More Affordable Than Intended
A report from Crain’s New York Business. “Fueled in large part by the number of homeowners who could not keep up with monthly payments on subprime loans, 14,407 people filed for bankruptcy in the New York area during the first seven months of this year, compared with 11,026 in that period last year, according to bankruptcy court records.”
“Noel, a 28-year-old math teacher from Harlem who asked that his last name not be used, always thought it would be smart to invest in real estate. So when his cousin introduced him to a mortgage broker who promised he wouldn’t have to put a penny down on a $1 million piece of property in New Rochelle, he jumped at the chance.”
“Then, the same broker told him about a home in Yonkers. Again, he didn’t have to put any money down. Before he realized what he was getting into, Noel says, he was scammed into signing two mortgages totaling more than $1.5 million.”
“‘I make $50,000 as a schoolteacher,’ he says. ‘There’s no way I should have been approved for loans that big.’”
“Hemmed in by monthly payments totaling more than $10,000 and bills for maintaining a third property on Long Island, Noel had no choice but to file for bankruptcy, he says. He filed without the help of a lawyer-he couldn’t afford one-and he plans to walk away from the three homes and get a fresh start, this time without dreams of making it big.’
“‘I thought real estate was a good business,’ he says. ‘But I guess it’s not for me. I’m not buying property again-ever again.’”
The Philadelphia Business Journal from Pennsylvania. “Developers who had high hopes of meeting strong demand for new condominiums along the Main Line a year ago have had to lower their expectations or are waiting out the current housing downturn.”
“One of those yet-to-be-built projects, called Allaire, is on the market with permits and all if another developer wants to scoop it up for the right price. Barring that, Allaire’s would-be developer, architect Tom Hall, is ready to wait for the market to improve.”
“Recognizing how the residential market, economy and financing have changed in the past year, Hall has put the 2.3-acre, 20 North Buck Lane site on the market.”
“‘I suspect what I will do is wait out a certain period of time and sit on it because I think it’s such a good opportunity,’ he said. ‘I think there’s a market for this kind of product, and I think at some point this would be a home run.’”
The Courier Times from Pennsylvania. “Sales of existing homes in Bucks County were down 26.8 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the first half of 2007, according to data compiled by Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors. In Montgomery County, home sales were down 24.3 percent.”
“The average price of a home also fell in that time period, from $293,000 to $282,000 in Bucks County and from $270,000 to $265,000 in Montgomery.”
“In Springfield, buyers of homes in the Springtown Knoll development will get a free Toyota Prius, said Megan Reshetar, a sales associate for homebuilder Reshetar Custom Homes. Two of the 20 homes, which start at $590,000, have been sold, Reshetar said.”
“In Buckingham, the Cape Cod-style home has been on the market since May. The free car promotion began in June, said Realtor Susan Langenstein, who’s representing the seller. Langenstein said buyers could negotiate a reduction in price instead of the car.”
“‘As a Realtor, I don’t like doing things like this,’ she said. ‘I think it’s a very much a price-driven market, and people are very in tune to that. I’d much rather you take the money off the top. But what it has created is a little bit of excitement. We’re all looking for that.’”
The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. “At the Harbour Cove North condominiums in Somers Point, the neighbors are quiet and unassuming. That’s because there aren’t any neighbors.”
“Almost a year after the 14 units went on the market, general manager Jeff Vogt said only one of the condos is occupied, with another currently under contract. The dearth in sales comes as hundreds of new residential units are planned to go up in Somers Point over the next few years.”
“The going prices for the two- and three-bedroom Harbour Cove North condos, located on Bay Avenue overlooking the Harbour Cove Marina, are listed as starting in the low $600,000s. ‘It’s a secondary market,’ Vogt said. ‘It’s a lifestyle change for a lot of people.’”
“He added that resales at some of the other condominiums on the Harbour Cove property were still strong, with some going for as high as $1.2 million. ‘It’s still above where the levels were when (prices) started to escalate five years ago,’ Vogt said.”
“The perception of a weak real estate market nationally, said Fred Fisch, a real estate agent with Vanguard Property Group of Egg Harbor Township, contributes to many buyers’ reluctance to close the deal.”
“‘I think it has its effect,’ Fisch said, ‘and perception matters a lot, unfortunately.’”
“But Fisch, who also serves as the president of the condo association at Greate Bay, said there’s been an upswing of activity there recently that bodes well for the future. ‘A lot of people are realizing that we’re never going to get prices to what they were,’ Fisch said.”
The Times from New Jersey. “Frank Wible, owner of ReMax All Pros Realty, said homebuyers who walk into his office these days are interested in just two things. ‘They all come into our office and they say, ‘I want to see foreclosures and short sales,’ said Wible, whose brokerage is in Gloucester County. ‘They’re all saying the same thing. They want the best deal coming.’”
“In New Jersey, the regional market that saw the biggest drop in home prices during the second quarter was the Newark-Union ‘metropolitan statistical area,’ or MSA, where the median price fell 6.9 percent, to $420,000. The Newark-Union MSA includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex and Union counties. Next in line was the New York-northern New Jersey MSA, where the median home price fell 5.3 percent, to $453,400.”
“A record rise in foreclosures is only adding to the glut. Statewide, some 931 borrowers lost their homes to their lenders in July.”
“Jarrod Grasso, executive VP of the New Jersey Association of Realtors, said Trenton lawmakers need to step up and address New Jersey’s sky-high property tax rates to help bolster the state’s housing market and economy.”
“‘It’s time for Trenton to stop talking about easing the property tax burden and start implementing measures that truly reform our property tax system,’ he said.”
The Boston Globe from Massachusetts. “The average assessed value for single-family homes in Massachusetts fell for the first time in more than a decade last year, even as property tax bills continued to climb.”
“‘Values go down and tax rates go up and everyone pays a little more and they aren’t happy,’ said James C. Judge, the assistant assessor in Kingston, where the average bill jumped 9.8 percent, following a tax override, and assessed values dropped nearly 5 percent.”
“In previous years, homeowners facing tax hikes could console themselves with the knowledge that their home’s value had increased. Statewide property values had double-digit percent gains each year between 2001 and 2005, according to the state.”
“But that’s not the case this year, and it could get worse because of the sagging real estate market.”
“‘When values have gone down, people have to understand there is a lag time and it doesn’t reflect market value,’ said Richard Gorden, a member of the Sharon Board of Assessors and also a real estate agent. ‘There’s no way around that.’”
