Here it is! The first look at pending home sales (contracts) for Northern NJ.
(Source GSMLS, except Bergen- NJMLS) – Updated with 2011 Data
April Pending Home Sales (Contracts)
——————————-
Bergen County
April 2011 – 669
April 2012 – 812
April 2013 – 1016 (Up 25.1% YOY, Up 51.9% Two Year)
Essex County
April 2011 – 320
April 2012 – 352
April 2013 – 555 (Up 57.7% YOY, Up 73.4% Two Year)
Hunterdon County
April 2011 – 100
April 2012 – 126
April 2013 – 149 (Up 18.3% YOY, Up 49.0% Two Year)
Morris County
April 2011 – 394
April 2012 – 436
April 2013 – 619 (Up 42.0% YOY, Up 57.1% Two Year)
Passaic County
April 2011 – 168
April 2012 – 205
April 2013 – 320 (Up 56.1% YOY, Up 90.5% Two Year)
Somerset County
April 2011 – 280
April 2012 – 332
April 2013 – 418 (Up 25.9% YOY, Up 49.3% Two Year)
Sussex County
April 2011 – 107
April 2012 – 122
April 2013 – 175 (Up 43.4% YOY, Up 63.6% Two Year)
Union County
April 2011 – 330
April 2012 – 323
April 2013 – 470 (Up 45.5% YOY, Up 42.4% Two Year)
Warren County
April 2011 – 74
April 2012 – 73
April 2013 – 133 (Up 82.2% YOY, Up 79.7% Two Year)
First Wok
Homeowners dismayed as property investors bring in renters.
As corporate America sops up the remnants of the real estate crash, it’s not only more difficult for the traditional buyer with financing to find a home. It also has planted a niggling concern about how it could change the fabric of the American community.
Wall Street hedge funds and multibillion dollar companies, such as the Connecticut-based Starwood Property Trust, the Blackstone Group in New York and Canada’s Tricon Capital, got into the single-family home business about a year ago. The idea is to buy and rent until prices increase enough to make selling profitable.
http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/Homeowners_dismayed_as_property_investors_bring_in_renters.html
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, using an alias, checked into a hospital in February, had lap-band surgery on his stomach and has already lost 40 pounds, according to a newspaper report.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/nj/Report_Christie_had_secret_stomach_surgery.html
Amid objections from municipal officials and housing activists, the Christie administration has begun the process of seizing $150 million or more in subsidized housing money from municipalities around the state.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/nj/20130505_Housing_advocates_demand_answers_in_state_seizure_of_funds.html
re #3 – Because he wants to be POTUS.
If you thought the foreclosure timeline was long now, it’s about to get longer. This kind of thing scares the hell out of lenders’ legal departments. You really sure that lenders are just stockpiling REO, or not wanting to foreclose because the loss will his their books? Turns out they might not want to foreclose, because they might be accused of not doing enough to help.
From the WSJ:
NY AG: 2 banks violated mortgage accord
New York’s attorney general on Monday accused Wells Fargo and Bank of America of violating the terms of last year’s national mortgage settlement by failing to process hundreds of refinancing requests promptly.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has notified the national monitoring committee established to enforce the five-bank agreement, citing complaints of 210 prompt-processing violations by Wells Fargo and 129 by Bank of America. If the committee defers taking action, Schneiderman said he will sue for compliance.
Under the settlement, the banks are required to respond to mortgage modification requests within 30 days. Schneiderman said delays put homeowners further into debt from missed payments and penalties, pushing them closer to foreclosure.
“The five mortgage services that signed the national mortgage settlement are legally required to take specific, rigorous and enforceable steps to protect homeowners,” Schneiderman said. “Wells Fargo and Bank of America have flagrantly violated those obligations.”
Bank of America spokesman Richard Simon said through March it provided mortgage relief for more than 10,000 New York homeowners totaling more than $1 billion and the bank will work to quickly address the 129 customer servicing problems Schneiderman cited.
“This agreement has been good for New York, and we continue using these beneficial programs to assist troubled homeowners in New York and nationally,” he said.
Shocked! Failure? No way! It took me all of about 5 minutes, post upgrade/installation, to come to this conclusion. I thought Win8 was so piss poor that I went out and bought a Mac in protest the next day. I don’t even need to read the piece to know that this means the inclusion of a “true” desktop, ala Win7.
From MarketWatch:
Microsoft admits failure on Windows 8
Microsoft Corp. admits the failure of its Windows 8 operating system and is preparing to change key elements this year, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The tech firm’s head of marketing and finance, Tami Reller, said in an interview with the newspaper that “key aspects” of the operating system will be changed when Microsoft reveals an updated version of the operating system later this year.
One down from my tech death poll, two more to go:
Windows Tablet – Fail
RIM BB10 – Fail
I almost pissed my pants laughing a few weeks back when a Microsoft executive blamed the poor tablet sales on the fact that the screen was too large, and that what they really needed to do was release another tablet in a 7″ screen format.
Grim did you hear Gates talking about it yesterday on CNBC? Seems
Nobody told him the Metro UI is garbage.
Dang. I was looking forward to seeing Christie in some Jenny Craig commercials.
Pending Home Sales, Bergen County: Take Hackensack, Lodi, Garfield, Saddle Brook and the rest of those Southern towns and there’s the majority of your sales. When the maket gets juiced with lose money (3.4% 30 yr. fixed), then that is not a normal market. Wash out the pretenders, let the rate double and then we’ll see who’s for real. I’ll repeat for those with comprehension problems: it’s about price. Nothing else matters.
Harry saw my house premium worth +10%
POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. – The mayor of a storm-wrecked Jersey shore town said Monday that England’s Prince Harry will visit next week before heading to a news conference nearby.
