From the Star Ledger:
These N.J. properties flood over and over again, costing taxpayers like you millions
More than 3,300 homes and business in New Jersey have been repeatedly flooded and rebuilt at taxpayer expense — some as many as 20 or more times — since the 1970s, raising questions about whether the government should force more people to elevate or relocate.
Repairs to the properties — covered under the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides low-cost flood insurance to a quarter-million New Jersey property owners — cost a total of about $700 million, according to new data published this month.
About 70 percent of the New Jersey properties have been repaired five or more times, with the median payment for each flood claim topping $25,000, according to the data.New Jersey has the third-highest number of repetitive loss properties under the federal program, behind Louisiana and Texas.
…
Part of the problem with the program is the way it’s set up, said Joel Scata, an attorney for Healthy People Thriving Communities program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.“It places a great deal of emphasis in rebuilding in place and not mitigating flood risks,” Scata said. Alternatives include buying out the property so that property owners can move higher ground or elevating the property, he said.
In addition, unlike private insurance, there’s no limit on the amount of claims property owners can make on the same property in the same location, Scata said.
“And so they’re trapped in a cycle of flooding and rebuilding,” he said.
For example, one business in Pleasantville is located in a building that has flooded and received payments to rebuild 32 different times since the 90’s. There’s a single-family home in North Wildwood that has been flooded and rebuilt 23 times.
…
Many of the repetitive loss properties are found in low-lying, flood-prone communities along the Passaic River. Wayne Township is home to 429 such properties with the federal government paying a grand total of $84 million over 40 years, according to the data.The neighboring communities of Lincoln Park, Pompton Lakes and Little Falls have a combined total of 483 repetitive loss properties.
The Jersey Shore’s also a hot spot. The zip code with the second-largest amount of repetitive loss properties is 08260, which includes the beachside communities of Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, North Wildwood and West Wildwood.
…
Since 2008, Wayne has secured a total of over $90 million to purchase about 400 homes in the township from FEMA through the Severe Repeated Loss and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Blue Acres program.Little Falls is nearly done with 70 home buyouts along the Passaic River funded by a combination of Blue Acres and local organization funds.
However, the process of buying homes and moving residents moved is slow, often taking years to occur after a particular disaster strikes.
Trump WILL tank the global economy. Per Roubini
Another big difference in 2018 is that Trump’s policies are creating further uncertainty. In addition to launching a trade war, Trump is also actively undermining the global economic and geostrategic order that the US created after World War II.
Moreover, while the Trump administration’s modest growth-boosting policies are already behind us, the effects of policies that could hamper growth have yet to be fully felt. Trump’s favored fiscal and trade policies will crowd out private investment, reduce foreign direct investment in the US, and produce larger external deficits. His draconian approach to immigration will diminish the supply of labor needed to support an aging society. His environmental policies will make it harder for the US to compete in the green economy of the future. And his bullying of the private sector will make firms hesitant to hire or invest in the US.
A story pretty well repeated around Wayne was when a storm was coming, most of the homeowners in the flood area (Hoffman, etc) would go out and pick up all sorts of used furniture to fill up their otherwise completely empty basements or ground levels, to be able to have a decent set of claims when the adjusters/inspectors came. Every flood they’d have another huge pile of ruined furniture, TVs, electronics out front. Deposit, rinse, repeat. Now that the buy-outs have hit a fairly lucrative level, most people have bailed out. However, there still appear to be a good amount of hold-outs. Is the pay-out game that good? Do they really love living riverfront? They holding out for really big payouts when they are the last home standing?
Not sure why the town doesn’t officially close those streets, set a date, stop paving and plowing. Take the payouts.
I always thought the Federal Flood Insurance program should have an automatic sell-out provision as part of the coverage contract. If you are in the program, in order to receive coverage you need to consider that you may be forced to sell if repetitive losses exceed a certain level, period.
sell to whom? would FFI cover new owner, and new new owner after that?
grim says:
July 19, 2018 at 7:43 am
I always thought the Federal Flood Insurance program should have an automatic sell-out provision as part of the coverage contract. If you are in the program, in order to receive coverage you need to consider that you may be forced to sell if repetitive losses exceed a certain level, period.