“For the past year, Weston homeowners paid the highest average tax bills in the state, a staggering $14,537. Six other communities, all but one in the suburbs west of Boston, had bills averaging more than $10,000.”
“Pond View Village promised to turn an old glue factory in Gloucester into 125 affordable apartments and condominiums. But with only the first two phases completed, and many units unsold, a foreclosure auction is scheduled Tuesday for three lots on which the final units were to be built.”
“Palmer Cove Condominium, a 15-unit development in Salem, was built to create affordable home ownership in The Point, the city’s poorest neighborhood. But after only one person applied to buy, the nonprofit developer now wants to rent out the units to avoid foreclosure.”
“‘When we started this project in 2004, there was a need for home ownership,’ said Michael Whelan, executive director of Salem Harbor Community Development Corp. ‘There still is a need, but clearly there has been a market adjustment.’”
“Cape Ann Housing Opportunity couldn’t make its loan payments to MassHousing. MassHousing last year took title to half of the condo units, which now are being sold for about $200,000 each, an official said.”
“‘You sell for what the market will bear,’ said Joseph Flatley, president of MassHousing. ‘The units are more affordable than we intended.’”
The Boston Herald from Massachusetts. “Greetings from Dorchester, the nation’s new vacation hotspot. More than a dozen condos, many in abandoned or distressed buildings, have sold at sky-high prices to ‘buyers’ using mortgages designed for vacation homes, according to a local housing researcher.”
“There’s the mysterious ‘San Francisco woman’ whose vacation dream spot apparently is the third floor of a run-down triple-decker on Whitfield Street in Codman Square. She paid $339,000 for a previously foreclosed unit, one that sold just a few months before for $65,000, according to real estate records.”
“Then there’s the man whose vacation getaway just happens to be a floor below his own third-floor condo. After spending $340,000 to buy the third floor of 15 Santuit St. in Codman Square with a conventional loan, he paid another $340,000, with a second-home mortgage, to buy the second floor.”
“‘When he’s on vacation, he can go to the second floor,’ said John Anderson, a longtime Dorchester resident and housing researcher who uncovered the increase in vacation-home loans.”
“As hundreds of bank-seized condos, many in triple-deckers, sit unsold, they are tempting target for speculators seeking to snap them up at rock-bottom prices. Such properties are then flipped for big profits, often in sales using straw or phony buyers.”
“43 Whitfield is just one example of at least a dozen cases where real estate speculators have turned to mortgages designed for second homes to finance questionable deals, according to Anderson.”
“Most of the condos were sold at well-above market prices well past the $300,000 mark, despite sitting in triple-deckers or multi-families with other units in foreclosure that could be purchased for $50,000 or less, Anderson said.”
“‘All over Dorchester there are developments sitting there empty and these guys are selling them like they are nothing,’ Anderson said. ‘You could buy a whole triple-decker in that neighborhood for that price,’ he said of the $339,000 vacation condo Christine Hoyte of San Francisco, bought at 43 Whitfield.”
Home Run?, nope…
Struck out, looking.
=========================================
“Recognizing how the residential market, economy and financing have changed in the past year, Hall has put the 2.3-acre, 20 North Buck Lane site on the market.”
“‘I suspect what I will do is wait out a certain period of time and sit on it because I think it’s such a good opportunity,’ he said. ‘I think there’s a market for this kind of product, and I think at some point this would be a home run.’”
“‘I make $50,000 as a schoolteacher,’ he says. ‘There’s no way I should have been approved for loans that big.’”
“Then, the same broker told him about a home in Yonkers. Again, he didn’t have to put any money down. Before he realized what he was getting into, Noel says, he was scammed into signing two mortgages totaling more than $1.5 million.”
“Scammed”? This individual has a college degree. Maybe even a Masters.
He had leverage of 30 to 1 and look what happened to him…
Some of the Brahmins of Big Bucks have leverage of 60 to 1, to put things in perspective.
I’m sure that they broke into his house, forced him at gunpoint to get in a car, then drove him down to the bank and made him sign the papers.
“…always thought it would be smart to invest in real estate….”
“Always”? I’m thinking “always” started when he got out of college, say six years ago/2002?
That’s one nice thing about being an old guy…..if you had lived anywhere affected by the 80’s oil bust in the midwest, you have first-hand experience that real-estate CAN go down in price.
You don’t even have to be all that old.
We bought our FL condo in ‘95 (a mistake to buy a condo rather than a SFH, but we were young, stupid, and didn’t have a huge income or down payment). Purchase price was around $75K. It was fairly nice for what it was…a villa (so it’s one story, with nobody above or below) just under 1300 sq. ft, the builder’s model with some nice finishes for the year it was built, which was 1984.
The selling price to the original owners, in ‘84? $86K.
So we were always mindful of the fact that real estate can - and does - go down.
Not to mention the fact that the value of our condo remained flat for YEARS after we purchased it…I think it barely broke $100K in 2001, six years later. From $86K in ‘84 to $100K 16 years later…that’s a little less than 1% appreciation each year. Yeah, that’s a terrific investment.
villas are great and a coming thing for 50+ buyers all the way north to VA
viva villas
And was probably would have sold for over $200,000 in the peak Bubble years… and may well end up at around $100,000 again when this madness ends.
Like you said - real estate can and does go down, sometimes for years.
“And probably would have sold for over $200,000 in the peak Bubble years… and may well end up at around $100,000 again when this madness ends.”
An identical villa went for $250K at the peak. From 2001 to 2005, the “value” went from $100K to $250K.
And according to Zillow, it is now worth around $160K.
Crazy.
You definitely don’t have to be that old: when I was in grad-school in the midwest in the mid- to early-90s, I remember seeing news shows (e.g. 20/20) about folks in New Jersey and California who bought homes for $400k 5 years earlier, but were unable to sell their homes, move away, and retire, because the market rate for their homes was now $300k.
I remember thinking: those coastal fools! Who would ever pay that much money for a house?
I saw those TV news episodes 10-12 years before the peak of the latest bubble. And seeing those shows left an impression: real estate can go down, and you’d sure as hell better not overpay during a bubble.
I bought in NoVA in 2002, but hesitated (and seriously considered renting), as prices seemed a little bubbley. Luckily, I had almost been hired the year before I moved out, so I had been scouting the area for the past 18 months and had a feel for home prices, and I saw that they had shot up at a silly rate over the past year. In fact, I was hoping that the AOL and other tech layoffs in 2002 would bring prices back down. Little did I know that DC was in two bubbles back-to-back: the smaller periodic coastal bubble,followed by the credit bubble.
