(Source GSMLS, except Bergen which is NJMLS)
Pending Home Sales (Contracts)
——————————-
Bergen County
June 2011 – 747
June 2012 – 871 (Up 16.6% YOY)
Essex County
June 2011 – 340
June 2012 – 438 (Up 28.8% YOY)
Hunterdon County
June 2011 – 106
June 2012 – 147 (Up 38.7% YOY)
Morris County
June 2011 – 418
June 2012 – 519 (Up 24.2% YOY)
Passaic County
June 2011 – 195
June 2012 – 259 (Up 32.8% YOY)
Somerset County
June 2011 – 299
June 2012 – 338 (Up 13.0% YOY)
Sussex County
June 2011 – 130
June 2012 – 137 (Up 5.4% YOY)
Union County
June 2011 – 311
June 2012 – 402 (Up 29.3% YOY)
Warren County
June 2011 – 87
June 2012 – 91 (Up 4.6% YOY)
First half comparison
Bergen
2009 H1 Contracts – 3659 (Trough)
….
2011 H1 Contracts – 3724
2012 H1 Contracts – 4520 (Up 21.4% YOY, Up 23.5% from Trough)
Morris
2009 H1 Contracts – 2075 (Trough)
….
2011 H1 Contracts – 2131
2012 H1 Contracts – 2552 (Up 19.8% YOY, Up 23.0% from Trough))
From the Star Ledger:
Recovery starts at home: Increase in housing sales continue to rise, giving N.J. reason to be hopeful
Last month, Mark Jameson and his fiancé purchased their first home — a completely renovated, two-story colonial on Bucknell Avenue in Woodbridge — for $266,000.
“Everything’s brand new. There’s nothing that needs to be done,” Jameson said of his new castle. “Right now it seems perfect.”
In the leafy Essex County town of Montclair, real estate agent June Raegner recently sold a seven bedroom property with a saltwater pool and cabana for its full listing price — just under $2 million.
The sales at opposite sides of the market suggest a glimmer of light in the long moribund housing market, with national and local real estate indicators last month bringing mostly good news.
Nationally, sales of new homes in May rose about 20 percent from a year earlier, while builder confidence hit its highest level in five years, figures show.
New Jersey had its own grounds for optimism. Pending home sales in the state beat those across the U.S. last month, up 22 percent compared with a national gain of 13 percent, according to Jeffrey Otteau, president of the Otteau Valuation Group, which tracks the state real estate market.
“This is the strongest year for home sales in New Jersey since 2007, and the likelihood is that it continues,” he said.
If so, it marks the first sign of a real turnaround since the housing bubble burst. Indeed, most economists think prices will hit bottom before 2013, according to a poll by Zillow, a real estate information company.
“I don’t think its going to be a straight line up for the next six to 12 months,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “But I do think by this time next year everything’s going to be pointing upwards: home sales, home building and house prices.”
Otteau said the numbers are grounded in basic housing fundamentals of rising employment, reasonable prices and interest rates that are likely to remain low for several years, enticing buyers back to the market.
“We’re seeing a surge in sales of the same magnitude as back in 2010 when we had the tax credit, but without the tax credit,” he observed.
…
But Otteau said the housing supply is at its lowest point since 2006.
“That’s dramatic, because the basic supply-demand equation is that when sales pace increases and the inventory of houses that is unsold declines, then house prices stop falling and stabilize,” he noted. “As that continues, they will next start to rise.”
…
Housing inventory is measured in months — the number of months it would take to sell every last house at the current rate of sales. The magic number for inventory? It’s eight, according to Otteau.
More than eight months of inventory usually means price stabilization. When inventory drops lower, prices typically rise — six months is a widely used number that divides buyers’ and sellers’ markets.
New Jersey’s housing markets are distinctly different, and so are their gauges or relative health expressed in inventory.
“The core employment and transportation markets in the state, of Morris, Somerset, Middlesex, Union, Essex, Hudson and Bergen counties, all have less than eight months of unsold inventory,” Otteau said. “That’s where the jobs are, and that’s where the train and bus routes are that connect to the jobs.”
Several of those counties have fewer than seven months worth of housing stock.
Southern Jersey and Sussex County in the north are worse off: Inventories are in the double digits, with Salem County’s nearly 21 percent inventory bringing up the rear.
…
The foreclosures won’t smother the state’s housing market, Otteau predicted, suggesting any resulting weakness in home prices will be concentrated in inner-city urban centers and far-flung rural areas where long-distance commuters chose to dwell.
“The market is going to better be able to absorb this than it would have two years ago if this had all occurred when the market was weak,” Otteau said.
Yeah baby!
Take that Meat and you doom & gloomers.
Hunterdon is on fire. I picture multiple bids and lines wrapping around open houses.
Mortimer, we’re back…
4 – Current contracts rate is still about 35% under what I would considered “normal” (1998-2000ish)
1998 was the dead low between the two housing bubbles, inflation adjusted. Calling that a normal market might be a stretch.
Not to mention that my number 4 was sarcastic.
Can you post your historical sales volume chart by year… going back to 1990’s
We hit MLS tomorrow. Brokers open on Tues, open hse on Sunday. Incredible amount of work to get to this point. Wish us luck.
Is it intentional that a google search on “property tax effect on home affordability” yields no relevant results?
Don’t have a chart that goes all the way back to the 90s. Only database that goes into the 90s in NJMLS (Bergen only really).
First Half Sales BC
1986 – 2249
1987 – 3489
1988 – 3454
1989 – 3111
1990 – 2990
1991 – 3151
1992 – 3591
1993 – 3542
1994 – 3940
1995 – 3235
1996 – 3500
1997 – 3834
1998 – 4246
1999 – 4364
2000 – 4054
2001 – 3822
2002 – 4545
2003 – 4139
2004 – 4652
2005 – 4796
2006 – 4024
2007 – 4134
2008 – 2912
2009 – 2300
2010 – 3142
2011 – 2748
2012 – 3025
From Bloomberg (Opinion piece from Trulia’s chief economist):
Brace Yourself, Real Estate Prices Are Going Back Up
House prices, after falling for more than five years, are rising again. All the major sales-price indexes show that there have been modest national increases in recent months, even after adjusting for seasonal patterns.
When foreclosures and distressed sales are excluded from the data, prices are up even more. And we should expect further gains: The asking-price index, a leading indicator of sales prices, published by Trulia Inc. (where I work), climbed at an annualized rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, adjusted for mix and seasonality, and rose in 84 of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.
Of course, if the U.S. economy falters, due to a deepening of the economic crisis in Europe or a wave of foreclosures, prices may reverse. For now, though, the increases are widespread. For the real-estate market and housing policy, this is cause for relief, but also for some concern.
One immediate effect of the price turnaround is that inventory tightens. In the past year, beginning even before prices rose, the inventory of listed homes shrank 20 percent, due to fewer foreclosures for sale and little new construction. Smaller inventory contributes to price increases; when there are fewer homes available, sellers can ask more. In some local markets, bidding wars have returned. Now, rising prices could even accelerate the decrease in inventory in the short term, as buyers act quickly in hopes of paying as little as possible, and sellers hold off listing their homes in anticipation of further price increases. In fact, 61 percent of people do expect prices in their local market to rise in the next year, according to a recent Trulia survey.
From the NY Post:
Bad part of towns
“Strictly speaking we had no Senate; we had only a chamber of butlers for industrialists and financiers.”
That was a muckraking journalist at the beginning of the 20th century. But it could easily be said today, especially considering the findings of the congressional Committee on Oversight concerning mortgage lender Countrywide’s VIP loan program.
The committee’s report highlights how Countrywide offered cut-rate mortgages to elected officials as a lobbying tool. Congressional members, staffers, even judges received fast loan processing and, most important, preferential terms. In exchange for what? While the committee is unable to prove any quid pro quo, it suggests that obvious benefit: influence.
Former Senator Chris Dodd, for many years chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, received several discounted loans from Countrywide. Coincidentally, in June 2008, Dodd proposed a housing-bailout program that would have helped lenders like Countrywide. Similar VIP treatment was granted to Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget.
In 2009, before the committee’s evidence was gathered, both Dodd and Conrad were exonerated of any unethical behavior by the Senate Ethics Committee, which nevertheless thought they “should have exercised more vigilance” in their dealings with Countrywide.
The exasperating reason for the acquittal? The Senate Gift Rule allows senators to receive benefits “in the forms of loans from banks and other financial institutions on terms generally available to the public.” Since the Countrywide VIP program was not reserved just for senators, the Senate interpreted that the Gift Rule was not violated.
