From the WSJ:
Star Comes Home to Build in Newark
Growing up here in the 1970s, Shaquille O’Neal’s family ushered him to two places to keep him off the streets: the local Boys and Girls Club and the nearby movie theater.
“Any place that I could be for two to three hours was always good,” said Mr. O’Neal, the former National Basketball Association star, in an interview.
An old theater on Springfield Avenue is now CityPlex12 Newark, after a $7 million renovation completed in 2012 by a joint venture between the retired basketball center and a prominent New Brunswick developer.
It’s one of several projects Mr. O’Neal and Boraie Development are working on in Newark and other New Jersey cities to bring commercial and housing development—including market-rate units—into some of the state’s more distressed areas.
It is a burgeoning partnership that has begun attracting notice, with Mr. O’Neal lending money and star power to a local developer with extensive political contacts and experience.
“Our team is focused right now on Jersey’s urban downtowns,” Mr. O’Neal said. “We don’t want to be all over the place. We want to do one great project at a time.”
Their latest project breaks ground on Friday, a $60 million rental complex that will be downtown Newark’s first new housing tower in 50 years. Mr. O’Neal will attend the ceremony, along with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and other officials.
…
Mr. O’Neal said he views his foray into development as giving back to the city of his youth. His partners view them as smart investments. “If you build the right product, the dollars are there,” Mr. Boraie said of building in New Jersey’s cities.
…
The new 169-unit housing tower will rise near the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. It will include a pool, a gym and a doorman, with rents starting at $1,400 for a studio. The site is the former headquarters of the Ballantine Brewing company, and its 19th-century façade will be preserved. The project is receiving tax breaks from Newark and the state.
From HousingWire:
LPS: Mortgage delinquencies down 10%
Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures continue to plummet across the nation, with the U.S. loan delinquency rate hitting 6.20% in August, down 10% from last year and 3.31% from a month earlier, Lender Processing Services said in its latest First Look mortgage report.
The report utilizes loan-level data from LPS’ large database of mortgages, which covers roughly 70% of the mortgage market.
Meanwhile, the foreclosure inventory rate fell 34% year-over-year, and now stands at 2.66% — it’s lowest point in four and a half years.
In just one month’s time, the foreclosure presale inventory rate fell 5.74%.
The number of properties with mortgages 30 or more days past due reached 3.124 million in August, while the number of homes 90 days or more late on their mortgages stands at 1.288 million.
The entire pipeline of delinquent homes – or properties in foreclosure – is at 4.465 million.
States with the highest percentage of non-current homes include Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and Maine.
From Bloomberg:
Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Decreased 1.6% in August
Fewer Americans signed contracts in August to buy previously owned homes, a sign that rising mortgage rates may have slowed housing market momentum.
The index of pending home sales fell 1.6 percent, after a revised 1.4 percent decrease in July that was bigger than initially reported, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. Economists forecast a 1 percent decline in the gauge from the month before, according to a median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
…
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey of 39 economists for pending home sales ranged from a decline of 5 percent to an increase of 1 percent.
The Realtors’ report showed purchases increased 2.9 percent from August 2012 on an unadjusted basis.
The pending sales index was 107.7 on a seasonally-adjusted basis. A reading of 100 coincides with the average level of contract activity in 2001 and “historically healthy” home-buying traffic, according to the NAR.
“Moving forward, we expect lower levels of existing-home sales, but tight inventory in many markets will continue to push up home prices in the months ahead,” the group’s chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.
Three of four regions showed a decrease from a month earlier, led by a 3.5 percent drop in the South. Pending sales climbed 4 percent in the Northeast.
@SenSanders: The U.S. is the only nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right.
