From the WSJ:
Shore’s Toll ‘Worse Than We Thought’ .
Nearly three weeks after Sandy came ashore on the New Jersey coast, some of the beach towns that made this area famous remain largely empty and dark, shells of their bustling summer selves.
The scope of the destruction didn’t come into focus for many homeowners until this weekend, when authorities began letting people back into communities still covered in mounds of sand and littered with debris. Some year-round residents, others seasonal, they trickled back to the seaside and witnessed the wreckage they had heard about.
“Complete devastation,” said Bob Larosa, 54 years old, who was waiting in front of his home Sunday for the bus back to the mainland from this Jersey Shore destination after a long day of sorting through the damage. “It feels like a complete loss.”
Mr. Larosa said he and his wife, Kathy Larosa, 55, bought their one-story bungalow as a vacation home in Ortley Beach eight years ago. They live in Roseland, N.J., full time.
The couple had seen photos of their home before coming in person, and knew it was still standing. But nothing prepared them for the inside.
“We’ve been looking at the pictures, but I still walked in the backyard and started crying,” said Ms. Larosa, a teacher. “It’s the kind of thing you see on TV, and you think it happens to other people.”
A pile of destroyed carpets, mattresses and a vacuum cleaner sat outside their home. The fence was caved in on the side. But she said they will rebuild.
“We’re going to have to,” Ms. Larosa said.
…
John Messner was ripping out dry wall and insulation from the three-story home where his daughter lives full-time. He put it in black plastic bags and piled it outside. He said he hadn’t had time to do much more than that. “It’s a lot worse than when I left it,” said Mr. Messner, a real-estate broker and appraiser from Drexel Hills, Penn. “[The water] came up under the door and up through the floors. The insulation was soaked, so it just sat there for two weeks.”Buses carried many into Ortley Beach, but they had to leave by 2 p.m. Toms River police Cpl. Ron Rader helped organize the rides. He said more than 2,000 people came. Some shed tears.
“All of them, it’s the same thing: ‘We expected the worst, but it’s so much worse than we thought it would be,'” he said. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.”
But some people had nothing left and so they grabbed a small memento and called it a day, he said. “I’ve seen people getting off the bus, seeing their home and getting right back on,” he said. “There’s nothing left.”
Construction jobs will be through the roof for the next few years. I know guys who haven’t swung a hammer for 20 years that just got back into the trades and are booked up solid for months.
From HousingWire:
Uneven housing forecast for next year
The housing market recovery is driven by an improving industry and credit fundamentals, which will continue through 2013, according to Barclays Securitized Products Research.
However, there are major concerns including the fiscal cliff and shadow inventory.
The fiscal cliff has the potential of knocking the market back onto unstable grounds, which could lead investors to shed risk and pullback on risk-premium tightening.
Shadow inventory — properties not visible such as real-estate owned properties not in the open market and homes entering foreclosure — is also a concern that could potentially affect the housing recovery process. The gap between judicial and non-judicial states continues to widen, which could lead to disruption in the market, according to DBRS.
While home prices reached bottom during the first quarter of the year, the prices have rose throughout the year and will continue to do so. Barclays predicts prices to by 5.5% for the year and 4% by 2013.
Money raised to invest in distressed and foreclosed properties, however helped the market and may continue to be a leading factor through the industry’s recovery period.
Housing demand has also exceeded its supply over the past years, which reduced many supply pressures throughout the nation. The most fundamental metros include Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tampa – sand states, which continue to increase in the housing market.
“We are particularly optimistic on prices in areas where homes are trading below replacement values and household formation is positive,” according to the report.
Good Morning New Jersey
1 That probably is the only bright side to all this, many people will be put to work. Might bring in alot of out of staters too.
Housing Starts in U.S. Increase to Four-Year High
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/housing-starts-in-u-s-unexpectedly-increase-to-four-year-high.html
Grim maybe we should order up a hurricane every year. Damn broken window fallacy.
some of the beach towns that made this area famous remain largely empty and dark, shells of their bustling summer selves. So basically it is the end of November?
Ben: a good read…..
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-People-Recapturing-American-Prosperity/dp/0465029477
chicagofinance says:
November 19, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Ben: I think you meant New Jersey municipal government……
Ben says:
November 19, 2012 at 10:26 pm
The American way of getting rich has destroyed the economy. It seems, the primary path to riches is to infiltrate a company by getting hired through nepotism, fail your way upwards until you become an executive. Collect exorbitant salary while you and your incompetent executive friends run it into the ground.
