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I Haven’t Lost This Kind Of Money In Ten Years

A report from the Wall Street Journal. “The Morgan family of western New York built one of the country’s largest rental apartment empires, amassing more than 140 properties and more than 34,000 units across 14 states. Now the family business, Morgan Management, is beginning to shrink as it faces one of the largest mortgage fraud investigations since the financial crisis.”

“Prosecutors allege that Morgan executives and their mortgage brokers obtained about $500 million of loans fraudulently by overstating their buildings’ income and occupancy levels, according to court records, mortgage records and other documents filed by the U.S. attorney’s office in Buffalo, N.Y., as part of an investigation of the business.”

“That is about triple the amount of allegedly fraudulent loans identified in court papers in a 2018 indictment of two family members and two mortgage brokers who worked with the family.”

“The real-estate industry is watching the case closely because the guilty pleas have raised questions about whether lenders, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sufficiently examine every tenant lease to verify that borrowers are telling the truth about income. When they don’t, that could make it easier for owners to inflate the amount of debt they borrow against the property.”

“Lenders, brokers and others in the commercial real-estate industry—particularly those involved in rental apartments—have been discussing the fact that the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul required home borrowers to document their income, and home lenders to verify it, but the rule doesn’t apply to sales of multifamily housing.”

“Patrick Ogiony, the mortgage broker who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in March, said 20 Morgan owned and managed apartment complexes in six states were involved in his crimes. He said abuses included providing false rent rolls to lenders, misrepresenting purchase prices and deceiving inspectors into thinking unoccupied units were occupied, according to a statement by the U.S. attorney’s office.”

“Robert Morgan, the founder and longtime head of the company, hasn’t been charged. His nephew, Kevin Morgan, late last year pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Charges are pending against Robert Morgan’s son, Todd Morgan, and Frank Giacobbe, a mortgage broker who worked at the same firm as Mr. Ogiony. Lawyers for Kevin Morgan, Todd Morgan, and Messrs. Giacobbe and Ogiony declined to comment or couldn’t be reached. Mr. Giacobbe and Todd Morgan have pleaded not guilty.”

“In one instance, Mr. Morgan’s nephew, son and the two mortgage brokers obtained a $45.8 million loan on an apartment complex near Pittsburgh after making vacant units appear occupied by turning on radios, placing shoes and mats outside doors, according to allegations in a federal search-warrant application.”

“The family business had been seeking ways to ease cash-flow pressures, according to an affidavit filed in New York state court by Mr. Morgan’s brother, Herbert Morgan. He is Kevin Morgan’s father and co-invested with his brother on some Morgan properties, according to his affidavit. Herbert Morgan is suing Robert Morgan over the use of proceeds from some Texas property sales. He couldn’t be reached for comment.”

“In his affidavit, Herbert Morgan said that his brother was eyeing property sales, savings and other measures to close a gap in operating cash flow that had grown to about $16 million by 2018. An email from Morgan’s chief financial officer, cited in the affidavit, suggested that Morgan executives ‘sharpen our pencils to get to a realistic amount’ of such gap-closing measures ‘to get through 2018.'”

From WLOX in Mississippi. “Two Coast businesses claim thousands of dollars were not paid for services and materials provided for the construction of student housing. Friendship Oak Village opened in the fall of last year in Long Beach and is marketed as a place to live for USM Gulf Park students.”

“Bill Hough with Phillips Building Supply in Gulfport said he sold materials and supplies to the builders of the complex, but said he wasn’t paid in full. ‘Things went along pretty well for a while, and they paid promptly. But towards the end of the job, they ceased paying us completely,’ said Hough, Phillips Building Supply President.”

“Now Hough is suing contractor, Encompass, in hopes of recovering $109,560.79. Skaggs Building Solutions CEO Jarrod Skaggs is also suing the contractor, saying he’s owed $71,000 for construction services performed in July 2018.”

“According to Hough, not getting paid has put his small business in a bind. ‘It’s really discouraging for us because we’re just a small business, and this is a terrible lick for us to take not getting paid,’ said Hough. ‘I haven’t lost this kind of money in ten years.'”

