Here it is! The first look at pending home sales (contracts) for Northern NJ.
(Source GSMLS, except Bergen- NJMLS) – Updated with 2011/2010 Data
June Pending Home Sales (Contracts)
——————————-
Bergen County
June 2010 – 711
June 2011 – 745
June 2012 – 868
June 2013 – 944 (Up 8.8% YOY, Up 21.1% Two Year, Up 32.8% Three Year)
Essex County
June 2010 – 318
June 2011 – 340
June 2012 – 365
June 2013 – 478 (Up 31.0% YOY, Up 40.6% Two Year, Up 50.6% Three Year)
Hunterdon County
June 2010 – 109
June 2011 – 106
June 2012 – 136
June 2013 – 160 (Up 17.6% YOY, Up 51.0% Two Year, Up 46.8% Three Year)
Morris County
June 2010 – 345
June 2011 – 416
June 2012 – 465
June 2013 – 516 (Up 11.0% YOY, Up 24.0% Two Year, Up 49.6% Three Year)
Passaic County
June 2010 – 169
June 2011 – 185
June 2012 – 224
June 2013 – 321 (Up 43.3% YOY, Up 73.5% Two Year, Up 89.9% Three Year)
Somerset County
June 2010 – 266
June 2011 – 297
June 2012 – 319
June 2013 – 403 (Up 26.3% YOY, Up 35.7% Two Year, Up 51.5% Three Year)
Sussex County
June 2010 – 103
June 2011 – 130
June 2012 – 113
June 2013 – 163 (Up 46.0% YOY, Up 25.4% Two Year, Up 58.3% Three Year)
Union County
June 2010 – 245
June 2011 – 309
June 2012 – 354
June 2013 – 411 (Up 16.1% YOY, Up 33.0% Two Year, Up 67.8% Three Year)
Warren County
June 2010 – 68
June 2011 – 87
June 2012 – 75
June 2013 – 99 (Up 32.0% YOY, Up 13.8% Two Year, Up 45.6% Three Year)
Strong showing for June, but it appears as if the pace of increases is slowing a bit as we compound strong year over year/double digit growth. Interest rates starting to take a toll? Lack of inventory?
Sales about to fall off a cliff again. No more cheap monetary crack to be had.
@BloombergNews: Gold futures tumble below $1,200 an ounce, extending slump to 34-month low |
I’ll probably get back in around 900..
BTFD
Why no Hudson County data? Especially since it is so prominently featured in your site header image.
New Jersey Adopts $33 Billion Budget
by: Robert Slavin
Friday, June 28, 2013
New Jersey government adopted a $33 billion fiscal year 2014 budget on Friday when Gov. Chris Christie signed it.
Now get ready for $33 billion in taxes!!
Hudson is split across 3 local boards and 2 MLS systems, and I only have access to 1 of the 2. So, it’s essentially, the same reason I don’t post Monmouth/Ocean stats … Money.
If you are willing to donate the few hundred dollars a year it’ll cost me to join the boards and pay for the MLS dues, I can post the stats…
At this point in time, donations no longer even pay for my hosting fees, so I’m not so keen on paying out of my pocket to provide the stats out of the goodness of my heart.
blah, blah, blah…..(i.e. I’m cheap, but I can buy an EV)…….
grim says:
July 1, 2013 at 8:31 am
Hudson is split across 3 local boards and 2 MLS systems, and I only have access to 1 of the 2. So, it’s essentially, the same reason I don’t post Monmouth/Ocean stats … Money.
If you are willing to donate the few hundred dollars a year it’ll cost me to join the boards and pay for the MLS dues, I can post the stats…
At this point in time, donations no longer even pay for my hosting fees, so I’m not so keen on paying out of my pocket to provide the stats out of the goodness of my heart.
The question is what constitutes FD? Hummus? KY Jelly?
EV is awesome, already put 240 miles on it, and we only picked it up around noon on Saturday.
