Probably easiest to get a firehouse cheaply if you are a hipster closely realted to the mayor, or a member of the City Council, except Fulop of course, or a member of the Lucchese family.


chanj,

Any newstand.

For heating and air coonditioning, central units are VERY comdfortable and are able to control humity and clean the air better than individual units.
Huge central units can run on the cheapest fuel, like natural gas powered air conditioning, they are quiet and can have huge efficiencies. I have through the wall units that rival the takeoffs at Kennedy for the noise they make.

Communal electric metering has been far cheaper historically presumably to attract bulk buyers in the fist place and to cut down on the cost of having individual meters, individual meter readings monthly, individual paying of hundreds of bills, etc. Arranging accounts every time a person moves in or out. Buying in bulk has been a lot cheaper.

What you can get with separate utilities is for someone to go away for the winter and the poor slob underneath him having to heat BOTH apartments in order to be comfortable. Same for Summer if you try to be comfortable while everyone around you has his air conditioner off.

Central heating was the standard for a half century until cheapskate defvelopers decided that they could save money by going back to primitive times. I'm thinking Victorian slums where you put a shilling into a burner and you got a certain number of minutes of gas heat.

For hot water, we all agree that gas is about ta third the cost of electricity...so gas is the wise choice. BUT having 300 apartments with separate gas lines is not the safest thing in the world. Better to have a big boiler in the "cellar" or an adjoining powerhouse. Also hundreds of even electric water heaters pose the danger of inevitable leaks as the tanks age posing a risk that can ruin lots of apartments

But yes, you will get the occasional wastrel who has heat coming in at maximum and all his windows wide open in January. I guess that's what co-op boards and condo associations are for.

The overview is that the best buildings have central heat and air conditioning, check out Park Avenue or Fifth Avenue. This "individual metering" crap is a very recent development that was once relegate to fleabag motels.

And of course for HUGE complexes, you can have self-contained cogeneration systems that make their own electricity and use the "waste heat" for heating and air conditioning. This IS the wave of the future as utility rates soar.

Thank you jmcee.
That inclusion of heat, hot water, and air conditioning, makes the "HOA" more reasonable. (Just for reference, in the SHORE down at Newport the same amenities go for about $650/month for a 2 bedroom...but no parking...$160 or so extra.)
Does the Beacon HOA include parking? If so, that would just about equalize the two.

As we all know these utitilities are of paramount importance in the face of our deregulated monopolistic electricity pricing, currently at $.19/kwhr and climbing fast annually.

Anything on the taxes or 'in lieus" for a 2 bedroom unit?

So,
If I read this right, the heat, hot water, and air conditioning for the Beacon, however supplied, ARE included in the Beacon's monthly HOA fee?
Or not?

Maybe she is a manager at XYZ Realty, maybe she's Boffing Mr. XYZ, maybe she doesn't even EXIST, maybe the other 400 people have opinions but the weren't asked...or were asked and the results were unprintable?
Who knows?


But you said the one thing that made sense:
"they're actually happy about paying less" and that is the SINGLE reason for extolling Jersey City...it's CHEAPER than Manhattan and it is the identical reason that people move ANYWHERE in Hudson or Bergen County. To have a placew to sleep without too long a commute to work.

No, Jersey City does NOT have more than what the outer boroughs have; it has either less or the same...and higher commuting costs, about $100 more (PATH +Subwway) or double that if you are not near the PATH.

The article is a total crock and those who praise it are obviously in the real estate business or have just overpaid for their home and trying to justify it by tossing common sense to the wind.

I don't own the website so all I can do is bemoan the existence of the REAL ESTATE ADS or copies of same posing as genuine forum posts. They aren't any more than a full page ad listing all the prices of 6th Avenue Electronics, or duplicating the weekly ShopRite flyer.

These promoters PAY newspapers to run this bullsh%t...and we repeat it for free. Every time one is posted, I think Danny should get a check.

thrifty,

My sentiments exactly.
Jersey City is an old mobbed-up town and for almost a century all of the wherewithal that could have gone into making it a good place to live has instead gone into the pockets of the mob via crooked politicians.

Like Newark and Camden, that kind of structure takes a huge toll on any city, and it's as true today as it was in 1930, 1940 or 1950.

The only place you will find the wonderful city on a hill with it's crystal palaces is in phony real estate ads posing as "articles" like the one that started this post...and many, many, many others.

One does not "need to be in CHelsea" but a full page article extolling the advantages of Columbus Avenue OVER Chelsea comes to a conclusion stupider than Iraq's WMD's.

One can appreciate the advantages of Jersey City and STILL think Columbus Avenue is a shithole which benefits only by comparisons to Greenville.

Quote:

Anyone who could use the word PERFECT like that has obviously never been anywhere else...even then it is a stretch beyond comprehension.

Jersey City is cheaper than Manhattan and much cheaper than Chelsea...anything else is bullshit.

I guess by "subsidiary" I meant Fannie Mae owned exclusive listing site run by Fannie Mae rather than a listing service like Realtor.com or Zillow or the dozens of others.

Subidiary seems a good enough term for HomePath but I guess it's all definitional.

Thank you for the HOMESTEPS tip. I think one of these two sites will get me my next home. I like a bargain and I think I can handle and might enjoy a lot of fix-up jobs.

If you move into New Jersey with a car, you must title and register the car in NJ withhin 60 days.

Just because you see a car with out-of-state plates is not reason enough to assume the person does not have a primary residence in another state.

It is the primary residence state that determines the car's license and primary residence is determined by seveal factors like where he pays his taxes and votes, and owns property, etc.

Perhaps the car is owned by someone who lives in Massachusetts...like his father? Perhaps he has a short term job assignment?

Perhaps he, his wife, and family live in MA but he has a hot number in an appartment on Jersey Avenue?

You'll never know...and that's why cops rarely get involved in this stuff, and who would want them to?

"Special" DOES mean extraordinary in a positive way
and "Retarded" DOES mean slowed.

Why should I have to rethink those perfectly valid definitions.

If you doubt these meanings, just look up the words in a dictionary.

My fave is how "colored person" is perjorative but "person of color" is not. At least THIS WEEK.
Second fave is how some doofs think it is proper to refer to people who have been U.S. citizens for 6 generations as "African American."

Any short people here calling themselves "altitudinally challenged?"

The class valedictorian is probably SPECIAL...the one who couldn't read at age 18 is probably not, he is most likely retarded (and not "comprehensionally challenged.")

Getting rid of perfectly good straigtforward language and replacing it with long silly phraseology is PEDANTISM.

I tried to find the same listing on the Fannie Mae site without much luck...got dizzy with their website,

But I found another:

http://www.homepath.com/listingdetail ... 7&pg=2&listingid=20925405

Looks like similar 2 Bedroom 2 Bath under contract for $250K. Looks legit. It seems that HomePath site might be a Fannie Mae subsidiary?

Of course there's no way without looking at the physical unit or at least inquiring further about the apartment number whether or not you are on the second floor with a lovely view of the garbage container.

I see they list HOA fees for this last unit at $865 (seems very high.) I presume that includes heat, hot water and central air conditioning? Does anyone have an approximation on the annual taxes or the "in lieu of" on a 2 bedroom, 2 bath?


Okay,
I think this might be the first listing with the price lowered slightly to $312K...17th (#1704) floor, nice it aimed NorthEast.

http://www.homepath.com/listingdetail ... no=017&listingid=20604664

Defiinitely food for thought.

But these might very well be starting bids and the prices could soar.
I imagine the first year is spent trying to scrub away the smell of motor oil.

But tempting, especially the one across from the Resevoir...handy parking under the living room too.

Yes, And I'm sure that her midnight strolls along Columbus Avenue are just as much fun as night walks in Chelsea,
Of course the art studios of Columbus Avenue are world renouned, just like Chelsea. And the chic boutiques near Columbus Avenue where so many fine designer items are only $.99 will help her wile away the hours.

What with all these price comparisons one MIGHT think an honest article would mention what Shelby was paying for the last 7 years for her Chelsea apartment.

I hope the difference is large enough to cover the sheer joy of twice a day in a PATH train.

Twaddle like this makes one think of the advantages of press censorship...or at least an addendum like "this AD was payed for by XYZ Realty LLC."

In one of the real estate throwaways for those interested:

THE BEACON: 2 Bedroom, 2 Full Baths, NE view, gourmet style kitchen??, 10' ceilings, Fannie Mae owned: $325,000

(How is Fannie Mae with low-balls?)

Waterfront Walkway north of the Morris Canal all the way through to Hoboken is quite safe...although NOTHING is completely safe.

I would judge LSP not quite so safe.

I KNOW "peruse" was a typo and we all make them, but for the life of me I cannot imagine what the real word was.

Sorry,
The word SPECIAL already has a meaning; it means extraordinary.
And so does the word retarded; it mean SLOW.

The word retarded may be "hurtful" but only because it decribes pretty well the hurtful situation with these unfortunates. Calling them something they are not, like the silly word SPECIAL, tries to make them into something they are not and it spoils the meaning of the word when used to describe a great human being who really IS special.

A parent who tells these retarded kids they are just as smart as everyone else is not doing any more good than a parent telling a child he does NOT have leukemia when he does, or even calling a short child TALL.

I am tired of people mangling the language in an attempt to disguise reality. And it's happening more and more.

My vote goes to ERIC CARTMAN!

Some of those large terraces look like they are crumbling...so I am inclined to believe Sutherland's high maintenance idea.

What are some of the asking prices?

That's an interesting article GrovePath. It seems a rule of real estate sales that any information leading to a diminishing of sale prices should be suppressed.

Quote:

I wonder if bankers are becoming more amenable about horsetrading and are getting quicker with approvals for realistic "underwater" offers? In thimes past it would take a LONG time to get a bank okay for a short sale.

Yes, indeed, as short sale offers increase, the foreclosure rate will seem to be improving but this may be quite illusory since short sales are merely foreclosures handled a bit differently.

Do the banks actively participate in setting a short-sale price or does the distressed owner do all that and the bank only come in at the last minute and say AYE or NAY? That would seem often to be a waste of EVERYONE'S time.
Does the owner first approach the bank and ask whether the bank will take as full payment an offer for less than is owed?

Quote:\

Yep, and that upside is, as always, MONEY. Manhattan, and by extension New York City, IS VERY expensive.

But that takes care of the upsides.
Well, JC gets a couple points for peace and quiet on the Waterfront.

Remember Atsushi,
IF you move to either Manhattan or Staten Island, both of you will have to subract about 3.5% of your income for New York City Personal Income tax and you will have the added burden of paying New York State income tax on your New Jersey earnings...and they are high rates.

I've got a Duane Reade next door (Newport.) It is pretty useless and any change will be for the better. Actually demolition would be better.

If you both plan to drive to work, then Staten Island is tolerable, if dull. In fact the drive from SI to Somerset is a breeze. But if either of you needs public transportation to get to work then the SI plan is beyond awful.

Girlfriend's drive through Brooklyn and Queens at rush hour to Long Island is going to be tough sledding if not suicidal.

Have you considered Hoboken or Newport with more public transportation options for you both. Or Manhattan if you can afford it.

But all options with those commutes are bad...only degrees of bad can be considered. How about considering moving to the city that has the most stable job...then only one of you will need regular suicide counselling.

Imagine if each of the frequent water line ruptures in the downtown area had been on a 20 inch or larger gas line.
The last two UNDER the light rail track and immediately adjacent to Target, Best Buys, A&P NJTransit station, etc.

Has anyone seen the proposed routing through the County? Through Paulus Hook, Exchange Place or Newport?

Where will the pipeline exit to go under the Hudson?

The map in the first post is crypic showing the existing HESS pipeline as beginning somewhere in Weehawken around Kennedy Boulevard, an obvious impossiblity becasue I KNOW there are no gas wells there . So they are showing the need for the "link" while ignoring the already existing connection...presumably to somewhere like Texas. Methinks that NYC is getting a steady flow of gas through this Hess link and it is for mere corporate convenience to connect to the TRANSCO piipe running up the largely uninhabited Meadowlands.

It's a good place for solar given PSE&G's usurious electricity rates. My last bill averaged to $.185 per Kwhr, or 50% more than the U.S. average.

I would think it would be easier for someone living near Grove Street to move to East 14th Street than to move a Trade Joe's here.

For example, I think the Grand Canyon is lovely, so I drove to see it. Seemed easier than trying to move it to Jersey City.

I particularly like the Metropolitan Museum of Art...so I go there frequently. Manhattan is Manhattan because all the things that are there are THERE, and not here.

xtian,

I think you got a very good deal at $1900 for 800 square feet ans 6th floor (if the square footage is honest.) As the weather warms a bit you will see increased foot traffic on the Waterfront Walkway til midnight and beyond and a stroll to Shoprite or Newport will be PERFECTLY safe.

It is dull if one's idea is of excitement is nonstop truck traffic, cars stereos blasting, and sirens blaring all night. Some of us like quet for sleeping and being in the middle of the Hudson is serenity with killer views that almost nobody on Earth has...if that isn;t LOCATION I don't know what is. If you want excitement it is an 8 minute walk to the PATH train at Ex. Pl. and a few minutes longer to Manhattan.

Say what one will about the Walkway but it is the safest part of town...and that include Paulus Hook, Newark Avenue, Journal Square and the Heights.

Is the 800 square feet a junior 2?

There's even a rumor that HARROD'S will be moving in.

Let us know what you chose and why you chose it?