@robreiner
Well now we know.
Donald Trump obstructed justice and covered up up the conspiracy of Vladimir Putin’s personally ordered attack on our Democracy.
Republicans will either stand up and bring this criminal President to justice or aid and abet the end of 242 years of self rule.
Lol. Less than 1% of voters care about the fake collusion story. Good luck running on that and soci@lism.
Rob Reiner…. LMAO!
Sell to who? The flood insurance program, who would tear it down and deed restrict any development in the property.
Now known as the fake illusion story.
let’s all welcome Rob Reiner to town:
http://southpark.cc.com/clips/154265/welcome-rob-reiner#source=473fef35-48a7-434c-afc6-207874c7f1a3:eecd894e-ed00-11e0-aca6-0026b9414f30&position=5&sort=playlist
Oh, and I forgot. Open borders and abolish ICE are big winners too.
Flood zone homeowners should not be bailed out. Let them default on mortgages so the banks can sell the homes to Wayne for market value – zero – and the cost to taxpayers is the cost to demolish the homes and remove and dispose of the debris.
@JuliaDavisNews
#Russia’s state TV host:
“It is very bizarre, you can’t bash your own country like that – especially when you’re the President.”
Female host:
“When Trump says our relations are bad because of American foolishness and stupidity, he really smells like an agent of the Kremlin.”
nwnj – if you believe only 1% of voters care about the Muller investigation you must be watching fake news! Pull your head out of your Fox hole!
@annalecta
NEW:
New York State Dept of Taxation & Finance has opened a probe into the Donald J. Trump Foundation’s potential state tax law violations following AG lawsuit alleging nonprofit self-dealing & illegal coordination with Trump’s presidential campaign
“By Vivian Wang
July 18, 2018
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has opened an investigation into whether the Donald J. Trump Foundation violated state tax laws, a move that could lead to a criminal referral for possible prosecution, according to two state officials familiar with the inquiry.”
Speaking of Wayne, turns out I was right and this little gem was grossly over priced at nearly 2 million. Thank jeebus I didn’t listen to Grim when he claimed it was more or less a steal and a no brainer at 1.5 because now I can have it for way less than that.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/23-Laauwe-Ave-Wayne-NJ-07470/39789545_zpid/
Capitalism is just a phase in the march toward Communism. Read Marx. The only question is whether we dismantle it peacefully or it collapses on its own. So far looks like the latter scenario is winning.
nwnj says:
July 19, 2018 at 8:12 am
Lol. Less than 1% of voters care about the fake collusion story. Good luck running on that and soci@lism.
The shocker for all of you ideological conservative “true believers” is that in the next 5 yrs you are going to find out how involve are russian/chinese intelligence in the conservative movement (from FOX to Alt Right). Much like communism infected the social democrats/progressives from the 1930’s -70’s.
The reason is power. The conservatives are in power. The corrupt ones will sell themselves out and the “true believers” being fanatics are always considering a secret doubt, so they will follow and enforce ideological purity, which is always manipulated by someone with an agenda.
Trump is compromised, likely by money laundering and tax evasion. What he did in Helsinki -well the NY Daily News front page next day said it all. The Conservative power structure is too invested in him, so they won’t fight and correct the situation.
The corrupt ones are making a lot of money, from Murdoch to Beck and Jones in the public arena, and way more money in the background of dark smoked filled deal making rooms.
The ideological one, a few here like NWNJ and Fast Eddie, can’t believe that their guy is compromised. They got to find fault with everyone else. Sort of the super catholics blaming the 10 yrs old boy for seducing the priest.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
July 18, 2018 at 11:13 pm
Putin Claims U.S. Intelligence Agents Funneled $400 Million to Clinton Campaign.
The fact that the Mainstream Media is Ignoring this, makes me very suspicious. They are not even attacking it. They are conducting a blackout as best they can. They do not want any attention paid to this. Why not use it to mock Putin and discredit him? They seem to be afraid to talk about it.
