From MarketWatch:
Coldwell Banker Real Estate Survey Reveals Sellers More Willing to Price Competitively in 2012
A recent survey over 600 Coldwell Banker Real Estate professionals in the United States revealed home buyers and sellers are adjusting expectations and “getting real” about real estate in 2012. More than half (51 percent) reported that sellers are more willing to price their homes more competitively than this time last year, and 45 percent said sellers are more willing to change the appearance of their homes to entice buyers than they were one year ago.
…
94 percent say their sellers are getting rid of clutter and making cosmetic updates, such as fresh paint and minor repairs.
…
78 percent agree clients are willing to “de-personalize” the home.
…
59 percent say sellers are even bringing in new home decorations or furniture to help make the home more appealing.
…
33 percent of surveyed agents say that a new or updated kitchen is the most important feature to homebuyers.
…
14 percent say the most important feature to homebuyers is an open floor plan, while 12 percent say it is a new or updated bathroom.
…
Only 1 percent of the real estate professionals surveyed say they believe that entertainment rooms or finished basements are the most important feature.
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70 percent of real estate professionals say a new baby or growing family is the “most common,” or a “very common” reason buyers search for a new home.
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69 percent say relocation for job reasons.
59 percent say marriage.
48 percent say divorce.
37 percent say retirement.
From HousingWire:
Senate bill requires response to short sale requests within 75 days
A new Senate bill aims to speed up the short-sale process by requiring mortgage lenders or servicers to respond within a mandated timeline or face potential fines.
The bill, introduced late last week by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, gives the servicer 75 days to reply to a homeowner’s written request, which must include a copy of a contract with a prospective buyer.
The servicer would have to answer with an approval, denial or request to extend the response period up to 21 days. The companies could also approve the short sale subject to certain changes.
Homeowners would receive $1,000 each time the lender or servicer fails to respond, along with other “appropriate relief,” according to the requirements of the bill.
“What we have here is a failure to communicate,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Why don’t we make it easier for Americans trying to participate in the housing market, regardless of whether the answer is ‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘maybe?'”
Moe Veissi, president of the National Association of Realtors, said real estate agents support “any effort to improve the process for approving short sales.”
Just closed a deal with a single lender short sale, took 9 months.
Mr. Doom and Gloom tips his hat to housing?
From CNBC:
US Housing Among Most Attractive Assets: Marc Faber
The housing market in the south of the United States is among the most attractive asset classes in the world, Marc Faber, the editor of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, told CNBC on Friday, because while homebuilder stocks had rallied, property prices hadn’t moved much.
“If you look at the supply of homes, new construction, and you compare it to immigration into the United States, to the growth of the population, then these (southern) markets are very attractive from a longer term perspective,” Faber told Bernie Lo on CNBC’s Straight Talk.
Among the markets he pointed to were Atlanta, Phoenix and Miami. Faber said investors could earn a rental yield of 8 percent per year and buy homes in the south of the U.S. at a 40 to 50 percent discount to construction costs.
Faber said he went to see homes in Phoenix and Atlanta, and in some cases, U.S. homes were cheaper than those in Thailand, where he lives.
At the same time, the fact that people couldn’t get credit to buy homes in the U.S. was helping to boost the rental market, he added.
Faber said plenty of investors were already making money by buying distressed homes, but he said the fragmented nature of the market didn’t benefit large investors with billions of dollars of capital. Rather, he said it was more nimble investors who were doing well.
Good Morning New Jersey
From USA Today via CNBC:
Lenders Paying Borrowers to Do Short Sales
Lenders are allowing more short sales by financially strapped homeowners and a few people are even getting cash to complete the sale.
Short sales are when lenders allow borrowers to sell homes for less than their unpaid mortgages. They are an alternative to foreclosures.
Short sales have been increasing for months, but the financial incentives — which Realtors say are random and infrequent — are a newer wrinkle.
JPMorgan Chase went national with short-sale incentive offers last year, paying up to $35,000 in some cases.
Bank of America is testing incentives from $5,000 to $25,000 in Florida to see if they should be expanded to more states. The Florida program began last fall, spokesman Richard Simon says.
Wells Fargo’s incentive offers range from less than $3,000 to $20,000, spokesman James Hines says.
…
“It’s a lot cheaper to shell out $10,000 or $20,000 to someone than it is to go through a long foreclosure,” says Jim Gillespie, chief executive of Coldwell Banker.
Greek “deal” completed – just in time for US markets to open the week. I am shocked at the fortuitous timing.
This morning I had the tv on MSNBC and there was the following exchange took place:
My 2YO: “whatcha watching?”
Me: “propaganda”
Ugh. Just reread post. Need more coffee.
And how did you take advantage? Now that Greece is getting resolved it looks for now worst of financial crisis is ending.