Grim,
where do I buy the 4 prong cable to connect my generator? It is 4 prong with one of the prongs twisted 90 degrees. Both ends need to be 4 prong.
btw, I was watching some utube videos about hooking the generator and the comments were like, you are going to die doing it that way. Freaked me out.
anon (the good one) says:
September 27, 2013 at 8:07 am
@ColSanders: Buy more KFC!
chicagofinance says:
September 26, 2013 at 11:36 pm
The second takeaway of the week has to do with a continued decline in admiration for the American president. Barack Obama’s reputation among his fellow international players has deflated, his stature almost collapsed. In diplomatic circles, attitudes toward his leadership have been declining for some time, but this week you could hear the disappointment, and something more dangerous: the sense that he is no longer, perhaps, all that relevant. Part of this is due, obviously, to his handling of the Syria crisis. If you draw a line and it is crossed and then you dodge, deflect, disappear and call it diplomacy, the world will notice, and not think better of you. Some of it is connected to the historical moment America is in.
But some of it, surely, is just five years of Mr. Obama. World leaders do not understand what his higher strategic aims are, have doubts about his seriousness and judgment, and read him as unsure and covering up his unsureness with ringing words.
A scorching assessment of the president as foreign-policy actor came from a former senior U.S. diplomat, a low-key and sophisticated man who spent the week at many U.N.-related functions. “World leaders are very negative about Obama,” he said. They are “disappointed, feeling he’s not really in charge. . . . The Western Europeans don’t pay that much attention to him anymore.”
It’s called a suicide cable, you’ll probably need to make it yourself.
The main reason these are so dangerous isn’t because you’ll kill yourself, it’s because you’ll kill someone who doesn’t know what you did, because it is opposite all common convention.
that’s not it. one side goes into the generator, the other side goes into a code-installed (what’s the name of it?) plug outside of the house for the transfer switch. all is professional, up to code. don’t understand why is difficult to find the cable.
Grim says:
September 27, 2013 at 8:34 am
It’s called a suicide cable, you’ll probably need to make it yourself.
They are just called generator cables, the ends are going to depend in what your generator has, and what the installed receptacle is. Some are more common than others, but there is no “standard.”
You can easily make one of these as well, any electrical supply will have what you need.
Quoted from Bidness Insider:
Investors should make no mistake. The anger of the 99% will ultimately not be bought off by yet another central bank inspired housing bubble, engineered to pacify them and divert their attention as their real incomes fall and inequality continues to grow.
The current bubble will burst, despite the Fed postponing the event by climbing to ever higher diving boards. All the time rising inequality is draining the swimming pool dry and the crunch when it comes will be ugly…
6. Lame Duck….
AFLAC
Who needs credit card points? Ted Cruz is buying my tickets to Europe! C’mon, drop that S&P idiot!
The 99% are not mad at the 1%. They love them. Their issue is two fold. How to become one or how to get their money.
At one point I was a human sucking machine of money I had like 8 guys at my house fixing it, bought two cars. macys, bed bath and beyone, home depot, lows, hotels, restaurants etc for like six months after Sandy, then I bought a second place, paid around 4 guys for one week and bought a whole bunch of new stuff, went on a vacation and then back to school. I was running $10,000 a month credit card bills for alnost a year. Some days between, oil folk, lawn folk, fema, insurnace adjusters, garbage men, cable, there were 25 guys in and out all cashing checks.
But guess what I am done. Unless I get a grant I am not finishing work on house, I have two news cars so good for at least five years. Both places all big projects are done so good with that for ten years. The 99% now is upset as I am cutting back spending for awhile. This will trickle down near me in 2014 to the 99% since everyones house is redone and everyone has new cars and many new everything. When wall street is sky high and bond market is rip roaring plus we get a disaster with huge federal aid money rolling all paid for by the 1% taxes the 99% is dancing in the street. I got four hands in all four pockets every pay day.
Right now the only poor or unemployed people unless they are handicapped or something is by choice. There are millions of high paying jobs. This is not 2009. I am not suprised if all storage lockers were as full as Skyler Whites storage locker with cash bursting out of them.
Essex says:
September 27, 2013 at 9:09 am
Quoted from Bidness Insider:
Investors should make no mistake. The anger of the 99% will ultimately not be bought off by yet another central bank inspired housing bubble, engineered to pacify them and divert their attention as their real incomes fall and inequality continues to grow.
