From the Record:
NJ leads in foreclosure activity as mortgage trouble eases nationwide
New Jersey leads the nation in the rate of foreclosures started during the third quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.
Nationally, by contrast, the worst of the foreclosure crisis has passed, and levels of mortgage distress have returned to pre-recession levels.
More than one in six New Jersey mortgage holders is either in foreclosure or late on payments, the Washington-based mortgage group said. About 7 percent of mortgages in New Jersey were delinquent on payments at the end of the third quarter, while another 8 percent were in the foreclosure process. That’s down a bit from a year ago, but significantly higher than the national rates.
New Jersey has lagged behind the nation in resolving the foreclosure crisis because foreclosures in the state, as in about two-dozen states, go through the courts, which tends to slow down the process. In addition, the system is still catching up from a near-freeze in foreclosure activity in 2011, after questions arose about mortgage industry wrongdoing.
Nationally, the percentage of loans that were in foreclosure or seriously late on payments have returned to the levels of late 2007, just before the recession began, according to the mortgage bankers.
“We are now back to pre-crisis levels for most measures,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s chief economist. “The loans that are seriously delinquent are primarily loans that were made prior to the downturn: 74 percent of them were originated in 2007 or earlier.
“Loans made in recent years continue to perform extremely well due to the improving market and tight credit conditions; loans originated in 2012 and later accounted for only 4 percent of all seriously delinquent loans,” Fratantoni added.
First!
discussion on asset seizure by law enforcement on CSpan now
Just kidding, we’re already there.
About 10% to 15% of properties scheduled for sheriff sale in any given week actually get sold. The balance are adjourned for a variety of reasons and not always at the request of the defendant. I expect to see a high volume of properties going to sheriff sale in NJ for many years to come.
Waiting for HVAC repair to show, they can’t give me a time so I just sit here waiting listening to my 2 year old son working on conjugating more juice, and more (insert word here).
I already debugged the issue to Furnace Control Circuit Board. I replaced the pressure censor for $52 and it still would not fire even after I bypassed it. I don’t want to mess with it too much since well it is natural gas, and it is hooked into this Smart Valve.
https://www.hvacpw.com/honeywell-sv9520h8513-smart-valve-gas-valve-slow-opening-1-2-x-1-2.html?gdftrk=gdfV26823_a_7c409_a_7c1038_a_7cHONSV9520H8513&gclid=CPznpZ_q_MECFedZ7AodtFEACQ
Parts are cheap online $151 for the a new Furnace Control Circuit Board
and $185 for a new smart valve.
Well HVAC repair wants $160 for the visit since I did not sign the maintenance contract.
I’d say they are going to want $250 for the circuit board and $350 for the smart valve, + $200 labor + $160 for visit around $ 960 plus tax.
I could just spend the $151 for the board and swap it myself, but then again I might blow the house to smithereens.
Oh the joys of home ownership…
juice (4)-
No risk, no reward. ;)
“I could just spend the $151 for the board and swap it myself, but then again I might blow the house to smithereens.”
Can’t believe you guys missed this one this morning, from The Record.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/morris-county-homeowner-facing-foreclosure-gets-a-free-house-instead-1.1134206
re # 6 – cool, too bad he will lose it anyway.
Luge – I cannot sue myself for my own stupidity, better let the HVAC guy do it and then let the place blow. Hopefully when nobody is home.
4
Could be on the exhaust side too.
I’m assuming 90+ efficiency, but if the exhaust blower doesn’t start, the board won’t let the gas valve open. Those get pricey too.
Got an error code you can research? That will pretty much tell you where the problem is. Every sensor has to be OKd before anything will fire.
Life expectancy on control boards these days seems to be less than five years.
When I sold high efficiency boilers I used to carry a generic board in my car. I could hook it up to my laptop and program it into a board for any of my boilers or water heaters between 50k and 1.6 million BTUS. Got me out lots of jams.
4
Aren’t you in Colts Neck? Who is the contractor?
re # 9 – exhaust blower fan kicks in right away, first error code was pressure sensor. I changed it and still no joy. I bypassed the sensor and the furnace ignition lit, however no gas flow and it went into a 3 hour reset error.
Most DIY sites say the Honeywell control board goes bad after a few years, I tend to agree, and your comment also makes mention. I don’t want to take it further and replace the board myself, since well if my house explodes I won’t have anywhere to live but my mother’s house.
I don’t live in Colt’s Neck, and don’t want to. I really don’t need to hear someone singing Dave Gahn songs on his Karaoke machine. I am east of the Parkway in Middletown surrounded parkland and preserves, just far enough away from the city and close enough I can go when I need to without too much hustling in traffic.