What I find that is truly interesting is the relationship between those who did not get laid off as a result of financial crisis vs. those who did get laid off. The % increase in equities from last 2008 until Feb 2012 is pretty shocking. Those I know who kept their jobs at companies that continued their 401K matches and kept the course by continuing their 401K investments as is no panic truly have significantly increased their retirement savings in last four years.
However, I know people who were let go, stop contributing and by time they found employment at a lesser salary and there was a waiting period to get back in to 401K and wait for match as a new employee really lost a lot of ground.
A friend of mine started a new job on Labor Day week 2008 joined 401K right away put 100% in equities and at a firm that did the match. He just crossed 200K in 401K in under four years. Meanwhile I know people who had 200K in 401K in Spring of 2008 who got let go, moved to cash at worst time, missed out on buying opportunity of century and although back at work at a equal salary the re-allocation of cash at worst time and missing the huge buying opportunity and 401 matches in 2009 and 2010 left them at 45 with little retirement savings. Next recession when they get canned they will be 50 something and in bad shape. As a result of this recession and massive lay-offs 20 years from now their will be people in yachts and people in mobile homes all based on if they kept their jobs at companies that kept 401K match and left the allocation as is or whether they got laid off and in a panic moved to cash.
Proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free HEHEHE says:
February 21, 2012 at 7:56 am
Greek “deal” completed – just in time for US markets to open the week. I am shocked at the fortuitous timing.
Lead story,
Relocation is a possibility for us. The wife and I were discussing it, and she started listing considerations for where to buy in the new region. I shot her the AYFKM? look and she said “oh yeah, where to rent.”
grim [5] – It used to be that the equity in your house was your nest egg. Now it seems like defaulting on your house will be the new nest egg, albeit a pared down one.
Bank of America is testing incentives from $5,000 to $25,000 in Florida to see if they should be expanded to more states. The Florida program began last fall, spokesman Richard Simon says.
JPMorgan Chase went national with short-sale incentive offers last year, paying up to $35,000 in some cases.
Wow every single investment grade bond paying 8% or higher completely disappeared this morning on Greek news.
We have Junk, Equities and Housing as last three investments standing that are yet vastly overpriced. Housing is the dark horse that is coming back.
Only question I have with housing is this, I continued to ponder the BAC REO this weekend, wife is completely opposed to rental properties but warming up. But BAC realizes with super low rates has caused a huge back-log in processing mortgage applications combined with still high barriers to qualify for a mortgage they prefer cash. Even my little bungalow type house by the time you factor in closing, RE Taxes, insurance if I paid cash it will cost 200K. A decent REO will run you 300k to 500K. If BAC prefers cash as they don’t want to carry house empty for two to four months while you finalize loan who has this money. I mean I assume the folks who overleveraged housing at peak are still underwater, people who got laid off in recession are still impacted financially and people who in a panic sold equities in 2009 and did not get back in are still impacted. So BAC cash buyers are limited to people without much debt, who did not lose job in financial crisis who did not buy at peak to buy their REOs for cash.
Now BAC told me they don’t want known flippers, remember, by selling an REO to a flipper who renovates and resells house at overinflated price to subprime borrower you have actually increased risk. Think about this. Foreclosure sold to Dr. for 200K pays cash and rents it long term, risk is gone. Bank sells to flipper who resells it at 400K after renovation to a buyer who puts 5% down and mortgages 380K you have replaced a 200K possible loss with a 380K possible loss to banking industry. Given contagion risk even if BAC does not do new mortgage giving contagion risk a re-default of that new mortgage could impact BAC.
Nom [10] – CT?
JJ [12] – Mining stocks are still are a bargain and they’re starting a nice trend of increasing their dividends. Look for some of the majors to be taking out juniors this year too.
More than half (51 percent) reported that sellers are more willing to price their homes more competitively than this time last year.
They don’t have a f*cking choice. No jobs, flat income for 10 years and counting, sky-rocketing cost of living and a perpetual bubble in property taxes. Next stop? Sellers will be including hand written letters in the brochure, pleading for anyone… someone… to make an offer.
#3At the same time, the fact that people couldn’t get credit to buy homes in the U.S. was helping to boost the rental market he added.
FHA?? Just saying.
Only 1 percent of the real estate professionals surveyed say they believe that entertainment rooms or finished basements are the most important feature.
Nonsense. It is one of the top three selling features demanded in Northern NJ. And, we need docking stations for our electronic gadgets and toys. Besides, what would our friends and neighbors think if we couldn’t watch home movies of Brent and Ashley playing with the unicorns on our Projecta – Model B Pull-Down Projector Screen.
Conventional with PMI feels like it is the more common financing approach this year, but that’s just my one anecdote/observation.
17 – wonder if that is an artifact of smaller house sizes out here. Head south and you find homes with 3500+ on the main levels, who needs a finished basement there?
When you are talking 1600 out here, that extra 3 or 400 makes a huge difference in usable space, with a significantly smaller impact on property taxes.
