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Posted on September 11, 2021 by grim

From Thomas Franklin at the Bergen Record:

Posted in General | 82 Comments

Clear to close? Think again.

Posted on September 9, 2021 by grim

From Inman:

Ida flooding could jeopardize 47,000 home sales in NY and NJ

Devastating flash floods in New York and New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida could delay or derail as many as 47,000 pending real estate transactions valued at more than $19.4 billion in those states alone, according to an analysis by ClosingCorp.

ClosingCorp.’s analysis looked at mortgage applications currently being processed by more than 200 lenders in 35 counties in New York and New Jersey that had been expected to close by the end of year.

New Jersey was hit harder than New York, with 30,462 transactions worth $10.7 billion in jeopardy. There were 17,019 transactions worth $8.7 billion at risk in New York, ClosingCorp said.

At the county level, Suffolk County, New York has the most transactions at risk, totalling $1.4 billion, followed by Kings County (Brooklyn), ($1.3 billion) and Bergen County, New Jersey ($1.3 billion).

In federal disaster areas, lenders will typically hold off on funding loans until appraisal re-inspections have been performed. If storm damage reduces a home’s valuation, that can prevent a sale from closing at the agreed upon price.

Posted in Mortgages, New Jersey Real Estate, Risky Lending | 197 Comments

Maybe some gentrification isn’t so bad?

Posted on September 6, 2021 by grim

Interesting piece from VOX:

What we talk about when we talk about gentrification

In his 2019 paper “Hoboken Is Burning: Yuppies, Arson, and Displacement in the Postindustrial City,” Princeton historian Dylan Gottlieb documented the violent displacement Puerto Rican residents faced between 1978 and 1983 as the city of Hoboken, New Jersey, gentrified. As thousands of young professionals flooded into Hoboken, the potential sale or rent price for converted units rose precipitously, and “property owners faced powerful incentives to displace low-income tenants.” 

As a result, “nearly five hundred fires ripped through tenements and rooming houses in the square-mile city,” Gottlieb writes. “Most [displaced residents] never returned to Hoboken. Nearly every fire, investigators determined, had been the result of arson.” In sum, 55 people died and over 8,000 were made homeless. 

Today, this sort of violent displacement is not what most people mean when they talk about gentrification. But what, exactly, they’re talking about is less clear, and the muddled debate often produces muddled policy goals.

Posted in Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate, New Development | 198 Comments

Nothing in between

Posted on September 4, 2021 by grim

From NPR:

The Housing Shortage Is Significant. It’s Acute For Small, Entry-Level Homes

America’s roaring real estate boom is leaving millions of would-be homebuyers out in the cold. The problem is most severe in that corner of the market that once propelled the American dream: the small entry level home. 

“I would like to a have a space with a yard, like 900 square feet,” says Mat Pergens, 39, who repairs and installs garage doors in and around Reno, Nevada. “Simple cabinets, simple countertops, Shag carpeting. I don’t care. I just want four walls and a roof that I can afford.”

But his aspiration for a modest starter home is completely out of reach. The country is nearly 4 million homes short of demand, according to the mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

…

Pergens and his wife Amanda have a six-year-old daughter and another child due this month. She stopped working as a pastry chef during the pandemic. They rent a small two-bedroom apartment. “We build all these fancy homes,” Pergens says. “Fancy, fancy houses…and low income apartments. And there’s absolutely nothing in between.” 

That no-frills entry level home that Pergens describes is just about vanishing in America. Once it was the stepping stone on a path to upward mobility for a huge swath of younger Americans. In 1982, 40% of the country’s newly constructed houses were entry level homes. By 2019, the annual share had fallen to around 7%. 

With a few brief exceptions, the decline has been as steady as a metronome, says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “It’s a huge problem if you think about the fact that home equity accounts for the bulk of wealth for the overwhelming majority of Americans.”

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate, New Development | 60 Comments

Bubflation?

Posted on September 1, 2021 by grim

From CNBC:

Soaring home prices shattered another record in June, S&P Case-Shiller says

Home prices rose 18.6% annually in June, up from the 16.8% increase in May, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller national home price index.

That is the largest annual gain in the history of the index dating back to 1987. Prices nationally are now 41% higher than their last peak during the housing boom in 2006.

Unlike other median price surveys, which can be skewed by the type of homes selling, this measures repeat sales of similar homes over time.

