Embrace the Millennial

Great read from the APP:

Why New Jersey needs millennials

Conversation and laughter blend with the beat of the music permeating the stylish bar that is intimately lit with votive candles and glass fixtures.

Jennifer Keleman, 28, and her fiancee, nestled together on an oversized sofa, clink their wine glasses. It’s her birthday and they are celebrating at one of their favorite Asbury Park hot spots. Even if the celebration includes multiple glasses of wine, they’re only a short walk from their oceanfront apartment. No driving involved.

“In Asbury Park I feel that I can walk to bars and restaurants. I can go to the beach in the same day. I can go back to my apartment for lunch to walk my dog,” Keleman said. ” I can do that all without having to necessarily get in my car and drive somewhere and that’s really appealing to me.”

The urban landscape offered in towns like Asbury Park and Jersey City make them more attractive to millennials, aka Generation Y. But the rest of New Jersey is unappealing to them.

There’s a lot at stake for the Garden State. The generation has 75 million people, and they aren’t drawn to the landscape of malls and homes that suited WWII and Boomer families migrating from inner cities to safe, quiet suburbs.

Millennials amassed billions in student loan debt due to the sky rocketing cost of college tuition. The scarcity of high paying jobs makes it difficult to pay down the debt faster. Four of 10 millennials in New Jersey are in such dire straits that they live in their childhood home, U.S. Census data shows.

“They’ve delayed being launched,” said Cliff Zukin, a Rutgers University professor who has studied generational changes on American society. “They’re going to delay marriage, having jobs, kids, buying houses.”

The combination of problems is causing New Jersey millennials to migrate out of state, a Rutgers University study found.

With fewer members of Generation Y in New Jersey, there will be fewer people to buy houses, pay taxes, start families and spend money.

This entry was posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

33 Responses to Embrace the Millennial

  1. grim says:

    From RealtyTrac:

    Share of Seriously Underwater Homes Increases in First Quarter For First Time Since Second Quarter 2012

    RealtyTrac®, the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report for the first quarter of 2015, which shows that at the end of the first quarter of 2015 there were 7,341,922 U.S. residential properties seriously underwater — where the combined loan amount secured by the property is at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value — representing 13.2 percent of all properties with a mortgage.

    The share of seriously underwater homeowners increased 0.4 percentage points from Q4 2014 — the first quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2012 — but still down more than 4 percentage points from a year ago.

    “At the end of 2014 we saw the lowest share of seriously underwater properties since we began tracking such data, but in the first quarter that share bumped up slightly as home price appreciation continued to slow down in many markets,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “In addition, the data indicates more owners who have regained equity listed and sold their homes in the first quarter, cashing out on some of the home equity on the table in the U.S. housing market. The biggest change in the equity landscape nationwide was in the category of homeowners with between 20 and 50 percent equity, which saw a net decrease of nearly half a million between the end of the fourth quarter and the end of the first quarter.

    “Meanwhile most of the seriously underwater homeowners are still stuck in their homes as short sales and other foreclosure alternatives lose momentum, tilting the national home equity scales back slightly toward a higher share of negative equity,” Blomquist added.

    Markets with the highest percentage of seriously underwater properties in Q1 2015 were Lakeland, Florida, (28.7 percent), Las Vegas, Nevada (28.4 percent), Cleveland, Ohio (28.2 percent), Akron, Ohio (27.2 percent), Orlando, Florida (26.1 percent), Tampa, Florida (25.0 percent), Chicago, Illinois (24.7 percent), Palm Bay, Florida (24.5 percent) and Jacksonville, Florida (24.3 percent).

    Major metro areas with the highest percentage of equity rich properties were San Jose, California (43.7 percent), San Francisco, California (38.6 percent), Honolulu, Hawaii (36.2 percent), Los Angeles, California (32.2 percent), New York (31.0 percent), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (29.7 percent), Poughkeepsie, New York (28.3 percent), Oxnard, California (27.7 percent) and San Diego, California (27.0 percent).

