Stumbling Through the Forest With Tiki

For a couple of years now,our all-time favorite web-surfing tool has been stumbleupon.com. Whatever your interests on the web, stumblers can help expand your Favorites list.
Every day millions of StumbleUpon users discover great web sites and give them a "Thumbs-up". Starting this Earth Day, they want to harness the power of their community and the "Thumbs-up" to plant trees for the National Forest Foundation.
Just as we recently found with freerice.com, these sites make it easy to have fun for a good cause.

Simply use the StumbleUpon toolbar to thumbs-up this page and, from now through May 2, with every thumbs-up StumbleUpon will plant a tree with help from the National Forest Foundation. Your thumbs-up means more trees for America's National Forests and more visibility for this cause. Give a "Thumbs-Up for Trees" and spread the word!
Want to do more? Spend a weekend with Tiki Barber.

30-Year Rates Jump to 6.0

Freddie Mac reports a bump in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 6.03 percent during the week ended April 24, up from 5.88 percent from last week. This is the first time in six weeks that mortgage rates have gone above 6 percent. The 15-year fixed mortgage rate also moved up during the same period to 5.62 percent from 5.40 percent.
Economists attribute the gains to heightened inflationary concerns

Far Closure

Today's NY Times ran an interesting piece on the outsourcing of collection agents to India:

Collection veterans are seeing an unusual phenomena in this economic downturn. “People are walking away from their homes and hanging on to their credit cards, because that is their lifeline,” said Rajinder Singh, the head of global analytic services for Genpact.

Bloomfield Celebrates Earth Day April 19th

The Township of Bloomfield Recycling Committee is sponsoring a
town-wide cleanup as part of Earth Day activities around the nation
and the world - to call attention to the need to care for and save the
environment.

It will be headquartered in Brookside Park at the corner
of Broad St. and Bay Ave from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April
19th. Participants will be given gloves, green vests and plastic
bags to collect trash and recyclables not only in Brookside Park but
in other parts of Bloomfield as well.

Families are encouraged to join in this effort with their
children.

Bloomfield High School students will focus on cleaning up
the JFK Drive area by Foley Field. All volunteers will go out in
teams to places of their choice to collect trash, newspapers and
commingled items (bottles and cans) in separate bags so that much of
what is collected can be recycled.

The Department of Public Works will have trucks available
to cart the material away. Used batteries can be brought to the park.

Earth Week will wind up upstream at Clark's Pond with a cleanup sponsored by Friends of Clark's Pond & Third River on Sunday the 27th from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.

Another Boring Lawsuit for Google

Those new street view maps have caught both people and property in their "net" that oppose the invasion of privacy.
A call to Google can usually get the individual photoshopped out or the property deleted. Some have chosen to sue the deep- pocketed pants off Google. The Aaron Boring family has put the Pittsburg's Oakridge Lane on the map by refusing to accept Google's apology. They may have a case, since Google's camera people seem to have inadvertantly crossed the line between public street and wide driveway. But the Boring's suit has made their home one of the most widely publicized properties on the web.

Meanwhile, down under, the Aussies are defending their turf from Google by turning the tables and digging up dirt in Google's yard.

Confidence Down? Call Aunt Fannie

The Fed has allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ease capital requirements, allowing them to pump up to $200 billion into the distressed US mortgage market.

This was done by lowering to 20 percent from 30 percent the amount of extra capital the companies are required to hold.
The extra $200 billion would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase both existing mortgage-backed securities and new home loans originated by banks. It could also enable them to increase their business of guaranteeing mortgages, a key to helping pull the US housing market out of its fall.

Our mortgage guru, Freddie Torres, notes that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have morphed into the backbone of the mortgage market, as most private sources of financing have evaporated. Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Home Loan Banks, a network of bank co-operatives founded during the Great Depression, provided 90% of the financing for new mortgages at the end of 2007.

Grow Your Brain -- Grow the Grain

FreeRice.com is the ultimate feel good website.

It's basically an evolving vocabulary quiz(multiple choice).
For each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The bowl can fill up surprisingly quickly.
If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.

Interest Rates Go Bipolar

Mortgage rates headed in two different directions this week, with fixed-rate instruments plunging and adjustable-rate mortgages soaring.

Bankrate.com reports that the average 30-year fixed rate fell 41 basis points from the previous week, to 5.98 percent.
The average 15-year fixed -- a popular option for refinancing -- fell 39 basis points, to 5.46 percent.
Meanwhile, adjustable-rate mortgages soared. The benchmark 5/1 ARM was up sharply for the second straight week, rising 23 basis points to 6.44 percent.

Rates have been extremely volatile in recent weeks, sometimes moving a half-percent in a single day. Overall, however, the trend has been higher.

