Radar Logic: April price jump not large enough to trump yearly decline

From HousingWire:

Home prices, sales still stagnant in April: RadarLogic

Prospects in the housing market remain glum as the weaker then expected spring buying season pushes prices and transaction counts down.

In April, home prices deteriorated 5.1% compared the same month of 2010 when the first-time homebuyer tax credit was in place, according to RadarLogic’s RPX Housing Market Report released Thursday. RadarLogic reported price declines in all 25 metropolitan statistical areas that it tracks, with Boston experiencing the largest drop of 21.8% compared to April 2010.

The data tracking firm did note that prices increased 2% between March and April, a “large gain” compared to years past. And most of the major MSAs under RadarLogic’s watch reported price gains on a monthly basis. However, the good news is short lived, as the year-to-date change in home price was negative for only the third time in the last 10 years.

“The decline in the composite price from January to March was so large that the large seasonal bounce in April was not enough to bring the year-to-date change into positive territory,” RadarLogic said.

The changes in the RPX composite price index were consistent with the data released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Wednesday, which found a scant 0.8% increase in home price between March and April.

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114 Responses to Radar Logic: April price jump not large enough to trump yearly decline

  1. Mike says:

    Good Morning New Jersey

  2. grim says:

    From HuffPo:

    Three Sound Legal and Moral Reasons For Strategic Default

    The standard justification is that “It’s in the contract that the bank gets the house if you default.” Actually, that clause is legally a remedy to a worst-case scenario — not an expected part of the deal. There are three much stronger justifications.

    The first is legal and moral: fraud. A huge percentage of the homes sold after 2000 were sold to unsophisticated buyers through a mixture of assurances that their homes would appreciate, could be used as ATMs in the meantime, and that there was no conceivable problem that the mortgage broker could not wiggle around to refinance the home again, usually at even better terms.

    The second is moral and legal: no living American has escaped a continual and confident advertising campaign stating flatly that buying a house is a sound financial investment, and a necessary or even assured part of planning a financially sound retirement.

    The third is morally repugnant: In 50 years of a more-or-less steadily rising real estate market, banks foreclosed on millions of homes, most of which were worth significantly more than the mortgage. The “defaulters” then were the laid-off, the divorced, and the ill edging towards medical bankruptcy.

    Today the banksters cry in their champagne about the collapse of American morals that they themselves never subscribed to. But the banks have long since gotten their pound of flesh. Now it is time to walk away from false promises, free the money locked up in homes, and let it escape from the mortgage bubble so it can flow back into the Main Street economy.

  3. grim says:

    From the Star Ledger:

    N.J. Assembly passes landmark employee benefits overhaul

    New Jersey lawmakers tonight voted to enact a sweeping plan to cut public worker benefits after a long day of high-pitched political drama in the streets of Trenton and behind closed doors.

    Union members chanted outside the Statehouse and in the Assembly balcony, and dissident Democrats tried to stall with amendments and technicalities. Although they successfully convinced top lawmakers to remove a controversial provision restricting public workers’ access to out-of-state medical care, they failed to halt a historic defeat for New Jersey’s powerful unions and a political victory for Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

    “Together, we’re showing New Jersey is serious about providing long-term fiscal stability for our children and grandchildren,” Christie said in a statement released after the vote. “We are putting the people first and daring to touch the third rail of politics in order to bring reform to an unsustainable system.”

    Christie and Republicans banded together with Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) to advance the bill despite opposition from the majority of Democrats who control the Legislature.

    “We cannot afford to put off these needed reforms for another year,” said Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), a sponsor. “Kicking the can down the road and doing nothing will only require more sacrifice from taxpayers and public workers in the future.”

    nions have blasted the bill for ending their ability to collectively bargain their medical benefits. Health care plans for 500,000 public workers would be set by a new state panel comprised of union workers and state managers, rather than at the negotiating table. A sunset provision would allow unions to resume collective bargaining after increased health care contributions are phased in over four years.

    In addition, police officers, firefighters, teachers and rank-and-file public workers would all pay more for their pensions and health benefits.

  4. grim says:

    From the CS Monitor:

    New home sales fall. But are you ready for housing recovery?


    But the more prices decline, the better deal homeownership becomes. Housing is already the most affordable it’s been in 40 years, according to the National Realtors Association in Washington.