I see Sussex county fell from it’s past few months of double digit YOY increases. I guess the word is not out that I bought. LOL Seven more whole houses, break out the party hats. As it had been put forth in many annalist’s pieces the rural market far from jobs will languish for the foreseeable future. Did I mention taxes, Ok let’s not open that can of worms.
# 12
“Since the Countrywide VIP program was not reserved just for senators, the Senate interpreted that the Gift Rule was not violated.”
What they conveniently over looked eas that it was also for anyone else CW felt could help them in whatever walk of life, general public my a**. When the foxes are guarding the hen house we chickens have a problem.
Sussex Co. Contracts H1
2011 – 582
2012 – 775 (Up 33.2% YOY, +193)
Sussex Co. Sales H1
2011 – 496 ($244,962 Avg SP, 93% of LP)
2012 – 580 ($252,033 Avg SP, 94% of LP)
Grim 15 thanks, as I remember we were knocking it out of the park last few months up here. We were about the highest increase ,what last month or before but always in the top 2 or 3. I was surprised to see us fall of a cliff for June. We will just have to see how it continues forward. Warren & Sussex perfect together.
Futures bleak, O bother.
The Mayan’s must have forseen our government when they stopped the clock at 12/21/2012.
Historically, May was usually the top month for contracts, falling off after that. Occasionally June was strong too, and sometimes there is a secondary blip in August approaching school start in September.
What are the chances of this not passing?
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will call for a one-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year, according to a White House official, seeking to spare the economy the impact of taxes going up on January 1.
Sales are up, but prices are not. Way too early to be popping champagne corks. And lots of major uncertainties here and in Europe. Lets not forget Friday’s dismal yet again dismal UE # for June.
3B,
Who needs a job, it’s all about appearances. Fiscal reponsibility is so passe.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will call for a one-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year, according to a White House official, seeking to spare the economy the impact of taxes going up on January 1.
And he enacted the Oblama Health Tax which is the largest tax increase on the middle class in the history of the United States. It’s muppet polit1cs.
Nom good luck. After spending a week of vacation North of here not quite Canada but close enough with very moderate temperatures. I think my time in Jersey may be on the downside. I just need to find a way to fund our lifestyle so we can bug out.
$250K like it is some magic number where you join the millionaires club around NY Metro. Like JJ says a Cop and a Teacher make that combined.
#22 Fast: I just don’t see how any one can talk about prices rising in our area, anytime soon.Perhaps they are in Phoenix and other places where they are down in some cases 60% or more from peak, and investors are buying many of them. But in our area, I just don’t see any compelling reason they will rise any time soon.
I am buying (forced to), and I still think prices are going to decline. Oh and um yeah, property taxes.
Grim [1];
Morris…
I moved the needle.
Other issue with housing is financing. So I put a bid in on a REO home down by Long Beach Long Island. Dont want to put all my money down as rates are so low. But Financing is difficult.
First I can’t call it a primary as I have to sell my first home or show I rented it.
Second, the few banks I talked to have distances rules for a vacation home. They all told me it is too close to primary to be a vacation home per their underwriters.
Third, I called about home equity loan on my house. Well it turns out now they charge you an appraisal, mortgage recording taxes and fees plus I need flood insurance to get a HELOC as my house is in a flood zone.
Fourth I can get an investment property rate but that rate is higher than I can get safely on my bonds so kind of pointless.
Fifth I can do a margin loan and deduct the interest only if it is a investment property which means I have to declare the income and I cant really use home, and I want to maybe use home a month or so each year.
Sixth, home is in flood zone too so I have to take out flood insurance equivalent to mortgage.
The final kicker when I put my offer in and was pre-approved for a mortgage bank asked for proof of funds. Pretty much you can get a mortgage but if you cant get a mortgage you are closing anyhow. Plus home is as is.
Considering just six years ago no question asked I could have bought this 5% down as a vacation home with no flood insurance or got a free home equity line. Funny how this little junk box homes at 525K were ok to lend but now at 325K there is more risk. Land alone on these houses are worth 275K. They want 20% down so technically why do they even care if I have homeowners insurance.
dan dum, dan dum, dandumdandumdandumtututuuuudandumdandumdandum…!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/great-white-sharks-ply-waters-off-cape-cod-paddle-boarder-kayaker-have-close-encounter/2012/07/09/gJQAfZr1XW_story.html
RIP Ernest Borgnine
Oh yea one more funny thing about Long Beach which would also apply to Jersey shores. Home sales typically are higher in Q1 and Q2 and home prices are typically higher in Q1 and Q2. Seems if a house rents for 30k for summer and you can close in March till May area as soon as you close you rent for 30K. But if you close in September-Feb you are stuck with empty house for several months, or cheap winter rental.
Well from my charts home sales were pretty robust in Q1 and Q2 2008 and sales prices were only lower than 2005-2007. But wow they closed in Spring 2008 and home sales and prices fell off a cliff. Headed right into Lehman brothers and financial melt down by Fall 2008 and the next spring selling season was March 2009 which was a nightmare. Those homes completely fell in value almost instantly. It goes to show how risky a investment housing is.
Juice you haven’t lived until you have seen a shark in the water from a kayak. I sold mine a week later and it was little closer than a sighting
another under contract in The ‘Fly:
Est Cls Dt: 8/1/2012 UCD: 7/2/2012 DOM: 217
Juice [25];
$250k
Textbook class warfare. Top 10% of household incomes (AGI) is about $150k; median around $50k. The simple fact is that most people don’t even know anyone making that much money, and why would anyone need more than 2.5-5x what I make anyway? They probably stole the money anyway by exploiting poor and illegal immigrants anyway so they deserve to be taxed more [TIC].
My worst year financially in my recent memory was the year I made the most money in my life. It was the only year I can say I got anything like a substantial bonus, which had the effect of pushing my AGI out of so many deductions that I effectively kept none of it.
Akrorn from F Troop is next on my bucket list, Andy Griffth, Ernset Borginine dead, they come in threes.
Juice Box says:
July 9, 2012 at 9:55 am
RIP Ernest Borgnine
Juice [29];
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120401563.html
re:29
it’s a trend
http://capitola.patch.com/articles/shark-bites-kayak-at-pleasure-point
Damn now we will never get that Airwolf reunion I had long hoped for RIP Captain Mchale
I guess all the Real Estate agents who left the business are getting back into it as
bidding wars break out over North Jersey Homes.
We still have many,many lofty towns that fit the bill, great schools ,downtowns,
and Malls to die for .
There were a few Kayakers yesterday off the coast of Spring Lake 1/4 mile out right in the fishing grounds, there was a smaller boat towing an inflatable tube with a few kids on it. There are always a few smaller sharks out there in the Summer, feeding grounds off the Manasquan inlet etc are pretty active with sharks like Mako and Threshers. I would not want to capsize in a small Kayak out there, water is very warm already 70 degrees, and I taste like a well marinated tuna from all of the Sushi I eat.
Did Countrywide get pushed onto BAC’s platter by the Fed, or was that their own stupid decision in Summer 2008? I know they were forced to take ML a few months later, but I’m unclear if BAC was strong-armed into taking Countrywide too.
What recovery?
via Instapundit
[29] Comment at the bottom of the article:
Cage go in the water? Shark in the water? Our shark? “Farewell and adieu you fair haired lady, Farewell and adieu you lady of Spain”……..
BOOYA!
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
Too extreme to be called beer? 120 Minute IPA is brewed to a colossal 45-degree plato, boiled for a full two hours while being continuously hopped with high-alpha American hops, then dry-hopped daily in the fermenter for a month and aged for another month on whole-leaf hops!
Clocking in at 15-20% ABV and 120 IBUs, 120 Minute is by far the biggest IPA ever brewed! It’s easy to see why we call this beer THE HOLY GRAIL for hopheads!
We brew 120 Minute IPA a few times a year, but it goes fast. If you find some grab a few bottles — some to enjoy and some to age.
Every Beer Has A Story…
Check out this Quick Sip Clip to see Sam talking about 120 Minute IPA. In the video, Sam also shows off some of our vintage pieces of brewing equipment, including our second-generation continuous-hopping device, Sir Hops Alot. He also touches on why we dialed 120 Minute IPA back in ABV, some aging recommendations, and a little lesson on IBU measurement. Enjoy!
juice I got bumped by about a 7 foot thresher while paddling in off of Manasquan. Great fishing off the kayak and relatively cheap but on that day I decided I needed a bigger boat.
Pain – fishing off a kayak is a recipe for disaster what if you hook a 130 lb tuna? That thing will drag your corpse all the way to Sicily.