Prices Are Not Right

So you're a reporter with the NY Times assigned to do a story on how inflation affects the average American shopper. Where would you go? Who do you talk to? To Bloomfield's Stop & Shop,of course, to interview three frustrated Bloomfielders. (Click on chart to enlarge)

Developer Led Plan to Skirt DEP Rules

The NJ Department of Community Affairs is planning an end run around new DEP environmental rules to protect waterways from rampant housing developments.

The report, obtained by The Star-Ledger, says current environmental rules are skewed against builders....But environmentalists say the advisory panel's proposals would eliminate safeguards that have kept housing sprawl in check, to some degree, for years.

DCA Commissioner Joseph Doria has called for relaxing environmental rules to build more affordable housing, but Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson is strongly opposed.
"Affordable housing must be done in an environmentally sensitive manner," Jackson said. "I have heard a lot of people complain they can't build on flood plains. They tell me it is the only land left. Building affordable housing there would be morally wrong."

The findings are from one of six subcommittees that report to DCA's Housing Policy Task Force. Doria is expected to present Corzine a final affordable housing plan during the spring.

The report suggests requiring state and local governments decide quickly when developers seek to build -- and automatically to approve projects if no decision is made within 90 days.

It calls for rewriting DEP rules to make them "flexible" and giving the state Planning Commission the power to override DEP rules and local laws. It would also prevent DEP from stopping construction within 300 feet of a waterway if the area was developed in the past, and allow sewer line construction in environmentally sensitive areas.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, charged the process of developing housing policy has been hijacked by builders. There are no environmental activists on the six subcommittees.

"The DCA is trying to take over the DEP ... and is using the state Planning Commission as a weapon to weaken environmental protection and tell towns how to grow," he said. "This is a coup by the Builders Association to take over land use. Many of the recommendations violate federal law, overturn decades of New Jersey environmental law. Many are unconstitutional."

Jackson said her DEP must have a role in future discussions.

Passing the Bark

From Bloomfield to Verona, dog parks are on the run:

Suzanne Moyers weighs in on the extended Montclair Watercooler debate:

Re: Why Brookdale Dog Park is worth fighting for

Mr. DiVincenzo has told me (and others) on numerous occasions that he "want(s) a
dog run in every county park." There are many more places the dog park could
go, such as the other (Bloomfield) side of Brookdale (I saw the perfect location
just the other day!) or even Anderson Park, which is an Essex County park. And
one neighbor, who lives on Argyle Road but IS sympathetic to the noise problem
(he can hear it from his house!), suggested to Mr. DiVincenzo that the dog park
be relocated to the new park being built on the old site of
the hospital complex in Verona.

Hot Air on Global Warming On Broadway March 2-4

Leave it to Grist to shine the spot light on this Anti-Global Warming "Forum":

It's a meeting, starting Sunday, of hundreds of "scientists" and propagandists, convening to denounce the proposition that global warming is real.

It's like a gathering of the Flat Earth Society. Or, since this meeting literally is taking place on Broadway... under the aegis of the Heartland Institute, a corporate-funded outfit which, among other things, funnels "free-enterprise" propaganda to malleable state lawmakers.

Many of the organizing sponsors and speakers have financial history with big companies such as ExxonMobil. Even some of the "international" co-sponsors (such as the Alternate Solutions Institute of Pakistan) receive money from foundations that have received money from ExxonMobil.
So get ready for a celebration of hot air -- and see if they denounce Galileo while they are at it.

The Big Leap In Jumbo Loans

The less publicized second part of the recently signed Economic Stimulus Package includes a temporary jump(from July through December) in Jumbo home loan limits from from the current $417,000 to about $600,000 in the NY Metro area.
According to the NY Times:

...the Department of Housing and Urban Development will multiply the median sales price for the area by 125 percent. The National Association of Realtors says the area’s median is now $476,100. HUD could use a different source or a combination of sources to determine its median figure. In any case, the agency said it would announce its decision next month.

Record Jury Award for NNJ Asbestos Death

We've dealt with many buyers who've nearly walked away from their Dream Home because of asbestos issues that turned up during the home inspection. If "friable" or exposed in worn insulation, it usually becomes the responsibility of the seller to cure the issue.
In a job related death, it can take years to prove liability in the courts. On Wednesday, a Bergen County jury found two Industrial giants liable for 30.3 million in the death of a former Glen Ridge resident, Mark Buttotta in 2002. He had worked in GM warehouses in Bloomfield(where he grew up) and Englewood.
From AP and FoxBusiness.com:

The award is believed to be the largest in New Jersey for mesothelioma, an aggressive lung cancer.

However, Buttitta's father worked there, and his brother also spent summers at the warehouse, their lawyer said. The three men wore the same work clothes for several days "bringing home cancer-causing fibers every day from work, unknowingly letting the microscopic fibers fragments waft throughout their home and settle," said Moshe Maimon, who specializes in asbestos cases.

