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Listings That Linger Have Become Prey For Hard-Dealing Buyers Wielding Lowball Offers

A report from KTVN in Nevada. “Reno’s Midtown area continues to grow. More housing options have become available in recent weeks. ‘It was a little slow for about a month, and now the last two weeks we’ve had a major uptick,’ said Timothy O’Brien, a Realtor with Dickson Realty. ‘So I’ve gone from just a couple of listings to about a dozen listings in just the last couple of weeks, so its gotten really hot. You’re seeing sellers come down a little bit, trying to stay competitive, and buyers are doing a lot better job of getting pre-qualified and being ready before we get started.'”

“The area isn’t cheap. ‘Everything around here is going pretty much for $300 a square foot which is a lot,’ O’Brien said. ‘Prices have gone up a lot since 2012; probably about 140%. So you’re seeing massive increases but we’re just kind of peaking back out, I think. I think we’re going to see things steady up a little bit as more things come on the market.'”

“Christopher Cunningham, a Senior Loan Officer with Guild Mortgage Company, says there are programs to help buyers, even in a tough housing market. ‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten creative recently with higher debt-to-income ratios allowable,’ Cunningham said. ‘Guild offers a first-time homebuyer program. The State of Nevada and Rural Housing have tons of down payment programs that can help with down payments and closing costs.  You see a lot of realtors asking the seller to cover closing costs these days, so the affordability is there if you can get creative.'”

“He says a lot of clients are surprised when they find out what they qualify for. ‘Every day I find someone who is scared to even start the process leave my office and is ecstatic to look for homes,’ Cunningham said. ‘And who doesn’t want to buy a home? It’s so exciting!'”

The Denver Post in Colorado. “The days when a home in metro Denver would list on the market and set off a feeding frenzy that brought in multiple offers are fading. Redfin tracks the number of offers received on transactions where it represents the buyers. A year ago in June, half of all sales in metro Denver came with multiple offers. But at the start of this year, the ratio was down to one in five.”

“‘Bidding wars are few and far between this season. They are reserved for homes that are priced relatively low and are in good shape or homes in hot areas that are priced correctly,’ said Andy Potarf, a Redfin senior agent in Denver.”

“That partly reflects the more abundant choices that buyers have. At the end of June, there were 9,520 homes listed for sale in metro Denver, up 28 percent from a year earlier and the highest inventory available since October 2013, according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.”

“Sellers can’t price their homes above the most recent sales in their neighborhood and then sit back and wait for a bidding war to start, Potarf said. ‘Homes have to be upgraded and priced competitively or maybe even slightly below market to garner more attention,’ he said.”

The Orange County Register in California. “The last time Southern Californians had more homes on the market at mid-year was 2014. According to ReportsOnHousing, there were 36,904 existing residences in the four-county region listed for sale as of June 27. Yes, that’s a five-year high for the mid-point of a year — a key seasonal moment near the end of the usual prime homebuying season.”

The Houston Chronicle in Texas. “The market appears to be tilted in favor of buyers on the high end — where the supply of homes priced between $750,000 and $1 million is more than 10 months, according to the realty data, which is based on sales throughout primarily Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.”

“‘We knew it would be difficult to top last June’s record-breaking sales volume, but the Houston real estate market remains strong and now offers prospective buyers an even greater selection of housing than they’ve had in some time,’ Shannon Cobb Evans, the association’s chair, said in a statement.”

“And single-family listings, which have been rising most of the past year, reached 30,222, an amount not seen since 2011. ‘Our buyer agents are freaking out because we don’t have the number of leads we had two months ago,’ said Lance Loken of the Loken Group. ‘In March, April and May, the doors were knocking down with buyers. They’re starting to really slow down.'”

The Tampa Bay Times in Florida. “Home prices in Tampa Bay have risen steadily for years, growing at a faster rate than wages in the area. Combine that with the fact that the region has the lowest median household income among the nation’s largest metro areas and the result is what State Rep. Ben Diamond called a ‘perfect storm’ creating an affordable housing crisis.”

“Diguel Atkins and his family have felt the pressure of trying to find an affordable place to live for as long as he can remember. He said Bartlett Park is gentrifying, that homes are rising in value, and that in turn is forcing longtime residents out. Foreclosures are becoming more commonplace, he said.”

From Forbes on New York. “A third of the active New York City sales listings on StreetEasy received price cuts as of mid-June, according to a new report from the site, but the discounts probably won’t yield more buyers, experts say.”