The current bubble will burst, despite the Fed postponing the event by climbing to ever higher diving boards. All the time rising inequality is draining the swimming pool dry and the crunch when it comes will be ugly…
thanks, Grim. I’ll do it myself then. am very much against the DIY gas/electric. in my house demand everything to be strictly up to code. my family/community safety is worth more than a few bucks. utube stuff is freaky. worst is the fact that “save $100” by hot-wiring yourself is the typical advice. wtf. if you own a house in America you can’t afford electrical/gas strictly up to code?
got a bunch of “professional” contractors bidding to re_do basement no permit/no code. wtf. kicked them out of my house. hence, i was looking for professional cable, manufactured to highest standards. electritioan updated my electrical and installed transfer switch during the basement reno, but didn’t get
generator till now. JJ can afford to do it all himself cause he’s rich and can buy other house if it burns down. im poor, working class, so can’t be messing with it.
“World leaders are very negative about Obama,” he said. They are “disappointed, feeling he’s not really in charge. . . . The Western Europeans don’t pay that much attention to him anymore.”
His supporters here will never understand nor accept this notion. It’s akin to trying to teach a tone deaf individual to sing. Some of us knew he was a fraud and con artist just by his mannerisms. Unfortunately, he’s created so much damage in so little time that it’ll probably never be reversed.
JJ a 1%er? I don’t think so.
“Here, first, their definition of the One Percent: they have median annual household income of $750,000, median assets of $7.5 million, and there are 1.2 million of them across the country. “
@BarackObama: “In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one should go broke just because they get sick.” —President Obama #Obamacare
20
So we should do things to lower the price of medical care, not the exact opposite.
anon (the good one) [20],
You should contribute an additional portion of your income to the federal government so that they can distribute it to those in need. After all, it is the compassionate thing to do. Right?
Anybody buying up Mariano Rivera Bobblehead dolls on eBay for $110? Seems like a sound investment.
JJ: On which branch of the LIRR is this?
http://www.jokeroo.com/pictures/fail/next-stop-slutstation.html
JJ: Which branch of the LIRR is this?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehrencrona/6302657733/
Next up…the 1% raid the 99% retirement accounts….stay tuned!
The Boraies are generous political donors in New Jersey. Since the 1980s, the family has given about $312,420 to New Jersey politicians and political committees on the state and federal level, campaign records show. Most were in New Brunswick and Newark, where the firm works. The family has contributed around $10,000 to Mr. Booker’s bid for Senate, along with $10,600 for his mayoral runs, the records show.
I guess that’s a big prerequisite for being a NJ property developer.
anon,
What would Bernie Sanders say about someone trying to do work that a union guy could be hired to do? Why don’t you ask your town”s electric inspector what he thinks about your plan?
I already contribute more than 40% of my income in taxes. The allocation of my taxes is not discretionary and I have not saying how is spent.
33% goes to the military, 33% goes to social security and 33% goes to Medicare.
The first one is a sacred cow, so I won’t even touch it or mention W and Iraq/Afghanistan. The second is also a sacred cow, so I won’t mention the number of fat cats collecting it. The third is a sacred cow, basically Obamacare for the over 65 crowd. It is the same socialized medicine you don’t want for the under 65 crowd.
Yes, there is a small portion going to safety net programs. It goes to the poor and disenfranchised and that’s the portion you hate to pay the most.
Fast Eddie says:
September 27, 2013 at 10:18 am
anon (the good one) [20],
You should contribute an additional portion of your income to the federal government so that they can distribute it to those in need. After all, it is the compassionate thing to do. Right?
#29…not sure about those percentages…..here is a link that may help:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/2012-taxreceipt
So then why add more demand via Obamacare and not increase supply? Wouldn’t that increase the price? Duh?
20.anon (the good one) says:
September 27, 2013 at 10:12 am
@BarackObama: “In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one should go broke just because they get sick.” —President Obama #Obamacare
split hairs all you want. go ahead. point is accurate.
I’m sure it is. But if you increase demand for medical care and don’t increase supply, you get higher prices. That doesn’t help, it makes the problem worse. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Supply and demand really isn’t that hard to understand.