Railing on Transit

While PATH was celebrating its 80th anniversary with free rides for all today, NJ Transit was pooping at the party in Bloomfield with parking fees for it's popular Grove Street commuter lot. Starting March 1, the daily rate will be $2 or $40 monthly.
Adding insult to injury was the Sunday Times mostly glowing report on NJ Transit Village success stories that singled out Bloomfield lagging efforts. Since winning the designation in 2003, the township is still looking for the light at the end of its tunnelvision:

Nine years after it was officially created, the state's Transit Village program has been extended to 19 communities eligible for grants and aid to revitalize the deteriorated neighborhoods around train and bus stations.

In a number of those communities — notably Hoboken, Jersey City, New Brunswick and Cranford — the program has generated tangible success, with thriving shopping areas and new condominiums and rental apartments enlivening once empty streets.

In other towns, change is clearly in the works. In Montclair, for instance, new housing and retailing is in place beside the downtown train station, and a large mixed-use building is under construction. In a few communities, like Bloomfield and Hamilton, progress has mostly been stalled by local land-use debates.

Right now, though, even as the overall real estate market languishes, developers and analysts report that many Transit Village projects are proceeding and more communities are applying to the program.

Re-Listing Secrets Exposed

Tonight's ABC's Nightline highlighted Realtors' "dirty little secret" for refreshing stale listings featuring NJ's legendary whistleblower--:James Bednar
......[Relisting guru Niece]“So a buyer’s going to be way more positive as they look through a home that says 25 days versus 125 days.”

Niece believes that re-listing is an important marketing tool in tough periods like this, because first impressions are crucial.
…
But Bednar says re-listing is simply unethical. “As a buyer, it does make me angry,” he said. “I need to know how long a home’s been on the market or what the original price is.”

“Hiding that market information from consumers is wrong, and it’s got to stop,” he added.
Bednar started blogging in 2005 after growing aggravated with realtors during his own house-hunting search.

“The issue here is that when a re-listed home is sold, it skews the market transaction data,” he said. “When an agent typically says they can sell a home in 30 or 60 days, is that really true? If they’ve re-listed a home, that might not necessarily be true.” In an effort to gain access to market data, he actually got a real estate license and a membership with his local listing service. With a few key strokes he can find the true history of any listing in his northern New Jersey neighborhood.

“The most common outcome is probably that a buyer overpayss...."


We never let our buyers make an offer without first checking the property's MLS history.

Blogs R Us

The polls have closed and the results are in from Houseblogger.com

It seems over a quarter of us are writing web posts!

Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11) studied15,727 participants on the subject of the blogosphere.

26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog.

* Of those, 53.7% are male
* 44.7% are married.
* 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
* 10.4% are students.

Average age of a blogger? 37.6

More blograta:

* 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian
* 12.2% are African American/Black
* 3.7% are Asian
* 20% are Hispanic

* 24.6% of registered voters say they regularly or occasionally blog.
* 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog
* Democrats (26.9%)
* Independents (25.7%)
* Republicans (22.9%)

Renting In the Heart of Rush Hour

From The Star Ledger:

When Catherine Valero tells people where she lives, some assume she's homeless. She and her mother, Karen, live in a train station.

But the pair aren't squatters -- they're renters. For seven years, they have called Montclair's Mountain Avenue Station home.

Theirs is the only home that doubles as an active NJ Transit station,

Packing It In -- To Save the Landfill

Fellow packrats of the world unite! In our own small way, we're all trying to save the planet.

from CNET.com:
Ari Derfel likes living with his garbage. He hasn't thrown anything away in more than a year, but he insists he doesn't suffer from any compulsive hoarding disorders.
Rather, Derfel views the bins of bottles, boxes, leaflets, cartons, and wrappers he's stacked in his Berkeley, Calif., home as fruits of a continued meditation about sustainability.

Derfel, 35, is joined by a handful of bloggers who are going to extremes to keep their trash out of the landfill. Motivated by global warming, they say they are fed up with promiscuously packaged, toxic products and other evils of conspicuous consumption they say are trashing the planet.

These pack rats are stashing their trash at home and then writing about, photographing, and even weighing it. They belong to a growing cadre of " lifestyle bloggers" who provide a personal angle to broader issues covered by big-name ecoblogs such as Treehugger.com.

To avoid packaging, Derfel and other trash bloggers tote reusable bags to the grocery store, carry reusable water canteens, and buy in bulk. They even count their nail clippings, rip off the paper tablecloths from chic restaurants, and fly home with waste from Hawaii vacations. Composting food scraps for garden fertilizer keeps them from dwelling with a vermin-infested stench. "Not In My Backyard" environmentalism it's not.

Housing Sales vs Inventory

From the North Jersey Real Estate Reports comes this revealing comparison of sales to inventory in recent years.(click to enlarge)