Enjoy!
(click to enlarge)
Notes:
OFHEO HPI and Purchase Only Index are both quarterly state-level series.
S&P Case Shiller Index is a monthly series and is based on the NYC Commutable Metro Area. This index includes areas outside of New Jersey.
NAR/NJAR Index is a quarterly state-level series based on MLS data.
OFHEO and HPI Indicies are based on repeat sales, NAR/NJAR is a simple median.
S&P Case Shiller Tier Rankings are as follows:
Low: Under $327733
Middle: $327733 – $469975
High: Over $469975
(as of March 2008)
Source data can be found here:
NJ Home Price Tracker Spreadsheet (XLS)
Hat tip to Pretorius for aggregating the bulk of this data and providing the concept. I’ll be adding the OFHEO MSA level data in the next day or two.
We’re still in the lead, with only 4 more days to go!
http://www.fhamortgagecenter.com/contest/view.php?id=73
Hudson County Rules apply, vote early, vote often!
From the WSJ:
Investors Press Lenders on Bad Loans
Buyers Seek to Force Repurchase by Banks;
Potential Liability Could Reach Billions
By RUTH SIMON
May 28, 2008
Already burned by bad mortgages on their books, lenders now are feeling rising heat from loans they sold to investors.
Unhappy buyers of subprime mortgages, home-equity loans and other real-estate loans are trying to force banks and mortgage companies to repurchase a growing pile of troubled loans. The pressure is the result of provisions in many loan sales that require lenders to take back loans that default unusually fast or contained mistakes or fraud.
The potential liability from the growing number of disputed loans could reach billions of dollars, says Paul J. Miller Jr., an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Some major lenders are setting aside large reserves to cover potential repurchases.
…
Such disputes began to emerge publicly in 2006 as large numbers of subprime mortgages began going bad shortly after origination. In recent months, these skirmishes have expanded to include home-equity loans and mortgages made to borrowers with relatively good credit, as well as subprime loans that went bad after borrowers made several payments.
Many recent loan disputes involve allegations of bogus appraisals, inflated borrower incomes and other misrepresentations made at the time the loans were originated. Some of the disputes are spilling into the courtroom, and the potential liability is likely to hang over lenders for years.
From the WSJ Real Time Economics Blog:
Economists React: ‘Little Indication’ of Housing Bottom
This is the third consecutive month The [Case-Shiller 20-city index] fell 2.18% month-over-month, continuing its now 5-month streak of greater than 2% monthly home price declines. Bought a house last October with 10% down? Congratulations — you’re now underwater. Is all real estate local? Not anymore, but it is regional. Within individual metropolitan areas, there were a few surprises, perhaps the biggest being Dallas, which flip-flopped from a 0.67% price decline in Feb to a 1.10% price increase in March. California (not just southern) and Florida continue to live up to their reputations as the biggest post-boom bust locales… The sizeable March revision (-17,000) [to new-home sales data] was the bigger story, as it may suggest a higher level of abandonment by buyers who walked away from contracts. In light of the ~2% monthly decline in home prices nationwide, it’s not surprising to see a tick up in abandonments.–Guy LeBas, Janney Montgomery Scott
…
New home sales extended their 33 months decline, which has now totaled 62.1%. Moreover, despite this month’s increase, there is little indication that home sales are approaching a bottom. Inventories of unsold homes remain very high despite slipping for the thirteenth consecutive month. Prices [in the new-home data] posted an unusual gain but this was due to a shift in the composition of sales toward more expensive areas rather than stability in prices. Home prices are still falling on trend. –Steven A. Wood, Insight Economics
…
Inventory of existing homes is still very close to its record high so prices will continues to fall rapidly. Since its May 06 peak the Case-Shiller index is now down 15.7%; we expect the peak-to-trough drop to reach 25-to-30%. –Ian Shepherdson, High Frequency Economics
…
Despite the sharp drop in home prices, housing demand has remained depressed, leaving a huge overhang of homes on the market for sale. In addition, rising foreclosures puts downward pressure on home prices since foreclosed homes typically sell at a discount to the market clearing price. As such, we expect home prices to fall another 10% through the end of 2009 as the market slowly, and painfully, clears the hefty overhang of homes on the market for sale. –Michelle Meyer, Lehman Brothers
…
Chatter about a possible turn in the housing market remains hopelessly premature. The latest Case-Schiller house prices indices, which it should be remembered cover repeat sales of single-family homes so exclude condos and that the data is also smoothed over three months, underlined that the housing market continues to go from bad to worse… Don’t be fooled by the optical illusion of a month-to-month pop in new home sales in April, which will almost certainly be revised away. Seasonal adjustments also appear to be flattering the April data. Bottom line – demand for new housing is still falling & at a rapid pace. –Richard Iley, BNP Paribas
…
The only tentative — and it is only very tentative — positive sign [in the Case-Shiller data] is that once we seasonally adjust the 20-city index the monthly rate of decline did not steepen, holding approximately constant at around 25%. Of course, prices are still falling at a 25% annual rate which is pretty horrendous, tons of excess supply remains and there have been temporary pauses before over this downturn. –Goldman Sachs
I can see why the stock market rallied on all this good housing news.
/sarcasm
From prev post
Thank you Pat, PGC and Renting for your insight and advice. I passed on the link and info to my SIL. She is trying to gather more information before deciding.
BUT, as always – THanks!! You guys are the best!
sl
From prev post
Thank you Pat, PGC and Renting for your insight and advice. I passed on the link and info to my SIL. She is trying to gather more information before deciding.
BUT, as always – THanks!! You guys are the best!
sl
re post…sorry… eesh
From NY Times:
Housing Prices Fall 14.1% in Sign of Continuing Slump
America’s home-buying season, when for-sale signs sprout like dandelions, is shaping up to be even worse than expected this year, with prices falling, sales slowing and few signs of a turnaround emerging.
Two reports released Tuesday captured the bleak picture. One showed that home prices nationally fell 14.1 percent in March from a year earlier. The other showed sales of new homes, although up slightly in April, remained mired near their lowest levels since 1991.
While Wall Street is growing hopeful that the economy might dodge a recession, many economists warn that the pain in the housing market may last for several years. Even local markets like Seattle, which once seemed immune to the slump, are weakening. Prices nationwide might fall as much as another 10 percent before a turnaround takes hold, economists said.
The problem boils down to supply and demand. As the home-buying season — that annual rite of spring and early summer — enters what is traditionally its busiest period, there are simply too many homes in many parts of the country, and too few people with the means to buy them. The situation is likely to get worse because a rising tide of foreclosures is flooding the market with even more homes, while a slack economy and tight mortgage market are reducing the pool of potential buyers.
Today’s troubles can be traced to the excesses of the housing boom, said Ronald J. Peltier, the chief executive of Home Services of America, which owns real estate brokerage firms across the country.
“It’s like eating beyond your stomach’s capacity,” Mr. Peltier said in a recent interview. “We have huge indigestion.”
Sellers confront a sober reality: There are more than 4.5 million homes on the market nationwide. The way houses are selling, it would take nearly 11 months to clear the market. The last time so many homes were for sale was in the early 1980s, when the economy was in a deep recession and interest rates were two to four times as high as they are today.
For the most part, sales keep falling. Sales of existing single family homes tumbled 20 percent in the first four months of the year from the comparable period a year ago and are running at their lowest levels since 1998. Sales of new homes have fallen 42 percent over the last year. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales increased 3.3 percent in April from March, when sales tumbled 11 percent, although the increase largely reflected a statistical revision to the earlier figures.
From the APP:
Include layoffs in budget mix
Fat and bloated is no way for people or state governments to go through life.
And the last thing New Jersey needs is a fad diet.
“Do we want to reshape the scope and size of government or don’t we?” Gov. Corzine asked recently.
The governor should stop asking rhetorical questions and get down to business. He needs to do more than tout his plan to get 3,000 state employees to retire: Targeted layoffs should be on the table as well.
The retirement plan, Gov. Corzine claims, will do more than save money. It will slim down the size of government in Trenton.
The saving money part seems dubious at best. So does the part about downsizing the government work force, at least over the long term.
The 3,000 retirees will save the state an estimated $136 million in the first year. But retirement packages have a way of coming around again to bite the taxpayer, especially when it comes to pension costs. Corzine’s own estimates predict that while the retirements would save $457 million over three years, pension costs would rise $517 million during that same period.
It doesn’t take an M.B.A. to figure out that $517 million minus $457 million equals $60 million — 60 million dollars that still have to come from taxpayers.
Try explaining to your doctor that while you indeed lost 45 pounds since your last visit, you also happened to gain it back and added 15 more pounds.
Corzine says it won’t be as bad as the last time the state offered buyouts because only one in 10 of the vacated jobs will be filled. How does the governor plan to guarantee that sort of promise?
From the Boston Herald:
Foreclosures rival sales
The number of foreclosures rivals the number of home sales in some Bay State cities hit hardest by the current housing crisis.
Almost as many homes were foreclosed in Lawrence, 156, as were sold, 184, during the first four months of the year, according to the Warren Group, the Boston real estate tracker. More than 45 percent of all real estate transactions in the city are now bank seizures.
That is nearly double the statewide average and a far cry from just a few years ago, when foreclosures, even in poor areas, were a fraction of the market.
From the Record:
Area home prices fall 7.4
Home prices in the New York metropolitan area, which includes North Jersey, declined 7.4 percent in March from a year earlier, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index reported Tuesday.
While that was a significant decline, prices in the region dropped only about half as much as national prices, according to Case-Shiller. The index of 20 metropolitan areas, for example, saw a 14.4 percent drop; it has fallen every month since January 2007.
…
The New Jersey Multiple Listing Service recently reported that prices declined 2.4 percent in Bergen County and 8.1 percent in Passaic County in the first quarter of 2008, versus the same period last year.
Some additional details on the March S&P Case Shiller NY Commutable Index.
Low Tier is down 8.31% from peak to current trough
Mid Tier is down 9.27% from peak to current trough
High Tier is down 6.89% from peak to current trough
Aggregate is down 8.92% from peak to current trough
Credit crunch, lay offs , falling home
prices , pension issues , foreclosures ,
what is next? Swarm of locusts?
Good thing sub prime was contained.
http://newmls.gsmls.com/public/show_public_report_rpt.do?report=clientfull&Id=32562455_11260
Here is a nice 60k reduction. Check out the taxes a tad high to live in the outback of NJ. Needs some updating to.
