Weekly News (June 14, 2017)

1. ‘GAYEON’: Luxury Korean Restaurant opened in Hudson Light, Fort lee, NJ

Unveiled at 2020 Hudson St on 6/12/2017 as luxury family Korean restaurant image
Total 8,000 SF / 250 seats / 2 Party rooms for 50~60 People / 2 party rooms for 13~14
Bar with about 100 wine collection
Main Chef: SeungJae Choi (Experienced with Walker Hill Hotel, Myung Wall Kwan, Paris, Dubai, etc.)
Desert Chef: SungKeum Kim (Experienced with Manhattan Michelin Star restaurant)

2. ‘GAM Mi Ok’ in Fort Lee, NJ will re-open in August 2017

Closed in February 2017 due to car accident: A car rushed to move forward and got into the restaurant (Owner: HyungKi Choi)
Under total renovation → becomes luxury 24 hour operating Korean restaurant

3. Edgewater, NJ → Town with River View: West of Hudson River

12,000 Population, 78% of properties were built after 1969
2/3 of population are renters, 160 residential MLS listings → only 6 single houses
Median price: little over $600,000 (7% Up for last 12 months)
George Washington School (PK~2^nd ), Eleanor Van Gelder School(3~6 Grade)
Middle / High school go to Leonia (SAT: 590 for reading / writing, 584 for Math) (NJ Avg: 537, 538)
Bus: 158 to Port Authority (40 Min, $4.50)
Ferry: Edgewater Ferry Landing at 989 River Rd to Manhattan (6:15am~7:45pm) → 13 Min to mid-town($10.25, Monthly pass: $294)

4. Carbon Monoxide Gas leaked → 32 people went to a hospital

5. Bit Off track for residential market after April

Hot residential market till March 2017, but transaction reduced bit, and price stalled
Low inventory, but not exactly seller’s market / Buyer ignores over priced houses
Flippers (Investors) reduced noticeably
Income increase rate: 2-3% → hard to keep up house price increase by 7% yearly
Korean buyers → more sensitive

6. Mortgage Interest Rate moving downward for 4 weeks

30 year Interest Rate →89% as of 6/8/2017 (1% dropped compared to 6/1/2017)
15 year Interest Rate →16% (0.03% dropped)
Reason: 10 year treasury bond rate dropping (2.21% →2.18%)← More money moved to treasury bond: ← Employment rate is not as much as expected/ Woe to future economy
Usually Mortgage IR is set to 1.5~2% higher than 10 year treasury bond rate

7. Samsung Electronics will build a factory in US to make home appliances

South Carolina is strongest candidate among 3 locations South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia
SC → Corporate tax: 5%, Attractive to company → Employment Tax, Education support fund
Might be conflict with the current Korean government efforts → Create domestic jobs

8. New Jersey area malls, retail centers are more resilient

Malls across America may be dying (About 10,000 retail stores will be closed for 12 months / 20% of US malls expected to close for next 5 years)
But New Jersey, particularly Northern New Jersey is more resilient → sales volume in this area is exceptionally high according to Urban Edge Properties (owns Bergen Town Center and 85 other shopping center properties)
Retailers should make more fun to get out of home and enjoy: Entertaining,Good food, Fitness, Movie theater, etc.

9. Tech News

Verizon took over Yahoo at $4.8 Billion / Marissa Mayer (CEO at Yahoo) resigned (She was hired from Google to save Yahoo 5 years ago)
Verizon is combining Internet media company with AOL, Yahoo Sport, Yahoo Mail, etc. to make new company ‘Oath’

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