Sounds like more of the usual

From NJ Business:

Year-end NJ Housing Data Shows Market Softening

Rising interest rates, low inventory, and climbing prices have cooled the housing market in 2022, with closed sales down 17.8% over 2021, according to year-end data reports from New Jersey Realtors.

“The 2022 market has softened due to the rise in interest rates and elevated home prices,” said 2023 New Jersey Realtors President Nick Manis. “However, there’s still buyer interest and activity on the inventory that is available.”

Closed sales for single family homes were down 18.6%, with 73,613 units sold during the year, compared to 90,416 sold in 2021. The median sales price for single family homes rose 8.7% to $473,000.

The townhouse/condo market saw a similar decrease in closed sales of 17.8% to 25,214. Units were on the market for an average of just 35 days during 2022, a decrease of 12.5% over 2021.

Inventory remains a concern, with just 13,595 single family homes for sale in the month of December in 2022, a decrease of 9.8% over an already-low 15,066 units for sale in 2021.

This entry was posted in Economics, Housing Bubble, Mortgages, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

59 Responses to Sounds like more of the usual

  1. dentssdunnigan says:

    1 st

  2. dentss dennigan says:

    2ed

  3. Fast Eddie says:

    “However, there’s still buyer interest and activity on the inventory that is available.”

    What a brilliant statement. Duh. I have an interest in that GMC Sierra Denali. Is an interest the same as a sale?

  4. Fast Eddie says:

    I’m loving that back deck at $775,000! $5,300 per month is a sign of prestige, ya know?

    https://www.trulia.com/p/nj/cranford/12-balmiere-pkwy-cranford-nj-07016–2005895738?mid=28#lil-mediaTab

  5. Fast Eddie says:

    A million bucks in Springfield. C’mon, Muffin needs Springfield!

    https://www.trulia.com/p/nj/springfield/22-woodside-rd-springfield-nj-07081–2006181791

  6. Fast Eddie says:

    749K in Maplewood, was asking 800K. Enjoy! Just don’t drive three blocks to the east or you’ll either get carjacked or a Memphis police style beatdown:

    https://www.trulia.com/p/nj/maplewood/145-union-ave-maplewood-nj-07040–2006002051

  7. Fast Eddie says:

    A three family investment in Newark. Is it even worth it? Do I even need to step foot in the place to collect rent and call in repairs as needed?

    https://www.trulia.com/p/nj/newark/307-w-runyon-st-newark-nj-07108–2088552578

  8. BRT says:

    I’m loving that back deck at $775,000! $5,300 per month is a sign of prestige, ya know?

    That deck matches the color of the 40 foot Arbor Vitae they have on the side

  9. Juice Box says:

    Deck without railings can only be less than 30 inches high. I count 5 and a half steps there…to the top of that thing…. Can you even park and back out of the garage without hitting it? Is that what the cone is for?

  10. leftwing says:

    Cranford is made by the kitchen door that opens straight from the outside into the counter. Because who needs clearance for the cupboards let alone an entryway when it’s 39 and raining…reminds of college rentals I’ve had, boxes with doors…

    Springfield, what a mish-mash of horrible interior styles, like the cabinet and flooring sections of Home Depot vomited it all up one night…and yes, who doesn’t want a million dollar split especially with garage doors facing the road…

    South of that Maplewood address is a war zone as well…when I first moved to NJ suburbs made the mistake of taking Springfield Ave as a short cut to 78 because of a standstill on the GSP…mildly wondered why I was the only person pulling off, found out soon enough. JFC.

    Sadly, that Newark place may be the most reasonable of the bunch

  11. Fast Eddie says:

    It’s all about price. Unless, of course, you’re a Muffin Muppet then it’s all about address.

    Deck without railings can only be less than 30 inches high.

    Does a 3 ft. x 3 ft. landing classify as a deck? ;) Me thinks the back steps were rotting away and needed to be replaced. Or, something else was there that was a potential hazard and needed to be corrected or the house wouldn’t show.

  12. leftwing says:

    So Lib…looking at my watchlists, you’ll appreciate this…I have many, the main one is 124 names. Good companies, wide variety from TSLA to KO and everything in between…20 day (1 month) returns?