I saw the credit bubble kick things into overdrive starting in 2003, and saw my neighbors pay twice as much for the same place 2 years later. Heck, prices went from $180k to $460k in 4 years. I sold in early 2007, just as prices started to decline, but before all hell broke lose in my zip code.
A relative of mine bought a house in the LA area back in the mid-90s. The guy they bought it from was upside down almost $100,000.
Fast forward to 2006……same house, same relative. She is telling me the house is worth $750,000, and in 5-6 years will be worth over a million, because “In the long term, nobody has ever lost money on California real estate…..”
Moved to DFW last year, bought a new house, kept the Cali house, is currently renting it out. Her plan worked, as long as she could get “X” in rent…….I’m guessing that if rental rates start dropping, she is going to have some problems. Shoulda sold in late 2006.
“long term” = 5 years?
““‘I make $50,000 as a schoolteacher,’ he says. ‘There’s no way I should have been approved for loans that big.’”
- Then there is no way that you should have APPLIED for a loan that big. Hope you aren’t a math teacher…
…geez, I just read the rest, my hopes were dashed…
He IS a math teacher. And does not even know that 120,000 is bigger than 50,000. Stupid to the point of insanity.
And people wonder why kids aren’t interested in advanced math and physics/engineering when idiots like this are teaching the subject. Its one thing to teach the mechanics; its another thing entirely to inspire to learn and achieve.
It is amazing to me how $1M property value didn’t even phase him.
All he knew was that at no cost to him, he could sign up for an investment that would gross him 10% per year. So, what did he care how much he made as a teacher?
This is the problem with most 20 and 30 somethings and even some of their parents. Never seen (or fail to remember) bad times or how a normal market functions.
Good news for New Yawkers, though. One less stooge for y’all to compete with moving forward.
Oh, come on… “scammed” into $1.5 mortgages?
I am really having a hard time believing that, and the “no money down” should have tipped him off that it was a scam!
Here is probably what he was thinking:
Buy a $1 million dollar house with a toxic loan. Sell it within a year for a $200,000 profit, which is 4 years pay.
What really happened: its only worth $700,000 now, and the price is still falling. Ooops!! Time to pretend I had no idea what I was doing.
I don’t believe this deal . The guy got some cash back and the loan applications were fraudulent . I guess some teachers aren’t the pillars of society they use to be .How could any mortgage broker convince
even someone with a average IQ that those deals were not
fraudulent .
This homeowner is acting like one can just try out fraud and if it
doesn’t work out ,than oh well ,guess I won’t invest in real estate anymore . The fraud that took place in the real estate market is
just beyond belief .
Again, the teacher aspect of this story is a moot point. Many people were duped into believing that gaining 10% on principal (or more) at no cost to them was a sure thing.
“Leverage is power,” “Infinite rate of return,” etc, etc.
Ponzi schemes have never relied on people doing math, just the psychology, based on recent history, that this time is different and things will continue to go up.
I’m looking at a property to buy that is for short sale for 250K.
It sold for 450K in 2005 as new. I spoke to the the bank for pre-approval. For 200K loan and 25K down, with taxes and HOA the monthly payment would be $1766.00.
I think a lot of house prices would have to fall. I’m having second thoughts for $1766 as I can rent it for $1250. My wifey is pushing, so I may take the bait and buy this one if the bank approves the short sale at 225K.
But with interest rates going up and they could be 7.25% in 2-3 months, how can the bubble prices hold?
For one month’s difference in mortgage vs rent, you can buy your wife a nice blingy thing. For three month’s difference, you can take her on a “Sandals” vacation.
Ah more consumerist crap.
‘Values go down and tax rates go up and everyone pays a little more and they aren’t happy,’
Once again, why would anyone believe that the cost of running state and local governments would go down just because house prices are going down? And IF those costs down are to come down some mighty uncomfortable questions are going to have to be asked regarding state/local gov’t programs and services.
I think the rest of the quote was more important:
“where the average bill jumped 9.8 percent, following a tax override, and assessed values dropped nearly 5 percent.”
A few more months of this and MA cities and towns are not going to be able to get overrides of Prop 2 1/2 passed by snapping their fingers. That is going to get mighty interesting.
More reason for prices to overshoot on the down side - the future of property taxes needs to be fully figured into any buyer’s decision. Who cares what the sticker price falls to if one winds up giving the advantage back in the form of taxes.
edgewaterjohn,
Well it ’should’ be a strong consideration for any potential buyer. After a decade long seller’s market buyers are going to have to sack up and “re-learn” this whole “how to make a purchase” thing all over again!
…and one of the first questions you should ask is “How much are the freakin’ taxes?!”. If a flyer in front of a home doesn’t post the annual property taxes I put it back in the box and never give it another thought. If it’s not on the flyer ( there’s probably a good reason )
I’m not sure if it is the case everywhere, but here in Chicago the MLS listings have always been severely lacking of up to date tax info.
How this is possible, when anyone can quickly see the actual taxes on the county’s sites, is beyond me. Even so, tax figures are either out of date - or the word “new” is inserted. Granted, sometimes the taxes are not known - but you’d think some attempt would be made to realistically estimate them.
After all, the NAR seems to know enough to tell us houses will double in price in ten years - yet they can’t create a relaible way to estimate property taxes?
Of course it would help if all those savvy buyers out there actually cared about carrying costs instead of fixating on the blinkin’ sticker price.
edgewaterjohn,
True, very true. We h-a-v-e that technology! Sheesh. It just strikes me that NAR has intentionally omitted this for years as it didn’t fit the “sales model”! People get to lookin’ at taxes and the like and it just leads to more questions etc! We certainly don’t want people actually thinking about the largest single purchase in their lives now would we?
Sure, I’ve bought some things on impulse in my life, an album, a watch. We all have, just never bought a ‘house’ on impulse? I know that sounds silly but how many of us have friends that were “just going to do a little looking over the weekend” and you see them on Monday and it’s “Oh we went ahead and made an offer” ( full price of course )
And we’re seeing the fallout everywhere. People that didn’t think about the HOA’s or taxes or maint? NOW… they’re figuring out they can’t afford it. I think Housing Wizard said it best when he addresses “Adventures in Fraud” so if it doesn’t work out, you can just swear it off like drinking too much?
I thought that was the main premise of Cali’s Prop 13. As government revenues failed to increase with inflation, government spending would slow.