Are vacation home owners with houses intact offering those homes for year round rentals that have lost it all?
Hurricane Sandy will cause Monmouth ratables to fall and taxes to rise, officials say
Amy Fitzgerald, the director of the county’s Department of Economic Development, said the county has been notified by state officials that owners of properties damaged by the storm can apply for revaluation, as long as they file their request with their municipal tax assessors by Jan. 9, 2013. The revaluation will be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013, she said.
But some on the line, including Monmouth Beach Mayor Susan Howard, expressed concern about how this loss of ratables would impact the ability of municipalities to function.
“This is going to be devastating to running our town,” Howard said to the officials.
County Tax Administrator Matthew Clark did not disagree, saying the decrease in revenue would cause the storm’s impact to “move from painful to unbearable” as some municipalities experience a steep drop in assessed value.
And Clark said it will be up to the state legislature to decide if towns where the loss of ratables cause taxes to “surpass what is suspected to be reasonable” get extraordinary aid.
“To understand just how bad it is, we first have to see how much value is lost,” said Clark, adding the county is trying to determine the extent of that within a 60-day window. “(But) taxes will go up.”
http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2012/11/hurricane_sandy_will_cause_monmouth_county_taxes_to_increase_officials_say.html#incart_river_default
[7] chifi
It occurs to me that the surest way to get rich is to write a book about getting rich.
Saw a friend a couple of weeks back that has a waterfront summer home that sits on a hill and escaped major damage. He was clearing out some personal stuff so he could rent it out.
Attended a webinar yesterday put on by the NJ Society of CPAs. They also mentioned that homeowners with major damage would be eligilbe for reassessment by contacting the town’s tax assessor before 1/10. Additionally, there is hope that congress will waive the 10% for casualty losses. If this is important to you, contact your congressman and senator and tell them. 10% has been waived in the past and most recently for Katrina.
(4)
Mike,
I know it’s tempting to think that way, but all it does it redirect resources, not create organic growth (the broken window fallacy).
So sad to see the empty beach where our cabanas once stood and even sadder to see the heap where they ended up in the next town.
Nom and then not follow through on that advice like the rich dad poor dad moron. When he declared bankruptcy, turned to my wife who read all of his books, guess he is going to have to take some lessons from poor dad now.
H*ll the poor dimwits they sign up for Amway/Quixtar don’t even realize they are the suckers by buying the required material and attending events.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. by Henry Mencken
Charities are vowing to fight any government action tooth and nail. A lobbying group has for the first time set up a website where people can send automatic, targeted letters to local lawmakers and the White House “to oppose any efforts” to limit the charitable deduction.
“We intend to go to our community — whether you work on nuclear proliferation, or expanding arts in Harlem, or making sure dolphins continue to live and thrive, or making bicycle paths in middle America,” said Diana Aviv, president of the Independent Sector, which lobbies Congress on behalf of charities and nonprofits.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/20/news/charity-tax-break/index.html?iid=HP_LN.
Gotta love the fact that charities have/need lobbyists. Oh, and the bike path comment.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-14/tax-exempt-firm-gets-600-million-profit-flying-first-class.html
Yome from the article
“The IRS and the states are tremendously understaffed.” the guy who made it lives in NJ and makes this statement. Uggh. While I would agreee with the premise that companies should not enjoy non profit status if they are in turn making one, but why should business be taxed arbitrarily anyway. Government picks winners and losers via subsidies and tax exempt status. Tax goods and be done with it. then everyone is on an equal playing field.
Oh wait, businesses evil, the poor, regressive taxes please think of the children. Like businesses don’t pass tax costs onto consumers anyway.
[17] pain,
The wait to get a determination letter from TE/GE Division at IRS is about a year.
WIth interest rates so low, perhaps now is the best timt to cap or even get rid of the mtg interest deduction as part of avoiding the fiscal cliff scenario. Just saying.
Nom ouch
Comrade,
Trade associations, etc, are allowed to self-declase non-profit status. Is that not accurate?
AshBritt, the Florida disaster-recovery contractor that won an $850 million cleanup contract after Katrina, has been hired in New Jersey and told by Gov. Christie that he wants the bulk of the Shore debris cleared by Christmas
More here, at Philly.com
http://articles.philly.com/2012-11-19/news/35206269_1_debris-jersey-shore-cleanup
[21] Joyce,
Yes but a determination.letter is strongly recommended.