[13] expat,
That was a possibility but no. Wilmington, DE area, which represents something of a regression for us since we had been moving up the coast back to Boston. But it is by no means certain, just a possibility.
Would be great for wife (close to friends, family) but suck for me as I know nobody in that part of the country except her friends and family.
Funny that she suggested relocating to SoJo so that I could stay in NJ to practice. Again, my response was “are you f’ing kidding me?” If I am going to be in Wilmington, I might as well leave law and go back into banking.
For those of you who haven’t had enough coffee yet or haven’t listened to your morning dose of Motorhead, my post #17 should be read with dripping sarcasm.
Give me some names and I will start tracking. I have not bought a single bond or stock in almost six week. I think run-up is too much too quick and next pull back I am headed back in.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
February 21, 2012 at 8:36 am
JJ [12] – Mining stocks are still are a bargain and they’re starting a nice trend of increasing their dividends. Look for some of the majors to be taking out juniors this year too.
#18 grim Any ideas why?
All over the news this morning. “Housing is on the upswing” Buy now or forever be
locked out .
Grim [1];
Here’s a hint for the senator: most times when there is no answer, its because the answer is no. No further legislation required.
Funny I’m finishing the basement to have an office, larger closet for the wife and a reloading station.
thought about a torture chamber I could sublet to the spooks, but it might upset the twins when they get older
JJ [9];
What I heard about the “Greek Deal” is that investors taking a 54% haircut reduces Greek debt by 1/3. No I’m nobody’s math genius, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and those figures tell me some investors are getting more “Greeked” than others.
Grim [18];
Conventional with PMI feels like it is the more common financing approach this year, but that’s just my one anecdote/observation.
PMI is deductible to most of the plebs, so there’s no benefit in taking a higher interest rate for lender-pay.
File this under: The Locusts Getting What’s Coming to Them
For boomers, it’s a new era of ‘work til you drop’
#28 Anon: Contrary to JJ’s sunny skies, Greece’s problems are far from over with this second bailout. Funny in reading the details for the agreement, all the officials praise the fact that it will prevent a disorderly default by the Greek government; nobody is stating that it will prevent default however.
from moose 30
“Not only has the paradigm shifted, but as it has the generation whose mantra used to be, “Don’t trust anyone over 30,”finds itself now being looked on with distrust by younger Generation X managers who question whether boomers have the high-tech skills or even the stamina to do what needs to be done.”
It is called the law of unintended consequences bitches sitting on your collective keisters being grasshoppers your entire lives expecting to have a job for 45 years and a pension is ridiculous
hi-ya i found your site today and I have read some awesome posts over here. I just wanna thanks you for posting Sex Dating it so we all can learn about it!
Interactive tax map for NJ property taxes. Enjoy!!!
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/12/0216/2014/
21 [Nom] – My best friend has a JD and has his own one man practice in Westchester. He has his NY, NJ, & DE bar. I thought most attorneys got their DE bar due to all the DE corps and contract case law established there?
Susan Hall, a homeowner in Cotati, Calif., who has been trying to modify the terms of her mortgage since October 2009, thought she was in luck last October when she got a letter informing her that a single person had been assigned to her case by her servicer, Bank of America. Within weeks, she got three more letters, all with different names as her ostensible point of contact. None of them proved able to help.
“I just keep getting passed from one person to another,” she said. To make matters worse, her house is now valued at less than her mortgage, putting her among the 10.7 million American mortgage holders who are so-called underwater borrowers. “Nobody is willing to talk to me.”
Did Suzanne research this? Suzanne would’ve never let the buyer get into this predicament.
23 [JJ] Mining stocks. Here are all the majors:
http://www.kitco.com/pop_windows/stocks/hui.html
The junior that I’ve been holding/trading/accumulating for almost two years is Kimber Resources, trades in the US KBX on AMEX. The institutional ownership is going up like a rocket right now(58.5% right now, it was 55% a couple weeks ago and 34% last August when I started tracking that metric) while the price looks to be range-bound while the big boys load up. I think it will be taken out this year and probably early.
Most people are making money who currently own the bonds. The ma and pa investors in Greek bonds all got out from 2009-2011. The vulture investors got in from 30-40 and want to take 54 cents on a dollar.
Anon E. Moose says:
February 21, 2012 at 9:30 am
JJ [9];
What I heard about the “Greek Deal” is that investors taking a 54% haircut reduces Greek debt by 1/3. No I’m nobody’s math genius, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and those figures tell me some investors are getting more “Greeked” than others.
Here’s a good one for you Gary.
About 2 years ago, there was a house in the south end of Glen Ridge that we really liked. It had what we were looking for, mainly large rooms on the main floor. There was no garage, but it did have a decent little swimming pool and a large deck. Gator and I are all about entertaining. It was the first house we put an offer on in our near 3 year search for a home. My numbers might be slightly off, but I think they are close. Certainly close enough to get my point across. Well, the house was listed at $579,000. We did our analysis and offered $525,000. They laughed at our offer. We went all the way up to a personally uncomfortable $540,000. They still laughed. After receiving no better offers, they decided it would be smarter to rent the place out. They listed it for $3,000/month rent and our realtor says they found a foolish family willing to sign a 3-year lease. We absolutely couldn’t believe it.