The 10-City composite rose 18.5%, up from 16.6% in the previous month. The 20-City composite was up 19.1%, up from 17.1% in the previous month.

Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle reported the strongest price increases of the 20 cities. Prices in Phoenix increased 29.3% year-over-year. In San Diego they rose 27.1%, and in Seattle they were up 25.0%. All 20 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending June 2021 versus the year ending May 2021.

“The last several months have been extraordinary not only in the level of price gains, but in the consistency of gains across the country,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P DJI. “In June, all 20 cities rose, and all 20 gained more in the 12 months ended in June than they had gained in the 12 months ended in May.”

Prices in just about every city in the 20-city index, except for Chicago, are at all-time highs, he said, as are the national composition and the 10- and 20-city indices.

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 267 Comments

Pending home sales dip

Posted on August 31, 2021 by grim

From MarketWatch:

Pending home sales slide for second month in a row — even though economists predicted an increase

Fewer Americans signed on the dotted line in July to purchase a home — but it’s likely too early to say whether that’s a signal of a cooling market.

Pending home sales fell 1.8% in July compared with June, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had projected a 0.5% increase for pending home sales in July.

…

Compared to last year, there was an even more significant decline in pending home sales, with an 8.5% drop.

On a regional basis, only the West saw an improvement in contract signings, with a 1.9% monthly increase. The Northeast experienced the largest monthly decline of any region, with a 6.6% drop from June. Every region saw pending home sales decrease on an annual basis.

…

“The market may be starting to cool slightly, but at the moment there is not enough supply to match the demand from would-be buyers,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in the report. “That said, inventory is slowly increasing and home shoppers should begin to see more options in the coming months.”

Posted in Economics, National Real Estate | 54 Comments

Lowball! is Back!

Posted on August 30, 2021 by grim

From the NY Post:

Here’s why a bonkers $39M NJ mansion just sold for a measly $4.6M

You thought those friends who snagged a Catskills farmhouse just before all hell broke loose in March 2020 were getting a deal?

Well, in Englewood, New Jersey, the resplendent “Gloria Crest” mansion — once one of the Garden’s State’s most expensive listings at $39 million in 2013 — just closed for a mere $4.6 million, a staggering 88% reduction from its original asking price. 

It took a rotating cast of brokers and years of price drops — $25 million in 2014, $24 million in 2015, $12 million in 2018 and even $9.99 million in 2019 — to close the deal.

So what gives?

Built in 1926 for Stefan Poniatowski, a man who said he was Polish royalty, 83 N Woodland St. is a sprawling eight-bedroom estate with some 24,000 square feet in which to frolic like you’re Gatsby.

The handsome pile of private lakefront architecture — with a marble foyer, a jaw-dropping staircase, home theater, gym, an infinity pool and chef’s kitchen — was purchased by Edward Turen, CEO of Control Equity Group, for $4.8 million in 2000.

…

“The estate is stunning and grandiose, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. My favorite thing about it is the history,” said Pais. “When you first step in, you feel like your time traveling into a different era.”

Posted in Lowball | 46 Comments

Great time to be a landlord in NJ

Posted on August 27, 2021 by grim

From the Record:

Tangled relationship: Renters stop paying amid pandemic, forcing small landlords into bind

Elena Walczyk had a buyer lined up to purchase the mobile home in Cape May County that she and her husband had rented out for years. But when Walczyk, 59, gave her tenant notice to terminate their lease about four months ago, the tenant stopped paying her $350 monthly rent and water bills, Walczyk said, estimating the renter now owes more than $2,100. 

As a result, Walczyk had to borrow approximately $1,000 from her 86-year-old mother to make her property tax payments, utilities and insurance on time, something she said is “unacceptable.”

Since March 2020, New Jersey banned evictions in order to keep families safe and housed even if they weren’t able to make rent payments, especially as Garden State businesses experienced mass layoffs in the wake of government-mandated business closures. Walczyk’s renter said she lost her retail job after the pandemic started.

But these protections left many small landlords without income and struggling to cover costs due. Towns didn’t give landlords a property tax holiday: If they didn’t make their scheduled payments, homeowners risked penalties or liens on their properties.

…

New Jersey is relying on distributing rental assistance to landlords to make them whole, but the process has been slow: Since the end of July, agencies passed out less than 25% of the more than $1 billion allocated by the federal government.

