Came across this opinion/letter to the editor piece this morning in the Daily Record. Not sure whether to cheer or be appalled, but I’m leaning towards the latter, mostly due to the fact that the writer lives in Short Hills, and based on a few google searches, looks to be pretty well off. So I’m going to call this out as some pretty outrageous crap.
What’s the real issue here Mr. and Mrs. Eisner? Is it wealth redistribution to urban areas like you mention below? I think not, since that runs completely contrary to your real thesis which is … that you don’t want minorities to soil your beautiful neighborhood. Or worse, god forbid, you should be forced to live next to someone that is “poor”?
Do you really believe that property values would decline further? Remember, it’s the forclosure that caused the initial declines in value, not the fact that a low-income resident had moved in. Oh.. Oh.. I see now. You *do* think it’s a fact that if the low income resident moves in, it will cause further declines in price.
Why raise the alarm around protecting property rights? The need for protection was long gone when the borrower defaulted and breached the terms of his or her note. Clearly, it is the right of the lender to take back the property to make good on the note. I’m not quite sure how anyone’s property rights are at risk when it is the government who is choosing to buy these homes. They would clearly be the owners, and who better to look after the interests of the government but the government itself? Where is the risk of eminent domain? S1566/A2168 mentions nothing about the seizure of property. Again, why the alarmist attitudes?
Mr and Mrs. Eisner, if you don’t want minorities or the poor to invade Short Hills, the solution is simple, just buy up all the foreclosed homes yourselves.
From the Daily Record:
Foreclosure ‘transformations’ threaten suburbia
We are very concerned about a bill that is passing through both the Senate and Assembly in New Jersey named the NJ Residential Foreclosure Transformation Act(S1566/A2168). If this bill passes and is signed by the governor it will allow the state to buy houses in any town, convert them into low-income housing and it is deed-restricted for 30 years.
We feel the legislation is social engineering at its worst. It will severely impact the property values, will continue the unacceptable practice of re-distribution of wealth to urban areas at the expense of the taxpayers and it has potential for eminent domain abuse. There has been virtually no citizen input and worst of all, the plan does not in any way guarantee the citizens’ property rights and personal rights are not specifically protected.
The public needs to be informed about this bill as it will affect every citizen and property owner of New Jersey in a negative way.
Judith and William Eisner
frist
Why the heck did we ever get rid of slavery? Slavery works, it gets all the riff-raff under control, and it’s not inflationary.
One or two generations of a reintroduced form of indentured servitude (along with an aggressive eugenics program) could clean up the whole mess we’re in now.
Then again, we could just go straight to a quarantine/”liquidation” model for the poor.
Suburbia is doomed, but not because of foreclosures or minorities. Peak oil and peak taxes are the real riff-raff moving into the neighborhood.
I’m a slave to my wife’s va-jay jay.
No new job. No new house. No recovery. Without jobs, young people stay at home longer, and don’t spend money the economy needs. Charles Riley March 30, 2012: 05:24 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – Alean Elston just cannot find a job.
The 26-year-old from New Jersey has tried nearly everything. She has mailed resumes, asked friends and family for leads and dropped in on retail outlets in hopes of finding work.
Applying for job after job with no luck is nothing new for the 2009 business administration graduate. And as a consequence, she lives at home with her parents. Fact is, she cannot afford a place of her own.
Elston is far from alone.
Younger workers were disproportionately affected by the recession. As a group, they had a very tough time finding work, and many highly educated graduates were forced to take menial jobs or retreat to the safety of academia.
The lack of good jobs means that young people are stuck at home — a common occurrence during tough times. While not ideal, families face no easy alternatives.
“The fact is, most young people are not so fortunate that their parents can purchase them a condominium or house just for fun,” said Anthony Sanders, a senior scholar at the Mercatus Center.
In econospeak, the process of a young person finding accommodations of their own is called “household formation” — and that stalled big-time during the recession.
The trend toward staying home for longer means the economy is denied dollars that, under different circumstances, young people would have been eager to spend.
Beyond rent or mortgage payments, new living arrangements often require investments in furniture, flatware, appliances, plants for the yard and insurance policies. Even new car sales can be affected.
And reduced household formation can contribute to a lack of demand in the housing market. That trend was especially troublesome during the last recession, as foreclosures spiked and already high inventory levels jumped off the charts.
“We ended up with far too many [housing] units and the bubble popped with a violence that shook the entire economy,” Warren Buffett wrote in his 2011 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
The excess inventory meant a sharp reduction in homebuilding and jobs in the construction industry.
The number of new housing starts fell from a peak annual rate of more than 2 million in some months of 2006 to a recession low of only 478,000 starts in April 2009.
Even after the recession was declared officially over, companies weren’t hiring young people. Young people weren’t moving out and soaking up excess housing inventory. And new homes weren’t being built, acting as a significant albatross around the economy’s neck.
This negative feedback loop has proven quite difficult to break.
But now, Buffett and others believe the trend might be reversing.
“The devastating supply/demand equation is now reversed,” Buffett wrote to Berkshire investors in February. “Every day we are creating more households than housing units.”
“People may postpone hitching up during uncertain times, but eventually hormones take over,” he said. “Living with the in-laws can quickly lose its allure.”
The numbers back Buffett’s hypothesis. Household formations rebounded last year, and are now closer to historical averages. And new home starts picked up steam in the final months of 2011 — momentum that has carried over into this year.
Buffett’s musings on hormones aside, there is another explanation for the uptick in household formation: More jobs.
Over the past two years, the employment population ratio, which measures the proportion of population that works, has improved more rapidly for young people than other demographic groups.
That ratio has increased almost 2 percentage points for individuals aged 20 – 24, while older workers have seen their numbers improve by only half a point.
Add that to a string of solid monthly jobs reports, and things are looking up.
Sanders agrees with Buffett in principle, but cautions against popping the champagne just yet. “The job market is still so bad,” Sanders said. “Especially for college and high school grads who are not in high demand areas.”
“We are seeing more and more recruiters showing up to campuses,” Sanders said. “But the recruiters are coming with very specific ideas of who they want to hire.”
Greg Kaplan, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania, said that there is no guarantee that more young people will move out on their own as the economy and job market improve.
“It’s possible that we look like Italy now, where housing costs are just so high that people are going to live with their parents for a longer period of time,” Kaplan said.
Elston, for one, can’t wait to move out — if only that job would arrive. She said she applies for at least two positions a day, and has been working odd jobs to help her parents pay the bills.
“It just feels like an endless cycle,” she said. “It seems like I’m the perfect candidate for some of these jobs, so why not me? Why not?”
Low-ball appraisal: Mortgage denied Appraisals are coming in low, and that can be deal breaker for real estate deals. Les Christie March 30, 2012: 05:28 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – You find the home of your dreams. You’re pre-approved for a mortgage. You’ve scheduled the closing. Then … the appraisal comes in too low and the deal blows up.
Even as some mortgage standards have eased, hitting a needed appraisal value is proving a frustrating blocker for buyers and sellers and those looking to refinance. If a buyer commits to a $200,000 home, but the appraisal comes in at just $180,000, the bank will finance only on the lower value — and the buyer must come up with the difference.
Leslie Sellers, a real estate broker in Clinton, Tenn., has a client who recently went to contract on a Norris, Tenn., home. The appraisal came in 10% short.