“Price cuts are a growing trend as the market struggles to cope with the slow-end of a cycle. The number of homes on StreetEasy with reductions rose from 20% in 2014 to 32% in 2018, according to its data. Sellers chopped a record $3.2 billion from the asking prices of all homes on the site in 2018, equaling roughly 10% of their total value.”

“However, while the strategy is meant to attract fresh attention like last season’s trends on the sales rack, they more often imply weakness for the seller, according to StreetEasy. Of all the homes sold through StreetEasy that received price reductions between 2014 and 2018, four out of five closed for lower than their final ask, the site reported. In other words, 80% of sellers accepted an offer that was lower than their discounted value.”

“‘Listings that linger on the market have become prey for hard-dealing buyers wielding lowball offers,’ explained StreetEasy senior economist Grant Long explained in the report. ‘Buyers should view price cuts as an opportunity to pick up a deal – not because of the unit’s new asking price, but because of the seller’s seeming willingness to cut a deal for even less.'”

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This Post Has 116 Comments

  1. ‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten creative recently with higher debt-to-income ratios allowable…You see a lot of realtors asking the seller to cover closing costs these days, so the affordability is there if you can get creative’

    ‘He says a lot of clients are surprised when they find out what they qualify for’

    Eat yer crowz jingle male.

    1. ‘You see a lot of realtors asking the seller to cover closing costs these days’

      This is what I see on the USDA loans (100% subprime BTW, by law). The buyer has a top limit. Seller lowers the price by just as much as closing costs, and the appraiser hits the number exactly, cuz the UHS set the whole deal up. Badda bing! You end up with a loan to “value” (which is a joke anyway) of over 100% with a subprime buyer who put down absolutely nothing. What could go wrong?

      1. “value”

        80% of sellers accepted an offer that was lower than their discounted value.

        Apparently their “value” has no basis in reality.

    2. The word “creative” or “innovative” in association with a financial product is invariably a euphemism for “scam”.

    3. “You see a lot of realtors asking the seller to cover closing costs these days”

      These days? It was common back in 2009-10.

  2. ‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten creative recently with higher debt-to-income ratios allowable,’ Cunningham said.

    B…b…but the REIC trolls who ooze onto the HBB assured us that such loose lending was a thing of the past.

    These self-same “homeowners” who need “help” to close on overpriced shacks they manifestly can’t afford will be the first to claim they were victims of predatory lending when they get foreclosed on, while Fannie and Freddie will wash their hands of them and look the other way. Get ready for BOHICA time, taxpayers – 2008 redux will soon be upon us.

    1. Many of these “victims” will prove to be members of racial minorities who were the intended targets of government-sponsored “affordable lending” schemes.

  3. ‘Buyers should view price cuts as an opportunity to pick up a deal – not because of the unit’s new asking price, but because of the seller’s seeming willingness to cut a deal for even less’

    Got it Grant, hold out until they give it away.

    1. “…$300/ft is obscene…”

      Unless your the local property tax assessor.

      Not to leave out your local friendly plumber, electrician, insurance salesman, roofer, painter, gardener, and maid service who will jack up their fees because if you [they think] paid an obscene price for your house you must be really, really rich and can pay them more too.

      The problem is that “really, really rich” is often confused with “really, really stupid”

      1. “Not to leave out your local friendly plumber, electrician, insurance salesman, roofer, painter, gardener, and maid service who will jack up their fees because if you [they think] paid an obscene price for your house you must be really, really rich and can pay them more too.”

        hey Octal77: same observation & experience I commented about back around 2006-07.

        Every time I called someone to come over for an estimate WITHOUT FAIL it would be a potbellied half-drunk clipboard- carrying middle-aged caucasian male driving a 3 Fiddy Dually.

        You could literally see him licking his lips with a big greedy smile since it’s a decent area . . . IF they bothered to show up at all.

        They get no sympathy from me when they whine about “high bidnezz costs” like Worker’s Comp. as they use illegal unskilled labor but charge skilled labor rates to the public. like farmers.

        and gosh darn whaddya know every single estimate started at $1000.

        “gutters cleaned?
        that’ll be a $1000”

        “tree trim? $1000 “

        At the end of the last call I asked: “does that price include Vaseline?”

        got so sick of that crap I stopped calling & started doing it myself. saved a lot / learned a lot

        I’d be surprised if this comment makes it out of moderation because:
        • I’m in California.
        • I have the guts to disagree
        • have I mentioned I’m in CA . . !?
        • Mortgage Watch needs clicks
        • yep, still in hated CA.