Last I checked Communism collapsed 25. Years or so ago in the old USSR and Eastern Europe and China is communist in name only.
LOL! Sure, anything you say.
Marxists considering buying $1million dollar houses. Makes as much sense as Marxism itself.
The conservatives are in power.
That’s right and don’t you forget it. Now, go make me breakfast and don’t burn the toast again or I’ll make you trim the hedges with a nail clipper.
@nytimes
Maria Butina,
suspected of being a Russian agent, is thought to have worked to influence U.S politics through contacts with the NRA and conservative religious groups, prosecutors said
….and way more money in the background of dark smoked filled deal making rooms.
I literally laughed out loud reading that statement! LOL!
dark smoke filled deal making rooms… LMAO!! Omg, you guys are great!
I said the Van Saun House was a steal?
I do love that house though.
9:22 you are such a powerful figure just like his orangeness.
Russians/Chinese involved in the right? Could be. Just as they are also involved in fanning the flames of the leftist freakout groups. For every NRA plant I suspect many more in BLM or the anti-globalization rioters.
The way to beat them is to move forward with rational thought and calm debate. Which neither the Trumpist right nor the hysterical left provides. All fun and games for the Chinese/Russians to watch until they happen to get zapped as a side-effect of the passions that they may be helping to stir.
The Russian Federation has sharply reduced its holdings of United States Treasury bonds with Russian ownership recently moving to an 11-year low, RT and Wolf Street reported.
Russia’s ownership of US bonds declined from $96.1 billion in March to $48.7 billion in April and now stands at just $14.9 billion, according to the latest available data.
The US Treasury on Tuesday released a list of the top 33 investors in US debt. Russia was in the top ten in 2010 with ownership of $176.3 billion, but it now ranks below Chile in terms of US Treasury holdings. The unloading of the US debt started as Obama began raising sanctions against Russia in 2011 and has since intensified.
Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), said the reduction is due to an assessment of financial, economic, and geopolitical risks, RT reported.
HMB/BRT,
You’ve probably done this one too. Forget the kimchee and get some Portuguese sausage or similar breakfast meat going in a large skillet. Dump your left over rice (better when it was fried, but white or brown work just as well and add a little soy sauce or better yet, Mirin. Then pour your whisked eggs over the top to make what the Hawaiian’s call a Flying Hawaiian. Add Okonomiyaki Sauce, 3:1 ketchup to worcestershire with a little soy mixed in and it’s a Japanese Omurice (sp.?) Omelette. Both are incredibly tasty and filling. The rice and the egg sort of caramelize together where it hits the skillet to make a unique crispy texture.
Biggest SurPriseIn5yrs:
Your obviously dumb post made me conjure up images of something equally as likely to be true. That is, the infamous painting of Dogs playing poker.
But the real reason it make no sense is because both parties are corrupt. How much influence was purchased when HRC was SOS? So much her foundation is nearly defunct now that it can’t buy you favor. During the financial crisis, there were hundreds of proven corrupt Dems (and Repubs) made evident by the decision to bail out the criminals who caused it. Mortgage crisis, subprime, Mozillo loans?
For true political enlightenment, you must first accept that THEY are all the same. Really, they are!
https://www.investors.com/politics/clinton-foundation-scandal/
Chis’ fave source:
https://nypost.com/2017/11/18/donations-to-clinton-foundation-plunged-along-with-hillarys-election-defeat/
9:54 so it comes down to the “what”….
What does each party do with their money…?
I’m with you, I just think this particular Commander In Chief is a buffoon.
Now getting back to TODAY .
We currently have a buffoon- a treasonous imbecile
A feckless moronic character running the show.
Wtf?!
@Comey
This Republican Congress has proven incapable of fulfilling the Founders’ design that “Ambition must … counteract ambition.”
All who believe in this country’s values must vote for Democrats this fall.
Policy differences don’t matter right now.