“I explained to the appraiser that houses in Norris are older and sell for higher prices than other parts of the county,” said Sellers, past president of the Appraisal Institute, a trade group. “[The appraiser] told me he was going with his value. We lost the sale.”
The banks are one reason appraisals are coming in low. If they have to repossess a home, they don’t want to get stuck with one worth far less than the mortgage.
“It’s not like the lenders say, ‘We want you to come in low,'” Sellers said. “It’s more like, ‘We want you to account for everything.’ Some appraisers hear that and overcompensate.”
It’s particularly tricky if the home is in a falling market. There’s even a box to check on standard appraisal forms saying “declining value,” according to Gloria Shulman, the founder of Centek Capital Group, a Beverly Hills mortgage broker. That indicates falling home prices and banks will slash another 5% off the loan.
Foreclosures complicate appraisals too. These homes sell for about 30% less than similar non-foreclosure homes but appraisers often use them for comps.
In Alabama, Stephanie Young recently went to buy a three-bedroom, two-bath in Chunchula, outside Mobile. She was approved for an FHA loan and the sale price was $180,000.
Her agent, Josh Tanner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Generations, said the appraiser told him there were no good comps.
“The appraiser had used a foreclosure sale that was right on a busy road,” said Tanner. “That pulled the whole value down.”
Young was stuck, needing $10,000 to make up the shortfall. The sellers couldn’t come down. They were nearly underwater on their mortgage and lowering the price would push it into short sale territory. That requires bank approval, which could take months.
Young ultimately won an adjustment from the appraiser and the deal is scheduled to close this week.
Another path buyers can take after a bad appraisal is to renegotiate the home’s sale price. Katie and Dave Dowling found a townhouse in Roxbury, N.J. The pair, who are teachers, liked the place better than other units in the complex.
“It came with a lot of upgrades,” said Katie. “It was just nicer.”
Unfortunately, the appraiser didn’t take notice of better cabinets and appliances or other features. He appraised the home 3% lower than they needed.
Their solution was to ask the sellers to come down. They consented to a 2% haircut and the Dowlings came up with the other 1% themselves.
They expect they’ll get the house, but they might not have if they didn’t have extra cash to bring to the closing — and a willing seller.
Investment and vacation home sales soar in 2011 Sales of investment properties and vacation homes soared last year, as investors snapped up properties that were selling at bargain basement prices. Les Christie March 29, 2012: 01:49 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – Sales of investment properties and vacation homes soared last year as investors snapped up homes that were selling at beaten down prices.
Homes purchased by investors skyrocketed 64.5% to 1.23 million in 2011, up from 749,000 the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Vacation home buyers also came out in larger numbers, with sales climbing 7% year-over-year to 502,000. Meanwhile, sales to ordinary home buyers, who plan on living in the home full-time, fell 15.5% to 2.78 million, NAR said.
“Investors have been swooping into the market to take advantage of bargain home prices,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Rising rental income easily beat cash sitting in banks.”
Many investors were on a shopping spree, with 41% of buyers picking up more than one property during the year, compared with 34% in 2010, according to NAR. The median number of properties they bought rose to three from two during that time.
And almost half of all investors paid for the properties with cash. Even buyers who secured a mortgage to finance the purchase offered hefty down payments. The median down payment for both investment and vacation-home buyers was 27%.
“Clearly we’re looking at investors with financial resources who see real estate as a good investment and who aren’t hesitant to use cash,” said Yun.
Foreclosures have helped fuel the second-home sales surge. Half of the investment purchases made last year were distressed sales, either foreclosures or short sales, as were 39% of vacation home purchases.
According to NAR, the median home price for investment properties was $100,000, a bargain compared to 2005 when the median investment property sold for $150,000. Meanwhile, the median vacation home sold for $121,300, down 19% from 2010 and a significant decline from the median price of $200,000 six years earlier.
Most investors said they intend to hang on to the properties instead of flipping them for a quick profit. The typical investor said they plan to hold the home for 5 years, with half of them reporting that they purchased the property mainly to generate rental income.
In nearly every market in the nation right now, buying is more affordable than renting. Continued tight mortgage financing, however, makes it difficult for some buyers with less than stellar credit history to buy homes.
For real estate investors, that means a steady supply of bargain properties — and potential renters.
What’s this I hear about casinos at Xanadu? And being pushed for by the dems no less?
Gas Price Bubble may be close to bursting.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403720n
LOL. The Eisners bought their Short Hills house in March 2007 so they obviously know very little about RE values. Also, their taxes are under $10K, that makes *them* the riffraff of Short Hills.
11. Hilarious. But predictable.
New York to Gain 163,600 More Jobs Than Forecast, IBO Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/nyc-to-gain-163-600-more-jobs-than-forecast-ibo-report-says.html
Natural-Gas Vehicles Will Run Best Without Subsidies
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/natural-gas-vehicles-will-run-best-without-subsidies.html
I know this is a bit off the topic of real estate but I do hope to see more Compressed Natural Gas vehicles on the road someday. I’m just not sold on the hybrid car thing and I feel like consumers would be more receptive to CNG vehicles or High mileage diesels. The challenge, of course, is the lack of filling stations. Making vehicles dual fuel, with the ability to run on gasoline and NG might be a good way to bridge the gap. Putting filling stations in dealerships is also a good start.
Last
Hiii fiveeeee
Shorty hillz will be the new name.
People just feel better about the economy , that will spark spending . This is what
a guy on bloomberg is talking about this AM.
So ,now you just have to feel better , got no job,underemployed ,no problem . Lets
go on vacation and spend. Underwater on the house , no problem , Lets go to the Mall and load up .
Lets all just feel better
The 26-year-old from New Jersey has tried nearly everything. She has mailed resumes, asked friends and family for leads and dropped in on retail outlets in hopes of finding work.
Applying for job after job with no luck is nothing new for the 2009 business administration graduate. And as a consequence, she lives at home with her parents. Fact is, she cannot afford a place of her own.
Sell? Sell to f*cking whom?
Even as some mortgage standards have eased, hitting a needed appraisal value is proving a frustrating blocker for buyers and sellers and those looking to refinance. If a buyer commits to a $200,000 home, but the appraisal comes in at just $180,000, the bank will finance only on the lower value — and the buyer must come up with the difference.
Any questions? Sh1tting Skittles, are you out there? If you are, from now on, don’t call me teacher if you have any questions, call me professor.
freedy [18],
I feel better… I think I’ll buy a car.
Yes wierd isn’t it freedy, that an economist would consider something silly like the Consumer Confidence Index in order to guage the health of the economy.
From Bloomberg:
Consumer Spending in U.S. Climbs 0.8%, More Than Forecast
Consumer spending in the U.S. rose in February by the most in seven months, showing the biggest part of the economy is strengthening.
Purchases climbed 0.8 percent, the largest gain since July, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.6 percent increase. Incomes advanced less than projected, sending the saving rate to a more than two-year low.
Households may be poised to take a more active role in the expansion as the biggest payroll gains since 2006 underpin confidence. While wages are climbing, other forms of income like interest receipts are lagging behind, raising the risk that higher fuel costs will limit gains in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.
Peak taxes. Hah!
Easy there tiger…..
BTFD?