    Only 13 of the names were negative, the median was down 2.6%. Among the worse were KO (-5.5%) and CPB (-9.8%) that were only on there to evaluate as shorts…

    Of the 111 names that were positive (90% of total) the median return was 16.9% (!) which was GNRC (!!)…..

    I don’t presume to analyze your portfolio but would echo chi’s comment on FOMO…last I saw you were 30/70 (or at least 40/60), big jump to 70/30 especially ahead of the Fed this week…and recalling you called my base case downside of 3200 on SPX ‘conservative’, ie. not deep enough

    Anyway, I’m working this weekend, pulling best short ideas (easier) and best long (much harder). I’ll do the shorts first, toss a few names here hopefully before Monday.

    I likewise feel frustrated on the sidelines but in reviewing last year the handful of pairs trades I put on did well…will look and see if I can derive some, grab a badly overvalued asset short and pair it with something at least tangentially related long…returns won’t knock your socks off but it’s a way to play long with some protection and if you get lucky both may pay out for a very good return.

    You have any long or short best ideas toss them out, especially longs. I did a first cut on five favorite criteria for shorts and it returned a screen 380 names deep…lol…need to refine it further, I guess…..maybe I’ll just pull them like bingo balls…..’normal’ markets that screen throws out 40-50 names or so

    Also, FYI I’m very close to being flat risk on the holdings I have….with the recent runup I mentioned I threw on a diagonal to preserve my GOOG gains with earnings next week…took the opportunity with put prices very cheap to throw on ratios covering most of my SPY and META to expiries…gave up about 16% of total potential return (and about 1/3 of remaining) to do so but moved my maxprofit number down…eg, on the biggest slug of SPY I have I now get maxprofit (10% remaining, 36% total return) down to 300…my version of a T-Bill, 10% return in less than a year provided SPY doesn’t break 300 (down 25%). LOL.

    Bottom line, the points I’m making to you are (i) my risk profile has changed substantially, I have locked returns and have very little exposure for the next 6-12 months out so take anything I say in that context, and (ii) get me some freaking good long ideas.

  13. joyce says:

    What a complete piece of shit
    https://youtu.be/Q83LueBcqe0

  14. leftwing says:

    chi, Let’s Go Red!!

    Yup, huge game tonight and we’re rounding the final turn in the season…looking a bit more closely I don’t mind the remaining schedule as much as I thought, most of the games are home so I’m more optimistic we won’t be upset by a lower ranked team and the two away games against weaker opponents are the final weekend against bottom dwelling Yale and Brown…if we need those wins in the final weekend and can’t produce them against those teams well quite frankly we deserve to be eliminated….

    Keep an eye on the midwest conferences…especially MN State, MI Tech, and ND….things can change quickly for them given their schedules…MI State was nipping at our heels exactly one week ago today (13th), they didn’t play last weekend and only lost to the number one ranked team yesterday yet that dropped them from 48 comp wins to 44 and to 17th place…Lots of movement, feels more than usual…and given the pairwise we are affected by games between others not even played in our conference..

    Wish I shared your enthusiasm on ECAC and Colgate, it just feels to me that the conference is not as strong as rankings reflected and is now balancing out a bit…Need those Colgate wins in Feb, and yes they ran Harvard last night (again) but they are still just ranked 29th….

    Just need to keep winning….

    Game is on ESPN+, signed up for that earlier this season, very impressed with image quality. I’ll be watching.

  15. Libturd says:

    ESPN+ is great quality, but their announcers are absolutely restaters of the obvious.

    On FOMO. That is exactly the reason I am moving back in. I have not given up on the chance the market chokes again. Though I expected to see more damage by now, and my sentiment has certainly changed in the short run. I still see pain, but I think it’s going to be at least next quarter and more likely end of Summer. This game of companies beating lowered expectations will only last so long. I think we are about to experience one heckuva headfake. I plan to sell into it to get back to my 50/50. And truth be told, when I was 30/70, that did not count the cash I got for my multi. That healthy wad of cash is approaching seven figures due to interest and the bank bonuses and some other money we came into. So though I am temporarily 70/30, the truth is, I’m really much closer to 50/50. You do realize how much I saved (opportunity cost) by exiting ALL of my positions near the tippy top in early December of 2021. I can afford a further drop here. I can’t afford being wrong if we have bottomed for good.