32.anon (the good one) says:
September 27, 2013 at 12:29 pm
split hairs all you want. go ahead. point is accurate.
“I already contribute more than 40% of my income in taxes. The allocation of my taxes is not discretionary and I have not saying how is spent. 33% goes to the military, 33% goes to social security and 33% goes to Medicare.”
According to Chairman Obamachev you are not getting taxed enough. Don’t you know that only the gubbmint should decide how your hard earned money should be spent. Stope being so selfish.
“It goes to the poor and disenfranchised”
..and don’t forget that good portion of these people have mental health issues. America continues to ignore the problem and blame it all on either laziness and, in cases of shootings, guns.
Long beach, Fire Island or Bullet train to Hamptons I would say are good bests.
The nasty slutty girls are usually on the train to Ronkonkama first train out after a ranger win
chicagofinance says:
September 27, 2013 at 11:02 am
JJ: Which branch of the LIRR is this?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehrencrona/6302657733/
29
They’re only ‘sacred cows’ to the idiots who believe in right/left.
20, Obama’s comment equates to:
Since Americans are richer than some other countries, why should people still have to pay for what they get? Why should they have to offer something in return for goods or services they want from another.
We learned the answer in the past 100 years – the only alternative to voluntary mutual exchange is force – forcing one person to make or do something for another, directly or indirectly.
Chairman Mao and Lenin asked the same question as Obama. Ghengis Khan too. Hey there’s stuff out there – let’s take it and redistribute it!
The common denominator is that both Mao and Obama thought goods and services would just spontaneously and continuously show up by wanting them. Much like the spoiled children they were.
Keynesians also think “supply” is easy and automatic – not even worthy of much thought from a macro economist. That’s the stuff for grubbly businessmen or the state planning departments to figure out.
Believe it or not top 1% of tax payers starts at only 370K, the top 5% at only 162k and the top 10% at 116k and the top 25% at 69K
http://www.kiplinger.com/article/taxes/T054-C000-S001-where-do-you-rank-as-a-taxpayer.html
The huge difference is most folks dont realize how different the top 1% is, at the bottom range folks like me are living in splits, driving used cars and returning soda cans and the top 1% are Opra and Bill Gates yet the media says the top 1%
It really is only top 1% of the top 1% that has the cash.
To code does not always mean good. For instance I double sheetrocked my furnance room and put a steel fire door on. Code by me does not require double sheetrocking etc.
Problem is with code is no one asks for proof. I go to sell my home, no one is asking for proof of licensed electrician, plumber, mold abatement was it to code etc. For instance. I have a bathroom now from December 2012 one from around December 1991 and one from around December 1971 and house was built in 1955. Am I supposed to have this all? Where would I get it all from?
Also electricians REFUSE to put stuff in writing unless you pay them big bucks. Part of my deal was I would have a licensed electrician inspect before we close walls. He got a guy he came out, did a very through inspection, told my guy move a wire or two. Said I know you have young kids in here and ones bed is right above box. So I gave a good check. He then said it is ok you can close up walls.
I then ask him can I have something in writing. He said, if I give you something in writing it is a big liability for me. It is a big headache. I then go how much is it? He says $3,000 for a paper to put in your drawer. Wife goes thumbs up works for me. Boom wall got closed.
My kitchen I got charged 6k for electric from a licensed electrician. I got a piece of paper. Knuckle head rather than run from top of box to cabinets he took a short cut in crawlspace under kitchen as easy wire and whole thing blew out in Sandy. YEAA, that is smart run wire under ground below BFE to a non GFI switch. Oddly the only thing that almost set my house on fire and I have burn marks was this.
Then you get towns like where I bought my condo, only licensed plumbers in town can do work and the two or three in town are expensive. I fixed it myself as homeowners are allowed. I also hired my guy on side who drove in his own car and wore street clothes to do some work.