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  1. ‘In his affidavit, Herbert Morgan said that his brother was eyeing property sales, savings and other measures to close a gap in operating cash flow that had grown to about $16 million by 2018. An email from Morgan’s chief financial officer, cited in the affidavit, suggested that Morgan executives ‘sharpen our pencils to get to a realistic amount’ of such gap-closing measures ‘to get through 2018’

    Behold, the apartment bubble. I’ve been saying for years these guys were buying or refinancing (or both) properties that didn’t cash flow. Therefore it is irrational behavior, AKA a mania.

    1. I understand ‘private’ just being corrupt

      What about the REITs / other apartment investments that Pension funds invested in? Do we think that there is a level of fraud there

      1. Life Insurance Companies Expand Multifamily Debt Offerings
        The stability of apartment assets prompts these institutional investors to develop new strategies as they travel cautiously up the yield curve.

        ‘Last year marked the largest increase ever in outstanding multifamily debt, a trend fueled in no small part by life insurance companies. Against the backdrop of a persistent low-rate rate environment, many of these risk-adverse institutional investors are now deploying third-party money to get a bigger piece of the multifamily finance pie.’

        ‘Multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew 8 percent in 2018, or $102 billion, and ended the year at close to $1.4 trillion. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA together accounted for the lion’s share ($675 billion), followed by commercial banks ($430 billion), state and local governments ($90 billion), life insurance companies ($80 billion), and CMBS, CDO and other asset-backed securities issues ($43 billion).’

        ‘Life companies have assembled experienced teams that were previously limited to putting out money for their general account. As more capital flows into the multifamily sector, life companies’ real estate teams are increasingly diversifying their financing offerings by using third-party money in the form of debt funds.’

        “Capital is increasingly concerned about being late-stage in the cycle, and thus wanted to move further down the capital stack from equity to debt,” Fish said. “As a result, there is increasing demand for higher-leverage debt products than pure equity offerings. That doesn’t mean they are necessarily going to be more aggressive in their underwriting; it just means they are going to offer a higher- leverage bucket of money that is priced correspondingly.”

        ‘MetLife Investment Management completed $15.1 billion in new debt and equity transactions in 2018, bringing its portfolio of commercial real estate assets under management to $91.2 billion, including both debt and equity. Significant 2018 loan executions include a $156 million first mortgage on Modera Avenir Place, an apartment and retail property located in Vienna, Va.’

        “Our platform volume-wise is super active relative to our peers,” contends Gary Otten, head of MetLife Investment Management’s real estate debt strategies group. “That’s because we’ve grown our external capital raising and asset management capabilities so we’re not only investing for MetLife itself and its insurance portfolios, we’re investing for other, third-party clients alongside us and through structured vehicles.”

        ‘Although multifamily loans have a lower default rate than other property types and the sector tends to be less volatile overall, MetLife takes a more selective approach to multifamily deals than some other lenders. “We may do less because everybody chases it,” Otten said. “Relative value doesn’t always hold up so nicely because multifamily loans are often priced so aggressively.”

        ‘A signature feature of PGIM Real Estate Finance’s lending practice is its agency complement—it closes loans for market-rate and affordable multifamily assets on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration—and core-plus money. Those elements enable PGIM to lend on a wide spectrum of assets, from a suburban New Jersey community to stabilized, high-end product in San Francisco.’

        https://www.multihousingnews.com/post/life-insurance-companies-expand-multifamily-debt-offerings/

        Yep, we need government backing loans for billionaires to “invest” in high end airboxes.

        1. Rent in cities like NYC and San Francisco is so expensive that it’s …
          Business Insider-8 minutes ago
          Housing costs have become so expensive in some cities that urban-dwellers are … According to Pollard, living in cars is common in California cities

          1. What effects will changes like Congestion pricing have on rentals in cities like NY? Perhaps investing in parking lots of dying malls or turning those malls into nothing but parking lots will become a new tier in the rental industry. Europe has been selling cars with refrigerated glove compartments for some time and creative use of space in cars for some time. https://www.wsj.com/articles/congestion-pricing-could-give-lift-to-some-home-values-11556719681?mod=hp_listc_pos1

          2. When is enough enough? Why are people quietly accepting this assault on the working class?

          3. Why are people quietly accepting this assault

            I rebel against “this assault”. Primarily, I refuse to pay interest to the banks.