    And the longer that people put off buying homes, the more the pent-up demand for them. Household formation – which happens when young singles or couples strike out on their own – has also seriously lagged overall population growth. (Click here for a nice chart from The Atlantic.) At some point, those young people and couples will quit living with parents and friends and want a place of their own.

    “Housing is extremely affordable in the US and household formation is very, very low,” says Nariman Behravesh, chief economist of HIS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass. “There’s a huge pent-up demand. So the only issue for us is not if it gets released but when it gets released.”

    No one pretends that that will be tomorrow. Even next year could be a stretch. But as surely as night follows day, a housing glut will be replaced by a shortage – or at least the perception of one, which will drive the market into a new and sunnier direction.

  5. grim says:

    From Zacks:

    New Homes Sales Down Less than Expected

    New Home Sales in May fell by 2.1% from April, to a rate of 319,000. Relative to a year ago, sales are up 13.5%. While the rebound is more than welcome, it is still a very dismal rate of New Home sales.

    Offsetting the decline was an upward revision to the April numbers of 3,000 to 326,000. Thus relative to where we thought we were, it could be seen as a 1.2% decrease. The May level was, however, substantially better than the expected rate of 305,000. Still, the 12 lowest months on record (back to 1963) for New Home Sales, have all been in the last year.

    We are up nicely from a year ago, but that was against an “easy comp,” as sales were inflated by the rush to get in under the wire and collect the homebuyer tax credit in April of last year. Sales collapsed after that, and the May comp is thus an easy one. Relative to the peak of the housing bubble (7/05, 1.389 million) new home sales are down 77.0%.

    The main problem right now for housing demand is the very low rate of household formation. Instead of moving out to get their own place, people in their 20’s are being forced to live with Mom and Dad, since they don’t have a job that will pay the rent or support a mortgage. Since residential investment is such an important swing factor in creating jobs in the country (both directly and indirectly) that sets up a huge “chicken and the egg” problem.

    We are not in a robust recovery yet, but the seeds have been planted. It is unlikely that they will germinate this summer, and it may take longer than that, but eventually they will sprout.

    The lack of a housing recovery is the key difference between this recovery and every other one which has preceded it. The collapse of the housing sector is directly responsible for a quarter of the jobs lost, and indirectly responsible for many more than that. The loss of jobs has, in turn, depressed household formation, and thus further depressed the housing market.

  6. freedy says:

    Grim: whats the opening line for the 2012 spring selling season ?

  7. 30 year realtor says:

    #6 opening line: Take my house, please!

  8. Neanderthal Economist says:

    “At some point, those young people and couples will quit living with parents and friends and want a place of their own.”
    Unless of course a certain percentage of our population living with parents and friends goes back to historic sustainable norms…

  9. whipped says:

    Anyone know typical price for home inspector? Based on home price,s sq feet,etc? Thanks in advance.

  10. grim says:

    250-450 (Varies based on beds & baths or approximate square footage)

  11. Essex says:

    Hope. Change. Rinse and Repeat.

  12. Can’t wash out the stench of death, no matter how many rinse/repeat cycles.

  13. The monetary/banking history of the US, in a few paragraphs:

    “DAVID: So, the Supreme Court ducked crucial issues and allowed precedents to be set for the creation of a monetary system that is clearly unconstitutional and, importantly, unsound. So here we are today, with everything totally screwed up. Do you think the monetary system now operating in the U.S. – and around the world, for that matter – can survive as is? Or is it going to have to change, and relatively soon?

    EDWIN: Well, it’s going to have to change, raising the questions, “In what direction and under whose control?” Historically, the United States has seen each one of these faulty systems go into self-destruction mode, followed by the government ratcheting things up to the next-higher level.

    Thus the First Bank of the United States was followed by the Second Bank of the United States, neither of which was really a central bank. They were just private banks that operated as fiscal agents for the government. And there were a lot of state banks, and these all went into some kind of failure mode.

    Along comes the Civil War, and they come up with the National Banking System, which was a cartelization of banks tied into the U.S. Treasury, so they moved it from the level of individual banks – that might have been state chartered or chartered by Congress but were nevertheless essentially separate private entities – into a cartel structure that had a direct connection to the Treasury.