Like a bear in a China shop
http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/29/markets/thebuzz/?cnn=yes&hpt=hp_t3
11 Expat – The 2007 deed was a $1 transfer. They’ve been there longer than that. But they’ve living in what must be a very modest house, on a busy road to be assessed so low.
http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/sr.cgi?&district=0712&ms_user=&srnum=9117587&block=4101&lot=63&qual=
Besides we all know that “those people” belong in Maplewood anyway, right?
Brian – #14 – I think Honda is expanding the distribution of their FCX Clairity vehicle from the initial west coast test. Would think dealers would rapidly embrace refueling at their stores – creates a whole new marketing opportunity, user community and promotional / lifestyle opportunities. I believe there are some home CNG refueling options – for now, they are costly and slow but that would likely change if/when volume ramps up.
Diesel hybrids starting to hit the market – MB 300 series (too expensive for masses but the tech platform can be licensed) will be available this fall and gets I believe 56 mpg highway. Volvo just announced their 60 series diesel hybrid wagon – again too expensive for the masses but other lower priced products will follow – 124 mpg.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120329/CARNEWS/120329811
Gary [20];
I think it just lays the whole “arm’s length” v. so-called “distress” buyer distinction to waste. A comp is a comp, to the extent that there is another one oth them available for purchase. Anyone think there’s a shortage of foreclosed and short houses for sale? An “arm’s-length” buyer who needs a mortgage but has to pull out when the house won’t appraise is simply punching above their weight, and isn’t a real buyer nor is their offer price any indication of market value. If I bit $2,000,000 for the Eisner’s Short Hills manse but can’t close the sale, the number is meaningless. Sellers want to use comps when it suits their purposes ONLY.
Like the listing agent who cherry picks the highest comp within a 2 mile radius (2010 sale, no less) and adds five figures for good measure, but claims that the 10 other more recent sales 15% below his ask are not “comparable” — its not comparable because the listing agent and the seller wants to bury their heads in the sand. They’ll have to just keep waiting for the greater fool. Hold your breath, boys.
Moose [28],
You forgot one final statement:
Tick… tick… tick… tick…
Doom is nigh. No one will be spared.
Brian [14];
What happens when the drunk driver behind the wheel of a Gov’t Motors Sloburban (which he bought because they were SAFE, nach — for him maybe) plows into a family shoehorned in a CNG subcompact?
NGVs (natural gas vehicles) have a stellar safety record which is based upon two facts:
The physical properties of natural gas make it safer than most other fuels.
The fuel systems designed for NGVs are built to stringent standards.
A Closer Look at Natural Gas
Physical Properties: Yes, natural gas itself is a safer fuel than either gasoline or diesel fuel. It has a limited range of flammability, meaning it requires the correct mixture of air and fuel to burn—somewhere in the 5 to 15 percent range, and an ignition temperature of approximately 1100 degrees F. Compare that to gasoline and diesel fuel which both have lower concentrations of flammability and lower temperatures of ignition.
Fuel Density: Natural gas is lighter than air. If a leak were to develop, the gas would rise and disperse through the atmosphere giving little chance for ignition. Compare that to gasoline and diesel fuel, both of which are dense liquids that tend to pool and are easily ignitable.
Odor: Raw natural gas is odorless, so a distinctive odorant that smells very much like strong sulfur is added prior to distribution. This strong odor makes the presence of a leak very easy to detect.
Toxicity: Natural gas is non-toxic.
If above info is not adequate, see below:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/cng_h2_workshop_8_wong.pdf
I hope they have butter, cuase they are toast.
Anon E. Moose says:
March 30, 2012 at 10:21 am
Brian [14];
What happens when the drunk driver behind the wheel of a Gov’t Motors Sloburban (which he bought because they were SAFE, nach — for him maybe) plows into a family shoehorned in a CNG subcompact?
Per the Picken’s plan, put our 18 wheelers on natural gas, saves money , saves environment, is a national security issue…keeps commerce running in eventvof oil shock.
Whole Foods going eco PC in fish. As others follow suit, look for price hikes. Won’t really work to save fish as the boats will ply the depleted banks and lie about it. Who doesn’t know a fisherman who lies?
Damn. What am I gonna do with all those Canadian pennies I’ve stockpiled?
plume (36)-
Melt them down, and make homemade slugs.
Alternatively, pack them as shrapnel into pipe bombs.
Probably safer than if they crashed into a vehicle with a gasoline tank. With a gasoline tank, you have to deal with the vapors and liquid form. NG is lighter than air and NG dispurses. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and can pool, similar to propane.
Anyway, they all should have been riding their government issued bycicles. That’s the safest cleanest way to travel. They should not have been riding in polluting cars in the first place.
http://www.sbcapcd.org/images/fumes.jpg
Nasty mean polluting cars.
31.Anon E. Moose says:
March 30, 2012 at 10:21 am
Brian [14];
What happens when the drunk driver behind the wheel of a Gov’t Motors Sloburban (which he bought because they were SAFE, nach — for him maybe) plows into a family shoehorned in a CNG subcompact?
In my many years of driving I have the following have crashed into me or I crashed into them.
A bird
A drunk girl
A bike rider
a 2×4
small car
Monte Carlo
small tree
Full Sized monster SUV
Apparantly the larger the object hitting you the more damage. The Large SUV was only that took out my car. Needless to say no explosions. However, a Large SUV will destroy a small car. For instance I was headed back from Home Depot once in the SUV that weighs over 5,000 pounds, junk in car, my weight and like 1,500 pounds of sand for Pool I was putting in. People would cut in front of me in small cars. I am at a weight of 7,000 pounds, going 50 mph down side streets with sun glare. I miss as much as a stop light you are dead. Sadly people with young kids view spending an extra 2k a year on gas as a safety feature. They dont care. Too many moms in large SUVs flying down sidestreets where is you are in a camry with two car seats you will be crushed.
Brian [39];
Anyway, they all should have been riding their government issued bycicles. That’s the safest cleanest way to travel. They should not have been riding in polluting cars in the first place.
Of course! In the brave new world the peasnats (99%?) are ground down into penury and automobile travel is reserved for the revered members of the politburo.
did you at least get the drunken girl’s phone number?
Poor not welcome in Short Hills…
At the peak of the bubble, a house tour guide at an open house in Ridgewood told us that the town expects a “certain” type of people. We didn’t ask for a specific explanation. This statement is up there with the myriad of all time great phrases and suggestions uttered to us by the housing undertakers.
OTA: Half Price Mets tickets for opening weekend!
http://www.travelzoo.com/l/67113876-1211816
Wow, they’re throwing in the towel a little early this year, aren’t they?
Actually she was pretty hot and stupid too, apparantly wearing black boots, black jeans, black leather jacket and black hair looks cool, but drunk jay-running at night in pouring rain not so bright. She actually ran full speed into side of my car when she did not expect I was slowing down to make a turn. Never saw her till she ran into me. Bright side if she was faster she would have been under car. For some reason her extrmely large boyfriend, her being soaking wet and paramedic checking a bruise on her butt and police all made my mojo not work. That plus I was not even driving a car registered in my name made for fun and the fact girl was blind drunk and only 17 with a boyfriend who was 21 and just left a bar where she was drinking illegal and boyfriend had a record made it the circuis of all time. Turns out girl was a rich jappy HS girl hanging out with the bad boy older queens guy.
Night ended badly for all involved.
1) girl got picked up by parents soaking wet with black and blue on butt and dead drunk with police explained what their 17 year old daughter was up to.