History has its eyes on us.
agreed….our enemies/competitors want to beat us by handicapping us and stealing from us. Since they can’t win in a competitive fight, they need to undermine our strength. It is so obvious now. Why do people continue to help our enemies with acrimony? unless maybe they are paid……
No One says:
July 19, 2018 at 9:28 am
Russians/Chinese involved in the right? Could be. Just as they are also involved in fanning the flames of the leftist freakout groups. For every NRA plant I suspect many more in BLM or the anti-globalization rioters.
The way to beat them is to move forward with rational thought and calm debate. Which neither the Trumpist right nor the hysterical left provides. All fun and games for the Chinese/Russians to watch until they happen to get zapped as a side-effect of the passions that they may be helping to stir.
“We currently have a buffoon- a treasonous imbecile
A feckless moronic character running the show. ”
Buffoon? Absolutely. No argument there.
Imbecile? Nah. Dude is way smarter than you give him credit for. He is playing the left like a drum.
Treasonous? Not if you consider that the same organizations he bashed recently, wiretapped him as a candidate. I really found nothing wrong with what he said besides maybe his lack of framing it up so others could understand where he’s coming from. But that’s the buffoon in him.
Feckless? Lacking ambition? I’m convinced the Left doesn’t even know the definition of the word. Trump has more ambition than any candidate from my lifetime. It’s quite likely you hate what he is doing. But he is DOING.
Moronic? Moana and Pumps are morons. Trump simply doesn’t care what you think of him and his actions.
Where Trump completely blows is his lack of polish. Why would you expect more from a spoiled kid with a questionable education?
Hopefully Democrat candidates quote comey and Marx frequently while campaigning. Two very Popular characters.
One party wants to take your money and the other encourages you to make money.
Good catch on”feckless”. Original meaning appears to be “lacking in effect”. Trump creates tons of effect. Not all good ones, but being a stay-at-home-mamma’s boy isn’t one of them. It is however probably a good term to use on a lot of stay-in-momma’s-basement twitter-repeaters who think that typing out their hatred for Trump is accomplishing something (other than probably being a Russian pawn), and a good substitute for actually accomplishing something real with their lives.
How’s Atlas Shrugged going?
I was just taking a Google Streetview tour of Riveredge Rd in Lincoln Park, just over the Wayne Line off Boonton Turnpike. I’m don’t know if I’m more surprised at how many houses have been bought out and gone, or how many are still there.
I had a girlfriend in the mid ’80s that rented right on the river there with two of her friends, probably 23 or 29 Riveredge. The house was pretty nice and probably recently built, back then, and built to take it. It was a ranch with a modern kitchen and baths and built on a concrete or cinder block foundation that was probably extended 10 up off the ground, the only way into the house was up a long wooden stairway on the right hand side. There must have been storage on what would normally be the first floor, but the tenants didn’t have access. IIRC, there was a door centered right on the front of the house at ground level to get to the space, but there were no windows. Probably a great dungeon.
It’s gone now, bought out, empty lot.
extended 10 feet up off the ground
Yeah you seem very impressed with Trump. Really says a lot.
Yeah let’s focus on semantics —
Shares
11,133
Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, is a vocal Putin critic
The White House has declined to rule out accepting a Russian proposal to question on US soil American people – including the former ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul – sought by the Kremlin for “illegal activities”.
The proposal arose at Monday’s summit between the US president Donald Trump and the Russian president Vladimir Putin, and any decision by Washington to assist with an adversary’s prosecution of former government employees overseas would be a stunning shift in US policy, especially as it could violate the international legal principle of diplomatic immunity.
Agreed.
Yo! says:
July 19, 2018 at 8:31 am
Flood zone homeowners should not be bailed out. Let them default on mortgages so the banks can sell the homes to Wayne for market value – zero – and the cost to taxpayers is the cost to demolish the homes and remove and dispose of the debris.
So yeah his “effect” is just great you collection of bricks.
How’s Atlas Shrugged going?
About a hundred pages left. Rand epitomizes the failures of social engineering in amazing detail. She lived it so it’s not an idea for her, it’s reality in the form of illustration but she painstakingly details the mindset of the ones that “do” vs. the ones that “don’t.” If there’s no tangible ideas, if there’s no thought process that leads to a product for demand, then what are you creating?