        2. yikes …. a trillion here, a trillion there – pretty soon it is real money

          ——-
          ‘Multifamily mortgage debt outstanding grew 8 percent in 2018, or $102 billion, and ended the year at close to $1.4 trillion. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA together accounted for the lion’s share ($675 billion), followed by commercial banks ($430 billion), state and local governments ($90 billion), life insurance companies ($80 billion), and CMBS, CDO and other asset-backed securities issues ($43 billion).’

    2. Why does cash flow even matter so long as the Fed stands in the ready to guarantee that real estate prices (and rents) will always go up?

      1. Because without it you end up in foreclosure. These guys were bleeding well over a million bucks a month, owning 33,000 units, at a time when rents have never been higher and the percentage of incomes going toward rents has never been higher.

        Apartments became greater fool investments years ago. Recall the CA article recently saying only a few places like Bakersfield cash flowed, and these idiots were in the process of bidding that into negative. An entire state industry, producing nothing.

        2. The “search for yield” is desperate. It’s all because of the Fed’s QE and cheap money policy, yet they’re expected to announce more rate cuts soon. I’d call it “insanity” but it’s by design. By the wealthy, for the wealthy.

    3. ” …ama$$ing more than 140 propertie$ and more than 34,000 unit$ across 14 state$. ”

      What!, Ma$$ive real e$tate fraud all across America! Again! … Imagine that, well eye’ll bee, wowser$.

    4. I truly believe that many many higher execs and other business people don’t understand the importance of cash flow.
      In a nutshell “No positive cash flow no business. “

  2. Speaking of fraud, it’s becoming increasingly clear that ours were not the only regulators asleep at the switch. Notwithstanding ABQ Dan’s claims to the contrary, it looks like all that rosy Chinese economic data has been papering over massive accounting irregularities. However, I’m sure this is an isolated incident, as China’s central planners in their omniscience would surely not allow such malfeasance to pose systemic risks to their financial system or the integrity of their data reporting.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-30/chinese-drugmaker-discloses-44-billion-accounting-fraud

  3. LendingClub to Slash San Francisco Office, Move 350 Jobs to Utah
    Bloomberg-22 minutes ago
    LendingClub Corp., the online-loan marketplace, plans to wind down customer … Sanborn said in the memo that rents in San Francisco have increased 140 …

    1. I see Lending Club’s offices regularly on my commute into Salt Lake City. Goldman Sach’s has been adding tons of jobs in Salt Lake in the past 10 years. All these new jobs fleeing coastal areas going to Salt Lake and “Silicon Slopes” sure seem to be putting the squeeze on home prices and renters.

        1. Utah is the fraud capital of America.

          “Utah had the sixth most Ponzi schemes among all states from 2008 to 2018, despite ranking 31st in population, according to ponzitracker.com. Only California, Florida, New York, Texas and Illinois, in that order, had more.

          When Salt Lake attorney Mark Pugsley ran a per-capita analysis of the numbers, Utah topped the list for the most Ponzi schemes — and it’s not even close.

          Pugsley found Utah has 1.35 Ponzi schemes per 100,000 people. Florida is the next highest state at 0.51 per 100,000 people, nearly two-thirds lower.”

          https://www.ksl.com/article/46541729/does-utah-deserve-the-title-fraud-capital-of-the-united-states

          1. If you want a great podcast to listen to, try “The Dream”. It’s all about the MLM industry. Truly amazing journalism. I listened to all the episodes in a couple of weeks commuting back and forth from St. George to SLC.

        2. Utah is the per capita fraud capital of the USA.

          From KSL:

          “Utah had the sixth most Ponzi schemes among all states from 2008 to 2018, despite ranking 31st in population, according to ponzitracker.com. Only California, Florida, New York, Texas and Illinois, in that order, had more.

          When Salt Lake attorney Mark Pugsley ran a per-capita analysis of the numbers, Utah topped the list for the most Ponzi schemes — and it’s not even close.

