file photo by Boyd Loving
The economic argument above is all I needed to counter your complete fantasy of $1MM houses being in great demand, but let me also comment on the rest.
2. The 40 years that you claim to have been in Ridgewood for happened to be the 40 years when the financial sector exploded in size, and NYC being the financial center benefited tremendously. Additionally, home ownership steadily increased to an all time high in 2004. Unless you have not read the news for 8 year now – all of that is GONE. That is history. Finance is rapidly shrinking, homeownership is at lower than it has ever been since 1984. This despite mortgage rate being lower than it has been in forever.
3. Those ‘arbitrary rankings’ are what new homeonwers make their decision based on. And who will I believe – what multiple magazines claim or what you claim? And how is it that school districts like Short Hills, West Windsor and Tenafly are unaffected by the randomness of those surveys?
4. If taxes were already ‘high’ shouldn’t they stop rising then? What is the logic of already ‘high’ taxes going even higher – for no additional services whatsoever?
5. For a vast majority of people without money to burn, it is a rational decision based on their own income and costs vs. quality of services. I just pointed out that the equation is very unfavorable right now when it comes to Ridgewood.
6. The long view is that the state of NJ is bankrupt given how horribly underfunded its pensions are. Militant union will not let their benefits be haircut. So you are looking at combination of significantly higher taxes, fewer services and constant disruptions from striking unions. Math is math. The bill will come due – the can can only be kicked down just so much further down the road!