Mantoloking Mayor George Nebel said Monday that Harry, an heir to the British throne, will take a short walk along Barnegat Lane, along the town’s bay front, during a brief visit on May 14. The prince will accompany Gov. Chris Christie to Seaside Heights afterward.
During a council meeting held in Point Pleasant Beach because Mantoloking’s municipal building was wrecked by the storm and attended by The Associated Press, Nebel revealed part of the prince’s itinerary for his visit to the U.S. East Coast.
“Security for this visit is being handled by the U.S. State Department so most of you won’t get anywhere near” the prince, Nebel told residents.
The prince and Christie are scheduled to take “a brief walk” along the roadway, which is in the less-seriously damaged section of the borough.
“He wanted to see the hardest-hit town in New Jersey,” Nebel said. “He’ll arrive by car, walk along the road to see 10 houses, back in the car with the governor and gone.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20130506_ap_apnewsbreakharrytovisitstormwreckednjtown.html
Eddie – save your cash and lever up already.
re: #8 – and Thorsten Heins BlackBerry’s CEO said Tablets Will Die in 5 Years. I have a feeling he won’t be CEO in 5 years.
What the f@ck is this princely visit costing us?
Harry go away, we don’t need you here, if you want to see, google it.
If I see a single NJ cop assigned to this I’ll be furious. Are you kidding me?
I think Paris Hilton wants to visit, I hear she is partying in AC. Maybe we an line up a couple of troopers to escort a high speed caravan up the parkway. Maybe we can get the Hoboken swat team on special assignment, they seem to especially good at this sort of thing.
14 – The character from Gilligan’s Island?
Take Hackensack, Lodi, Garfield, Saddle Brook and the rest of those Southern towns and there’s the majority of your sales.
You sure about that?
March 2013 SFH Sales
1) Teaneck – 61
2) Wyckoff – 40
3) Fair Lawn – 36
4) Bergenfield – 35
5) Ridgewood – 34
6) Paramus – 29
7) Dumont – 28
8) Oakland – 24
9) Englewood – 24
10) Mahwah – 21
11) Glen Rock – 21
12) Elmwood Park – 21
13) Oradell – 20
14) Hasbrouck Heights – 19
15 ) Tenafly – 18
16) Hackensack – 18
17) New Milford – 18
18) Ramsey – 18
19) Franklin Lakes – 17
20) Washington Twp – 17
21) Upper Saddle River – 16
22) Westwood – 16
23) River Edge – 16
24) River Vale – 16
25) Rutherford – 15
26) Saddle Brook – 15
27) Lodi – 15
28) Lyndhurst – 14
29) Fort Lee – 14
30) Northvale – 14
31) Closter – 12
32) Haworth – 12
33) Waldwick – 12
34) Garfield – 11
35) Wood Ridge – 11
36) Norwood – 11
37) Leonia – 11
38) Park Ridge – 10
39) Maywood – 10
40) Cresskill – 10
41) Bogota – 10
42) Cliffside Park – 9
43) Hillsdale – 9
44) Ridgefield – 9
45) Ridgefield Park – 9
46) Rochelle Park – 9
47) Allendale – 8
48) Demarest – 8
49) Harrington Park – 8
50) North Arlington – 8
51) Saddle River – 8
52) Wallington – 7
53) Midland Park – 6
54) Woodcliff Lake – 6
55) Ho Ho Kus – 5
56) Old Tappan – 5
57) Alpine – 4
58) Palisades Park – 4
59) Carlstadt – 3
60) Moonachie – 3
61) East Rutherford – 2
62) Edgewater – 2
63) Fairview – 2
64) Little Ferry – 2
65) Rockleigh – 1
66) South Hackensack – 1
grim,
Yes, I’m sure. I said Southern towns. And I already said Lodi, you have it in there. And Tenafly is in there twice. And towns like Lyndhurst, Rutherford, Bergenfield and Garfield are Southern Bergen. And where’s Wallington? According to your NAR stats (chuckle :))Teaneck leads the list… that might as well be Hackensack.
Bergenfield, Dumont, Fair Lawn, Elmwood Park are Southern towns… and turning to sh1t at record pace.
Give it a rest, gary. The coming collapse will fix everything.
The next big choice will be deciding whether housing is preferable to MREs and .223.
Where I work the field is wide open for equipment. We like to standardize globally on equipment but there is no clear standard right now. One of the things we’re trying to address is the fact that mobile employees carry around iPads, Windows Laptops, Blackberries or iPhones, and some then have desktops in the office. The goal is to consolodate equipment and provide the same experience across all types of equipment. There’s a lot of support for iPads, which will access MS Windows Virtual Desktops. Surface pro is also being tested.
14.Juice Box says:
May 7, 2013 at 7:33 am
re: #8 – and Thorsten Heins BlackBerry’s CEO said Tablets Will Die in 5 Years. I have a feeling he won’t be CEO in 5 years.
Hackensack has 43,000 people, Franklin Lakes has 10,000 people and the number of SFH sales is virtually the same? What are the number of housing units in Hackensack as compared to Franklin Lakes?
Where I live much of the housing stock is already rentals but, I continue to see SF houses first go up for sale, then sold, then contractors truck out front, then for rent. I’m amazed at how fast this happens.
2.DL says:
May 7, 2013 at 6:27 am
Homeowners dismayed as property investors bring in renters.
As corporate America sops up the remnants of the real estate crash, it’s not only more difficult for the traditional buyer with financing to find a home. It also has planted a niggling concern about how it could change the fabric of the American community.
Wall Street hedge funds and multibillion dollar companies, such as the Connecticut-based Starwood Property Trust, the Blackstone Group in New York and Canada’s Tricon Capital, got into the single-family home business about a year ago. The idea is to buy and rent until prices increase enough to make selling profitable.