    So to explain the sentiment change. I think oil prices are peaking here among the transition to everything electric. Animal spirits are driving the market upward and this will continue as the praise for Powell and his brilliance in handling inflation makes him the temporary hero. I’m also beginning to see a lot of the Wall Street biggies saying the same thing. I think everyone is about to play this potential head fake. Market psychology, ignores fundamentals in the short run and they are absolutely unequivocally ignoring the impact the lack of ZIRP will have on the longer term. No one is even talking about it. It’s all soft landing, inflation getting under control (even though it took 4% FFR to get it from 9 to 6.5), labor shortages, etc. I’ve seen this Wall Street PR push time and time again. Meanwhile, every quarter sees lower and lower earnings which are cleverly hidden behind lowered estimates that will continue to be easily beaten. And like debt, they will eventually matter. But that’s in the longer run. In the short-run, animal spirits, driven mainly by bullshit Wall Street PR will rue the day. Throw in Biden and his positive spin machine and barring a black swan event, we should be good at least for three months. And throw in all of the positive news you will hear about housing in the next three months as the real estate season kicks in to full gear early February.

    There’s a lot more too it than this simplistic explanation, but I have to finish the doors in my basement. They are all up and hardware installed, but of course I went too conservative on the cuts, so I need to hand plane them all down between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Especially considering that it’s the winter and there’s little humidity so the doors are not expanded.

    For one day, so far, I’ve been quite right. Looking at earnings so far this quarter, I expect to see a lot more of the same. Don’t be surprised if I’m back to 50/50 in my brokerage position of my net worth sooner rather than later. And as always, appreciate all of the advice.

  16. Chicago says:

    I was trying to be good natured and you post sour crap. Especially when you know nothing about the context. In short, your conjecture is way off.

    Fabius Maximus says:
    January 27, 2023 at 2:00 pm
    Chi,

    Cynic in me says its a cash grab. Into the studio as fast than ACDC after Bon Scott.
    Let’s see if it can match Back in Black

  17. 3b says:

    It’s all over, inflation is yesterdays news, rates will be slashed again after the pause, and it’s back to the races again for housing and the stock market. Recessions are a thong of the past!

  18. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “The old habit was buy the dip,” Ms. Bhansali said. “The new habit should be sell the rip.”

  19. Phoenix says:

    I’m reaching out to you today with a critical update from Eastern Europe.

    Thousands of U.S. troops in Romania, just a few miles away from where war rages on in Ukraine, just received word that their deployment would be extended for at least nine more months.

    That’s nine more months away from their homes and loved ones, facing danger and uncertainty as they protect our national interests and strengthen our allies.

    Meanwhile in Germany, even more troops are preparing to deploy to Romania. As this crisis continues to escalate with no end in sight, our troops are ready to do whatever it takes to keep us safe and free. It’s up to folks back home to do everything we can to support them as they make incredible sacrifices for us.

    That’s why I’m asking the USO’s most dedicated military supporters — including you — to donate before midnight tonight: Please, will you rush $29 or more to support our heroes around the world?

  20. leftwing says:

    As I said Lib I don’t presume to critique your choices as you know what you are doing and, more importantly, only you know how that relates to your specific situation which is the most important criterion of all.

    Couple thoughts…remember the public focuses on CPI; the Fed PCE. Annual core actual was 4.4%, you’re basically at FFR (that’s a pretty important data point for me, ie. actual measures even with the housing time lag distortion shows us entering a positive real rate realm). And don’t forget annualizing any PCE measure shorter than a year gets you even lower than the YoY actual 4.4%….

    On earnings, screw the estimates. Had this conversation with chi here about four months ago or so…estimates always change, they’re dynamic, so it’s impossible to draw any historical comparisons as you don’t have access to the data that existed at that exact time…just use actual, they never change. With that stake in the ground how will 2023 SPX earnings stack to 2022/21/19/18?

    For clarity, my answers to the two above comments would indicate bullishness on the market which why is at the end of last year I put out here that my 2800 worst case was off the table and that I would be a heavy buyer at my 3500/3400 signpost.

    Here’s the most interesting item to fall out of our posts for me though….

    “You do realize how much I saved (opportunity cost) by exiting ALL of my positions near the tippy top in early December of 2021. I can afford a further drop here. I can’t afford being wrong if we have bottomed for good.”