Moose: it is also regional warfare……it is basically a big FU to the entire NNJ/NYC/SW CT-area…..so many joe-slightly-above-average two spouse working households are going to be nailed like a b!tch…..it is total crap…..we aleady get the least back from DC per tax dollar spent…..now regular people here have to get killed worse so they can build superhighways for Jindal…..
Anon E. Moose says:
July 9, 2012 at 9:56 am
Juice [25];
$250k
Textbook class warfare. Top 10% of household incomes (AGI) is about $150k; median around $50k. The simple fact is that most people don’t even know anyone making that much money, and why would anyone need more than 2.5-5x what I make anyway? They probably stole the money anyway by exploiting poor and illegal immigrants anyway so they deserve to be taxed more [TIC].
juice if you have a kayak where you can catch tuna, either it’s 1960 and the bluefin population has not yet collapsed, you are in a tropical locale, or you are way further from land than you should be yellowfin are at least 45 miles offshore in NJ and bluefin on a good day 25 miles. A kayak, I think not maybe stripers, tuna, not bloody likely!
Another of the Ken Lewis empire building idiocy….AND ML was Lewis idea in September….it was only in December when he realized that he had been taken for the NC-rube that he was, when he tried to back out and the Feds force-fed him on the close….
leftist commie socialist income redistributor says:
July 9, 2012 at 10:52 am
Did Countrywide get pushed onto BAC’s platter by the Fed, or was that their own stupid decision in Summer 2008? I know they were forced to take ML a few months later, but I’m unclear if BAC was strong-armed into taking Countrywide too.
I’ll be honest…it is amazing how many finance guys don’t know finance. Also, there was a damned good reason that Lewis didn’t make it on the Street. He was a fcukin idiot, and the bankers knew it…..they just waited in the weeds for him to sport a woody for various toys and then they paraded every HIV/Herpes infected slut on him they could…..
Yes chi, by no means am I rich and my wife and I are in that group, I am already taxed out the eyeballs when I finish paying NY and NJ income tax, then I get hit with property taxes, after which I have super high auto insurance(ridiculous parking costs, tolls, etc..), retirement savings which most of america forgets to do. I barely can support a middle class existence while saving for retirement on an income like that and I don’t have kids. I can’t wait to get slammed by Obamacare and I’ll be out of pocket a tax on my employer provided cadillac healthcare plan.
[49] chifi – Thanks. That was my recollection too, but someone recently tried to convince me otherwise.
Government overpaid $14 billion in unemployment benefits
By Annalyn Censky | CNNMoney.com – 3 hours ago….
Don’t spend that unemployment check too fast. The government might ask you to pay it back.
Overpayments are a rampant problem in the unemployment insurance system. The federal government and states overpaid an estimated $14 billion in benefits in fiscal 2011, or roughly 11% of all the jobless benefits paid out, according to reports from the U.S. Labor Department.
Of the states, Indiana was the worst offender, making more improper payments than it did correct ones.
Now, the U.S. Department of Labor and the states are in the midst of a massive effort to try to recoup some of their lost funds and avoid future overpayments.
Where does the money go?
The vast majority of unemployment benefits do go to people in need. In 2010 alone they helped keep 3.2 million Americans out of poverty, according to the Census Bureau.
But of the overpaid funds, most end up in the hands of three types of people: Those who aren’t actively searching for a job, those who were fired or quit voluntarily, and those who continue to file claims even though they’ve returned to work. Any of those circumstances would make a person ineligible for benefits.
The overpayment typically results from an administrative error made either by the government, the employer, the worker or a combination of the three.
In much rarer situations, people deliberately defraud the system, using fake documents or identities. Common scams involve prison inmates, illegal immigrants or even the deceased.
Related: 8 unemployment scams
Ryan Greminger, 36, of Richmond, Ind. collected unemployment benefits while serving two years in a county jail for a drug-related crime.
“It’s not like some big scheme I thought of,” he said. Greminger had been laid off from a factory in 2007 and was originally collecting unemployment benefits legally. After he landed in jail, another inmate urged him to keep filing the claims.
“I paid this guy $50 each time to have his girlfriend — a woman I had never met — file my unemployment claims.”
Greminger said he knew it was wrong at the time, but he went along with the plan because he needed child support money for his fianc� and their four kids. Out of prison now, he’s currently working to repay more than $14,000 to the state.
“I accept responsibility for what I did. It was wrong. It was a mistake,” he said. “I’m paying for it now.”
Clawing back payments
Vice President Joe Biden is charged with leading the Campaign to Cut Waste, an initiative started last year that aims to cut overpayments at federal agencies.
Unemployment insurance boasts the second highest rate for “improper payments” of any federal program, behind the National School Lunch Program.
“Unemployment checks are going to people in prison. Unemployment checks are going to graveyards,” Biden said in September.
The Labor Department estimates that roughly half of its overpayments are recoverable, but falls far short of recouping that much. Historically, only about a quarter of the estimated “recoverable” overpayments have actually been recovered, said Gay Gilbert, administrator in the Labor Department’s Office of Unemployment Insurance.
Related: New rules make it harder to get unemployment benefits
That said, she thinks preventative measures are starting to work.
“We believe our improper payment rate has very slightly started to tick down,” Gilbert said.
When the government finds someone was overpaid, it often issues a letter asking the claimant to return the extra funds. In some states, workers can have repayment waived, if they’re in financial distress and can prove the error wasn’t intentional.
In other cases, government attorneys can take claimants to court if they don’t pay back what they owe. They have various methods of recouping the money, including setting up payment plans, garnishing wages or deducting funds from federal income tax returns.
In all but the most extreme cases, punishment for fraud can include probation, community service and paying back the money with an extra penalty. Jail time is rare, considering the government wants to see people continue working and paying back the system.
In fiscal 2011, there were roughly 2,700 convictions for fraud related to unemployment insurance.
The Post-Employee Economy: Why Sky-High Profits Are Here to Stay
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/the-post-employee-economy-why-sky-high-profits-are-here-to-stay/259564/
Feh on all this “sales up” idiocy. It’s unsustainable, as property tax increases and a tsunami of FK shadow inventory will torpedo it…probably sooner, rather than later.
Sussex Co just fell off a cliff, and I predict Hunterdon, Warren, etc will be back in the dumps by the time skool starts.
#54 There: My cousin in Annandale tells me it is dead out there, and the taxes are choking people. Just saying.
Juice people do it on the west coast and in Oz regularly. Like Jcer said I was more the stripers type. biggest fish I ever caught was a 60lb drum and that was a pain in the rear. Couldn’t imagine anything bigger but since I mostly fished with a fly rod I liked getting to fish that were out of my reach from shore. It was fun but there are to many boats, they are way more dangerous than sharks, and the day I got bumped I was chumming for mahi mahi and small tuna. so probably more my fault than the sharks.
Here is a link for one of the big fish loonies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYR4-QRqA48
Deductability of tri state high mortgages and real estate taxes from fed income tax causes us low cost state taxpayers to subisidize your azzes and we don’t like it one bit. Must we poor folk down south have to subsidize your superior schools and muncipal services? Let’s just say some pigs are more equal than others.
chicagofinance says:
July 9, 2012 at 11:20 am
Moose: it is also regional warfare……it is basically a big FU to the entire NNJ/NYC/SW CT-area…..so many joe-slightly-above-average two spouse working households are going to be nailed like a b!tch…..it is total crap…..we aleady get the least back from DC per tax dollar spent…..now regular people here have to get killed worse so they can build superhighways for Jindal…..
Chifi [47];
Moose: it is also regional warfare
But aren’t the major metros reliably blue? Are they really risking pi$$ing off a major base like that, or are they sure that the high earners not on the dole weren’t voting for his O-ness anyway? NY/NJ is so blue that losing those voters isn’t about to change the outcome?
Then consider that the $150k in OT police officer is still a rarity, so much so that he makes the news. I think the two municipal employee couple you’re talking about are comfortably above $100k, but well below $250k. They shrug and say ‘I’m getting mine and will continue to do so as long as my union cozies up to the Dems — we don’t want no Scott Walkers in the white house.’
Obama to Congress: Your serve.
Congress should call an audible here. Propose an extension, raise marginal rates slightly but tweak other parts of the code to preserve revenue neutrality
44
DFH 120 is out there now. I picked up two last week in Point Pleasant. The guy keeps it in the back. Only sells it to regulars.
I also have a line on a case. Guy doesn’t know what he has.
chicagofinance says:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
July 9, 2012 at 11:26 am
I’ll be honest…it is amazing how many finance guys don’t know finance. Also, there was a damned good reason that Lewis didn’t make it on the Street. He was a fcukin idiot, and the bankers knew it…..they just waited in the weeds for him to sport a woody for various toys and then they paraded every H1V/H-rpes infected sIut on him they could…..