Average NJ beach is 30-40 foot narrower http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/average_nj_beach_is_30-40_feet.html#incart_m-rpt-1
I guess JJ has a new job. He was last seen sharpening chain saw blades here in Hunterdon county. I personally need 6 chains sharpened for my Stihl unit. Dulled out two so far in clearing the casualties from my yard. Grim, can you dedicate one day’s worth of blogging to the theme: ‘Where is JJ?’
On a more serious note, I am concerned for that guy. Either he: suffered major damage and is dealing with the consequences, or, his life was rearranged as a result. Either way, it looks ominous. Wish him luck.
I think his mom took away internet privaledges and kiccked him out of the basement
Has Shore Guy posted since Sandy?
NJCoast…hope you and your family are well…
#27 Shore guy rarely posts any more.
Here’s a good one. During Sandy, a small limb from my only remaining monster tree fell on a neighbor’s bush. The damage was minimal and the damaged portion of the bush probably would have grown back in about a year. I didn’t think it was a big deal as adjacent to the damaged hedge, there were two long-dead bushes with their everbrowns visible for all to see. These bushes had been dead since before we bought our place. Well a day after the storm, I get a note in my mailbox which states that we should pay for her bush. I then walked to her door and told her that I would show my adjustor the damage when he comes the following week, but that her homeowners policy would most likely have to pay for it. Well yesterday, I get a crude looking bill from a landscaping company in my mailbox for $4100. Apparently she replaced all of her bushes and thinks I’m going to pay for it. I plan to go over there when I’m off work and will tell her, “up yours” since my insurance company already made the determination that they wouldn’t cover the damage.
So my question to my fellow bloggers…Is there any reason for me to call or submit that insane bill to my insurance company? BTW, I’m 99% certain that those bushes did not cost anywhere near $4,000. She’s just playing the game for which I don’t blame her!
Has anyone ever figured out who Shore is? Gator and I have speculated that he’s Steve Adubato Sr.
29 Toilet paper
29 – Tell her you don’t wish to be a party to her insurance fraud. Let me guess, she paid cash too? No receipt?
Lib she would wake up to four flat tires randomly for the next year. No damage persee just aired down to the point of inconvenience.
4100 bucks is ridiculous. you could put in 7-8 six foot douglass firs or blue spruces for that cost.
(29) Was that bill mailed? If so, I say you have a case of mail fraud. Contact your local prosecutor. Was it stuffed in without a stamp? Can’t do that either.
Leave her a message saying you won’t pay for her bush, but will offer $20 for a hand job.
Very crude receipt Grim. She wrote on the receipt (I kid you not), “My landscaper gave me an extra copy. Please put your name on it.” What the hell does that mean?
It’s really not bothering me though. I’ll call the adjustor, tell him about their funny business and then their own homeowners can decide to pay or not. I have a funny feeling that the neighbor is a mail-order bride. I’ve only seen her wealthy husband once since I’ve moved in. Plus, they have a beautiful in-ground pool that their kids are always using. Dad’s just not around much and when he is, he’s yelling at his kids. On the bright side, they tend to play pretty good tunes on their radio near the pool.
That would bother me. What country was she ordered from? Sounds like she either got totally ripped off, or she’s conspiring with someone to rip you or your insurer off.
BTW, twenty years ago, I paid a guy from Pa $70 per tree to plant 30 Norway spruces along my backyard property line, in a staggered pattern. They were 6-7 footers, he warrantied every one, having to eventually replace about a third of them due to a drought the following year. He was a true man of his word. A drunk, also, but still Honest Abe. Those same trees are now over 30 feet high and block out all rear views. Nowadays, he advertises the same for about $119 per tree, planted. That’s fair, adjusting for inflation. How can you get them that cheap? Look at the area code. NJ, fuhgettaboutit. ‘610’ – they know NJ prices and will charge the same, but occasionally you get a hit. ‘570’ – now we’re talking. desperate to make the buck and will travel to do so.
BTW, I hired Amish guys from Lancaster 18 years back to build my deck. Deck still stands, strong and mighty. I just put a new coat of paint on it every year. If you look from under the deck, wood still looks new. It helps when you use construction grade (clear) wood that is sanded and routed smooth all sides. Who needs plastic?
Libtard [29],
Tell her that your insurance company wants to know the number of birds her bush can accommodate at one time.
Your log fell into her bush? Yeah right. You’re wife’s not going to believe that one. Nice try.
You are all quite entertaining.
There are plenty of guys on craigslist that will sell fresh dug noble evergreens for about 15 bucks a foot.
an honest to god fox hunt just went through my back yard! complete with dogs and riders in red coats.
Lib,
Tell her to contact your lawyer, Hugh G. Rection.
