NJ.
I agree that RI has potential to improve its economy and attract good jobs. First, a lot of people move to RI to attend college and simply retaining more of these kids would result in a brain gain. Second, as you pointed out, Rhode Island is located in the sea of wealth that extends from Boston to Washington.
The income tax (was 25% of federal making it highest state rate in country) has already been cut, so there is some progress. The next step is to eliminate programs like this.
http://www.dhs.state.ri.us/dhs/famchild/dfipgm.htm
By the way, these folks get free bus passes. Imagine what NJ Transit and the PATH would be like if every person in NJ with welfare recipient in their family got to ride for free.
“Patient – have you gotten to where “Not a Realtor(TM)” is looking in highly flatulent towns?”
I did, ‘soosh – that post had me rolling on the floor in hysterics.
Jim (187)-
For so many reasons, you are a troll and a spectacular idiot.
“My daughter is clumsy. I’m sure dance classes would make her more graceful. Should I expect society to pay for it because she could use the help?”
Another commonality – my oldest injures herself while sleeping. We’ve sent her to dance classes. We paid.
Patient – she falls out of bed all the time.
I decided not to bother with dance. No flexibility and can’t keep time, I know a lost cause when I see it…..
Went with tennis lessons instead.
My son however has seen the inside of more emergency rooms than I care to think about. He even managed to bite his tongue partially through. THAT was nasty. And they won’t sew it because with kids it is too difficult and painful to make it worth while unless it is basically hanging off. Lucky the boy likes oatmeal.
“Yikes, some people here are quite hostile.”
Jim (Paralegal)
I regard folks who advocate lying to consumers as inherently hostile. Pot/kettle, etc.
And if it isn’t god ole’ Mr. Chicago Finance, the #1 most hated person on Kannekt! Unlike you guys, I have plenty of sheeple fans on Kannekt!
pay the cops 200K a year and take away their pension, free medical for life and exess vacation and sick days and it would be cheaper than the 100K they make. Remember most people work 40 years, cops work 20 so you are paying the working cop and the retired cop at the same time.
Clotpoll (269)
Thank you for that great and wonderful comment. It is sad that you have nothing better to do than to troll around the internet insulting other people.
Great. Jim’s a Kannekt klown. A Toll tool.
This guy’s actuallly making me have warm feelings toward ReTard.
Clot[248],
DBA?
I am surprised anyone hires you as their realtor Mr. Hughes while you continue to insult other people who have done nothing to you.
“Jim
I guess you don’t hear the stories because you don’t live in NYC. Crime is alive and well.”
I used to live in a mean part of the city, FYI.
We should stop paying cops overtime. Paying them time and a half to babysit stop signs is a waste of money!
A “Toll tool”? What? You mean I work for Toll Brothers? How about we have a meaningful discussion instead of contantly insulting other people or trying to guess who does what for a living.
281 – Well it’s already been established that you can’t even agree with yourself, so what kind of meaningful discussion is possible?
Used to does not equal now.
Jim (NOT a Realtor) Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
And if it isn’t god ole’ Mr. Chicago Finance, the #1 most hated person on Kannekt! Unlike you guys, I have plenty of sheeple fans on Kannekt!
Is that true? I really haven’t posted more than a handful of things in over a 1 1/2 years.
I think it is really that Ira Donald Duck guy who somehow managed to getted banned by grim….which is a freakin’ trick…
Jim (Paralegal)
We’re trying to have a meaningful discussion, but it keeps getting interrupted by your posts.
Get a basic understanding of math and logic, and perhaps some day you, too, will be able to contribute.
Does one of you guys follow this one?
Genentech
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=arfpSr.Bqdqc&refer=us
chi
yes
So, Corzine says he does not have enough votes to get the toll increase plan passed and he is now talking about a new plan. Massive spending cuts and will introduce that plan next week.
http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5856045&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Funtimes down in Trenton. Corzine will walk away with his Toll plan intact since there is no way the legislators are going to cut benefits and services.
Can anyone tell me where #2472354 is located in Montclair?
Thanks!
BC (277)-
Not an ETF fan. Unless it’s to short XHB. :)
re: #6 (grim)
From what I see, the foreclosure rate in Bergen COunty has remianed rather low. I think the problem is being exaggerated by the media.