What good is having an idea if it’s going to be regulated and/or confiscated for the “greater” good of all? The trillion dollar spending bill under the Oblammy reign is a perfect example of what Rand outlines in the book – the idea that redistribution is going to create a healthy economy. She was a visionary and I enjoyed the messages in the book tremendously.
I rented on Riveredge Drive and saw firsthand the furniture dumping whenever the river was predicted to rise. The owners of my place used to ask around to friends if they needed new furniture and if so, they could dump their current inventory in their basement the day before the flood waters rose.
About a hundred pages left. Rand epitomizes the failures of s0cial engineering in amazing detail. She lived it so it’s not an idea for her, it’s reality in the form of illustration but she painstakingly details the mindset of the ones that “do” vs. the ones that “don’t.” If there’s no tangible ideas, if there’s no thought process that leads to a product for demand, then what are you creating?
What good is having an idea if it’s going to be regulated and/or confiscated for the “greater” good of all? The trillion dollar spending bill under the Oblammy reign is a perfect example of what Rand outlines in the book – the idea that redistribution is going to create a healthy economy. She was a visionary and I enjoyed the messages in the book tremendously.
Grim, unmod me, please.
The Brady house is for sale!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11222-Dilling-St-North-Hollywood-CA-91602/20025974_zpid/
Libturd
I’ll have to look up flying Hawaiian on YouTube.
Kimchi fried rice is so satisfying. Must be great to eat while drinking
For sure.
The other funny thing is that the flood zone bought out properties on Riveredge in Lincoln Park are Deeded a whole bunch of different ways:
NJ DEPT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
or
BOROUGH OF LINCOLN PARK
or
STATE OF NJ
or
STATE OF NJ-GREEN ACRES PROGRAM
If anybody wants some time wasting flood zone fun you can use the Monmouth County tool to look up a street like Riveredge in Lincoln Park and see which properties were bought out for how much and then you can use Google Streetview to look at a lot of the houses still standing because Google’s image capture for that street dates back to 2013.
The Flyin’ Hawaiian was a nickname for a former race car driver, Danny Ongais. He was also known as Danny “On-the-gas”. I saw him drive once at Watkins Glen in 1978 or 1979, driving a Porsche 935. He crashed, which he did a lot back then.
After a 9-year hiatus from racing, Ongais was asked by John Menard to fill in for Scott Brayton who was killed during Friday Practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500. By starting 33rd, Ongais was the oldest driver to have competed in the field, at age 53. Ongais finished 7th in the race after having the best car early in the race.
https://njrereport.com/index.php/2018/07/19/buy-em-out-tear-em-down/#comment-869187
LOL ^^^wrong link. Right link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Ongais
Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do during his campaign and the primary.
I doubt people who voted for him even care about this latest freakout over Russia/Putin. One thing it won’t do for Democrats is win over any new voters.
People watched our “intelligence agencies” swear up and down that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq only to send us to war so American soldiers could die, come back maimed, blind etc. I doubt everyday normal Americans care that Trump insulted our “intelligence agencies”.
@NumbersMuncher
Rasmussen: Trump job approval ticks up a point to 45-54, exactly the same as where it was before the meeting with Putin. #NothingMatters
@NumbersMuncher
68% of Republicans approve of Trump siding with Putin over our intelligence agencies as just 29% of independents and 32% overall.
SIXTY EIGHT PERCENT! Lol nothing matters.
Now I need a kimchi fried rice fix. I’ll have to go to a Korean grocery and get some kimchi this weekend and a 6 pack of tiger beer. Tiger beer is from Singapore and is refreshing in the summer heat.
Essex – Did you get yourself an Antifa outfit yet so you can go out and burn and break things with your new friends when the GOP gains seats in the Fall?
No I got an M3 so I can take sweet drives through insane scenery while the rest of us watch the place burn.