Fast forward to today. The house is back on the market for $499,000. We found out from our buying agent, who hired the former realtor who was selling the place originally, that the renters broke the lease and destroyed the place. The owner was forced to sink $20,000 in repairs just to get it in listing condition.
Had they taken our offer, they would have made $540,000 and since they were moving out of their primary residence, would not have had to pay capital gains taxes on the sale.
Since then, they obtained $72,000 in rent. Of which, $25,000 went to pay property taxes, another $2,000 towards insurance, figure $2000 towards maintenance. So they are down to $43,000 profit in the two years. Then they have to pay income tax on the $43,000 also increasing their AGI at a much higher bracket. We’ll be nice and say this costs them another $9,000 (20% tax bracket). So two years later we’ll say they made $34,000 in income which will virtually all be eaten up in capital gains when they sell the home.
Figure in the two years, by not accepting our offer, they will have lost no less than $60,000 and have had to endure a lot of headaches associated with renting.
All I have to say is, they are morons. We’ll have to watch to see where she sells.
I’m guessing that the place will get $475,000 at best in today’s market. That area of Glen Ridge is still pretty hot.
29 – Limit is 100k agi for the full deduction with the partial eliminated by 109k. Even this had to be extended in 2011. Few buyers qualify for the deduction, and even then I wouldn’t bank on it going forward.
I’d say more borrowers opt for the PMI to ensure they lock in a low rate for the lifetime of the loan and expect to pay down against principal to eliminate PMI early.
So the bad word that prevented this message from going up yesterday was fetch?
BTW a Greek default is good and a Greek Default may happen. As long as it is not an uncontrolled default out of blue like Lehman that shocks the market it is fine. Think of Kodak or American Airlines. A uncontrolled default when they were investment grade would have shocked the market. By the time bled out and only investors remaining were vulture and distressed investors gambling on payout in BK the default became irrelevant for market. Greek with second bailout is making it almost a sure thing if they do eventurally leave EU or go BK by then it will be as shocking as when AMR or Kodak went BK, not like the days of GMAC, AIG, C, Lehman out of blue events.
“the bad word … yesterday was fetch?”
Hey. Hey! HEY! Is that the same mouth you use to bad-talk real estate agents?
Stu,
What were the words before and after “fetch”?
http://www.goldcore.com/goldcore_blog/greece-debt-deal-kicking-giant-beer-keg-down-road-risks-destroying-road
Move along now.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-20/sec-surrender-goes-on-with-bear-fund-deal-commentary-by-william-d-cohan.html
Libtard [40 & 41],
A beautiful story…. it brings a tear to my eye (pulls out hankie). (sniff….)
#42 Isn’t the FHA rate guranteed too for the life of the loan?
[35] expat,
No, not really.
Ever wonder why your property taxes are so high? It just doesn’t seem to add up does it? Why is it I can move to PA where they provide the same municipal services and cut my property tax bill in half?
Could it be that the folks you expect to uphold the law are the criminals themselves?
Cop who was mayor in Sparta is indicted
Posted: Feb 18, 2012 10:58 PM EST Updated: Feb 21, 2012 1:21 AM EST
By JESSICA MASULLI REYES
jmasulli@njherald.com
SPARTA — Brian Brady, a former Sparta mayor and suspended state Human Services Police captain, was accused in an indictment Friday of filing fraudulent time sheets that indicated he was working when he was actually on ski trips to Vermont, business trips to New York, and gambling in Atlantic City and Delaware.
Brady, 50, also was charged in the nine-count indictment with using a state vehicle, state gas card and state-issued E-Z pass on some of these personal trips, according to the Attorney General’s Office. He is also being charged with filing fake firearms qualifications certificated and misusing police databases.
Brady served one term on the Sparta Township Council from 2006 to 2010, and was selected by the council as mayor in 2008. He was the third highest ranking officer in the Human Services Police, a police service that is assigned to protect the Division of Youth and Family Services and psychiatric hospitals, but was suspended from his $101,000-a-year job when charges were first brought in May.
Brady’s attorney, Mario Iavicoli of Haddonfield, could not be reached for comment Saturday.
“It is deeply troubling that a police supervisor, who has a sworn duty to uphold the law, is instead charged in this indictment with violating the public’s trust through multiple criminal acts of dishonesty and theft or abuse of police resources,” Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said. “By aggressively prosecuting official misconduct, we will deliver a loud and clear message that nobody is above the law.”
Sparta’s current mayor, Jerry Murphy, said that “justice has been served,” and that the indictment
was just a matter of time since an investigation into Brady had been ongoing.
The Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau and state Department of Human Services had been investigating Brady. The charges now include three counts of official misconduct, one count of pattern of official misconduct, one count of theft by deception, two counts of tampering with public records or information, and two counts of computer theft.
If convicted, he could face five to 10 years in prison on each official misconduct charge, including five years without possibility of parole, and a consecutive sentence on the pattern of official misconduct charge, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Brady had allegedly taken blocks of personal time off without submitting documentation for leave time.
He also is charged with falsely stating that he had completed required activities at a firing range to re-qualify for a firearms certification, when he actually had not in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The third count of official misconduct stems from Brady allegedly directing a subordinate employee to conduct background checks on members of a minor league baseball team, a home health care worker he was considering hiring, and a vehicle he wanted to buy using a restricted police database. This database is used strictly for criminal justice purposes.
The case has been presented to the state grand jury by Deputy Attorney General Mark Ondris and Deputy Attorney General Cynthia Vazquez. The indictment was handed up to a Superior Court judge in Mercer County.
A toll-free tip line 866-TIPS-4CJ is available for the public to confidentially report corruption, financial crime and other illegal activities. Suspected wrongdoings can also be reported at http://www.njdcj.org.
Go ahead, be a whistleblower and report that corruption to the police. See where that gets you.
It may get you a no show job
53 Buddy of mine at a superbowl party was griping about his neighbor who is a cop. He said police cruisers are idling unoccupied in his neighbor’s driveway while the boys partake in some video game “breaks”. A regular occurrence according to him. He doesn’t want to say anything for obvious reasons.
Want some more info to make your blood boil? My mother works at picatinny arsenal. Recently, there was a meeting there who’se attendees included mayors from sussex county townships including Vernon. My mother sat in earshot of them. She says they were complaining because their operating budgets were down. Apparently, so many people’s property values are declining and they’ve been grieving their taxes and hurting revenue.
They were brainstorming about ways to bring up revenue again and ideas included increasing the rate at which people are taxed.
Granted, she only heard bits and pieces of the conversation but there was no mention of consolodating services or other ways of saving money or bringing in busuinesses etc.
Ironically, I think the Vernon mayor is in the public eye regarding his own proposed raise. Never mind that the people of the county are suffering eh?
http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/139073554_No_raises_for_mayor_and_council_in_Vernon.html
So FKING irritating!
I don’t care if they have a “D” or an “R” next to their name. A politician who wants to do right by the people they govern is a very rare breed. In fact, they’re probably extinct.
#52 Brian
That goes well with the Dover Judge that got his second DUI coming out of the strip club on Rt10.
Brian [56],
They were brainstorming about ways to bring up revenue again and ideas included increasing the rate at which people are taxed.
This one is a no-brainer for duping the masses. One swoop of the magic wand and it’s done. Although, it sort of looks strange when a 2bd/1bth shack in Vernon sells for $179,000 and the taxes are $14,000. Then again, who gives a f*ck. As long the assistant to the administrator’s assistant’s 4% salary increase YOY is intact, everyone else can f*cking drop dead.
He got pulled over on Routte 10 the strip club is on Salem Street ; )
#60 pain
I thought it was the one on the corner of Rt10&Rt46.
Gary, did you see the article on northjersey.com I posted too? People are on fire about them proposing raises for themselves too. Some people would get as much as 100% raises. So, they can’t legally give themselves raises without the public raising hell. Taxpayers associations are calling them out for borrowing like crazy too. So what’s left? Do you think their thirst for $$$ will just go away? It’s almost like we’re forcing their hand. What other choice does a public official have but to go to the dark side and just be corrupt? Maybe that’s why people from NJ are not surprised when a story hits the papers.
/sarcasm/ You can’t expect government to come up with creative and innovative ways of saving money can you? There must always be more $$$ somewhere!
59.gary says:
February 21, 2012 at 11:58 am
Brian [56],
They were brainstorming about ways to bring up revenue again and ideas included increasing the rate at which people are taxed.
This one is a no-brainer for duping the masses. One swoop of the magic wand and it’s done. Although, it sort of looks strange when a 2bd/1bth shack in Vernon sells for $179,000 and the taxes are $14,000. Then again, who gives a f*ck. As long the assistant to the administrator’s assistant’s 4% salary increase YOY is intact, everyone else can f*cking drop dead.
I just got my property tax bill so I’m on fire about it.
I need a drink.
Where did you guys say that Dover judge was partying? I need some stress relief. Maybe I’ll meet him over there.
Silly tax news of the day:
Washington State senate votes to impose a $100 per year fee on electric vehicles.
Why? To make up for loss of gas tax revenues.
You just cannot make this stuff up.
Fab can’t be too far from Dover,
i was being sarcastic by the way
65 – Makes sense to me, easier than trying to tax the electricity used to charge them.
If the gas tax funds the repair of wear and tear caused by use, why should ev’s be exempted from that?