  2. grim says:

    Thought these stats were interesting:

    The percentage of loans seriously underwater were higher for loans originated during the housing bubble years of 2004 to 2008, with 38 percent of all loans originated in 2006 seriously underwater — the most of any loan vintage, followed by 2007 (33 percent), 2005 (30 percent), 2008 (23 percent), and 2004 (21 percent).

    Not that we didn’t know this, but that we didn’t have the numbers.

  3. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    This statement will still be true in 2025.

    The percentage of loans seriously underwater were higher for loans originated during the housing bubble years of 2004 to 2008

  4. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    LOL. NJ – Lowest corruption risk in the nation:

    http://www.stateintegrity.org/your_state

  5. grim says:

    4 – We paid them off, those idiots.

  6. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    From the main article. So, Millennials need more direction, but not when it comes to when to show up and work? We just hired a bright young programmer in our department. He’s 50. My company wanted to hire someone young and cheap but all they found was young and stupid.

    Millennials are redefining New Jersey’s workplaces in several way[sic], at times creating a generational clash with their older co-workers. A study by the multinational consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers found Generation Y needs more direction than Gen X and Boomers. And that they prefer flexible hours, instead of working Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as long as their work is done on time.

  7. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    ^^^^My bet is that the above 1.5 sentences were written by the Millennial half of the writing team. A UConn graduate in journalism, no less. We’ve got a dumb crop.

    “It’s useless to fight (the up-and-coming generation),” said Anne Donovan, a human resources expert at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles. The consulting firm, which is in 157 countries and boasts $34 billion in revenue — reconfigured its culture to offer flexible hours and provide mentors. “The punchline is, you’re not going to change the 80 million,” she said, referring to the size of the generation.

  8. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Don’t we already have enough Starbucks locations?

    New Jersey’s economy could use more companies that can figure out how to attract millennials.

  9. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I’ve been shopping for Ferraris this morning. That way Google will start peppering the web pages I view with Ferrari ads instead of toilet repair parts which was what I was looking for last weekend.

    http://www.cars.com/ferrari/superamerica/2005/consumer-reviews/
    The ferrari is the best car ever because it go up to 199 speed limt i would get this car it is the best car that u would have in your life.

  10. chicagofinance says:

    grim: you totally blew me off…….you little punk…..

  11. chicagofinance says:

    Ex-pat: yes I helped

  12. chicagofinance says:

    a lot

  13. chicagofinance says:

    Sorry …..to answer your question, they come to me……I’m interesting, helpful, attentive to deadlines, and don’t ask for anything, so I am good for collaboration……

  14. Fast Eddie says:

    How do you measure percentages if you don’t sell the house? How do you measure how much equity you have or how far underwater you are if you don’t sell? I could be underwater today and be in positive equity two years from now. It’s like saying I made money or lost money on stocks. If I don’t buy or sell, you can’t measure loss or gain. You’re making an assumption, not a calculation.

  15. Hughesrep says:

    “It’s become routine for her and her boyfriend, Kevin Pustelniak, to sit in their White Plains, New York, apartment, and search the online real estate site Zillow for a home of their dreams. Their criteria is to spend about $300,000, live within a bike ride of the beach and not have to purchase a major fixer-upper. They find few options.”

    In Monmouth? LOL. Me too. Keep dreaming sweetie.

  16. Marilyn says:

    #9 That is so funny. THe comments today are so good!!

  17. Ben says:

    I’m a serious rarity in my workplace. 34, married with two kids. Every girl in the building is marching towards getting married at 36 and having one kid at age 39.

  18. Rafik says:

    Hi i was looking in google for real estate houses for sale by owner and i found this 2 links
    http://Eureka.house
    http://eureka.maison

  19. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lol..exactly!

    Hughesrep says:
    April 25, 2015 at 12:17 pm
    “It’s become routine for her and her boyfriend, Kevin Pustelniak, to sit in their White Plains, New York, apartment, and search the online real estate site Zillow for a home of their dreams. Their criteria is to spend about $300,000, live within a bike ride of the beach and not have to purchase a major fixer-upper. They find few options.”

    In Monmouth? LOL. Me too. Keep dreaming sweetie.

  20. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The only people having 3 or more kids these days are the poor. Go figure, the parents with no money are having multiple kids and the parents with money are having 2 or less. (I didn’t look at data, this is pure speculation based on my own observations.)

    Ben says:
    April 25, 2015 at 9:43 pm
    I’m a serious rarity in my workplace. 34, married with two kids. Every girl in the building is marching towards getting married at 36 and having one kid at age 39.

  21. The Great Pumpkin says:

    20- Wonder what kind of impact this will have on our society 15 years from now. I would bet that there will be a whole lot of poor kids in our school population bringing down our test scores. Hope people don’t overreact to the scores and understand why they will go down when the population of the poor increases.

  22. Pete says:

    (I didn’t look at data, this is pure speculation based on my own observations.)

    This should be a disclaimer posted at the bottom of every one of your posts

  23. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Grim, this guy’s mother is a Polish immigrant. For all the jokes the poles get, they have some pretty smart people in the history books for a country that was in no way advanced compared to the leading nations in the world.

    http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars-and-provocateurs/the-man-who-may-one-up-darwin/39217?utm_source=B1&utm_medium=pp&utm_campaign=pp

  24. The Great Pumpkin says:

    22- Most of my predictions on here have been dead on. Just because you don’t agree with the message, doesn’t mean I’m pulling it out of my a$$. My wage inflation predictions are based on the analysis of the problems facing our economy. If wage inflation doesn’t come, income inequality will ruin this economy. It’s not rocket science, just analyze the problems facing our economy and you will realize that if we continue down this path of stagflation and shipping jobs, the economy will only become weaker to the point where this is not enough money in the consumers hands to produce growth in the economy through demand. Then you will have a deflationary spiral that will be the equivalent of TKO for the economy.

  25. anon (the good one) says:

    @JesseBenn:
    If property damage is more upsetting to you than institutionalized racism your moral compass needs a realignment.
    #Baltimore
    #FreddieGray

  26. leftwing says:

    17. “Every girl in the building is marching towards getting married at 36 and having one kid at age 39.”

    Spoken from a well of experience deep enough I’m amazed I was able to resurface. There are two truisms in a female relationship:

    Everything you ‘own’ through marriage can be ‘rented’ more cheaply.

    Half your age plus seven, works from the time you’re legal to the grave.

  27. Jason says:

    Anon is a liberal, and like most liberals, they like to sponge off of taxpayers.

    In addition, some time ago, Anon admitted to wearing tight pants.

    Therefore Anon’s new name…

    SpongeAnon TightPants

  28. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Check out this article from USA TODAY:

    Mistakes people make when selling a home

    http://usat.ly/1Gv7tvH

  29. Ben says:

    24

    Most of my predictions on here have been dead on. Just because you don’t agree with the message, doesn’t mean I’m pulling it out of my a$$. My wage inflation predictions are based on the analysis of the problems facing our economy. If wage inflation doesn’t come, income inequality will ruin this economy. It’s not rocket science, just analyze the problems facing our economy and you will realize that if we continue down this path of stagflation and shipping jobs, the economy will only become weaker to the point where this is not enough money in the consumers hands to produce growth in the economy through demand. Then you will have a deflationary spiral that will be the equivalent of TKO for the economy.

    Just because something needs to happen doesn’t mean it will. There’s no reason for the current course to reverse any time soon. Tax code doesn’t change, trade agreements won’t change, regulation won’t change. If you listened to Ross Perot in his debate with Al Gore, he stated that if we allow our jobs to be outsourced, it will stop once our wages go down and the rest of the world’s wages go and we meet somewhere. He said, “in the meantime, you’ve wrecked the country”. We aren’t even close to that point yet thanks to Mercantilism. The chinese person still earns a small fraction of someone in the U.S. Wages can’t magically increase without a mechanism.

  30. Essex says:

    29. It is however troubling that we don’t mfg. things like we used to. But then again who the hell wants to work in assembly?? B-oring.

  31. Essex says:

    We’ll start to have an elite class of the employed and employable. A huge group of incarcerated. And a massive underclass. Happy to eat at applebees.

  32. [17] And every kid on the way is born somewhere between October and February, right?

    I’m a serious rarity in my workplace. 34, married with two kids. Every girl in the building is marching towards getting married at 36 and having one kid at age 39.

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