Jcer & Pain crazy people are everywhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVb3eXOIXrM&feature=related
njescapee says:
July 9, 2012 at 11:55 am
Deductability of tri state high mortgages and real estate taxes from fed income tax causes us low cost state taxpayers to subisidize your azzes and we don’t like it one bit. Must we poor folk down south have to subsidize your superior schools and muncipal services? Let’s just say some pigs are more equal than others.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html
chifi please note: Two states — Florida and Oregon (coincidentally, the two closest states in the 2000 Presidential election) — received $1.00 in federal spending for each $1.00 in federal taxes paid. I sit where I stand and still say I am subsidizing your region’s expensive lifestyles. I have no interest and RE tax deductions whereas the leveraged NYC/NJ/CT enjoy significant tax benefits at my expense. Just ask Stu. He relishes in the fact that he’s getting a free ride.
chicagofinance says:
July 9, 2012 at 12:42 pm
njescapee says:
July 9, 2012 at 11:55 am
Deductability of tri state high mortgages and real estate taxes from fed income tax causes us low cost state taxpayers to subisidize your azzes and we don’t like it one bit. Must we poor folk down south have to subsidize your superior schools and muncipal services? Let’s just say some pigs are more equal than others.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2004/09/red_states_feed.html
re # 56 – I agree with the dangerous boaters in the NJ/NY waters. Without fail somebody dies every season. Last time I had a boat was 10 years ago, and every time I hear about a story like the one from July 4th and Oyster Bay and the three small kids that died I am sure I don’t want one again even if gas went back down to $1 a gallon.
Kayak and flats fishing are loads of fun down here. water is like 85 degrees already
Juice Box says:
July 9, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Jcer & Pain crazy people are everywhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVb3eXOIXrM&feature=related
57: AMT?
Here’s another one for you, Nom…
Denise Rich, the wealthy socialite and former wife of pardoned billionaire trader Marc Rich, has given up her U.S. citizenship – and, with it, much of her U.S. tax bill.
Rich, 68, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and glossy figure in Democratic and European royalty circles, renounced her American passport in November, according to her lawyer.
Her maiden name, Denise Eisenberg, appeared in the Federal Register on April 30 in a quarterly list of Americans who renounced their U.S. citizenship and permanent residents who handed in their green cards.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/socialite-denise-rich-dumps-u-s–passport.html
Oh come on now – my hear bleeds for those poor NE upper middle class muppets
No more 2011 exemption at $306,300 single $447,800 Married ,Filing joint
relo says:
July 9, 2012 at 2:05 pm
57: AMT?
A bit of information at the end of a story about Barclays Bank and its LIBOR rate scandal caught my attention.
In another sign that the world is becoming too complicated for us mere mortals to figure out, our Federal Reserve apparently sees over a trillion dollars in assets as a future liability it wants nothing to do with:
“Barclays has begun the search for a new chief executive by appointing headhunters Spencer Stuart. The firm is expected to look beyond the UK, to the US, Canada and Australia.
Shareholders are said to be keen for fresh blood to shift the focus away from investment banking and refresh the bank’s culture, which will make it difficult for internal candidates such as Antony Jenkins, Naguib Kheraj and Tom Kalaris to state their case.
The board has not discussed the possibility of separating the investment bank and listing it in New York. The US Federal Reserve is said to have indicated that it would reject the application, should one be made, as it does not want the burden of a bank with £1.16 trillion of assets. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9386665/Email-cache-shows-depth-of-Whitehall-fears-over-Barclays-Libor-submissions.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303734204577465413553320588.html?grcc=9140f36cc13f90907ec377f85cee2722Z3ZhpgeZ0Z179Z200Z66Z2&mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_opinion
70: That ain’t how it works.
‘Obama pays your bills’ scam claims more victims
The scam works because that’s exactly the way people who favor Obama have been programmed to think — vote for the ‘right’ candidate and he’s gonna take care of me. Anyone else remember ‘Obama’s gonna pay my mortgage?’
Most people just wont do what it takes to earn a living, case in point two stores I frequent have big boobed tanned girls in their early 20s with killer bodies making like 9 bucks and hours and not even in college.
20 years ago those girls would be strippers, cocktail waitress, bartenders, mistresses, have found a sugar daddy etc. The kids today dont have a work ethic. Really, we can say the same for the young wives, plenty a guy got in debt for marrying a pretty girl. If girl is in great shape between 25-50 playboy club, hooters etc lets get them to work. This women are too uppidity to make a living.
Yo Grim (15),
So you think it’s bullish that out of the 187 additional contracts pending Y-O-Y, there were only 84 sales closed?
Do realize that in 2011, 86 of the 582 contracts didn’t close.
In other words, the marginal closing rate decreased from 496/582 to 580/775.
Looks like these higher prices are heavily due to the realtor’s squeeze on the few dumb/desperate enough to bid.
Again, LESS THAN HALF of the increased 187 pending contracts DID NOT CLOSE.
This is just lipstick on the pig. Pucker up suckers.
<>
(70)
njescapee,
I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make. It is quite clear, and without contestation, that NJ taxpayers pay a lot of taxes and get back the least % from the federal govt as compared to the other 49 states and the dc swamp.
And Jersey keeps giving back too, pictures of Snookie this weekend using her stroller to carry cases of beers and chips is priceless, you should get a tax break just for that.
JJ, jersey in a cultural leader in the US! We should get tax credits for giving the world snooki.
LPS released their Mortgage Monitor report for May today.
http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/MortgageMonitor/201205MortgageMonitor/MortgageMonitorMay2012.pdf
Here is the CalculatedRisk take on it, McBride focuses on the judicial vs non-judicial foreclosure states. The judicial states have 2.5 times as much FC inventory as non-judicial states.
Drill down into the report on page 7 of the above pdf, and NEW JERSEY HAS THE HIGHEST INCREASE IN FORECLOSURE PROPERTIES IN THE US.
Sorry, scroll down to page 4 of 27 and look at the
“Non-judicial non-current % continues
to decline faster than judicial” spreadsheet.
New Jersey’s court system is failing, (as we all know), but the proof is now right here in the numbers.
Anyone else suffer through the 3rd world commute this morning? I almost came to fisticuffs with a lady. And right in front of her teenage son. What was the last fare increase? 25%? Average NJTransit salaries increased 8.5% from 2008-2010. Entire NJT payroll grew 24% in the same time period. Oh it must be good to be a public sector worker. How difficult is it to keep the trains running? It’s a 200 year-old technology that doesn’t even have a friggin steering wheel.
Rant off.
My point is stop with the age / class / regional warfare. There is always gonna be someone that gets / takes more and on the other side someone else that gets / takes less. There’s a sign at the back of the Green Parrot Bar that says NO SNIVELING!!
I think it’s good advice.
joyce says:
July 9, 2012 at 3:38 pm
(70)
njescapee,
I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make. It is quite clear, and without contestation, that NJ taxpayers pay a lot of taxes and get back the least % from the federal govt as compared to the other 49 states and the dc swamp.
[71] tmc – You know how these things are eventually resolved. You create a “bad bank” to absorb all the bad assets. But the problem is too big now. We need a “bad country” to absorb all the losses.
Stu, I was there. Being herded through Hoboken was especially demeaning.
I like how they cited “computer” problems as the cause of the delay. They usually blame “signal” or “switch” problems. Maybe they think it sounds more technical this way.
Commie i vote for the Maldives since it is already sinking.
#69 — Denise Rich flies the coop
Thanks for putting that up.
I wonder how quickly we’d issue her a visitor’s visa?
How long should people who renounce US citizenship wait before they can visit?
If we didn’t allow them to visit at all, I wonder how that might change things.
The wheels are coming off. It’s all headed down the crapper.
No one will be spared.
Denise Rich can come back to the US the way everyone else does: by swimming the Rio Grande.
75 – Tom – You really need to look at contracts to sales as rolling figures with anywhere from a 1 to 2 month offset (1.5 used to be ideal, but it’s a bear from a data perspective since we don’t have contracts/sales by day). Even then the best correlations I ever mapped were in the mid 80s. So, for comparison’s sake, you really need to look at H1 contracts alongside Feb 15th – Aug 15th closings, and H1 closings will have been based on contracts signed in November. However, if you are a proponent of the “pull forward” theory to explain this year’s contracts, realize that the gap will likely widen as a result, since when you pull forward a contract you don’t necessarily pull forward the closing as well (You aren’t going to withdraw your kid from a school a month before summer, you’ll just close later than the typical 45 day timeframe.).
