From the Wall Street Journal:
Where Home Prices Are Holding Up
By JEFF D. OPDYKE
May 20, 2008; Page D1
Downtown: It’s been among the safest places to hide from the housing downturn.
Much has been made of the way the nation’s real-estate bust is affecting some American cities far more than others. But even within a single metro area, changes in housing prices can show wild variations.
And in big cities, prices in the central cores often fare the best. Far-flung suburbs — where home building exploded in recent years — have more typically gotten hammered. In between is a patchwork of established suburbs and city neighborhoods peripheral to downtown that can be all over the map in terms of price declines — or even increases.
…
For today’s buyers, all this means that shopping for housing bargains is increasingly complicated. The best deals may be where prices have slid the most, but such areas could easily fall a good bit more before hitting bottom. Meanwhile, you’ll get few bargains if you buy a home in San Francisco or Manhattan or downtown Boston. Of course, if the housing crisis broadens, the central core areas also could see price drops.
…
While New York’s commuter market — which includes suburban New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — is down about 8% from its peak in mid-2006, much of Manhattan continues humming along. Neighborhoods such as SoHo, the Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Murray Hill, the Upper West Side and Harlem are all up in the past year, according to DataQuick’s Zip Code analysis.Bidding wars still happen. Toni Haber, an executive vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, a New York City real-estate firm, says 60 people waited in line recently at an open house to view a three-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village. The owner had four competing offers within the week, and agreed to sell for about $2.5 million — $300,000 over the asking price.
Part of the city’s strength comes from the fact that few buyers were investing in properties to flip them. Moreover, many apartment buildings in New York aren’t condominiums but co-ops, which impose financial demands on potential buyers far more rigorous than banks do — which helps keep the number of foreclosures down. In addition, foreign investors have been exploiting the weak dollar by grabbing Manhattan real estate.
One area of weakness: the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, where median prices are down, in part because of an abundance of new construction in the area.
Those areas of Brooklyn that are close to Manhattan are also holding up well. On the periphery, places like Jamaica, Queens; parts of the Bronx; and nearby New Jersey towns such as Jersey City and Hoboken are off between 3% and 14%.
Farther out, popular commuter towns like Summit and New Providence, N.J., are down at much as 16%. Pockets of suburban strength do exist, though. High-end suburbs in New York’s Westchester County such as Chappaqua are up over the past year.
From the Star Ledger:
NJ lawmaker seeks repeal of U.S. ban on sports betting
A prominent state legislator said today New Jersey should sue to overturn the federal ban on sports betting — and if the Corzine administration won’t do it, he’ll go to court himself.
“If it chooses not to take up this cause, I will file suit myself on behalf of plaintiffs with standing to challenge the federal law,” said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), an attorney.
David Wald, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office, said he had no comment on Lesniak’s request.
Lesniak spoke at a 90-minute hearing by the Senate Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee on proposals to legalize sports betting at New Jersey casinos and horse racing tracks.
In 1993, New Jersey passed on a chance to legalize sports betting before enactment of a federal law that banned it in every state except Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana. Betting is actually conducted only in Nevada.
From the NY Daily News:
Foreclosures affect Bronx homeowners
Devon Honeyghan spent $25,000 renovating the kitchen of his Bronx house in preparation for selling it and moving to Georgia.
But two “For Sale” signs and an abandoned house standing all in a row across the street have him doubting he will make any of his money back.
Honeyghan, a 42-year-old livery cab driver, lives in Wakefield, the working-class northeast Bronx neighborhood hit hardest by the mortgage foreclosure crisis.
Statistics released this month by the Center for Responsible Lending show the value of nearly 400,000 homes in the Bronx has dropped $4.9 billion because of surrounding foreclosed homes.
From the NY Sun:
Layoffs Feared as Lehman Brothers Cuts Back
Employees at Lehman Brothers trudged into work yesterday terrified they would be next to join the thousands of bankers in recent months who, after receiving a dreaded call from their human resources department, never returned to their desks.
“Two people were let go in our group this morning, and from what I can tell, it isn’t close to being over,” one Lehman Brothers employee based in New York, who did not have authority to speak on the record, said. “There are no grand goodbyes, it’s more like the HR … just comes in and the next thing you know, they are gone.”
Yesterday marked the start of the latest round of layoffs for the fourth-largest American securities firm by market value, with some 1,400 jobs expected to be cut. This is on top of the 5,000 jobs the firm has already eliminated in the past 10 months.
From the NY Times:
Economic Tide Is Rising for Repo Man
So many people have so many things they can no longer afford. This is an excellent time to be a repo man.
When a boat owner defaults on his loan, the bank hires Jeff Henderson to seize its property. The former Army detective tracks the boat down in a backyard or a marina or a garage and hauls it to his storage area and later auctions it off. After nearly 20 years in the repossession business, Mr. Henderson has never been busier.
“I used to take the weak ones,” he said. “Now I’m taking the whole herd.”
…
Last year, as real estate faltered, the gears went into reverse. The number of boats sold fell 8 percent. Many boats are fuel hogs, and rising gasoline and diesel prices meant a weekend jaunt could cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Owners found they could not sell a boat for what they owed and could not refinance either.
The solution for some is simply to stop paying on Jersey Dreamin’ or Just Do It or Bally Hoo. Then one day they come home and it is gone.
From the Daily Record:
Parsippany housing inspector guilty of taking cash from contractor
A Parsippany housing inspector who allegedly accepted a $5,000 bribe from a contractor pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court.
Thomas Seibel, 59, of Parsippany, faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced Oct. 3.
Seibel’s conviction was the second in three months of a Parsippany official on federal charges. In February, former planning board attorney John J. Montefusco Sr. pleaded guilty to illegally aiding a local developer in exchange for real estate discounts and other benefits for himself and family members.
…
Seibel admitted meeting in his home with an unnamed contractor last July and agreeing to accept $5,000 in exchange for exempting certain projects from regulation and inspection, according to his plea agreement. The contractor was identified in court papers only as a “cooperating witness” living in Pennsylvania involved with several projects in the Parsippany area.
I’d like to know whether the folks that purchased a Seibel inspected home know about this. Imagine buying a new home only to find out that it hadn’t been inspected, likely because the builder took shortcuts that will fail to meet code.
From the Asbury Park Press:
Surf’s up, and it’s not good vibration
Big waves from hurricanes have gotten bigger off the East Coast in recent decades, a study says. And that’s bad news for people who live along the oceanfront, boaters and others in the line of fire.
“I wouldn’t want to have a house on . . . an East Coast beach, knowing what I know,” said Paul D. Komar, emeritus professor of oceanography at Oregon State University.
“The hazards are getting worse and worse” along the coastline, meaning people should build houses farther from the water or elevate them if they want them to last 50 years, Komar said.
He and another researcher analyzed wave heights at three buoys in deep water more than 170 miles off Charleston, S.C., Cape Hatteras, N.C., and Cape May. And they found that summer waves that already were about 10 feet or higher and linked to hurricanes in fact grew even larger from 1975 to 2005.
The increase was nearly 6 feet off Charleston, about 2.3 feet off Cape Hatteras and about 1.6 feet off Cape May. The largest waves exceeded 33 feet, up from about 23 feet years ago.
From Bloomberg:
Soros Sees Recessions Looming as `Acute Phase’ of Crisis Passes
Billionaire investor George Soros said the “acute phase” of the global credit crisis is over, and the fallout will lead to recessions in the U.K. and the U.S.
“Financial institutions have been severely damaged and we are currently in a situation that will probably, I think almost inevitably, result in a recession certainly in the United States and most likely in England also,” he said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 today.
From MarketWatch:
Home Depot net drops 66% on charge, housing market
Home Depot said first-quarter net income dropped 66% to $356 million, or 21 cents a share, hurt by a $543 million charge on the recently announced closing of 15 stores and removal of 50 stores from the future growth pipeline and declining sales. Sales fell 3.4% to $17.91 billion, with same-store sales down 6.5%.
…
“The housing and home improvement markets remained difficult in the first quarter; in fact, conditions worsened in many areas of the country,” CEO Frank Blake said.
From MarketWatch:
Credit Suisse ups oil price estimates
Credit Suisse said it’s upping its oil price estimates, to $120 a barrel this year, $110 a barrel in 2009 and $100 a barrel long term. The brokerage previously expected $91 a barrel oil this year, $90 in 2009 and $75 over the longer term. “Oil demand has disappointed IEA expectations for the last four years. Supply has disappointed more, but investors continue to overestimate the supply-side response. The longer Saudi (Arabia) do not respond by increasing output sufficiently, the more likely it becomes that they simply do not have enough spare capacity to do so,” the brokerage said.
grim (1)-
“A prominent state legislator said today New Jersey should sue to overturn the federal ban on sports betting — and if the Corzine administration won’t do it, he’ll go to court himself.
“If it chooses not to take up this cause, I will file suit myself on behalf of plaintiffs with standing to challenge the federal law,” said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), an attorney.”
Move over, Mother Teresa. Sen. Lesniak is my new hero!
Dreaming of my future Sundays:
1. Go to Meadowlands sports book.
2. Place wager against Jets.
3. Drink.
4. Go to game.
5. Get paid for my suffering.
All trendy areas are up. These are the same people who bought the i-phone at $500.00
From my own selfish self interests, keep the betting banned!
non-farm US population-employment ratio
http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~jfrankel/blog/images/employment_to_pop_ratio.jpg
From the WSJ Deal Journal:
Banker Takes a Birthday Ticket to Hong Kong
For his birthday, Credit Suisse is giving Vikram Gandhi a ticket to Hong Kong. The global head of Credit Suisse’s financial institutions group, who turned 46 on Tuesday, has become the latest senior investment banker to leave New York to run a global business from outside of the U.S.
New York has long been the nerve center for global deal makers, even those working for banks whose home is outside of the U.S., like Zurich-based Credit Suisse. According to an internal Credit Suisse memo, while Mr. Gandhi “will continue to oversee the business in the Americas and maintain key client relationships, he will spend considerably more time in Asia and Europe going forward.” Rival Deutsche Bank’s global equity-trading head, Noreddine Sebti, also recently moved to Hong Kong from New York.
The appeal of basing senior business heads in Hong Kong is the growing realization that in a less-leveraged world, cash-rich Asian companies and government-backed investment funds are starting to catch up to U.S. blue chips and private equity firms in investment-banking fee potential. These new clients want high-level attention and bankers aware of opportunities available in the U.S. and Europe. Transplants from New York are also eager to try their hand at Asia’s growth-fueled potential, rather than deal with the mess of unwinding U.S. deals cut at the height of the credit bubble.