Brian [63],
My property taxes went from around $4900 in 2001 to over $9300 as of Q1, 2012. The only thing that changed in that time was a few coats of paint. I try to explain to people who are thinking about buying that it isn’t about the price of the houses anymore. The prices are going to drop steadily now. It’s all about the property taxes and how long one has the ability to endure.
“It’s all about the property taxes and how long one has the ability to endure.”
The towns dont really care about whether a given person can afford to pay taxes or about the “value” of any given property. If taxes go so high that person one sells and moves, the town does not lose the revenue source, it substitutes the old one for the new one. If values go down, the tax rates will go up to keep the total town levy flat or increasing. As long as the town keeps raking in the cash it needs, if values drop to $1 it is no sweat off the towns’ backs.
In the current economic and tax environment, buying a house may end of being more like buying a car where one purchases the asset and its value declines over time. Instead of having an expectation that one will “make money” on a home sale, we may be entering a new-normal period where one just tries to minimize loss over time.
#69 Shore: True but IMO the better towns going forward, will be the towns with the lower property taxes vs. surrounding towns, with the same or even better services. I am seeing it already.
Stu: I am not a tax guy, so I defer to nom, but the market value at the time of conversion from primary residence to rental is the one to use. So the couple will have the $500K exclusion from tax basis to conversion market value, and then they will have a capital loss from conversion market value to final sales price less recaptured accelearated depreciation, yes? Nom?
Libtard in Union says:
February 21, 2012 at 10:27 am
Had they taken our offer, they would have made $540,000 and since they were moving out of their primary residence, would not have had to pay capital gains taxes on the sale.
Who the heck wants value for their money? Unicorns hate the smell of value seekers.
Gary/Brian grieve your taxes. My latest technique of looking up everyone who has a home business, CPA, Plumber, Electrician etc. worked. Proximity to a commerical business lowers assessed value. To many people illegally running home businesses. So easy. Even better, plumbers, school bus drivers commericial vehicles in driveway take pictures. Plus busy roads, schools, double yellow lines, smoke stacks, water towers, EPA violations, flood zones, condition of house, comps, etc. Easily 90% of houses can be grieved. If you live in a house where none of these conditions exist pay your taxes and shut up, you got a great house.
I won two year in a row and looking for a win in year three!! Wait till neighbors go to work and put up clothes lines on front yard or park car on blocks on street.
My re taxes here in key west decreased from 3700 in 2004 to 1200 in 2011. which is proportional to value. Florida’s save our homes allows no more than a 3% annual increase for homesteaded properties.
Escapee, yeah but you have to live in that hell hole Key West that doesn’t smell like landfill, isn’t overly congested and is like 2000 miles from NYC.
ChiFi: I’ll take your word for it. I’ll have to deal with it in 20 years or so. The question is, will there be gains to be taxed at all?
Deal “Really” Finalized? Will Greece Survive the Ides of March? Disastrous Piecemeal Breakup of Eurozone Likely in the Cards
As a point of curiosity, the Greek 1-Year Bond Yield touched 682% today, now down to a mere 666%. Bloomberg quotes the open as 566%, if correct, the one year yield soared 116 percentage points from the open to the high.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/02/deal-really-finalized-disastrous.html
This doesn’t seem much different than any of the other “deals” or “plans” that lasted a few weeks or months before they blew up and a new “deal” or “plan” was floated.
Shore [69],
That’s exactly my point. Like in the movie Goodfellas, “had a little fire in the place? F*ck you, pay me.” The town could care less if the house is worthless. Slap a tax rate on it and collect.
HeHeHeHeHe:
That’s what the dude on BB1130 was saying this morning. They just kicked the can down a very, very short road.
Was it worth your time? How much money did you save?
74.JJ says:
February 21, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Gary/Brian grieve your taxes. My latest technique of looking up everyone who has a home business, CPA, Plumber, Electrician etc. worked. Proximity to a commerical business lowers assessed value. To many people illegally running home businesses. So easy. Even better, plumbers, school bus drivers commericial vehicles in driveway take pictures. Plus busy roads, schools, double yellow lines, smoke stacks, water towers, EPA violations, flood zones, condition of house, comps, etc. Easily 90% of houses can be grieved. If you live in a house where none of these conditions exist pay your taxes and shut up, you got a great house.
I won two year in a row and looking for a win in year three!! Wait till neighbors go to work and put up clothes lines on front yard or park car on blocks on street.
It is not about the money. But I did save $2,000 a year in property tax. Difference is I truly enjoy doing it and even if I won by one dollar I would do it. But some people stuff like this they find non-exciting.
Brian says:
February 21, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Was it worth your time? How much money did you save?