    Now that direct connection to the Treasury was that those banks had to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, and then they would deposit those with the Treasury, and they’d get 90% of the value of the bonds back in currency, which they could then use for their own private purposes. That system didn’t work because at that point in time, people were not interested in amassing ever greater federal debt, and the expansion of that banking system depended upon amassing ever greater amounts of federal debt.

    Well, that system goes into crisis and what do they do? Do they correct it? No, they go to the next level and give us the national lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve System. Essentially improving the cartel structure. That thing lasts only from 1914 to 1932, about 20 years, before it collapses. Does Roosevelt solve this problem by dealing strictly with fractional reserve? No, he raises it to another level by expanding the powers of the Federal Reserve System and taking gold away from the American people.

    That lasts until after World War II, at Bretton Woods, when the United States Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve note become the World Central Bank and the World Central Reserve Currency, as a matter of fact, and how long does that last? Until 1971, right? By then, so much gold has left the country because of the profligate policies of Congress, especially the war in Vietnam and Johnson’s War on Poverty, that Nixon finally has to stop gold redemption in 1971.

    Which brings us to the present, and we are again back in crisis mode, and what are they telling us? “Oh, we’ve got to go to the next level. We’ve got to create a New World Central Bank.” Maybe this will be the IMF or whatever, but we are going to expand the thing to the next level until we have the final blowout. Because this is what they’ve always done.”

    http://www.caseyresearch.com/editorial.php?page=articles/interview-dr-edwin-vieira&ppref=ZHB231ED0611B

  14. More Vieira, from the above article:

    “In my view, and I’ve written about this for years, the people at the top levels of government understand that their monetary system is inherently flawed. That we’re on the Titanic, in a sense, and they know that this ship is going to sink. They don’t know when, but they know when it sinks, they’re going to have a huge amount of economic dislocation, social crisis and civil unrest to the level of revolt.

    So they started developing this police state mechanism in the hopes of keeping the lid on the garbage can when the monetary system breaks down. The upper echelons of the judiciary have been going right along with this because they know what the program is. This is obvious. No one in his right mind would stand by and allow the sort of excesses we’ve seen.

    Just the other day, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply at all because you can sue the police after they’ve mistakenly broken into your home. But when they break into your home and they kill you, then what?”

  15. gary says:

    Winning!

  16. chicagofinance says:

    repost
    chicagofinance says:
    June 23, 2011 at 11:36 pm
    clot: How did you whiff on this backdoor QE3? I was away today and expected you to be all over it.
    “This looks more like a perception move by the U.S. government and the Europeans to alleviate high crude prices.”
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-23/-head-scratcher-petroleum-release-to-inflate-u-s-crude-glut.html

    Hobo With a Shotgun says:
    June 23, 2011 at 2:03 pm
    Wow. One day of deflation scare, and here’s a former Fed gubnor already hinting at QE3: BROADDUS SAYS ANY DISINFLATION MAY PROMPT FED TO CONSIDER QE3 BROADDUS SAYS FED UNDERSTANDING OF INFLATION HAS IMPROVED
    FORMER RICHMOND FED CHIEF BROADDUS SPEAKS ON BLOOMBERG TV
    We are headed directly for a Lehman (x10) catastrophic event here. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, boys.

  17. gary says:

    Prospects in the housing market remain glum as the weaker then expected spring buying season pushes prices and transaction counts down.

    Sellers, you don’t want to give it away. Remember, your house is different. Besides, your neighbors house across the street sold for above asking 5 years ago and your house is way better so don’t let these buyers insult you!! :o

  18. The only top shelf investment left is .223.

  19. seif says:

    when these “experts” or “analysts” say ‘housing is more affordable than it has been in a long time,’ what are they basing that on? have the formulas and algorithms for such things not been skewed by the dramatic rise in home prices and costs of goods while compensation/income has remained stagnant? or am i just not seeing what they are seeing because i look in “more desirable” areas? please explain how they keep trotting out that bogus ‘more affordable than ever’ line?

  20. In Amerika, if you repeat the lie often enough, it becomes the truth.

  21. 3B says:

    #18 And that will all be determiend by having ggod jobs, houses that are affordable, and reasonable property taxes. None of those items are in palce at the moment.