    Funny, I’m the mirror image of your psychology…I banked 29% gains last year on the entire investable portfolio. I don’t want to weather a drop from where I am, and I’m quite willing to leave the next 5 or 10 percent on the table to avoid doing so until the market sounds the all clear signal.

    You’ve given me something to think about…I would have expected that we would have been at least somewhat aligned in our thoughts, certainly not diametrically opposite.

    Float me any long names you may consider. I’ll share back any positions I see falling out of them.

  21. Libturd says:

    3b,

    That’s exactly what I am worried about. I’m truly surprised we are even at 5%. The treasury market certainly doesn’t believe it. And the Canadian Bank pause is an ominous sign of our future. I feel better about my risk to reward ratio here. Cars are going to get cheaper and housing too. God forbid the Ukraine forges a peace with Mother Russia and I wouldn’t want to be completely out of this market.

    Still, a black swan event, like the shutdown of our government from endless gridlock between the parties (say the Dems expand the Supreme Court) or a bad Covid mutation, and all bets are off in the short run.

  22. Libturd says:

    We are actually not inverse each other at all. At least not in the ways we invest. Your option strategies allow you to use all different types of methods to extract opportunities to profit regardless of the direction of the market. I know, I sound like a television commercial here. For example your long one, short another strategy based on how the two companies are valued. I employ only two real strategies and in the back of my mind is the 100+ year chart of the NYSE. That is, it always goes up. Though, the key to remember here is that different stocks make up the exchange. So 90% of the time, I employ index funds and company size sector funds to provide some value opportunities, which minimizes my risk through the diversification of all of the names in those sectors and indexes. I’ll also invest from 10 to 20% of my portfolio into individual undervalued stocks. I tend to stay away from momentum plays and focus much more on value stocks or growth stocks temporarily undervalued. Right now, I’m in international (which I rarely touch) since I see value there, both in what appears to be the beginning of a comeback and their eventual reversion to mean. My other strategy, which most label a fool’s game, is to time the market. Now I don’t advise this strategy for other’s much like I don’t teach people how I beat the casino in the long run. Why? Because few have the discipline to actually spend the quantity of time that I do in casinos and avoid playing games with negative theoretical expectations. The professional advantage players, many who teach classes on the science, estimate the number of people who succeed at becoming APs who take their classes is about 1 in 200. Not because they can’t handle the math or concepts, but due to their lack of discipline. And those are people who actually proved an interest in learning by signing up for a class. Among the greater population, they have guessed the number is probably somewhere between 1 in 400 to 500. So if you want to be able to time the market successfully, your odds are probably near the same. Want to know what discipline is? I’ve timed the markets for a total of four roundtrips in the last 25 years. Why? Because the majority of the gains and losses in the market occur very close to the tops and bottoms of major bull and bear markets. There are many shorter bulls and bears, but you must be able to ignore them. The key is to knowing when it’s going to be a major turn and these occur about every ten years, give or take half a decade. Yes, it’s that infrequent and that varied. Believe it or not, I’m 100% in the market about 90% of the time.

  23. leftwing says:

    Big picture, dumb, back of the envelope view (which too many times is often much better than a thoroughly researched and analyzed view….)

    https://www.yardeni.com/pub/yriearningsforecast.pdf

    The markets (earnings and stocks) were rolling over at the end of 2019, we knew that, even at the time…COVID just steamrolled everything…

    Regarding SPX earnings, if 2019 was 163 of earnings let’s take 2020/21 and average those two years of the shutdown/reopening to get 347 total divided by 2 and call it 175 each year to make the math easy.

    So we’d be at SPX earnings of 162/163/175/175/215 for 2018-2022…..

    Where do we go from here….first, some very recent background…notably, Powell stated in Nov 2021 he was raising rates. Quarterly earnings, which were continuously rising, hit the brakes at 54 for 4Q21 and 1Q22 and squeezed out 58 for 2Q22. In June/July Powell hits us with the back to back 75s…earnings start the downward trajectory to 56 in 3Q22 and 54 (again) in this 4Q22….