74.JJ says:
February 21, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Gary/Brian grieve your taxes. My latest technique of looking up everyone who has a home business, CPA, Plumber, Electrician etc. worked. Proximity to a commerical business lowers assessed value. To many people illegally running home businesses. So easy. Even better, plumbers, school bus drivers commericial vehicles in driveway take pictures. Plus busy roads, schools, double yellow lines, smoke stacks, water towers, EPA violations, flood zones, condition of house, comps, etc. Easily 90% of houses can be grieved. If you live in a house where none of these conditions exist pay your taxes and shut up, you got a great house.
I won two year in a row and looking for a win in year three!! Wait till neighbors go to work and put up clothes lines on front yard or park car on blocks on street.
“They just kicked the can down a very, very short road.”
I think that the can they are kicking is one of those barrel-shaped bombs that the Lancaster Bombers used to destroy German dams during WWII.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4sb_uCJL49M/StnTZ9OUlwI/AAAAAAAAAR4/3ilYWZzUsjE/s320/barnes_wallis_lancaster_bomber_bouncing_bomb.jpg
Upkeep, was the name of the bomb, for the geeks in the room.
I don’t think they appraised my house for much of a difference of what comps are selling for in my area. So, I didn’t want to spend too much time on it if it didn’t get me anywhere.
Ok. looks like I missed the Dec 15th deadline for Assesment review but I can do a tax appeal and file by april 15.
Did you just look at comparable sales or hire an appraiser? Also, did you have to attend a hearing or anything?
http://newtontownhall.com/index.aspx?nid=65
82.JJ says:
February 21, 2012 at 1:26 pm
It is not about the money. But I did save $2,000 a year in property tax. Difference is I truly enjoy doing it and even if I won by one dollar I would do it. But some people stuff like this they find non-exciting.
Jersey is a little different than NY. For instance the US Consitution prevents you from the govt entering your property without your permission. In NYS when you grieve your home the govt respects that right for a homeowner not to allow a search of your property without a warrant. But NJ most towns want to inspect your houses to get a tax reduction. So in NY we go totally on comps since town cant see inside of your home.
My friend did it in Brigadoom recently and they sent some old wash women from town who looked at home for five minutes gossiped and knocked $1K off his taxes so in his case it was worth it.
Brian says:
February 21, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I don’t think they appraised my house for much of a difference of what comps are selling for in my area. So, I didn’t want to spend too much time on it if it didn’t get me anywhere.
Ok. looks like I missed the Dec 15th deadline for Assesment review but I can do a tax appeal and file by april 15.
Did you just look at comparable sales or hire an appraiser? Also, did you have to attend a hearing or anything?
Upkeep, or lack of it, can also be the bomb when it comes to RE.
Well, since the possibility of a refi is out, I guess Grieve is the new way to save.
Hopefully this gem sells. It ought to be a good comp for me.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25-W-End-Ave-Newton-NJ-07860/39945206_zpid/
I have a big chunk of U.S. Savings Bonds for purposes of assets when filling out a mtg application, how do I prove that, or should I even bother?
Maybe you can use the “Billy Joel” defense. He claimed a house on Long Island he just bought was worth half the purchase price soley based on fact he is a poor businessman and usually overpays. Therefore house is worth half the purchase price as he usually pays twice what an item is worth.
I used a similar theory after I bought house by claiming I overpaid by $3,700. Through a complicated and confusing defense I claimed a house I just paid 280K for was worth 277,300 as I overpaid 3,700. My crowning in person favorite comback was “Obviously you have mistakin a mer-cedes neighborhood for my mer-cury neighborhood” Guy went good one, then we talked about the “rich-folk” who try to get tax breaks. Not like us workin class folk. My old scratched up station car a mercury sable in driveway all dirty was my money shot.
Billy won.
Brian says:
February 21, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Well, since the possibility of a refi is out, I guess Grieve is the new way to save.
Hopefully this gem sells. It ought to be a good comp for me.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/25-W-End-Ave-Newton-NJ-07860/39945206_zpid/
why are you in savings bonds they practically no interest. only benefit is maybe if they are for education and you can not pay the tax upon cashing in.
3B says:
February 21, 2012 at 3:11 pm
I have a big chunk of U.S. Savings Bonds for purposes of assets when filling out a mtg application, how do I prove that, or should I even bother?
#91 I have had them for years coming out of my check. I stopped when treasury stopped issuing paper bonds a couple of years ago.
Check what they are worth, tax consequences of cashing them in and current interest rate. Tax rates are going up in 2013 and unless you are using them for a kids school may not be worth keeping into 2013.
3B says:
February 21, 2012 at 3:25 pm
#91 I have had them for years coming out of my check. I stopped when treasury stopped issuing paper bonds a couple of years ago.
#93 JJ: It will be a real pain signing all of them and cashing them in. I am just wondering if I should include them as assets, I cannot document I have them unless I make copies of each one.
It’s all turning to shit. Every day is just an exercise in packing more crap into the dirty bomb that’s about to blow.
No one will be spared. No one.