Lib – I forgot that you mentioned you lived on Riveredge in Lincoln Park after college. Do you remember the house where my gf used to rent? It was about the fifth house in the river side. It looked much different than the other houses, set way back on the empty flat property, concrete half way up, and house the rest of the way up. I remember at least one flood in the circa ’85-’87 era when my gf couldn’t get home. I was living in a dry area of Wayne at the time (I got all that flood living out of my system when I lived in Pequonnock in ’84)
Coincidentally, my FIL’s 1969 Jaguar XKE 2+2, bought new, was lost in the same ’84 flood, just across the river from Riveredge on the Wayne side. It was being worked on by a mechanic over there at the time. He just took the insurance payout and forgot about it.
Maybe 10 years ago my FIL got contacted by a guy on the West Coast who found him by contacting Jaguar. This guy now had the car and was restoring it. He bought it in Atlantic City. Apparently it had been used as a movie car but may have had a Chevy V8 at that point. My wife (then gf) and I though we saw the car at a Clifton garage (that was closed at the time) in the ’90’s. I could see that the car had an automatic transmission by peering in the window, so we figured it wasn’t the right car, but it might have been after all.
So this guy undertook a complete restoration and my FIL sent him some stuff he had from the car, like the bill of sale and some other stuff to the guy in CA. The CA guy sent my in-laws a nice wine and cheese basket and lots of pictures as thanks. The guy also didn’t know that the car had been in a flood, but that cleared up a lot of mysteries for him, like why the chrome on the bumpers was good, but the backside of the bumpers were badly rusted.
My memory is not that good XP. I only lived there for about 6 months. When Residence Life gave me the boot after 6 years of free paid housing, I had to scramble and rented a room in the house of one of my former RAs. This house flooded so commonly that they had a rowboat attached to the front porch.
In 5 states, richest Americans live in a “new Gilded Age”
In 5 states, richest Americans live in a “new Gilded Age” – CBS News
https://apple.news/AQniCw8snTqSCHV8XtiOpSw
Jesus, in places like Jackson Hole, the 1% control almost 60% of the wealth. Places in Florida are right behind with 50%. This is going to end very badly if we don’t do something about it.
“We are returning to something that was more common in the late 1800s and early part of 20th century: the idle rich, basically earning income from that accumulated wealth,” Price said. “If you’re a financial executive, you need to be near Wall Street, but as the 1 percent transition into this different group and are able to live off their wealth, it’s possible to live wherever you want.”
Defenders and lovers of capitalism value the economic system for its favorable use of competition as a motivator. I agree with that, but how exactly is it a competition when 1% control 60% of wealth in a given location. So 99% are left to compete over 40% of the wealth. With a smaller and smaller pie to compete over, these 99% one day are just going to give up. It’s common sense. Why would you continue to work so hard for a smaller and smaller piece of the pie? This will end badly.
Income inequality sucks. Don’t forget support your local DNC and RNP. The rich people can’t be the only ones buying their laws.
NJ to Tax tap weather.
Does anyone have a suggestion for the best current deal on WSJ digital and print? I’ve exhausted all my tricks….
@perlmutations
Imagine being so blessed one gets to pay much more than average taxes to help this great nation work, and where one is able to pay his good great fortune forward to help others.
Can you imagine how happy that could make a person.
Of course you can’t.
Because you worship misery.
Yes. Another $30 a year per family. They already do tax water by the way. Add this to the gas tax, the ez pass tax, the telephone tax, etc. It all adds up. You know what would be nice? A tax cut. Smaller government.
200 Belle Court Norwood sold 9/19/05 for $1,290,000. Property is a 4230 GLA colonial built in 2005 and sold as new construction.
200 Belle Court, Norwood sold as an REO 3/6/18 for $840,000. Listing made no mention of condition issues and photos showed what appeared to be a typical clean, young home.
Price drop in 13 years 35%!
Here is my post from two days after that sale…
https://njrereport.com/index.php/2005/09/21/northern-nj-hits-top/
I’m calling “top” of the market for Northern NJ, from here on out I think we’re going to start to see an even greater increase in inventory and the beginnings of a significant drop in prices. If you haven’t sold yet, there isn’t a better time to lock in the gains, if you are thinking about buying, my suggestion is to hold off, you’ve got nothing to gain and everything to lose.