2) drunk as a skunk bad boy took a swing at the cop and got arrested
3) bar got searced to see if other minors were there.
4) I thought I got away clean and went home and pretended nothing happened, but apparantly when your car hits a drunk minor on a date with a guy who asaults a cop the police follow up. 30 minutes later two cops cars are at my house and Mom is like I thought you said nothing happened today, I was like oh you mean like car accidents, police being assulted, underage drinking type stuff? I thought you just ment at school.
I still am mad I did not figure a way to bang that girl other than with the car.
Brian says:
March 30, 2012 at 11:17 am
did you at least get the drunken girl’s phone number?
Grim [lead];
Its why HOAs were created: because atificially high taxes weren’t effective at keeping the riff-raff out, so you needed a (busy)body with nothing better to do and some enforceable power to make sure the neighbor mowed their yard or didn’t keep the Pinto up on cinder blocks in the front yard.
I’m convinced that throughout the bubble people were willing to pay ever higher prices because they believed the self-perpetuating myth that paying more and keeping property values high meant the neighborhood remained exclusive. They were specifically paying a premium to avoid living next to people who couldn’t also afford to pay (i.e., po’ folk). They just never envisioned the kind of mortgages that would be given or the entirely predictable consequences of default.
Grim – a while back (6+ months?) you posted some photos of the work you were doing on your place. care to share any updated photos?
Moose [46],
It’s like the glossy ad or the terms “prestigious” and “luxury condo.” In order to successfully execute the swindle, an effective hook is required.
Hello Everybody! What A shiny wonderful happy day! In fact, just today, a poor family who went to Short Hills to rob a rich person, bought a house instead! Whoopeee!!!
Our beloved blog is going into a real decline here. It may be time to turn out the lights.
Anyone planning to drive in Conn today should not put the hammer down. Staties mounting a huge ticket writing push. NJ plates make you even bigger target than usual.
[44] moose,
They’ve already been mathematically eliminated.
video: Nationwide strike against austerity in Spain – Video
Riots
http://www.3news.co.nz/Photos-video-Nationwide-strike-against-austerity-in-Spain/tabid/313/articleID/248624/Default.aspx
I want Captain Sunshine at the next GTG. Happy, shiny drinks on the resident board optimist.
[45] bb
What????? You let a drunk, hot chick get away????
I’m shattered.
I have a big family, almost everyone in my family has gotten rid of their larger SUVs in favor of more fuel econmomy. You would be an absolute idiot if you didn’t make the switch to a smaller vehicle.
The argument that a larger car is a safer car is absolute rubbish. In a larger car you can be thrown around inside just as easily as in a small car if not wearing seat belts. In a larger car if one of the tires disintegrates at highway speeds then you are in for a collossal wreck.
Aside from dismissing “bigger is safer” argument, when I went to buy my small compact car at the begining of this year the auto dealers had scores of SUVs and trucks that went unsold. When asking about seeing a cruze eco from they only had zero on the lot, they had two models of the cruze (not eco version) but one had been sold. They had 50 trucks and 50 SUVs for sale.
There has been a real shift in consumer choice regarding larger, heavier vehicles. Rant all you want about how big, heavy cars keep you safe but the only reason why someone would be unsafe is because you bought that big heavy car in the first place.
Trading in your SUV for a new smaller car does not save gas, now you have two vehicles on road. Unless you crushed that old SUV buying a new high millage car hurts the environment. The real way is to drive less. My wife has cut back driving the SUV to around 2k miles a year. Even going for ten miles a gallon to 40 miles a gallon is not a big deal. People need to take mass transportation more or walk.
Nicholas says:
March 30, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I have a big family, almost everyone in my family has gotten rid of their larger SUVs in favor of more fuel econmomy. You would be an absolute idiot if you didn’t make the switch to a smaller vehicle.
The argument that a larger car is a safer car is absolute rubbish. In a larger car you can be thrown around inside just as easily as in a small car if not wearing seat belts. In a larger car if one of the tires disintegrates at highway speeds then you are in for a collossal wreck.
Aside from dismissing “bigger is safer” argument, when I went to buy my small compact car at the begining of this year the auto dealers had scores of SUVs and trucks that went unsold. When asking about seeing a cruze eco from they only had zero on the lot, they had two models of the cruze (not eco version) but one had been sold. They had 50 trucks and 50 SUVs for sale.
There has been a real shift in consumer choice regarding larger, heavier vehicles. Rant all you want about how big, heavy cars keep you safe but the only reason why someone would be unsafe is because you bought that big heavy car in the first place.
I’m writing his name in for president when I vote in November.
54.Comrade Nom Deplume says:
March 30, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I want Captain Sunshine at the next GTG. Happy, shiny drinks on the resident board optimist.
Nicholas ever eat a bumper? I have in a Toyota vs a Suburban in a side impact crash the higher bumper will make it’s way towards your face everytime. That is what you pay for with an SUV the height makes all of the difference.
Let’s use my cars as an example:
Honda Civic = 2650 lbs.
Ford Explorer = 4500 lbs.
Force = (Mass) X (acceleration due to gravity)
Any questions?
Gary… it’s just F=ma not F=mg
and JJ, how many times do you have to be told that only a handful ish cities have good, if any, public transportation. ny is not the rest of the country
joyce,
My bad. :) I meant f = ma. Acceleration and gravitational acceleration are two different animals.
Here’s a love story for JJ:
By V.A. MUSETTO
The story is set in a barren village on the North Sea, home of little Tommy and Rebecca. The two children vow eternal love, but Rebecca soon departs for Tokyo to be with her mother. Twelve years later, the now-grown Rebecca returns, and she and Tommy take up where they left off — until he is killed by a car.
Devastated, Rebecca decides to clone her dead lover (who wouldn’t under the circumstances?), and so she is implanted with genetic material that allows her to give birth to Tommy’s perfect duplicate. Before we know it, he has grown up to be exactly like his deceased father. Imagine the possibilities.
Fliegauf could have gone for cheap horror and exploitation, but he’s from Hungary, not Hollywood. Which means he proceeds with dignity. He’s helped by nuanced performances by Eva Green (“The Dreamers”) as the adult Rebecca, Matt Smith (TV’s “Doctor Who”) as her husband and her grown son, and Lesley Manville, a favorite of Mike Leigh’s, as Tommy’s mother. Peter Szatmari contributes devastatingly beautiful cinematography.
A little advice needed please – I was working with an agent to buy – that is, the agent was showing me homes that I requested her to show – no buying agent’s contract or anything. But I began wondering if I really needed an extra agent between myself and the listing agent who him/herself was a layer between my agent and the seller. Also I was also not entirely too happy with our communication. I am not working now, I have enough time on my hands, I can make appointments with listing agents directly instead of needing another agent to set them up. I can contact listing agents directly for addl info instead of leaving VMs/emails for my agent to call listing agent and then get back to me. Anyway I wasnt going to use my agent’s lawyer or inspector, advice all around was to have someone not referred to by either my agent or listing agent. I am also getting from internet comp sales for the neighbourhood, tax info etc. I can call township for any addl info like oil tank history etc. So, what if I just use the listing agent to do dual agency on my behalf to write and present offers, any harm ? Of course in case I want to make an offer on any of the houses shown earlier by my agent I will request her to put my offer, if she agrees to, that is.