Grim those trees are usually hot.
Nom did they have buglers also?
[46] pain,
Not that I saw. And I didn’t see the dogs at first but the hunt wrapped a few minutes ago at the adjoining nompound and I saw the horde of beagles as I drove by.
Libtard-
If the tree on your property from which the branch fell was a live tree, then you have no liability to replace anything that is damaged on her property. Additionally, landscaping of any kind is not covered from falling trees, limbs, wind, or flood, wether to her property of yours. Had she put you on notice that your tree posed a potential threat to her safety and property prior to storm, she might have a leg to stand on and your insurance carrier would likely pay for her “bushes”. If she’s that adamant, she could sue you, but your insurance carrier would defend the action. If you want to have a little fun with her, tell her you need more details on the landscaper as your insurance carrier wants to file an action for price gouging….then have your dog pee on her bushes to kill them all over again.
Adavs…Nice strategy. But why get the dog to do a job that is perfect for my son and I to perform?
Nom it would have been awesome if the had buglers. We have had fox hunts on some of the farms I bowhunt on. Let me just say it is really interesting to hear the howling, bugling and to see the folks festooned in their hunt gear. I imagine they all gather for wine and cheese after to converse upon how rough it must be a fox and a serf.
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Elmo has left the building.
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/elmo-actor-kevin-clash-resigns-amid-sex-allegation-162603932.html
Libtard (or anyone else with a better memory than mine),
Which airline was offering the deal of two free tickets if you got their credit card (with other T&C I’m sure)??
Thanks
found it
southwest
You DID find it.
ExPat [52];
Perhaps he overestimated his status – I mean he is no Roman Polansky. Or maybe the gov’t teat-sucking leftists at PBS are so homophobic that the entertainment industry will run cover for a hetero like Polansky taking advantage of jailbait, but not someone like him? Maybe’s its a racial thing — Polasky was white, after all. Those damn racists at CTW.
Funny the things that we hear about after the election. I doubt Obama would have used Big Bird in his stump speech if this hit the news three weeks ago.
Man, I could do this all afternoon. Afternoon delight? The jokes write themselves, folks.
The rot has encircled us and is festering inward. It is the end of days.
ah geez, Clot, cheer up already
that was cheery
In bosonic string theory and in the Neveu–Schwarz sector of superstring theory, can we all agree that the action in a curved background (ignoring the Fradkin–Tseytlin term for dilaton coupling) can be constructed by ‘covariantizing’ the massless closed string vertex operator with respect to target-space reparameterization invariance?
I mean, isn’t it obvious?
I thought it was JJ until I saw your handle
Ragnar says:
November 20, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Leave her a message saying you won’t pay for her bush, but will offer $20 for a hand job.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 23 million people who don’t have health insurance now will get it on one of the exchanges. More than 18 million of them will qualify for a federal subsidy averaging $6,000 a year per person. People earning up to four times the federal poverty level can get a subsidy: that’s an income of $92,000 a year for a family of four.
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/20/15309331-federal-government-releases-long-awaited-health-reform-rules?lite
yo [62];
an income of $92,000 a year for a family of four.
The dividing line between the people who get free sh!t from the government, and the people who pay for it.
Re:29
So my question to my fellow bloggers…Is there any reason for me to call or submit that insane bill to my insurance company? BTW, I’m 99% certain that those bushes did not cost anywhere near $4,000. She’s just playing the game for which I don’t blame her!
Your insurance company is not liable for the damage, her own insurance company pays it. Educate her on the law, your only responsibility is to cut the tree at your property line and leave the remainder.
Submit it to your insurance agency and they will inform her of the bad news….then her own insurance company will handle it from there.
Joyce,
Southwest.
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southwest/2ffaffiliate/
I can’t comment on JJ’s whereabouts but Shore Guy is alive and OK.
[30] lib,
I met shore. He isn’t Adubato.
He also wouldn’t tell me what he did. I joked that if he told me, he’d have to kill me. He said “no, I won’t kill you but someone else probably will.”
[50] pain,
you should bowhunt out here.
#29- Libtard –
I can’t believe that! It’s depressing. Doesn’t she care that not only is she trying to cheat someone, but you’re her neighbor. Even if she couldn’t care less about you, doesn’t it matter to her she has to live next to you? Why have all that bad blood for so many years?
Also, if you take the bill and submit it to your insurance company, could that be construed that you are sort of conceding that it was your fault? Do you think it would be better to just tell her that her claim is bogus?
Everybody wants their Pony…
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