          Pugsley found Utah has 1.35 Ponzi schemes per 100,000 people. Florida is the next highest state at 0.51 per 100,000 people, nearly two-thirds lower.”

          https://www.ksl.com/article/46541729/does-utah-deserve-the-title-fraud-capital-of-the-united-states

    1. This is why I live in Arapahoe County, a few blocks south of Denver city limits, and not in Denver.

      1. Consider yourself luckier than some other non-Denver residents who think this won’t affect them. Denver’s Mountain Parks system extends across 3 additional counties (JeffCo, Clear Creek, and Douglas counties). Look for squatters to take up residence in Genesee and Evergreen and JeffCo residents to lose their minds when they realize that the JeffCo Sheriff can’t do a thing about it if it’s on Denver property.

      1. Homestead Act — Yeah. I’d love to see those half-million homeless stake a claim for 160 acres, cultivate the land, and live on it full-time for five years with NO public assistance whatsoever. Both Pa Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder of the “Little House” books succeeded, but both later sold the farms.

        1. In Wyoming they were still doing it for veterans shortly after WWII. My grandfather did it and I grew up on one of the three farms he ended up with after the other two original homesteaders sold out. My mom didn’t have indoor plumbing until junior high due to that effort. I thought about that too…

        2. Modification$ Are always po$$ible!

          (Mega Indu$trial Pharmaceutical$ “pill$.by.thee.billion$” profit$ pusher$ + a .00000001% tax on the .01%’ter$)

          No taxpayer$ needed!

          $ubsistence Homestead$ provision$ under the New Deal – 1930
          Main article: Subsistence Homesteads Division

          Typical $TA “Jackrabbit” homestead cabin remains in Wonder Valley, California

          Renewed interest in homesteading was brought about by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program of Subsistence Homesteading implemented in the 1930s under the New Deal.

          Small Tracts Act: In 1938 Congress passed a law, called the Small Tract Act (STA) of 1938 — by which it is possible for any citizen to obtain certain lands from the Federal Government for residence, recreation, or business purposes. These tracts may not usually be larger than 5 acres. A 5-acre tract would be one which is 660 feet long and 330 feet wide, or its equivalent. The property was to be improved with a building. Starting July 1955, improvement was required to be minimum of 400 sq. feet of space.[17] 4,000 previously classified Small Tracts were offered at public auction at fair market value, circa 1958, by the Los Angeles Office of BLM.

    3. We must encourage, enable, and reward vagrancy, substance abuse, and social parasitism. These progressive values must be what defines us and our communities. Forward!

    4. The solution is simple: Issue a 72 hour “warning” that anybody camping or sleeping in public will be arrested after that window closes. Once arrested, they are drug tested and assessed for mental health issues on an individual basis.

      If they test positive for illegal drugs, they either voluntarily go to a publicly funded rehab or go straight to jail. Once they finish drug rehab, they are sent to occupational rehab while housed in a temporary shelter – fashioned out of empty malls and such.

      If they are determined to be mentally ill, they are sent to a mental health facility for further assistance.

      If no positive drug test and no mental health issue (rarity), they are placed directly into the program for occupational rehab.

      1. The solution is simple

        I camp in public frequently. Usually on my way to somewhere. On my last road trip the best spot I found was in a little town right in front of the police station. Thankfully, they were very gracious and did not throw me in a reeducation camp.

          1. Perhaps I was too subtle. You are wrong. The solution is not “simple”.

            Also, prison for non-harmful non-conformance (to what you decide is acceptable) is a dark path indeed.

          3. What’s the solution, bright guy?

            Don’t ask me, I tried to solve lots of other people’s problems and all my ideas were a fail.

          4. You’ve got to create spartan places for homeless to sleep that are safe and away from downtown and tourist areas that interfere with business and commerce. Once you have that in place, there should be no excuse for public camping. You can’t outlaw homelessness, but it doesn’t mean you have to let things get out of control like “Seattle is Dying” is showing. The pendulum can swing too far. It is far cheaper to house the homeless than send them through the ER repeatedly. I always got the frequent fliers on my shift. We pay for it one way or another. I personally think that most of the housing subsidies should be done away with and plowed into a viable sprinter van, preferable an electric one once that comes into play. It’s far cheaper to make a vehicle a house than it is to build affordable housing in these city centers. And when you have a small van that isn’t a behemoth RV, it is more discreet and can move to the outskirts of a city during sleeping hours. Or a Walmart parking lot. Or a hospital parking lot.