A quick look at the numbers shows the shifting tide toward Asia. Deals involving financial institution targets in Asia are 55% higher so far this year at $20.9 billion, versus $13.5 billion over the same period last year, according to Dealogic data. For the U.S., such deals have cratered, falling from $121.3 billion to just $34.6 billion.
London is also strengthening its position in global investment banking vis-à-vis New York. Last month, Deutsche Bank put both co-heads of M&A in London. Previously one had been in London and one in New York. The heads of M&A at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are based in London.
From the WSJ:
Government Again Raises
Forecast for Food Prices
By SCOTT KILMAN
May 20, 2008; Page A3
The government raised its one-month-old forecast of how much food prices will rise in 2008 by half a percentage point to a range of 4.5% to 5.5%.
The forecast released Monday by the Agriculture Department is the third consecutive month the agency has raised its food-inflation forecast by half a percentage point. With the latest increase, the food-inflation forecast is approaching levels not seen in the U.S. since 1990, when food prices climbed 5.8%. Food prices rose 4% last year.
For consumers, the forecast signals that the typical household will probably pay about $350 more for the same basket of goods they bought last year. The federal government also faces higher budget costs for nutrition programs that feed millions of Americans.
Since we’re spending $194.1 billion on Iraq, why not spend $300 billion to bail out housing speculators? At least the money will stay in the US and help our economy not Iraq.
Senate loads war funding bill with domestic programs
The Senate war funding bill combines $194.1 billion in spending over 2008-2009 for war funding
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080520/ap_on_go_co/congress_iraq_funding
Billionaire investor George Soros said the “acute phase” of the global credit crisis is over, and the fallout will lead to recessions in the U.K. and the U.S.
“Financial institutions have been severely damaged and we are currently in a situation that will probably, I think almost inevitably, result in a recession certainly in the United States and most likely in England also,” he said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 today.
Funny how George Soros isn’t looked at in the same vein as Warren Buffet, after all this was someone who is famous for his bet against the pound sterling (some suggest that it wasn’t a bet so much as Soros undermining the currency). Buffet has an almost grandfatherly persona, while no one can stand Soros. The main difference is that Soros is a liberal dope smoking dirtbag who has tried to interfere in our elections. I don’t doubt that Soros is doing something to support the Osama campaign.
There are some people who should not be allowed a voice in the public debate. Soros is a good candidate.
Miller rips Larry Yun and Dick “I wish this wasn’t my real name” Gaylord over at Matrix:
http://matrix.millersamuel.com/?p=1582
Northern Trust:
Index of Leading Indicators – Premature to Rule out Recession
http://web-xp2a-pws.ntrs.com/content//media/attachment/data/econ_research/0805/document/dd051908.pdf
Funny how George Soros isn’t looked at in the same vein as Warren Buffet, after all this was someone who is famous for his bet against the pound sterling (some suggest that it wasn’t a bet so much as Soros undermining the currency). Buffet has an almost grandfatherly persona, while no one can stand Soros. The main difference is that Soros is a liberal dope smoking dirtbag who has tried to interfere in our elections. I don’t doubt that Soros is doing something to support the Osama campaign.
Soros has supported many good causes including the Solidarity movement in Poland. Bringing Poland out of Communist control was a huge gain for the country & the people. It had an extremely positive effect on everyone living there today. You should be happy that you live in a country where you can freely speak your mind and purchase anything you want, otherwise you’d be wiping your sorry rump with the hand you type with.
Any man who makes a billion in one day is hated by many people, but the fact is, he took a risk and it paid off.
In any case, Soros has an extremely valid point in that article if you cared to read the whole thing:
Soros told the BBC in a separate interview that the U.K. central bank’s actions were “like a Greek tragedy” because it couldn’t lower its rate until too late. He urged central bankers worldwide to focus on fighting what he called asset bubbles, such as the boom in U.K. house prices, rather than bailing out the financial industry whenever it got into trouble.
-R
Northern Trust:
In the Eye of the Economic Hurricane
http://web-xp2a-pws.ntrs.com/content//media/attachment/data/econ_research/0805/document/us0508.pdf
“There seems to be sentiment developing that the U.S. has weathered the worst of the current cyclical economic storm and blue skies are ahead. We disagree. Any blue skies you see are likely to be short lived. The economy is in the relative calm of the eye of the business-cycle hurricane. The mortgage credit problems are not over.”
Grim:
Two posts are in mod. 21 and 23. These are excellent reads with nice charts!!!
Richie don’t be baited by the Retard.
I like gambling just as much as the next guy, but why do state governments turn to the lottery and gambling to raise revenues?
Gambling is regressive and invites a lot of negatives that have long term costs associated with them.
Just once, I would like to see our local, state or federal government make cuts to their own size.
So how long before the reciprocity to the African American will be to allow them to open casinos? It works so well for our Native Americans, didn’t it?
Sheesh!
Grim…What’s up? my #26 is in mod as well. I give up :(
Re the Gold Coast get together, I recommend the Hudson Tavern or City Bistro in hoboken. They are both near the Toll Bros projects in Hoboken. Perhaps we can do a group open house tour and bait the real estate agents?
PPI is ugly.
From MarketWatch:
U.S. April PPI up 0.2% vs. 0.4% expected
U.S. April core PPI up 0.4% vs. 0.2% expected
U.S. PPI up 6.5% in past year
U.S. core PPI up 3% in past year, most in 17 years
Can’t wait until the pundits point to the headline to claim that inflation is “tame”.
I think I understand the game now. When headline runs hot, point to the core as evidence of “low inflation”. When core runs hotter, you just point to the headline.
It is impossible for any state, local pol. to talk about cuts in salaries, pensions, benefits because ,,,, its all the same nest.
even codey is getting on the bandwagon,,, opening a saloon in newark,,,
feather the nest.
From Bloomberg:
Core Producer Prices in U.S. Rose More Than Forecast in April
Prices paid to U.S. producers excluding food and fuel rose more than forecast in April, reflecting gains in automobile and furniture costs and indicate inflationary pressures will continue to be a concern.
The 0.4 percent gain in so-called core prices was twice as big as anticipated and followed a 0.2 percent increase in March, the Labor Department said today in Washington. A drop in energy costs and unchanged food expenses held overall prices to a 0.2 percent gain.
Soaring raw material costs may force companies to raise prices to protect profits. The increases may heighten concern among Federal Reserve policy makers that prior increases in food and fuel costs will filter through the economy even as growth slows.
“Back in the producer pipeline, there’s still a lot of inflationary pressures from materials,” Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial in Pittsburgh, said before the report.
Oh I was reading 19 and then I realized whom it was from…
You really need a hobby, about about creative suicide?
Nom Deplume (#78) May 19th 10:12 AM
I too see a correlation between the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that did away with the one-time 55 and older exemption and rollover provision in favor of the 250T/500T rule regarding capital gains taxes.
Follow the money…
Our R/E run up and turnover began 2 years later – 1999. It seemed to have sparked the speculative nature of R/E here in CA. More folks buying/selling and with each sale came a price increase.
But it was the liar loans and the 125% loans – the “who cares if you don’t have the income to support the payment” situation that is causing all of the repos.
I wonder – was the 2004 Greenspan speech a way to say “hey, everyone can get in on this make a fortune situation of living in your place 2 of 5 years, selling and pocketing the profit to use for whatever purpose you want….by then, the Taxpayer Relief Act had been around for 7 years and many here were clearly profiting. Then, everyone wanted in…Just hold onto the place a few years – watch it go up and BINGO – a fortune was to be made…well, many did make money from 1997 to 2005 anyway.
From Bloomberg:
Fannie Mae Risk to U.S. Government Rises, SocGen Says
The U.S. government’s support of Fannie Mae, the country’s largest mortgage-finance company, poses “a worry” for Treasuries in the absence of an economic recovery, analysts at Societe Generale SA said.
The “measure of the contingent liability of the U.S. government is rising very sharply,” analysts led by Ciaran O’Hagan wrote in a note to clients today.
Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded Fannie Mae’s so- called risk-to-the-government rating by one step to A+ from AA- to reflect its “weak earnings and pressured capital ratios.” S&P at the same time affirmed the top AAA rating on the company’s bonds, citing its “strong explicit and implicit support” from the U.S. government.
re bonehead101
Buffet is supporting Obama.
GTG 2nd weekend in June? Pretty Please????
Fed’s Kohn signals intention to hold rates steady
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B3BA98A82%2D50B1%2D487C%2DBF2E%2D505EA1DDE8F1%7D&siteid=mktw
>>
“Fool me once Shame on you Fool me twice Shame on me.”
I’ll be in Texas on the 6th and 7th (yee-haw).
I’ll be able to do Friday the 13th or the 14th.
The ppi numbers were terrible. Credit card defaults (as predicted) are rising rapidly.
Oil $127, Gold $900, 30-year conforming mortgage still at 5.8%. National housing price declines not showing any sign of slowing.
Unemployment claims creeping upwards.
Bernanke’s ‘Great Delay’ is running out of steam and the FEDs gun is almost out of bullets.
I’m thinking this amazing bear market rally will catch up to reality of our imploding economy by the fall.
#19 rediaperwipe: There are some people who should not be allowed a voice in the public debate. Soros is a good candidate.
So now you are a Fascist.
Friday the 13th.
How Grim ;)
Grim – Stu and I are in for either of those 2 days.
grim,
I’m up for those two days, also.
It looks like South Orange is fast becoming the foreclosure/short sale capital of Essex County!
Just got my 3rd distressed listing up on the hill in 2 weeks via GSMLS (2514254). This one’s a short sale where the bank is willing to take $575,000. It was just assessed during the reval at $690,100. Taxes will drop $4,000 from the revaluation, but they’re still at over 15k.
Last sale was back in 2001 for $475k, so I guess this is another case of the owner HELOCing themselves into foreclosure.
#45 gary: Me too.
19. reinvestor101 Says:
I don’t doubt that Soros is doing something to support the Osama campaign.
Warren Buffett, the world’s richest man, is backing Barack Obama in the White House race, as he tells CNN’s Becky Anderson.
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2008/05/20/anderson.intv.buffett.obama.cnn
Friday the 13th, I like the sound of that.
