When Did The Northern NJ Housing Bubble Begin? (Newark, Jersey City: sale, apartments)
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Firefighters and Police in NJ easily make 6 figure salaries after a few years on the job, which is yet another reason for the high taxes here.
Bingo. Corzine and crew needs to roll back-n-cap their salaries and pensions so the taxpayers can get relief. It has become a state of entitlements at the taxpayers expense. But most taxpayers don't seem to care and vote in the same cast of characaters. Go figure?
Certain areas..yes. But I feel city cops deserve every penny for dealing with thugs all day. Small town cops should not be getting as much.
I love this, the thread opens up as NJ housing bubble and it's the cops fault. Listen people for your info THERE IS NO TOWN IN NJ THAT PAYS OVER 100K IN SEVERAL YEARS. If you want to be no it alls I would be glad to tell you that I finally made it to 6 figures AFTER 30 years and making a supervisor. I'm sorry to have chosen this field. You can pick up applications at your local police station. Thanx Wiley
Last edited by JERSEY MAN; 08-13-2008 at 07:57 PM..
A big gripe I read about on this forum is that the middle-class is progressively getting more and more squeezed-out of NJ and into cheaper areas like PA or NC with each passing year. Historically speaking when did the mass influx of the upper-middle-class from New York City start to "invade" Northern New Jersey and transform it from being home to a few industrial cities with working-class neighborhoods and slightly more upscale suburbs into being endless suburbia with high taxation and exorbitant housing prices? Perhaps if we can identify just when such a drastic shift began to occur we can brainstorm remedies on how to restore Northern NJ to being a place where everyone can afford to purchase a home. Did this all start with the G.I. Bill after WWII when "Levittowns" began to pop up across the landscape?
The timeline seems to coincide when the Clintons were in office (i.e. 90s).
I always said what happened to the days in North Jersey (e.g. Bergen Co) when the husband could leave the wife at home with 3-4 kids, not need a college degree, and work a blue collar job and have a decent house, lifestyle, etc for entire family (including a shore house and maybe a boat too). It's an odd trend with NYC transplants pouring in while long time folks are heading to the hills --NW Jersey (e.g. Sussex Co), NEPA, OCNY, and the latest trend NC. Society (and yes Wall Street) has forgot about the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker (i.e. the people who do real work).
Last edited by Spincycle; 08-13-2008 at 08:35 PM..
Sparta, exclusive? Alpine, one time affordable? Not in my lifetime to my knowledge, and I'm an old bag .
Bottom line, Northern NJ's always been expensive. Both of my parents had to work (both blue collar) to afford the first house they purchased in 1968 - at ripe old ages of 40 and 46 (mom was older! go mom ). My first house, purchased 17 years ago (but excuse me while I freak that I'm old enough to have purchased a home that long ago...thank you ), 1400 sq ft split with no basement, cost more than some houses in your neck of the woods today - and the taxes I'm sure were more back THEN than what you guys pay NOW.
But if you're talking about the RECENT bubble, my guess is it started somewhere around 2001/2002 - that's really when I personally saw prices rising faster than income. On the other hand though - when I do an analysis of what my first house would cost in today's dollars -vs- what I paid in a "down" market (after the bust of the late 80's bubble) - it's about what they're selling for, so it's a little confusing to me in that respect.
I think my reality and perspective is a lot different than others here - to me, I never saw the "mom and apple pie" version of life back in the "good old days" - where dad had a nice, normal, middle class job and came home to a cute suburban home and the housewife had his rob roy, newspaper and slippers ready, where everything was affordable, taxes were of no concern, and life was grand. my parents had to work, didn't have a home until middle age, my dad worked 2nd shift to stay home with me as a child, he did the grocery shopping and cooking. so when I hear about the middle class having it so good back then and how only NOW are they getting squeezed out, I question it because it was SOOO far from what I knew, and as a matter of fact, where I grew up - more moms WORKED than didn't.
you are correct again !!! It started in 2001/2002, I have a few friends who bought in Bergen County one in Westwood, on a really nice street called Prospect, he bought in 2001 beginning and paid 210,000for a three bedroom nice house nice lot in Westwood. It was not a wreck! So this was affordable the guy is a mechanic so that was blue collar. I have a few others who paid that around the same time for towns such as waldwick, hillsdale, then it shot up to 350,000 then 400,000 then 435,000 now that house is westwood sold for 410,000! So Tahiti is correct things changed right after 9/11!!!!!! This is a smart forum its definately 9/11 !
Just looked at Zillow.. Someone posted about Union, so being nosy decided to look up my son's fathers house there. Bought in 1998 for $159k, sold in 2006 for $450k. Not a bad profit.
I grew up in eastern Morris County and lived there until 2003 so I witnessed much of this first-hand. I was in a middle/upper-middle class suburban neighborhood. Things were fairly steady until 9/11 it seemed. After that, people started fleeing Manhattan and driving prices up all of a sudden. People with $400,000/yr jobs in the city started knocking down $500,000 houses previously occupied by working class folks, and putting up $1.5million mansions. Pretty soon my parents were the only ones on their street still cutting their own grass and not driving German luxury cars. My dad was a cop with many years of experience, but his high 5-figure income was nothing compared to those of his new neighbors. In 2005 they sold the house they paid $50,000 for in 1978 for $625,000. The husband in the couple that bought it worked for some Wall St. firm and planned on doing a $300,000 addition and renovation to the place.
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You can pick up applications at your local police station.
Thanx Wiley
Not in my lifetime to my knowledge, and I'm an old bag 