They did a nice job with this house but, I dunno, rent seems abnormally high for my neighborhood. I think this was a forclosure….it sat vacant for years, then a couple with kids bought it, renovated it, now I hear they’re moving across town to a larger place and begining to renovate the new place.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8-Franklin-St-Newton-NJ-07860/39945628_zpid/
Generally the largest and most dense towns have the highest number of sales, this should not be a shocker.
However, there are exceptions, which I would attribute somewhat to desirability (or lack thereof)
For example. Paterson is much more dense than Clifton, but Clifton nets significantly more sales. Likewise, Wayne is even less dense than Clifton (and 1/3rd the population of Paterson, but still nets more sales than Paterson.
Wyckoff (Not in the top 10 population) and Ridgewood (Number 10 population rank), while large and somewhat populous, seem to be outliers in BC, with more sales than should be expected. Likewise, Garfield, being the 4th largest, you might assume a higher ranking position in sales.
Hackensack seems to be performing similarly to Passaic and Paterson, you would assume a significantly higher proportion of overall sales based on population, but this doesn’t appear to be the case.
From CoreLogic:
U.S. home prices climb 1.9% in March: CoreLogic
U.S. home prices climbed 1.9% in March, marking the 13th straight monthly rise and a 10.5% year-on-year gain, CoreLogic said Tuesday. Excluding distressed sales, the monthly gain was 2.4%. Strong gains in the western region, including a 22.2% year-on-year gain in Nevada and a 17.2% gain in California, paced the advance. Only four states saw year-on-year depreciation: Delaware, Alabama, Illinois and Virginia. CoreLogic’s pending home price indicator points to a 1.3% monthly and 9.6% year-on-year gain for April.
Ref 15: When I was in Sarajevo, one of my jobs was to deny visit requests by celebrity tourists who wanted to stop by the NATO HQ. Said no to Bianca Jagger and Lady Di. I got a lot of grief over that last one from the troops.
More local details from CoreLogic:
http://www.corelogic.com/research/hpi/corelogic-hpi-march-2013.pdf
New York – White Plains – Wayne, NY-NY – March 2013
SFH – Including Distressed – Up 7.3% YOY
SFH – Excluding Distressed – Up 8.1% YOY
New Jersey – March 2013
SFH – Including Distressed – Up 2.5% YOY
SFH – Excluding Distressed – Up 2.8% YOY
I wonder what role the National Association of Realtors and Realtors in general have played in the massive inflation and manipulation of the housing market since WWII, the congressional payoffs, advertising, etc they did to get the entire USA to believe housing is an investment, a tax write off and a way to show off your wealth rather than a place to sleep in.
I base this on an amazing discussion I had with an very old and very rich women who with her two sixty something sons who visited me and my neighbor last night.
Turns out the women is the original owner of home next door. She bought it from the builder in 1954 and moved in in 1955. Back then she said the shopping experience consisted of she visited two “paper” developments, in two different towns. She choose my town as development let you customize the home a bit.
Back then NO REALTOR, NO BANK,. NO LAWYER, NO TITLE SEARCH, NO INSPECTION etc. She said she went to the one model home that existed, she signed a standard contract and handwrote her room colors and instead of garage she wanted that a fourth bedroom and a car port beside it. She then handed the man a check for $500 dollars, Home was $13,500. Builder gave the mortgage himself a $13,000 mortgage payable over 30 years. She then moved in a few months later and started paying the mortgage.
Interesting and the most interesting part is she was Wealthy. Her new husband was a dentist and she came from a well off family. Yet a 60×100 split was fine.
Then she gives us a jaw dropper about how much the world has changed. She tells us My House the one I lived in today was owned by the wealthest man in town. Mind you I have a 60×100 split that was originally 1,450 square feet. Think about that the wealthest man in town buys a 60×100 split, what would he buy today.
So we ask who is he? She tells us Mr Breakstone himself. The heir of the Breakstone fortune. And she goes the money did not stop there. The son who grew up in the house became an international fashion designer and still lived at home for awhile after he became a multi millionaire.
So my jaw is on the ground. So you are saying Mr and Mrs Breakstone lived in their starter home for what looks like 25 years and their son who was a fashion designer making big bucks in the 1970s still lived at home. She said we all did. My late husband had a huge dentist practice back in the day, back then their were no fences between the house, it was all one big backyard, kids played together the neighborhood was on big family, we all bought in 1954-1956 when homes were built as our first homes and we stayed till we sold to retire.
WOW. Compare that to today. Amazing. realtors would go BK if couples just bought one inexpensive starter home and never moved on.
55262CAH3
MBIA INC SR NT 6.40000% 08/15/2022
Bid Ask
Price Price 99.199
MBIA bonds trading around PAR. Suck it Chifi!!
JJ – My parents purchased and sold many homes over the years, never once used a Realtor that I can remember. Deals done over coffee and Entennmens, sealed with a handshake, and they even gave mortgages. Their rentals are all done word of mouth, my Mom never seems to have problem finding tenants well before the current ones move out.
22237AAB2
COUNTRYWIDE CAP III SB CAP-B 8.05000% 06/15/2027
126.998
One more to suck Chifi, almost at 127!!
Lots of fat stacks of Jessie Pinkton cash made by MBIA bondholders and a bit by countrywide and merril bondholders yesterday as uncertainty removed.
I still cant get over country wide bonds at 127!!! We had them BK just four years ago
So think about it, what purpose does a realtor serve. They do get higher prices for sellers and get it sold quicker as there is great exposure.
But every seller was a buyer. And when they bought most likely they were young, newly married, wife planning to leave work force soon and finances were very tight. The realtor in effect getting top dollar for seller just overcharges buyer which gives him 30 years of added expenses and in return when he is 75 and selling and kids are out of school and weddings paid for the realtor gets him a lot more on his sale just resulting in the next young couples 30 years of pain.
grim says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:02 am
JJ – My parents purchased and sold many homes over the years, never once used a Realtor that I can remember. Deals done over coffee, sealed with a handshake, and they even gave mortgages.