Or the 14th. Flag Day. RE101 can wrap himself in one and show up.
#20 Watched the “interview”. It was disgusting.
43 – How appropriate; I think we should finalize Friday the 13th of June as the next Grim GTG!
It looks like South Orange is fast becoming the foreclosure/short sale capital of Essex County!
A surprising number of short sales in Bloomfield as well.
#51 – Grim
How do the taxes look in Bloomfield? The area bordering Glen Ridge is decent IMO.
Grim,
I know it’s anecdotal, but I think this autumn will reveal the first signs that this area is not immune to what the 4 horsemen (Florida, Arizona, California, Michigan) are currently going through. I’m seeing more and more houses being listed with lower prices than offered in the past 3 to 4 years and they are not selling. Consumers are tapped! With gas prices approaching $4 and their ability to maintain minimum payments on their outrageous debts (personal borrowing is at record highs) is getting tougher (inflation) as wages don’t keep up.
How do the taxes look in Bloomfield? The area bordering Glen Ridge is decent IMO.
Better than Glen Ridge, for sure.
I’ve heard anecdotal stories of Glen Ridge residents moving to areas near the GR border in Bloomfield post graduation.
Stonehouse is a good example. One side of the street in GR (evens), the other side in Bloomfield (odds).
You can cut your tax bill tremendously simply by moving across the street.
Of course, you don’t get access to the GR school system.
Property taxes
Glen Ridge
74 Stonehouse – $14,642
80 Stonehouse – $16,593
90 Stonehouse – $19,044
92 Stonehouse – $18,107
94 Stonehouse – $16,234
Bloomfield
73 Stonehouse – $10,496
77 Stonehouse – $10,720
83 Stonehouse – $10,213
87 Stonehouse – $11,254
91 Stonehouse – $9,984
93 Stonehouse – $9,831
14th? please please… I’m working the overnight on the 13th and not likely to get coverage…
14th???
sl
55- Grim
Thanks! And how do the prices compare with each other? Apologize for pestering you, but was curious to find out the effect of a school system on prices.
NJ Gator
Do you have the addresses (details)of the homes in SO? I live out there and interested in possibly scooping up something cheap.
BTW – fellow Gator as well
Funny story about Stonehouse. We have friends who live on the Odd Numbered side of the street that we met through our son’s daycare. They have a Glen Ridge mailing address. They’ve been telling everyone that they live in Glen Ridge for years. Their residence has been “outed” to their friends through the recent reval where everyone’s assessments were posted online. Funny thing is they still claim that their son will be attending Forest Ave Schhol even though they pay taxes to Bloomfield. They claim their realtor told them this.
Ah Bloomfield, I remember reading a New York Magazine article back around 2003 that it would become the next Montclair with the new train line opening direct to NYC, improving schools, nice parks, yada yada yada
Stu – I agree. The four towns I have been tracking, I’m starting to see some movement in prices downwards,especially given that now it is almost June and a lot of these homes are sitting. Granted though there are still a good number of people being fairly stubborn about not dropping the ask. I would say the split is 85% stubborn and 15% willing to take a haircut. On the flip side, it appears 95% of posters here are pretty stubborn about not buying and 5% finding a decent deal that works for them.
NJGator – that sucks for your friend. People have to learn to do their homework themselves, I mean common sense would tell you if you pay Bloomfield taxes, you go to Bloomfield schools. They should have checked with the school district. Never leave your kids future in someone elses hands.
Just Some Guy
2518283 – 190 N WOODS DR
2517001 – 29 HOSKIER RD
ONE MORE: 2514254 – 7 SPEIR DR
62 Hard Place – I’m not so sure I buy the “My Realtor told me” story. I bet if Glen Ridge takes tuition students they will pay for their son to attend Forest Ave school. That was probably their plan all along.
Well the truly sad thing is that at the elementary school level, the difference between Bloomfield and Glen Ridge is probably insignificant to your child’s future. It is grades 7-12 where the differences become noticeable. Of course, the few Bloomfield people we know spend 10K+ per year to send their 6 year olds to a private school. Personally, I think they are mostly just racist.
When I was shopping in GR a few years back the realtor I was working with suggested buying a home in Bloomfield on the Forest Ave side that was only 1 block from GR. Then she mentioned that GR would likely allow my child to go to school there for some $ to the district. I suppose this is what NJGator is talking about.
Montclair Kimberly is over $20k at this point.
Why bother paying GR or MTC taxes if you are going to send your kids to Kimberly?
http://www.montclairkimberley.org/home/admissions/financialaid
We all know your standing in society will be based on the networks you develop in school, particularly the “little boy’s club”.
To hell with Skull and Bones, your rank in society is now based on membership in Bunny and Rattle. Cheap strollers need not apply.
Re: GTG
I’m in for the 13th. I also think it’s very fitting.
I can’t do the 14th. :(
DH lived in Bloomfield and there are parts of it I really liked. The quick access to Montclair was a plus. I’d love Montclair but the taxes are crazy. All of Essex seems to be crazy tax wise but Montclair seemed one of the least painful.
71 I meant to say Bloomfield seemed one of the least painful.
From Bloomberg:
Mary Had a Little Lamb and a Jumbo Mortgage: Caroline Baum
Once upon a time, there lived a King who granted each subject enough money to make his home his castle.
Everyone was content. The castles created vast riches throughout the land.
Alas, the King had large armies to support, and the royal coffers had run dry. So he levied a tax on each household. And there was much misery throughout the land. The people rose up in protest. The King and his ministers knew not what to do.
One day a fairy godmother named Fannie appeared.
“I have come to grant you one wish,” Fannie Godmother said.
“One wish! Let us keep buying castles,” the people said.
“I will grant you your wish,” Fannie Godmother said. “You will have money to buy new castles.”
And everyone lived happily ever after.
One of the latest battles over affordable housing in New Jersey landed in state court on Friday — this time in the form of a lawsuit against the New Jersey League of Municipalities.
The Fair Share Housing Center sued the League in Superior Court in Trenton for the right to obtain a proposal to fight new calculations released last week by the state on how much affordable housing each municipality will be responsible for.
The general counsel for the League said Friday he doesn’t think the suit has merit and that the League, which was created by state lawmakers and funded in part with dues from more than 500 municipalities, is not a public body and not subject to the Open Public Records Act.
“We just want access to the documents,” said Kevin Walsh, an attorney for Fair Share. “We want to see what sort of information was produced with taxpayer money.”
William Kearns, general council for the League, doesn’t see it that way.
“The league does not exercise any government power,” Kearns said. “OPRA was never intended to cover groups like the league.”
Link for previous post
http://courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/NEWS01/805170367
Hey Grim Right Back Ya:
Five Things You Need to Know: The Real Story of Goldilocks
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/goldilocks-bears-economy-treasuries-fed-currency/index/a/17202
Funny..I thought MK’s tuition was actually higher..
Quick question…Glen Ridge is considered an upscale town??? Wasn’t that the town that had so much negative press about 10 years back with the boy that allegedly raped the mentally challenged girl?? That case dragged on forever.. I only ask because the reporters always gave the impression that GR was kind of a blue collar town and then here i read that it’s so expensive…just wondering…
77 – yes, that was GR. it was made into a tv movie eventually too.
Blue collar my butt!
Oil $129 ;)
Glen Ridge is considered an upscale town???
I’m not sure how to quantify upscale, but it is a very expensive town, from a home price standpoint as well as a property tax standpoint. GRHS typically ranks in the top 10 high schools in NJ (NJMonthly, etc).
speaking of strollers my wife is a strolleraholic, just about one for every day of the week- perhaps we can start a ‘kids crap’ swap list (grimslist)
Re: Farmland from the previous post…
I’m PISSED at the offhanded way people can make snap judgments about what a farmer does.
***MOST FARMLAND in NJ is small farming…***
Toll and Hovnanian spent years taking large tracts of land and building houses for your fat a**es…leaving checkerboard farms of NON-CONTIGUOUS LAND!!!!!!
Now, once your land is NON-CONTIGUOUS, YOU MUST MEET ALL “FARM” REQUIREMENTS FOR EVERY individual PIECE. (I’m a little pissed. sorry ’bout the caps…)
Maybe you don’t get of your suburban “bonus room” much, but most farmers CANNOT BE FULL-TIME FARMERS. If they were, you’d have to pay $342 for a bag of your cheddar flavored cheezy poofs. Small farming just doesn’t pay enough and they must work off the farm. I know many farmers and if we made enough income to do it full time, we’d be a CAFO, a huge industrial farm, and NOONE WANTS THOSE IN THEIR BACKYARDS!!!! Neighbors like the small farms, but get pissed if they sell to Toll and pissed if they get big enough to require a 5 acre manure pond. Just ask anyone in flyover country about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and they destruction they cause.
Keeping a small farm is cyclical and seasonal.
I’ve said it before. You have NO F**ING clue what it takes to operate a small farm.
I do keep one and I can tell you IT NEVER ENDS. I don’t get vacations, EVER. The chickens must be locked in EVERY NIGHT. The animals fed every day. Barn walls disinfected weekly. Feeders and waters washed daily, disinfected weekly. Eggs collected daily, refrigerated until sold. Equipment purchased. Sick animals nursed, vets called. Farriers for goats (milk), goats milked daily. Milk refigerated until sold…
Why do we do it? We love the life. I lose my *ss on farming, what with all it costs to operate. My feeds have skyrocketed, fuel for the tractors, tires for the hay wagons, etc. But hearing my neighbor say his grandson “loves to sleep over at pop-pop’s house so he can hear the roosters”…makes me smile. And sometimes, I think, that’s worth all the price of feed at Agway.
/rant off.
HI all. I need some advice:
It looks like I ma getting a nice townhome for rent, instead of buying as renting very nice move-in condition townhome is about 600$/month cheaper than buying a smaller fixer-upper in central jersey town.
Several questions:
It is listed for rent by owner, not broker.
When I sign a lease – I will obviously check the title, make sure that he is the owner/ or his name is on the mortgage.
Should I get a lawyer to check a lease even if everything on the lease looks reasonable?
What else should I be on the look out for?
I have read somewhere that banks can not kick tenant out in NJ during lease duration, because of owner foreclosed – is it true?
Also – If he does sell I believe it is 30 days time frame to move out.
In general after looking at fixer-uppers: Does anybody else noted that:
all fixer uppers/REO’s are priced so that if you buy all the materials and do a lot of work yourself you will just end up with the same priced house as if you buy freshly remodeled one??