Yeah, that Prop.13 “starve the beast” plan sure worked out great for us. See how far govt spending in CA has fallen?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
On the flip side, why would the cost of running local government go up just because home prices appreciated? Where did all the extra tax revenues go?
conversely, why did the cost of Guv’ment go UP just because house prices were bubbled?
“Noel, a 28-year-old math teacher from Harlem who asked that his last name not be used, always thought it would be smart to invest in real estate. So when his cousin introduced him to a mortgage broker who promised he wouldn’t have to put a penny down on a $1 million piece of property in New Rochelle, he jumped at the chance. . . Then, the same broker told him about a home in Yonkers. Again, he didn’t have to put any money down. Before he realized what he was getting into, Noel says, he was scammed into signing two mortgages totaling more than $1.5 million. . . I make $50,000 as a schoolteacher.’”
He is a math teach that makes 50k a year and brought two homes in excess of a million with no money down, and claimed he was the one scammed? He should be unemployed and imprisoned. How can anyone write or publish this without hearing the story for a few seconds and realizing the victim is some low life felon.
My first instinct on reading that he was a math teacher was to weep, but your reaction is probably just as valid, or even more so.
Low life felon? Sure. But I still weep that this is what is good enough tot be a math teacher.
Its one thing to be a crook. Its another to be such a stupid crook.
Got Popcorn?
Neil
Jails are full of UNsuccessful crooks, the successful ones run businesses and are CEOs. Just sayin.
A bit jealous of the successful people?
the successful ones run businesses and are CEOs
Amen to that. Got no-bid, no-oversight government contracts?
I volunteer to teach math in Harlem (through friends.)
Mostly in summer when I have the time, and when I can only deal with the “best students”.
To say that the teachers are criminally ignorant would be overstating it. They have trouble with the most basic stuff.
Even the very brightest kids, the absolute tippy-top that these schools could produce, say at Grade 10 level, would barely be considered competent at a Grade 7 level everywhere else.
What’s the solution though? Who wants to teach in Harlem for a pittance of a salary?
PS :- At one school, there was a sign, “No Sex in the Stairwells”. I wish I were making this up.
“PS :- At one school, there was a sign, “No Sex in the Stairwells”. I wish I were making this up.”
====================================
I had my come to Jesus moment about 10 years ago learning how to fly in Hawthorne, Ca.
There was a bright yellow billboard on Hawthorne Blvd. I drove by, that had in bold black letters “Who Be The Daddy?”
In smaller letters below: 1 800 DNA TEST
Stuff like that makes you weep for the future of humanity…
“There was a bright yellow billboard on Hawthorne Blvd. I drove by, that had in bold black letters “Who Be The Daddy?”
In smaller letters below: 1 800 DNA TEST”
I’m not sure what to fear more, this, or the Osteen’s.
Are you sure it wasn’t an advertisement for Maury Povich’s show?
whats wrong with sex in the stairwells..?
I used to volunteer at the “home work help” program at the Children’s Aid society. One of the kids was very good at math, or at least at manipulating numbers because he was 12 or 13 and his assignments were just long division and multiplication. I started teaching him algebra, but he was so used to understanding everything the instant he saw it, he had almost no study skills. And he had a very difficult time taking correction because it embarrassed him so much and he never had to learn to deal with it. I hope he is OK, but you can’t educate a child that way.
Did you ever see any of that?
Do NOT get me started.
I was teaching a summer class with quite smart kids. About 60 of them.
I was trying to introduce them to probability which is hard enough because they have limited attention spans.
Anyway, there were these two girls in the second row who were playing with their dolls and chatting really loudly. I told them to keep quiet, once, twice, thrice.
After that, I lost my cool, and told them that if they couldn’t shut up, they should leave my classroom. I told them that if they didn’t shut up right now, I would personally throw them out of the room.
The teachers were shocked AFTERWARDS. Nobody ever “talks to the kids that way”. I told them all to p*ss off. There were 58 other students who were being held hostage by two girls upfront, and as far as I was concerned those two could just “p*ss off”.
The teachers were so used to just giving the students everything that they wanted that virtually NONE of the students had any study habits whatsoever.
I was pretty much just dealing with a one on one situation, so it wasn’t attention span that was the problem. He just never had to deal with correcting himself before. I think the teachers were so grateful for a kid they know would pass the tests, and had so much work to do to get the other ones up to standard, that they didn’t bother giving him something else to do. His mother was thinking of sending him to CA to live with cousins to get into a better school, but he was going to flail in a much better school. Especially in writing.
This is a standard problem when you are dealing with insoluble problems or resource constraints.
Does a teacher “raise the average standard of the class”, or “focus on the best and let the weak fail”, or do some kind of a balancing act?
The answer is personal. I know what it is for me, and that’s the reason I would be no good either as a “general” volunteer or a “general” teacher.
The teachers pretty much had their hand forced on that particular kid. Unfortunately, the real world has absolute standards not relative ones.
Nobody ever “talks to the kids that way”.
Because if they do, that teacher will be sued. I’ve heard stories about students who deliberately bait teachers into tapping the student on the shoulder to get his attention, just to sue for improper touching.
I would be a teacher only if I had no other option.
Yeah, I know this. I am extraordinarily sympathetic to this argument.
When I volunteer for charitable causes, I will not sign liability agreements. As I point out, “beggars can’t be choosers”. You can either accept the charity in good faith, or you can f*ck off.
I donated a computer to the same Harlem school I volunteer at. They asked me to sign a liability agreement. I told them to f*ck off, or else the computer goes to some other worthy cause.
They took the computer.
Seems to me that people put up with a lot of guff. Even volunteers, etc. should stand up for their rights.
Faster, I think it’s tremendously laudable that you volunteer to teach math in Harlem. Lots of people decry the state of the world, precious few go marching out to try to fix the stuff they see needs fixing.
I know it’s hard work, often underappreciated work to volunteer. I’ve volunteered* for various things, and boy, people sure are idjits in general. But I see no way out of that problem.
You say that the best of these kids would be barely competent in other schools. Okay, so they don’t end up at MIT. But how do you know what sort of impact you have likely had on the now and future lives of some of these kids? Learning, the gaining of ability–these things can, they do add up to very significant possibilities, to more favorable outcomes for their lives. My point is, four golden stars on the forehead for YOU.
*Not to teach math. That wouldn’t go so great. It’d probably be funny to watch, though.
Thanks.