One of the widely accepted misconceptions surrounding the so-called “housing recovery” fanfared by misleading headlines such as this “Remodeling activity keeps up positive momentum”, which in reality has merely turned out to be a housing bubble in various liquified “flip that house” MSAs (offset by continuing deteriorating conditions in those places where the Fed’s trillions in excess reserves have trouble reaching coupled with ongoing foreclosure stuffing), is that “renovation spending”, the amount of cash spent to upgrade and update a fixer-upper, has surged. Sadly, this is merely the latest lie about the US economy: as the attached chart showing renovation spending in the past 6 months, it has absolutely imploded, confirming that not only is a broad housing recovery a myth (instead of localized pockets of bubbly liquidity here and there), but that the US home-owning household is now more tapped out than at any time in the past two years.
http://www.zerohedge.com/
Wrong link. Here’s the correct one.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-07/no-recovery-here-either-home-renovation-spending-plummets-2010-levels
Hey, was wondering if I can get your opinions on whether or not to get permits for work.
Bought a distressed house to live in. All the bathrooms and the kitchen need to be renovated. We are not moving any plumbing or electrical, just replacing what is there. I have a contractor who can do the work for me, who told me permits may be required. but it will be easier not to get them.
What are the risks of doing the work without permits? Will it be a big problem down the road? Thanks for any advice you all can give.
What’s the purpose of not getting permits? I can’t think of much work that technically wouldn’t require a permit. The suppposed idea of the permit system is to protect the homeowner from a contractor who might not know what the fcuk he is doing or might cut corners putting your family at risk.
Yes the downside is the assessor will want to have a look and jack up your taxes……personally I feel this motivates people to aviod the permit process and put themselves in danger.
Lastly, NJ State law says that you do not have to make final payment to the contractor if his work does not pass inspection. I was able to use this as leverage once…..I talked to the inspector on the final day, and talked to him about some things that bothered me about the final parts of my renovation….he failed the contractor who came racing back to the house to finish the job properly….contractors are sometimes anxious to finish up and move on to the next job…
37.renovater says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:20 am
Hey, was wondering if I can get your opinions on whether or not to get permits for work.
Bought a distressed house to live in. All the bathrooms and the kitchen need to be renovated. We are not moving any plumbing or electrical, just replacing what is there. I have a contractor who can do the work for me, who told me permits may be required. but it will be easier not to get them.
What are the risks of doing the work without permits? Will it be a big problem down the road? Thanks for any advice you all can give.
re: – 22 – ” standardize globally on equipment ” Defacto software standard is now ActiveSynch for calendar, address book and email. Blackberry no longer supports synch via their Enterprise server so you need to connect to an ActiveSynch server directly with the new BB10 meaning more $$ for servers and Microsoft Cals. They basically tossed out their synch business that made them successful and adopted the Apple model and added their Enterprise VPN security, which Apple and Android lack.
We have a dozen or so new BB10’s it is an OK device. I would not say it is a easy to use as an iPhone or Android, their is allot of hope for the keyboard model, but it usually old guard management who can’t handle the touch screen or in some cases see it. LOL! They will be niche from now on. I don’t see the fan boys running to Blackberry anytime soon.
Total cost of permits for all the work I did was somewhere around 800-1000 or so, a minor expense in comparison to the total cost/work done.
Do you know this contractor personally? Family? Close friend? The township will tell you that the reason for the permits are to protect you from the contractor. Final payments should never be made until permits are closed. Inspectors will point out problems to be corrected.
That said, permits open the door up to having to do considerably more work than necessary to bring the construction up to code. If you open a wall, touch the plumbing or the electric, the inspectors are going to want some amount of rework (unless it presents a major problem, rehab subcode, etc).
There is some amount of cascade that happens in these situations.
Electric is a good example, remodel 2/3 bathrooms, a kitchen, and add some lighting, and there is a good probability that you are going to exceed the capacity of your 100amp service, requiring you upgrade your electrical service and panel.
For example, electric double oven and an induction cooktop? Two appliances alone might require two separate 40 amp circuits. Add some dedicated lines for GFIs, no way an old panel/service can support this.
Some will argue that this is exactly the point, and that this kind of work should be “done right” and not short-cutted.
Grim,
That was my main concern. We are on a limited budget and if the inspectors start requiring all sorts of unforeseen upgrades, I am afraid costs will start to spiral.
The contractor has done work for close friends, gets good references and is otherwise properly licensed. I just want to make sure costs stay under control.
Am I taking on serious risk just to save money by not getting the permits?
Permits do not always serve any purpose. For instance I used a “technically” unlicensed contractor to do my renovation. Why do I say technically because he is a licensed New York City Contractor not in my town.
He said if I want to do it with permits the town will make him pay a fee which he will pass to me. Then for sign off on electrical and plumbing he needs to pay a “licensed” guy in my two to get the sign off. $3,000 for them to sign paperwork. Then to do work with a permit he has to get a dumpster, then he needs to show evidence of workers comp and insurance which I will pay for and then if he moves walls I may need to hire an architect.
He said he can and will go this route. He said if I was doing an extension or adding a bathroom or touching an exterior wall he recommends I go this route.
However, it would have added like 15K to my renovations. Opened up a huge can of worms with town and delayed project. For instance bathroom and laundry I moved walls that alone would have been a can of worms.
The bank when I sell will count rooms. I have on CO laundry room, family room and bathroom in lower level. And it gives the square footage of combined three rooms, not even a break out of each room.