Am I being unfair to my agent ? She showed me 12 homes, some more than once, totally 17 home visits in all. I made an offer on one, but it fell through unnecessarily, agent had a little asynchrosity with communication from the beginning even with setting up appointments and confirming etc., but I made light of all that, but that asynchrosity during offer-counter-offer stage cost me the house although finally my offer was the highest, and I dont want the same thing to happen with the next house I want to make an offer on. I would like to be communicating with one lesser layer in those crucial days. Of course she is very unhappy and upset with me, I guess she is justified, I hope that if the house I put an offer on falls thru contract during financing she will help me put in a new offer.
I understand your point about mass and acceleration. I contend that you are trying to apply the wrong formula.
I unlike most readers have taken a lot of physics courses to become an engineer. You are likely searching for the definition of kinetic energy, the energy of motion. The formula for calculating how much kinetic energy a vehicle has is k=mv^2, that is mass times velocity squared.
The only reason why you needed the larger heavier car is because some other person bought an SUV. Under that reasoning we should all be driving around tanks to be safe. Your logic works until it doesn’t.
I have been in several bad accidents (helicopters and hospitals involved…) and wearing seatbelts had more of an effect on safety then having that pickup truck hit you at 60 miles per hour. The reality is that there is no need for the overweight SUV other than the dangerous situation of others driving around in overweight SUVs. The real danger that you should be protecting yourself against is consumption of a non-renewable resource and moths flying out of your wallet when you open it because you spent all your money on fuel. That money is better suited to other purposes.
Click your seatbelt, sit properly in your seats, and don’t text and drive all have better returns on safety then buying an SUV.
The biggest bond winners in Q1 were bonds rated triple-C, the junkiest of junk. Those posted a gaudy 9.15% return.
NASDAQ 100 Stock Fund and Bank ETFs both were up over 20% in Q1.
How much were homes up in Q1 again?
http://www.inman.com/news/2012/03/30/foreclosure-rates-down-in-most-markets
If you didn’t sign a buyers agreement with an agent you are generally free to go see whatever houses that you want. It is generally bad form to bid on houses that the agent took you to though and they may ask/sue for commission. Since you didn’t sign anything then you are pretty much free to do what you want.
I would recommend against using the listing agent as your agent though as dual agency presents a huge problem. The seller usually signs and agreement to pay out some percentage (6%?) to the listing agent, the listing agent splits that with the buying agent if there is one. If you don’t have a buying agent the listing agent gets that 6% commission. You should go into negotiations with that in mind and try to recoup the 3% as you finish negotiations on the price of the property. Just say, “yes I will take that price as long as the listing agent throws in the buyers agent commission on the deal”. This knocks another 3% off the purchase price. That or become a RE agent yourself.
If you are going in without a RE agent then you should look to the services of a lawyer to make sure everything is on the up and up with the sale before signing. The cost of the lawyer should be alot less than a RE agent and probably more effective if you know what you are doing.
No, I meant f = ma. Period. Acceleration due to gravity is static where force due to gravity depends on mass. 9.81 m/s/s or 32.2 ft/s/s blah… blah… I was an engineering major.
It works even better if you tell them to “throw in the buying agent’s slice of the fee pie”. It makes it seem like less of a big deal.
Mmmm…Fee Pie. Delicious.
I have had four high speed accidents. All four times no seat belts. 60 mph tree, 60 MPH telephone pole, and two 50 MPH t-boning. The seat belt wearing stuff is a myth. Yes in the tree incident I broke a few bones and got a few stiches for not wearing a seatbelt. But in the drivers side 50 mph tboning I got thrown to the passenger side without a mark on me and my leg would have been crushed. So the seatbelt is a wash.
With my razor sharp rabbit like reflexes as car was rolling end over end after being impaled on tree my quick reflexes allowed me to avoid the flying debris like Keanu Reves in the Matrix. Tying an agile cat down only makes it more difficult to escape.
Look at Gene Hackman in the Seven Ups, his car goes under a tractor trailor and roof gets ripped off. Since no seat belt he just ducks down.
Plus my scar looks good, Triple roll over at 60mph no seat belt good story. Plus gave my lawyer something to work with. Plus it was funny watching a driver trying to brake and steer on a car with no front end upside down at 60mph. Relaxes are a funny thing, he should have been playing with radio casue that was still working.
The other thing about seats belts is after the triple rollover I recall fireman said standback this might blow up. I was like get me out. The poor snook with a seatbelt in front seat had to be cut out. Funniest part is dashboard came in and broke his pelvis anyhow. He would have been better off being ejected.
Sometimes I think it is a myth people die in car accidents. Really, come on now. Next accident I am going all vin diesel and jumping out last minute after riding on roof. Vin Disel does not let Physics bother him at all.
Nicholas says:
March 30, 2012 at 2:25 pm
I understand your point about mass and acceleration. I contend that you are trying to apply the wrong formula.
I unlike most readers have taken a lot of physics courses to become an engineer. You are likely searching for the definition of kinetic energy, the energy of motion. The formula for calculating how much kinetic energy a vehicle has is k=mv^2, that is mass times velocity squared.
The only reason why you needed the larger heavier car is because some other person bought an SUV. Under that reasoning we should all be driving around tanks to be safe. Your logic works until it doesn’t.
I have been in several bad accidents (helicopters and hospitals involved…) and wearing seatbelts had more of an effect on safety then having that pickup truck hit you at 60 miles per hour. The reality is that there is no need for the overweight SUV other than the dangerous situation of others driving around in overweight SUVs. The real danger that you should be protecting yourself against is consumption of a non-renewable resource and moths flying out of your wallet when you open it because you spent all your money on fuel. That money is better suited to other purposes.
Click your seatbelt, sit properly in your seats, and don’t text and drive all have better returns on safety then buying an SUV.
Lol Gary,
If a truck isn’t accelerating (acceleration = 0) but traveling at 100 mph (velocity = 100mph) then how much force is generated? Zero.
Really what your looking for is the amount of energy imparted when the vehicle has to come to a sudden stop. That energy, kinetic energy, has to do with how fast the vehicle is traveling and how much it weighs. The relationship is posted above. Some or all of that kinetic energy is imparted to the other vehicle on impact which is what causes the damage.
I’m not really sure what your trying to say about mass and acceleration though. I’m not a mechanical engineer so you may know some other formula magic that I don’t. Please do explain.
JJ,
I actually heard someone say “I would prefer to be thrown safely from the car in the event of an accident instead of being trapped inside by a seatbelt.” Your post comes quite close to rivaling that statement.
I was in an accident that killed the other driver. I wasn’t driving at the time but we all had our seatbelts on and the guy in the other car didn’t have his seatbelt on. He was thrown from the driver side to the passengers side and killed when his head hit the passenger side door. If he had his seatbelt on he would be alive today, no question in my mind. There is numerous studies and statistical data that unequivocaly support that seatbelts save lives.
“The reality is that there is no need for the overweight SUV other than the dangerous situation of others driving around in overweight SUVs.”
Therefore there is a significant need, given the makeup of vehicles on the road.
A buckled seat belt in a Mini crushed under a Ford Expedition is no comfort.
lol Nicholas,
We’re assuming acceleration. I didn’t know we had to define it. And aren’t you referring to speed and not velocity? Velocity is a vector, speed is a scaler. Whatever. All I know is that when big truck smashes into little car, little car turns into used tin foil.