3B [94];
If memory serves, Treasury website has a Bond Calculator tool that lets you list your bonds including Serial No. and issue date, and calculate the NPV if you cashed them all in. You can use that and represent it as an inventory of your holdings. You can back it up with copies of the bonds if you want. The mortgage company will just have to trust you that they haven’t been cashed after you copied them and that the inventory sheet isn’t a fiction (thought the latter is hard to do with serial numbers). If they don’t, the only other thing you can do is cash them in and deposit them somewhere and show that statement.
Frankly, if its that much $$$ that it makes a difference, then they are worth cashing in. If not, then don’t worry about it. My recent view is that the mortgage lending business is as stupid as ever, relying only on blended FICO scores. The only difference between now and 2006 is that now they are actually doing the bare minimum of due diligence on their borrowers (pay stubs, 3 mos. bank statements) where NINJA loans used to let them stick their heads in the sand.
[74] “plumbers, school bus drivers commercial vehicles in driveway . . . Plus busy roads, schools, double yellow lines, smoke stacks, water towers, EPA violations, flood zones, condition of house, comps, etc.”
Ah, true quality of life; makes you so happy to live in Jersey, doesn’t it?
Pretty soon, “quality of life” will directly translate to “surviving to see another sunrise”.
MBS trusts keeping assets on the books long after they’re liquidated:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/sophisticated-and-scammed-%E2%80%93-mbs-trusts-keeping-assets-books-long-after-they-are-liquidat
Free money. Just got a 0 down 0 % on a new SUV, full value trade in value and another $1500 in incentives. How the heck can Ally stay in business with a 5 yr loan on a 45k vehicle that pays Zero Interest?
I read somewhere that the streets of New Jersey are paved with gold. Must be nice to have all that free money.
Juice [100];
How the heck can Ally stay in business with a 5 yr loan on a 45k vehicle that pays Zero Interest?
They have a rich uncle.
Q: how can you tell when Obama is lying?
A: His lips are moving.
This is from a press release about the payroll tax extension from December:
” . . . Under the terms negotiated by Congress, the law also includes a new “recapture” provision, which applies only to those employees who receive more than $18,350 in wages during the two-month period (the Social Security wage base for 2012 is $110,100, and $18,350 represents two months of the full-year amount). This provision imposes an additional income tax on these higher-income employees in an amount equal to 2 percent of the amount of wages they receive during the two-month period in excess of $18,350 (and not greater than $110,100).
This additional recapture tax is an add-on to income tax liability that the employee would otherwise pay for 2012 and is not subject to reduction by credits or deductions. The recapture tax would be payable in 2013 when the employee files his or her income tax return for the 2012 tax year. With the possibility of a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut being discussed for 2012, the IRS will closely monitor the situation in case future legislation changes the recapture provision.
The IRS will issue additional guidance as needed to implement the provisions of this new two-month extension, including revised employment tax forms and instructions and information for employees who may be subject to the new “recapture” provision. For most employers, the quarterly employment tax return for the quarter ending March 31, 2012, is due April 30, 2012.”
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=251650,00.html
Now, I suppose that the dems will argue that it wasn’t a tax increase, simply that those earning over 100K don’t really get the payroll tax break. But the threshold is way, way, under the 200K threshold that Obama declared safe from “one thin dime” of new taxes.
FWIW, this doesn’t appear in the latest extension and may not actually be effective as a result.
Moose in 08 had to spend a few days haggling to get 5.9% from Valley Nat on a car, now I can get zero no haggle, even the sales manager did not attempt to block me from leaving the dealership since he could not say no to my credit score, even better the finance manager made me feel like I shat gold doubloons. I feel rich now perhaps a nice 3.25% 15 yr mortgage on a 5k sq ft Mansion at 20% off todays ask? Bernake and I aren’t close relatives would it be ok if I send him socks for his Birthday?
Ally is still a captive bank of GM. You said you paid $45k for the SUV? I’d say your finance charge was built into the price.
Moose I know what the dealer paid and have no control over their internal rebates. Without Zirp there would have been an additional 5-6%. I did have two aces by the way which would be cash with a different brand combined with employee discount, so my BIL lost out on his referral. Math is my business, this deal would not have happened a few short years ago, too bad Corzine raised sales tax to sour it a bit more than you.
#68 Gary,
I am writing a check for NY property taxes for a place in the Catskills. The taxes from 2008 have gone up at around the same rate as your NJ taxes. While the school district still accounts for 60% of taxes, they changed the breakdown to refect where rest of the real cost is going. The solid waste fee is the kicker as you have to pay for your own garbage pickup.
Levy Description Tax Value Tax Rate Tax Amount
Medicaid XXXX.00 4.379306 $xx
NYS Welfare Mandates XXXX.00 1.659814 $xx.xx
Other NYS Mandates XXXX.00 3.492762 $xx.xx
County Levy XXXX.00 0.695161 $xx.xx
Town to Highway XXXX.00 4.264373 $xx.xx
Solid Waste Fee 120.0000 1 $120.00
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