Building Inspector goes down low it but if they catch you it is a pain. Those guys pay bucks to be licensed in town and technically you have to use them. My guy refused to touch plumbing. But it was minor stuff so I just did it. But funny in that town a blind 99 year old man can wire a box but a NYC licensed electrician cant wire box. It has to be one of the two guys in town who charge a lot or you have to pay to have the NYC guy licensed in town which means and interview and fees.
anon (the good one) says:
September 27, 2013 at 9:39 am
thanks, Grim. I’ll do it myself then. am very much against the DIY gas/electric. in my house demand everything to be strictly up to code. my family/community safety is worth more than a few bucks. utube stuff is freaky. worst is the fact that “save $100″ by hot-wiring yourself is the typical advice. wtf. if you own a house in America you can’t afford electrical/gas strictly up to code?
got a bunch of “professional” contractors bidding to re_do basement no permit/no code. wtf. kicked them out of my house. hence, i was looking for professional cable, manufactured to highest standards. electritioan updated my electrical and installed transfer switch during the basement reno, but didn’t get
generator till now. JJ can afford to do it all himself cause he’s rich and can buy other house if it burns down. im poor, working class, so can’t be messing with it.
Anon [16];
in my house demand everything to be strictly up to code. my family/community safety is worth more than a few bucks. utube stuff is freaky. worst is the fact that “save $100″ by hot-wiring yourself is the typical advice. wtf. if you own a house in America you can’t afford electrical/gas strictly up to code?
Clearly you are superior intellectually and morally to the huddled masses who don’t seek quality construction. It is no wonder you are so eminently qualified (if there were any doubt, just ask you, right?) to spend my money extracted at the point of a government gun. How have you not been elevated to political office yet?
You’re a legend man.
…..In your own mind.
JJ the Welfare Queen says:
September 27, 2013 at 1:26 pm
The huge difference is most folks dont realize how different the top 1% is, at the bottom range folks like me are living in splits
36. Man do they ever!
For instance I double sheetrocked my furnance room and put a steel fire door on.
How did you accommodate for make up air?
JJ — got another question for you (or anybody else that wants to chime in) regarding my new beachouse purchase and flood insurance.
So I am in the process of signing the contract, verbal offer has been accepted and I am trying to get a quote on flood insurance as you suggested. Current owners pay very little (few hundred bucks a year) because the house is elevated and at BFE.
Their flood insurance provider though is NJM and they won’t insure me because I am not in NJ manufacturing or whatever…so long story short…I need to find somebody to sell me flood insurance…and a homeowners for that matter.
1) Are those two always tied together (i.e., if I get flood with one company do I also have to get the homeowners with them or vice versa)?
2) Who do you guys recommend I try to get insurance from? Have no idea who is reasonable on flood insurance…who the big players are in that space in NJ (LBI/Beach Haven West area).
Thanks!
40
He supplies his own hot air.
Grim [40];
How did you accommodate for make up air?
Could it be that JJ’s persona is all a function of hypoxic CO poisoning?
— I kid, I kid… nothing but respect for JJ
Hack-a-Shaq
Those discounts must be for the home owners. If you go to this site. Floodsmart you enter your address and gives you three closest agents that write flood insurance to your property.
http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/
Also this is a great overview of what is happening with flood on 10-1-2013
http://www.harleysvillegroup.com/flo/PDFs/NFIP_QA_2013.pdf
Flood in ONLY offered by FEMA/NFIP. Varous companies act as insurance brokers for FEMA. You can go to any company.
I have two flood policies. Actually with two different agents. My flood insurance forms look identical. I actually had a harder time getting homeowners insurance. There is no shopping around with flood. Although some agents know tricks a little better but all should be the same. For instance I have a PRP policy on my primary a lazy agent might not have put in right code and I would have paid more.
I know a guy who takes home a lot who lives in a split. I think his name was Mike Brady.
Flood is crazy. Here is an example. After BW is implemented most subsidies go away. I have a PRP subsidy so what happens if I sell my home? Does the next guys rates get jacked up?
What happens if I sell a property insured under the PRP Eligibility Extension on or after October 1, 2013?