Doubledown,
By that logic we should all be bubble wrapped driving around in tanks just to keep our SUVs from getting crushed. The point here is that the “bigger is safer” logic works until it doesn’t.
How about this logic? If you are in a smaller car you are more agile then a huge SUV. If I have to make a split decision to come to a stop or make an evasive manuver in the vehicle I am much more likely to pull that off in a light small car than a huge SUV. Taking that logic to its full conclusion, SUVs are more unsafe than smaller cars.
Back to reality. There are things that you can do that don’t involve buying SUVs that drastically improve your safety.
He died as a result of your car running into him not the seatbelt. Actually in the roll over I wish I had my seatbelt on. The going from passenger side to driver side to hitting head on roof nine times was not fun. Only good part on flip one I stayed in car. On flip two I got partially ejected but by then was a good 20 feet off road and I did a face plant in the dirt and got thrown back in vehicle and luckily when we landed sideways eventualy I got a good bounce. Funny thing is guy next to me also had no seast belt nor did passenger in front seat. Only driver had a seat belt, he ws not hurt but neigher was guy in back seat on drivers side. Funniest was car lost windshielf and front passenger door in tree and guy in front was pinned by dashboard so he could not fly out. Actually the thing that almost killed me was damm passenger side attenna. On passenger side fender as an electronic attnnas damm thing shot by me and then since it was on a cord swung back full speed and was flying with car and almost took my head off. Who knows if I had a seat belt on I might have been nailed by it. Same thing in other tboning with no seat belt the SUV flew passenger side mirror through car and it missed my nose by an inch. Who knows my head might have been in a different location. Bottom line seat belts are better, I am just joking. But in high speed accidents, roll-overs things are flying. Once I almost got hit with a Benzi Box radio flying out of dashboard. People also forget loose stuff in cars become projectiles in an accident. Other thing you are only as safe as the cars are next to you. Many times I was driving big old clunkers with bald tires and bad brakes in snow on LIE. The people in safe new cars had an illusion of safety cause my $100 Buick was behind them going 60mph and even though they can stop I cant stop and I am going to slam into to them.
Nicholas says:
March 30, 2012 at 2:55 pm
JJ,
I actually heard someone say “I would prefer to be thrown safely from the car in the event of an accident instead of being trapped inside by a seatbelt.” Your post comes quite close to rivaling that statement.
I was in an accident that killed the other driver. I wasn’t driving at the time but we all had our seatbelts on and the guy in the other car didn’t have his seatbelt on. He was thrown from the driver side to the passengers side and killed when his head hit the passenger side door. If he had his seatbelt on he would be alive today, no question in my mind. There is numerous studies and statistical data that unequivocaly support that seatbelts save lives.
Nicholas 68 and 70, Thanks for advice. I agree that I need to have a lawyer that will take me through the process properly even if it costs a bit more. Yes I was hoping to leverage the 3.25/3/ 2.5 percent commission while negotiating, either I could ask the listing agent to share the said percentage, or try and get a better pricing from seller letting LA keep the entire 6.5/6/5 percent. Besides, when it comes to renegotiating based on low-ball appraisals or inspection issues, I guess it does not matter whether there are one or two agents in between, it will finally be upto the seller how much he/she will give and take.
No, no, I wont bid on any house my agent has shown unless it is thru her. If she refuses to write the offer I will first get her to give me in writing before I ask the LA or anyone else to do it. I want to be totally fair on that. The inventory this year is so bad, when compared to what was there last year, so finally I might have to go back to one of those 1 bathroom/oil tank unupdated homes I saw with her, buy one and make additions/conversions ourselves.
I do feel bad not asking her to show me any more houses after she has shown me 12, but then I think I also gave her a good opportunity to make money when I did decently bid on one of them, and she helped mismanage it with delayed and indifferent communication. I am still regularly writing to her about the house I made the offer, telling her I havent found anything else yet, and would like to put backup offer if the seller is accepting any.
I know a joke about scalars and vectors but it takes double degrees in physics and medicin to find funny.
Scalar refers to magnitude and vector refers to magnitude and direction. If you don’t really care about your frame of reference then speed and velocity can be exchanged in the formula for kinetic energy. If you care about direction from your frame of reference then velocity is the proper variable. I stand by my stipulation that Newton’s law has little to do with size and safety of vehicles in an auto crash. Newton’s law has more to do with how much force (read energy) will be required to cause the vehicle to accelerate. That has more to do with how much gas is required to move your vehicle forward.
These formulas are closely linked. Newton’s law and Bernoulli theory are obtainable from taking the derivative of one to achieve the other. Vice versa you could perform the integral of Newton’s Law to obtain Bernoulli’s theory. It is no surprise that you got them confused.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_energy
What if the driver had been eating chili and burritos all day and then drove his government issued natural gas powered government issued bicycle. Imagine the physics. That could be explosive.
The problem with trying to claim the buyers commission is that you never know if the seller and selling agent are stiffing you. Yeah they say that they will give you the buyers commission but how do you know that you couldn’t have gotten the deal even if you had a RE agent.
In effect you have to negotiate the price of the house, then spring the “Surprise, I want the buyers commission” at the end. This often involves dropping a deuce right on the signing room table by asking for the commission just before signing. This works best if you have little to no “good faith” money on the table so that you can threaten to walk away. Warning, everyone will be pissed at you because this causes them to scramble to put the deal back together right then and there. I would warn your own lawyer before you attempt this so that he knows it could be comming.
I know a joke about scalars and vectors but it takes double degrees in physics and medicin to find funny.
LOL! That line was funny enough. I would explain it but you have to be the son of a fire fighter and tavern owner to understand it.
SRK [64];
In any negotiation, whoever has the most information has the advantage. The most up-to-date data on comps, solds, under contract, etc., is not available from any source other than the MLS that I am aware of, whether free or fee. For that, you need the services of an REALTOR (we can discuss the merits of that some other time, but that’s just the way it is).
If you think you’re going to get the listing agent to cough up 2.5% (5% seems more common than 6%) or even some part of that, I think you’re mistaken. On the other hand, trying to bid to capture that puts you at a disadvantage. The only real way you have to do capture that value is to take the agents’ exam and find a broker to work with (BTW, the broker will probably want 1/2 of you commission) or become a broker yourself.
Moose,
Since becomming a RE agent actually takes 60 hours of classwork here in MD that really isn’t too much of a barrier. A broker you could probably negotiate a fixed fee since you are only doing it once and on your own personal property.
Mr. physicist- My SUV has a better chance of protecting me than some 4 banger import based upon Newtons third law.The force on a SUV and car in a head-on collision will be equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.Thus the car suffers more damage in comparison to SUV. Which means that vs a tractor trailer or a full loaded cement mixer my SUV will always crush less than a compact car.
Infact I am going to run out and buy a cement mixer. I will fill it with water and sand and I will then be the safest vehicle on the road.
Gary,
I didn’t mean to sound condescending about a complex joke.
To the mathmetician/physicist:
What do you get when you cross a scalar with a vector? A sick mountain climber.
To the doctor;
What do you get when you cross a scalar with a vector? You can’t take the cross product of a scalar and a vector.
The joke is that you can never get the answer right because of the dual meanings of the words scalar and vector. Both have purchase in mathmatics/physics/medicine.