  22. Simon says:

    RE: 21

    “In Amerika, if you repeat the lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”

    Sounds like your comments all day long

  23. gary says:

    Twelve states and the District of Columbia now have white populations below 50 percent among children under age 5 — Hawaii, California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, New York and Mississippi. That’s up from six states and the District of Columbia in 2000.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110623/ap_on_go_ot/us_census_white_minority

    Does this mean I’m now eligible for some type of empathetic benefit?

  24. gary says:

    The stench of failure is refreshingly pungent this morning, isn’t it?

  25. whipped says:

    Hobo With a Shotgun says:
    June 24, 2011 at 7:42 am
    I see dead houses.

    Hobo
    I love it!!!

  26. gary says:

    Simon [23],

    How deep underwater on the mortgage are you?

  27. 3B says:

    I have no kids left in school now as of last night. Now what??

  28. gary says:

    3b [22],

    It’s different in North Jersey, though. We’re insulated and have prestigious wealth due to the Manhattan effect. And besides, it’s contained to subprime.

  29. gary says:

    I want my f*cking unicorn pony! Bitch!

  30. gary says:

    3b [28],

    Open up a dollar store and bodega on Midland Avenue as a welcoming gesture to the arrival of our new neighbors.

  31. Simon (23)-

    What kind of scamming are you involved in?

  32. 3B says:

    #31 We just opened in the space of a couple of months 2 “We buy Gold Stores”. Just within a block or so of each other.

  33. 30 year realtor says:

    Goodwill, dollar stores, accessory superstores, happy ending massage joints…the new look of the strip center near you! Retail leasing, healthy as ever.

  34. gary says:

    3b [33],

    That must be because everyone is bleeding so much wealth, as I’ve been told.

  35. The Original NJ Expat says:

    seif #20 – “Housing is already the most affordable it’s been in 40 years, according to the National Realtors Association…”

    Consider the source.

  36. gary says:

    30 year [34],

    But, the premium property taxes we pay will ensure that those strip malls will have pretty awnings and new sidewalks. I mean… we don’t want to tarnish our prestigious reputation.

  37. The Original NJ Expat says:

    VCR’s are also the most affordable they’ve been in 40 years. Anybody rushing out to trade up?

  38. gary says:

    Is it true that Paramus is seeking to change their name to West Mogadishu?

  39. NJGator says:

    This is officially move weekend for the Gator family.

  40. 3B says:

    #36 And property taxes (in NJ at least) are at their highest in 40 years, canceling out the low interest rates, and declining (but still high) prices.

  41. still_looking says:

    Gator, 40

    Good Luck!! Moving is usually a drag but the end result is its own reward!

    sl

  42. Mike says:

    going to Monmouth tommorow tips anybody? (probably a big mistake to ask that question here)

  43. chicagofinance says:

    They are creating a replica of the Stone Pony in Briggey-Upon-Hackey and naming it the Stone Unicorn.

    gary says:
    June 24, 2011 at 9:20 am
    I want my f*cking unicorn pony! Bitch!

  44. Nation of Wussies HEHEHE says:

    Mike,

    Monmouth Park? Went last week. Didn’t win much. Pretty much all favorites won.

  45. hughesrep says:

    43 / 45

    Since they changed their format last year they’ve increased their purses. They seem to be getting a better class of horses. Hence fewer longshots coming in to drive up the payouts on the exactas and tri’s exotic.

    You would have to be a chalk eating weasel to squeak out lunch money at Monmouth the last couple of times I went. My kids ( two and three) like to go to look at the horsies. What is the proper age to start to teach expected value in relation to parimutuel betting?

  46. Anon E. Moose says:

    Hughes [46];

    What is the proper age to start to teach expected value in relation to parimutuel betting?

    I was taught to read the Form beginning around age 8. I always had a sense of comparing the certainty of my predictions against the expected payouts, but I really didn’t get into rigorous EV calcs until much later in life.

    Monmouth was always a favorite of my grandfather (coming from SI). He always liked to leave early to beat the traffic; never the kind to stick around for the late Daily Double even if having a bad day. That was a lesson in itself.

  47. Simon says:

    Gary, finances are fine.
    Hobo, Not involved in any scam.

    I agree with the substantive commentary on this blog, the point of my comment was that I am wondering if Hobo (and Gary) if you had anything different to say. Your comments are interesting and entertaining but are now just repetitive and no longer original.