The sale and purchase of a property after enactment of BW 12 does not render a property ineligible for coverage under the PRP Eligibility Extension. Properties newly mapped from a Non‐SFHA into an SFHA by a map revision that became effective on or after October 1, 2008, remain eligible for the PRP Eligibility Extension if the PRP loss history requirements are also met. New premium tables have been introduced for PRPs issued under the Eligibility Extension.
So lets say you are looking at four houses on my block after 10-1-2013 and want to buy, here are four choices. All four currently pay same amount for flood insurance and all four are in same condition.
1) House had no Sandy Damage PRP Policy
2) House with very minor Sandy damage ($1,500) PRP
3) My house that got destroyed FEMA pay out no flood PRP
4) House over 50% damaged by sandy with insurance completely rebuilt. PRP
Which would you buy if you wanted LOW flood insurance. Take a guess?
Oddly House 1 and house 3. You lose PRP status upon home transfer if you house IF your house had $1,000 or more flood insurance payments or more than one disaster pay out.
I only had one disaster payout of $31,900. I am equal risk to home with no claim.
House with $1,500 flood claim can keep low price as long as they own home but cant transfer it and house that was over 50% destroyed automatically loses it at next flood renewal even if he does not sell it.
PRP f there have been two disaster relief payments, or claims for flood losses of $1,000 or more, or three losses of any amount, the structure is ineligible for a Preferred Risk Policy.
it is a serious national crisis, but they don’t vote and don’t have lobbyists, so nobody cares. in addition, we have lots of veterans with PTSD, etc
Bystander says:
September 27, 2013 at 12:40 pm
“It goes to the poor and disenfranchised”
..and don’t forget that good portion of these people have mental health issues. America continues to ignore the problem and blame it all on either laziness and, in cases of shootings, guns.
Health Costs: No amount of White House spin will change the reality of the huge rate spikes millions of Americans will find in the ObamaCare exchanges. But as bad as this rate shock is, it’s just the beginning.
Days before ObamaCare goes into effect, the administration released information on premiums people can expect next year. Just $328 a month! And lower than expected!
The mainstream press largely went along with this spin. But you don’t have to look very hard to see that it’s totally misleading.
A table in that White House report, for example, shows the lowest-cost Bronze plan for a 27-year-old will average $163 a month in the 36 states with federally run exchanges. Among those making $25,000, the cost will be $93 a month, after subsidies.
Is that a bargain? Not when you compare it with the plans they can buy today. The average premium for the lowest-cost plan in these same states is $54 a month, according to data in a recent Government Accountability Report.
In other words, even with the taxpayer subsidies, ObamaCare will be more expensive than what’s available in the market today.
Other analyses came to the same conclusion.
The House Ways and Means Committee found the average Bronze plan for 27-year-old men will be 50% higher, and 12% higher for women. The Manhattan Institute found ObamaCare’s average premiums will be 99% higher for men and 62% higher for women.
Bad as this is, the rate shock will only get worse in ObamaCare’s second year.
First, the administration delayed the law’s caps on out-of-pocket costs. These were supposed to be $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families, starting in 2014. Now they won’t go into effect until 2015.
Obama officials claimed insurance companies needed more time to handle the new rule. Likelier, it was because they knew the caps would jack up rates even more this year.
Whatever the excuse, the fact is that when these out-of-pocket caps go into effect in 2015, they will boost premiums even further.
Second, there’s little hope the administration will convince enough young people to sign up for ObamaCare this year. Those under age 34 are already the least likely to have insurance, even though they are the likeliest to have access to cheap plans. Why would they be more inclined to pay ObamaCare’s inflated rates?
The problem is that if only sicker and older people sign up for coverage, the ObamaCare premiums that insurance companies are charging won’t be enough. So they’ll have to push for much higher rates next year
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-obama-care/092613-672772-obamacare-rate-shock-is-real-and-will-get-worse-webhed-obamacare-rate-shock-is-real-and-will-only-get-worse.htm
Ok let’s do fema payouts for retards
50
I thought they turned you down?
jj said retard…heh, heh…