From MarketWatch:
Lexicon Pharma to cut jobs in Texas, New Jersey
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. said that as part of its restructuring plan to cut costs and increase its investment in the development of its pipeline it will lay off workers at its facilities in Texas and New Jersey.
Note: Lexicon employs approximately 100 at it’s Princeton facility.
Only the most pressing real estate issues up for discussion here..
Ban the leaf-blowers?
They’re so loud, the people using them often wear ear protection. But what about the rest of us?
At Tuesday’s council meeting, two residents asked Morristown officials to enforce noise ordinances–or ban leaf-blowers entirely.
Marge Brady said her neighbors’ landscapers are out all weekend, at all hours, blasting away. It’s so bad, she said, that she cannot converse on her own front porch because of the racket. She also said leaf blowers waste gas, litter the streets with lawn fertilizer, and kick up dust clouds that cause asthma.
Samantha Rothman said her son has been awakened, in tears, at 7 a.m. by the din.
From the Huffington Post:
We’re Nowhere Near A Bottom in Housing
From the Star Ledger:
Keansburg schools to temporarily withhold severance payments
Under threat of a court injunction, the Keansburg school board tonight voted to temporarily withhold payments on a $740,000 severance package awarded to its retiring superintendent.
Board President William Manoes said officials will seek a compromise among the district, state officials who have been critical of the deal, and Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski.
“The board has agreed they will make no payments under the terms and conditions of the contract until further resolution of the issues between the parties,” Manoes said.
The move came as the Corzine administration called for a review of all superintendents’ contracts across the state to check for other costly deals.
Gov. Jon Corzine, who already has directed his attorney general to seek a court injunction this week to bar most of the payout in Keansburg, said he probably will ask all 21 newly appointed executive county superintendents to review the contracts of district superintendents.
“I think we ought to look at the contracts of superintendents on a broad basis, make sure that we don’t have similar kinds of failings in existing contracts,” the governor said after a speaking engagement in Princeton this morning.
From the WSJ:
Realtors Agree to Open Listings
To Online Discounters
Antitrust Settlement Is Unlikely
To Reduce Home-Sales
Commissions in Near Term
By JAMES R. HAGERTY and JOHN R. WILKE
May 28, 2008; Page B1
The Justice Department said it reached a settlement with the National Association of Realtors in an antitrust case over the trade group’s effort to control how home listings are displayed on the Internet.
The settlement prevents the Realtors — whose more than 1.2 million members handle nearly all U.S. home sales made through agents — from adopting rules that the department said could have handicapped discount brokers that rely heavily on the Internet to attract and work with clients.
The department said the settlement should encourage more competition among real-estate brokers. But it appears unlikely to have much influence on the commissions consumers pay on home sales, at least in the near term, industry executives say.
The antitrust suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago in 2005, challenged Realtor rules that allowed brokers to block their listings of homes for sale from being displayed on other brokers’ Web sites. The Justice Department said that policy would restrain competition from brokers that rely mainly on Web sites to interact with their customers. If such brokers couldn’t offer their clients information on the full range of homes available, consumers would go elsewhere, the department said.
Under the settlement, the Realtors agreed to adopt new rules that don’t discriminate against online brokers. The settlement says online brokers should be allowed to provide the same information via the Internet that conventional brokers offer to people who walk into their offices.
The trade group didn’t admit to any wrongdoing under the deal and won’t pay any fine. Laurie Janik, its general counsel, said the settlement “protected all our key principles.”
Re: son awakened by leaf blower
poor thing! I can just see him 30 years from now in therapy because of said leaf blower.
Leaf blowers are against the law in Great Neck and lots of town have restrictions on when you can do it. My town has no restrictions and it is a nightmare. The towns near me ban it on Sunday and before 9am so in my town since gardners start at 7am they do their loud blowing between 7am and 9am Mondays through Saturday and all day Sunday and wait to do the loud blowing in the neighboring towns till later in the day. What a nightmare. Use a god damm rake you lazy mexicans!
“Peter Schiff, president of money manager Euro Pacific Capital, warns that after years of profligate spending, the “chickens are finally coming home to roost”.
“Our whole phony standard of living is imploding,” he said. “We have borrowed and spent ourselves into oblivion.”
“It’s amazing that people can’t figure out that America is broke.”
”
From: Think oil prices hurt now? Just wait
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2248967220080522
# 14
The tax bill on that home got me thinking about statements that I hear school boards and towns make all the time: “Our tax increase is in line with our residents’ ability to pay.”
As far as I am concerned, the “ability to pay” has little to do with assessing whether a proposed budget or related tax increase is a wise expenditure. Just because the residents can afford to spend an extra $500/year in taxes doesnt mean that the spending that generated the increase is worth it. Until the focus is on achieving the essential results at the least cost, the upward spiral of taxes will not abate. There are many functions govrnment took on back in the days when we were the only economic dog on the block, but which, perhaps, need to be discontinued.
McCain economic policy shaped by lobbyist
Swiss bank paid McCain co-chair to push agenda on U.S. mortgage crisis
May 27: Questions about John McCain’s ties to lobbyists resurface with news that his campaign co-chair was a paid bank lobbyist while advising on economic policy.
Countdown
By Jonathan Larsen, producer,
with Keith Olbermann
MSNBC
updated 8:52 p.m. ET, Tues., May. 27, 2008
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s national campaign general co-chair was being paid by a Swiss bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy, federal records show. [See sidebar.]
“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” reported Tuesday night that lobbying disclosure forms, filed by the giant Swiss bank UBS, list McCain’s campaign co-chair, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, as a lobbyist dealing specifically with legislation regarding the mortgage crisis as recently as Dec. 31, 2007.
Gramm joined the bank in 2002 and had registered as a lobbyist by 2004. UBS filed paperwork deregistering Gramm on April 18 of this year. Gramm continues to serve as a UBS vice chairman.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24844889
Unless you post the leaf blowers restrictions in Spanish, what’s the point of it?
Will the fines be in Pesos?
“Morristown officials to enforce noise ordinances–or ban leaf-blowers entirely.”
Last time I was in Morristown they had much bigger problems than leaf-blowers. How about illegal immigration and crime?
# 18 I wonder what theory they will use to try and stop payments that were mutually negotiated into a binding contract, which was voted on and accepted by an elected board in accordance with the law?
It sounds like they will soon be on the hook for what they owe plus legal fees.
My favorite school tax complaint is two weeks ago I got a newsletter from the school the sat before the vote saying they are raising school taxes only 2.8% and then the night before the election a call urging to vote saying once again they are raising taxes only 2.8%. Well the budget passed and the newspaper reported something like a 5.2% increase. Turns out in school voting land a 2.8% increase is 2.8% over the cost of inflation. So it is 2.8% plus whatever inflation was in the given year. That fact is never mentioned. They are tricky little devils!
For us the leaf blowers are less an issue of noise and more of noxious fumes. My wife forbade the guys our landlord hired from using them on the property. Honestly, the entire house smells like the Holland Tunnel for an hour after they are done. We end up having to open all the windows to air out the house. We also have “little” lungs on the premises. My wife was thinking we should buy an electric one for the same purpose.
I don’t know other people’s observations, but there are noticeably fewer illegals in Red Bank (a.k.a. the biking, walking the highway, pushing the baby carriage crowd) over the last few months.
poor thing! I can just see him 30 years from now in therapy because of said leaf blower.
…but if we don’t clean up our leaves, our property values will go down! This argument always works for the school budget.
Grim you’re down!
Rank Site Link Profile Votes
1 HousingPANIC – The Housing Bubble and Crash Blog with an Attitude Problem, by keith Vote & view profile 888
2 New Jersey Real Estate Report, by James Bednar Vote & view profile 886
For all you NJ unemployment cry babies out there, my friends are getting jobs in NJ with big pay raises after getting sacked from Wall St. firms. I am ready to send my resume out there to get a nice pay raise.
#30,
cf, they must have moved to my town because there’s a lot of them.
re: Oil
Congress is starting to get down to the root of the speculation in oil futures.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2739637720080527?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
Now only if the could work on the strength of the dollar by cutting spending……
re: #33 Frank big pay raises do not translate into big bonuses.
#33 frank: Doubtful.
Frank (33),
I hope you have a LOT of friends.
Grim you’re down!
Rank Site Link Profile Votes
1 HousingPANIC – The Housing Bubble and Crash Blog with an Attitude Problem, by keith Vote & view profile 888
2 New Jersey Real Estate Report, by James Bednar Vote & view profile 886
Need to employ the eBay bidding strategy. Housing Panic will just keep voting for himself until he is just a tick above NJREReport. We need to do the last minute voting blitz in the closing hours.
3B,
I’ll put together what you requested and throw it in an email to Grim
Rich
#39-
Lets have a FHA Voting GTG during those hours :).
#40 Rich: Thanks.
KeyCorp (KEY:US) shares may move. Ohio’s third-largest bank said net loan charge-offs will be higher than previously estimated as the lender “deals aggressively with reducing exposures in the residential homebuilder portfolio.”
I want to hear that conference call as to how they are doing it so late in the game
Haworth
2504222 Sold
ACT 501 HAWORTH AVE $789,000 2/15/2005
ACT* 501 HAWORTH AVE $789,000 2/17/2005
U/C 501 HAWORTH AVE $789,000 2/18/2005
SLD 501 HAWORTH AVE $789,000 6/6/2005
2804108 Withdrawn
ACT 501 HAWORTH AVE $829,900 1/30/2008
PCH 501 HAWORTH AVE $799,000 3/27/2008
EXT 501 HAWORTH AVE $799,000 5/12/2008
PCH 501 HAWORTH AVE $769,000 5/12/2008
W-C 501 HAWORTH AVE $769,000 5/27/2008
2821495 Active (Same broker/agent)
ACT 501 HAWORTH AVE $769,000 5/27/2008
Available to rent
2817838 Active
ACT 501 HAWORTH AVE $3,475 5/1/2008
tick, tick, tick…
Just remember when you are done blowing out noxious smoke on your gas powered leaf blowers to throw the leaves in a a petrolium based non-degradable garbage bags so your children’s children can look at your leaves from the summer of 2008 if they have to.
But lets all be sure to believe everything he tells us about the economy, etc.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2836293020080528
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan says in a new book that President George W. Bush “veered terribly off course” and was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” Politico.com reported on Tuesday.