    With that backdrop when in 2023 do we arrest the downward movement, how much further may it go down, and when? Because 54 annualized is 216 for 2023, or exactly 2022 earnings…

    Now let’s look longer term at SPX annual earnings since 1960…there are only 11 occurrences of YoY declines….seven of those 11 times had declines of 3.8% to 9.7% from the prior year with a median of 6.9%…….Apply the median decline to the 215 of earnings in 2022 and you get 200…recall, most forecasts for 2023 are 225-230….

    So what is the stupid simple analysis for me?

    If we hit the 225-230 earnings forecast I think we are very close to being fully priced right now. With an SPX at 4000 that currently yields a p/e in the high 17 times. Not cheap. Even if we were to get to 4400, that is nearly a 20 multiple….very rich, and that is only 10% up on the SPX from where we are now….that would be my best case, and also least likely, we end 10% up on the index. I do think we will touch it but not hold. If we hold and then breakout from there almost by definition the economy has to have turned for the much better, and that would be my signal to step in…not before.

    If earnings stay flat at 215 for 2023 the market comes off as it is a decline from anticipated for sure. At 215 a 16x multiple gets you to 3440 (15% down)…evaluate buys there, provided you don’t anticipate further declines in earnings into the quarterlies or 2024…stable earnings of 215 and a 16 multiple is reasonable, good launch pad to have. Enthusiastic buying at 3400/3500.

    Let’s look at downside…Take the median downside of seven of the 11 earnings declines of 6.9% which gets you to 2023 earnings of 200….where do you end up? Down harder for sure as it is an actual decline from historical, not just from forecast. Pick a multiple…18? gets 3600. 16? 3200 (20% down).

    What about a go to hell scenario off earnings?

    Only four times out of 59 years have there been annual declines in earnings greater than 9.7%…that is only 6% of the time….they were 1975 (energy crisis, wild inflation); 1991 (commercial RE meltdown, Soviet Union dissolves, Gulf War); 2001 (internet crash); 2008 (financial crisis). If you are looking for more than a 10% down year in earnings it is a very low probability occurrence, and you are inherently betting that the events of 2023 will be in scope toward the events noted above. Respectfully suggest that is very unlikely, we are nowhere near any of those events.

    So, summarizing, the signposts, index and (earnings)…

    4400 (225) – unlikely, but can touch it if earnings track 225.
    3400 (215) – most probable downside scenario, Buyer here.
    3200 (200) – worse case downside
    180 earnings – index declines are not linear, I think we get sticky around 3200

    Personally, given the above I think 3800-4000 is a fair market value for 2023 right now and would be a buyer notably below and a seller notably above.

    QED, bookmark this post. YMMV.

  24. Boomer Remover says:

    What the [expletive] is that in 1:11?

    Only this country treats its career servicemen as some sort of martyrs. How bizarre.

  25. leftwing says:

    2:23 Lib

    Good post, interesting perspective on our relative strategies and agree. Based on discipline.

    “Now I don’t advise this strategy for other’s much like I don’t teach people how I beat the casino in the long run. Why? Because few have the discipline to actually spend the quantity of time that I do in casinos and avoid playing games with negative theoretical expectations.”

    Which is exactly the reason you are the only one I’ve reached out to personally to try options as most people would blow themselves up with a lack of discipline as they run toward high payout, negative EV trades….

    And also why I’ve never asked you how to beat the poker machines as I know I wouldn’t have the discipline there, lol.

  26. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Bingo. Anytime there is a blowoff top, meaning up or down, this is where the money is made on the sell or buy. I know you and others laugh me off on here, but I was one of the few who exited the market and collected a measly 2% first week of January. That takes massive conviction and discipline. I was extremely bullish for a long time. Sucked it up, acknowledged the situation, and acted on it. These kind of moves carry heavy risk, but heavy reward. If you obsess over the market, and have discipline, it can be done. It can be worth the risk. Most people, hell no.

    Yes, we all know based on the avgs, that no thinking passive index investing is the way. But, this is not how real money is made. You have to make concentrated picks. The only way to real money.

    “Why? Because the majority of the gains and losses in the market occur very close to the tops and bottoms of major bull and bear markets.”

  27. The Great Pumpkin says:

    DNA is my pick for a concentrated bet. Still haven’t bought more, but watering at the mouth. This is the discipline part. I’m trying to nail a good price. Even if I don’t, any price down here is a gift, that’s if i am correct on this company long-term. We will see what happens.