Tanking up the Subaru would have cost more than $60 to do that driving (I need to fill it with 93 octane). Electric/charging costs to drive the same distance is less than $12.
We usually fill up the car once a week, so my monthly savings on fuel should be $190.
Still waiting to hear what my savings on insurance will be, my rep told me probably around half of what I’m paying for the Subaru (Honda pays for collision).
Figure I’ll save $40 a month easy there, bringing the total monthly savings up to $230.
Lease cost me $258 a month, which means I get to drive an EV and give a big FU to the middle east for $28 a month. That’s less than a dinner out, hell it is less than takeout. This thing is a bargain.
Stu – I don’t know what I was supposed to pay at lease signing, but all they took out of pocket was 258.58 or something. I didn’t pay any doc fees, title, registration, or taxes. I was kind of surprised. The finance guy told me everything was covered. He could have been wrong, and I’m expecting a call on it, but they haven’t asked for more than the first payment yet. The lease docs do have fees totaling around $550 for title fees, registration, doc fees, misc, but that’s it.
if you were cheap you would go to propertyroom.com and buy a used bike for $5 bucks instead of an electric car
Oh, and I get a free Leviton L2 fast charger for free out of the deal, with a retail price of $1400.
Factoring that in, and this car isn’t costing me a penny to own for 3 years (versus my Subaru).
My neighbor borrowed a car for a year or two. Best nation is a donation.
I think it is a great deal if you drive. You drove it 250 miles in last few days. My Caddie I bought used for cash in December hit 300 miles on odometer this Sunday. Gas is really not an issue. I just buy it cash and wait til it is stolen, totaled or flooded till I get a new one. Faith of my last three cars.
grim says:
July 1, 2013 at 9:20 am
Oh, and I get a free Leviton L2 fast charger for free out of the deal, with a retail price of $1400.
Factoring that in, and this car isn’t costing me a penny to own for 3 years (versus my Subaru).
#11
Does the battery have a memory? Can the battery be charged without waiting for the” charge battery light”? How long before battery start losing charges faster? I know on my tablet,I used to get 18 hours before empty today I only get 12 hours
Great blog u have here Grim. I have a question for the board.
I have a second home in Florida that is slightly under water…didn’t think I could refi but got a letter from existing lender that said i qualified for a HARP loan and given that the rate on the property is at >7% I pursued it. They offered me 4.8% but I found these other guys online (proficio bank) who offered me 4.25% so went with them…this was in late March. The underwriting process has been a nightmare….asked me for so much information, often times duplicative and unnecessary that it has taken months to get to the finish line. I knew credit standards had tightened but this was ridiculous….this is even with them telling me that I was a shoe in (annual income is almost twice the size of the loan I am trying to refi and credit score is very good, high 700s across the board). Then I found out that proficio bank was basically acting as a broker and had found quicken loans to be the new lender….so quicken had to now also put me through the underwriting process….incredibly more paperwork and more delays. Of course rates jumped in the meantime, which sucks. Locked in a new refi rate of 4.75% a few weeks ago (thankfully because rates have jumped more since then). I was about to set a closing date and quicken loans suddenly had my loan “under audit” and not only will they not tell me why but they won’t tell me how long it will take to get this resolved. I feel like I am being held hostage, the skeptic in me thinks that they are just waiting for my 30 day lock to expire so they can bang me with an even higher rate. What can I do? I have been at this for months so ideally don’t want to go through anybody else, particularly since rates are higher now. Has been a terrible experience. Any advice would be much appreciated.
didn’t think I could refi but got a letter from existing lender that said i qualified for a HARP loan and given that the rate on the property is at >7% I pursued it. They offered me 4.8% but I found these other guys online (proficio bank) who offered me 4.25% so went with them…
Yeah, this is where you went wrong. You should have been suspect of the potential savings. Lots of times these “banks” or “lenders” aren’t even brokers, they are just straight lead aggregators who sell your information for a fee or a cut.
I’m all for shopping around, but sometimes the lowest cost lender should be looked at with some skepticism, and a reliable lender that can consistently close (and resolve issues) at a few bps higher is a better deal.