Replacing the board isn’t going to create any sort of hazardous situation, if something is wrong, it won’t fire. Worst case? You screw up a good board.
Smart Valve is the issue Grim. Honeywell has combined the ignition control and the valve into a single unit, I don’t want to mess with it, and I will push the tech who is arriving soon to test all components, since the unit has not been serviced in 2 years.
Another proud achievement of Chris Christie to be ignored by the media.
Lol, tech fixed it no problem. It seems a spiderweb was blocking the pressure sensor hose on the side connected to the exhaust fan motor. I did blow thru the hose as recommended online when I installed the new sensor. I guess I am not enough of a blow hard.
available Monday….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEW-vDlxG0U
Juice Box says:
November 15, 2014 at 11:19 am
I don’t live in Colt’s Neck, and don’t want to. I really don’t need to hear someone singing Dave Gahn songs on his Karaoke machine. I am east of the Parkway in Middletown surrounded parkland and preserves, just far enough away from the city and close enough I can go when I need to without too much hustling in traffic.
#6..is this the same guy..and cause of water damage?
MORRISTOWN — A police officer didn’t need a warrant to discover the marijuana plants firefighters first found in a smoke-filled Madison home, an appellate court has ruled — tossing out resident Gordon A. Washington’s attempt to suppress the evidence that led to several drug charges.
A marijuana plant is seen in this file photo. Police found marijuana plants and other drug-related items in a Madison home after firefighters entered in response to a 911 call.
John Munson/The Star-LedgerWashington pleaded guilty to fourth-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance after a trial judge rejected his claim a police officer, tipped off by firefighters, conducted an unreasonable, warrantless search of his home in 2010.
He’d initially been indicted on several drug charges — third-degree possession of an ounce or more of marijuana, fourth-degree possession of more than 50 grams, and possession with intent to distribute in a school zone.
Police had reported discovering not just the marijuana plants under a grow light that firefighters found in a closet, but smoked joints, an X-Acto knife, 87 small plastic bags of the type “used for distribution” and a plastic container with marijuana residue, according to the appellate court’s summary of events.
According to the court record, firefighters and police Patrolman Kevin Boone responded to a 911 call at Washington’s home after a neighbor heard the smoke alarm sounding. Firefighters entered the home and found smoke they described as “light” but “choking” — eventually determined to have come from a burning pile of papers on a plate with a prayer candle, according to the court. The fire was mostly out by the time it was found, the court said.
But searching the home, firefighter Robert Dunn found marijuana plants in a closet and alerted Chief Louie E. DeRosa, the court said. They moved on until the source of the fire was found, it said.
It was firefighter Bruce Barrios who alerted Boone to the plants — but not specifically by saying what he found, according to the court’s summary. Boone had testified Barrios approached him and said “I want to show you what I found,” the court recounted. Boone followed Barrios in, saw the marijuana and saw some of the paraphernalia in the home’s bedroom, it said. He called detectives, and they found the plastic bags, and plastic container, the court said.
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Prior to Washington’s guilty plea, a trial judge had determined the evidence was in plain view, saying DeRosa’s account of the firefighting operation was “credible, logical, and
consistent with what would occur upon entry into a home given those circumstance.”
The trial judge said while protection against unreasonable searches is important, the situation meets the exceptions to a usual warrant requirement: law enforcement was lawfully in the area where the evidence was seen, the evidence was inadvertently discovered, and law enforcement had probably cause to associate the evidence with criminal activity.
But the trial judge also said if Boone had specifically asked firefighters what they found — and understood it was evidence of something other than arson, or an emergency that required his immediate attention — Boone might not have been justified in entering the home. Since Boone, for all he knew, could have been helping with an injury to a person or another emergency, his entry was justified, the trial judge said.
The trial judge overlooked the fact that DeRosa, the chief, told Boone one of his men “seems to have found some marijuana plants growing in a closet” before bringing Boone to Barrios — prompting Washington’s appeal. Washington argued that the evidence of the marijuana plants should have been suppressed because Boone knew what he was coming into the home to find.
But in its ruling, the appellate court sided with prosecutors who say the trial judge was wrong to suggest Boone would have been entering improperly if he knew what he was about to find.
The firefighters entered lawfully, responding to a threat of a fire, the appellate court ruled. And they found the evidence in plain view, it said. Legal privacy protections would come into play after a fire has been extinguished and firefighters and police have left the scene — but not during their legitimate response to the smoke alarm, the court said.
That it was firefighters who saw the evidence in plain view, and not the police, isn’t constitutionally significant, the court said.