The other caution is realize that the seasonal peak for contracts falls in H1, but the seasonal peak for closings falls in H2 (except in bimodal years where we see similar peaks in both June and August).
Where should I buy a cockapoo puppy?
Rut roh.
Guaranteed Dimon & JPM picked this carcass clean before news broke.
“A small futures brokerage is freezing client funds after its owner attempted suicide, according to a press release on the brokerage’s website. PFGBest, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based broker with about $400 million in client-segregated funds at the end of April, put client funds in liquidation status while the company investigates “accounting irregularities.” Per the release:
Due to a recent emergency involving Russell R. Wasendorf Sr., a suicide attempt, some accounting irregularities are being investigated regarding company accounts. PFGBEST is wholly owned by Mr. Wasendorf. Therefore, the NFA and other officials have put all funds on hold, and PFGBEST is in liquidation-only status with our clearing FCM. What this means is no customers are able to trade except to liquidate positions. Until further notice, PFGBEST is not authorized to release any funds. We will update you as any new procedures are stipulated and with any further information as it becomes available.
Word around the internet is that PFGBest is a mini-MFGlobal, though that’s a bit premature. According to Reuters, Mr. Wasendorf attempted to commit suicide at the firm’s “Iowa compound.”
http://observer.com/2012/07/pfgbest-owner-attempts-suicide-leaving-client-funds-at-futures-broker-frozen/
I’m trying to buy a puppy. The breed is C0ckap00. Where should I get one? It is very difficult to post this message without getting filtered..
I saw one of the other NJ skanks this afternoon in a CVS . Danielle Staub . She has not aged well. The lips look like the doc screwed up ..
Sad,
93. What’d you expect. Can’t cure bad genes with surgery. Ugly is more than skin deep.
A. West 92 you gotta be kidding me buddy, try a Bull or French Mastiff you house is big enough. They will never ever snap at your kids & you will sleep well. On the down side I have had both , you need a shovel literally.
Corzined!
From the just filed affidavit by Lauren Brinati who is working with the National Futures Association, which in turn has just filed notice prohibiting PFGBest from operating further, and freezing all of its accounts:
-On or about June 29, 2012 PFG reported to NFA that it had approximately $400 million in segregated funds, of which more than $225 million were purportedly on deposit at U.S. Bank
-On or about July 9, 2012, NFA received information indicating that PFG’s Chairman may have falsified bank records
-On July 9, 2012, NFA made inquiry with US Bank and learned that rather than the $225 million that PFG had reported as being on deposit at US Bank just days earlier, PFG had only approximately $5 million on deposit at U.S. Bank.
Translation: another $220 million segregated account pillage has just taken place, in the vein of none other than Jon Corzine and MF Global.
The money has now officially vaporized.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/pfgbest-now-mf-global-part-2-220-million-segregated-client-money-has-just-vaporized
mikey (95)-
He should get a Danielle Staub.
freedy (93)-
Prolly picking up her script for g#nital warts.
Grim 89,90 Although seasonal factors are still in play any little world event could sink the ship. The trends can not be trusted as in the past, the global situation is dancing on a pin between Europe financial & middle east strife. It is a uncertain & treacherous time to buy. As you have & I am waiting for closing date as I was quoted in the article on you buying in the Times ” you take your chances”.
This Staub woman has had a ruff 50 yrs. has not aged well
Beer 96 not getting off like Johnny C. I will wager.
92 —
I can’t tell you where to buy one but I can tell you I am envious you’re going to have one. They are wonderful dogs.
Hey, Mike..how’ve you been, yourself?
Don’t have time to read years of threads about being someone else, but with cf all in a huff, the person posting as me [or the person cf thought was me posting] must have done a respectable job. Didn’t anybody ask JB for the IP? Mine hasn’t changed in like 4 years. Pat is always just Pat.
I’m back in the RE saddle, maybe…so might meander back through these parts now and then.
Mike [101];
Depends. How much has he collected for Obama lately? A bagman can go far in the Obama administration — just look at Holder.
mikey (101)-
He might end up taking a dirt nap. Evidently, he’s still in critical condition from his attempt at offing himself this AM.
103
Hey Pat, broke down & I am now in the process of buying a house if you can believe that. All is well as can be expected under the present economy, just keep surviving. Was wonder about the Chi Fi comment thought he might know something I didn’t. , guess not. Glad your back!
never left ;-)
Mikeinwaiting says:
July 9, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Was wonder about the Chi Fi comment thought he might know something I didn’t. , guess not. Glad your back!
Mike, NW NJ or closer to civilization?
That’s my dilemma.
Currently in boonies in MD. With kid only 7-8 years out from gone, I’m thinking about civilization since I need to work until I pick out my own casket/urn.
Plus the 19 yo kid who robbed us [and like 20 other houses] last year keeps coming back to the neighborhood like herpes in a TV commercial. My daughter has to watch him sucking face with the 15 yo child with whom he had a child.
Maryland “lite” judges should be forced to live in a house next to one of their “decisions.”
It should be a requirement of “clemency” decisions.
Only justice worth pursuing is the kind doled out at the business end of a Mossberg.
Pat out there about 12 mi from P.A , NY state about 15, but as you know I have lived up here for years. Work is an issue up here depending on what you do, only the brave or insane go to NYC.
Chi I just do not want to get in the middle of this, but my curiosity is getting the better of me, handle?
Unemployment in advanced economies will remain high until at least the end of 2013, cautions the OECD. The weakest economic recovery of the past four decades means the jobless rate at the end of next year will likely only dip to 7.7% from May’s 7.9%, leaving 48M people out of work.
Link: http://www.oecd.org/document/10/0,3746,en_21571361_44315115_50681994_1_1_1_1,00.html
Nom – Nicely staged!
“THIS HOME IS A SOLID ROUGHGARDEN BUILT SPRAWLING RANCH LOCATED IN THE PRESTIGIOUS GOLD COAT SECTION OF GLEN ROCK. THERE ARE TWO FIREPLACES (ONE IN THE LIVING ROOM AND ONE IN THE LIBRARY)”
I just double checked with my wife who grew up in this neighborhood, in fact she used to babysit at this house. She laughed when I asked if she ever heard her neighborhood described as the “Gold Coast” section of town. Maybe that designation follows only after property taxes get up in the $20K range?
http://new.gsmls.com/publicsite/propsearch.do?method=moredetails&sysid=2942449
City Seeks Lilliputian Living Units – 200 sq ft
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303567704577517282415574256.html?mod
[116] I guess mortals can’t pass on GSMLS links? Here’s the realtor.com link to the Gold Coast house:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/36-Rutland-Rd_Glen-Rock_NJ_07452_M58604-74348?ex=NJ553174378
[117] NE – I like the graphic of the size of those studios compared to the Mayor’s digs.
#117 This is bigger than most studio in south east asia.I was looking at a 24 sq meter = 258 sq ft on high rise,two years ago.They were selling like hotcakes
#13 Mike: So are you saying that will affect housing prices? (sarcasm off)
Still no f*cking pony.
3b 121 Me buying or taxes? LOL
Gary 122 No “pony” for you!
#122
You got a job.Help handing out ponies will you
3b still haveMidland in the cross hairs? I am waiting for a closing date, moving = nightmare.
Yes Gary yo is right now you can help “O” redistribute your money. There is your f**ken pony!
#117
For a single that wants a bachelors pad or a couple that wants a place to sleep during work days in the city this is great.This will be selling like hotcakes.Bloomberg is a genius.
NFIB Small Business Optimism Index: -3.0 to 91.4, vs. consensus of 92.0, 94.4 in May. The report is a clear indication of slow growth. 23% of owners cites weak sales as one of the most important business problem.
yo 127 I agree, my niece is newly out of college working in city , this type of place would suit her fine.
Not into the modern look. Too much open space. I could see the heat racing to the top of every room as the PSE&G meter goes round and round:
http://www.trulia.com/property/3089090970-326-Jefferson-St-Ridgewood-NJ-07450
Whatta ya think? Can yuse guys do anything with this one?
http://www.trulia.com/property/3076474255-168-Oak-Trail-Rd-Hillsdale-NJ-07642
#25 Mike: Still in the cross hairs, only problem there is not a lot of inventory in the town, only 20 odd listings. Looked at one with a 539k asking price, the house sold in the 200’s in Sept 2011, zillow says it is worth around 370K, Realtor says there is real value in the upgrades, and we should not pay attention to the last sold price. What kind of nonsense is that? My spouse will be handling that one. Meanwhile in the other towns we are looking at there is plenty of inventory, so if MP does not work out we will go buy in one of those.
3B,
What towns have plenty of inventory?