Not the first I’ve heard, and it’s why I stick with folks like Bob Farrell, even though he isn’t consistently the cheapest (although many times is close). Although in this case I suspect it might have been much less painful to refi through the existing lender.
I feel like I am being held hostage, the skeptic in me thinks that they are just waiting for my 30 day lock to expire so they can bang me with an even higher rate.
I don’t think that this is the case, they stand to lose the deal entirely. If they are a broker, the net benefit to them is small in comparison to losing the deal entirely.
I was about to set a closing date and quicken loans suddenly had my loan “under audit” and not only will they not tell me why but they won’t tell me how long it will take to get this resolved.
Is this a condo?
Then I found out that proficio bank was basically acting as a broker and had found quicken loans to be the new lender….so quicken had to now also put me through the underwriting process….incredibly more paperwork and more delays.
You didn’t go to underwriting previously, I’m not sure if they were just doing all they could to verify qualification or what, but you’d only have gone through underwriting with the lender, not the broker.
As Egypt Erupts wheres Barry O? Hope and change . Is Anderson on the scene with
the other one, ?
CCB. Bend over. Of course, they can’t lose money on the resell of the loan. Some Bozo in their sweatshop will get fired.
Stick it out. Going from 7% to 5 will still be worth it. I underwent a Harp refi a year and a half ago on some investment properties…the appraisals were the worst possible so I made the Obama cut. It took six months to close. The appraisals made me laugh. I actually did use one of them to lower my taxes 25% and increase my cash flow by a couple hundred bucks a month.
Good luck!
What does underwater have to do with refinancing?
Wouldnt best course of action to go to a real bank or credit union and try to qualify for a 3.5% mortgage back when you started this process and skipped any online deals.
Or have gone with your original bank?
Worst case they would ask you to pony up money at closing to bring it from underwater. You win twice in an odd way. First by prepaying to get your into positive equity you have a lower loan balance plus a lower rate.
Unless you are thinking of walking away, in which case just stop paying and do a loan modification.
Or why not while short term rates are pretty low lock in a fixed ARM of 100K on primary that is 100% tax deductible. Maybe a 3-5 year reset that is interest only and do 100K pay off in equity of florida home.
Grim,
Not a condo, single family home. Just not my primary residence, barely go down there…my family uses it.
Maybe proficio as part of the fee it gets does all of the liaising with borrowers like myself on behalf of the end lender (quicken in this case). I don’t know…just know that it was an incredibly long and burdensome underwriting process with proficio where they were asking me for everything under the sun and then when I thought we were done quicken loans started asking for more stuff.
Makes sense that they wouldn’t want to risk losing the deal entirely…I hear that. Maybe I will just threaten to walk and go back to the existing lender unless they tell me why they are now auditing the loan and give me a specific timeline for closing…have to try something to get them moving.
Xolepa — they have claimed all along that we can do this without needing an appraisal…so at least that hasn’t been an issue.
A. Well, that was a lot of rain!
B. Wasn’t Obama going to increase our “standing” in the world? Seems that may not be going as planned….even the EU is made….perhaps that really wasn’t a realistic (or even desired) goal…?
22 – It was pretty crazy up here. I put my recycling out this morning and took the lids off the can, the trucks came before the rain, and left the barrels on the road. Rain just died down so I walked out to bring them in. Looks like they had a good 3-4 inches of water in them.
Gutters, leaders, and pipes were all clean, but they didn’t stand a chance, they all got overtopped by the volume of water coming down. I really do need to put up 6″ gutters and larger 3×4 downspouts when I redo the roof.
My entire block had all the recyclables flow down the block and empty! We all just went out and picked up all the crap for last half hour….wow..people drink a lot!!!
JJ — my understanding is that you typically can’t get a new loan if your home is underwater (i.e., worth less than the value of the loan you are seeking). Except that you can now refi even if underwater because of the new HARP program…so long as it’s not too far under water. So have to work with a lender who does HARP loans.