So I don’t understnad math and logic? Interesting, is that why I sold my last place for a 6 digit profit? Your right, I don’t know math. Poor me. 1+1=3
Jim (278)-
Your drivel keeps appearing before my eyes; therefore, you have done something to me.
The biggest confirmation we have here that things are headed in one direction is that the bulls who stray in have absolutely no game at all. You’re just the latest in a string of lamea$$ flamers and trolls taking up bandwidth with your “flatulence”.
#246 Jim
“She also said soimething interesting that, in order to buy a foreclosure in BC, you have to be “invited” to the sheriff’s auction and “bribe” someone to have your bid considered.
”
This statement says a lot about you, your realtor is an idiot, but they are still smarter than you.
Jim (281)-
“How about we have a meaningful discussion instead of contantly insulting other people or trying to guess who does what for a living.”
You’ve shown yourself incapable of meaningful discussion; hence, it’s (once again) bait-the-troll time.
At least my “idiot” realtor does not troll around njrereport all day long insulting other people like a 5th grader. Mr. Hughes is one angry person! And I don’t believe what she said. She said that there are no foreclosures in any of the good towns, yet I was able to find plenty of foreclosures in Cresskill and Sadle River on the sheriff’s website.
#287,
If Corzine gets this passed he would be my favorite governor but the chances are slim.
Trenton is addicted to blowing my money away.
I am waiting for someone to start a meaningful discussion, but the only thing I see is you insulting me Snotpoll. I came to this site to learn how to by REOs, but instead I feel like I walked into a boxing match.
ChiFi (285)-
In and out of DNA probably 10 times. Great company, great products. However, Avastin can never hit the number, so quarter-after-quarter, the stock does a Sisyphus: beat down on the earnings report, recover, get beat down again.
Watch now. They’ll raise the bar yet again on Avastin, and once again, it’ll come up short.
your mom!
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/02/this-week-on–1.html
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/01/this-week-on-fo.html
Jim (295)-
My glee in insulting you does not make me an angry person.
I don’t think prices will fall that much in Manhattan. Inventory there is rather tight and they have lots of foreign buyers.
Jim (297)-
Grim posted a host of REO resources for you earlier. Since you’re a 6-figure profiteer, the rest is pretty easy:
-Find REO. Virtually all of them are listed in an MLS. If you’re really sharp, you may find a bank who will sell you one before they place it on the MLS with a Realtor.
-Place offer on REO. Your brainiac sidekick should be great at this.
-Negotiate with bank.
-Go thru escrow.
-Close.
Any questions?
I’m always long on Lehmans.
http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=4071&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=washer
unmod 299 please, its insulting like the other posts.
Thank you Clot. My ultimate goal is to get an REO before it gets on the MLS so I won’t have to compete with anybody. How do I find out which bansk own the houses on the Bergen County sheriff’s website? Is this something realtors have access to, or do I need to call the sheriff’s office?
#295 Troll
“And I don’t believe what she said. She said that there are no foreclosures in any of the good towns, yet I was able to find plenty of foreclosures in Cresskill and Sadle River on the sheriff’s website.
”
So you admit she does not know what she is talking about, but she’s still your realtor. I think I see your problem. At least one of them.
Jim (304)-
Everybody’s ultimate goal is to make a score against a desperate owner in a non-competitive sales environment. I’d also like to play center mid for Newcastle.
Banks may be desperate to unload inventory these days, but they’re far from stupid. That’s why they list the properties they take back.
Your best shot is to track the properties as they go back to the lender from the sheriff sale. Try to hit them before they get processed out to an agent. If you can do drive-bys on the houses, the ones that are the most trashed are good candidates to be bought straight from the bank; you could represent a way for them not to have to rehab the house and make a quick deal.
Jim (NOT a Realtor),
Kannekt…. BWWAHHAAAHHAHAHAAAAAHHA!!!!!
Ann and Lisoosh –
One of the reasons special needs children congregate in the better towns is that it is much easier and more immediate to just move to a better district. In the first half of the decade that was very easy to do – I know quite a few people who moved around to get in a program or services that a certain township offered.
