by stephenlee 1. Palisades Park, NJ issued more ticket for BYOB violation
- BYOB allows between noon and midnight → Not realistic for business
- Police checks around 3:00am and issues tickets ($1000 first offense → doubles for 2nd offense)
- Extension law was proposed, but it was not implemented by the influence of the late Michael Pollotta
2. New Luxury Condo will come to Korea town in Manhattan
- At the Corner of 5th Ave and 32th St (316 5th Ave)
- 40 stories/ 539 FT high/ 1st ~ 3rd FL →Retail space / from 8th FL → Condo
- Amenity: Bicycle storage, Gyms, Library, etc.
3. ‘The Woo’ luxury Korean restaurant will come back in Manhattan SOHO
- ‘WooRaeOk’ was closed since 2011
- Will open this Fall as The Woo at 206 Spring St (used to be Italian restaurant)
- 7500 SF / 1, 2 & 3 floor and basement / 250 seats
- ‘WooRaeOk’ opened in Midtown from 1974 → moved to SOHO in1999
4. Traffic Infrastructure will bring many of new buyers/renters in North New Jersey
- Governor Christie’s cardinal sin → Cancellation of ARC project (Access to the Region’s Core)1) ARC was an $8.7 Billion project: Gateway project’s predecessor → new tracks (x2) under the Hudson River and new station to the ailing Penn Station
2) Pen Station repairs: The way we manage all of this will play a major role in whether you can sustain real estate values in and around New York City
3) Port Authority Bus Terminal: Terminal expansion will ease the growing congestion (Creation of a new station could cost $10 Billion)
4) Hudson-Bergen Light Rail expansion ($1 Billion): Most immediate Impact on real estate market – Existing H-B line increased housing values in Hudson Co → Staggering development in Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken, etc.
5) PATH train expansion: The bistate commission authorized $57 Million in spending on extension of PATH train to Newark International Airport ($1.7 Billion)
6) 7 line extension into Secaucus: can reduce significant long-term bus terminal demand → would accommodate daily
5. AMAZON will open a warehouse in Edison this winter
- Between Route 27 and Vineyard Rd (Former Frigidaire factory) → 900,000 SF
- This site was vacant for last 10 years
- More than 1000 jobs will be created (So far, more than 13,000 job in NJ)
- Also warehouse is planned in Logan(1 Million SF) and Cranberry (90,000 sf)
- AMAZON donated 300 e-books to libraries in Edison, Carteret, Woodbridge, Florence
- AMAZON announced new service to install smart home appliances → Competing ‘Geek Squad’ by BestBuy → BestBuy stock dropped 6.3% (Lost $1 Billion)
6. San Francisco is most difficult to buy a house in US
- According to NAR, To buy a house → Over $161,110 income → #1 in 27 big cities in US
- San Diego: #2, Over $111,666
- Los Angeles: #3, Over $98,542
- New York: #4, Over $95,729
- Pittsburg: Lowest, Over $31,508
- US in general (1 QT 2017), Need $52,969 income for medina house price: $232,100
7. US Economy is doing better than forecast
- 1 QT GDP → 4% Growth (Forecast 1.2%): 4 QT in 2016 → 2.1%
- 70% (Consumer spending / Export) of GDP → doing better.
- Consumer spending → 1% Growth (Forecast: 0.6%)
- Export → 7% Growth (Forecast: 5.8%)
- Federal Reserve Bank (Atlanta) forecasted 2.9% Growth for 2 QT
8. US Dollars becomes weakest in last 6 years
- First half in 2017, US $ value dropped 5.6%, according to WSJ → Biggest drop since 2011
- Right after election, US$ value soared → Now it becomes very weak
- Reasons: 1) US economy growth will be slower than Europe and other nations
2) More investment to Euro $ / Canadian dollars (ECB and Canadian Central Bank announced they will reduce Quantitative Easing policy)
3)Weak action for Trump’s infra-investment plan
9. Not any more ‘20% down’ requirement for buying homes
- According to NAR, Only 54% of buyers for last 5 years out down 20%
- For FHB, Over 70% paid less than 20% (Over 60% paid less than 6%)
- Still many buyers think they have to do down 20% → 13% of under 34 years old know about 5% down required
- Many banks changed their position (CEO of BOA announced 10% down program at CNBC interview recently)