Not thinking of walking away (it’s a small property so not a big deal, can afford it even with the higher rate so don’t want so screw up my credit over it) and don’t want to cut a check in order to refi…would rather invest that money. Especially if I don’t have to do any of that thanks to the HARP program.
Your last idea is interesting…hadn’t thought of that. Not sure my lender on my primary would do that (I live in a condo in Manhattan) but maybe worth exploring. Although at this point I would really just rather get to the finish line with these jokers I think.
Condos are tricky. I just bought a condo and building does not qualify for govt backed loans. They really are strict with standards outside Manhattan on vacation or rental condos as they dont want to get stuck with them. Very strict on how many people are late on maint, how many are non owner occupied, does it allow folks to own multiple units, does maint cover costs, does it have a reserve fund, does it have proper insurance, does it have recent comps, the whole building has to qualify to be FHA.
Oddly in a weird way long term I think a building that is not FHA eligible short term is better off. My building at peak a few fools borrowed to buy condos valued at 300-500 that are now worth 200-300. These folks are likely to default causing building trouble. Luckily only around 20% bought units between 2003-2009. These folks are pretty far into mortgage at this point. Only been cash buyers since 2009 in building and we can’t default. Oddly the cash buyers will help building long term. No defaults can happen, we are more likely to accept an assessment to improve building and we have skin in game so want to turn building around.
Good luck refinancing, I would first check the guidelines on condo mortgages.
http://www.freddiemac.com/learn/pdfs/uw/condo.pdf
If I were you I would do whatever possible to refinance and make that deal go through.
ccb223 says:
July 1, 2013 at 10:20 am
Are we sure GSE’s are on the hook for bad loans? From Bloomberg:
Citigroup to Pay $968 Million to Fannie Mae on Faulty Loans
Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, agreed to pay Fannie Mae $968 million to settle claims tied to more than a decade’s worth of defective home loans sold to the taxpayer-backed mortgage firm.
The agreement includes 3.7 million mortgages originated between 2000 and 2012, the New York-based bank said today in a statement. While the payments were covered by existing reserves, the bank said it will set aside an additional $245 million in the second quarter. Results will be reported on July 15.
…
Citigroup said the accord resolves “substantially all potential future repurchase claims.” It doesn’t release the bank from liability tied to servicing the loans. The agreement also doesn’t cover a group of fewer than 12,000 loans made from 2000 to 2012, the bank said.
“Today’s agreement resolves legacy repurchase issues, compensates taxpayers for losses, and allows Fannie Mae and Citi to move forward and strengthen our business relationship, Bradley Lerman, Fannie Mae’s general counsel, said in an e-mailed statement.
…
Litigation and repurchase costs connected to defective mortgages have cost Citigroup more than $4 billion since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, ranked second by assets, agreed to an $11.7 billion settlement with Fannie Mae in January.
ccb (16)-
That’s all I need to see to know you’re fuct. Bail.
“Then I found out that proficio bank was basically acting as a broker and had found quicken loans to be the new lender…”
Bojangles is really pretty impressive. GWB helped a lot of the world learn how to hate Amerika, but Bojangles is helping teach the few friends we have left to hate us with his own special brand of skulduggery and economic idiocy.
Seriously thinking about letting my NJ RE Broker’s license expire.
Is it a lease and do they ding you if you go over the mileage?
13.grim says:
July 1, 2013 at 9:20 am
Oh, and I get a free Leviton L2 fast charger for free out of the deal, with a retail price of $1400.
Factoring that in, and this car isn’t costing me a penny to own for 3 years (versus my Subaru).
Under HARP 2.0, if they’re doing appraisals, its at their desk and they don’t care what the number is. I believe the new rule is there is no limit on how underwater your property is, unless you have a second mortgage on it, then the combined mortgages can’t be more than 125% of the value.