My friends have worked it out so that they steer me towards stuff where I will not lose my cool, and actually have some positive benefit on the students. It works out for everyone.
I don’t think “general” volunteering and me would mix very well but targeted efforts do actually have a significantly higher success statistic.
There was another effort that I wished I had signed up for but general bureaucracy got in the way (don’t get me started on that one either!)
Basically, a lot of people forget that coming from a middle-class background they absorbed a whole lot of general knowledge that these kids don’t have. To put it bluntly, the parents of these kids are uneducated hence stupid. So the idea was to mentor them about possible careers, etc.
Some of this stuff would sound so stupid to people on this blog but these kids literally didn’t know what engineers do, or editors do, or lawyers do, etc. They didn’t know that doctors come in a whole buncha flavors. That there are surgeons, and bone specialists, and pediatricians.
It’s shocking, I know, but par for the course.
You got right to the heart of the matter, Faster. We who hail from the middle class have no idea HOW many things we take for granted.
Take, for example, the notion of paying attention in class. It’s second nature to us. However, kids from poor backgrounds hear the words “pay attention,” and they have no clue.
In some schools, such as those run by KIPP, they get detailed lessons in how to pay attention. If you want to learn more about it, here’s an article.
If you need to teach a kid how to pay attention, it’s a lost cause.
aside note: Isaac Newton invested in the South Sea Company and lost 20000 pounds. investing is not just about numbers
Cinch
Close the public schools. End compulsory education. We’d be no worse off than we are now, and the parents who care about their kids’ education would find the way and the means to educate them.
And of course, if a parent does not care enough about their child to send them to school it is the child’s fault and the child should pay the price. Serves them right! They should have picked better parents!
Hmmmm. Let’s see. I’m thinking….why, yes…yes…that must be the worst idea I’ve heard so far this year. Maybe in two years. Maybe even in three.
You see, Bill, some parents don’t care about their kid’s education, or they lack the means to ensure that their kids learn stuff, or the will to pay attention to their kids, or whatever. In such a case, any kid born to such parents–and there would be only millions of them– would end up as flotsam and jetsam on the bewildering sea of life, unable to navigate, no way to get the tools to navigate, all talents and abilities wasted. No chance at all. Much MUCH worse than now, I would opine.
This is not the kid’s fault. You can be a kid with absolutely sucktastic parents, Bill, and I would know. The only way out is an education, Bill, which under your thoughtful plan, would not be an available option.
What she said.
You really need to meet a few of these parents, and then look at the statistics of how many such parents exist.
Yes, The ‘greatest nation’ on earth has no health care and no public education wow!
How about giving US companies corporate tax breaks for adopting public school districts and increasing the break if the district performs better.
The public school system worked well for a long time, and still works well in some places.
If parents want to know why their kids aren’t doing well in school, they can start by looking in the mirror.
School Boards, Teachers and Administrators might start admitting to themselves that not all teachers know what they are doing, and start cleaning house.
They could do a better job of “selling” their budgets to people in the district, instead of constantly asking for increases in their budgets, and getting all huffy when someone questions their decision making.
Voters need to start supporting decent school budgets, even if you don’t have kids in the system. All other things being equal, a house in a high performing school system will sell faster, for more money, than a house in bad school system.
And you can argue all you want to about “Other people’s kids are not my problem….” They are here, so like it or not, if they don’t get an education so that they can support themselves, they are going to be “everyone’s problem”.
“It’s not fair…..”
“Fair has got nothin’ to do with it…..”
“Voters need to start supporting decent school budgets, even if you don’t have kids in the system. All other things being equal, a house in a high performing school system will sell faster, for more money, than a house in bad school system. ”
I would be more than happy to support a decent school budget if 80 percent of the funding was not for needless overhead and admin staff that for the most part did not exist when I was in grade school. In addition, the unionized system guarantees that the school system will be filled with incompetents and only a smattering of good instructors who are for the most part banging their heads against the wall.
In Japan, the majority of the education system is privatized and the state run schools are a fallback social net. Kind of like welfare here in the US. Unfortunately US citizens rarely value anything that they don’t pay for directly. I agree with Bill. Closing most of the public schools and subsizing students on an individual basis (vouchers)would be a small but painful start in getting things back on track. Unfortunately schools are not a federal responsibility and the battles must be fought state by state against a large malignant organization (the NEA) which can focus it’s overwhelming resources on each district or state, one battle at a time.
I think you will find that most of the “needless” things that you speak of are there because of Federal government mandates.
Not that I know much about the way school systems are funded, but being in an industry that is regulated by the Feds, I am keenly aware of their tendancy to increase requirements/standards/specifications/whatever, underestimating the cost of complance, then letting Joe Blow at the bottom of the Totem pole figure out who is going to pay for it.
As I recall, Newton MADE money in an earlier period but then got greedy and went back in for more. After losing his [ruffled] shirt, he made a comment along the lines of “I can calculate the motion of the heavenly bodies but not the madness of men.”
The greater the intelligence of the mark, the greater the scam that can potentially be foisted upon him. Really smart people think they might be scamming others when they themselves are being scammed. Caveat emptor.
As for boom/bust, a great book, probably mentioned here before, is *Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds* [Charles Mackay]. The main bubble chapters concerns the Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania, the South Seas Bubble [of which Sir Isaac was a part], and the Mississippi Company.
[lurker for about a year, first post]
Who could have guessed that “Somers Point” would have pertained to failed knife catching?
========================================
. “At the Harbour Cove North condominiums in Somers Point, the neighbors are quiet and unassuming. That’s because there aren’t any neighbors.”
“Almost a year after the 14 units went on the market, general manager Jeff Vogt said only one of the condos is occupied, with another currently under contract. The dearth in sales comes as hundreds of new residential units are planned to go up in Somers Point over the next few years.
See that little sparkling glimmer out there in the RE ocean DEAD AHEAD ? Everyone with 1/2 an ounce of gray matter did and they tried to call out.
That’s the tip of a massive iceberg and it is called MONSTEROUS FRAUD!
Hidden below lies everything from the US house consumers to the loan shark Wall St. banks. Everyone from crooked congressmen to RE agents and assessors are hiding down there, just waiting to RIP the guts the the American economy.
And what do our Captains of our FIRE, MSM and the Leaders of our Ship of Fools say ?
“It’s a Great Time to Buy and All is Well.”
Their FRAUD is far greater than the massive Killer iceberg with all the hidden local criminal entities beneath which we are on a collision course with.