        1. Bravo for learning to DIY….too bad we have no choice when it comes to paying for illegals healthcare though 😀

          1. I live in a pretty nice place and have just learned to negotiate down. Estimate is $1000? Great. My offer back to you is $500. Usually we end up at $750.

            I also like the guys in the a20 year old truck vs the guy in the brand new $60k truck.

        2. “yep, still in hated CA.”

          My son’s first visit to Hear$t “Cabin” … 59° in Rancho San Simone, … 35miles South & Ea$t … 100° in el Pa$o de Roble$ … all heat weather is local!

          Laughing @ aol.com email recipient ‘$ … Like Gordon Lightfoot said: “Iffin’ ya got chicken to go … you’re in luck!”

          1. I was interested in the fact that they were self-sufficient up there for everything…no stores nearby. They had to raise crops, husband animals, water supply, etc., which meant a commune of sorts too for the workers.

    2. “The area isn’t cheap. ‘Everything around here is going pretty much for $300 a square foot which is a lot,’ O’Brien said. ‘Prices have gone up a lot since 2012; probably about 140%.

      I’m sure incomes and wages went up 140% too! 🙂

      /S

  5. I’m a taxpayer, but I have no choice in lenders making dumb loans. The government backing a mania.

    1. “She also proposed giving $100 billion in down-payment and closing-cost assistance — up to $25,000 per household — to help black families purchase homes in parts of the country that were traditionally “red-lined,” meaning that people of color were historically denied mortgages to purchases homes in those neighborhoods.”

      Backdoor reparations.

      1. “Interesting that so many Dems think that giving people easier acce$$ to debt $lavery is helping them.”

        Mr. banker does knot wear a M.A.G.A.t.s. cap @ dotted line $igning$

    2. Interesting that so many Dems think that giving people easier access to debt slavery is helping them.

    3. LOL if you tell the credit scoring companies what algorithm to use the banks will stop using it. New companies will start up using the old algorithms. If you prevent that, you will end up with a second world system where every individual store — like GAP at the mall — has to offer customers credit and keep track of if they paid $2.99 a month for 10 months for the stupid jeans with wholes all ripped in them. This is seriously how they do it in Brazil. It’s a huge drag on the economy.

  7. in today’s email:
    Note From Justin in Silver City , NM.

    Yep! We missed the June Newsletter completely. Why? Because we’ve been SO busy. We thought we’d be clever and call this the combined June/July newsletter. But now we’re almost to mid July. While the beginning of summer typically brings a brief lull in activity, the local market has really picked up. We are already experiencing a strong July and anticipate an even busier fall. Hacienda has recently been involved in several multiple offer situations, including one listing that received 4 competing offers…something that hasn’t happened in over 10 years. And homes appear to be selling nearer to asking price than they have been. We are seeing more full price offers, and even an occassional above-asking-price offer.

    My adivice, don’t wait til next year to sell your home. We never know how long a good market will last. And 2020 is an election year which has been known to impact sales. So give us a call today to get your house on the market!

    1. If that’s accurate it will be interesting to see when the wave radiating inward from the coasts hits those smallest towns.

  8. “The area isn’t cheap. ‘Everything around here is going pretty much for $300 a square foot which is a lot,’ O’Brien said. ‘Prices have gone up a lot since 2012; probably about 140%. So you’re seeing massive increases but we’re just kind of peaking back out, I think.”

    “Peaking back out?” Sounds like a bad LSD trip. There is no bigger bubble in the US than the Reno/Sparks area. Incomes don’t even begin to support the delusional prices there.

    “But, but, but it’s cheaper than the Bay Area!!” Sorry, that BS doesn’t pass the smell test. Bay Area wages have not washed up on the shores of Reno/Sparks along with the speculators.

  9. Hmmm … media bias , media control; let’s see what this Noam Chomsky guy has to say about the matter…

    Media Control by Noam Chomsky | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
    https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/213835/media-control-by-noam-chomsky/9781583225363/

    (snip)

    “Noam Chomsky’s backpocket classic on wartime propaganda and opinion control begins by asserting two models of democracy—one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled.”