#33 Fast: Hillsdale, Wash Twp, Oradell.
Grim 89,
If the environment were stable, then the offset of 2months is reasonable for those that close. However, the environment is NOT stable.
The price increases of late Dec 2011 and Q1Y2012 were from EURO-phoria and the EFSF (European Financial Stability Fund) of November 2011. The EFSF is a farce, it’s not working and won’t work – period.
It’s a buyer’s market. Bidder’s command. Seller’s are either desperate, corporate relo (few), or at will relo (can and will need to leave $ on the table). If a fool wants to come in at just 5% under ridiculous list, then that fool and his/her $ will be parted.
Prices aren’t rebounding, nor shall they, but for a debased US$ scenario. No jobs to substantiate the demand now, never mind in an inflationary economic environment when debasement roosts. All S&P 500 profits staying out of country b/c that’s where the growth is relative to the debased US$. So, there’s a growth component, as well as an FX return. Who wouldn’t if it were your own company?
Pull forward – Yes, I believe some panicked and paid the fool’s price this yr to date. The artificial price increases of late Dec 11 – Feb 12 got some I know, and tell me you didn’t see the lower quality blossom onto market.
I appreciate the point you made re the lag. However, back trace by 1 month, 2 months, etc OR better, by AVG DOM for those sales, and it should be more telling. I am not a believer in this market. There’s no job growth, no income growth, and as stats just came out, the consumer is again fully levered w/ consumer and auto loans anew.
Getting much fdbk from those I know. They concur. True fair value bids on $400k – $800k are /s/ insulting /s/ the sellers, who won’t be reasonable. One was told 3-bids on target ~$580k property listing at $650k: 1 came in at under $6 and couldn’t get financing, 1 came in at mid 5’s, and other lower than that.
As for kid from school withdrawal, it’s not necessary. Neighbors and relatives help kids stay in the town thru end of school yr. As for start of school yr, it’s about family $, so kid is at family’s discretion. Plenty of examples I know of for each. Kool Aid was banned/don’t serve it.
<>
My apt in the city was 200 square feet. Which I thought was crazy small till I briefly dated a girl who lived in Tudor City. Apparantly after WWII when there was a shortage of housing Tudor City was allowed to cut apts in half on empty units so they could rent two apts. The returning solders and nurses were single as well as the tons of young Irish immigrants at the time and made little money, small apts made sense. Well they made it onto rent roll as rent controlled apts and were grandfathered.
Anyhow GF at time rent 1/2 a studio apt. Yes they cut a studio in half to make an apt. You open door to apt, “pull man kitchen on right” tiny bathroom and closet on left in the hall way. You could not the bathroom door, closet or entry way door could not be open at same time or if someone was in hall. Then main room was 10×10. She had a sofa bed, coffee table with wheels on one side, dresser with TV on top. To go to bed, you put coffee table on side with wheels, rolled it into narrow hallway, pulled out sofa bed and it ended an inch or so from dresses. Her apt I would say was 135 square foot.
The craziest I saw was nieghbor nextdoor. 200 square feet body builder, got married moved wife in, then had kid. Had whole weight set in apt, and they worked from home. He used to pile stuff in hallway several times a day as he had too when he worked out.
My most crowded was a party with 40 people. I lifted bed on side and stacked stuff in tub and fire escape.
I should do math sometime, I gave up my rent stablized apt in 1998 in Gramercy Park when it had $797 a month rent. I wonder after 14 years of rate increases what rent would be today, most likely pretty cheap if I get doing two year leases which were like 4%. I guess 7×4%. Maybe $950 a month now.
Tom [135],
How do you determine fair value in this market? If recent comps are simply the result of suckers who got pulled in and 5% under ridiculous ask won’t work, then what does? Do you look at the long term trend line and simply base it from that?
#37 Fast: That is what I am trying to determine, (wish I did not think so much, than it would be so easy and just pay like some poor fools have). Also there is the old property tax. And what happens in a few years (I assume) if rates are up to say 7%, either the economy is booming, (that is not on the horizon), or we are in stagflation.
We are going with a 15 year, so it will be what it will be, but there is certainly room for a lot of thought. I would have much preferred houses fall to their true value, rather than being propped up by artificially low rates.
Scranton now bankrupt can’t make the payroll with only $5k in the bank cuts wages to minimum $7.25 for everyone.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/10/156509668/scranton-workers-see-pay-slashed-to-minimum-wage
Fair Market value is the resale price of similar homes from 1995-1999 which is the pre-bubble period. Then adjust for inflation and add in any improvements done adjusted for depreciation of said improvements. 1985-1991 RE was in a bubble and 1992-1994 homes were underpriced after last bubble crashed so I will leave out those years.
So if a house sold for 200K in 1999 and inflation averages 3% home is worth 200K plus adjusted for 13 years of inflation at 3% then add in improvements. Lets say in 2002 ten years ago they spent 100K on a new bathroom, kitchen, roof all with a 20 year life expectency. Well that is worth 50K.
So home is worth 200K plus 13 years inflation at 3% plus 50K improvements.
Fast Eddie says:
July 10, 2012 at 9:49 am
Tom [135],
How do you determine fair value in this market? If recent comps are simply the result of suckers who got pulled in and 5% under ridiculous ask won’t work, then what does? Do you look at the long term trend line and simply base it from that?
Be careful going with a 15 year, it got Woody Allen and Joey Buterfucco in a lot of trouble.
3B says:
July 10, 2012 at 9:55 am
#37 Fast: That is what I am trying to determine, (wish I did not think so much, than it would be so easy and just pay like some poor fools have). Also there is the old property tax. And what happens in a few years (I assume) if rates are up to say 7%, either the economy is booming, (that is not on the horizon), or we are in stagflation.
We are going with a 15 year, so it will be what it will be, but there is certainly room for a lot of thought. I would have much preferred houses fall to their true value, rather than being propped up by artificially low rates.
Most improvements yield .60 to .80 on the dollar “invested”. Depending of course what type of investment.
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Unions representing workers in the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Scranton expect to file a federal lawsuit against the city after the mayor abruptly cut their pay to minimum wage.
The attorney for three unions, including firefighters and police, tells The Times-Tribune of Scranton (http://bit.ly/LEtMXt ) he expects to file several legal actions, including a motion to hold Mayor Chris Doherty in contempt of court for violating a judge’s order to pay full wages.
Doherty last week cut the pay for about 400 employees to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. He says it was the only way for the cash-strapped city to pay bills, and promises to restore pay once finances are stabilized.
Doherty is locked in a dispute with Scranton’s city council over a financial recovery plan as it faces a $16.8 million budget deficit.
———
Just raise the taxes, what’s the big deal? :o
96,
Just looked at that chart on zerohedge. Pulled my money out of Penson Financial Services.
Scranton PA is levered up with Debt, much worse than Stockton CA a city that is much larger.
Over $400 Million for a city of 76k with an average income of 36k?
http://scrantonisbroke.blogspot.com/2012/07/total-long-term-obligations.html
I bet Dunder Mifflin gets hit with a huge tax increase.
Only when they are put in. On day one. Only improvement that is worth more than cost is a second bathroom in one bathroom house.
Kitchens last 30 years. I buy a house with a 30 year old kitchen spend 30K to put a new one in and in 30 years my improvement is worthless.
Mocha says:
July 10, 2012 at 11:02 am
Most improvements yield .60 to .80 on the dollar “invested”. Depending of course what type of investment.
[135] TomH – Maybe grouped in with the desperate, is an important subgroup that many don’t really consider: Affluent, aging baby boomers who just don’t have enough years left to sit around paying $15K-$25K per year in BC (and similar area) taxes. The house linked to in [118] is a good example. That woman has owned that house for over 30 years and there are lots more like her. Believe me, it’s a very large thinking group right now. Wait until it becomes a very large acting group.
It’s a buyer’s market. Bidder’s command. Seller’s are either desperate, corporate relo (few), or at will relo (can and will need to leave $ on the table). If a fool wants to come in at just 5% under ridiculous list, then that fool and his/her $ will be parted.
“Over $400 Million for a city of 76k with an average income of 36k?” Scranton
Approx. 250 Million for a town of 37K with an average income of 59K. – Montklair
Wow…really not that far away.
[148]…or more succinctly, if you’re still on the good side of middle-aged and your $300K home slides another 10%, oh well. OTOH, if middle age is gone and vanishing quickly in the rear-view mirror and your $800K home slides another 10%, OH SH1T!
“Most improvements yield .60 to .80 on the dollar “invested”. Depending of course what type of investment.”