Does anyone have a suggestion for the best current deal on WSJ digital and print? I’ve exhausted all my tricks….
Let me see what I can do, no promises.
That house in Norwood is on a dead end street of 5 homes built in 04 to 05. So far 3 of the 5 have been in foreclosure.
Nice call on the top!
Next question is, has the high end in Norwood bottomed yet? There are several high priced homes in Norwood currently on my radar. Buying high priced homes in declining markets and making enough money to justify the risk is a tricky game.
BTW, a lot of the people who haven’t accepted a buyout on Riveredge Rd in the Lincoln Park flood plain bought right at the top of the market. I don’t think anything over high $300K’s but not worth anything near that today. There was one guy who got out by the skin of his teeth. He bought 10/28/2005 for $297K, sold 1/9/2007 for $310K. He used to be about the 10th house in from the main drag. Now he is about the third house in, following 4 empty lots, 1 of which used to hold my gf’s old rental. His address is 41 Riveredge Rd. Beyond the current owner it’s like a perfect square wave:
BUYOUT
House
BUYOUT
House
BUYOUT
House
BUYOUT
House
Beyond that it’s twice as many buyouts as houses. This is just going along the river side of the road. There is something interesting going on at the end of the block though. Another bubble bagholder at 127 Riveredge Rd…bought in ’06 for $301K…sold just a few months ago in March ’18 for $100. The interesting part is that it was sold to “MTGLQ INVESTORS LP”. I’m guessing they are positioning themselves to make $200K on a buyout?
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Over the last few years, Goldman Sachs used its “significant subsidiary” MTGLQ Investors to buy billions and billions in loans from both of the GSEs. Now, MTGLQ Investors is buying more than $116 million in non-performing loans from Freddie Mac in its latest deal.
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/42782-freddie-mac-selling-116-million-in-non-performing-loans-to-goldman-sachs-subsidiary
I just did a quick search using the Monmouth database and MTGLQ owns 54 properties in Morris and 72 more in Passaic County.
MTGLQ owns 58 properties in Bergen too. I knew there was something going on with all of these properties that should have been foreclosed a decade ago.
66 properties in Sussex, 18 properties in Warren.
35 properties in Hudson, 54 properties in Sussex
OK, I get it now. GS is doing cash for keys to satisfy their penalty. Either that or cash for lease (or more free rent).
Last year, MTGLQ Investors bought billion-dollar pools of NPLs from Fannie and Freddie in several different sales.
The Wall Street Journal explains why:
The Wall Street giant’s loan-buying spree is one strange reverberation of the housing crisis. In ramping up a mortgage-buying operation that had lain low since the meltdown, Goldman is trying to make money even as it looks to fulfill terms of a government settlement that calls for it to help struggling homeowners.
Goldman was among the last of the big U.S. banks to agree to pay billions of dollars to federal and state governments for their roles packaging and selling securities in the mortgage meltdown. Its $5.1 billion pact, reached in April 2016, included $3.3 billion in fines and $1.8 billion in “consumer relief.”
However, the article explained that Goldman Sachs’ problem is that is wasn’t a big originator of home loans, and it sold its mortgage-servicer in 2011. It didn’t have any mortgages to give loan modifications to borrowers to count as its consumer relief.
From the article:
Without a ready supply of mortgages, the bank has gone into the market with the goal of restructuring the loans to receive credit under the settlement, according to people familiar with its purchases.
Eric Green, who serves as independent monitor of the Goldman Sachs settlement, gave a progress report on the consumer relief obligations under the $5 billion settlement back in February.
Green, at the time, noted that Goldman Sachs is “off to a good start.”