    Personally I prefer Door Number Two …

    “According to Chomsky, ‘propaganda is to democracy as the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state,’ and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States. From an examination of how Woodrow Wilson’s Creel Commission ‘succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population,’ to Bush Sr.’s war on Iraq, Chomsky examines how the mass media and public relations industries have been used as propaganda to generate public support for going to war. Chomsky further touches on how the modern public relations industry has been influenced by Walter Lippmann’s theory of ‘spectator democracy,’ in which the public is seen as a ‘bewildered herd'”

    I prefer the term “a bunch of totally dumbed-down ignorant pukes” …

    “… that needs to be directed, not empowered; and how the public relations industry in the United States focuses on ‘controlling the public mind,’ and not on informing it. Media Control is an invaluable primer on the secret workings of disinformation in democratic societies.”

    FWIW.

    1. Chomsky perspective on media propaganda. Hmmmm. Interesting coming from a guy who threw his hat in with the Khmer Rouge.

      1. Chomsky is the rarest of the rare: a principled leftist. Chris Hedges at Truthdig is another. I may not always agree with them, but follow their writings, respect what they have to say, and hold them in high regard as thinkers and human beings.

        1. As an intellectual, academician, and apologist for murderous communist dictators, he is hardly rare or unique. In fact, his ilk are a dime a dozen.

        2. His penchant for spouting revisionist history and convoluted poorly sourced labyrinthine semi truths to cover up the horrors perpetrated by his communist heroes….is that what makes him a principled leftist?

          1. “His penchant for $pouting revi$ionist hi$tory and convoluted poorly $ourced labyrinthine $emi truth$ to cover up the horror$ …”

            Why’$ eye’m in $hock & awe’$!!!!!

        3. “Chris Hedges at Truthdig is another.”

          Definitely progressive, but I still read his column.

      2. I scrolled all the way down to…

        DON’T MISS: This Chart Shows Bilderberg Group’s Connection To Everything In The World >

  10. ‘at the end of June, there were 9,520 homes listed for sale in metro Denver, up 28 percent from a year earlier and the highest inventory available since October 2013…And single-family listings, which have been rising most of the past year, reached 30,222, an amount not seen since 2011…there were 36,904 existing residences in the four-county region listed for sale as of June 27. Yes, that’s a five-year high for the mid-point of a year — a key seasonal moment near the end of the usual prime homebuying season’

    Where are all these thousands of shacks coming from month after month? It’s a miracle!

    1. Did investing in Denver at one time, it is very scary proposition, soon the “pay your flight” to look at homes, cable channel of MLS listings, and “don’t you want to live in a state that you can get as high as the elevation is?” Not chamber of commerce material going forward?

      1. I work with many metro Denver natives. Today at lunch we discussed how I’ve been renting in Denver for almost a decade and have no intention of ever buying real estate here, and that I’m only interested in buying somewhere else after I leave.

  11. $300 sq. ft. Reno? Even dummies for Buying RE would know danger ahead, matter of fact cataclysmic collapse?

  12. “Interesting coming from a guy who threw his hat in with the Khmer Rouge.”

    I agree.

    I found this on the Net …

    “Cambodian genocide denial was the belief expressed by many Western academics that claims of atrocities by the Khmer Rouge government (1975-1979) in Cambodia were much exaggerated. Many scholars of Cambodia and intellectuals, opposed to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, denied or minimized the human rights abuses of the Khmer Rouge, characterizing contrary reports as ‘tales told by refugees’ and U.S. propaganda.[1] They viewed the assumption of power by the communist Khmer Rouge as a positive development for the people of Cambodia who had been severely impacted by the Vietnam War and the Cambodian Civil War.”

    (snip)

    “Even before this book was translated it was sharply criticized by Mr Noam Chomsky [reference to correspondence with Silvers and the review cited in note 100] and Mr Gareth Porter [reference to May Hearings]. These two ‘experts’ on Asia claim that I am mistakenly trying to convince people that Cambodia was drowned in a sea of blood after the departure of the last American diplomats. They say there have been no massacres, and they lay the blame for the tragedy of the Khmer people on the American bombings.”

    Cambodian genocide denial – Wikipedia
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide_denial

  13. “The Houston Chronicle in Texas. “The market appears to be tilted in favor of buyers on the high end.”

    Clearly, Tropical Storm Barry has had a significant impact on the market.