In the memoir due out next week, McClellan also says Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war and says the Washington press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to it, according to the Web site.
McClellan also takes the administration to task for its performance after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, saying the White House “spent most of the first week in a state of denial,” Politico reported.
According to the Web site, McClellan blames former Bush senior adviser Karl Rove for the photo of the president seen observing the disaster during an Air Force One flyover.
“One of the worst disasters in our nation’s history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush’s presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush’s second term,” Politico quoted the book as saying.
McClellan’s 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” takes a much harsher tone than White House officials had expected from the president’s former aide, Politico reported.
The White House declined comment.
Stilll can’t vote, even after resetting router.
When did it become acceptable for people to hire help to clear their leaves or to use leaf blowers?
I grew up in a pretty tony part of Bergen County in the 1980s and everyone raked their yards and shoveled snow. I’ve recently returned to the state and now that sort of DIY seems laughably ‘last century.’
Grim,
You need to fix your chart.
In true fashion of all the bull crap I’m reading from the opinionholes, you need to “extend” your lines with dotted lines to show your projections…
And your dotted lines need to go from exactly where the solid lines end straight up to the right.
I mean, seriously, can you not see that’s the reasonable projection? Everyone else does…
/sigh. snark off.
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Shares of KeyCorp came under early pressure Wednesday, retreating more than 10% after the regional bank increased its 2008 outlook for loan losses as a result of ongoing credit turmoil and housing-market weakness.
Looks like another two buck chuck for Chase in the works.
Corzine finally listening to taxpayers?
N.J. School Board Withholds Severance Payout, Star-Ledger Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a5ghW01TymYM
Even funnier the garbage men, unemployed and mechanics in my neighborhood have lawn service as if it is beneath them to rake their own leaves.
We live in a funny society, I personally would be embaresed to have lawn service if I was unemployed. Who the heck are you fooling?
grim,
Do you realize you’re also No. 6?
There’s another block of votes there.
And Clot is No. 7.
#48
I grew up in BC and we used to make a few bucks shoveling snow and raking leaves as young teens in the late 70s. Don’t really remember too many landscapers… most did it themselves as you said.
#52 – he’s also #61, unless he has another blog about NJ “Reality”
48….my lawn guy is $$$…but man oh man the place looks good. Curb Appeal baby!
Corzine finally listening to taxpayers?.
Nope. The Board negotiated a bad contract. Now that it became publicized, they have egg on their faces, so now they are trying to change the deal after the fact. It’s not the superintendent’s fault. Her job is to get the best deal she can get for herself. The Board will be required to pay for the full contract plus any legal fees for feigning shock and disgust over the deal they made. They should come clean and admit to their constituents that they did a bad job at representing their interests and being good stewards of public funds.
Wow…cant believe all the hate towards leaf blowers. I use mine every Saturday to clean up my property. If you have a long driveway like myself, a gas blower really makes the job easier. I guess lawn mowers are not good either? We should go back to the old reel push mowers I suppose? One could argue that would be the “green” thing to do since it doesn’t require enegry to operate, although you will have to eat something to use your personal enegry…oh noes!
#53 and #55
That’s really not fair. Should be merged with the main block of votes. Maybe we could petition the contest…
Need to vote people. 903 to 900. Too close for comfort.
# 58 “We should go back to the old reel push mowers I suppose? ”
In Ocean Grove, some of the lawns are so small a pair of scissors.
could do the job
Speaking of push mowers…
Depending on how big the lot I have for my house, when I do buy after waiting at least another 1 1/2 years, I would consider one to be a little green and to get a little exercise.
As for leaf blowers… Hated them. As a college student, after late night drinking binges, I hated have them wake me up every freakin’ morning! That and the damn crows!
What is the difference between the noise a leaf blower makes and a weed wacker or a lawn mower.
I am did a quick google on leaf blower/lawn mower decibel levels and it turns out that lawn mowers, on average are 5 to 10 dB’s higher at 50ft.
Leaf Blower Average ~ 65dB @ 50ft
Lawn Mower Average (Push & Riding) ~ 70-75dB @50ft
Are we going to ban lawn mowers soon?
http://www.judicialreports.com/2008/05/subprimal_therapy.php
“The governor has charged New York’s courts with fixing the foreclosure crisis. Never mind the lack of money, time, transparency, or judicial authority to get the job done.
In mid-May Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau told the State Senate Banking Committee that the judiciary did not have the resources to comply with a gubernatorial call to help resolve the spike in residential foreclosures.
[snip]
The governor’s proposal would mandate expedited settlement conferences for all borrowers and lenders, to be held within 60 days after the borrower’s answer to the foreclosure notice is due. It would also give judges permission to assign counsel to borrowers representing themselves.
But interviews with key members of the bench and bar reveal that systemic barriers make implementation of such notions an almost herculean task.”
Much more at the link – highly recommend this article for anyone who thinks the Governor’s pronouncement will have any effect whatsoever.
TJ: You and I should get used to the new generation of thinking. With this mentality, it is only a matter of time until people are put in jail for hurting someones feelings…watch, it will happen…oh and loads of mandatory safety equipment too!
mike (14)-
Love that 10K tax bill, too…
Vacuum Cleaner – 80dB.
Maybe I could have had the town pass a law banning my mom from vacuuming in the morning when I was in high school!
Since we’re talking about bans on noise pollution, we should ban those Harley’s with the loud exhaust pipes. Those are just downright obnoxious.
…and loud Honda Civics with cheap tail lights. Ban those too!
John (21)-
“Use a god damm rake you lazy mexicans!”
John, if you start a blog of your own, this should be th title.
YES WE should ban gas powered mowers, you nancy boys need to man up and get a push mowers.
Anyhow my friend is selling her house in NJ and she is like a snapshot of why inventories are rising.
1) She thinks how much she paid should be a factor in pricing her house.
2) She thinks how much she put into her house should also be a factor in pricing her house.
3) She needs a certain amount of profit in order to buy the next place.
4) She does not want to lose money and only wants to sell if there is a profit.
5)She thinks her house is better than the comps
6) She is waiting to cut her price (even though in a falling market if you wait to cut the falling prices by the time you cut it won’t matter)
7) She can wait it out (which implies recovery is just around the cover and we are at bottom)
Bottom line your house is worth what it is worth. If you have a five year old camry you want to sell you look up a price on KBB on the internet to see what your car is currently worth and pretty much list it for the current private party used car price. What you paid, did you rebuild the tranny, how much cash you need to buy your next car is kind of meaningless. The car is worth what it is worth. If it is a monster SUV that is not worth much you might not list it at all. But in housing people feel what your house is actually worth at this current moment in time is meaningless. It is all about what the owner needs to get out of the deal. It is nice thinking, it won’t work if you price a car or a house that way but as long as people keep pricing their houses that way inventory will rise and rise.
Clotpol it would make a good book title for my rantings.
Gator (24)-
Phil Gramm uttered my all-time favorite political quote:
“I own more shotguns than I need, but not as many as I want.”
In defense of the Mexicans they are truly not the lazy ones. It’s the homeowners who hire them.
We cannot let the douchebag who hosts Housingpanic win.
today’s new table is really great – thanks, grim, and thanks, pretorius.
spammy (49)-
“And your dotted lines need to go from exactly where the solid lines end straight up to the right.”
Of course…the classic “V” recovery!
51:
No, likelier he’s started reading polls — or at least caring what pollsters say.
73:
If print isn’t dead yet, you’re the man I choose to kill it.
Midland Park
2312068 Sold
SLD 253 PARK AVE $368,000 7/15/2003
On and off the market in ’06 & ’07, started at $544,000
2743039 Sold
ACT 253 PARK AVE $469,900 10/22/2007
PCH 253 PARK AVE $439,900 1/7/2008
ACT* 253 PARK AVE $439,900 2/25/2008
U/C 253 PARK AVE $439,900 3/7/2008
SLD 253 PARK AVE $380,000 5/23/2008
48 & 56: My lawn guy is $$$ too, but yes, the place looks good. And in my neighborhood, you almost have to have a service unless you want to spend your weekends mowing and weed-wacking and spreading crap down. I take enough crap from neighbors for keeping my tall oak trees and not manicuring my privet hedges and forsythia enough. I also pay an arborist to keep the azaleas, the privet, and the trees healthy. My kitchen is still from the 1970’s and it costs me a fortune, but durn it, the outside looks FINE. My landscape guy also has full-time guys who work for him for whom he provides health insurance too. So he is a stand-up guy in the bargain. (Presposterously handsome, too.)
jamey (80)-
I think he’s too busy right now, trying to kill the English language.
YES WE should ban gas powered mowers, you nancy boys need to man up and get a push mowers.
Because pushing a manually lawn mower demonstrates 1) that you are not gay 2) that you must be in peak physical fitness.
# 82 “(Presposterously handsome, too.)”
Ahh, the TRUE motivation for the lawn service :-). Now if you could only get him to tend the pool too.
Westwood
2537060 Sold
ACT 6 WOODLAND CROSS $639,000 11/4/2005
ACT* 6 WOODLAND CROSS $639,000 11/11/2005
U/C 6 WOODLAND CROSS $639,000 11/21/2005
SLD 6 WOODLAND CROSS $630,000 1/6/2006
2748135 Withdrawn
ACT 6 WOODLAND CROSS $659,000 12/10/2007
PCH 6 WOODLAND CROSS $649,000 1/8/2008
PCH 6 WOODLAND CROSS $630,000 1/23/2008
W-U 6 WOODLAND CROSS $630,000 3/4/2008
2808782 Sold (Same broker/agent)
ACT 6 WOODLAND CROSS $629,000 3/4/2008
ACT* 6 WOODLAND CROSS $629,000 4/15/2008
U/C 6 WOODLAND CROSS $629,000 4/23/2008
SLD 6 WOODLAND CROSS $570,000 5/27/2008
Rich 81+86
Thanks for the detailed info on pricing trends!
And keeping the board semi-interesting, unless you like writing post after post about leaf blowers.
74 clot
“I own more shotguns than I need, but not as many as I want.”
Was it Dave Barry who wrote the hysterically funny analysis of that phrase?
Booya,
We’ve internalized the declining housing market already. We’re moving on to more serious topics…
On a more serious note, if this snowballs than banks could be pressed to extend loans if they are forced to eat poor underwriting standards.