        2. About 45 years ago when I was traveling around on my motorcycle, I made it a point to avoid interstate highways. One evening I stopped in a small Indiana town with a park that looked like a good place to spend the night.

          The town cop was sitting in his car parked by the curb. I rode up to his car, introduced myself, and said, “I’d like to pitch my tent in your park tonight, but I’m worried about someone messing with my bike. I wonder if you could kind of keep an eye on it as you’re making your rounds.”

          His chest swelled up a bit, his face took on a take-charge air, and he said, “I’d be glad to. Don’t worry, you and your bike will be fine.”

          I pitched my blue nylon tent next to my bike and crawled into my sleeping bag. That night I had police protection that would be the envy of foreign diplomats and rock stars. Whenever I happened to wake up, I could hear the cop slowly cruising by.

          When I started putting everything back into my bedroll the next morning, I noticed a sign near the park entrance that read, “NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING”.

      2. If they test positive for illegal drugs, they either voluntarily go to a publicly funded rehab or go straight to jail.

        Do you have any idea what it costs to keep someone in jail? Cops and corrections personnel are not trained or equipped to deal with an influx of mentally ill substance abusers. Intervention is required, but the “homelessness” crisis will have to get a lot worse before the necessary measures are taken.

        1. Do you have any idea how much the ER visits, 911 calls, arrests, cleanup, theft and lost revenue cost Seattle? It is astronomical.

          1. My favorite “frequent flier” was a “homeless” guy in a very small midwestern town. Once the town fathers learned he was the beneficiary of a trust fund, with a trustee maintaining a nice home that the “homeless” man refused to use, they moved very fast. Soon he was a ward of the state, with his trust funds assets controlled so that his stay at a local nursing home paid for by his own money. He was not free to leave, either.

          3. That’s really an ugly tale of greed.

            On which side? Was he really mentally ill? Or just like messing with the system? If there was nobody to step in and take charge of his care I don’t think the city was out of line. If somebody stole his money, sure. But making it get used to take care of him sounds like a good idea to me.

          4. Story of two of the many victims of the infamous (in Las Vegas) April Parks. Hard to believe a total stranger can show up at your door, take everything you have and move you to a retirement facility, all against your will.
            How the Elderly Lose Their Rights
            Guardians can sell the assets and control the lives of senior citizens without their consent—and reap a profit from it.
            October 2, 2017
            newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/09/how-the-elderly-lose-their-rights

          5. “Money monsters do well in this society,” he wrote. “All great fortunes began with a crime.”

            That was an incredible read. It reminded me of the stories of the Swiss bankers colluding with the German SS regarding the assets of wealthy victims who were exterminated during the holocaust.

    1. I detest the phrase “nest egg”. It’s almost always used by someone who thinks their house is one.

  8. “The real-estate industry is watching the case closely because the guilty pleas have raised questions about whether lenders, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sufficiently examine every tenant lease to verify that borrowers are telling the truth about income. When they don’t, that could make it easier for owners to inflate the amount of debt they borrow against the property.”

    I’m sure this is an isolated incident. It is unimaginable for anybody else to lie on a mortgage application, which could be an imprisonable offense.

    1. “…It is unimaginable for anybody else to lie on a mortgage application…”

      It’s just amazing that with so much money involved, (in this case ~$45mm) that due diligence isn’t upped to the next level.

      Are the lenders just too lazy to leave their desks?

      I am surprised that 3rd party verification services (similar in concept to a home inspector) don’t exist? Or do they and lenders just don’t want to spend money to verify?

      Especially in this new normal of con artists everywhere.

        1. These “affordable housing” rackets serve one purpose: forcing taxpayers to involuntarily fund Democrat patronage and graft rackets.