The appellate court upheld the trial court’s ruling, which resulted in probation and fines for Washington.
http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2014/05/madison_cops_didnt_need_warrant_to_find_pot_plants_in_smoke-filled_home_court_rules.html
Chi:
I presume you like this group – Kill M F Depeche Mode. Of course they are german, circa late 80’s.
http://youtu.be/Mdu5JqxIppI
“Possession with intent to distribute in a school zone”
#17
Oven caught on fire when I wasn’t home and wife called the FD.
They went into the basement to turn off the electric and discovered…almost another house minus a kitchen (was a ranch).
Yeah, didn’t get permits but everything was done to code.
They ratted me out to the town building inspector. What happened after that is another story but just goes to show….
NJ Fire Bug/Home Repair/Death Wish Report
15
Spider web thing happens more often than people would think. Usually it’s early in the fall, when people fire things up for the first time.
Happened to me on a boiler at Seton Hall. They had one of my boilers as a backup for the hoops teams locker room. It rarely fired. When the old one died, ours wouldn’t fire either. Spider web clogged a Venturi that fed air to the gas mixing valve. Took forever and multiple trips by techs to figure out. The complained like crazy, it was the basketball team! Like it was 1988, who cares.
Re: #22 -Finals four Basketball in Seattle 88-89 team, not bad for 58 acre campus. Bud of mine at the time was on the front page of the Daily News for that one in Seattle he was a cheerleader, remember it well PJ’s team lost to Glen Rice and Michigan in overtime, oh well everyone including The Franciscan brothers thought they were getting laid that night.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11879624/jose-canseco-says-re-attached-finger-fell-poker-game
I think the proper term is “finger sandwiches”.
Canseco proves once and for all that he is TSTL.
God bless Martin Armstrong:
“We need to restructure the world economy – right this very instant. The US economy is holding up the entire world economy right now and the growth rate is minimal. When we turn the economy down, look out below. These morons have been hunting taxes everywhere and as a result they have shut down global capital flows. Government lives in an illusion. These idiots have destroyed the world economy and we will understand the full impact soon.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-15/martin-armstrong-blasts-we-need-restructure-world-now
OK so Halloween is past but here’s a story:
One of my rental properties (Morris County) was haunted.
While doing renovations I’d often hear 40s style big band music in the basement but when going down there it faded away. Went outside…nothing.
There were other things, too.
Finished it up and rented it out for a premium (three times the mortgage) to a professional South African couple who worked in NYC.
One day about a month after they moved in while doing a minor plumbing repair I noticed the door (at the bottom of a flight of stairs) was not only locked (new lock) but also had plastic over it. WTF?
A few months later they invited my wife and I over for a BBQ and drinks.
The wife had a few too many drinks… she said to her husband “I’m telling him!”.
I said “tell me WHAT!?. If there’s a problem I’ll fix it, you guys are great!”.
Her: “There’s a ghost here!”
Me: I know. Everyone told me I was crazy so I shut up about it.
She experienced the same things I did.
They finished the lease and left (still stay in touch with them).
Next tenants didn’t say anything about entities but broke the lease.
Sold the place after that (for a nice profit).
Do you have to disclose if a house is haunted? (renting or selling).
*Never believed in that stuff, until then.
Chi and Stu…
Thanks for the recommendation on Costco and TrueCar info. Got a car from Crystal Toyota (walking distance from home — Costco sent me there). Price was well in the TrueCar range, experience was good, and I strongly recommend the dealership (and the sales-kid). Oh, Costco is great!
TrueCar gave me a little bit far off places with prices. Costco didn’t give a price, but sent me to Crystal Auto next door. The 2014 vs 2015 decision took thirty seconds — 2014 interior was like plastic pieces stuck to dashboard and I felt it wasn’t good so (I know, picky for a guy that’s driving a ’96 Corolla with roof-top insulation ripped off — the car sounds like a ship and I have to use it like a manual whenever I try going uphill). The price difference was about 3k (from TrueCar; I didn’t even bother asking for a price on 2014 model at the dealership).
Anyway, the 2015 Sienna’s price was in line with what TrueCar had — and having the dealership next door saves some time with routine maintenance trips. So, I walked in with an idea of looking, and walked out with the van. Nice experience, especially after reading Grim’s notes on Rt 22 dealers, and having bought a mildly lemonish Fusion a while ago from Liccardi Ford without even comparison shopping. I was dreading the experience, but it worked out fine here. The sales guy that helped me is a young kid. I strongly recommend the place and the kid for any Toyota shoppers.