The fact is even if ones district and school board agrees to a program, from conception to implementation takes several years. For alot of these kids that is just too long and a big if – if it can all work out.
At the end my husband and I calculated we spent $10K on our fight and just over 1 year – we budgeted spending up to $25K and two years then we were going to have to look to relocate. In the end we decided to keep a lawyer on retainer until he graduates or ages out of school.
On a second note with special ed – all a teacher needs is a generic special ed degree. When my son had a teacher who had experience with autism-specific needs he would make great progress. When his teacher was more of a multiple disabilities teacher he regressed.
The future of Real Estate = Cuba
Time to join the Buena Vista Social Club.
Who else wants to get in on the ground floor?
does this kind of thing happen only in the Soprano State?
NEWARK (AP) — An Internal Revenue Service agent was sentenced Thursday to 34 months in prison for tax evasion and fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The agent, Bohdan Senyszyn, 50, of Roxbury, pleaded guilty in September to helping a real estate developer avoid taxes and to failing to pay taxes on money he embezzled from the developer. U.S. District Judge William J. Martini also ordered Senyszyn to pay a $12,500 fine and to serve five years of supervised release after completion of his prison sentence. Martini ordered Senyszyn into custody immediately.
As an IRS employee assigned to the agency’s office in Paterson, Senyszyn was responsible for auditing large and mid-size businesses in New Jersey. He was suspended without pay in February 2005 and indicted in April 2006.
Prosecutors said the scheme began in 2002, when Senyszyn agreed to assist a friend, identified as D.H., a real estate developer in Sussex County. Senyszyn admitted he provided tax and business services to D.H. in violation of IRS rules in exchange for home improvements done by D.H.
Senyszyn said he created a series of companies, partnerships and a trust to conceal his embezzlements from D.H.
In his plea agreement, Senyszyn stipulated that his schemes cost the government nearly $720,000 in lost tax revenue.
I miss Donald… did he ever sell his house?
That should be easy, buy a house today with nothing down and when prices fall 25% you will be the first to know your home is being foreclosed.
Jim (NOT a Realtor) Says:
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Thank you Clot. My ultimate goal is to get an REO before it gets on the MLS so I won’t have to compete with anybody. How do I find out which bansk own the houses on the Bergen County sheriff’s website? Is this something realtors have access to, or do I need to call the sheriff’s office?
Being a good school district is a bad thing nowdays, two autistic kids street signs went up in my neighborhood this year because people are moving in. The worst place is Port Washington LI, they have fantastic special ed programs and people are moving from all over to get in and taxes are through the roof.
#308
To continue… there seems to be a misconception on the board that there’s some sort of financial gain or handout for having a child classified as SpEd or disabled. Last year alone my out of pocket medical expenses (after insurance, that yes I pay for myself) was 40K. No government entity is going to miraculously appear and pay my medical bills. Yep, that’s just 1 year’s worth of expenses. This is for a minimally disabled child. Yep, I am in debt up to my eyeballs. No this is not for frivolous dance classes (I only wish my kid could take a frivolous dance class to “correct” her clumsiness), that I can have a doctor prescribe as a ruse to make this a medical deduction. And, frankly, I wish I could say there was an end in sight, but nope, there isn’t. Plenty of parents go bankrupt trying to take care of their handicapped kids. Luckily I earn a great salary in a recession proof job – with bosses who are very tolerant and understanding of the time required taking care of a disabled child, it’s the only thing keeping me barely above water.
No agency has offered to find me a handicapped accessible home or apartment, or to make my current situation more accessible, or pay for my living expenses. No government entity is buying me a handicapped accessible vehicle. Nor do I expect them to.
And, it’s a really, really demeaning process to have to prove your child “worthy” of services thru the Board of ED. Services are not handed out on silver platters (well maybe in NJ, certainly not in NYC). You have to have medical back up, and be a good advocate for your child to just receive the bare bone basics. Then you can only pray you have service personnel who are qualified and experienced enough to care for your child.
Hmmm… maybe I should just buy a place, heloc the cr@p out of it to pay off my medical expenses, and wait for gov’t to pay off my mortgage. (just kidding!!!).
prof (311)-
Just point me to the cigars.
Pinar del Rio!
108 Eric
Hysterical!