    Going back to the silent majority now.

  48. gator (40)-

    How many donkey carts does Captain Cheapo have lined up for the move? :)

  49. Simon (48)-

    I’ll become more original when Bergabe, Eraserhead, the courts, Clowngress and Bojangles engage in some activity that differs from their participation in the biggest daylight bank robbery in history.

    Of course, the only action any of these crooks take that will differ at all is to raise the level of sophistication of the stealing.

  50. Painhrtz - Salmon of Doubt says:

    Damn Hobo 50 beat me to it,

    congrats Gator hope the illegals that Stu hired don’t break too many of your valuables

  51. Dan says:

    I thought Paramus was trying to change their name to West River Edge to save their housing market.

  52. gary says:

    Simon,

    Here’s some originality: the velocity of a .44 caliber split jacket shell as it slams into an object is approximately 1900 feet per second.

  53. NJGator says:

    Hobo/Pain –

    No donkey carts. Contractor’s pickup truck. And you don’t have to hire illegals. Sussex County Rednecks work just as cheaply. And friends work for beer. That’s all on Stu. I’m comfortably nestled in my Midtown office. Someone has to work to pay off those Essex County property tax bills times two.

    One more thing Pain, what ever gave you the idea that Captain Cheapo ever sprung for these things you call “valuables”?

  54. NJGator says:

    Captain Cheapo is gonna take Lil Gator to the batting cages in Brig on the Hack this weekend as part of his birthday present. We’re hoping the pixie dust and unicorns there help develop Lil Gator some major league level skills. Mommy does need a beach house in Hawaii one day.

  55. 3B says:

    #56 Please be sure they don’t feed the Unicorns, we do not ant them picking up any bad habits. Also since they will be at the batting cages, be aware it is close to the hacky, and sometimes the geese and the Unicorns can have terrible rows.

  56. x-everything says:

    All you have to do is read the first few comments here to see which way the RE market is going in Hunterdon…south

    Rural N.J. county spotlighted among ‘richest’ in U.S.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localnyc/20110603/ts_yblog_localnyc/rural-feeling-n-j-county-spotlighted-among-richest-in-u-s

  57. Outofstater says:

    June 2011 study of public pension costs if no changes are made. Table on page 40 of this 52 page pdf puts New Jersey at the top of the list with an additional $2475 per household required. Good thing the legislature finally passed a bit of reform yesterday.
    http://kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/rauh/research/RDPEPP.pdf

  58. Painhrtz - Salmon of Doubt says:

    Gator notice I said your valuables, as in you brought them to the marriage. Congrats again i hear if you let the little ones roll around in Unicorn pooh, it increases their hand eye coordination by 50%

  59. A.West says:

    Here’s the most interesting thing I’ve read today:
    It’s from a report about how the move away from T-bond funding by price insensitive central banks and to actual savers will drive down T-bond prices, depressing the US and other economies.

    “All developed-world debt markets are likely to decline in the great reset. Across the developed world, private savings will have to be mobilised to
    support what was once funded by foreign central banks. Such a mobilisation will be less painful for some countries than others, but given the scale of the sovereign-debt problem, all major developed-world authorities are likely to
    respond to the decline in foreign central bank support with some form of
    financial suppression. Funding huge government-debt burdens at yields that
    can permit these burdens to be inflated away is now the imperative for almost
    all the developed world…

    The great reset will be the greatest challenge to investors since the end of the Bretton Woods agreement. The analysis in this report suggests that this adjustment is coming much more quickly than consensus believes. It sees a move to an independent monetary policy in EM countries and the end of what
    is sometimes called the ‘Bretton Woods II’ system. This is just the scale of
    structural adjustment that has reduced equity markets to record-low
    valuations. Should the S&P return to such valuations, the index could reach 400
    before the adjustment is complete. Meanwhile in EM nations, after a painful
    birth, a new era of true independence will be born. The old era of extremes in real interest rates and resultant poor-quality investment will be gone.
    Malinvestment over the business cycle should thus decline. As for the West, financial suppression is set to deliver a level of malinvestment we currently only associate with command economies. The world will be turned upside down.”