  14. I’ve been seeing old listings of high end home relisted, of course as “new” and sporting higher prices. For example yesterday’s $950,000 dollar home, which looks dated from the 80s is today’s new $1.2m There have been a couple before with a similar strategy. I will have to take a look and see if it’s the same agent or brokerage trying this out. NW Montana

  15. The response to the three books under review nicely illustrates this selection process. Hildebrand and Porter present a carefully documented study of the destructive American impact on Cambodia and the success of the Cambodian revolutionaries in overcoming it, giving a very favorable picture of their programs and policies, based on a wide range of sources.
    —-Chomsky, the principled leftist

    and who concluded that executions have numbered at most in the thousands; that these were localized in areas of limited Khmer Rouge influence and unusual peasant discontent, where brutal revenge killings were aggravated by the threat of starvation resulting from the American destruction and killing.
    —Chomsky, the principled leftist

    Chomsky, the rarest of the rare, we could only hope. I won’t take up any more space on this blog on this topic. Anyone who wants to research the writings and mindset of left intellectuals can do it on their own time.

    1. ” … Anyone who wants to re$earch the writing$ and mind$et of left intellectual$ can do it on their own time. ”

      Will really, what’s 271 words? :

      In just 271 words, beginning with the now iconic phrase “Four score and seven years ago,”‍ referring to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, eighty-seven years earlier‍, Lincoln described the U$A as a nation “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” and represented the Civil War as a test that would decide whether such a nation, the Union sundered by the sece$$ion crisis, could endure. He extolled the $acrifices of those who died at Gettysburg in defense of those principles, and exhorted his listeners to re$olve:

      that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, $hall not peri$h from the earth.

  16. The payment on the nat debt will explode if/when rates go up.
    Today -“U.S. Budget Gap Widened 23% in First Nine Months of Fiscal Year”

    1. The payment on the nat debt will explode if/when rates go up.
      Today -“U.S. Budget Gap Widened 23% in First Nine Months of Fiscal Year”

      This is why I believe that interest rates won’t normalize in my lifetime. We’re going to be Japanese for decades. Unless we raise cut the bush tax rates, increase corporate taxes, and increase income tax rates, the deficit will continue to grow.

      1. That’s the problem with long math, it’s difficult. The more the government taxes OR borrows, the poorer we all become in the long run. The first step in recovering from spending more than you have is to stop spending more than you have. A certain type of person thinks this is unpossible. Eventually it is unavoidable.

        1. ” …the poorer we all become in the long run. ”

          Saw a $helterless man today in a driftwood $hanty on the beach, just north of moonstone, Cambria.

          Ye$, he was poor but, … his poverty, is knot a weight on the .0001% but really, eye’m just $peculatin’!

      2. Like the virtue-signaling liberal billionaires, you’re free to write a large check to the government but you won’t. It’s absolutely amazing how much you love to spend other people’s money.

        1. It’s absolutely amazing how much you love to spend other people’s money.

          The people spending other people’s money are people who are engaged in deficit spending. Either raise taxes to pay for your spending, or cut spending, or some combination of both.

          The government debt is never going to be solved by voluntary contributions from the IRS from the wealthy, whatever their party. That is just silly talk.

    1. She is the future of this country, and we must import more like her, cuz diversity is our strength.

      1. ” . ..cuz diversity is our strength. ”

        Recently overheard @ a drink.less.$oda.$ugar & butt.wiper.beer @NASCAR race: “big.gubermint.is.a.pain.in.our.arse!”

      2. These days the U.S. has intelligence share agreements with Israel, and they harvest and archive “useful dirt” on all political hopefuls such that they can leverage them in the future.

      1. Reminds me of some young soldiers who experienced PTSD and slipped into depression and became alcoholics. Fortunately she was still pretty and a future husband rescued her from that life. Young men don’t have opportunity.

        1. Do the $helter.$hacks in the Hampton$ have windowle$$ ba$ement$? … No more outdoor pizza oven partie$ under.the.$tars for Alan …

    7. “Ep$tein $tories You Won’t Find in the News:”

      Yeah, what does dtRumpsis say about him?

      Knot quotes from “other sources” … but from the arse.clown’$ mouth directly: $tart.yer.truth.$laying now:

      1. No more beers @ the “white.house”! for this cheese head!:

        “Trump goes on late-night Twitter rant hitting back at ‘failed’ Paul Ryan after scathing claims in new book”

        Paul Ryan saw his retirement as a Trump-era ‘e$cape hatch’: new book:

        “We’ve gotten so numbed by it all. Not in government, but where we live our lives, we have a responsibility to try and rebuild,” Ryan is quoted as having said. “Don’t call a woman a ‘horse face.’ Don’t cheat on your wife. Don’t cheat on anything. Be a good person. Set a good example.”