Green’s report showed that Goldman Sachs earned credit for $107,924,047 in consumer relief through the forgiveness of unsecured debt and other debt, more junior than second liens, in connection with 4,988 loans.
https://www.housingwire.com/articles/39593-heres-why-goldman-sachs-is-snatching-up-delinquent-mortgages
All those houses are kept for rental. I must have written a comment here sometime in the past about portfolios of non performing notes being foreclosed by companies that keep the real estate. The judgement amounts are usually close to double or more than the market value of the property. At sheriff sale they bid up to the full amount of the judgement to protect their interest. Unlike a typical sheriff sale this plaintiff is a buyer of real estate and they locked in their discount on the price paid for the pool of non performing notes.
30 year – Interestingly, it must be much more benign than foreclosure. All of the properties I looked at, the deed transfers directly to MTGLQ from the (assumed) delinquent borrower. No sheriff sale.
30 year – Maybe this is the part I don’t get?
Unlike a typical sheriff sale this plaintiff is a buyer of real estate and they locked in their discount on the price paid for the pool of non performing notes.
In Morris County I don’t see any sheriff sales that correlate with MTGLQ’s properties owned. I’m thinking cash for keys, or lease for keys?
I take that back, I found a couple sheriff sales in Morris County, but it seems like just a fraction of properties acquired by MTGLQ.
BTW, Morris County Sheriff Sales database has gone downhill since I used to search it regularly. They only give you a 3 month look back now, anything that happened before April 2018 – no soup for you! You used to be able to look way back.
MTGLQ is buying mortgage loans, not fee simple interests. Several states including N.J. settled with Goldman and DoJ and as part of settlement Goldman must get delinquent loans reperforming. If the owners abandon the properties, Goldman will need to decide to foreclose then decide to sell or rent the properties.
Yo! be wrong. They own the properties now. What would you do with a mortgage that hasn’t been paid in ten years? You know how to use the Monmouth County Database, right?
Since the large majority of the properties seem to have passed to MTGLQ without foreclosure, my guess is that they offer either cash for deed and keys or deed for lease. If you are a family that is delinquent for 10 years and is waiting for the hammer to drop, only staying there for the free rent, I think you might be glad to take a payoff to leave or a below market rate lease for a year or more. Once you do that, all of the pressure is off and you are certain how long you can stay.
Better yet is if they have a way for you to be let off the hook for the tax on debt forgiveness.
A 4-Day Workweek? A Test Run Shows a Surprising Result – The New York Times
https://apple.news/ARObnmfq2Sba3iq8FVxI6WQ
Bel-Air Homes Duel to Become America’s Most Expensive – The Wall Street Journal
https://apple.news/AodHuwMFOSfGFWtQ_pCVD3w
Defenders and lovers of capitalism value the economic system for its favorable use of competition as a motivator. I agree with that, but how exactly is it a competition when 1% control 60% of wealth in a given location. So 99% are left to compete over 40% of the wealth. With a smaller and smaller pie to compete over, these 99% one day are just going to give up. It’s common sense. Why would you continue to work so hard for a smaller and smaller piece of the pie? This will end badly.
Whatever the 99% are competing over today is far larger than what the 99% were competing over in the 1940s. You do realize that economic growth actually increases the size of the pie. Critics of capitalism, like you fail to realize, there is no other system that has ever worked.
Asian breakfast with rice…I’ve usually gone the Hawaiian route, the loco moco. Hamburger patty, rice, fried egg over easy, gravy on top.
That’s a load of rubbish. It’s a smaller pie dude. Why does the 99% deserve a smaller percentage of a larger pie? Why?
This is not an attack on capitalism, rather an acknowledgement that it’s not perfect and has its problems that need to be addressed.
“Whatever the 99% are competing over today is far larger than what the 99% were competing over in the 1940s. You do realize that economic growth actually increases the size of the pie. Critics of capitalism, like you fail to realize, there is no other system that has ever worked.”
If it’s a smaller pie, than you obviously think the standard of living has decreased since 1940.
re: “Why does the 99% deserve a smaller percentage of a larger pie? Why?”
Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr. AKA Borat AKA Sasha Baron Cohen asked Bernie Sanders that same question.
Move the 99% into the 1%’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiGEh7UoMYg