  60. JJ says:

    Hunterdon County, which includes the beautiful Clinton Township (shown here) has become a magnet for the wealthy with jobs in New York City and Philadelphia, according to the article, and has a median income of $102,500.

    OK exactly how broke are people in NJ? Hunterdon is the richest with a 102K salary. However, I recall Kings Point Long Island broke the 100K median income in 1980. How the heck could you afford a large house with 15k in taxes, heat and the fact you have to drive like 40minutes just to get a cup of coffee. Sounds more like a welfare town

  61. JJ says:

    NJ Gator – I find it disturbing that you have decided to squander Lil Gators future inheritance on a stack of sticks that is destinated to fall in value. Please reconsider, gas has come down in price, just buy a few gallons and some matches in the long run it will be a good investment.

  62. A.West says:

    58,
    Good comments on that Hunterdon county article. I notice lots of pretty houses in Alexandria Twp., but prices are still falling as taxes rise. Far from everything, it seems. With low tax PA nearby, seems like Western NJ would get hollowed out first as people flee rapacious “public servants”.

  63. 3B says:

    #58 I have a relative that does the commute from Annandale every day to lower Manhattan. It is a long brutal schlep back and forth every day. And the taxes are incredibly high.

  64. A.West says:

    JJ,
    Hunterdon is above average in income because they don’t have significant percentages of what some call “disadvantaged groups” pulling down the mean. Same reason some super elite towns have schools with higher averages than merely good towns. They don’t have kids from “the wrong side of town” to drag down the school’s average. The smart kids in each town are generally comparable, as are their teachers and curriculum. But one town will have ESL classes and the other won’t need one. I’m not sure if ebonics counts as English or a second language but it doesn’t work well on standardized tests or employment applications.

  65. x-everything says:

    I moved to outskirts of DC Metro area in northern,VA. Scenery is even nicer than Hunterdon…wineries and horse farms to the west and urban everything to the west. In just about every category, this place beats where I was looking to live had I stayed in NJ. Jobs pay more here and taxes are 1/2

  66. x-everything says:

    urban everything to the east

  67. 3b (65)-

    I live in Annandale. The NYC commuters I know here are like extras in The Walking Dead.

    In case anyone is wondering, RE here has been dead money for over four years and the only new development is that the collapse is accelerating. In the past week, the pace of 50K+ price cuts on houses in the 500-600K range has ramped.

    Nice short sale closed today at 27 Lance in Readington. Those houses were selling for 850-900K during the boom. This one asked 679K, and sold for 550K.

    Smoke those green shoots.

  68. x (67)-

    That’s because all your neighbors are suckling at the gubmint teat.

  69. west (66)-

    We have plenty of illegals and MS13 in Flemington. We also have an incredible amount of rich, spoiled, stupid and lazy white kids to drag down our averages.

  70. x-everything says:

    hobo 70
    somebody has to…might as well be me!!!!

  71. Kettle1^2 says:

    Hobo

    Draft the lazy ones and send them down to the US Mexcio border. It looks like its about time for a little border enforcement.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11226144/ns/us_news-security/t/mexican-incursions-inflame-border-situation/

  72. Kettle1^2 says:

    LMAO!!!

    Mexican soldiers caught inside U.S. boundaries “isn’t a new phenomenon,” said David Aguilar, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol. Although the Mexican military has an “internal policy” that states they won’t operate within about two miles of the U.S., that policy is routinely violated or simply ignored, he said. “We often spot them” near or inside U.S. borders, Aguilar said.

    And on several occasions the U.S. has chased, apprehended and even detained members of the Mexican military, Aguilar said during his testimony. However, the U.S. has no concrete evidence that the Mexican military is in any way involved in drug smuggling, Aguilar was quick to point out.

  73. Kettle1^2 says:

    Hobo

    forget .223 step up to Nato &.62 and .45ACP

  74. Kettle1^2 says:

    That is NATO 7.62

  75. 3B says:

    #60 I do not know how my relative does it. They bougth in 2004, so I do not know what kind of hit if any price wise they migth take.But I do not think they would make a whole lot either.

  76. 3B says:

    #74 Question is what are thue doing on our side of the border in the first place?

  77. 3B says:

    #67 Yes but does it have Unicorns??

  78. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [76] kettle

    I think it is time to build a beAR.