        Shawn Langlois | MarketWatch

        1. Paul Ryan is a corporate stooge and open-borders globalist who exited before he could get bilged by the voters back home he sold out for his entire career.

      2. “$tart.yer.truth.$laying now:”

        Wikipedia entry on Bill Clinton’s ties to pedophile Epstein deleted day after arrest

        By World Tribune on July 9, 2019

        Soon after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in New York, users took to the open-sourced Wikipedia to delete references related to the billionaire pedophile’s connections to former President Bill Clinton.

        The reference tying Epstein to President Donald Trump was left intact.

        https://www.worldtribune.com/wikipedia-entry-on-bill-clintons-ties-to-pedophile-epstein-deleted-day-after-arrest/

        1. Yeah, what does dtRumpsis say about him?
          Knot quotes from “other sources” …

          Knot distractions …

        2. Knot ’bout crayola crayons “Clinton.suck.me.blue” or “dtRumpsis grope.a.gryl.red/grape”

          Epstein has been in jail since he was arrested by authorities at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on his way home from Paris this weekend. His indictment, unsealed Monday, alleges that he
          “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in Manhattan, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida, among other locations” between 2002 and 2005, according to a 14-page federal indictment. Epstein, a registered sex offender, pleaded not guilty to the new charges Monday.
          During a lengthy court filing Thursday arguing that Epstein should be allowed to be kept essentially under house arrest at his Manhattan mansion instead of being held behind bars, Epstein’s attorneys requested that the court allow Epstein’s finance$ be provided as “$ealed $upplemental disclo$ure” and be kept $ecret from the public. Epstein’s attorneys also said that they would provide a “sealed list of his philanthropic donations.”

          The sources of Epstein’s wealth and how much money he is actually worth have long been shrouded in mystery, although he is worth enough to own a $77 million Manhattan mansion, a Palm Beach estate, a ranch in New Mexico, an apartment in Paris, and a private island in the Caribbean, often dubbed the “Island of Sin” or “Pedophile Island.”

          And Epstein is wealthy enough to afford a private jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” and to travel all over the world on a regular basis with a variety of politico$, celebritie$, and tycoon$.

          Former President Bill Clinton, who has praised Epstein in the past, released a statement on Monday evening claiming that he had taken four total trips on Epstein’s jet, but a review of flight records indicates Clinton actually took at least 27 flights totaling at least six trips.

        3. “Wikipedia entry on Bill Clinton’s ties to pedophile Epstein deleted day after arrest”

          But it’s open source, so it could be re-established easily.

          1. Luke 12:3

            “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

        1. Yeah, what does dtRumpsis say about him?
          Knot quotes from “other sources” …

          Knot distractions …

          1. DJT on Epstein:

            In 2002, Trump told New York magazine that at that time he had known Epstein for more than a decade and called him a “terrific guy” who is “a lot of fun to be with.”

            “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” Trump told the magazine at the time. “No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

        2. Bugs: “eh, Duck Season!”
          Daffy: “Rabbit Season!”

          R. Kelly is arrested by feds on new charges while walking his dog in Chicago
          By Don Lemon, Sonia Moghe and Christina Maxouris, CNN

          He has faced accusations of abuse, manipulations and inappropriate encounters with girls and young women for more than two decades.
          He was charged in February with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, including three who prosecutors say were underage girls. The charges span from 1998 to 2010. Kelly pleaded not guilty.

    8. In 1981 Epstein testified in SEC investigation into insider trading regarding Seagram and Edgar Bronfman

      Edgar Bronfman is father of Sarah and Clara Bronfman (Clara from the NXIVM’s)

      NXIVM’s is a sex trafficking cult and Epstein was just arrested for sex trafficking and they are linked through Edgar Bronfman (Seagram St Joseph Minerals deal)

      Steve Hoffenberg a fraudester hired Epstein and later was convicted of running a giant ponzi scheme, He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Epstein wasn’t even deposed.
      It was a giant ponzi scheme Eptein was the architect of it.

      Epstein was deeply involved with Leslie Wexner

      Wexner the Billionaire who founded Aberconbie and fitch etc is connected to Edgar Bronfman and the Bronfman family

      This lady in the you tube video thinks we will hear the name Eliot Spitzer again and It’s related to NXIVM and blackmail sex crimes.

      Whoa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      1. