Thoughts on a Sunday

I was wondering when this was going to happen.

Home Auction in Scardale

The sellers of 20 Sage Terrace, just around the corner from the Greenacres Elementary School and a 12 minute walk to the train and shops, are auctioning their beautifully renovated home.

Are there sales happening in Scarsdale? Yes. But regardless what you are hearing, it is slow and painful. And with the current economic climate, there are going to be more acts of desperation in the future.

Speaking of our current economic climate, if you go Gawker, it seems that happy days are here again. Do not believe the hype. As this NYT articles indicates people are holding onto to their cash.

In Cautious Times, Banks Flooded With Cash

Purely anecdotal, but the model during a down real estate market is that the people with the cash jump in to start cherry picking for bargains. That is happening but I do know of people with the big money are sitting this one out. It is not due to a lack of bargains, but the fact is this economic climate is not the most pleasant for real estate investing. With the climate as chaotic as this, it might be best to stay as liquid as possible instead of locking it up in an asset.

The term "work out" is being thrown a lot these days. The big players who are barely holding onto to their properties are in talks with their lenders. It is in everyone's best interest to keep the peace and figure out a solution that does not involve turning in the keys.

Occupy Wall Street. I empathize their cause and outrage. However their approach is quite flawed.

First of all, they are too late because there is no money out there. This whole debacle could have been avoided a long time ago if these people had organized and began putting in the economic fail safes in place. Right now they are just racking overtime for NYPD and hurting small businesses.

They claim they are against corporate greed however they are playing into the hands of corporations. With all the bad publicity they bring against banks, there are forces out there who are taking advantage of chaos and are shorting bank stocks. There is definitely something or someone influencing the situation.

And try as they might, they do not represent the 99%
Occupy Wall Street Struggles to Make ‘the 99%’ Look Like Everybody

It is not the bottom of the economic barrel that is rebelling, it is the layer above who have had the rug pulled underneath them. But the rug was being pulled inch by inch until it was too late.

I am not the biggest fan of the Tea Party, but they got their s**t together real quick and devastating with their actions.

Occupy Wall Street Protest Reaches a Crossroads

What they have now is not sustainable. Eventually, they will need a vertical command structure and they will have to move beyond Zucotti Park.

10 Years Ago Today

We will never forget.

Losing our s**t is no excuse for losing our manners

Let this be your wake up call.


Recently I had the displeasure of experiencing some rather rude and passive aggressive behavior from complete strangers. I won't go into details since I have no desire to relive those moments but these people acted out because they either did not care or they felt the need to lash out in some way.

The last incident was the final straw and I responded to the perpetrator with the same behavior the douchebag inflicted on me, with extreme prejudice. The piece of trash was not happy about the lesson and it almost got very ugly. But luckily for both of us it did not escalate to a point where legal and medical attention was needed.

Right now we are going through a make or break period for our economy and all signs point to break. All the high rollers in real estate that I know of are s**tting bricks. They are either at the mercy of their lenders or desperately trying to dump their inventory.

Along with the Debt Ceiling showdown there is $23 billion in commercial mortgages coming due. It is understandable why people are feeling the squeeze.

However, what I have noticed is people are reacting to it by not giving a damn about the negative results of their actions or they are just being plain old rude and obnoxious because they are angry at the world.

To all those people who feel justified in acting that way, I have one thing to say to all of you.

F**K YOU!

There are people out there in the world who have so much less in assets but so much more in liabilities but you don't see them acting like a bunch of babies.

I am done with you people. I have no desire to correct your behavior because I have no time or energy to deal with you. Also I know that nothing good will come from confronting people like you. If there is a way to walk, I'll walk.

However, nothing good will come of this if all of you keep this up. You are going to piss off someone who is angrier than you are and who cares a helluva a lot less about what happens to them. They are looking for an invitation to ride up on someone.

If that happens, you are going to find yourself a host to your smackdown.

$104,313

That is how much it costs to live in this house.

That will be all.

The Bunny

The rich are getting nervous. And this isn't just chatter.

A short sale in Scarsdale.

You will see more of these. Bank on it.

Jared Kushner is not alone. All the big time players who were gobbling up properties like the way Lindsay Lohan chugs Red Bulls are now desperately trying to get rid of them or getting to know their lenders as they renegotiate the terms of their mortgages.

Real estate was such a nice fluffy bunny. Now it bares its fangs.

Second Wave

Running low.

Go to Google news and you will find a lot of articles about how the real estate market is going through the double dip.

Every real estate expert/journalist is giving their opinion about this matter. I am no different.

There is still a huge divide between buyers and sellers in terms of what a property is worth.

Sellers are over leveraged and they need to get as much as they can out of their properties. They do not want to be on hook for anything that is owed. It is also a matter of pride. A seller who blew a wad on a property has no desires to cut and run.


Cash is king. But only if you have it. And even if you do have it that does not mean you want to spend it. In a recent article about Jamie Dimon, his company is still hurting from the mortgage meltdown.

Easy financing is available, but you need to put at least 60% down. And if you are going to be putting down that much, you might as well buy the whole thing in cash. And buyers are not willing to commit that much money to a property and the only way a deal can happen is if prices fall.

From residential to commercial, everyone is hurting in some degree. Be very wary of anyone claiming that everything is honky dory. It is not.

If this debt ceiling crap is not resolved, this will be a summer that won't be forgotten for quite sometime.

"Macho Man:"Randy Savage

So many memories of watching you on TV as a child.

Thank you.

Elizabeth is waiting for you in heaven.

Barrier of Entry

A barrier of entry to live in Scarsdale and other elite areas of Westchester are the property taxes. This is a key reason why Westhchester has not truly stabilized. Buyers aren't balking at the prices, it is the property taxes that they are screaming about.

One of the rights that a homeowner has is to appeal their taxes by filing a tax grievances. And according to this NYT article a record number are successfully accomplishing that. It has also created a booming industry for contingency-fee assessment reduction.

I recommend reading this article because it explains why property taxes are a complete FUBAR in Westchester. Although there is no direct explanation, if you read between the lines, you can understand why towns like Scarsdale are against a property tax cap.

Flawed as it is, the current system allows a tremendous amount of flexibility. Since the current system issues a aggregate valuation increase each year applying to all properties. There is no individual assessment of properties. Placing a property tax cap would prevent taxes from going up, but it would also prevent them from going down.

According to Howard Rattner, the city’s finance commissioner of New Rochelle, he feels that once the housing market stabilizes, the grievances will drop because prices will be so low.

He is very wrong. Even after the market stabilizes, it is still going to cost an arm and a leg to pay for property taxes and as long as the tax grievance process is easy as pie, there will be no end to this.