      2. The appraisal is supposed to be the controlling factor here, but we know how that goes . .

  10. I’ve heard people say, the “DEMs just want to give free stuff to everyone and raise taxes” so I vote GOP. crazy times!

    1. “Supermodel Erin Heatherton files for bankruptcy”

      Court documents obtained by The Blast reveal that Heatherton — real name Erin Bubley — listed $560,242.13 in debts and just $6,465.57 in assets, claiming she earned just $2,820 this year.

        1. FWIW, I prefer longer legs, shorter torso ladies.

          My blonde hair, blue eyed, beautiful teeth, German wife is in her early fifties, but she can still slide into a pair of my daughter’s jeans. However, my wife has to roll-up the pant legs as my daughter’s legs are even longer!

          This young lady, Erin Heatherton, has somehow buried herself in debt despite being single and no children, so she gets little respect from me. BTW, fake blondes don’t hold my gaze.

  12. 3 car garage, tract home in coastal south OC, CA:
    in 1995 $390k
    2005 $1.2 mill
    2019 $1.2 mill

    1. $avanna Corpooration’$ Manager$ = Knot Carnegie in$pired

      A Carnegie library is a library built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929, including some belonging to public and university library systems. 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in the United Kingdom and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Serbia, Belgium, France, the Caribbean, Mauritius, Malaysia, and Fiji.

      At first, Carnegie libraries were almost exclusively in places where he had a personal connection – namely his birthplace in Scotland and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, his adopted home-town. Yet, beginning in the middle of 1899, Carnegie substantially increased funding to libraries outside these areas.

      In later years few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. By the time the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.

      1. Based on the articles at HBB, they may as well keep the library there. If not, the building owner will just jack up the rent until the storefront sits empty anyway. Just like in downtown Manhattan.

  15. “In one instance, Mr. Morgan’s nephew, son and the two mortgage brokers obtained a $45.8 million loan on an apartment complex near Pittsburgh after making vacant units appear occupied by turning on radios, placing shoes and mats outside doors, according to allegations in a federal search-warrant application.”

    In the old days these blue-eyed swindlers put out blocks of salt for their livestock to lick and fatten up before being weighed and sold for slaughter. Things haven’t changed much.

  16. “Not only do the new rules make it less desirable to purchase a multi-million dollar home in high-tax states, it has also motivated some people—especially those with big incomes and big housing budgets—to consider moving to places like Florida, Washington or Nevada, which have no state income tax,” wrote Redfin’s chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, in a release.

    The shift in the luxury market has been more pronounced, therefore, in certain metropolitan markets. The average luxury sale price fell hardest in Boston (-22.4%), Newport Beach, California (-21.8%), and Miami (-19.3%). Miami’s drop may have been less about tax changes and more about overbuilding on the luxury end in recent years that has led to an oversupply of high-end homes for sale.”

    Isn’t Miami in Florida? Oh wait, it’s overbuilt. So it’s not the taxes then? Maybe CA was overbuilt too? Reporter can’t put two and two together?

    https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/luxury-home-sales-see-biggest-slump-in-nearly-a-decade.html

    1. What the luxury house prices in TX? Anything over $500K is high-end in TX so is it’s cratering there too???? 500k is less than 750k? I guess you can’t blame on the “high” interest rate or shortage anymore? Don’t worry summer is coming so people will be vacationing soon.

  17. Ugly turns uglier as a Tesla filing shows results were goosed by a surge in credits

    “Tesla’s financial results released last week didn’t mention that the automaker’s revenue included $200 million collected from regulatory credits. When Chief Executive Elon Musk answered questions from analysts, he didn’t point that out, either.”

    Falling stock, bleeding cash, collapsing sales, what could be next for the poster child of the Luxury is Green mania?

    1. The sudden fire sale on solar panels is certainly suspicious. It would appear they will be liquidating that business soon.

      1. The sudden fire sale on solar panels is certainly suspicious. It would appears they will be are liquidating that business soon. FIFY.