“Full Spead Ahead..we SEE IT and we’ll miss it by a Countryfried MILE
mikey,
Very true. I mentioned on our local Portland Blog that it seems somewhere in each story that Ben takes the time and care to post… there’s an element of FRAUD! Just knowing how rank and file hourly wage Americans were so casual about tapping their ATM machine should have given us enough cause for alarm.
Even without the fluffed appraisal that got them to that lofty loan amount, repayment was almost always based on a “best case” scenario. A) You get to keep your job ( no matter what ) B) You AND your wife get regular pay raises, bonuses etc. C) Wife gets to keep job (*irregardlessly of the economy and of course D) Your home never does anything but continue to appreciate!
And of course everyone was perfectly comfortable with that.
Didn’t ask the question, how do you as a taxpayer like having to pay for this? I feel stupid for having been responsible and not leveraged up. I get to pay anyway and have not received any benefit. Only future misery
mikey
brilliant !!
Ditto ,great post mikey.
How do we know he has a degree? I read an article recently about some school districts hiring uneducated and undertrained people as teachers just because they couldn’t get anyone else willing to go there and stand in front of a classroom. (I don’t know anything about his situation, I’m just getting fiddly on the distinction.)
But whether he has a degree or not, in either case, he TEACHES MATH. He oughtta be able to fookin’ ADD, instead of which he just sort of accumulated a house or two ‘before he realized what he was getting into.’
Speaking personally, IIIIIIIII almost always notice when I buy a house. And I don’t even teach math.
Now, if he taught Stoopid 101, that’d be different, he’d be living what he teaches, and I’d have some sympathy for his astonishing predicament.
This was supposed to post further up the thread, under Ernests comment about the REtarded math teacher. About fifty-eleven comments up? Or was it seven? Jeeze, I can’t count that high, and no one should expect me to be able to, either, because I don’t TEACH MATH.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going out to get some breakfast. I’m thinking coffee and a maple bar and a couple houses here and there.
Read my comments about Harlem schools and math above. It’s disturbing.
fpss- stop degrading harlem
we all know it is the cultural center and thos million dollar condos will only push the revitalization faster
harlem is wonderful………
just lock your doors as you drive thru
just go north on 1st ave and see all the splendor harlem offers
I was under the impression that NYS teachers had to have their Masters Degree or at least be in the process of earning one. How does one earn a Masters and yet not understand the material?
Oh yeah. I know. I was in my children’s highly rated elementary school, and 2 student teachers were loudly and enthusiastically enjoying each other’s stories of how they had to aggressively cheat to earn their math credits. It was obvious there was no shame in cheating as they were enjoying their discussion in the hallway in front of several students, parents and even teachers. Nobody said anything to them.
It appears that, for too many, our systems exist simply to be gamed and no longer garner any respect.
People shouldn’t cheat in school. People training to be teachers shouldn’t have value systems that make cheating OK.
However, I would much rather have an elementary school teacher have a good instinct for arithmetic than be able to pass a couple of calculus classes. If an elementary school teacher has the math background and instincts to answer this question without pausing to think, I’d say we were in OK shape even if they can’t do multivariable calc.
A store discounts an sweater by x% and then increases the discounted price by y%. At the end of the adjustments the sweater’s price is the same as it was before it went on sale. Which of the following best describes the relationship between x and y?
a) they are the same
b) they are additive inverses of each other
c) they are multiplicative inverses of each other
d) they both must be 0
That, basic calculations, fractions, some planar and solid geometry, a little trig (just enough to explain how the Egyptians redrew property lines after the Nile flooded - kids like Egypt) and some positive and negative numbers and you should be good to go for most of elementary school. Oh, and I think estimating is a good life skill, but nobody tests it, so good luck convincing a school to teach it.
This moron is an actual math teacher which implies he is above the elementary level, Pathetic.
Yes, you can get your “Master’s” at Pace University.
Have you seen the level? If not, I suggest you take a look at some of the classes.
I wouldn’t hire the faculty out there for secretarial positions let alone the students.
Correction:
Which of the following best describes the relationship between x% and y%?
And I thought I was pretty good at math.
I completely agree with your comment about “gaming” the system. Our institutions reward connections, money, and amorality much more than they respect legitimate work and thinking, which is another reason why I am very pessimistic about the future of this country. I blame consumer culture and our political leadership at all levels, regardless of party and from Bush on down.
On another note, what’s the deal with the Newark median being $420,000? Are there wealthy suburbs in the vicinity? I have been to downtown Newark, and the resources devoted to private security, fences, barbed wire, alarm systems, etc., made the city seem like an American version of Johannesburg or Bogota.
They aren’t making anymore Newark…
“However, I would much rather have an elementary school teacher have a good instinct for arithmetic than be able to pass a couple of calculus classes”
I agree with your point wholeheartedly, polly.
I did, however, on more than one occaision, have to tell my 3rd grade daughter’s veteran teacher that my daughter had gotten a question marked incorrect on a test correct. Sadly it took me explaining the way to work the problem more than once before she saw that I was right. On the third attempt, I had to use my fingers for a visual. (yeah, yeah…don’t even go there) My daughter already struggled with math enough w/o having to deal with that.
The problem is that a lot of smart/capable people will not go into education because it is highly demanding and poorly paid position.
Until teaching becomes a socially respectable and well-paid job, we will not have motivated, smart teachers
Ok, I gotta comment. Yeah, I’m a teacher. And I’m sure there are bad teachers out there. But most if not all the ones I’ve worked with would put most professionals to shame. Everybody loves to criticize a teacher. Fine. But how many have done the job ? It’s not even remotely as easy as you imagine it would be. I could go on and on, but why? There is no profession that the US demands so much of yet had so little respect for at the same time.
“There is no profession that the US demands so much of, yet has so little respect for at the same time”
Wanna bet?
Try being an aircraft mechanic for a while.
Teachers use to be respected when I was young . If you even dared to talk back to your teacher or upset the program of the class you were punished .If my memory serves me right ,if you had a boring or bad teacher you had to just keep quiet or go to the principal .I think because of this ,even bad students somehow got some education .
So, I don’t know how we got away from the teacher being able to control the class and even being able to punish the little brats
if they didn’t pay attention . Also, parents use to support teachers and automatically assume the kid was in the wrong .The kid had to rise to the standards of the class ,and often times they did .