Now remember as a flood victim all permit fees were waived for me. But once I follow code it is a nightmare. And also remember, code is code in place at time house was built. If you do it with permits you have to follow 2013 code which is a lot stricter.
When you buy a house only records people ask for are brand new renovations. My house had four owners, one major flood and a builder who is long dead. Who the heck knows what was done and by who. I have the records for the two extensions done and nothing else.
By the way does your town let you “self-contract” it is a loop hole. When I did my renovation I had a “handyman” contract. Contract stated workers were doing specific jobs and acting on behalf of homeowner, who was on the job site.
At one time during arrangement, a “real” contractor corned my guy when he went to get coffee asking him what he was doing in “his” town and was he a “licensed” contractor. He told guy. I am not a contractor, I am a handiman, hired by owner of house to assist owner in renovation. The owner is home right now and is self contracting and I need to get back to help him hang sheet rock.
Guy said i am sorry for my mistake, the owner is “on the job”
I took off work for a month, wore my workboots, baseball cap, did not shave and was ‘on the job” Legally I have the right to work on my own house and legally I have the right to hire handimen to assist me.
renovater says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:49 am
Grim,
That was my main concern. We are on a limited budget and if the inspectors start requiring all sorts of unforeseen upgrades, I am afraid costs will start to spiral.
The contractor has done work for close friends, gets good references and is otherwise properly licensed. I just want to make sure costs stay under control.
Am I taking on serious risk just to save money by not getting the permits?
Legally I have the right to work on my own house and legally I have the right to hire handimen to assist me.
Sure, nobody said you didn’t, but that doesn’t exclude you from having to pull permits, meet current code where applicable, and get intermediate and final inspections where necessary. I don’t know why you are saying it’s a loophole, it isn’t. Homeowner can be the contractor in most places.
I was the contractor on my remodel. But that doesn’t mean that the sub-permits I pulled for plumbing and electrical didn’t get sealed by a licensed plumber and electrician.
It varies town by town, but depending on what you are doing, you are going to get some push back if they feel you aren’t qualified. For example, if you went to the town and tried to pull a permit yourself to upgrade the electrical service in your house from 100 to 200 amps, most likely you’ll get quizzed, and if they don’t feel you are qualified, they are going to start asking you to provide drawings and cite specific codes.
Why? Because an idiot with no idea might possibly kill himself, or burn his house down, trying to DIY this. Even worse, he might kill somebody else. Not saying that there aren’t folks that can do this. Secondarily, they are trying to save you money, because when it’s done wrong, you’ll be tearing it out. When the town sees that your bathroom venting is improperly sized, they aren’t going to care when you cry to them about having to tear down a wall with $1000 worth of glass tile on it (that will go straight into the garbage) to fix it.
If you hire an electrician as a subcontractor, he’ll most likely want to seal the permits for this component of the work. Why? Because it makes it much easier. When the town sees a seal, they generally don’t ask the same kinds of questions. If you need a bunch of day laborers to help you demo a couple of rooms, that’s another matter entirely. Realize though, that you are going to be responsible for ensuring them in the case of an accident.
Secondary reason is that when you fail, because you did it wrong, they aren’t going to stand around and educate you on the right way to do it. They’ll say FAIL, here is your red sticker, call us back when the work is done right.
If we implement the Surface Pro, it will use activesync. All Apple and Android devices will use the Good app. We might also allow users to have a windows phone if they like….
No BB10 devices currently. Engineering is still playing around with BES10. I guess they’re trying to figure out if they’re going to use BES or Activesync.
39.Juice Box says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:33 am
re: – 22 – ” standardize globally on equipment ” Defacto software standard is now ActiveSynch for calendar, address book and email. Blackberry no longer supports synch via their Enterprise server so you need to connect to an ActiveSynch server directly with the new BB10 meaning more $$ for servers and Microsoft Cals. They basically tossed out their synch business that made them successful and adopted the Apple model and added their Enterprise VPN security, which Apple and Android lack.
We have a dozen or so new BB10′s it is an OK device. I would not say it is a easy to use as an iPhone or Android, their is allot of hope for the keyboard model, but it usually old guard management who can’t handle the touch screen or in some cases see it. LOL! They will be niche from now on. I don’t see the fan boys running to Blackberry anytime soon.
Officials say the building’s owner illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install generators. Vibrations from garment machines and from the generators were thought to have contributed to the collapse.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/07/bangladesh-building-collapse-death-toll/2140451/
42.JJ says:
May 7, 2013 at 10:17 am
Permits do not always serve any purpose.
Re: Permits. Yes, they are a pain in the patootie. But if you live in a town like mine, and you do renos with no permits, when you sell they will sock you big-time. My town is now requiring pre-sale inspections, specifically looking for upgrades where no permits were pulled. Of course my gorgeous new deck has cracks in the support posts already with no weight on it other than two cast aluminum chairs and a Weber spirit grill…and it passed inspection. So there we are.
Permits? What’s a permit?
I do just about all the work myself. Sometimes, when I begin electrical or plumbing work,I plan ahead. As I march into the local den of ‘High Priests’ – municipal code enforcement, I start quizzing the inspectors as to whether they are familiar with new or seldom used technologies that one can employ in the particular job. They say ‘huh’. It puts them back on their heels. Then they become easier to deal with.
This is for my personal residence. In NJ, a homeowner can do any and all work him/herself, even be own architect. Except Freon. That’s regulated at the federal level. But, if you get that on-line Freon cert, you’re good.
On the other hand, income properties have stricter regs. Can’t do electrical nor plumbing. HVAC is OK, unless you pipe a boiler that also heats potable water.
JJ, are you implying that in LI, each contractor has to be approved by each town? That’s payoff city.