We refied a couple of our investment props last summer under 2.0–stayed with the same bank (they were both with Citi). I wasn’t about to shop around when they told me I could go from rates of about 6-6.5 down to 4.5 and drop the time from 20 years to 10. And yes, I missed out on rates dropping further this year but whatevs. It was so seemless, I was really unsure whether they would close–after the initial package of docs, they didn’t contact me until a couple of days before they were ready to close, 3 months later. I wonder how much taxpayer money they got for processing my loan–thanks everyone for keeping America’s investor class solvent! I did email once in the middle of the three months to see if they needed anything and he just said they’d contact me if they did.
There are mortgage “brokers” who sign people up, take their application fees and then give the buyer/refier the run around until they give up. That’s how a lot of these low teaser rate folks make their money. Of course, if you didn’t give any money up front, that’s not the case here and they are vested in getting you closed.
Also many states like NY have a mortgage recording tax. If you refinance with same lender it is considered same mortgage. If you go to a new lender it is considered new mortgage and you have to pay mortgage recording tax all over.
Ottoman says:
July 1, 2013 at 11:45 am
Under HARP 2.0, if they’re doing appraisals, its at their desk and they don’t care what the number is. I believe the new rule is there is no limit on how underwater your property is, unless you have a second mortgage on it, then the combined mortgages can’t be more than 125% of the value.
Is it a lease and do they ding you if you go over the mileage?
Unlimited miles.
It is a lease, the vehicle can not be purchased outright, nor is there a buyout at the end of the lease. Honda retains ownership of the vehicle.
They also have the right to revoke the lease at any time, and especially in the case of an accident. If they want it back, it goes back. I don’t think they want anyone trying to fix it.
This is a fun lease condition, if you don’t like the NSA you’d love this one. Agreement to be monitored via real-time telemetry. It includes: location, condition, operation, accidents, utilization of vehicle features, etc.
Ottoman — very good insight. I didn’t give any money upfront/paid no fees so the “brokers” still have a lot of skin in the game.
JJ — thanks, I will stick with it. Hopefully I can get to the finish line.
The other possibility is that its a bait and switch situation where they suck you in with a low rate, then you mysteriously don’t qualify for that loan or the rate lock expires. But you do qualify for this other loan at a higher rate, Hurray! A few months ago, someone asked here if anyone had experience with a certain mort company with really low rates. I want to say it was Amerisave? but I can’t remember. I googled them when the question was asked and found pages and pages of complaints from people who never got their loans closed. That’s where I got the idea that some companies take your app fees and don’t care if you close.
FIFA World Cup (clot Edition):
Teenagers arrested for decapitating homeless man, playing soccer with his head
Two teenagers have been nicked for allegedly decapitating a homeless man before playing soccer with his head.
The pair, who were said to have taken a dislike to the man before killing him, then allegedly left his head in a bin.
Police arrested the duo after following a blood trail from the body to their flat.
They were said to have recovered an axe from the blood-stained apartment.
The teenagers, who had been drinking, allegedly used knives, a saw and the axe to kill the tramp before mutilating him as three other youngsters looked on.
The first soccer ball was a human head. These kids should be applauded.
“Inflation? What Inflation? We don’t see Any Inflation!” – Bernake, Krugman, and Obama as the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys.
>According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, for instance, the average flight out of the U.S. cost about 24% more in 2012 than it did in 2009.<
Like oil countries abroad, foreign airlines (many gov't owned) want value, not worthless Bernake-Notes; which gives domestic carriers cover to raise their own prices.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323683504578565482315023780.html?mod=trending_now_7
Expensive flights get multiplied for families of 5 and 6. The killer is island all inclusive vacations and cruises during summer months that used to be off priced and a good deal when kids are out of school have now become impossible for average middle class family as round trips to Jamaica etc are now almost $600 each.
Anon E. Moose says:
July 1, 2013 at 1:40 pm
“Inflation? What Inflation? We don’t see Any Inflation!” – Bernake, Krugman, and Obama as the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys.