And to receive rental assistance, landlords need tenants to cooperate and sign off on the application, something several landlords told NorthJersey.com their tenants refused to do.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 148 Comments

What now for NJ unemployed?

Posted on August 25, 2021 by grim

From the Star Ledger:

Murphy won’t say if N.J. will extend pandemic unemployment benefits, affecting 500K residents

With approximately 500,000 New Jerseyans set to lose pandemic unemployment benefits after the first week of September, Gov. Phil Murphy won’t say if he will extend the federal payments.

At his Monday coronavirus briefing, Murphy said he had “no news” about the prospect of extending benefits.

President Joe Biden last week said states with unemployment rates that are higher than the national average — 5.4% — could use COVID relief funds to extend benefits beyond the Sept. 4 expiration date.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 7.3% and it received $6.2 billion in federal funds from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

Without an extension, three federal programs will end.

About 250,000 New Jerseyans are currently receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), the Labor Department said. The program gives benefits to people who wouldn’t normally qualify for traditional unemployment, including gig workers and the self-employed.

Another 190,000 people receive Pandemic Unemployment Emergency Compensation (PUEC), which adds 13 weeks of benefits for people who exhaust their regular payments. But of those, about 100,000 people will be moved onto a different extended benefit program, the Labor Department said.

In all, about 500,000 people have been receiving an additional $300 per week supplemental payment, but that will also end on Sept. 4.

Posted in Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate | 218 Comments

Cool? Or prelude to Crash?

Posted on August 24, 2021 by grim

From CNN:

The US housing market is starting to cool off — a bit

The housing market is showing signs of cooling off.Sales of existing homes — which include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — were up 2% in July from the month before, marking two consecutive months of increases, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. 

The number of available homes for sale also rose a bit in July, relieving some of the pressure on buyers. And while home prices still climbed year-over-year, they did not top recent record levels, the report found.

“There has been a turn in the market from super heated to still very strong,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

A consistently tight supply of inventory has pushed home prices higher over the past year, but that picture is improving slightly, said Yun. The inventory of unsold homes increased 7.3% from June to July, but it was still down 12% from a year ago, NAR reported. Unsold inventory is at a 2.6-month supply at the current sales pace. A balanced market is about a 6-month supply of homes.

“We see inventory beginning to tick up, which will lessen the intensity of multiple offers,” said Yun. “Much of the home sales growth is still occurring in the upper-end markets, while the mid- to lower-tier areas aren’t seeing as much growth because there are still too few starter homes available.”

The median price for an existing home in July was $359,900, up 17.8% from a year ago and marked 113 straight months of year-over-year gains. But the price jump for July is down from increases of 20% or more that were occurring in the market over the past year.

Posted in Housing Bubble, National Real Estate | 47 Comments

Not nearly enough progress

Posted on August 21, 2021 by grim

Updated Vaccination by Age Range for NJ:
7/29 vs 8/21

At Least 1 Dose
Total Pop: 9.2m
Total 1st Doses: 6.0m – 65% of total pop (Up from 62%) – Bloomberg reporting 68.6%

12-15 – 450k population – 180k dosed – 40% 1 Dose (Up from 38%)
16-17 – 240k population – 120k dosed – 50% 1 Dose (Up from 48%)
18-29 – 1.5m population – 900k dosed – 60% 1 Dose (Up from 57%)
30-49 – 2.4m population – 1.74m dosed – 73% 1 Dose (Up from 69%)
50-64 – 2m population – 1.56m dosed – 78% 1 Dose (Up from 77%)
65-79 – 1.1m population – 1.08m dosed – 98% 1 Dose (Up from 93%)
80+ – 415k population – 360k dosed – 87% 1 Dose (Up from 82%)

Posted in General | 201 Comments

Everything wrong with NJ, summed up.

Posted on August 18, 2021 by grim

From Jersey Digs:

Orange City Council Ignores all Budget Cut Suggestions, Voting to Raise Property Taxes

The Citizens Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC), a nine-member board comprised of local business professionals, opposed the 6.35 percent increase in the municipal budget, proposing 11 recommendations in hopes of staving off a tax hike, but to no avail. Suggestions included repairing broken parking meters, putting a freeze on new hires, capping overtime pay, and limiting perks such as the police department’s dry-cleaning expenses that totaled $40,000 last year.