Investors Press Lenders on Bad Loans
Buyers Seek to Force Repurchase by Banks;
Potential Liability Could Reach Billions
By RUTH SIMON
May 28, 2008; Page C1
Already burned by bad mortgages on their books, lenders now are feeling rising heat from loans they sold to investors.
Unhappy buyers of subprime mortgages, home-equity loans and other real-estate loans are trying to force banks and mortgage companies to repurchase a growing pile of troubled loans. The pressure is the result of provisions in many loan sales that require lenders to take back loans that default unusually fast or contained mistakes or fraud.
The potential liability from the growing number of disputed loans could reach billions of dollars, says Paul J. Miller Jr., an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Some major lenders are setting aside large reserves to cover potential repurchases.
Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest mortgage lender in the U.S., said in a securities filing this month that its estimated liability for such claims climbed to $935 million as of March 31 from $365 million a year earlier. Countrywide also took a first-quarter charge of $133 million for claims that already have been paid.
The fight over mortgages that lenders thought they had largely offloaded is another reminder of the deterioration of lending standards that helped contribute to the worst housing bust in decades.
Such disputes began to emerge publicly in 2006 as large numbers of subprime mortgages began going bad shortly after origination. In recent months, these skirmishes have expanded to include home-equity loans and mortgages made to borrowers with relatively good credit, as well as subprime loans that went bad after borrowers made several payments.
Many recent loan disputes involve allegations of bogus appraisals, inflated borrower incomes and other misrepresentations made at the time the loans were originated. Some of the disputes are spilling into the courtroom, and the potential liability is likely to hang over lenders for years.
Repurchase demands are coming from a wide variety of loan buyers. In a recent conference call with analysts, Fannie Mae said it is reviewing every loan that defaults — and seeking to force lenders to buy back loans that failed to meet promised quality standards. Freddie Mac also has seen an increase in such claims, a spokeswoman says, adding that most are resolved easily.
Many of the repurchase requests involve errors in judgment or underwriting rather than outright fraud, says Morgan Snyder, a consultant in Fairfax, Va., who works with lenders.
Additional pressure is coming from bond insurers such as Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc., which guaranteed investment-grade securities backed by pools of home-equity loans and lines of credit. In January, Armonk, N.Y.-based MBIA began working with forensic experts to scrutinize pools it insured that contained home-equity loans and credit lines to borrowers with good credit. “There are a significant number of loans that should not have been in these pools to begin with,” says Mitch Sonkin, MBIA’s head of insured portfolio management.
Ambac is analyzing 17 home-equity-loan deals to see whether it has grounds to demand that banks repurchase loans in those pools, according to an Ambac spokeswoman.
Redwood Trust Inc., a mortgage real-estate investment trust in Mill Valley, Calif., said in a recent securities filing that it plans to pursue mortgage originators and others “to the extent it is appropriate to do so” in an effort to reduce credit losses.
Repurchase claims often are resolved by negotiation or through arbitration, but a growing number of disputes are ending up in court. Since the start of 2007, roughly 20 such lawsuits involving repurchase requests of $4 million or more have been filed in federal courts, according to Navigant Consulting, a management and litigation consulting firm. The figures don’t include claims filed in state courts and smaller disputes involving a single loan or a handful of mortgages.
In a lawsuit filed in December in Superior Court in Los Angeles, units of PMI Group Inc. alleged that WMC Mortgage Corp. breached the “representations and warranties” it made for a pool of subprime loans that were insured by PMI in 2007. Within eight months, the delinquency rate for the pool of loans had climbed to 30%, according to the suit. The suit also alleges that detailed scrutiny of 120 loans that PMI asked WMC to repurchase found evidence of “fraud, errors [and] misrepresentations.”
PMI wants WMC, which was General Electric Co.’s subprime-mortgage unit, to buy back the loans or pay damages. Both companies declined to comment on the pending suit.
Lenders may feel pressure to boost reserves for such claims because of the fear they could be sued for not properly accounting for potential repurchases, says Laurence Platt, an attorney in Washington. At least three lawsuits have been filed by investors who allege that New Century Financial Corp. and other mortgage lenders understated their repurchase reserves, according to Navigant.
I don’t understand all the negative news. I was watching the Today Show this morning and their resident real estate “expert” told me the problem with the market is the greedy buyers who are trying to “sharp shoot” a bottom. I did get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing my greed is the cause of the real estate collapse.
Secondly, Why all the discussion on leaf blowers? I make my Mexicans put the leafs back on the trees were they found them.
74 clot
Found it – it was Franken:
Franken reflects on what Gramm meant. “I guess you’d have to begin by estimating the number of shotguns Phil Gramm thinks he needs. I think he needs three, one for each domicile. (A home in Texas, an apartment in Washington, and a summer house on Chesapeake Bay.) But remember, he owns more than he needs. But less than he wants.”
“Why would you want more shotguns than you need?” continues Franken, who tells us he has never owned a gun. “Probably convenience. How many times have you been in the living room, needed the shotgun, and said to yourself, `Nuts, I left the shotgun in the kitchen.’ I’ll bet this happens to Phil Gramm all the time.”
What is the difference between the noise a leaf blower makes and a weed wacker or a lawn mower.
I’ll take leaf blower noise any day of the week over those f*&%ing kids in their Honda Civics with the stupid metal garbage can exhaust racing around blasting their radios. At least the leaf blower results in a nicer looking neighborhood.
Push mowers do a better job cutting the grass. They actually cut it rather than tearing it up – plus very cheap to run, environmentally friendly and an excellent work out. Perfect for the post-financial-apocalyptic world.
Leaf blowers are moronic. A perfect metaphor for a wasteful, lazy and self important society. Sorry.
Jill – sorry your neighbours pressure you into spending a fortune on your yard. Sucks. Guy next door is like that – if we had an HOA he would be the guy out there measuring peoples’ grass with a ruler. Exactly why I want a rural property.
Nice that your yard guy is cute though. We all deserve some cuteness.
We cannot let the douchebag who hosts Housingpanic win.
Like I said earlier. We need to use the eBay approach here; a barrage of 11th hour votes. Any votes submitted earlier, he will simply vote for himself until he has a few more than NJREREPORT.
That could have been me, except I’m much older. Almost did that to my 3 series 5 years ago. Tinted windows, a new exhaust and intake to get some more power from my car. Lucky my rational self took hold and I didn’t do that because that would look kind of retarded when now I have two kids in car seats.
Question about OFHEO –
They don’t include non-conforming loans but track the same properties over time. So what happens when a property rises in price and is no longer conforming? Does it just drop off and stop being counted?
Maybe a stupid question, but I’d like to be enlightened. If they just drop off, in a high cost area like this one, it would make their figures practically meaningless.
94 renting
duly noted.
I’m holding a shotgun blast in reserve.
RentingNJ.
Do both. Keep the simpleton busy until he realizes he wasted his time when we bombard the vote do to sheer volume of NJREREPORT afficionados.
96 lisoosh
The same question would apply in the opposite direction. Good question.
Does this include Phil Gramm?
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/060c5c38-2c17-11dd-9861-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
UBS tells unit staff to avoid US visits
By Haig Simonian in Zurich
UBS has told members of its former private banking team responsible for rich US clients not to travel to America.
The Swiss bank has also made lawyers available to the more than 50 bankers involved, many of whom have left UBS since it decided last November to wind down its cross-border private banking business for US customers.
[snip]
Many members of UBS’s former US team have left the bank amid concerns about the investigations and fears that the bank might not support them if arrested. “Many of us have the feeling we’d be expendable,”
said one former team member.
More juicy tidbits at the link above.
heh
just posted a link to grim’s vote button on the douchebag site.
heh II
and it looks like we picked up several quick votes.
njpat,
Covert Ops! I love it!
You know what is creepy though the Italian lawn service guys hire all these mexicans to do lawn work 12 hours a day and they give no bathroom breaks. The guys pee in my dog run all the time making it extra smelly.
The worse incident happened today, the Mexican had to take a dump so he let go a buritto sized whopper next to my shed that was piping hot, by wife ran out to the yard to check something while the guys were still their and stepped in a pile of good old south of the border poop. Then she decided to head to the screened porch area to get some paper to wipe it off and got a handfull of poop when she slide the door handle as the mexican also had the same idea, GROSS. Now the kicker was where did the Mexican get the water to wash his hands, Yikes right from the dogs water dish in the porch where he got left some of his brown trout hanging on the side of the doggie. dish. Of course the dog was inside all along and the mexicans were still on the front yard and all you get is no hable ingles, all their butts smell like the fresh kill dump in august so you can’t even go all CSIi and do a scratch and sniff test to smell out the mexican who was stacking brown logs out back.
Answer about OFHEO –
They calculate their indexes based on the data they get from FNMA and Freddie if a loan is no longer conforming, they would never see it.
Escape (90)-
Did the Today Show’s “expert” resemble a female gerbil, with a pronounced overbite and close-cropped hair?
Funny that she should be pontificating on the topic of greed.
Sorry for my wastefulness and self importance, but a physical limitation prevents me from sweeping my driveway, leaf blower is really the best way.
Folks, please don’t dilude yourselves into thinking they’re going to do anything with that superintendent’s severance pay.
The most we can hope for is a “compromise” where she gives up some (not all) of her unused sick days.
Once the NJEA threatens a lawsuit….these spineless politicians will scatter like cockroaches. When was it deemed necessary to offer a “severance package” to a retiring school worker? This is over and above the $119K pension she will start drawing. Not to mention the Lifetime Health Benefits with no co-pay for her and her family.
The saddest part is…..she will not spend a dime of it in the boro of Keansburg. She’s probably packing for North Carolina as we speak.
soosh (96)-
“…what happens when a property rises in price and is no longer conforming?”
soosh, I can’t tell you how many homes in Hunterdon/Somerset crossed this line over the past few years. That’s the biggest reason I don’t find OFHEO credible in an are like ours.
I could also tell you a couple of stories about owners I know who purchased- via FHA- in the 90s, then ended up doing cash-out refi’s as jumbos. Freaky stuff.
Re reel (push) mowers:
They’re not a 100% green replacement for a motorized mower.
They won’t cut dandelions, crabgrass or other weeds that have stems thicker than a blade of grass, so you either have to put weed killer on your lawn (not a very green thing to do), use a gas mower every few weeks or live with weeds a couple of feet taller than the grass.