On permits, if it’s not really structural work, or major plumbing, or major electrical. I.e it is principally cosmetic and you are aware of how the construction work should be done, then permits are a waste. Then again I have some family in the construction business and have seen things signed off by building inspectors that most certainly was done wrong and will eventually fail, so a permit is no guarantee things are done right, most inspectors have their proverbial thumbs up their asses. How much do you trust your contractor and yourself to be vigilant that things are done correctly?
Won’t need to pull permits when we’re roaming the country in armed packs and sleeping in the open.
Fading to black.
Why would an inspector ever be in my house? There is a huge gray area called “in-kind” repairs. Up to a certain amount of renovation to an existing bathroom or kitchen is considered “in-kind” beyond a certain threshold it requires a permit. I could never get a straight answer what an “in-kind” repair. All I got is inspector will come by and tell me if it needs a permit or not.
I would argue you open a whole can of worms when you sell your house with permits. Look at my case. My flood policy says no claim ever. I filed no permits for repairs. I go to sell house in five years. Everything is cool. Now if I got permits, I opened walls, moved walls, changed sewer pipe, changed oil tank, changed electrical, did mold abatement. Isnt that a huge can of worms. I mean right now my house looks good, zero evidence of any damage. My taxes are low. Everything is great. Why open a can of worms.
Condo I am closing on I already grieved taxes I showed storm pictures damage stuff blah blah blah, it is all being fixed anyhow. I dont want can of worms opened. Like mold, absestos, lead, I dont want to know.
Grim says:
May 7, 2013 at 10:30 am
Legally I have the right to work on my own house and legally I have the right to hire handimen to assist me.
Sure, nobody said you didn’t, but that doesn’t exclude you from having to pull permits, meet current code where applicable, and get intermediate and final inspections where necessary. I don’t know why you are saying it’s a loophole, it isn’t. Homeowner can be the contractor in most places.
In Long Island each contractor has to be licensed in each individual town. For instance Long Beach NY you have to be a Long Beach Electrician, Long Beach Plumber, Long Beach General Contractor, same for Freeport Etc. In addition you have to be a Nassau County Contractor. Fees Fees Fees. This is all passed to homeowners
Long Beach NY is the worst of the worst. Homeowners are prohibited from doing home improvement work. Putting in a new outlet, hanging sheetrock even fixing a leaky faucet is against the law. The homeowner has to pay a licensed Long Beach person.
JJ, are you implying that in LI, each contractor has to be approved by each town? That’s payoff city.
All electrical work must be done by a City of Long Beach licensed Electrician.
All Plumbing work must be done by a City of Long Beach licensed Plumber.
Homeowners may not complete electrical or plumbing work themselves.
In my town they expect you to pull a permit to replace your water heater. And if your water heater blows at 4 PM on a Friday, too bad. Shut down the water to your house and stay at a hotel. No building department till Monday.
Of course my gorgeous new deck has cracks in the support posts already with no weight on it other than two cast aluminum chairs and a Weber spirit grill…and it passed inspection.
‘Cracks’ in treated lumber you mention are typical and not indicative of structural problems. It’s hard to find a 6×6 or larger post that doesn’t over time develop splits, etc, even when brand new. These may split a bit when they start to dry out.
Shut down the water to your house and stay at a hotel. No building department till Monday.
Most towns allow for retroactive permits for emergency work like this. Adding a second level to your house and residing, new roof, is not emergency work, so don’t try it.
When I am in Home depot I see people all the time buy them right off shelf, throw them in truck and bring them home.
How does building dept know you put in a water heater?
Does the permit cost money? Is it free? Or is it something where only folks who are licensed plumbers in your town can install and town wants to get fees.
Also how do you know you even need permits for half the stuff.
My neighbor a block away is a licensed plumber Local plumbing store had his card out and there was something I could not fix myself. Told me what to buy, and said he would swing by in the morning and give me the “fishing money” price.
“fishing money” price is small cash jobs, I buy material, he swings by saturday or sunday, does nto tell wife and I pay cash and I get no receipt and no permit.
Guy was excelent he is like 55 doing it for 35 years. Same for my electrician he has his get me out of house spending money for grandkids price. My contractors wife is the book keeper when I pay by check he has to record the income his wife has to approve price and she has expensive tastes. The between me and you price without his wife involved is much better.
I swear contractor pricing is crazy.
Jill says:
May 7, 2013 at 12:07 pm
In my town they expect you to pull a permit to replace your water heater. And if your water heater blows at 4 PM on a Friday, too bad. Shut down the water to your house and stay at a hotel. No building department till Monday.
529s or child finanical investment vehicle of your choice.
So if your kid was born yesterday at these all time market highs, would you be putting those checks into a 529? Anyone confident that 5 years from now, the $1000 you put in will be worth at least $1000?
Anyone have a child in ’07/’08 who only saw the childs investment portfolio start to produce a positive return in the past few months?
What is a parent to do?
(54) That’s legalized extortion.
(59) Make yourself poor on paper. Don’t forget, for every dollar in that 529, the college will give you one dollar less.
Use your stock grants to pay for it!!!! It is a bull market baby!!!!!!!!!!
250k says:
May 7, 2013 at 1:42 pm
529s or child finanical investment vehicle of your choice.
So if your kid was born yesterday at these all time market highs, would you be putting those checks into a 529? Anyone confident that 5 years from now, the $1000 you put in will be worth at least $1000?
Anyone have a child in ’07/’08 who only saw the childs investment portfolio start to produce a positive return in the past few months?
What is a parent to do?