The only painful part of the process was amount of paperwork…
Had a great experience at Roxbury BMW the first time, went back and the salesperson I had previously worked with wasn’t there, about 30 minutes in I told the sales person to f@ck off and left, and I won’t ever go back. So I’ll no longer recommend a place … other than … any Land Rover dealership I’ve ever been in.
For whatever reason those guys are the most laid back sales people around. My dad is on his 3rd now, he hates dealing with car people so he always just sends me to buy it for him. I always have a good time. Still kicking myself for not picking the preowned LR4 killer deal they had. Salesperson said take it and run, right now, don’t wait until tomorrow because it’ll be gone. I said I wanted to check out some more, went to Roxbury, didn’t pull the trigger, went pack to Paul Miller the next day and the damn truck was gone, ended up back at Roxbury.
When I got my Honda I was dreading going to the dealership. But Paul Miller had the car, and the young kid salesperson was great, he was more excited about seeing the car than I was. I think it took all of 30 minutes from the time I walked in the door. I don’t remember his name, but he does all the internet deals.
I’d slit my wrists before going into any Rt 22 dealership.
Grim, the sales kid has been there for only a short time (he mentioned he was a race-car mechanic before). That part, Costco, and the fact that I wanted a barebones LE 8P… All those might have made it a reasonably simple experience.
Raked leaves today, and blew out and winterized my sprinklers with my trusty new 20lb 150 PSI air compressor. Put away all of my patio furniture and yard stuff in my shed. All I need now is some snow so I can go out and finally buy a snow blower, last years shoveling was good exercise but I may want to get a blower this year. With that last purchase my tools and toys for suburban living will be complete, and it has been only a year and a half since I left city living behind.
Purchase for 2015? Boat perhaps? Lower fuel costs will make boating more appealing again, and who needs a BMW anyway? I’ll keep my Chevy and get a boat instead.
“the sales kid has been there for only a short time (he mentioned he was a race-car mechanic before).”.
I think he’s a former tenant of mine. Jim/James.
One month he was a little short with the rent and offered to do the brakes on my F-150 to make up the difference.
I bought the parts and was ready to leave the truck when he says: “It’ll take me a half hour if you can wait that long”.
Took less. Kid was GREAT (when it came to cars…). NEVER saw someone move so fast working on a vehicle.
Regretfully, sounding a lot like Michael, “This is what I’ve been telling you over and over again.”
Morris County RE, for example, is extremely illiquid because there are so many families not paying their mortgage for 4, 5, 6 years and more! Yet these delinquencies effectively a.) remove the properties from the market, b.) Make each neighborhood “show” worse, due to declining maintenance, and c.) raise the taxes of everyone else.
Fast Eddie is showing up the posers in BC, but the same three things are occurring. The only difference is that in the “better” communities these properties are completely off the radar because the offenders are making their payments. That doesn’t change the fact that these properties are still a.) removed from the market (either due to not coming to market or pie-in-the-sky asking prices), b.) Make each neighborhood “show ” worse, and c.) raise the taxes of every one else (underwater == no improvements plus some tax delinquencies == more taxes for everyone else)
30 year realtor says:
November 15, 2014 at 9:06 am
About 10% to 15% of properties scheduled for sheriff sale in any given week actually get sold. The balance are adjourned for a variety of reasons and not always at the request of the defendant. I expect to see a high volume of properties going to sheriff sale in NJ for many years to come.
LOL, supporting evidence (which abounds, if you just dig for it):
[6] “Gordon A. Washington bought this 4,008-square-foot home at 11 Walnut St. in Madison in February 2007 for $650,000. Shortly thereafter, he ceased making payments, triggering a default.”
ergo,
[33] Q. E. D.
I bought both of my Mazda’s at Maxon. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. And yes, both times it took me like four hours. But I did get the price I expected. Pure ghetto experience there. I can only imagine how many people they rip off.
#33
“Morris County RE, for example, is extremely illiquid because there are so many families not paying their mortgage for 4, 5, 6 years and more!”.
Yeah, I know a guy who hasn’t paid in 5 years now! Dude got a huge grant from FEMA too (little more than half was required to fix the place).
Re: ‘Liquidity’ in MC. Depends where and, as usual, price.
For example: A completely renovated home in Mountain Lakes listed at TRUE market value will sell in a day whereas a one in Dover won’t budge unless it’s either;
a) Listed FAR below market
b) Can be converted to a multi-family.
I’m from Morris County (now in Warren). Knew it well.