I also hate the leaf blowers and loud piped motorcycles, but at least the bikes come and go in a few seconds but the leaf blowers drone on for hours.
I was listening to G106.3 this morning when I was getting ready for work and they had a news story about a guy named Steven Irwin in Belmar. Apparently, he’s an attorney who specializes in tax appeals who is contesting both of his neighbors property assessments because they are about $150K less than his. Instead of arguing to lower his taxes he’s petitioning Belmar to raise both his neighbors property taxes. Now that’s a douchebag neighbor. I wonder who’s the outcast on that block who doesn’t get invited to neighborhood barbeques?
109 A small blowtorch works well.
John (104)-
Maybe those guys were just commenting on your decor and landscaping…
BTW, thanks for teaching me at least three new euphemisms for “poop”. Those will come in handy someday.
110 What a sport.
Owner/(Class) Address City Assessment Market
Value* Tax Bill**
IRWIN, STEVEN R & DEBBIE L K (2) 317 EIGHTH AVE Belmar $375,400 $653,324 $6,472
Taxes dont seem that high for third beach block.
And by the way, his house is assessed for $375K and his neighbors homes are both assessed for $220. He believes his assessment should remain the same but that his neighbors should pay taxes based on assessments of $932K and $789K………
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/belmar_man_wants_neighbors_tax.html
Re “KeyCorp said it plans to deal “aggressively” with reducing exposure in its residential home-builder portfolio, and sees “elevated” net loan charge-offs in its education and home-improvement loan portfolios”.
Turns out their definition of agressive is they are starting to bang out their REOS for 60% of their last sale price. A nice 40% haircut off peak home prices. Sweet. I like to see a couple of 2006 million dollar saddle river homes knocked out for 600K just to scare the shits out of some of those guys.
Shore (111)-
Most garden tool companies make weed killer wands that have an electric element that gets red hot. Just jam it into the weed, and poof! Problem gone.
Re 115, it may make sense. If everyone wins their case and gets their house assessment lowered it just raises the tax rate and you are back where you started.
When I ditched my lawn guy last year (because he was trying to give me a bill for cutting the grass in December), he told me that he really needed to keep the account because he had already lost many of his accounts and he wouldn’t be able to buy a house like he wanted to. Sorry buddy, not all people should be home owners.
killer wands
I need one of those. I want more than I need.
lifer (119)-
“not all people should be home owners”
The Great Lesson of 2008.
#111 and #117
I never thought/heard of that, but it doesn’t seem practical except on a small lawn.
Before I log off for awhile the thought of banks dumping properties left and right for 60 cents on a dollar combined with what looks to be the Feds next mover to raise rates and the thought of the higher confirming loan limit rates expiring at year end makes me all fuzzy and warm that we are in for a bloodbath in the next 12 months.
But wait Obama’s going to solve our problems!!!
Pat (120)-
I would not trust myself with one of those wands.
Too tempting to reach over and give my neighbor an impromptu branding when he revs up his lawnmower on a Sunday morning at 7 AM.
Grain (122)-
Well, you could always invest in a Tyvek suit, spray your whole yard with 24-D-T and start all over…
301 EIGHTH AVE $435,800 $758,441 $7,513 03/01 $315,000 .
303 EIGHTH AVE $544,000 $946,746 $9,379 09/92 $0 .
305 EIGHTH AVE $457,500 $796,206 $7,887 00/00 $0 .
307 EIGHTH AVE $553,700 $963,627 $9,546 10/00 $383,000 .
313 EIGHTH AVE $220,000 $382,875 $3,793 03/06 $1 .
315 EIGHTH AVE $220,000 $382,875 $3,793 03/06 $1 .
317 EIGHTH AVE $375,400 $653,324 $6,472 07/96 $1 .
311 EIGHTH AVE $532,300 $926,384 $9,177 00/00 $0 .
#125
I’ve been tempted to do that.
3B,
I’ve sent the info to Grim. I’m sure he’ll forward it when he finally stops working and pays attention to his blog again.
Rich
128 Working? I thought he was moving from hotspot to hotspot voting for the blog :-)
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2008/05/28/will-aig-need-even-more-capital/
AIG will make Bear Sterns look like a walk in a Maui park full with sunshine and exotic flowers placed on beautiful long hair of half naked hula dancers.
AIG hold pension funds of counties all over the country. This will wipe out savings and then look out below.
I hope Ben’s helicopter still works. got GOLD???
Looking into a one week beach house rental for the wife, kids and maybe a couple friends late in the summer. Which town would be good for a quiet vacation? Any idea how the housing rental situation is like? I’ve only been to Belmar, Point Pleasant & Wildwood with my younger, crazier self.
systemic risk is back as Lehman, Citi, AIG, Fannie, Freddy, KeyCorp, etc could flop in a matter of days.
How many can Ben backstop, One maybe two???
Then what happens??
131…wildwood is gross…(yech)…I’d suggest Cape May, but we really don’t the riff raff.
*Laughing
10yr hit 4.00%…interesting to see if it will break out…
#128 rich: Thanks
131 – Stu and I are big fans of Harvey Cedars on LBI. Far away from the crowds in Beach Haven and no more than 1 block to Ocean and Bay from most blocks.
Hi John RE:#72 ” A snapshot of why homes aren’t selling”…that’s the HoHoKus house in Cheelcroft, right??? How has it gone for her so far?? Anyone seriously interested??? if she doesn’t have to sell why is she bothering?? It’s such a hassle.
# 131 OCEAN GROVE!!!!!!
It is a step back in time. The kids can wander in a safe manner. There is generally some family-friendly entertainment at The Great Auditorium. Mineature golf is a short walk away on the boardwalk in Bradley Beach. The Main Ave. is wonderful for walking, window shopping, and even light dining. There ia s great icecream place called Days, which also has fantastic breakfast in a semi-open courtyard. The downside is that the town has no bars, but the upside is that it has no bars. This summer a horsedrawn carriage will begin operation.
The Camp Meeting Association is a pain in the @ss to owners (well those who are not involved in CMA politics) so I would not advise buying there, but it is a fantastic vacation spot.
On Tuesday mornings, the fishing club runs a free fishing clinic for kids.
It is also close to the train, which makes day trips an adventure the kids enjoy, and it is close to Wegmans.
I have a proposition for Keith.
Keith, you there?
Listen. Let’s do this thing right. Come up with the real number of voters for each site. We don’t have to get them corrected for the contest, cause this is Murka and everybody’s entitled to finagle.
But let’s put a voting tool on each blog and everybody gets one vote honor system.
Would appreciate some insight from anyone famillar with Chatham. Is anything wrong with the area near Parrott Mill Rd? Is it in a flood zone?
From HousingWire:
Alt-A Problems Grow, While Subprime Takes Turn for the Worse
Frederic S. Mishkin submitted his resignation on Wednesday as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, effective August 31, 2008.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/20080528a.htm
Hardplace, what are you spending? I’d recommend oceanfront in LBI for Sept. Beautiful and empty.
agerrealty dot com has some really nice ones.
I’d go LBI too. It’s good for kids and very quiet as there is not a lot of public parking (as long as you stay away from Beach Haven). Also, there’s no boardwalk which I actually like b/c it feels more private and helps keep the kiddies from wandering off.
A lot of single people like her bought houses during the 2003 to 2006 period and now want to move to a coop or condo in the city. The commute and the maint wears on your, commuting home to an empty house and paying people to do all the repairs is a bummer. I don’t know what she will do. It is a very nice house two bedroom plus office full finished basement and two car garage walking distance from Ho Ho Kus train station, but from my experience a lot of people just tell realtor three bedrooms or more so the house would not even come up in those types of search. It is pretty interesting that she was in a bidding war to get the house not long ago and now it is very hard to get traffic to see the house let alone sell it.
Laurie Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hi John RE:#72 ” A snapshot of why homes aren’t selling”…that’s the HoHoKus house in Cheelcroft, right??? How has it gone for her so far?? Anyone seriously interested??? if she doesn’t have to sell why is she bothering?? It’s such a hassle.
I was just looking at some rentals in LBI. I’m looking to find a nice home that sleeps 6-8 that is steps to or on the beach. Looks like it will cost a shiny penny. My kids are tiny (under 3) so no need for anything fancy. Just some sand & water.
I’ll take a look at Ocean Grove too.
Is Harvey Cedar’s a section of LBI?
I’m really upset right now. There are so many people trying to hurt this country now. There are people who have been secretly helping Obama who are now coming out in the open. I can’t stand this dirtbag Scott McClennan. How can he be such a damn turncoat? He has been recruited by the liberals to hurt the republicans.
Beaches by Age Group:
(13-19) – Seaside Heights
College/Post-College (18-23) – Belmar/Manasquan
Adult (Young Children) (23-32) – Point Pleasant
Adult (Children) (30-40) – LBI
Adult (Young Adults) – Spring Lake
Retiree – Somewhere on the Barnegat Bay
McClennan=McClellan
This obsession with “the perfect lawn” is nuts! It’s as if having a “lawn care service” shows the world you’ve “made it”. All it makes for are monochromatic poison lawns (from the pesticides)and boring cookie-cutter yards with everyone’s yard looking the same – same bushes, same huge mounds of mulch, etc.
All you need to do is apply 100% totally nontoxic CORN GLUTEN every spring when the forsythia bloom, and perhaps in late August. It
suppresses the germination of weeds, and the effect builds up over time, so the lawn keeps looking better and better. Corn gluten also acts as a fertilizer so you don’t need to apply anything else. I buy it at Old Hook Farm (an organic farm in NJ), but you can order it over the internet. Also, organic lawn care providers apply corn gluten to lawns.
Mowing a lawn is great exercise , as is raking and sweeping the driveway. Those big mounds of mulch are very hard on bushes and trees (suffocates them – both oxygen and water).
Instead rake leaves under the bushes, such as azaleas, in the fall (which protects the roots and the acidic leaves are good fertilizer for them as they break down).
Why have a lawn and yard if you only observe it from a distance (inside the cocoon of your house)? I’ve noticed that on my street most have lawn care providers, cleaning services, etc. and almost noone is ever outside enjoying their yards.
#146,
Brant Beach is another good area of LBI and less pricey than the north end. Brant Beach is also at a narrow point on the island so you are no more than a block to the beach or the bay. This web site is a good one to use to search LBI rentals.
http://www.vandykgroup.com/RE/lbi-rental-search.asp
101 THEADORE ST. BUFFALO NY 14211 DONALD PALMISANO (716) 695-0005 dplm6227@aol.com $1,000.00
REO of the day, I wonder how much off I can get on a house priced at one thousand dollars?