  28. Libturd says:

    You may be brighter than me Leftwing, but I understand what’s in your head extremely well. I know I need to go to options school, but I just don’t like to have to watch things too closely. Like I always say, I sleep well at night. It may not look much like I am minimizing risk. But I am. Not a big a fin of the parley either. The odds are way better on the money line.

  29. The Great Pumpkin says:

    One of the institutional investors just increased their position by 45%…bought 80 million shares. This is how I know this company has something. Combine that with ark buying into it hard. Bill Gates invested. Something is here.

  30. The Great Pumpkin says:

    ‘Everybody is cheating’: Why this teacher has adopted an open ChatGPT policy

    https://apple.news/An2IddILTSnKkdPUTOB_i4w

  31. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Agree with this professor…otherwise, just fighting technology. Teach your students how to work with it.

  32. Chicago says:

    Left: regarding Yardeni. We don’t get to trough valuation without duress. There is too much front running, computerization, algo. You have to anticipate the anticipation.

    Look, we are nowhere into the weeds with leverage as in the financial crisis, but something still is off.

  33. Phoenix says:

    What the [expletive] is that in 1:11?

    Only this country treats its career servicemen as some sort of martyrs. How bizarre.

    What is it? A copy of an email I received from them:

    https://www.uso.org/

  34. Chicago says:

    Something about this time feels like the fall of 2006. I was thinking how do we go up from here? We had another 8-9 months before Cioffi blew up at Bear Stearns. Cioffi was when the Titantic hit the iceberg.

  35. Phoenix says:

    Citi Costco Card. Just a heads up:

    Important changes are coming to some of your Card Benefits. These changes are not reflected in the enclosed Guide to Protection Benefits. The following is a summary of changes that are being made to your card benefits: Effective January 22, 2023, the Extended Warranty benefit will be discontinued and will no longer be provided for purchases made on or after that date.

  36. Phoenix says:

    Some free beer for the alcoholics out there: And Jersey is on the okay list:

    Purchase an 18-pack or larger of Bud Light and receive a rebate up to $25. Must purchase by 2-12-23 and submit rebate by 2-26-23.

    https://www.budlight.com/biggamerebate/

  37. Libturd says:

    Chi,

    I have that feeling too. One of my greatest biases is my anti-wealthy slant. I sometimes guess that the economy is only holding up because the wealthy just keep on wasting their massive discretionary dollars on shit, making up for the masses in debt up to their eyeballs. I look at that 800 billion of PPP which went almost entirely to the wealthy (because they own the businesses) and try to calculate how long their spending spree will last. I always thought the implosion of crypto would be the spark to ignite the contagion, but then I realized that it’s mostly dumb money chasing after dumb money. What the heck, I’m done thinking out loud. Truth is, no one can guess what will prick the bubble. But I’m gonna keep trying to guess.

  38. Phoenix says:

    Everyone is a cheat. Went to SR yesterday. Used to buy the deli shrimp, packaging was different this time. It was labeled as shrimp, smaller square container. Turned it upside down and half the container was filled with a salad mix, not mentioned on the label, but I will bet (didn’t have a scale) that the weight listed wasn’t only the shrimp.

    Brought a car to get a wheel balance to a chain. A week later, hit a large bump, lost a hubcap. Would never have noticed, but the weights looked old. Checked the rest of the wheels, same thing. They claimed to do it, but no wheel balance performed-just stole the money.

    Had new tires installed at other place, now I have a vibration when braking- J/Offs hammered down (without torque sticks) on the lug nuts, warping the front rotors. I’ll fix them myself in the spring.

    America is a s h i t country. I don’t care how you try to fix it, it ain’t happenin’.

    All ethics/skills/morals are lost.

  39. Phoenix says:

    All you need to know about the thought processes of a corporation.

    https://youtu.be/xYMWTXIkANM?t=2578

  40. Ex says:

    6:13 I always felt like parts of NY / NNJ were very third world.
    Tire people can be hit or miss. A good one is worth their weight.

  41. leftwing says:

    “Look, we are nowhere into the weeds with leverage as in the financial crisis, but something still is off…I was thinking how do we go up from here?”