“I think if we are going to have a CBAC and we, as a council, are not going to look at anything that they say,” said Adrienne Wooten, Councilwoman-at-Large, “I think we owe them a line by line excuse why we’re not doing it.”

Wooten, who joined councilmembers Jamie Summers-Johnson and Weldon M. Montague in voting no, had previously served on the CBAC and remembered the committee’s proposal “fell on deaf ears” that year also.

However, Nile Clements, Chief Finance Officer, defended the new budget citing two critical expenses — a snow removal expense for $190,000 and settling a costly issue with pensions — as well as the purchase of three new fire trucks.

Meanwhile, there is a growing number of homeowners in Orange who believe the rate they are paying in property taxes — which, at 5.6 percent, is the second-highest in Essex County — doesn’t square with the services they are receiving from the city.

“I could pay the same amount of money or less to live in South Orange, and the schools would be better, the neighborhood would be better,” said Zonasha Ward, a CBAC member. “We have to take our children to South Orange, West Orange, or Maplewood to play or be in an activity.”

…

Near the top of most residents’ complaint lists is the ongoing fiasco at the public library that was detailed in a Jersey Digs report. In that story, an anonymous source alleges thousands of dollars in unpaid bills at the library. Since publication, all three of the librarians were terminated, leaving the city no choice but to shutter its doors.

Posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes | 454 Comments

Hey Clot!

Posted on August 15, 2021 by grim

Fron the NY Post:

‘Jersey Shore’ star Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi sells $740K N.J. beach house

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi doubled her investment on a New Jersey beach house, property records show.

The former “Jersey Shore” star and her husband, Jionni LaValle, purchased the five-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home in Brick for $370,000 in November 2015 and sold it for exactly twice that much on Jan. 21, property records show.

Then they put “sweat equity” into the 4,792-square-foot home, a process they documented in a 2016 nine-episode series “Nicole & Jionni’s Shore Flip.”

“This house was perfect [for a quick flip],” Polizzi told The Post when the show premiered.

Posted in General | 299 Comments

The school vax window is closing

Posted on August 11, 2021 by grim

From the Daily Record:

NJ officials to parents: Get your teens a first COVID shot this week in time for school

With most schools about four weeks away from opening, New Jersey officials are urging parents to get their adolescents a first COVID shot this week in order to be close to fully vaccinated by opening day. 

The state Department of Health plans to have back-to-school vaccination clinics in districts across the state to raise the vaccination rate for 12- to 17-year-olds, which sits below 40%. There are nine clinics this week in Bergen County alone.

“For the folks who are eligible in both of those groups, 12 to 15 and 16 to 17, we need more of you to step up,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday.

The push comes as the delta variant continues to spread across New Jersey causing a rise in cases and hospitalizations, including among those younger than 18. Last week, Murphy reversed his stance and is now requiring students, teachers and visitors in all K-12 schools to wear masks when the new academic year begins with an anticipated in-person, full-time schedule.

Posted in General | 246 Comments

More bureaucracy? Why not!

Posted on August 9, 2021 by grim

From NJ Spotlight:

Ongoing warehouse boom prompts renewed calls for broader regulation

After new data showed New Jersey’s warehouse boom continues unabated, advocates renewed calls for state or regional control over where they can be built and for limits on local authority of the process.

Opponents of the current surge in warehouse construction say it can only be controlled by handing more authority to county, regional or statewide bodies. They can set policies that recognize that the impact from such buildings spreads beyond the individual towns that currently decide whether a warehouse can be built and under what, if any, limitations.

Municipalities, many of them cash-strapped, are lured by the prospect of more property-tax revenue that comes with the giant buildings, and those considerations often outweigh community concerns about more truck traffic, declining air quality or consumption of New Jersey’s scarce open space, critics say.

Without broader oversight, the critics predict local roads will be choked with truck traffic, farms and forests will be developed and the state’s remaining rural corners will be industrialized.

But shifting power to state or regional authorities is a heavy lift, said Jim Gilbert, a former chairman of the State Planning Commission, because that body does not have control over warehouse siting and because any attempt to weaken municipal power will meet strong resistance from defenders of New Jersey’s home-rule tradition.

“As soon as you start talking about comprehensive regional planning, the towns go crazy because they don’t understand that it’s really fundamentally in their interests,” said Gilbert, who advocates for broader authority over warehousing. “Home rule is a religion in New Jersey.”

Posted in New Development, New Jersey Real Estate | 218 Comments