There is no way to get sweat equity right now.
At least in Central Jersey in 287 corridor.
I grew up in Bloomfield and I turned out okay. I think.
The schools in the north end of town are very good. The long-time town residents blame the decline at the high school on families from surrounding towns who register their kids at the high school using a relative’s Bloomfield address. Always easier to blame the outsider rather than face your own shortcomings.
On the balance I’m glad I grew up there. Although I did go to a private high school, it was a unique opportunity for me and I would have been fine had I attended the town high school. Kids who grow up there can have a rare combo of book smarts and street smarts if raised right.
I don’t know many blue collar towns where folks pay 15-20k/year in taxes.
I remember that movie – Ally Sheedy was the detective and Heather Matarazzo of “Welcome to the Doll House” played the mentally challenged girl.
Oh, and another thing…
To drive our tractors on the road from field to field, we MUST INSURE THEM like vehicles!!!!
So are you bit**ing about the high rate of car insurance on one or two vehicles? Think about if you had 2 trucks and four tractors…
Jmac(85): I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. The opportunities for a Bloomfield High School graduate who finishes in the top 10% of their class academically are much better than that of the Glen Ridge student. For some strange reason (affirmative action maybe or just liberal application officers?), colleges seem to love to award academic scholarships to urban youth, over white collar/blue ribbon youth. As a parent though, you must somehow teach your kids the importance of education, which is much harder in Bloomfield than it is in a Glen Ridge. What I find astounding is the lack of book bags that urban schoolers commute to school with as opposed to their blue ribbon counter parts. It’s really bad in New York City.
#77 laurie: Glen Ridge was never a blue collar town. Always considered upscale, and always very expensive compared to surrounding areas.
In fact if I remember correctly the kid charged with the rape and his friends, all came from very affluent families.
Stu Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 11:01 am
As a parent though, you must somehow teach your kids the importance of education, which is much harder in Bloomfield than it is in a Glen Ridge.
Stu,
I agree with this statement and I go back and forth on the same issue. I grew up in a mid-level town, plenty of kids did well and plenty not so well. So if you were a great student and studied hard that was fine, but there was also a large contingent that did not care and it was easy to fall in with that crowd. I have younger relatives that go to private schools in the tri-state area and all are great students. It seems to me that the peer pressure in their schools to over achieve outweighs all else. So, your child can definitely over achieve in a mid-level school, but they better have the drive to do so on their own.
I haven’t decided what type of town to buy in yet… We’ll see.
Just curious if anyone knows the charge that Glen Ridge puts on sending a kid into their school district from a neighboring school district.
I should also add that I don’t think a great district / private school guarantees a great student. It just provides a very education focused environment.
Nom DePlume is tentatively in for the 13th. Besides, I owe Grim a drink.
Cindy [35], bear in mind that Sec. 121 was only a partial cause, perhaps a catalyst, for the price run-up, and the only piece of legislation I could identify. There were surely other causes, not the least was no-doc, low-doc and LTVs north of 100%, and the expected demographic shifts by the boomers (which did not explain why housing in the Rust Belt went up, but the end result there is no surprise).
Ok Ok I just googled Glen Ridge and answered my own question..that was 1989!! Wow I thought it was 10 years ago but it really was almost 20…senior brain functioning kicking in prematurely
# 83
Spam,
I do not dispute your thesis at all. That said the classification of certain land as farming is nothing less than a ploy for reducing property taxes on wealthy homeowner’s mansions. Take for example John Bon Jovi. He and his wife have a riverfront estate in a very suburban local and a portion of his land has the villa and the other part is considered farm land. Max Weinberg has a similar situation, as do, no doubt many other folks. There is nothing tht can be described — with a straight face — as farming. I suspect that many of the towns agree to the classification because it allows them to state that “x” percentage of the land in town is “farmland.”
spammy (83)-
I grew up on a small farm. Although pretty much everything I know of value I learned in working on that farm, I organized my whole life (including graduating HS a year early) to get away from there.
The jobs I had on the farm growing up are still the hardest jobs I ever had. Nothing else comes close. It is thankless, back-breaking labor…and those of us who’ve had the experience probably shouldn’t expect understanding from others. What could we relate it to in order to make it digestible? Prison?
Maybe the Demapublican Government will put in a Price Control on Gasoline, like it can only go up $.10c/Gallon each day, Max.
From the Star Ledger:
Avaya plans to cut 400 employees
Avaya, a New Jersey company that makes Internet phone equipment for businesses, plans to lay off about 400 employees.
The company, which went private last year when it was acquired in an $8.2 billion deal by private-equity firms Silver Lake Partners and TPG, notified the employees this week, according to Deb Kline, a spokeswoman for Avaya.
The job cuts, most of which will take effect at the end of the month, will be spread throughout the company’s global operations but focus on the company’s headquarters in Basking Ridge, Kline said.
Spun off from Lucent Technologies in 2000 as the telecom sector was beginning a meltdown, Avaya has survived several restructurings that together have cut its work force almost in half. The company’s original employee count was 34,000, but is now about 18,000, Kline said.
The latest round of layoffs is on top of 600 cuts through attrition, layoffs and retirements since the beginning of the year, Kline said .
The cuts are a reflection of the sagging economy and slugginess in the telecom equipment industry, Kline said. “Everybody is pulling back on discretionary spending,” she said.
(emphasis added)
The Intelligencer Journal from Pennsylvania – “Jim Gillespie, CEO of Coldwell Banker, faults the national media’s focus on foreclosures and the subprime mortgage crisis for keeping home buyers on the sidelines these days.”
“‘This is the absolute best time in my 33 years in real estate to buy a home,’ he said last week during a visit to Lancaster.”
No it’s not, @sshole.
# 98 400 here, 400 there…
gary (99)-
My contact from within Cendant informs me that it is bleeding Apollo Capital dry. He says the operating losses are “massive”.
Of course, Leon Black is already reeling from his Linens n’Things debacle.
Maybe we can entertain ourselves with some LBO shop failures before the bank failures begin…
Would you believe me if I told you that the change in gas prices over the last couple of years amounts to the price of a cup of coffee a day? (a lot of assumptions are made here)
Average person drives 15,000 miles per year.
Average car gets 30 mpg.
Average person uses 500 gallons of gas per year.
Difference in price between $2.25/gallon and $3.50/gallon is $625/year.
That’s $1.71 per day or half the price most people pay for cable television.
So don’t postpone your vacation over this. Give up your daily Dunkin Donuts coffee and you’ll break even. Give up your cable and your coffee and you’ll save yourself $1875 per year. This would be equal to getting gas for free for the year.
Pretty interesting eh?
(Now don’t go telling me how oil is used in everything today. Commodity prices are an entirely different story)
Clotpoll,
You were mentioning farm work above…. I worked on a pipe crew in the early 90’s putting sanitary and storm systems in for about eight months. Actually, it was in the Readington Twp./Flemington area. I forgot the name of the development but that was the closest thing to prison.
2000 lb sections of concrete pipe, in 20 foot ditches, 400 feet long, filling with ground water, in 90 degree heat, 10+ hours a day.
I wonder how long before NJ goes this route. One of the many reasons not to vote Democrat.
Take this 401(k) and shove it
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/19/pf/retirement/West_virginia_pensions.moneymag/index.htm
Stu,
I love the analysis but the average MPG of cars on the road in the US (the majority of cars on the road are actually “light trucks”) is between 17 and 19 mpg. This changes your numbers a bit.
The wife and I commute via mass-transit and don’t drive either of our cars more than 10k miles a year. So I recognize that gas prices have escalated, but it doesn’t affect our bottom line all that much.
One perk of working in Manhattan I suppose.
Stu (102),
Give up stuff?
That’ll be the day.
As long as there is room on the old credit card no one in the good ‘ole US of A is giving up anything.
Mike NJ (105):
So replace your dunkin coffee with a Starbucks frappaspressochino and we’ll call it even ;)
So that makes the increase $1,041 per year or $2.85 per day.
For my 95 Civic, it’s only been a $446 dollar annual hit ;)
#102
I guess that leaves more room for gasoline to go higher. how about $10 per gallon. $3.50 seems cheap now.
Although people like to bitch about the price of gas, the real hit is your 3% annual raise vs. 8-12% core inflation. This is where you are getting killed. Plus the fact that raises are incremental means the hit becomes exponentially larger every year that this continues.
And what can the FED do about it? It’s now got only 8 quarter point bullets left. If the economy doesn’t turn around on its own, well Japan, here we come.
From MarketWatch:
Fannie: Peak-to-trough home prices to fall 20%-25% nationally
U.S. home prices are expected to fall as much as 25% from their highs, said Daniel Mudd, chief executive of mortgage financing giant Fannie Mae.
The grim forecast comes amid the severe slump in the real estate market triggered by falling values and increasing delinquencies by home owners struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments.
The key to recovery of the housing and financing markets is “time,” said Mudd, speaking Tuesday at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in New Orleans.
Stu,
I see your point. I get free coffee at work so no more Starbucks or DD for me once I left Manhattan for work in Jersey City. It has saved me a bundle at two plus Iced coffees a day (~$6). I spend less than that on lunch each day now!
We also bought our house so that we could walk to and from the train each day for our commute. We fill the tank maybe once-twice a month. Whether it is $50 or $68 as it was over the weekend, it really has no effect on our lives.
As an aside, I put new Pella windows in my den (had horrible windows). The difference in my gas bill was absolutely immense this winter. I was well under last year’s monthly amounts every month and my wife was home all day with the twins versus last year when no one was home from 7:30-6 and thus the thermostat was at 59). I think the clear plastic on the other windows also helped a bit as well.
If you have bad windows like I do in my rented townhouse, plastic film to cover windows in the winter (like kingfrost) takes about 30% off the gas bill for sure
Grim 111:
They have you doing housing forecasts for Fannie Mae now?
“The grim forecast comes amid the severe slump in the real estate market triggered by falling values and increasing delinquencies by home owners struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments.”
#105,
As soon as I stop seeing GMC Denali, Suburban, Escalate, etc. in my neighborhood I will start worrying about gas prices, right now people just complaint but they don’t care about gas prices.If they cared, they would switch to smaller cars or take a train.
Stu –
From what I remember, most NYC schools don’t let their students take books home because they’re afraid the books will walk. Sad but true. Kids learn best in homes where books abound, and something tells me a lot of city kids only have access to books during the school day.