      1. The sticky wheel gets the grease. I remember when I purchased a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid in 2013. The next week the EPA announced that Kia and Hyundai had inflated fuel efficiency by running bogus tests. Eventually there was a class action lawsuit. I think I ended up getting about $200. It was peanuts and I was pretty upset because my real world fuel efficiency was way less than what was advertised. I wouldn’t have purchased the hybrid if I had known that.

        I just drove from St. George to Salt Lake City without charging once. 305 miles. I’m getting better fuel efficiency on a miles per gallon equivalent. No issues whatsoever with my model 3 on the first 3k miles. I think my mpg equivalent is about 160 miles per gallon based on our fuel price.

        1. The modern car’s internal combustion engine has lots of moving parts, sensors, emissions controls, catalytic exhaust and CVT or 8-speed transmissions with AWD systems that combined have driven the cost to operate per mile too high. I welcome the efforts in electric car technology.

          1. If they produce an electric car that has a range of 500 miles and will charge in less than 30 minutes, for a price under $30,000, I’m a buyer. Otherwise, it makes no financial sense.

          2. “catalytic exhau$t” … Shoulda stuck with $team engine$!

            How many million$ of vehicle$ sold around the globe (every year, total current cumulative population last report 1,900,000,001) have these “mined” $ubstances?

            The washcoat. A washcoat is a carrier for the catalytic materials and is used to disperse the materials over a large surface area. Aluminum oxide, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, or a mixture of silica and alumina can be used. The catalytic materials are suspended in the washcoat prior to applying to the core. Washcoat materials are selected to form a rough, irregular surface, which greatly increases the surface area compared to the smooth surface of the bare substrate. This in turn maximizes the catalytically active surface available to react with the engine exhaust. The coat must retain its surface area and prevent sintering of the catalytic metal particles even at high temperatures (1000 °C).

            Ceria or ceria-zirconia. These oxides are mainly added as oxygen storage promoters.

            The catalyst itself is most often a mix of precious metal. Platinum is the most active catalyst and is widely used, but is not suitable for all applications because of unwanted additional reactions and high cost. Palladium and rhodium are two other precious metals used. Rhodium is used as a reduction catalyst, palladium is used as an oxidation catalyst, and platinum is used both for reduction and oxidation. Cerium, iron, manganese, and nickel are also used, although each has limitations. Nickel is not legal for use in the European Union because of its reaction with carbon monoxide into toxic nickel tetracarbonyl. Copper can be used everywhere except Japan.

          1. Well, when I am working on-site, there are level 2 chargers, so it takes about 3 hours to go from about 5% state of charge (SOC) to 80%. For battery longevity, it is recommended that you don’t charge above 80% or 90%, unless you are going to go on a road trip and drive the vehicle immediately once you hit 95%-100%.

            If I went to a supercharger, it would charge in less than an hour to 80%. But the V3 superchargers should do that charge in 15 minutes to full. Those have only started rolling out in CA though.

        3. without charging once. 305 miles

          What % battery capacity was left after that? On the surface of it, sounds like you drove it to empty.

          1. Considering a max range of 310 miles listed on Tesla’s site, going 305 miles seems irresponsible in that he could very well have needed to call a tow truck.

          2. It was peanuts and I was pretty upset because my real world fuel efficiency was way less than what was advertised. I wouldn’t have purchased the hybrid if I had known that.
            I bought an Elantra in 2012, same situation about inflated mpg estimates by Hyundai. I never believed them at the time I bought the car and the car certainly didn’t get anywhere near the estimates except for short segments of travel. The stealership is supposed to check my odometer & Hyundai is supposed to reimburse me for my extra fuel costs. But I never believe their statements anyway. If it sounds too good to be true, it is probably false. My Elantra is still the best car I have ever owner. The only 2 seat station wagon in existence, AFAICT.

          3. I charged to 98% and left St. George. I went 65 mph up hills to conserve battery. I rolled in with 5% battery remaining.

    1. Still picking’ on the $corched earth folks?

      Well, eye’ll bee making ca$h donations to the local$ @ the 59th annual Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Folk Festival on May 19th

      Come one, come all .?.. Food & Friends & Fiddles!

    1. They don’t want them to return to “historic norms.” The idea is to keep prices inflated forever, so if rate cuts will do it, rate cuts it is.

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