In current environment, sometimes renovations are necessary to obtain offers. Best investment is stainless steel appliances and 6-burner stove. The ‘moist’ factor is high with these two.
For those with no mortgage, are they just looking at their property tax as rent? If they want to live here and rent, it will cost maybe $2000 a month, if they pay $1500 in tax a month and keep their home and set up, can it make sense? My, MIL, pays $1700 rent for 1 bedroom in Ridgewood.
[151] Our ’79 Tappan Convectionaire just started acting up last night. According to my wife it starts up, warms up, then cools back down, like the thermostat turns the gas off at the right time but doesn’t turn it back on. This might be the lynchpin that causes the kitchen remodel.
Nom,
I must have missed one. You’re moving? To where – Mass?
[152] ’87cb – If you’re talking about BC retirees, I think they’re looking at their property tax as a vig they’re still paying waiting to get their beautiful and tastefully maintained $800K homes back up to $1.1 million price tags, so *then* they can retire. Once the herd truly believes that isn’t going to happen, watch out across the Serengeti.
For those with no mortgage, are they just looking at their property tax as rent?
The below listing is asking 429K. I think it is worth between 325k and 350K, but that is just me.
http://www.njmls.com/listings/index.cfm?action=dsp.info&mlsnum=1217612&dayssince=&countysearch=false
Stu 151 “The ‘moist’ factor is high with these two.” LOLROF
The chubby factor is low taxes.
Should’ve said most improvements lose .20 to .40 per dollar “invested”.
157 (Mike):
I was not kidding. :P
Eddie [130];
I could see the heat racing to the top of every room as the PSE&G meter goes round and round.
I looked at a cheesewedge contemporary that I kind of liked with a vaulted 2-story LR/DR and similar height in a front-facing office, but that factor was a big negative for me. Lots of 2-story glass in that one too. Big SF on over 1 ac, over-taxed based on market price, but not on sf or land — the market penalized this contemporary pretty hard in a colonial neighborhood.
I still don’t get how 15K RE taxes on an aging baby boomer making 200K is a killer. I see kids all the time making 95K paying 24k a year rent. How is paying 15K on a 200K income a killer, considering the 15K tax is somewhat deductable. The killer is the mortgage for anyone who bought in last 12 years
Lib [149];
DTI Scranton 0.15; Montclair 0.11. I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad if the towns weren’t addicted to spending and could tighten their belts for 5-10 years.
Scranton: just like politicians — when it comes to spending cuts, its always the police and firemen on the chopping block, never the administrators or the no-bid long-term contract with the mayor’s brother-in-law.
Mike 157 – He’s really not kidding. The 6 burner stove alone is easily responsible for 5 of the offers on our rental unit. Considering we paid about $1300 for it, I think it’s paid for itself at least twice over by now…and that doesn’t count for the 5+ years we used it ourselves.
would propping up a carboard cut out of JJ have the same affect as the six burner stove?
Off topic:
Does anyone have any recommendations for places to eat in Chicgo, both downtown and the surrounding? (I like almost any food)
On Long Island Six Burner Large Ovens are popular, then again today it was published that Hitlers Four Closest Living Relatives live on Long Island.
NJGator says:
July 10, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Mike 157 – He’s really not kidding. The 6 burner stove alone is easily responsible for 5 of the offers on our rental unit. Considering we paid about $1300 for it, I think it’s paid for itself at least twice over by now…and that doesn’t count for the 5+ years we used it ourselves.
joyce: similar to asking whether there is a place to eat in NYC….do you have something in mind? price range? also Chicago in July, bring an air-conditioned coat just in case……
joyce says:
July 10, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Off topic:
Does anyone have any recommendations for places to eat in Chicgo, both downtown and the surrounding? (I like almost any food)
Gibsons steak house. Some say Chop House is better, but Gibsons has a better looking crowd and a more happening bar crowd. Surf and turf could be a nice steak with friends and some divorcee muff at the bar.
I thought we were saying where we would like to eat in Chicago?
chicagofinance says:
July 10, 2012 at 3:35 pm
joyce: similar to asking whether there is a place to eat in NYC….do you have something in mind? price range? also Chicago in July, bring an air-conditioned coat just in case……
joyce says:
July 10, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Off topic:
Does anyone have any recommendations for places to eat in Chicgo, both downtown and the surrounding? (I like almost any food)
Pacu, Testicle-Eating Fish Species, Caught In Lake Lou Yaeger In Illinois
The Huffington Post | By Hilary Hanson Posted: 07/07/2012 11:07 am Updated: 07/07/2012 11:27 am
A close-up of the pacu caught in Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois.
When biologists say the pacu fish eats nuts, they may be correct in more ways than one.
The pacu, a toothy fish that can weigh up to 55 pounds, has been spotted in Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois, KSDK reports.
Responding to a report that a fisherman had reeled in a piranha on June 7, lake superintendent Jim Caldwell brought the fish to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, where it was identified as a pacu. Some reports say another pacu was seen a couple of weeks later.
Caldwell said he is still swimming in the lake nearly every day. Pacus primarily eat nuts, aquatic vegetation and snails, he told KDSK, and pose no real threat to humans.
Residents of Papua New Guinea may beg to differ. There, according to British fisherman Jeremy Wade, the pacu is known as the “ball cutter.” In 2011, Wade said locals informed him that two fisherman had died from blood loss after something in the water had bitten off their testicles, according to the Metro.
“The locals told me that this thing was like a human in the water, biting at the testicles of fishermen,” Wade said.
Wade determined that the perpetrator was the pacu, which is known for having human-like teeth. The angler did note that such attacks are uncommon, the Daily Mail reports.
168:
Fair point, Chifi.
Yeah, I have been in doors mostly during the afternoons thus far, but this weekend I plan to venture out.
I’d prefer to stay downtown, and I do not have a price range. I honestly don’t have anything in mind… I was just hoping someone would have a favorite place or two that is not full of tourists.
JJ 167 – Do they use them for the same thing the Marlboro ladies do – warming up take out pizza? My mom had a friend who lived in her new house for 9 months before she discovered her fancy schmancy range never worked. Took her that long to use it for the first time – to warm up her pizza.
Joyce,
Enjoy the meal: http://www.spiaggiarestaurant.com/
Someone told me that Pat had the nerve to show the hell up in here. That pisses me off because she is the absolute worst poster that has ever posted on these damn boards.
Lady, I don’t care how the hell long you’ve been gone, it can never be long enough for me. If hell froze over and ten million years passed, that would still be too damn soon for you to show up here. You bother me and your attitude sucks. Now leave the board and leave me the hell alone.
Also: http://www.c-houserestaurant.com/
she said not touristy…..that is a block from the V!agra Triangle…..
Shore Guy says:
July 10, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Joyce, Enjoy the meal: http://www.spiaggiarestaurant.com/
Shore….I was thinking maybe one of this guy’s places….it has more of a local vibe…..
http://www.rickbayless.com/restaurants/
if you need to burn some hours…..out of the way….
http://rosaslounge.com/index.cfm
Chifi,
I would defer to you on Chicago dining spots. I am just there now and then. You lived the life.
I’m just saying upscale Chicago, you may as well be in NYC……now due to Rahm and the Obamunists, I’m sure prices are the same now……Chicago should be 20-40% cheaper across the board, but it’s actually more expensive on the upper end because there is less competition…..
Joyce [172];
I liked the Weber Grill. Obviously a touristy vibe to it, but nothing like Pizzaria Uno/Due, and I did notice some locals watching the White Sox game at the bar when I ate dinner there.
JJ, did you catch the HBO Doc: “Lost In Long Island” when it premiered last night?
181 – your hard-on for obama never goes limp, eh? you are blaming the food prices in Chicago restaurants on him? classic.
Thank you both for the suggestions.
Joyce: no idea your age……but this could have some utility if you are over 40….
Lower Level Michigan Avenue (it actually exists…go down the stairs)
http://www.billygoattavern.com/legend/snl/
he putrified the reputation of Hyde Park…he deserves death for that….
seif says:
July 10, 2012 at 4:08 pm
181 – your hard-on for obama never goes limp, eh? you are blaming the food prices in Chicago restaurants on him? classic.
Chifi,
It was not intended to be a knock. You know the local spots in a way I do not.
Hey, Chi. Maybe the board can have an Ithaca GTG at Moosewood. JJ can order steak.
The armed gangs of the future should find Hyde Park to their liking.
Make me a sandwich, byatch.
Your brain is kaka……do you have any idea why I made that assertion?
seif says:
July 10, 2012 at 4:08 pm
181 – your hard-on for obama never goes limp, eh? you are blaming the food prices in Chicago restaurants on him? classic.
All turning to black, kids. No one will be spared.
“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner, as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later, as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.”
– Ludwig von Mises
chi (192)-
Gotta hand it to Bojangles. Never has any politician so thoroughly exploited the stupid, the self-destructive and the entitled…and after r@ping them repeatedly, have them still eating out of the palm of his hand.
#93 New: Looked at some closed listings yesterday, and there are still some clueless buyers out there. Not only that, prices seem to be all over the place. No rhyme or reason at all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/struggling-in-the-suburbs.html?_r=3&source=Patrick.net&hp
July 7, 2012
Struggling in the Suburbs
Hardship has built a stronghold in the American suburbs. Whatever image they had as places of affluence and stability was badly shaken last year, when reports analyzing the 2010 census made it clear that the suburbs were getting poorer.
While the overall suburban population grew slightly during the previous decade, the number of people living below the poverty line in the suburbs grew by 66 percent, compared with 47 percent in cities. The trend quickened when the Great Recession hit, as home foreclosures and unemployment surged. In 2010, 18.9 million suburban Americans were living below the poverty line, up from 11.3 million in 2000.
It is possible to see this struggle just beyond New York City in a quintessentially suburban place, Long Island. There have long been pockets of poverty there, created by race and income segregation. But it is not just in pockets anymore. These days the struggle has metastasized: foreclosed homes are just as empty in the better-off subdivisions, with the same weed-choked yards, plywood windows and mold-streaked clapboard siding.
186
chifi,
I remember that SNL skit… on re-runs
;)
problem in LI surburbs are in neighborhoods like Rosevelt, Freeport, Valley Stream, Hempstead, Wyndanch, Shirley etc. where lower income subprime people bought houses with nothing down on NINJA loans and now are being kicked to curb. Keeping them in houses they either cant afford or are not paying mortgage for is not a solution. Kicking them out of LI is the solution. LI barely has jobs, whole economy is based on a white collar Dad going to NYC and making 200K a year while wife and kids mooch off him. At 200K a year and high expenses and wife and kids mooching already he cant afford to support 25 mexicans too. They have to go home.
I see the hints of a GTG dropped from time to time… does it take the good Comrade to actually organize one?
Nom,
Good luck in your quest to sell. Behold the vast muppetry alluded to in 194 & 195; all you need is one.
3b #156: It’s an OK house, nice landscaping, but frankly I would do a restore of an original 1950’s knotty pine before I’d regard one of those 80 “eurostile” kitchens as anything but heinous. Every time I see one of those I want to pick up a sledgehammer myself. I’m familiar with that house and the location. I’d say it’s probably closer to a $350K house, maybe $345??? But your estimate is pretty close. No way is it over $400K.
Panic in Seaside Heights as storm appoaches, girl jumps from the chair lift!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5d7_1341931386
Get cho money!
http://www.missingmoney.com/Main/Search.cfm
doh! :(
joyce says:
July 10, 2012 at 4:47 pm
186 chifi, I remember that SNL skit… on re-runs ;)
GTG……Off Track Wagering….
http://sboanj.com/index.asp?Key=2926
http://winnersbayonne.com/
#101 Jill: Thanks for your opinionon what you think it is worth, basically same as me. I don’t mind the kitchen, have family in the business. We could fox that ugly kitchen straight away at little cost.
I bet we could make great headway in easing the cost of tax compliance and complaints, NJEs that he subsidizes those of us in the desirable part of the country through various income tax deductions by just instituting a 20% flat tax. Or, a 15% flat tax combined with 5% national sales tax.
Inasmuch as the AMT takes away the deductions, anyway, and just complicates things, why not just eliminate all deductions?
208, 209 dream on Shore Guy ain’t gonna happen no way no how. Are you hitting that unicorn nectar again?
Jill: Are you familar with Wilts Ave in Hillsdale?
Gator,
a 6-burner stove is such a desirable item I don’t see why builders don’t include it automatically.
Hey, re, how’s it hanging.. backatcha.
Missed you too.
3b: family in the business? Really? When I’m ready to redo my kitchen, should I call them? And do they do baths too?
213 Pat just like old times!
Jill get at least two/ three quotes my guy is stu/ libtard certified, sure says a lot about cost! I am sure 3b would advise the same. By the way stu all came out well right, I asked Brian said no problem & you never said as much so……..
“unicorn nectar ”
A friend of mine has a unicorn nectar drinking problem. Not me. I can stop anytime I want. Really. I just sip a little when reading the economics news.
Shore [208];
What makes you think incumbent politicians are about to give up the ability to trade tax favors for campaign donations? And that is a criticism of both sides of the aisle.
Seems to me that the solution to this problem is to shrink the size and influence of the government. If the government spent 10% of GDP rather than 40% there’d be a hell of a lot fewer dollars thrown at politicians — juice no longer worth the squeeze.
Moose,
I do not disagree with you. I for one would like to see all levels of government have 1% real spending cuts every year for the next 10-12 years. Over that time, we would shrink the size of government a fair bit. For more drastic changes, cut spending every year by 2%. Not 2% less than the anticipated growth, 2% of what we are spending NOW.
I would kill for a six burner gas stove, I cook up a storm on four with god it kills me ELECTRIC. No self respecting chef wants to use electric but that is all there is. In the new place I will have to put in a propane line & get the stove. On the long list many must does first , Dad gets toys last.
So Moose & Shore are in agreement as am I, so the outcome we are screwed.
“the ability to trade tax favors for campaign donations”
You are correct in your assessment, which is why the people should demand the end to deductions; however, since folks have been suckered into believing it benefits them, they will not make the demand.
“we are screwed.”
And they don’t even bother to buy us flowers or kiss us.
Que Meat, lock & load, hard perimeter, zombies banks & people! whatever choose your poison for the coming apocalypse.
Shore 222 This “the ability to trade tax favors for campaign donations” is why it will never end and the sheep not all of them uneducated and or stupid will be hoodwinked into thinking it is good for them.
Maybe just a nice arrangement of wild flowers don’t need a dozen Roses !
Moose, 218, I would agree with you on one condition. Clawbacks must be taken for every penny that was diverted from the SS trust fund over the past 40 years and paid into private savings accounts to all who contributed. After all, that money taxed @ 15 percent was confiscated and taken off the top from the 1st dollar up to around $100k. That gave those higher earners a significantly lower marginal tax rate than the under $100k crowd who had less opportunity to accumulate any kind of wealth due to the higher marginal tax rates. Fair is fair.
213/215
I’m still at the office and in need of a laugh… can anyone point me in the direction of some back n forth from years ago between Pat and Reinvester101?
Joyce there is a way to search the threads but I do not know how.
There were some duesys back in the day.
Sorry to hear you are still at work.
I see the Search bar on the right side… not sure which Keywords will do the trick. Haven’t got the time to play battleship hit/miss with it now. Maybe another time.
Try re 101’s handle even it is not an exchange with Pat it will bring a smile.
Mike,
Didn’t do the trick using the Search bar. All this time (well more like initially and a while thereafter), I thought reinvestor101 was a joke by some regular poster.
joyce says:
July 10, 2012 at 11:04 pm
213/215 I’m still at the office and in need of a laugh… can anyone point me in the direction of some back n forth from years ago between Pat and Reinvester101?
here….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kPIDt3yu1M
Joyce he is by my reckoning.
Hi chi !
234
wow
#220 MiW
” I would kill for a six burner gas stove,”
Mike, you forget the big elephant in the Sussex Co closet ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FA__4fLBos
(Reuters) – The U.S. futures industry reeled on Tuesday as regulators accused Iowa-based broker PFGBest of misappropriating over $200 million in customer funds for more than two years, a new blow to trader trust just months after MF Global’s collapse.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/10/us-broker-pfgbest-mfglobal-idUSBRE86909K20120710?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71
Another one bites the dust
The city of San Bernardino, Calif., on Tuesday night voted to reorganize under Chapter 9 of federal bankruptcy law, becoming the third California city to decide to make that move in the past two weeks, media reports said. Stockton, in central California, filed June 28, and the ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes voted to file early this month. The Associated Press reported that San Bernardino City Manager Andrea Miller told the city council and the mayor that the city budget gap was $45.8 million. The Press-Enterprise of Southern California quoted city officials as saying that the city might not make the Aug. 15 payroll without action. The council vote was four in favor of the filing, two opposed and one abstaining. San Bernardino is located 60 miles east of Los Angeles
Wie wil het nou niet? Lekker sex contact met honderden of zelfs duizenden mannen en vrouwen. Iedereen toch? Voor de lekkerste dates zit je dan ook goed bij ons. Afspreken is natuurlijk helemaal gratis en anoniem!