>According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, for instance, the average flight out of the U.S. cost about 24% more in 2012 than it did in 2009.<
This is spooky. I read a newly-posted story on CNN about best “undiscovered” countries for second passports and “economic citizenship”. In fact, it was a poor article, not really news at all insofar as it named the usual suspects, but I was going to link it here for the notion that even CNN is reporting on this subject.
But when I went back for the story to get the link, nothing. And nothing on a search of their site. The story simply vanished without a trace.
Spooky.
[41] redux
D’oh. Bad search. Had go go to the correct edition, apparently.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/28/business/world-overlooked-countries-second-citizenship
Seems that using a human head as a soccer ball would aid in the development of proper techinque. Kick a head the wrong way, and you could break a toe.
JJ [40];
Expensive flights get multiplied for families of 5 and 6.
General Aviation starts to look better and better. Paying by the hour is hard to justify solo, but if you can fill 5 seats, the difference starts to look petty. Plus, no gropings by TSA convicts.
My worst vacation nightmare was traveling throughout Western Europe in 2006 with family. About 17 cities in Belgium, Germany, France and Italy in 14 days. No taxis take 5. You have to summon a minivan, wait an hour minimum. Hotel rooms are never oversize, you must rent two. Was in Venice, though, when Italy won the Cup. I rarely by tickets anymore. My spending habits produce lots of airline mileage.
One week in Casa de Campo was paradise compared to that part of the world. BTW, don’t let Europeans mock us on our lack of Green, i.e. low-pollution lifestyle. Belgium has many towns where the sewage is pumped directly into the local streams. And you smell it, too. They are used to it.
Europeans have been living in their own sewage since the Middle Ages.
Xolepa,
Sewage is organic. The green focus has turned almost exclusively to CO2 ever since people started believing climate would spiral into disaster within their lifetimes.
I recently discovered that in some circles, my skepticism relating to expert forecasts of temperatures and their effects has become much more controversial than my atheism.
Rags [47];
Many on the right have been correctly stating for years that much of Marxist statism is nothing more than a substitute faith. Neatly explains the overt hostility towards (pre-existing) organized religion.
In VRBO and MLS homes advertise their green features which I find funny.
Xolepa,
Sewage is organic. The green focus has turned almost exclusively to CO2 ever since people started believing climate would spiral into disaster within their lifetimes.
I recently discovered that in some circles, my skepticism relating to expert forecasts of temperatures and their effects has become much more controversial than my atheism.
Can anyone provide Bob Farrell’s contact info? Need to re-finance our primary residence, but we’re sitting on too many investment properties for most banks to want to look at us. Any referrals are appreciated.
http://www.giveemthepickle.com/bob.htm
(51) Won’t touch that one.
Rag I get laughed at becasue I’m a skeptical about AGW. I usually retort when I was finishing up my undergrad bio degree in the mid nineties, the scare among conservation scientists was the alarming disappearance of amphibians. Specifically something was causing morphologic harm to embryos making them non viable. Essentially we would have no frogs by 2010 : ) Well the frogs are still here.
AGW may be real but I’m doubtful because the majority of their data is generated from flawed models. the climatologists are taking best guesses at the interactions of a complex system but ignoring external factors such as solar activity and its role in cloud formation. not to mention a huge amount of observer bias.
I bring these simple truths up in mixed company and I’m labeled a heretic by the lay folks. I laugh it off and finish with this statement; there is one truth I can tell, for approximately the next 4.5 billion years the earth will be here in some form while you most certainly wont be.
Can anyone recommend a guy to come in, power wash my filty garage, surface grind the old paint away, remove all grease oil etc, then etch it and epoxy it. Obviously this will take multiple visits…
Btw- always use the solvent based epoxy, right? NOT water based.
pain (53)-
You just made Al Gore’s shit list. Not that this is a bad thing.
Saw McGravy at Fulop’s swearing-in in JC today.
Tornado touched down in Berkley Heights, no Mc Mansions harmed!
http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=OKX&product=PNS&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1
Lever guns are badass.