Lib – I’m a Mazda guy, probably because, like you, I’m a cheap guy. For new Mazdas I’ve bought 3, all from Quirk Mazda in Quincy, MA. They have separate dealerships in a tight geographical area for most brands. Chevy, Ford, Mazda, Kia, I’m not sure what else. Their prices are so low and their inventory is so vast and transparent that I’m leaning to thinking that all the dealerships are owned by a consortium of drug cartels. They don’t have to make any money, they just have to launder and lose 10%. Many people I know buy their cars at Quirk but never take them back there for service. It’s funny that Norwood Mazda tells me that Quirk is a rip-off and they do bait and switch all the time, but Wellesley Mazda, more honestly, says “We can’t compete with Quirk on price.”.
I bought both of my Mazda’s at Maxon. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. And yes, both times it took me like four hours. But I did get the price I expected. Pure ghetto experience there. I can only imagine how many people they rip off.
In my experience with auto dealers, volume of sales determines their pricing. Truecar lets you see this phenomenon. The greater the volume of sales, the lower the prices listed on Truecar. I’ve changed the zip code to see the impact of driving out to those monster dealerships in PA an sure enough, the prices are like $200 lower. Even going from Wayne Mazda to Maxon shows a step up of about $60. But Wayne is crooked so it’s not worth it. I’ve also noticed how auto salesmen use time to their advantage. They know that if they kept you there for a long time, you are less likely to leave and represent a motivated buyer. Which is why you have to keep them straight and be willing to walk out over $250. That last $250 is a pain in the ass to get, but if you are willing to leave multiple times, you’ll get it. I love Truecar. It completely shortens the process of getting from the stupid ticket price down to the common sale price. Most people just take that price. I spend about an hour to try to get that last $500. If I can’t get them to budge, I walk. Then I get it.
By the way, I’m still pretty sold on Honda for quality. If you ever use any of their small motor products, you would know the difference. But the deal we got on the CX-9 will never be matched. In the driveway including the financing on the loan worked out to about 25K. That was like 8K off sticker. Though it was a leftover with a big body change on the current year. The Mazda 6 GT was a fair deal. I got it about as cheap as anyone can, but there simply aren’t a lot of ways to get discounts besides loyalty. I went with Mazda again because I was really impressed by the quality of the CX-9. Nothing feels cheap and there’s really some sweet technology in the Mazda 6. Plus, it really looks like a muscle car. Too bad is has no muscle under the hood. I just put on my winter tires and rims and it looks sweet, even with the 16″ wheels. Now to see how they hold up. Our Xterra saw the shop twice in the first 20K miles. The 9 still has a perfect record at 25K, but it’s early.
Lib – Exactly right! Our last car, our 2011 Mazda6, I took a day off from work while our other car was being worked on by my local mechanic. As our main car was at that time 9 years old and it was a nice day, my wife and I took public transportation to Quincy, had a nice late breakfast and then walked down to the dealership. We test drove quickly, got into negotiations quickly, and then, as you said, almost walked out several times. When we got down to brass tacks they couldn’t even keep us long because we had a “hard out” getting back for our kids school bus. In the end we got our price ($5K off list, well under invoice) and we got to skip the finance and upsell extended warranty guys because we had to be back to the train to meet our kids, so maybe just under 3 hours instead of 4. Our salesman even had to drive us back to the T stop while skipping the hard sell from the last couple guys.
That last $250 is a pain in the ass to get, but if you are willing to leave multiple times, you’ll get it. I love Truecar. It completely shortens the process of getting from the stupid ticket price down to the common sale price. Most people just take that price. I spend about an hour to try to get that last $500. If I can’t get them to budge, I walk. Then I get it.
Lib – One tip for your Mazda 6: I bought Winter Wheels and tires from Tire Rack, which have worked out great for the last three years. What was a last minute decision by me that worked out great was this: We bought our Winter wheels/tires with only 1200 miles on the new car. As the new wheels and tires looked so virgin upon arrival, I decided to wax the hell out of them with Maguire’s best wax, twice. Inside and out. They held up so miraculously during the Winter that I did the same thing with the stock 17″ alloys, which only had 1200 miles on them, before putting them back on in the Spring. Both sets held up so unbelievably clean that I finally waxed both sets a second time this year. I am still in awe as to how freaking clean both sets of wheels emerge from every car wash. When I say clean, I’m talking inside and outside surfaces. Forget those expensive wheel treatments, I’ve done nothing except wax both sets of wheels twice in three years and no other wheels in our parking lot stand up to mine.
NJ Beat New Car Dealers Report
The CPI refers to the political and economic risks if one
were to speculate in a country not fake the rates of interest are relatively high – they’re able to range
between 10% to 30% in the volume of money you want to gain access to.