“Imminent” recession may cost NYC 59,400 jobs: study
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2030973820080520
Wow Jmac. Pretty interesting!
Spam spam, if you make it to the next meetup I would love to ask you some questions.
Who is it here that has Monmouth County MLS access?
#115 Frank: They cannot switch if some are stuck in lease, or upside down car payments.
Then of course you may have some who would like to switch, but perhaps due to some late credit payments here and there, may have difficulty getting new auto loans
Greenwich Resists Plan for 26-Toilet Home
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aOvhlV9R57u0&refer=us
#121,
These are brand new trucks acquired in the last 6 months, gas prices have been going up for a while now. Few of my neighbors got new GMC or Hammers in the last few months.
What’s a Hammer? That sounds much tougher than a Hummer!
#123 Frank: Few of my neighbors got new GMC or Hammers in the last few months.
Well what can I say, you cannot fix stupid.
#123 Frank
Don’t worry, the fuel guzzlers go the other way as well.
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/car/679694039.html
PGC(126) says: “Don’t worry, the fuel guzzlers go the other way as well.”
The guzzler’s craigslist ad says: “We need to downgrade our car size.”
Stu says: “REO coming! Maybe you didn’t need a heated steering wheel after all?”
Their flicker page shows that they also own a Mercedes SUV (ML320).
Morons!
From a news alert e-mail
— Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has brain tumor; condition discovered after he had seizure.
http://www.cnn.com/live
If he leaves or dies, the Democratic gov can put a Dem in. If he is just absent, it reduces the Dem’s ability to push through bailout legislation.
#124
I actually do know of a german “Hammer”:
http://www.fantasycars.com/sedans/HTML/mercedes_300e_amg_hammer_w124.html
“Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has brain tumor; condition discovered after he had seizure.”
Vodka stocks have fallen across the board ;)
Good afternoon all,
can someone supply me the address and history of this property, mls #2820293.
thanks in advance
ac – just a quote from your article you posted that should be hammered home.
“You can look at what’s happened in West Virginia as a scary microcosm of a 401(k) system that has now become the only retirement plan for millions of American (mostly private-sector) workers. And for most, it’s not coming close to generating enough money to fund a decent retirement lifestyle.
Public sector employees like the West Virginia teachers are quickly becoming the only Americans left with decent pensions. But the problem is that private-sector taxpayers have to foot the bill, while at the same time, their own retirements are going to pot.
Employees who get pensions now are fewer and further between. The benefits given to unions, especially public employees, are extremely generous. Teachers, administrators, govt employees all get these benefits, ultimately paid by taxpayers our property taxes here in NJ. Unfortunately the taxpayers are not as galvanized as the union supporters who rally their support base to get their benefits. Taxpayers need to rally in support of those that support lower taxes.
Ok that’s enough for me on this subject today. I’m getting off my soapbox.
“The cuts are a reflection of the sagging economy and slugginess in the telecom equipment industry, Kline said. “Everybody is pulling back on discretionary spending,”
Slugginess? I suppose the telecom industry has left a trail of slime in its aftermath!
“Vodka stocks have fallen across the board ;)”
That is SO wrong.
Gin.
115 frank
“As soon as I stop seeing GMC Denali, Suburban, Escalate, etc. in my neighborhood I will start worrying about gas prices, right now people just complaint but they don’t care about gas prices.If they cared, they would switch to smaller cars or take a train.”
I guess you missed the stat that sales of SUVs have fallen 38% in the last year while sales of compacts have risen 18%.
Headline from my Yahoo mail page…
Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has a brain… (AP)
This is too funny!
102 stu
“Would you believe me if I told you that the change in gas prices over the last couple of years amounts to the price of a cup of coffee a day?”
No – I wouldn’t.
That doesn’t take into account that many Americans don’t buy gas (8 million NYC inhabitants, for example), which means the average gallons of gas per person per year is considerably more than 500 for the population that actually buys gas.
If you then take into account that the folks who ARE buying the greater quantity of gas are on the wrong side of the metro/rural divide from the folks who aren’t, you quickly realize that the burden of higher gas prices is falling disproportionally on poor rural folk – they don’t have that much price elasticity left, I don’t think.
I would refer us back to the calculus Kettle presented the other day regarding oil price elasticity – that’s more along the lines of my thinking.
And that explains, IMO, why we’re already seeing what I think are some pretty darn significant changes in behavior (e.g., the drastic drop in SUV sales and value on trade-in previously remarked on this page).
It’ll get worse fast for those for whom it matters at all.
For many SUV owners, myself included, it simply doesn’t make financial sense to “get rid of it” and buy a more fuel efficient car.
I’ve talked about my experience trying to trade in my truck (2003 Nissan Pathfinder LE). I would need to take such a tremendous hit on the trade, that I’d negate any potential fuel savings over the life of the new car. I’ve done the math.
It is simply more cost effective for me to drive my SUV in a more efficient manner (fewer trips, combining trips, using the non-SUV on the weekends, etc).
So what did I do? Brought her in for service, made sure that she’ll last another 70,000 miles. I hear Autozone is doing well these days, maybe its a trend.
So now, when eco-types yell at me for driving a gas guzzler, I let them know that I’ve realized the error of my ways, but getting rid of the SUV and buying another car would simply add to my carbon emmission and fill up a landfill unneccessarily.
133 Hard Place
“Employees who get pensions now are fewer and further between. The benefits given to unions, especially public employees, are extremely generous. Teachers, administrators, govt employees all get these benefits, ultimately paid by taxpayers our property taxes here in NJ. Unfortunately the taxpayers are not as galvanized as the union supporters who rally their support base to get their benefits. Taxpayers need to rally in support of those that support lower taxes. ”
You’re moving rapidly between two things here: unions and gov’t employees. Though many gov’t employees are union employees, not all are, and not all union employees are gov’t employees. There is a vast gulf in pay and benefits between unonized gov’t employees and unionized private employees. The latter doesn’t bother me as much as the former, because (a) private enterprise has plenty of incentive to bargain hard with unions, whereas public enterprise doesn’t and (b) because there is an inherent problem for politicians in bargaining with striking teachers (“what about the children?!?”) or garbage collectors (“my g*d it stinks on my street!”) or cops (“my mother got murdered last night!”) that doesn’t arise with respect to striking coal miners or Target employees.
99 gary
“‘This is the absolute best time in my 33 years in real estate to buy a home,’ he said last week during a visit to Lancaster.”
Did he say how many homes he’s bought so far?
Or is this another case of “do as I say, not as I do”?
#139 grim: Same with me. My SUV is a 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee, lovingly maintaiend as they say.
Since I only use it on weekends and ocassionaly during the week, it makes no sense to get rid of it fro one with better gas mileage.
139/142 grim/3B
I agree with that – however, for folks who for whatever reason (first time buyers, wrecks, etc.) need to buy a new car, their buying habits will have changed significantly.
But yes, trading in your SUV for a more fuel efficient vehicle makes no sense given the complete lack of value on the trade-in. But the complete lack of value on the trade-in is itself evidence of the fact that preferences have already changed drastically due to increased fuel cost.
139/142 grim/3B
This is exactly why oil prices are heading to 200 and US economy will enter deep recession. But since I bought oil futures, I love it.
Address and last sale info on: MLS 2503102
It seems like flip going flop soon.
njpatient [141],
He’s a “NAR”, he can’t help it. lol!
I think those West Virginia teachers aren’t thinking. I don’t see most pensions existing after the next 20 years or so. If they want to retire, they better have another plan rather then counting on a pension.
19 repossessed101
I was going to write a book about the things that you don’t know, but I realized that I don’t have that kind of time (or enough paper), so instead I wrote a book about the things that you DO know, the text of which follows:
146 gary
too right – he’s a total nar.
#145 – Couldn’t find prior sale, but here is listing history.
683 N Donald DR
Bridgewater
LD: 01/23/2007
WD: 06/08/2007
OLP: $550,000
LP: $499,900
LD: 06/14/2007
XD: 12/14/2007
OLP/LP: $525,000
LD: 03/31/2008
OLP/LP: $425,000
In attorney review
SG
I replied to your request but comment is somehow awaiting moderation.
“I know it’s anecdotal, but I think this autumn will reveal the first signs that this area is not immune to what the 4 horsemen (Florida, Arizona, California, Michigan) are currently going through.”
But you have to look at the differences bettwen NJ and these 4 states:
Michigan: Do I even need to discuss their auto industry based economy? Do I even need to discuss all the Detroit houses listed for $1 on realtor.com?
Continued:
Florida, Arizona, and Claifornia: In these 3 states, the foreclosure mess is much worse than it is in NJ. They have the foreclosure volume that is capable of causing prices to crash, while we do not. When you start seeing brown lawns in prestigious Bergen COunty and foreclosure bus tours in Upper Saddle River or Ridgewood, then we might become the next CA. One of the main reason they have more foreclosures is that they had rampid Casey Serin stlye speculation, while we did not.
“High-end suburbs in New York’s Westchester County such as Chappaqua are up over the past year.”
Good news for Hillary. Now she can take a HELOC to pay for her campaign :-)
Guess I was wrong. I thought Kennedy just woke up the other morning and remembered what happened at Chappaquiddick.
“From what I remember, most NYC schools don’t let their students take books home because they’re afraid the books will walk. Sad but true. Kids learn best in homes where books abound, and something tells me a lot of city kids only have access to books during the school day.”
Actually, the main reaosn kids in NYC can’t bring books home is because there are not enough books for the entire class. Many times, 2 or 3 kids have to share a single book.
Just a little side note:
I have been lurking here for about a month, and I am sick of the term “prestigious Bergen County.” PLEASE. Give me a break. Most towns that you list as “prestigious” are not. In realtiy, there are only 4 prestigious BC towns: Alpine, Saddle River, and, Englewood Cliffs, Franklin Lakes. The other towns are not. The only BC towns that are prestigious are those that have a median price of at least $1 million, per the Forbes lsit of richest zip codes.
Bauer (153)-
I have a client right now who could go toe-to-toe in an idiot throwdown with Casey Serin.
Not only did he submerge three investment properties, he also equity-stripped his primary residence, took the proceeds and bought a house in Charlotte before defaulting on the three investment homes.
He also tried to equity-strip the investment properties, too…but all three applications were denied, due to excessive CLTV.
157 Kiefer
Your sarcasm detector is not plugged in. Please remedy.
156 Jack
That really depends where you are. Many schools do have the books. But they don’t have the money to keep replacing those books when they are lost or destroyed. This is especially true now that the budget is being cut.
I knew that post would touch some nerves.
Anybody got Kennedy in a dead pool?
One should always have a Kennedy in dead pool contests.
patient (159)-
I smell troll.
And, accoring to the Record article Grim put up yesterday, there are only 43 bank owned houses in all of Bergen County which does not even come out to 1 house per town. 43 REOs in a county of 70 towns is not going to crash the market. In order for REOs to bring down prices, we would have to have at least 500.
clotpoll 163:
I used to play with troll dolls when I was younger. I had tons of them.
“Quick question…Glen Ridge is considered an upscale town??? Wasn’t that the town that had so much negative press about 10 years back with the boy that allegedly raped the mentally challenged girl?? That case dragged on forever.. I only ask because the reporters always gave the impression that GR was kind of a blue collar town and then here i read that it’s so expensive…just wondering…”
All prestigious towns are going to have crime eventually. Triple murders in Tenafly. Real estate devleopers being murdered in their Greenwich mansions. Real estate agents being murdered in their 5th Avenue apartments….
Jack (165)-
Did you also kill small animals?
Bergen will be upscale forever. location
and control
lodi,garfield,hackensack,englewood,N.arlington,all on the comeback trail.
169 mark:
Englewood is not that bad. They have some really great houses in the east hill section.
mark (169)-
“lodi,garfield,hackensack,englewood,N.arlington,all on the comeback trail.”
Funny. All NJ lenders have classified the entire state as a declining market.
#164 jack (ha ha) bauer:Well than 3 of those 43 are in my prestigious blue ribbon bergen county town
In a single day, you guys make jokes about people with cancer and killing small animals? Absolutely disgusting!
3b (172)-
Perhaps we leave mark and Bauer to their burgeoning new love.
C’mon, somebody! Give us a Kopechne joke.
#143 nj: Agreed.
Sybarite: Thx.
Jack (173)-
You must be new around these parts.
Wait ’til John shows up.
#174 clot: Muskrat love?
Anyone ever hear about killing someone with a cancerous small animal?
This morning this site had a big discussion on which towns in Essex county had the lowest property taxes.
I submit that it is Cedar Grove. It also has streets it shares with Upper Montclair and the property tax differences are amazing.
Smaller (and older) houses easily have taxes under $6000, some very small houses even under $5000 per year.
The high school only has about 440 students.
Shore (179)-
Here’s my real concern: does this mean vodka bottles are going to have to start carrying warning labels?
3b (178)-
You have implanted a disturbing image in my mind.
Accompanied by a Captain and Tennille song.
Why wasn’t there a hearing in Washington about speculators driving the price of homes up? Let me make sure I have this right, housing speculators are good, because they create wealth and value, but commodities speculators are bad?
Funds blamed for stoking high commodity costs
As grocery and gasoline prices climb, the blame game is in full force in Washington, with a Senate panel listening to testimony Tuesday from a hedge fund manager who says institutional investors are contributing to food and energy inflation.
“The stuff I did is technically mortgage fraud, but it’s not officially called that until someone prosecutes me and proves that that is indeed mortgage fraud”
–Casey Serin
I wonder how many people have been committing mortgage fraud over the past 5-6 years. I’m amazed at how many listings I see that indicate that the owner is a licensed RE agent. To me that screams investment property.
I know that maybe some investors took out commercial loans for those 2nd, 3rd, etc homes, but how many lied on their mortgage app’s to indicate that it was an owner-occupied residence?
I am starting to think reinvestor101 is unemployed and is actually reinvestor101, jack bauer, and john
#182 clot:You have implanted a disturbing image in my mind.
That was exactly my intention. (just kidding!!)
grim (183)-
Of course, it’s also OK when the gubmint stokes commodity speculation- and a global famine- by fiat support of a boondoggle industry (ethanol) that neither conserves energy nor helps clean up the environment.
jack,
Are you kidding? Name a town covered in the GSMLS and I’ll list several lowballs within minutes.
I live in an NJMLS town. Do you have any for Tenafly or Cresskill?
#185 jackeen: How underwater on your mtg are you? Come on you can tell us
Syb (186)-
“I’m amazed at how many listings I see that indicate that the owner is a licensed RE agent.”
Syb, a lot of those are PRIMARY residences.
Jack (85),
I would speculate that ther wold be TOO many to list.
i want lowballs for upcoming garfield and lodi .. in the 150k range.
193 – I believe that. But consider that I primarily search under MUL, so I imagine that many of those are not.
hi all
dont worry apocolypse boy is stil here, just had to spend a few days stocking up my “strategic resevre”…..
just kidding
food/oil/energy are not being drievn up by speculators. there are speculators in the market but these commdoities are going up for fundamnetal reasons. has everyone fastened their seatbelts?
see you in the back woods of mississippi clott :)
I have 70% equity in my house. Thank you very much!
#191 jackeen: 123 houses available for sale in Tenafly.
And 84 hosues available for sale in Creskill, and the Spring market is just about over.
Where is all the demand for these desireable towns? Oh well I guess there is always next year.
RE: fuel efficient cars
as trendy and in-demand as the new Smart Car is, there are quite a few “orphans” (ones people paid $99 to reserve, then backed out) available. First, 35mpg isn’t nearly as good as a <2000lb 1L car should be(of course the 65mpg diesel version won’t be sold in the US for years if ever), and second, many of the people who thought they had the $13k-$18k to spare on a fashion statement last year have surely started to realize their debt is already too large…
I just put the Grand Cherokee into storage in exchange for my ’86 Honda CRX. Bought it last year for $3000, it’s in almost time-capsule condition, and even in the hot-rod Si trim matched the Smart Car’s fuel efficiency, practicality, and, in most accidents, safety. Plus, since it’s over 20years old it’s got “collector” status, therefore no yearly registration fees or inspection.
Needless to say the US car industry would be in a much better state today if instead of “developing” Escalades, Excursions, Tahoes et al they had worked on a modern day CRX.
# 198 jackeen:I have 70% equity in my house.
Sure you do my child, sure you do.
Bear Stearns update for all that are interested.
I am actually quite surprised by the amounts we are talking about as far as payouts:
A good chunk of people were actually offered jobs on the IT side (over half of my friends there (30+). Business probably a bit less but still more than I ever imagined.
Everyone was given either a job offer at JPM or a transition date.
Paid double from March 17th to transition date (Dec 1st in this example with 8 years of service)
Paid 92% of last year’s bonus (Jan-Nov)
Paid 8 weeks PLUS 3 weeks per year of service – 32 weeks
Plus healthcare for 24 weeks (might be 32 even – not sure)
This is really actually quite generous in the grand scheme of things. Most people have jobs until the end of the year and then they get a six figure plus payout.
Remind me why I left again.
#195 markymark: There are 9 houses currently available for sale in Garfield under 300K, with 2 of them under 200K.
Just a matter of time, and you will have many more to choose from in the 150k and less range.
vodka (197)-
“see you in the back woods of mississippi clott…”
Funny you should mention that, Vodka. I quitclaimed my interest in the MS property to my brother two weeks ago.
Now, if everything turns to sh*t and the missiles start flying, I’m just gonna bend over and kiss my a** goodbye.
No point in living like Will Smith in I Am Legend.
I don’t know about your personal definition of lowballs, but here is a quick and dirty list from Lodi and Garfield.
Note that they are not in the 150k range, becuase there are no properties in that range. I’m not sure that trailers are capture in the MLS.
Closed 3/5/08
459 River Drive, Garfield
OLP: 289900
SP: 217500
SP/OLP = 75%
Closed 1/31/08
183 Terhune Ave, Lodi
OLP: 219k
SP: 180k
SP/OLP = 82%
Closed 4/24/08
233 Midland Ave, Garfield
OLP: 349900
SP: 290000
SP/OLP = 83%
Closed 5/9/08
18 Shaw St., Garfield
OLP: 499999
SP: 415000
SP/OLP = 83%
#191
“I live in an NJMLS town. Do you have any for Tenafly or Cresskill?”
Heres a few coming up soon and theres plenty more behind them. I thought the last time you were trolling here you were looking in Closter.
762148 5/23/08 526 KNICKERBOCKER ROAD TENAFLY 641539.59
762320 5/30/08 15 STONYBROOK ROAD TENAFLY 1024107.51
Intersting, Franklin Lakes is becoming affordable.
762562 6/27/08 1003 CRYSTAL LAKE TERRACE FRANKLIN LAKES 335757.35
762108 5/30/08 32 PARK AVENUE CRESSKILL 489224.15
762522 5/30/08 188 JEFFERSON AVENUE CRESSKILL 562642.02
Thoughts on Nutley? Prices seem to be holding fairly well there.
Home Depot cuts back on expansion plans
About 1,300 jobs will be affected as a result of the 15 store closings, which represent less than 1% of the company’s 1,970 stores in the U.S. Home Depot also has 288 locations overseas.
…
The locations to be closed include some in Wisconsin and New Jersey.
Please stop feeding the duck
nordschleife:
The smart car deserves to be a failure.
So what you are saying is that the smart car ain’t?
Lehman to cut 5% of workforce – report
I am definetly taking 30% off any offers going forward:
“The Senate Banking Committee approved legislation Tuesday that could save a half million homeowners from foreclosure and help stabilize the nation’s rattled housing market.
Congress is trying to stem a wave of foreclosures estimated to hit about 1.4 million this year with home prices falling and many borrowers unable to make payments on costly mortgages taken out before the real estate bubble burst.
Under the Senate plan, lenders who agree to erase a large share of the original loan amount could win a government guarantee on future mortgage payments. Other provisions of the bill would create a stronger regulator for mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”
not smart. In fact, your used civic is genius in comparison.
clott, 203
but that is when the real fun starts…. Survior REAL WORLD EDITION!
[174] clot,
not a joke, but purportedly, the Orange County Republicans began meetings with the following toast:
“To Mary Jo Kopechne, the savior of her country.”
#212 House: Of course I plan to do the same. It is an insurance policy for me, and a premium that now has to be paid for by the seller, to ensure me against something that was previously unheard of. This is a shocking example of market manipulation.
I hope the NAR opposes this thing, it will negative consequences for the market going forward
clot: Your comments on post 212 would be appreciated.
Please stop feeding the duck
Don’t you miss that loony tunes? Anyone know if he was ever able to get out from under that housing disaster of his?