We have a friend who’s in charge of a school for the incorrigible, here in the Central Valley…
He’s the last straw between 5th, 6th & 7th graders either stopping school altogether, or cleaning up their bad acts. (80% failure rate)
He’s had quite a number of them give him death threats (my uncle will kill you, etc) and is still blown away when it comes from out of the mouth of babes.
It’s a brave afraid new world…
So, I don’t know how we got away from the teacher being able to control the class and even being able to punish the little brats if they didn’t pay attention.
That all went out the window when we entered the new ‘Era of No Personal Responsibility’, and ‘When in Trouble, Sue’.
Today, if you lay a finger on a kid, regardless of provocation or the ‘lil bastard’s own violent actions, you get sued and lose your teaching credentials permanently (saw this happen to a former colleague who was trying to suppress a fight).
If you express any political view not sanctioned by the local school board and teacher’s union, you get targeted for termination. In CA, this translates as anything other than extremely leftist, pro-Aztlan, PC views.
If you try disciplining or failing a student for, say, not showing up or turning in assigments, YOU –not the student– get punished. The principal at one H.S. where I worked was actually angry at *me* for attempting to fail a student during her senior year for showing up less than 40% of the time and failing to turn in half her assignments. Guess he didn’t want to deal with angry parents, not to mention having another ‘F’ added to the school’s year-end performance stats.
Former public H.S. teacher and no regrets about leaving the profession.
Yeah, I’m considering my options as well. One of the Principals at my former elem school was a complete sleazebag. And a rumored former (?) hooker. And this is in NOva. Another one was caught embezzling funds from the school. Yet another was sexually harassing some of the female teachers. All in wonderful topnotch Nova. And yes, a couple of my colleagues were terminated for minor infractions due to parental tantrums. The huge influx of immigrants has also changed the dynamics of schools. I, not the parent, have to spend time after school locating and booking translators for parent meetings. Two relatively young teachers at my school went out on longterm disability due to stress related disorders. Oh and in Fairfax Co, they renovate schools while you’re working in them. So, try and teach with drilling, sawing, hammering and loads of toxic fumes floating through the air. Teachers and students were getting ill but tough S*&%, that’s life in public education in one of the top rated districts in the country.
I taught Community-College Algebra for one semester when moving to Asheville NC (I had just gotten a Masters in Computational Neuroscience from Boston U… Long story about how I ended up in Asheville)
The main reason that I am no longer teaching was the astonishing poor pay — Because I was only paid for classroom hours I calculated I was earning around $5/hr if I did anything other than be in the classroom.
Yikes.
“The perception of a weak real estate market nationally, said Fred Fisch…contributes to many buyers’ reluctance to close the deal.”
“‘I think it has its effect,’ Fisch said, ‘and perception matters a lot, unfortunately.’”
It’s true. Perception does matter. And I reluctantly perceive that you, Fred Fisch, are an utter yammering idjit. But don’t blame me for that idea, it’s the media at fault here, giving me that firm opinion.
Hey, I wonder when grouchy REtards are going to start shooting reporters? Since they’re to blame for everything, and all.
I’m wondering who this guy will vote for
“a 28-year-old math teacher from Harlem
Don’t get too uppity.
There are plenty of white liberals out there in Harlem schools with bad cases of noblesse oblige.
They’ll be voting for Yo-Mama too.
Anything but cynicism is so uncool.
When both Yo-mama and McSame have only the barest understanding of economics, and one of them taught at the Univ. of Chicago, the world’s delusion becomes uncool.
mcsame knows if you raise cap gains it’s lights out
I’m not exactly sure what you’d like us to infer with the University of Chicago reference.
But the U of C.’s philosophy of economic thought has little or nothing to do with its other graduate programs — the law school is nothing like the “Chicago School” of Economics.
A lot of the “law and economics” movement came out the University of Chicago School of Law. It isn’t the same as being in an economics department with a particular school of thought all its own, but economics based research is all over the place there. My understanding is that Senator Obama, who was an adjunct lecturer, didn’t spend a lot of time at faculty gatherings. Not that discussing law and economics based scholarship will give you all that much understanding of the real economy, but there was an oportunity to become much more familiar with economic thinking.
Senator McCain should have picked up way more than he apparently has in his decades in the Senate, but that is another problem.
The UofC operates at a very high level. I should know.
I’m an alumnus, and I used to be faculty there too so I think I’m in a position to comment about it.
YoMama is a joke.
An inability to understand basic “adverse selection” arguments which even Krugman took an axe to makes me weep for my alma mater.
OK, so you were faculty there. I know lots of staff and faculty there, too. Hoorah for us.
What does any of that have to do with Obama’s teaching experience, the Chicago School, or a 28 year-old math teacher from Harlem who apparently can’t do the math when it comes to real estate? (Which, after all, is where this thread started.)
O’s economic chops are certainly better than Lil’ Johnny Maverick’s. And as the Clown With The Ivy League MBA who purportedly runs our country has proven, an education in business and finance is no guarantee that one can find one’s own sphincter, economically speaking.
Perhaps you’d like to see Al Greenspan ascend to the throne?
Aah, yes, the ol’ “pick the least worst one” argument. The one that allows you to dispense with absolute standards.
Heck, if there was one thing the UofC stands for, it’s absolute standards not relative ones.
They both suck donkey’s @ss, and I don’t have to like either of them.
The Messiah sucks more ’cause he’s basically leading a religious movement with no content to back it up.
You still never got around to telling us what your previous comments had to do with anything, conveniently enough.
“The Messiah sucks more ’cause he’s basically leading a religious movement with no content to back it up.”
In the same way that the religious right has very little to do with any known religion?
Pretty much.
Anything but cynicism is so uncool.
What a cynical thing to say.
OBAMA - OBAMA -OBAMA
cause we need a new MAMA
sorry, could not resist
And you’re gonna LOVE him.
Even more than you loved Jimmy Carter.
Yeah. JC was a great guy too.
Boston is divided up into neighborhoods. So Dorchester and Back Bay, two radically different communities, could both have mailing addresses as ‘Boston, MA’. Reading the Boston Herald article, its amazing how bad some of these people are getting screwed.
The fact that these loans are still being made means that this housing slump will continue for a long time. I initially thought 18 months, now I’m thinking at least 3 years before prices level or appreciate (even if they appreciate, we’re looking at 1% or so).