Oh…. my…. G0d. lol!
Umm…. lol! I just can’t!! lol!
Back to real estate… fast!!
I’m pretty sure that a seatbelt provides more protection then an SUV. I like your thinking about a cement mixer though.
I see your cement mixer and raise you one sandcrawler.
http://www.starwarslocations.com/mediagallery/mediaobjects/disp/f/f_tatooine_021.jpg
I see cement mixer and raise you one megolithic mining machine.
I see you one sandcrawler and raise you one bucketwheeler.
http://www.uptempoairforums.com/uploads/967/bucketwheelre5.jpg
Nicholas [84];
Have you looked into what MLS access costs? Becoming a broker in my state was the stroke of a comparitively modest check — membership in the local REALTOR’s board and corresponding MLS access was a considerably larger expense, and negated much of the value to be gained by ‘rolling my own’, as it were. If I planned to make a sideline out of it and not just buy one house, the calculus changes considerably. Unless that flat-fee one-off broker is going to give you his MLS password or add you to his account at whatever that costs, the solo is still at a disadvantage (to say nothing of practical experience).
Moose,
I’m not a realtor so I’m not sure of the quality of data on the MLS compared to what you can get from other sources. It seemed to me that Trulia and Zillow report homes recently sold (perhaps 1 month lag?) and you can search those databases without even registering on their site.
I’m not sure exactly what you gain from the MLS website other than the realtor notes that the agents leave for each other. “Key is under the mat”, “Beware of tripping on first step, it is loose” “Offering 1k headhunter fee”
Perhaps you can enlighten me as to the wonderful resource that the MLS provides RE agents that are not available from other sources.
OTA: Say it Ain’t So, Boss!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/bruce-springsteen-uses-teleprompter-in-performances-does-it-matter/2012/03/30/gIQAQTXGlS_story.html?hpid=z1
Age, drugs, alcohol, other?
Nicholas [91];
Actually, the flexibility to show the property to yourself is a boon, but it comes at a price. No “key under mat” anymore, computerized logging lock boxes (another agent expense?), at least for GSMLS. Zillow is quirky, it doesn’t always interpret/display the current status, and it probably at least a quarter behind on posting sales.
“60 mph tree, 60 MPH telephone pole”
If this really happened they would have scraped your brains off the winshield and pavement. In my previous life I worked in rehab clinic and helped people recover from high speed MVAs. All of them were permantly disabled from accidents that you survived unscathed. Keep up the great fictional writing JJ….
Nicholas 81 and Anaon 83, Thanks ! Yes. I agree completely that asking for commission would be most dicey and not very pleasant. I would perhaps look for a little favourable pricing, I would let the seller and LA split the commission between themselves and give me a lowered pricing. The seller afterall has disclosure about LA doing dual agency so they could sort it out and just lower price for me, a situation where all of us take home something extra and happy. Especially perhaps can leverage it with broker and seller while renegotiating after appraisal and inspections. I am mostly going directly LA to just cut layers, after that bidding experience, but some favourable pricing will be a nice side benefit.
For recent sales, I am going with zillow which seems reasonably updated, upto about 3 weeks ago. Of course ‘under contract’ situation I will get to know when I call the LA of a particular property I like, but wont have any broader town-wide info on what stage of sale different properties are, have to just go with whatever update the LA chooses to put in. But again, I have seen properties saying ‘under contract – continuing to show’ on realtor.com but when LA was approached (by my agent) was told they were not actually showing, just have been lazy about updating the site. Now my agent found this out only by calling LA, which I could have done too.
Con’t [93];
Perhaps you can enlighten me as to the wonderful resource that the MLS provides RE agents that are not available from other sources.
Maybe I’m just a data junkie, but I’d rather not rely on spotty and out of step information. Zillow may be good, but it’s not great. As for the rest, this isn’t the REALTORS’ first rodeo. They didn’t survive the Expedia onslaught without a system designed for their benefit; which includes disadvantaging interlopers like you or I who may be willing to go beyond our keyboards to gain access. Like the saying goes, Mussolini made the trains run on time — corrupt autocracies have the advantage of being effective.
Trulia had a Feb 6th sale in there when I looked, thats why I indicated that it was a month behind.
I think that there are ways to gain access to MLS without becomming a RE agent or paying fees. You could post a help wanted ad in Craigslist and ask for a RE agent for special investor assistance. I’m sure you would understand that they are asking for help they wouldn’t normally receive.
You could pose as a RE agent assistant and get your own log-in to MLS.
Many MLS’s have guest access accounts where a RE agent can share, via a customer access portal, housing sales data. There is nothing that keeps you from working with a RE agent to shape a search or area just to obtain comps.
I’m not sure the data is all that protected if someone really wanted to get at the MLS. I regularly download market snapshot data to build historic trends for areas that I’m interested in from the MLS and I don’t have an account.
I read that MLS access is like 500 dollars a year but that was a post from two years ago and it looked like it was in California where they require supra keys (crypto key generator?) to log in.
The MRIS in Maryland has quarterly fees and no long term contract so you could just jet whenever you didn’t need it anymore. Sixty hours of courses plus 500$ is a pittance in comparison to 2.5% commission on a home.
Lets all go home and celebrate by looking at our 401K statements and get back to housing next week. What a Q1 Actually 6 months straight.
Someone who closed on a house in Q1 had to liquidate all his assets to cash a few months ago. Ouch.
Nicholas [97];
LI Realtors info here: http://www.lirealtor.com/communicationcenter/dues-questions-and-answers.aspx
$585 per agent for 2012; owner-brokers pay $160 per month per office ($1920 per year – not sure if that includes what is paid for in the $585).
Listen, I come to bury REALTORS, not to praise them, but if it was reasonable — not even cheap or easy, but reasonable — I probably would have dabbled in it about 2 years ago, for my own purposes and on behalf of others.
And another thing… [97];
That 60-hour thing is a joke. My cousin looking into sidelining as a realtor when his work started gettign slow: no shortage of brokers who were willing to sign him off to take the test, class or no class (mostly no-class). Its no skin off the broker’s nose if you pass or fail, so here’s the book and have at it – if you pass come back to me with your licenses and maybe I’ll let you rent a desk from me to make me some money.
Nicholas/gary
I think you are both half right. The missing piece is momentum p=mv and how all that potential energy converts to kinetic which will be a function of the deacceleration and then how that energy is dissipated.
Now Suv vs car comes down to bumper height. If thee bumper hits the door its all down to the energy transfer. Now an Suv vs an old Volvo 240 or and old 70s Buick, I’m not sure who comes out worse. Small car with side airbags can come off ok as the deacceleration is lower as the car travels further sideways.
Shall we get the slide rules and log tables out?
Fabius,
I brought up the concept of de-acceleration to a physics professor years ago and he totally didn’t get it. Theoretically, it may not be correct, be logically speaking, de-acceleration is a practical concept. Hey, you and I agree on something!! lol!
Canadian inflation.
http://moneyland.time.com/2012/03/30/canadas-penny-is-no-more-is-the-u-s-penny-next/
640 million tonight. If I win I will buy everyone a pony.