Look here are todays FDIC insured CD rates. This is why folks are buying stocks plain and simple
Name Coupon Coupon Frequency Maturity Call Protected
Susquehanna Bank 0.20% At Maturity 8/22/2013 * Yes
Bank of India 0.35% At Maturity 11/13/2013 * Yes
Fifth Third Bank 0.35% At Maturity 2/18/2014 * Yes
Fifth Third Bank 0.40% At Maturity 5/15/2014 * Yes
Discover Bank 0.40% Semi-Annual 11/17/2014 * Yes
Discover Bank 0.55% Semi-Annual 5/15/2015 * Yes
Goldman Sachs Bank USA 0.55% Semi-Annual 11/16/2015 * Yes
American Express Centurion Bank 0.70% Semi-Annual 5/16/2016 * Yes
American Express Centurion Bank 0.90% Semi-Annual 5/16/2017 * Yes
Discover Bank 1.20% Semi-Annual 5/15/2018 * Yes
GE Capital Bank 1.35% Semi-Annual 5/10/2019 * Yes
Goldman Sachs Bank USA 1.80% Semi-Annual 5/15/2020 * Yes
Goldman Sachs Bank USA 2.35% Semi-Annual 5/15/2023 * Yes
BOKF, National Association 2.75% Semi-Annual 5/10/2028 *NO
Dollar cost average into equity funds (via 529).
http://www.moneynews.com/InvestingAnalysis/Shiller-stocks-investment-homes/2013/05/01/id/502279
Or hire somebody like Chifi. He probably has it all figured out.
58.250k says:
May 7, 2013 at 1:42 pm
529s or child finanical investment vehicle of your choice.
So if your kid was born yesterday at these all time market highs, would you be putting those checks into a 529? Anyone confident that 5 years from now, the $1000 you put in will be worth at least $1000?
Anyone have a child in ’07/’08 who only saw the childs investment portfolio start to produce a positive return in the past few months?
What is a parent to do?
considering, housing, bonds, stocks, commodities, housing, art, collector cars etc,are all up the last four years hard to imagine someone with young children would have much to worry about in saving for college. It is folks whose kids are seniors now who got screwed, they were selling 2008-2013 assets to pay for college, ouch
Did you buy this before or after it was a BOA credit? I have some, but I bought them in 2009…
JJ says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:03 am
22237AAB2
COUNTRYWIDE CAP III SB CAP-B 8.05000% 06/15/2027
126.998
One more to suck Chifi, almost at 127!!
Lots of fat stacks of Jessie Pinkton cash made by MBIA bondholders and a bit by countrywide and merril bondholders yesterday as uncertainty removed.
I still cant get over country wide bonds at 127!!! We had them BK just four years ago
Permits are a major PITA, but there are times to pull them and times when not to pull them. If you are hiring a contractor and you decide to let them work permit free, you better brush up on the code yourself. And there’s local code as well as state code to be aware of.
When we did the reno work on our GR home, we pulled permits of the self-contract type. For 6 months, my contractor was my supposed cousin. He did all the work, but I was involved enough to be able to answer any inspectors questions as was I familiar with the code. The funniest part of the process was when the town asked for an electric drawing for my kitchen. I did it in about 30 minutes using Google SketchUp or whatever that cloud tool is called. It was so crude that I was embarrassed to turn it in. When I asked if they thought it would work, the inspector said it was one of the best ones he had ever seen. Oy vey. Best of all, the drawing had like 2 sockets, 3 switches 4 high hats and 2 ceiling fans. By the time the job was finished we had 5 sockets 8 high hats and three fans. Of course, when the final inspection occurred, the drawing was nowhere to be found.
The real big issue with pulling permits are the delays it causes when the inspectors are backed up. Nothing like waiting a week for an electrical or plumbing check.
A lot of what was discussed here makes sense. If you are adding fixtures, pull the permit. If it’s aesthetic work, then don’t bother. If it’s structural, pull em’ unless you have some way of knowing the work is to code.
If you don’t pull them, the penalty if you are caught is minor unless the inspector is a total douche. Usually, they’ll let you pull retroactive permits with a small fine $100 to $500. Though if it’s structural and the work looks poor, they can make you rip it down.
So if in doubt, go the permit route. If you have a clue and it’s either structural or you are adding fixtures, pull a self permit. If it’s all replacement work? Don’t bother, just make sure the contractor is good.
on the 529.
17 years is not really a great length of time to try to ride out the hills of a multi-year bear or bull market. But where else are you going to put your money? My college savings are in a multi-family rental property, but this too has risk. Though, I think over 17 years, I should find a decent time to hop out.
The bottom line is that 17 years is not enough time to really achieve much help through compounding. Give it 30 and now you’re talking (unless you’re Japanese). Give it 40 and you are golden. Both financially and in your age.
Captain Cheapo (and anyone else who cares to chime in) – do you have any recommendations on a good insurance agent? I’m moving out of my current multi into a 2nd multi. I purchased it a few months back and the renovations are now complete (FHA 203K). So now I have to cancel my current vacant house policy on #2 and change to regular homeowners, and also change the policy on #1 from owner-occupied to investment property. Thanks in advance.
An analysis of Dollar Cost Averaging…
http://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2012/05/16/the-myth-of-dollar-cost-averaging-dca/
I have had nothing but a pleasurable experience with MetLife. These guys seem to enjoy paying out claims too (strange, I know). But ultimately with insurance, pricing is really all that matters. Get multiple quotes and go with who is the cheapest. It’s what I did and they actually happened to be really good. I use them on both my primary and investment property. But with all insurance companies, loyalty is good for nothing except higher pricing. I found this out with Liberty Mutual when they bumped our car insurance up by 40% with no explanation. I got a quote from Geico for what their insurance was originally and they point blank said, “you’re due for a claim.” Of course, a year later, they begged to have us back at the original rate. I told them we’d be back once Geico tries to jack up our prices. I really think their business model is to try to take as much advantage as is possible of their current customers, most who are probably too lazy to get new quotes every couple of years.
I’m the worst. I just fax my current declarations page to as many companies as I know with the prices whited out. I even leave the company name on their. Otherwise, when pricing insurance policies, you never know if you are comparing apples to apples as there are so many variations that can be made to a policy.