Its funny, in case-shiller last month boston prices actually increased slightly (less than 1%) due to all the bottom-callers. People are all scooping up foreclosures around here like they’re smart, little do they know that properties in the Boston area have been overpriced since at least 1996.
they are so wicked smaaaaaaaart up there
my companies home office is in mass and they are aliens up there
I would argue that they were priced pretty well between 1996 and 1998. However, the collapse eight college kids per apartment rental market, and all the job losses since than, and the loss of all the high-wage skilled labor work for the Big Dig means that prices should be about 10% less than the inflation-adjusted level at the end of 1998, before the funny money really started to flow.
That would put those apartments, now see-sawing between a forclosure market of $60,000 and fraud market of $300,000, as being eventually worth about $100,000. Given the risk and carrying costs for a few years until there is equilibrium in the credit markets, picking them up at $60,000 is hardly worth the trouble.
Ed G.: Of course numbers went up last month (Case-Shiller April to May) in Boston. They almost always do in May - the last time the C-S Index reported a decline in Boston was 1990 to 1991.
More impressive was the YOY decline in the Boston area for May:
2007-2008: 5.8%
2006-2007: 5.3%
2005-2006: 1.4%
Yes, the Boston Globe got smacked for making the same assumption (that the bottom is hear) when a quick analysis of the data indicates that the decline is accelerating and the end is nowhere near.
I guess all those special places aren’t so special after all.
I am moving to NJ in 2009 and hope to buy in late 2010 or early 2011. So I have been looking at homes in South NJ on Realtor.com. So many realtors now have the $7,500 first time home buyer credit in the listing now. I wonder how many of these fools know what a credit actually is. I wonder if they know that they: 1. Have to have the money before they buy the house. 2. That they have to file their taxes to get the money back. 3. If they do not pay $7,500 in taxes they will not get the $7,500 back!
How many of them know that it isn’t really a credit, but is an interest free loan that has to be paid back over 15 years or when the house is sold, whichever comes first.
So, in other words, look to owe an additional $500 to the IRS for the next 15 occurrences of April 15?
Salem Which Trial
Rent em’ or foreclose em’?
“Palmer Cove Condominium, a 15-unit development in Salem, was built to create affordable home ownership in The Point, the city’s poorest neighborhood. But after only one person applied to buy, the nonprofit developer now wants to rent out the units to avoid foreclosure.”
hd74man, or anyone else knowledgable of Salem:
Are these condos near the Palmer Cover Yacht club or are they on the Beverly Harbor side?
I like the glue factory turned condos the best. The owners will be “stuck” with them - hahaha! Or, we could make jokes about “sniffing glue” when paying absurd prices for an equally absurd condo!
The glue factory usually rendered horses into it’s final product, but humans will always do in a pinch.
“Next thing they’ll be breeding us like cattle for food. You’ve gotta tell them. You’ve gotta tell them!
I promise, Tiger. I promise. I’ll tell the exchange.
You tell everybody. Listen to me, Hatcher. You’ve gotta tell them!”
Soiled-lent Green
A friend bought one of the affordable condos in the old Gloucester School. It was 45 K approx. 15 years ago, which I found still expensive for the area / economy / location.
Just herad on CNBC. Donald Trump will bail you out if your upside down on your house. Ed McMahon was apparently just a start!
Give the Donald a call….
I found Dorchester to be a truly ugly neighborhood. Plus the fact that most triple deckers are in horrendous shape. (Sorry to generalize, in case someone’s isn’t.)
From the Boston Herald article:
…………
“Someone listed as Tariq Muhammad bought three condos at 43 Whitfield St. for $330,000 each in early 2006 using subprime loans. He then lost all three to foreclosure over the next two years.
In what appears to be a case of divine intervention, two of the foreclosed units were then bought back by someone listed as Lord Allah in April, including Unit 3, which Allah snapped up for $65,000. He then transferred the two units to someone named Sirewl Cox, according to real estate records.
Cox, a prolific Dorchester real estate speculator who has developed a pair of foreclosure triple-deckers, bought Unit 3 from Allah for $100 within days of the sale, Anderson reports. He then sold the property on June 3 to a Christine Hoyte of San Francisco for $339,000, who used a second-home mortgage from JPMorgan Chase, Anderson said, citing real estate records.
Neither Allah, Cox nor Hoyte could be reached for comment. There was no listing in the San Francisco area for Hoyte.”
……
Rampant frauds are STILL going on, with help of JPMorgan.
And wait till you read the comments on this article. Here’s one
reader asking:
“Maybe I’m missing something here — why would anyone buy a condo for $300K when it’s only worth $65K? How does someone benefit from that? I don’t understand how the scan works. “
Lord Allah - and there are people who’d like to get a hold of Salman Rushdie for sacrilege.
Poor banks and lenders. I really feel sorry for them.
They were so busy and content running their OWN BIGTIME SCAMS that they failed to notice all the HAPPY little scammers working THEM. Ah…What a Country
There really is NO HONOR among US THIEVES
“In Springfield, buyers of homes in the Springtown Knoll development will get a free Toyota Prius,…”
I think we need a new definition of “free”.
Sorta like the “free” cellphone you get when you sigh a two year contract.
No such thing as a “free lunch” my grand pappy told me back in the Dust Bowl days as we were pickin’ cotton all day…
Soylent Green are made out of people!!!!
“‘I thought real estate was a good business,’ he says. ‘But I guess it’s not for me. I’m not buying property again-ever again.’”
These people who admit (to newspapers!) that they bought this home AS A BUSINESS VENTURE….
1. Will they be allowed to use the PERSONAL BK laws to discharge their debt?
2. Will they be eligible under the deadbeat-specuvestors tax-relief act so they don’t pay taxes on their forgiven debt?
3. Will their tax returns be scrutinized by the IRS to make sure they’re meeting all the standards of business accounting
4. Will the local municipality make sure they had a business license? (I have to pay $100 to Sunnyvale every year, and $800 to California just to have “a business”
etc.
Of couse these questions are rhetorical. But I’d be much happier if the IRS and the state governments simply read quotes from distressed “homeowners” in the paper and sent out bills. There are billions of dollars on the table that they’re not even trying to collect.
Hello from Atlantic City, NJ. Just checked in for first time today; saw the AC Press article ’bout the condos in nearby Somers Point. You can tell just by reading the article that it originally was written for inclusion in Sunday edition; some editor really did some chopping to fill space today. I wish I could read the excised parts. There were probably plenty more ridiculous quotes from realtors about the market turning around. Come to think of it, editor probably couldn’t keep a straight face reading the reprter’s work and so originally deep-sixed the whole thing, resurrected it for today’s edition only because there was space to fill. See ya’.