I’d like to announce that my dh and I are the only couple in Bergen County who do our own yard (I hate it)and believe me I have A LOT of respect for those Mexicans doing yard after yard…it’s very hard work.
make money Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
AIG will make Bear Sterns look like a walk in a Maui park full with sunshine and exotic flowers placed on beautiful long hair of half naked hula dancers.
AIG hold pension funds of counties all over the country. This will wipe out savings and then look out below.
I hope Ben’s helicopter still works. got GOLD???
albani: The funds are in master trusts and are segregated from the liabilities of the trustee. The creditors do not have the ability to attach (not attack) themselves to these asset pools.
Personally, I use a pair of biodegradable scissors that were manufactured with wind power in a country that has UN approved labor laws.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24849470
FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) – Citigroup Inc.’s Citibank, Deutsche Postbank AG. and Allianz SE.’s Dresdner Bank have attracted the interest of possible buyers in several European countries, Handelsblatt reported, citing sources within the financial industry.
The newspaper cited an unnamed investment banker as saying Sweden’s SEB SA as well as France’s BNP Paribas and Societe Generale have indicated their interest in buying Citibank.
Actually, just save your crap and sprinkle it with ashes from your wood burning stove and in six months it will turn into grade A fertilizer. In fact the mexicans crap on my lawn for free so I don’t even need fertilizer. There is a corn shortage right now and sprinkling a corn based product on your front lawn while people are starving to death is highly un-green! Plus the shipping eats up fuel to deliver, how terrible. Feed the mexicans some items off the value menu at Taco-Bell and those guys can go to town, just aim the hershey squirts at the roots of the azlas so you don’t burn the leaves.
….to cut my lawn with.
Here’s the place that Stu and I have stayed at in Harvey Cedars (on the North End of LBI). It’s not fancy, but it’s very functional. It’s on the oceanside of the boulevard, about 5 houses from the beach. The official Harvey Cedars Bay Beach is also on the same street right across the boulevard. The owners run the place themselves. They have a barbecue, patio, washer dryer, and they provide the linens. The kitchen is well supplied. They even have a beach stroller and lots of sand toys for the kids. The place rents Sunday to Sunday, so traffic onto and off the island isn’t as bad. They also let you come back for a long weekend in the fall for free. On the long weekend, they stock the place with everything you need for lunch and breakfast.
http://home.comcast.net/~shedant/HAPPYCLAM.HTML
156 john
“In fact the mexicans crap on my lawn for free so I don’t even need fertilizer.”
I have no difficulty believing that you have more fertilizer than you could possibly want.
Against The Grain Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Re reel (push) mowers:
I also hate the leaf blowers and loud piped motorcycles, but at least the bikes come and go in a few seconds but the leaf blowers drone on for hours.
ATG: We have a OCD neighbor who powerwashes his entire driveway from curb, down a gulley hill, to garage door about once a month. He kills most of a weekend morning/afternoon doing it. Probably uses more water than an entire cruise ship full of passengers disemabrking in NYC with Norwalk virus….
To be clear with the lawn service. I am a city boy and have never had a lawn in my life. This last year is a tedious treadmill of useless household chores.
Already my wife forbids the lawn service from using standard fertilizer and the leaf blowers.
I buy the liquified worm poop and go out there twice a season.
Honestly, the service is essentially two guys that are on their ATV/mowers and three guys with weed wackers. The take care of the enitre thing in about 10 minutes and they are gone.
It comes free with the rent…who am I to argue?
re (147) – Are you truly surprised by McClellan and his actions? I truly am of a mind, that many if not all are of the same opinion, rightly so.
Re 162, is chicago really big enough to be a city?
I have never paid a person to mow my lawn and agree with MS(150). I rake a few leaves, by hand, into paper bags which Montclair burns into energy at the Newark incinerator, and the rest go under the bushes. I do not bag my grass. I simply let it fall back onto my lawn. I do not use mulch and extremely rarely fertilize. My garden is organic as well. I don’t even understand the concept of blowing a driveway or a sidewalk. Within a day, the organic debris is back and who cares if there is a leaf or two showing.
Montclair has a partial blower ban (only certain times of the year and not before 8am) and does not accept plastic bags for yard refuse. You must use those paper bags, although they give you about 10 for free each year. We used to be able to rake our leaves into the street, but the town banned it as it was causing our sewer drains to become clogged as our public works is not privatized at all and woefully inefficient. Although, they do seem to drink coffee and idle township vehicles with great consistency.
Montclair’s leaf blower policy is below:
The Township of Montclair has determined that unlimited use of leafblowers powered by internal combustion engines impairs the economic and social welfare, health, peace and quality of life of persons residing in Montclair. Therefore, restrictions have been put in place to minimize the adverse impact of such equipment by restricting its use within the Township.
The operation of leafblowers in the Township of Montclair is limited to between March 1 and June 30, inclusive, and between October 1 and December 15, inclusive.
Leafblowers may only be used by landscapers on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and by an occupant or owner of the premises between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Leafblowers may only be used by landscapers on Saturdays between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and by an occupant or owner of the premises between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Leafblowers may only be used on Sundays, Good Friday, and Thanksgiving between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
It is a violation to operate any leafblower powered by an internal combustion engine in the Township of Montclair without a properly functioning muffler.
NJ Stroller, Leafblower and Poop report
Wag Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
re (147) – Are you truly surprised by McClellan and his actions? I truly am of a mind, that many if not all are of the same opinion, rightly so.
Yes I am. He is a real dirtbag, a damn turncoat and an Obama supporter who is now out of the closet. I, for one, don’t share this opinion. Have you forgotten about 9-11? How quickly we forget.
Pat (165),
And Lunatic Rant Report
#140, NJGator
Nothing really wrong with the area but it is close to the power lines and far from the train. We looked at a builder gut in 2004 over that way and it was priced decently for late 2004 at least. House was first one on right after taking the turn from main st, right past doctor’s office. My son plays soccer at that field on Fridays so we are there a decent amount. I think houses are a bit more 70’s ish than the rest of Chatham.
Hope this helps.
147…..Bahahahahhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…..*breathe……………..hahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
NJGator:
How dare you give up our LBI secret ;)
You forgot to mention that the house is rat- infested and they stock the fridge with DOMESTIC beer. Another negative, the traffic on the boulevard is very light up there as it is no more than 3 miles to that terrible eyesore, the Barnegat lighthouse. I mean, who wants to stay where you can easily cross the street to get to the bay and must rely on the sound of the ocean to put you to sleep, rather than the drone of auto mufflers. Also, the air conditioning is terribly cold there.
If you do choose to rent from the clam, make sure you tell ’em Stu and Lisa sent you. If you choose to rent the July 4th week, you can party with us (and the rats).
Just be careful not to call it the bearded clam in front of the owners ;)
Thanks Mike. The exterior of this place is definitely 70’s. But the kitchen says to me 80’s NJ diner. I don’t know what to make of the bidet and the crazy bathroom, but it is convenient to the Short Hills Mall!
http://newmls.gsmls.com/public/show_public_report_rpt.do?method=getData&sysid=%203814181&ptype=RES&report=res_media&pubid=259341&fromPublic=PUBLIC
We should go back to the old reel push mowers I suppose?
I did. Shocked with how expensive they are.
If I’m going to be out there, may as well get a workout.
stuw6,
You also forgot the annoying sound of the waves. I can’t believe there is no legislation to silence them.
94, 97, 98
Just tell me what to do to help. I owe Grim bigtime for teaching me so much with this blog. I have been applying the Hudson Co rules (home, work and cell) but it doesn’t seem like its helping. Maybe I could kneecap the douchbag. We are using Hudson Co rules after all…
NJGator:
An Atlantic City casino just called that house in Chatham. They want their bathroom back ;)
Say John and RE101:
Please stop crapping on our lawn.
The heck with LBI, the rift raft their does not even wear long pants while dining. So low brow. Plus a clam on the boardwalk sounds like watching a homeless man spit up in coney island.
What does RE101 and John’s landscapers have in common?
They’re both full of krap.
Is “Rift Rafting” a new extreme sport!?
http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/intchart.asp?symb=ABK&time=8&freq=1&comp=&compidx=aaaaa%7E0&compind=&uf=0&ma=&maval=&lf=1&lf2=&lf3=&type=2&size=1&txtstyle=&style=&submitted=true&intflavor=basic&origurl=%2Ftools%2Fquotes%2Fintchart.asp
Ahh the good old days when the stock was at $100 a share.
Ambac is dying a chinese water torture death. Someone just pull the plug already and get them out of their misery.
My favorite was we went to look at a house with a bidet a fat russian guy was selling and he used hand gestures to show my pregant wife what it is used for, and added “you know to clean it out and keep it fresh” He had a Peg Bundy wife in lepord leotards who looked like 20 pounds of bolognia in a ten pound bag.
Ambac shares hit record low after new disclosure
Bond insurer reports CDO write-downs, claim payments from April
Ambac Financial shares fell to a record low on Wednesday after the bond insurer disclosed new information about its operations in April.
Ambac reported $228 million of write-downs during April on derivative-based guarantees the company sold on complex mortgage-related securities known as collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs.
Ambac also said it paid $16.2 million in claims during April, after reinsurance.
Shares of the bond insurer fell 7.7% to $2.98 during afternoon trading. Earlier in the day, the stock dropped to a record low of $2.88. The company has lost 97% of its market value during the past year as investors focused on bond insurers’ exposure to the mortgage meltdown.
John,
If the stories you tell when you are sober are so colorful, I wonder what the ones you tell one you are drunk…
With the costs of these beach houses being so insane, I’m tempted to just do what I did this weekend. Get a hotel in a different city for a much better price. Paid under $200 to stay at the Westin in Boston this weekend. Walked around Cambridge and Boston. Not beachfront, but we drove to Marblehead in about 30 minutes to spend the afternoon. Even able to park my car in the streets, unlike in NYC.
#147 refakepatriot:There are so many people trying to hurt this country.
Yes they are. And you are one of them.
keith caught me.
How sad.
make money (132):
Could you please give some reasons why you think these firms may go under? I know that they have big losses. Are you saying that now it will overwhelm them? Please let me know. Thanks…
#184 Hardplace: And there are so many available, one would think the owners would lower the rental price rather than get nothing.
3B: #184 “And there are so many available, one would think the owners would lower the rental price rather than get nothing.”
I was wondering the same thing. The last minute booking at LBI is crazy. A few years ago, I went down in June to find a place for July. So little left it was crazy. It felt like if we didn’t book that day, there wouldn’t be a single place left by the next week.
This will be the year of losses, followed by next year’s year of fairly priced rentals.
The fuel costs are going to kill them.
NJGator,
I know that house very well. First house when entering Parrot Hill Rd. The one we looked at was just across the street from this one.
House is wedged between ball fields and store parking lot. Don’t be fooled by the last picture as a parking lot stands between that back yard and the ball field you see int he pic.
I think they just made a sitcom about this house, it is called “Swingtown” and it is on CBS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0928173/
Kiss your 6 percent commission good-bye, Ms. Agent! Competition is on the way.
The only reason — only reason — that Realtors could hold onto their high commission for such little value and work is that they kept information away from the marketplace, making it inefficient.
http://www.buzzmachine.com/
#186 patient
That’s a shame. Currently 966-946
D-boy keeps voting for himself…
#189 stu: Agreed. Same with the sales.
NJP (186),
Funny stuff. Looks like you’re not the only one from this blog posting over there.
Lots of nice beach front homes in LBI. Can anyone give a synopsis of the areas w/in LBI? Just curious which is more suited for my needs?
Only reason I ask is because I once joined in with some friends for a week rental on Fire Island in Cherry Grove and felt like the meat in a manwich.
# 166 “He is a real dirtbag, a damn turncoat … who is now out of the closet.”
Except for the “out of the closet” bit, and that will come out some day, no doubt, it could appply to Bush’s actions against the American people.
LBI is like FI without the Daisy Chains
# 166 “He is a real dirtbag, a damn turncoat … who is now out of the closet.”
Except for the “out of the closet” bit, and that will come out some day, no doubt, it could appply to Bush’s actions against the American people.
# 184 For a great hotel (for a couple, not a family) in Boston, try XV Beacon.
Synopsis
Upper Beaches (North of the bridge): High falutin and try to keep the commoners at bay.
Middle Beaches (Shipbottom) Younger, party types.
Far Lower: Beach Haven Crest and South is a lot of families before 8/20. After 8/20, it’s quiet-seeking couples and fisherman.
“He has been recruited by the liberals to hurt the republicans”
don’t get caught up in the false..left/right paradigm.
Both sides are bought and paid for by the same corporate interests.
SAS
If you want a place with three or more bedrooms and oceanfront, go in September if you want it for under two grand. Brant, Beach Haven Crest, Beach Haven Gardens..quiet and peaceful.
If you can swing three grand, and want more activities to do (want the little ones to go on rides at the amusement park), then stay oceanside (four/five houses from beach) and go in August.
You need to make a firm decision on price, and then folks can tell you what you can get for that amount. You might want to go down on a Saturday. As soon as you go over the bridge, head south first. Go a couple of miles, make a left and drive *slowly* down the road nearest the dunes, starting at Brant. You’ll see a lot of for rent signs. Write down the numbers. If you can do without a realty office, you’ll save about four hundred bucks. The only downside is that the owners might ask you to leave the place as you found it (i.e., on Friday night you need to wipe down the kitchen, bathroom and run the vac. We always windex the sliding doors and windows, as well).
SAS, I respect you immensely…and would love to chug a brewski with you. But sir I can tell the difference between the democrats and republicans. And while I am no fan of our do-nothing congress….I have even more distaste for the Chief- Executive. Anything that sucks for him. Makes me smile.
ok soapbox time.
we should clean up the boards a little w/ this potentially disrespectful talk about the Mexicans.
Unless of course, you want me to talk about your fat little kids, whom are ones who should have a rake or leaf blower in their hands cleaning yards and buring their pork chops dinner off, instead of playing the Wii (wee).
:)
All is fair in love and war
SAS
the wipespread use of lawn chemicals in neighborhoods filled with kids and pets has always baffled me. you want your kids and dogs rolling around in poison?
what is interesting is to see a lawn where chemicals have been applied year upon year and then one year the chemicals aren’t applied. All of the grass immediately dies! This is because the ground is so thoroughly poisoned it cannot grow anything naturally. It takes at least a year for the poison to be flushed out. It seems so clear to me that this is dangerous
SAS (203)
Agreed!
“I can tell the difference between the democrats and republicans”
agreed, there are some.
There are always power struggles. i.e like a mafia want some area and another says no.
However, I think large debates of left/rigt, liberal, conservative are distractions.
Lets put it this way, when the dollar collapses and we are all out of jobs. We won’t care about his argument.
just my 2 pesos
;)
SAS
52: John Says:
Even funnier the garbage men, unemployed and mechanics in my neighborhood have lawn service as if it is beneath them to rake their own leaves.
Who the heck are you fooling?
Obviously you. Mechanics can make easily north of 100K.
Agree on the Mexicans point. Most of these people are hard working and family oriented and deserve respect
#204,
Maybe I want to poison my dog. How do you know why I use a lot of chemicals on my lawn?
Pat,
Thx for the info. I’m looking for under 2G, but if friends come down for the weekend, they will chip in some. It looks like I’m doing either a last minute rental, or for rent by owner. Quiet and peaceful is what we are looking for, we can take a short drive anywhere else. I don’t mind cleaning up, i’ve done it before at other rentals. we’re not that messy anyways.
83: Over my dead body. That’s MY job…
ok..ok..
I’m sorry if I was harsh in my post about the pork chop remark.
;)
SAS
(thx for the email MP)
[154] TJ:
Personally, I use a pair of biodegradable scissors that were manufactured with wind power in a country that has UN approved labor laws.
Love it. But do you freecycle them when they are worn?
Even funnier the garbage men, unemployed and mechanics in my neighborhood have lawn service as if it is beneath them to rake their own leaves.
My auto mechanic lives in a $1.5m house. I suppose calling him a mechanic is a bit of an insult, entrepreneur is probably a bit more appropriate, since he is the owner.
He wrenches and tows along with his employees.
As for garbage men being poor, you must not know anyone involved in the carting business in Northern NJ. They are anything but poor. But I’ll say no more for fear of finding a horses head in my bed.
“But I’ll say no more for fear of finding a horses head in my bed.”
Mrs. Patient and I joke about this all the time.
Anyone who doesn’t know about this aspect of that line of work never watched HBO on Sunday night.
146:
I agree: LBI’s great for family vacations. It’s mostly about the beach, though there’s plenty of stuff to do within a short drive or bike ride. It’s Jersey, albeit mostly without the in-your-face shore bar culture: Sunrises over the dunes, sunsets on the bay, ice cream joints, and more miniature golf than you can shake a crooked, rusty-shafted putter at.
Snipe a last-minute bargain offa CraigsList. I did this last year, and was quite pleased with the result — so much so that I’m renting the same place this year, for the same [reasonably]-reasonable price.
203 sas
Agree
190 Mike – Well that certainly explains why the house won’t sell. It’s been listed for months.
#209
I said I didn’t know why people dump chemicals on their lawns. Why do you?
204 skeptic
Yes to that, and with bells on!!
WTF is with the rampant poisoning of the yard?!?
Why do folks so happily sh*t where they sleep?
165:
“With your hosts, Grim and Three-Hundred-Dollar Jean.”
some of you blokes may catch me at the NYC investment meetup. I am not a member, but my daughter is & I think they “usually” have good input and speakers.
She drags me to them, but I go because she takes me out for coconut ice cream afterwards… ; )
In any case, here is the link.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NYInvestingMeetup
Some good info in it. A fellow by the name Daryl heads this up.
Also, I have been asked to speak to the group. I have so far been stalling them.
SAS
A house of cards economy
Energy and food prices are soaring. The housing market continues to collapse. Government revenue is falling, and taxes are rising. Airlines are jacking up fares and fees while reducing service. Banks are pulling credit lines. Auto companies are cutting production once again. Even investment bankers are losing their jobs.
The tendency is to see these as separate developments, each with its own causes and dynamic. Fundamentally, however, they are all part of the same story — the story of the global economy purging itself of large and unsustainable imbalances that for a time allowed many Americans to think they were richer than they really were.
Tell me more about your daughter. Single? Age?
re: Mexicans & landscaping.
Once upon a time when people actually paid for their college education I used to work summers landscaping to save up money. The pay rate was around $11 per hour and the usual oppressive taxes were always removed, before I got my cut.
I worked damm hard and was in tip top physical shape during those summers. I know firsthand how hard construction and landscaping can be and how a boss can be a real p*r*i*c*k if you don’t get your quota of lawns cut for the day.
I don’t begrudge the Mexicans for wanting a better life and working hard to do it, but I do take issue with the taxes. These taxes need to be paid by someone, if not the employer and employee than the State will tax us all to make up for the shortfall. The current situation with NJ Hospitals closing is a good example of what happens when taxes aren’t paid, and something had to give.
I say give them all temportary work visas like the do for “educated” H-1B workers and collect the damm taxes already.
I am also thinking about making a utube lecture videos.
I could use a volunteer who knows how to do video.
Then again, last time I gave lecture, I found an unwelcomed surprize in my Vegas hotel room.
If we go out for beers at the NJ RE bubble blog party, remind me of that story.
SAS
For the Peak Oil Nerds, they have their own Meet Up group:
Meeting Description Movie: ?Energy Crossroads,? Future Visions movie and discussion series
When: Friday, May 30, 7 PM
Where:
6th Street Community Center
638 East 6th Street, Manhattan
(between Avenues B and C)
suggested donation $5
This 54-minute award-winning documentary exposes the problems associated with our energy consumption. It also offers concrete solutions for those who want to educate themselves and be part of the solutions in this decisive era. The film features passionate individuals, entrepreneurs, experts and scientists at the forefront of their field bringing legitimacy and expertise to the core message of the piece. http://www.energyxroads.com/about.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052703077.html
Article from above..nice read with a optimistic ending
make money,
I liked your post.
“for a time allowed many Americans to think they were richer than they really were”
yes, but also, let us not forget that credit had replaced what was once a good middle class/blue collar income.
or maybe you were trying to say that indirectly in your post?