    As my lengthy post lays out I agree…I don’t see how we go up appreciably (>10%) as there is just no support for that unless 2023-24 earnings move up even more, however, although the skew may be to the downside I have a hard time seeing us hit an earnings downdraft to less than 194 (down 10% on historical) which worse case gets us down to around 3200 (16.5x) or down 20% from here…Just not sensing a tiger in the bushes beyond that…

    I can easily see us touching both 3600 and 4400 this year and ending unch….

    Also, WTF Red?!

  42. leftwing says:

    I’ve had very good luck with Goodyear in Union…

  43. Mike S says:

    Go look at open houses for Sunday. Dare you to find one decent one with an associated decent price. Nada.

  44. Fast Eddie says:

    Go look at open houses for Sunday. Dare you to find one decent one with an associated decent price. Nada.

    It’s the foundation of this blog. The experience of house hunters in this area goes from shock to denial to anger to frustration to confusion to despair to finally… acceptance. The muffin tops ultimately sell their piss-smelling, paint-peeling, weed-growing abodes to the dejected muppets at an elevated price that goes beyond analysis and defies physics. We know.

  45. Fast Eddie says:

    France needs to raise the retirement age because… well… they’re running out of other people’s money. Read the story of the “Twentieth Century Motor Company” to understand the situation.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/france-must-raise-pension-age-to-64-prime-minister-says/ar-AA16RGg3

  46. Chicago says:

    Interesting article until it goes off the rails and into a ditch.
    Xxxxx

    5,000-year-old ‘tavern’ discovered on archeological dig

    By Angela Barbuti
    January 28, 2023
    The fourth season of excavations at the site of Tell al Hiba.

    A team of researchers studying the archeological site of Lagash in southern Iraq uncovered the public eating space, which dates back to 2700 B.C., according to the University of Pennsylvania.

    The area was replete with benches, a type of clay refrigerator referred to as a “zeer,” an oven, and storage containers, many of which still contained food.

    The tavern was discovered during an excavation in Lagash which sought items illustrating what life was like in the urban neighborhood.

    “The site was of major political, economic, and religious importance,” Holly Pittman, a professor in Penn’s History of Art department, told the university. “However, we also think that Lagash was a significant population center that had ready access to fertile land and people dedicated to intensive craft production.”

    In the southeastern corner of the same room was a large circular installation.
    “The site was of major political, economic, and religious importance,” UPenn professor Holly Pittman said.

    In the southeastern corner of the same room was a large circular installation.
    Colleagues from Penn and the University of Pisa made the discovery in the fall of 2022.
    Lagash Archaeological Project

    Pittman likened the ancient metropolis to the city of Trenton, N.J., once known for being the East Coast’s center of manufacturing.

    “In that way the city might have been something like Trenton,” she explained, “as in ‘Trenton makes, the world takes,’ a capital city but also an important industrial one.”

  47. 3b says:

    Fast: Prestige has a price. And north Jersey particularly Bergen as you know. From Carlstadt to Montvale , and all towns between , Bergen is special , and the grass is so green. And, anyhow, it won’t matter the Fed is going to cut rates later in the year and the people that buy now with higher rates can refinance, because rates will go back down to 3 percent, because that’s where they should be. So, the bi level today listed on Kinderkamack Rd with the smell of stale farts that the muppets pay 759k for today will be worth one million in a year. So we will be back to nirvana again, low, low rates houses appreciating at double digits again on a yearly basis. People should be out there snapping up whatever inventory is available.

  48. Phoenix says:

    No matter what country, can’t get a decent politician. This one just happens to be a conservative.

    https://youtu.be/057VKyU35jA?t=67

  49. Phoenix says:

    Didn’t realize how old that was, but they ain’t getting better, only worse.

  50. Fast Eddie says:

    People should be out there snapping up whatever inventory is available.

    “Gimme your best and final by 5:00 PM today. We’ll let you know if you won. (Takes drag on cigarette).”

    “How do I know what the highest bid is?”

    “Just keep bidding and we’ll let you know if you’re in the running. And bid at least the asking price or higher, we don’t want to insult the seller. Any bid lower than ‘ask’ won’t even be presented. We want serious buyers only. Remember, this town commands a certain ‘type’ of buyer.”