  79. Painhrtz - Salmon of Doubt says:

    Ket, I want a AR-15 Beowulf conversion but it is illegal in this awful state. 7.62 is nice though

  80. House Whine says:

    I am bored by Hunterdon County. Far from the beaches, far from any museums, theaters, and far from good-paying jobs. Almost moved there years ago, but so glad we didn’t.

  81. JJ says:

    Towns don’t even have HS’s out their, like five towns share one HS, garbage pick up is infrequent and they have no sewers yet somehow they have high taxes. Heck the guy I know lives there does not even have town water he has a well. I told him I think it is absolutely disgusting that you have a cess pool and a well in your back-yard, one of the other is ok but basically you might as well drink out of your toliet.

    So no HS, no town sewer, no town drinking water and amost 20K in taxes. HOW?

    A.West says:
    June 24, 2011 at 2:10 pm
    JJ,
    Hunterdon is above average in income because they don’t have significant percentages of what some call “disadvantaged groups” pulling down the mean. Same reason some super elite towns have schools with higher averages than merely good towns. They don’t have kids from “the wrong side of town” to drag down the school’s average. The smart kids in each town are generally comparable, as are their teachers and curriculum. But one town will have ESL classes and the other won’t need one. I’m not sure if ebonics counts as English or a second language but it doesn’t work well on standardized tests or employment applications.

  82. A.West says:

    Hobo,
    Rich spoiled stupid lazy and white – that is the median, I thought.
    But Flemington has a Coach outlet. Friends in China are directing my wife there, they want her to pick up some Coach bags for them, because in the US 1) they know they will be real and 2) they are cheaper in US than China.
    My wife has never had a designer bag and doesn’t understand the desire for them.
    I’m not sure if this is a better way for Chinese to recyle their current account surplus than T-bonds.

  83. Kettle1^2 says:

    Pain

    I would need to double check with a legal expert but I am 99% certain that a .50 beowoulf is legal in Nj. .50 AP can be legally purchased but not legally fired in NJ.

    Nom

    let’s get a few people together for build a bear!!!! I need to build a .50 upper anyway. Perhaps we can pull a group rate.

  84. Kettle1^2 says:

    Pain

    you can legally purchase a standard fully assembled .50 cal upper that is NJ legal for about 1200 – 1500 from a number of different manufacturers.

  85. Kettle1^2 says:

    Hobo

    might i suggest an m1a socom II in NATO 7.62 with a carbine length barrel as a nice turnkey solution for you?

  86. grim says:

    Ket – .50? Anything decent is about 5x that.

  87. Kettle1^2 says:

    Pain

    I just verified for you, the .50 beowulf is NJ legal. The only catch is that it comes with a standard 15rd mag. the 15 rd mag is illegal in Nj. The limit in Nj is a 10 Rd mag.

    Nj does NOT have a .50 cal bad in place. There are feature type bans such as collapse stocks and “high capacity” ( greater then 10 rds) magazines.

  88. Kettle1^2 says:

    Grim 89

    That is just for the basic upper. if you get into all the fun options like rails, optics, etc the price jumps very quickly. it is also more expensive for magazine fed semi-auto .50 uppers.

  89. About time the talk here turned to guns.

  90. Kettle1^2 says:

    Grim, Pain

    http://www.tactilite.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=29&Itemid=29

    1500 would be a more accurate entry price. of course if you build it yourself it will be cheaper for a higher end product.

  91. 3B says:

    #91 JC Yes. The last of my 3 graduated yesterday;(started on the younger side). I saw the listing you posted. Only 1 bath, so will not work. I believe prices wcontinue to decline,and we would expect to do something over the next year. Asking 399K is too high in my opinion, in thi senvironemnt asking should he more like 359K, and bid from there.

    Tough decision after a long time in one place, but it is time to go. We are focused on a few towns, with WT being one of them. Thanks for continuing to look out for me.

  92. JJ says:

    FYI Coach is a 12 year old girls designer bag at best, that junk has not been trendy since the 1980s. I guess the Chinese think it is all that.

    Guns are for wimps. Can’t go around shooting people. Does Chuck Norris have to use a gun?

    I only had a real gun pulled on me once. Nitwit is yelling keep your hands on the dashboard keep you hands on the dashboard. I am like thinking look idiot you have a gun pointed at me do you really need to yell. Guy was shaking too.

    Another time was even funnier, we were throwing snowballs when we were 12 nut and a car pulls over all mad and yelling and starts chasing us with a gun, we go flying all over the street right between traffic to get away from him. Knucklehead got caught by a cop and it turned out to be a fake gun, but the stupid SOB with his gun and the fact us kids were flying between cars got an APB on all of us and I too got rounded up. What a dope, my parents had to pick me up after some punk lecture from the Fuzz. But the best of the best. Was the cops were messing with the guy, threatened to send him to jail, told him one of the kids got killed so he is going to jail and you know what happend to guys in jail who kill little boys, I could hear it while I was listening. Finally, I get picked up the last and boy parents were mad, no parents wanted to press charges so cops said he could leave they already called his wife. OMG, this lady as it was around 11:30pm comes charging in with curlers in her hair as she got woken up furious as all heck and just yanked him from the chair to take him home to kick his butt, I saw people in schindlers list look happier getting on the train.

    Basically guns are just trouble waiting to happen even fake ones.

  93. chicagofinance says:

    Who had Columbo in their dead pool?

  94. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    ket i would rather have the .338 Lapp or the .416 barret both are significantly more forgiving. the .50 BMG in a conversion has to be murder on the shoulder. Shopping for beowoulf now

  95. Did jj really just refer to the police as “fuzz”?

  96. JC says:

    3B #95: I would agree that listing prices are still too high. There is a 3-bedroom ranch on Fern St. that is pretty heinous and listed at $430K. My tax appeal appraisal came in at $360K which seems right on the money for the market now. You should be able to get a cape with 2 baths for that these days.

    What other towns are you looking at? Westwood? Hillsdale?

    BTW, I’m told there was a bear in a tree today at the corner of Kinderkamack Road and Piermont Ave. in Woodcliff Lake. Which just goes to show that Stephen Colbert is right.

  97. Diane says:

    #83 Housewine – I lived in Alexandrea Twp & Bloomsbury 1999 to 2006. Sold my home in 2006, then rented so my daughter could graduate with her class in 2007. For me, it was extremely boring. The PTA moms and other neighborhood women were like Stepford wives. I was the only mom I knew that worked a real job. Hated the grocery stores, had to drive far to shop. I could not wait to move away from westbum.

  98. Kettle1^2 says:

    Pain

    if you go .50 get the magpul PRS buttstock. A little expensive (about 225) but will save your shoulder and is a very nice buttstock

  99. Kettle1^2 says:

    Pain

    the PRS would be a good buttstock for the beowoulf as well

  100. Neanderthal Economist says:

    “The Original NJ Expat says: June 24, 2011 at 9:35 am seif #20 –“Housing is already the most affordable it’s been in 40 years, according to the National Realtors Association…” Consider the source.”
    Expat, seif, This statistic is true but its referring to the carrying cost of mortgage and does not include prop taxes. Think about it nationally, prices are down 40% and rates are at historic lows. Together these two things create low mortgage payments. Now divide by median income and you get a very high affordability ratio, the highest in decades.

  101. Neanderthal Economist says:

    The two caveats to that national statistic discussed at 104 are this: (1) prices are still stubborly high compared to avg income because rates are at historic lows. Do you really want to be long housing with an 80% ltv if rates shoot upward to historical averages?; and (2) this is ny metro/nj, not national… sooo prices are only down 25%, not 40% and then add in the highest taxes in the nation to blow that affordability measure out even further down.

  102. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (99) hobo

    Dating yourself a bit there. Heck, fuzz was passe when I was in h.s.

  103. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (86) kettle

    I’ll talk to Eddie. His girl is my girls coach.

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  105. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (96) jj

    You are correct that fake guns are a problem. No one should be using a replica to threaten. Idiocy.

    But you show yourself to be a noo yawker with the antigun stuff.

  106. Shore Guy says:

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    June 23, 2011 at 11:52 pm
    Shore Guy,
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    Elle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the reminder.

  107. Shore Guy says:

    “Housing is already the most affordable it’s been in 40 years, according to the National Realtors Association…”

    And jobs are the most precarious they have been in 40 years. And government debt is the highest it has been, and with that comes the greatest prospect for runaway property tax increases.

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