SAS
Ridgewood
2610690 Sold
ACT 47 JOHN ST $799,000 3/23/2006
ACT* 47 JOHN ST $799,000 4/4/2006
U/C 47 JOHN ST $799,000 4/19/2006
SLD 47 JOHN ST $795,000 6/30/2006
2819679 Active
ACT 47 JOHN ST $769,000 5/13/2008
PCH 47 JOHN ST $745,000 5/28/2008
I wish the owner of this website had moderated and filtered some of the silly responses. I discovered this blog couple of weeks ago and I visit once a day since then. But I hate having to sift through the valuable comments from junky comments. These silly and unworthwhile comments just lowers the informing quality of this site.
“Tell me more about your daughter. Single? Age?”
yeah right :)
SAS
I agree, shutup already.
“sas Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
“Tell me more about your daughter. Single? Age?”
yeah right :)
SAS”
Ask around, I’m classy, and not in a realtor sort of way.
Welcome to the Alt-A Crisis.
$34 Billion in writedowns from S&P, I suppose this was too important to wait until Friday. That isn’t a typo, we’re talking billion with a “B”.
From Bloomberg:
S&P Cuts, Reviews $34 Billion of Alt-A Securities
Standard & Poor’s cut or may lower ratings on almost $34 billion of securities backed by Alt-A mortgages, the firm’s largest downgrade for the type of debt.
Ratings on 1,326 classes of the bonds created in the first half of 2007 were reduced, New York-based S&P today said today in a statement. S&P put another 567 similar bonds with AAA ratings under review. Based on the balances of the bonds at issuance, 14 percent of the total from the period were either cut or placed under review.
Late payments of at least 90 days and defaults among Alt-A loans underlying bonds issued last year rose to 6.64 percent as of April bond reports, up 65 percent since January, S&P said. Defaults on all types of home loans have surged amid record U.S. property-price declines.
“Monthly performance data reveal that delinquencies and foreclosures continue to accumulate,” New York-based S&P analysts Scott Davey and Ernestine Warner wrote in the statement.
Alt-A home loans were made to borrowers who wanted atypical terms such as proof-of-income waivers, delayed principal repayment or investment-property collateral, without having to offer sufficient compensating attributes.
“Unless we observe a significant change in the macroeconomic environment, Standard & Poor’s considers today’s actions, except for the CreditWatch placements, to be the last major changes to the ratings” for these types of securities from the first half of last year, S&P said.
“Looking into a one week beach house rental for the wife, kids and maybe a couple friends late in the summer. Which town would be good for a quiet vacation? Any idea how the housing rental situation is like? I’ve only been to Belmar, Point Pleasant & Wildwood with my younger, crazier self.”
Look into Stone Harbor. Very nice
225 Sean
Exactly. My problem is not with hardworking immigrants. My beef is with employers who are hiring illegals so they can exploit them to make more $$$ for themselves. Previous comment about 12 hours with no bathroom break kinda sums it up. Put’em on H-1B. Works for me…
These silly and unworthwhile comments just lowers the informing quality of this site.
So which comments would you moderate? The intellectually humorous ones that you must not obviously get.
235 grim
“Standard & Poor’s cut or may lower ratings on almost $34 billion of securities backed by Alt-A mortgages, the firm’s largest downgrade for the type of debt.”
Gosh, they must not have had any idea that this might happen when they announced that there would be no more writedowns!
I suppose the markets will be but 2% tomorrow as this must be the bottom.
From the article njpatient posted way up there somewhere:
Only about 10 percent of borrowers (who are the defendants in foreclosure actions) answer lenders’ summonses. The rest default, leaving the process to go on without them.
90 percent???????
Is that right?
Not sure if this helps, but the voting url for njrereport seems to be:
http://www.fhamortgagecenter.com/contest/widgets/vote.php?size=sm&id=73
We must be id 73. It looks like they have server side logic to record IPs so people don’t vote multiple times.
But since I have access to many IPs, I voted many times.
Huh?
Corzine wants state to borrow $2.5B for schools
Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Wednesday pushed legislation to let the state borrow $2.5 billion to restart school construction, a move questioned by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Corzine toured a Newark school to view rundown conditions and said it was among many examples of the need to improve school facilities.
“Students need to be in quality surroundings that bolster rather than hinder their academic progress,” Corzine said. “New Jersey students deserve no less.”
The new borrowing would jump start a school construction program that’s already cost $8.6 billion but has been stalled by waste and mismanagement.
The program stems from a state Supreme Court order directing that new schools be built in some of the state’s poorest communities.
Corzine has told the high court he would push lawmakers to approve an additional $2.5 billion by June 30 to restart the program, but legislators have yet to schedule action on any legislation.
Good man Steve. It occurs to me that there are a lot of computers where I work, not just the one assigned to me…
a little radical, but a good read by
John Taylor Gatto.
“Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling ”
http://tinyurl.com/3tqant
SAS
Corzine toured a Newark school to view rundown conditions and said it was among many examples of the need to improve school facilities.
“Students need to be in quality surroundings that bolster rather than hinder their academic progress,” Corzine said. “New Jersey students deserve no less.”
……………………………….
Quality surroundings? Are we going to move the Newark schools to Brigadoon? The Trenton schools to Upper Saddle River?
3B,
UPDATE:
River Edge
2639619 Withdrawn
ACT 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $649,900 10/9/2006
PCH 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $559,000 11/21/2006
PCH 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $539,000 4/20/2007
EXT 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $539,000 4/20/2007
W-C 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $539,000 7/30/2007
2730923 Sold
ACT 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $539,000 7/30/2007
ACT* 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $539,000 10/3/2007
U/C 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $539,000 10/11/2007
SLD 437 LAFAYETTE AVE $500,000 5/28/2008
No prior history
“Anonymous said…
Don’t use the anon 4:33pm url to vote for this site . . . it leads to a vote for the New Jersey Realtor blog that is currently winning!”
;)
re: Corzine.
I give him some credit for trying, FYI about 1/2 half of the original $8.6 billion allocated since 2001 for school reconstruction was squandered. Think no show jobs from the Soprano’s show on HBO.
Perhaps the State should outsource the next 2.5 Billion to the private sector preferably a company that is not local to NJ.
you gotta be kidding??
“Sales of Spam rise as consumers trim food costs”
http://tinyurl.com/52p3c9
SAS
Hard Place—As an Ocean Grove resident, I’m kind of biased and can’t add much to the glowing description by ShoreGuy. Will say, though, that if you can do after Labor Day, I can rent you my place (sleeps 5; under 10 min. walk to the beach or town) CHEAP in exchange for minding my cat. (Gas prices be damned: I’m driving cross-country…)
re: leaf blowers. The real problem with them is that people get ridiculously (anal) compulsive. They’ll aim that blower at the one leaf that’s stuck in the grass for five minutes rather than bending down and picking it up.
#247 rich: Thanks as always.
funny conversation with a realtor at an open house:
realtor: so, what do you think this house is worth?
me: $X (about 30% under ask)
realtor: thats way too low, owner bought it for $Y in 2003, and put in $Z (asking is $Y+$Z), you don’t expect them to take such a loss, do you?
me: I don’t mean to be rude, but what the owner paid, or how much was spent is not really any concern of mine. My market price for this house $X.
I really felt like rubbing it in and saying that if I could short it back to the owner for $200k under their ask I would. To me it is such a weird mindset, the idea that the market price is a function of what it used to be.
If I spent $100k putting a killer stereo into a 1974 Ford Pinto, should I expect to get that money back if I were to sell that car (I doubt it)? Shame on me for making such a poor decision in the first place.
PeaceNow – no thanks. I got rid of a cat recently that I could no longer take care of and don’t think I would want to spend vacation minding an animal. Still have to do some research on Ocean Grove, don’t know much about it. I know some of the surrounding towns. LBI does sound quite nice, though a bit of a hike.
Ahhhhhhhh.
“The ole’ make ’em pay taxes” gripe.
Cutting grass has been so “whored up” by low cost providers, lawn guys cannot compete on price if they hire someone for $12.00/hr on the books.
Same with oil changes. Years ago, service stations looked over an entire vehicle when they changed the oil. Along comes Jippy Bube who hires people who don’t know a wrench from a piece of paper and pays them dirt wages with promise of commission on all wiper blade sales and any upsells.
So now you’ve got uneducated persons performing a job with a desire to sell you junk you don’t need in order to make their rent payment.
But they advertise $19.95 oil changes.
Ask a real mechanic how much he would charge to service your car. I’ll be north of $80 for a standard american vehicle.
But noone wants to pay that.
They attend the Biffy Nube training sessions (because turnover is rampant, you are likely to be a guinea pig for Joe on his first day on the job…) and get their car oil changed for $19.95 and declare the local “real mechanic” a ripoff. (And for “real mechanic”, I’m talking about the guy who can design a suspension from scratch, not the local tire and tune place)
Same with landscapers.
They USED TO BE gardeners.
Then along came Mow’r-us and next thing you know, people don’t want to hear about an all day price to cut the lawn, edge it, trim hedges, weed flower beds, deadhead flowers, add nutrients, deal with pests, compost clippings, move plants, pull edibles for eating, move stones, clean walks, sweep driveway, clean and service tools, etc.
NOPE. Juan can buzzcut the lawn for $40 and you can just buy new tools at Wallytart.
BTW-leafblowers.
Must be an urban thing.
Only thing I ever hear is chainsaws.
And if I *tried* to pick up my leaves…OMG.
I’d be at it from Nov to Nov…
Nope. Leaves are good forest litter.
As far as grassy areas: let mother nature take ’em. I swear that’s why she invented nor’easters…a good storm blows the leaves gone off any lawn areas… and into the forested areas.
I do see leafblowers used to blow out the center aisles of barns.
I think that’s a bad idea. Just raises the dust which just resettles back down to where it came from originally…
Sweep the aisle and spread the “junk pile” in the muddy areas to soak up the juice so you don’t sink up to your ankles trying to cross the mud.
RE:SteveTheBrigadoonian Says:
Same here
*unless, of course, your juicy mud has tadpoles…
Heck, then you *add* water to keep the tadpoles from drying out…
Frogs keep the bugs down.
253…..it ‘is’ a concern of yours ‘if’ you like the property and see value in it….if not, then why waste your time? Move on, buy the fixer upper. And the pony.
Hmmm, a lot of new posters.
I hope you’ve voted!
It’s simple, click here!
RE: 260. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it :)
# 253 Logic; it is so NOT in vogue.