Plume (215)-
Dubya refers to Kennedy as “Chappy”.
sybarite,
hope you didnt have nay work that has to go through VSS, it could take a while :) there may be anohter person about to quit
most of that crap in tenafly is so overpriced its a joke.
when oh when will they get real
schab,
anyone check for a report of a house fire round there recently?
Anyone familiar with 2440590? 249 Mt Kemble rd in morris twp? Curious to know what it’s about. Seems to be an estate sale, 259 days on market. 5 BR 2 FB, in-ground pool. 0.36 Acre. $399,000. Did I mention it’s 238 years old?
199: burgerncheez:
Your 1986 Honda CRX is NOT a collector vehicle.
A collector vehicle: (from NJ.gov website)
To be classified as a “collector vehicle” you need to apply when you register and make sure that the vehicle is:
A limited production vehicle or a vehicle made in limited quantities
Less than 25 years old
Not registered as a “historic vehicle” or a “street rod”
Not driven more than 3,000 miles per year
Insured as a limited use “collector vehicle”
To be classified as a collector vehicle, your vehicle cannot be registered as a “historic vehicle” or a “street rod.” Download our fact sheet [23k pdf] for more information.
Vehicles applying for collector vehicle status must be approved by MVC. Follow these steps to apply:
Complete the collector vehicle application [41k pdf]
Submit a letter from the vehicle manufacturer, recognized car club or a collector organization attesting to the vehicle’s limited production status. Must be printed on official letterhead
Show proof of limited-use insurance
Include photographs of front, driver side, passenger side and rear of the vehicle
Sadly, the CRX was a large production run vehicle…
Kettle,
Thanks for the tip. Fortunately I have limited exposure to that group.
#b agree with everything you said, I think I am officially discouraged
Hedonist:
sadly, I’m afraid you’re right that the Smart is doomed to fail in the US.
Now if they had brought over the Smart Roadster (basically a modern CRX) I’d already have one, but the Golfsmart just isn’t special enough.
I’ve done about 50 laps of the Nordchleife in several rental (Hertz was always good to me) Smoadsters, and despite having only 82hp it could hang with all but the best driven Porsches and BMWs in the twisties.
Brilliant little car. Quite comparable to a Lotus Elise (seriously):
3/4 the exterior size, 1/2 the power, 1.25/1 interior space, 2/1 comfort, 1/1 grip and balance.
Alas it would surely also fail in the USA… hell it even ‘failed’ in Europe.
Clotpoll Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
3b (178)-
You have implanted a disturbing image in my mind.
Accompanied by a Captain and Tennille song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbh9c0noR4s
spam: sorry I should have noted, that I moved out of NJ a few months ago and now reside in Milwaukee. WI cutoff is indeed 20 years.
http://www.dot.state.wi.us/drivers/vehicles/personal/special/collecto.htm
My sincere apologies.
I do have a ton of crazy NJ car registration/inspection stories….
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24729626
3b (217)-
I will get more interested in that bill if/when Dubya vetoes it and Congress tries to muster enough votes to override the veto. My gut tells me they can’t pull it off, although the tougher Fannie/Freddie regs will get some Republicans on board. The rest of the plan seems to be an overly-sophisticated (and completely taxpayer-financed) mortgage discounting scheme. I suspect a lot of liquidity channels will dry up and go away forever. At the very least, residential real estate will cease being an asset class and become a new, incredibly inefficient and burdensome taxpayer-financed cesspool of loss and inefficiency…benefitting nobody but the bureaucrats that run the game.
If that thing does become law? Whoa. It will take years to sort out all the unintended consequences.
Anyone interested in a ’61 Corvette…
#102 I agree with you.
Brew your own coffee instead of buy it at work? 230 days x $1.35 = $310.00 a year Doesnt take into consideration those who get afternoon coffee or poofy drinks otherwise $600.00 a year.
Disconnect a Cell Phone $30.00 * 12 = $360.00
Unsubscribe to a Movie Channel you barely watch 13.95 * 12 = $167.40
One less Dinner outing a month lets go cheap at $35.00 a month = $420.00
Its easy to save another grand which really was two grand before taxes took a portion.
Now put that toward your kids 529 plan and those little sacrifices means you aren’t refinancing your home when the kids are ready for college.
Chi (228)-
There is a special place in hell for you.
House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080520/pl_nm/congress_opec_dc
This country is such a bunch of wankers
Mitchell (233)-
Does this mean you’ve given up buying coffee at the place near you with the toothless local girls in midriff tops and spandex?
Watch what you say about the Captain and Tennille or that Bionic Watermelon will come back to get you.
Maybe even Donny Osmond and his purple socks with kick your behind.
#236
You have a problem with me supporting your Mom?
House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices
That’ll show ’em.
House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices
now that is some serious circus (as in bread and circus)
the politicos must be getting nervous
while we are at at it, can we sue china for holding US debt? force them to forgive a few hundred billion perhaps?
Chi (228)-
There is a special place in hell for you.
Seconded.
Does this mean you’ve given up buying coffee at the place near you with the toothless local girls in midriff tops and spandex?
Don’t be silly. They don’t drink coffee at breakfast. It’s either Cherrywine or PBR.
I keep buyin’ crap…..I’m a real American. I guess.
What if OPEC decides to buy Russian arms?
Can’t we just bomb OPEC?
They should sue Bernanke and Greenspan for making the dollar worthless.
Sue Ford and GM too, they caused this mess. (Hey, I tried.)
Nah the tank-sized SUV’s couldn’t possible have anything to do with gas being expensive. Now back to eating my Freedom Fries.
#231 clot:If that thing does become law? Whoa. It will take years to sort out all the unintended consequences.
That is what I think. And as I said serious realtors I would believe would or should oppose this thing as it has the potential to destory the market and their livlihood.
And again I would add, why would anyone want to purchase real estate with this kind of uncertainity out there.
step 1: sue OPEC as a public spectacle
step 2: win the case against OPEC and demand more oil for a lower price
step 3: OPEC cuts production to the US
step 4:……..
Step 5: PROFIT!!!!!!
I think i am missing part of their cunning plan
re: House passes bill to sue OPEC over oil prices.
Interesting last year congress voted to warn, Russia, Iran and others against forming a natural gas cartel like OPEC.
Looks like allot of Republicans voted for this Bill too, and from what I have read our fine Congressmen and Senators are looking to Admend Sherman Act to extend it to foreign “soverign” nations.
Chuck Schumer was on TV last week bitching about trying to force the Saudi’s to pump more oil by withholding shipments of a billion dollars worth of JDAM , and other bomb technology.
Who said imperialism was dead?
Kettle – shut up and eat your Freedom Fries
3b, BC Chifi
there is the debate of investors/speculators moving significant amounts of money from housing and other sources into commodities. Is there any way to actually track the large scale movement of money from the different classes of assets?
Re: OPEC lawsuit
Love the priorities–Saudis blowing up the WTC and still get the invite to Crawford.
But god forbid gas prices go up…
#226 House: I owuld no become discouraged,and I think we and others out there could use this to our advantage if we decide to look to buy while this bill is over hanging.
And if it does my chance pass, we will I believe be able to obtain big markdowns in price.
If this passes who could buy with any sort of confidence, with this new wrench thrown into the mix.
215, 219:
Which is interesting, since Laura Bush has killed as many people with her car as Teddy has with his …
Just sayin’, that’s all.
Mitch 237:
Holy CRAP! http://www.tv.com/the-captain-and-tennille/show-4-76/episode/408717/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;4
Barkley Says He’s Paid Debt, Is Giving Up Gambling (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=ajWZbJ9A1pjA
At least someone pays their debts. Several years ago I was in Vegas at Mandalay Bay in the Rum Jungle. Charles Barkley was in the urinal next to me. I said “Hey, What’s up Sir Charles? How’s Vegas treating you?” He answered “Rough weekend.”
Even though he was a celebrity, I had no interest in shaking his hand, nor would it have been appropriate.
Re: oil
Not to channel jamil, but how much of the current price is based on speculators, that is, as opposed to the “true” cost based on supply vs. demand? I’m no econonmist, but when I see oil prices take off simply on the words of Pickens I suspect that the price movement isn’t based on true supply/demand dynamics.
wow, so it begins!
“Spanish firm offers $12.8 billion to lease Pa. Turnpike”
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080519_Spanish_firm_offers__12_8_billion_to_lease_Pa__Turnpike.html?dlbk
SAS
I heard Hoboken is setting this up for former Bear employees.
“There are 12 parking lots across Santa Barbara that have been set up to accommodate the growing middle-class homelessness. These lots are believed to be part of the first program of its kind in the United States, according to organizers.”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html?iref=newssearch
for those state workers and/or whom are/will dependant on a pension, when you hear that word “privateization”, you better pucker up.
Suggest one gets politically involved now and turn off the damn foosball game.
BOTH Mets & Yanks suck eggs.
SAS
Sueing OPEC is all optics to show that our elected officials are doing something. We have limited refining capacity to accept more oil, we are devaluing the dollar, and we use more oil than we need to as a country.
Hard Place,
Don’t forget the IMF & World Bank.
If you think the oil companies are making money, baby… you ain’t seen nothing till you seen the World Bank dealings.
But hey, someone has to buy our debt with the T-Bills.
So, everytime you thrown down $100 to fill up the SUV, just smile and say,
“hey, I am paying the National Debt”
SAS
“I heard Hoboken is setting this up for former Bear employees.”
Yeah but they are going to be charged 8K per year in property taxes per tent.
and some of you blokes think Obama is going to bring change…
ha ha…. ha ha
ha ha
oh man..
ha ha
;)
SAS
#257 Yup the bionic Watermelon. LOL.
There was also the Bionic Dog
http://members.aol.com/bionicwomanfiles/episodes/biodog1.htm
I don’t think I’ve laugh that hard about a political candidate since LBJ.
ha ha
baby! what a joke.
yee
SAS
218: last he posted (on zillow) no.
Huh, no response to 232.
And I thought this was the NJ Real Estate, Stroller and Classic Car Report.
Anyone ever sell a car on eBay?
and if I ever want to learn to throw a meatball, I’ll watch one of those yankee pitchers.
lol.
SAS
Rich,
Talk to Richie, I believe he has.
There are some days, like today, when reading this blog takes me back to a locker room full of middle-school boys…. (Posts by Grim and those actually involving some aspect of real estate excepted.)
Chi fi 228 Now I know why I’m so f ed up I remember watching that on TV. Here is the proper version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIYvpPCUwoI
Great harmonies
273
I am trying my hardest not to ask any questions about you and the room full of boys…
Ah, sweet regression.
Only the best and brightest for NJ.
From the Star Ledger:
Orange Mayor Mims Hackett charged with fraud
Embattled Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr. was charged by the state Attorney General’s Office this afternoon with billing the city for more than $5,700 in fraudulent travel expenses.
Hackett, 66, who is already facing federal corruption charges, was accused of forging receipts for meals at pricey restaurants.
“We charge that Mayor Hackett shamelessly stole from the city he was sworn to serve at a time when it was struggling to meet its financial obligations and the needs of its residents,” Attorney General Anne Milgram said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for such corruption.”
The complaint charges that between 2002 and 2006, Hackett submitted 16 fraudulent travel expense vouchers – called “purchase orders” – seeking reimbursement for expenses he allegedly incurred while attending conferences and other events inside and outside of New Jersey on behalf of the Essex County city.
sicko
NJ the home of corruption. Hackett needs to go to Hudson County for a refresher course.
Getting caught on dinner vouchers, amature.
Vouchers…..
So over the course of 5 years, Mayor Hackett submitted $5,700 worth of vouchers or PO’s for travel expenses.
Oh the horror!
Quick, let’s round up every politician who bilked $1000 in any given year. There would be nobody left to pass judgement on this poor soul.
Something tells me Hizzonner is on the wrong side of a political hatchet job.
Quick, let’s round up every politician who bilked $1000 in any given year.
I’m sorry, are arguing AGAINST that?
Here’s my experience – I’ve been following this site for over a year…so thanks to all for your tips and advice – I’ve used many sites suggested and tactics to get info I needed. Hubby and I made an offer in Hillsborough – I low balled and negotiated to an amount where my offer was accepted ($2K more than what they paid in 2003 for). Papers signed on Friday and we were to go into attorney review only to have some other buyer come in and give “full asking price” for the house. Bye..bye house. And there is you have my sob story! :))
VPW (282),
I feel your pain, I’ve been there. Many times.
It’s like a break up…
You make all these plans and then, it’s over.
But in hindsight, it was never truly love and there’s always another.
Good luck!
Does this mean Kennedy will start acting like John Travolta in “Phenomenon”?
Don’t look now, but gold is the flavor du jour again.
Hmmm….
If you think the jokes are tasteless…the AP is already running stories, speculating on who will run for Kennedy’s seat:
“Kennedy, the Senate’s second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012. Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat 145 to 160 days afterward.
Among the potential Democratic candidates: Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general; Rep. Edward J. Markey; former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, Kennedy’s nephew; and Kennedy’s wife. The Republican contenders could include former Gov. Mitt Romney or former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.”
No…my point was it was such a transparent coup d’etat that it was pathetic.
By forcing him to resign when they did, the Democratic Party was able to get their own scumbag on the ballot before the election.
Somebody who was a better “earner” and could kick more than a lousy 5 grand up to the boss.
Anybody running with the Kennedy name has an edge in that election.
How did the young nephew leave office???
fiddy (288)-
He took over the chair of Citizens’ Energy after his brother’s failed attempt at ski football.
WTF Senator Byrd is all I have to say, the man isn’t dead yet.
“Among the potential Democratic candidates: Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general; Rep. Edward J. Markey; former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, Kennedy’s nephew; and Kennedy’s wife. The Republican contenders could include former Gov. Mitt Romney or former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.”
Among the dems, it will be either Markey, who has lusted after that seat for a long time, or Delahunt, who doesn’t admit to coveting it, but does. Coakley doesn’t have much capital. Joe, Jr. will likely not run after becoming something of a laughingstock during his tenure in Congress (full disclosure – he kept getting my name wrong so I am a bit biased). The other Kennedys are not political so I can’t see them being named.
On the GOP side, no one serious will run. No Mitt. Patrick will install either Markey or Delahunt, then fill their seats, insuring that the GOP cannot knock off the interim incumbent. So the GOP will have to watch that ship sail by.
#283 RichinNJ – that’s why I love this site. Thanks for the kind words….I’m feeling better already.
I just google the kid kennedy’s bio….Jeez what a life.
The Jeep accident in ’73, Tip O’Neill’s seat in the House (an unbroken line from 1947 thru 1999),
The “annulled marriage”, Citizens Energy’s ties to Venezuela.
#292 VPW: Not to rub it in, but what was teh difference bewteen the 2k less than 2003 price, and full asking price.
On another note, what can you say about someone that paid ful price in this environment (not to samrt is a thought that comes to mind).
Also lets see if that deal actually goes through. Under contract means nothing, its not sold until the day title and moeny changes hands.
Have you thought about what you would do, it that full price deal does not go through. As I said it is a very,very real possibility, given this environment.
3b – No worries. You are not rubbing it in. The difference was $20K.
I did think about if the deal fell through…I’d offer my original offer b/c they need to move because of job relo. The house sat for a month with no offers (not that long).
#295 vpw: Well you can keep an eye on it, there is veey good chance it could work out in your favor, if you are still interested.
Either way you will be successful, at the end of the day it is just 4 walls and a roof.
Wife (295)-
Again, not to rub it in, but if the house sold in 30 days at full price- in this dreadful environment- it was priced right.
I tell my sellers now that if we don’t have a contract within 30 days of listing, the consequences will be severe.
You seem very level-headed about the whole thing. Don’t worry…there will be another house. I almost get the feeling you had an expectation someone else might swoop in and take this one down.
speaking of SUVs….just bought a Highlander about 4 months and even though i get the 20mpg for a 7 passenger SUV, its going to hurt the wallet when prices climb further…
what have we done? now everyone commutes together – me, wife, kids – all one big trip to work and back…saves on filling up two cars….weekend trips are cut short dramatically since most of it was useless driving around anyway….and looking for a home closer to work to further cut down on the commuting
should have done this instead of the highlander purchase but the next vehicle will be a used Prius…..no matter what the outcome of the OPEC lawsuit is…my guess, the mere fact that the House has passed this will further raise gas prices!!!!
“Posts by Grim and those actually involving some aspect of real estate excepted”
Last I checked IMF, World Bank, price of Gas, and RE were connected.
ok, not by a solid line, but a dotted.
then again, I just fell off the turnip truck yesterday.
;)
SAS
vpw –
I just exited attorney review for a place in Hillsborough for approx. 30k below what the seller paid in 05, and a little less than 20k below asking. Luckily for him, my seller is getting relo’d for work so it won’t affect him assuming he got a decent package. The mystery buyers who magically appear with full asking is very 2005 unless they priced it right. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it – something else will come along.
Hehe… the inspection was yesterday. The inspector, an experienced guy whose skills should be in demand, told the seller he could come by to pick up the radon testing envelope since he really doesn’t have much to do anymore.
Clot,
I am back in the GLD. Half in yesterday, other half this morning after the PPI came out.
picked this up in george will’s column…interesting…
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will051508.php3
The Economist reports: “Monthly payments on a typical house with a 30-year mortgage and 20 percent downpayment were 18.5 percent of the median family’s income in February, down from almost 26 percent at the peak — and close to the historical average.”
Thanks again Clotpoll, Jmacdaddio (congrats on your place), & 3b….. I do believe the house was priced right for the location. You are right …in the end 4 walls and a roof. I do have a roof over my head (small..but none the less..a roof – and affordable :). The search continues.
HE (301)-
God willing, this time GLD blows through $1,000…and the PPT and hedgies won’t be able to beat it down.
Oil heading to $140, unrest everywhere, rampant inflation…and gold still under $1,000?
It is, IMO, the most undervalued item on the planet right now.
All disclaimers. I have also placed a bet on a soccer game to be played tomorrow in Moscow…between two teams from England.
Saw a big handmade sign in the window of a realty office on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell today. It read “Today’s Buyer’s Market Will Soon Be Tomorrow’s Missed Opportunity”
I couldn’t help wondering why they had time to make signs if they’re so busy with the “buyer’s market”.
Clotpoll Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
HE (301)- God willing, this time GLD blows through $1,000…and the PPT and hedgies won’t be able to beat it down.
Oil heading to $140, unrest everywhere, rampant inflation…and gold still under $1,000? It is, IMO, the most undervalued item on the planet right now.
clot: ??? WTF?
Obama…..so not a closer
Chi (306)-
Hey, I made a disclaimer.
And, you still have that Captain & Tennille video to answer for.
And, you still have that Captain & Tennille video to answer for.
He’s got you there.
Hmm, does that make you an “Easy Evil”?
Never back a rat or an Albanian into a corner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or7KY2t8a_w
Someday, Hunter’s going to show up here and post some laughable Depeche Mode track.
He’ll have a nick like “REAGENT101 FROM H3LL”
and devote most of his posts to long rants about his father.
#304 Clot
I hope it was 6/1 on the 1-1 draw
The Carpenters Sing “Top Of The World”
ahh yes. I love that song.
takes me back to 1973 when I spent some time in Texas. I had an ol’ flame down there and I’d sing & hum to that tune.
Some of you blokes should think about real estate less and learn to love a women and learn to enjoy those tender moments.
SAS
“the most undervalued item on the planet right now”
I do like silver better than gold right now.
SAS
“love a women”
I’ve been trying to for my whole life. Unfortunately, I’ve only managed to “love a woman” instead.
SAS/CLOT
Wasn’t gold recently under $800?
Buying it today is following the herd. Try to lead the herd and then you will strike it rich.
Stu (316)-
Gold never got down under about $835 in recent days. Since it bottomed, the subsequent ascent has been strong and sustained.
IMO, buying gold today still gives one a $100+ run, even if you choose to bail at just over $1,000.
well, there’s another day shot to hell
# 313 “The Carpenters Sing Top Of The World ”
Ugggggggggg. IN 1973, Paranoid and War Pigs were more on my lips. And the ever optimistic looking Children of the Grave, a kick @ss peace song.
I would like to know the source of the estimated 16% downturn in the Summit/New providence/Chatham area. Here along the corridor -in Basking Ridge, the numbers reflect a 2% rise in mean prices from Jan-May 2007 to Jan-May 2008. This Basking Ridge to Summit corridor has not dropped overall, perhaps certain towns as Berkeley Heights, West Millington. But Basking Ridge, Peapack and Far Hills have not declined at all. There are pockets that have actually increased along this area corridor.