Robert Albright
Financial Services Representative
701 East Gate Drive, Suite 115
Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054
Office 856-638-4428
Cell 240-215-5972
Fax 856-235-4603
ralbright@metlife.com
I bought this at 79. I also bought MBI at 68.
It is a beer Beer-Pretzels bond play as you learned in first year business school.
chicagofinance says:
May 7, 2013 at 2:17 pm
Did you buy this before or after it was a BOA credit? I have some, but I bought them in 2009…
JJ says:
May 7, 2013 at 9:03 am
22237AAB2
COUNTRYWIDE CAP III SB CAP-B 8.05000% 06/15/2027
126.998
One more to suck Chifi, almost at 127!!
DCA is bullsh1t. Investing regularly regardless of the ups and downs of the market is not. The real issue is simply saving, rather than buying fancy cars and iPhones.
Metlife sucks. They sent some inspector to my house who would barely throw me a bone. Had to lend him chalk to put down damage.
Amerprise car insurance is the best. Since 2006 I had a window blown out with a bb gun, one car in a tbone total and two cars flooded and my rates are still the same. Dont know if they do home
State farm Sucks when the guy hit my caddie they were cheap in paying out.
GEICO is ok but they cancel you after first claim
All- state blows.
I need to get home owners insurance next week but I am stuck with Met. They wont write policies too close to water, no one does. But Met allows you to add a policy to an existing policy.
Thanks for the advice all!
JJ,
You obviously don’t know how to talk to an adjustor.
I don’t have flood insurance. I called Met life my homeowners to see what bones he would throw me. I shook a few grand out of him and that was that.
Libtard in Union says:
May 7, 2013 at 3:40 pm
JJ,
You obviously don’t know how to talk to an adjustor.
I have no opinion…but is that really true? I thought that you need to be careful with all the new exclusions and limits that are being slammed into the contract language…..
NJM absolutely murders everyone out there…..I think USAA may be better, although I heard some recent bad experiences…..bottom line 2013 with the combination of Sandy claims, Obamunism/reserve requirements, and the ZIRP and really messed things up……. caveat emptor!
Libtard in Union says:
May 7, 2013 at 3:07 pm
But ultimately with insurance, pricing is really all that matters. Get multiple quotes and go with who is the cheapest.
ZIRP HAVE really
Also, our health care coverage is on a July 1-June 30 fiscal year. Affordable HC Act is causing a 10% rise in our premium with an increase in deductible for our HDHP to $4,000 from $3,300 & a lower lifetime maximum…….thank you…..
Chifi, with ZIRP and TBTF and FEMA pumping billions into NJ and NY we are all loaded with fat stacks of cash.
Next up inflation and rate hikes. We are blowing up a big fat bubble
Gone fishin’.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/may/07/mystery-solved-hertz-relocating-headquarters-lee/
Wish my company would move to Naples.
One day closer to death.
Prepare for the end of days.
Wife was down at Hudson County Court House and sent to not one but two murder trials today, she was excused from both due to breastfeeding. Apparently nobody wants to server on murder trials nearly everyone tried to get out of it, especially when they say there are 40 witnesses to testify in a murder trial.
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2013/05/opening_statements_expected_th.html
Libtard
I got flagged for no inspection on my furnace a year after it was installed, as part of a temp co issue I forgot about when we bought the place. I bought and installed it myself.
Had to go through the towns permit process including providing a drawing.
Grabbed my daughters crayons and did it with those. I did use blue for the return and red for the supply. Went through no problem.
Yeah I don’t like carbs…
Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.
http://www.sott.net/article/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
We’re back to bidding wars.
mls # 2994809, list price $1,295,000, sale price $1,380,000, 8 days on market
mls # 2997251, list price $895,000, sale price $967,500, 25 days on market
mls # 3002222, list price $999,000, sale price $1,261,500, 13 days on market
mls # 2992824, list price $999,000, sale price $1,200,000, 10 days on market
What goes down must come up?
Survey: US home prices up 10.5 pct. in past year
A measure of US home prices rose 10.5 percent over past year, as housing recovery endures.
http://news.yahoo.com/survey-us-home-prices-10-130144616.html
Apparently in my price range only a 840 sq ft waterfront boat house is available in Naples yes only has room for a boat.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/48-Covey-Ln-Naples-FL-34114/54160111_zpid/
Juice [86];
Here’s the thing I can’t get past with Taubes: I can buy the chemistry argument. But he cites lots of anthropological studies that he says show that a diet heavy in carbs, particularly processed sugars and starches, leads to fat generation. How does this square with 3 billion generally skinny people living on rice in the Asian sub-continent?
Moose – not a Doc but I do have plenty of anecdotal on carbs. I am close to as carb free as you can be now. Hopefully it won’t kill my thin ass.
Anecdotal again on my home purchase, we close soon -Title Insurance search speaks volumes. Homeowner won’t be buying much of a boat on my dime down in Florida where they are moving, seems they sucked most of the equity out over the last few years. My forgoing a few things in inspection may bite me in the arse.
Caveat emptor
Juice: do you need any pointers in the area, or do you know people down here already? Cliff Note version….. Route 35 is a lot of schlock from town of Hazmat down to Chapel Hill, although there are a few exceptions to the rule……cross over 35 at Chapel Hill, and you will be stunned how rural it is over there (area between 35 and Locust)……..starting in about 3 weeks, you will need to selectively learn when to avoid the GSP……if you do not know about Pier Village in Long Branch, consider checking it out….. a good generic clean beach is Spring Lake……. Sea Bright/Monmouth Beach is not public…… a quirky and close beach is Ocean Grove….kind of odd people there though…..ask NJ Coast for more info….
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