  51. Fast Eddie says:

    CNN just notched its lowest ratings in nine years across all its day parts for the week of Jan. 16 through Jan. 22, 2023, according to Nielsen averaging just 444,000 viewers in primetime, 93,000 in the all-important age 25-54 news demographic and 417,000 in viewers and 80,000 in the demo for total day. It’s the first time since May 2014 that the network failed to reach 450,000 viewers.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/cnn-just-suffered-its-worst-ratings-week-in-9-years/ar-AA16PgpU?cvid=b7ac98e3291943c38d7637cd138c4458

    When you keep pushing radical, infectious, leftist nonsense, rational people will tune out.

  52. Ex says:

    Whereas if you cater to insurrectionists/QAnon/Trash – 3rd grade reading level- and view news as “entertainment” Faux is for you!

  53. Libturd says:

    I could care less, but I checked out those ratings. Fox News has prime time for sure, but that’s really a moot point unless you want to make an argument that watching Fox News at prime time rather than at other times carries some weight. The overall network ratings were awfully close, as one would expect them to be, when you combine MSNBC and CNN, which both swing far left these days.

    As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers:

    CNN: 431,000
    MSNBC: 745,000
    Fox News: 1.66 million

    So when you push gun nuts and the like, it hardly makes a difference.

  54. Phoenix says:

    san fran is done. looks like eagles going to super bowl. total blow out, boring.

  55. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Bitcoin knocking on 24k door. We move up tomorrow if this keeps up.

  56. Fabius Maximus says:

    Chi, its not sour. You and I look at this band from different perspectives. You are a super fan. I’m not. I had this same conversation with Springsteen super fan ShoreGuy who got bent out of shape when I criticized Working on a Dream.

    I do understand the context of the band. Fletch was Ringo. Good player, but played a bigger role as making sure the other two played nice in the sand pit. They didn’t need him artistically for the album, but lets see how they move forward. But be realistic, this is the Covid lockdown work rebranded. I made the comparison to Back in Black, if they put out a Violator, I’ll be the first applauding them.

    Now I’m off to celebrate, while my Niners lost, my kid (who you dissed when she lettered) had her team win districts today and is heading to States.

  57. SmallGovConservative says:

    Phoenix says:
    January 29, 2023 at 10:46 am
    “No matter what country, can’t get a decent politician…”

    It’s hard to not have this view when you live in a blue state and are helping foot the bill for malfeasant Dems and their disastrous policies. But as a Florida taxpayer as well, I can tell you for a fact that there are decent politicians, and that there are places where the government respects taxpayers and tries to provide services efficiently and effectively. As an example, having just paid off my mortgage , I called the Lee County tax collector and was greeted with a long recorded message that was almost apologetic in explaining why taxes need to be collected, and how they’re used — and was then immediately transferred to a live person who was extremely helpful and pleasant. I know that I shouldn’t be at this point, but I continue to be shocked as I experience first hand, the difference between red state governance (politicians) and blue state governance.

  58. SmallGovConservative says:

    Libturd says:
    January 28, 2023 at 12:29 pm
    “So to explain the sentiment change. I think oil prices are peaking…Throw in Biden and his positive spin machine and barring a black swan event…”

    I see so many festering problems in the world that I think it’s just a matter of when — not if — we see a black swan. A major terrorist event in the US thanks to the open southern border? War in the middle east — appears Israel has had it with Joe’s dithering on Iran and is taking things into their own hands? Russia vs Ukraine spilling into Poland or the Baltics? China moves on Taiwan?

  59. Ex says:

    So the attitudes, preferences, and behaviors of the rich have outsize effects not only in terms of their direct dispensation of resources, which is enormous in itself, but even more in terms of their disproportionate influence over public policy, which affects millions.

    So what are their preferences? A few years ago, Page, along with fellow political scientists Larry Bartels and Jason Seawright, published a study of the political habits and inclinations of the 1 percent. One thing they found is that the rich are extremely politically active — far more likely to have personal contacts with policymakers, donate money, attend meetings, follow the news, and vote — which (along with, y’know, the money) helps explain why their preferences have such impact.

    As to the 1 percent’s policy preferences, the folks at Campaign for America’s Future took the numbers from Page’s study and compared them with past polls, to get a sense of how the preferences of the rich diverge from the general public’s. And oh, do they diverge.

    I had Vox’s ace graphics team pretty up the comparison. Here’s how the rich rate things relative to the rest of us:

    Link: https://www.vox.com/2015/6/16/8790357/rich-people-jerks

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