Thanks Anon and Nicholas, Please see this in zillow for NJ – http://www.zillow.com/homes/recently_sold/NJ/ – showing sales from 3/26/2012. When I search on a property that was removed from listing, zillow shows listing history including date of removal and also sale pending status if such status was updated by LA or whoever else does it. I dont know if agents can tell you numbers like amount on an accepted offer on a particular property under attorney revue/under contract. I have closed sales upto March 9th for my area. But it seems to be a slightly volatile time now. Properties that closed in Jan and Feb may be went under contract in Nov-Dec 2011. I see a property listed for 275K when a comp sale from Feb is 225K, may be I can add 10-15k max for updates, yet 275 seems so far away, and I am wondering if it is a over-priced house or may be the trend is changing since December.
[61] joyce and gary – It’s not F=ma either, that’s force, not energy. At 60mph steady you have no acceleration, so a=0 and so does force (in that reference frame). Kinetic energy, though, is related to mass and the square of velocity. Kinetic energy = 0.5mv^2
Gary… it’s just F=ma not F=mg
And the energy dissipation is always the same, as in any inelastic collision, it all gets converted to heat.
That is, the energy left over that *isn’t* used to crush the vehicles into new and interesting shapes is converted to heat.
re# 108 – do not forget about sound.
As for the big car vs. small car safety debate, I mostly feel safest in a capable handling car combined with my own driving skills coupled with vigilant awareness. Lots of laws are broken on our roadways but never the laws of physics. Understanding all the permutations of where other vehicles can and or are likely to end up is the best way to know the places they won’t and make sure your vehicle spends most of it’s time in those safe zones. No data, but my guess would be that most big car proponents have more accidents which reinforces the belief that big cars keep you safer. Maybe the opposite for small car drivers. I know my ’74 Buick Limited was dangerous to other vehicles due to it’s bulk and the car I felt least safe driving on the roadway was a Porsche 914 because you were so low with your feet almost right behind the headlights. OTOH, I always felt confident and safe in my 76hp 1800lb ’84 Honda CRX.
109 – Juice – yes, some energy is consumed creating sound waves, but a very negligible amount. You can make a very loud sound blowing hard into a horn, but how much metal could you bend or how much heat could you create from that same amount of energy? I’m sure there’s a good joke setup in there somewhere;-)
110. I had a 914 once in grad school. It was pristine and I rebuilt the motor (mahle the works) fuel injection. I could safely avoid most things, but one day I got broadsided. Rear quarter panel. My dad was my passenger. Cop said that the reason we were not hurt is that the car was so well built that it simply protected us. Many other crap box cars might not have been so kind. Avoidance first, horsepower helps there, but in case you just get hit then you rely on the quality of the coachwork.
To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what I pay all-in for licensing, memberships and dues. Maybe 800 a year? It’ll probably go over 1000 once we’ve got to fulfill the yearly continuing education credits. I was going to sit for the brokers exam this year, but thought twice about it, since it’d raise my licensing fees.
NJ State licensure board, NAR, NJ Association of Realtors, Passaic County Board, Realsource (Bergen Board), GSMLS, NJMLS, GE/Supra
Always wanted to add Hudson and Monmouth/Ocean, but I’d have to shell out for the broker’s/office fees too.
Karmen Coachworks built that car (914) also VWs and it was solid unibody. Only issue was it loved to rust…..damn 70’s cars….they all did. The 914 is one of the most raced cars in it’s class btw. Very good on the track and hell on wheels with the 6 cyl.
#114 – I took out Lawrence Taylor’s purple 930 turbo slant nose when I was parking cars for the Giants at the Marriott in Woodcliff Lake. Set the land speed record for one exit on the Parkway about 170 mph.
re #113 – Grim making any money doing this?
Expat the heat energy might boil a quart of water. Most of the energy is kinetic.
Kinetic energy = (½) M V²
in which M = mass
V = velocity
Guys in late model 911’s love to talk to me when they see me in my 72 914. Absolute joy
to drive. No power steering or power brakes, no AC, no power windows. Sloppy sloppy shifter, yet a total thrill to drive. I do look straight up when next to some clown in an escalade, and I’m pretty sure would be toast in any significant collision.
SRK, you may be the biggest idiot here since bi.
I agree with Eisners. They happens to live in Short Hills, but they speak for many not just in NJ.
Let me try this one more time.
1) Low income housing does reduce nearby property value.
2) Goverment buys a house. That sounds fair. It is not. Goverment uses tax payers money to buy.
3) When Goverment owns properties, how do they pay property taxes? Left pocket to right pocket. So, taxpayer in town pays more.
4) As owner, how Goverment pays upkeeping. Again, with our money.
Livingston two years ago approved mixed rentals (regular and low incoming rentals) to be built along South Orange Ave, right on the boarder of Short Hills. Not even breaking the ground yet, houses next to the future site were selling at lower price than rest of town. When I pointed out there would be future mixed rentals nearby , most people’s reactions were “Oh, let’s look at somewhere else in town.”
If you believe walking distance to a train station increases your house value, try a walking distance to rent stablized apartment complex or 50% of school children qualify for free lunch in your town. Short Hills has a good mix or representation of minorities, rich minority maybe. It is not minority versus white issue. Chatham inearby is 95% white, go figure that.
No one has the right against anyone living next door, as long as he pays fair share of tax. And cut the grass everyweek.
34,
Re: Pickens
That was 2007. There was a glimmer of hope back then. Now it is all black. Im still waiting for an answer. How much value does the petrodollar give the USD in percentage terms? 40%? I am still calling for a 30-50% drop in the USD.
We are f_cked. Plan accordingly.
[117] Juice – The energy to boil a quart of water is not insignificant, but I won’t be looking up the BTU requirement this evening. Compared to the sound that you mentioned, you’d be blowing a horn a long, long, long, time, even with a lossless sound-to-heat energy converter before you could boil a quart of water with your noise. As for kinetic energy, of course the energy is almost all kinetic (vehicles are giving off heat)…until it isn’t. At the end of the collision the kinetic energy is zero because v=0. The point of the discussion is where the kinetic energy went. It went to a.)deforming the materials, b.)heat(frictional), and a very small amount to c.)sound. Think about it this way: If you bring a car from 60 to zero as fast as possible without a collision, where did all the kinetic energy go? Answer: it all went to heat (and maybe a little bit to sound).
Expat the heat energy might boil a quart of water. Most of the energy is kinetic.
[114] SX – I agree, that’s why I qualified my statement with the phrase “on the roadway” as to my feelings of not being safe driving a 914. I’m an ex-SCCA National racer, not in a a 914, but I’ve driven it on track and love it there. Used to lust after the 914-6 with the fender flares. Oh, and the 914’s had another nasty issue. The batter tray was mounted over a rubber fuel line. There’s many a tale of a 914 driver who suddenly felt their car down on power at the same moment flames appeared in the rearview;-)
Karmen Coachworks built that car (914) also VWs and it was solid unibody. Only issue was it loved to rust…..damn 70′s cars….they all did. The 914 is one of the most raced cars in it’s class btw. Very good on the track and hell on wheels with the 6 cyl.
#124
I’ll take a 1971 911 targa or any 928S4 …. :*)
Tell me how close I am, I’m not looking:
BTU – The amount of heat required to rise 2 lbs. of water by 1 degree farenheit.
Calorie – The amount of heat required to rise 1 ml (1 cc) of water by 1 degree celsius.
Am I close? :)
And I get the the kinetic energy equation as opposed to the original equation I was trying to demonstrate with. It’s been a while!
rise = raise
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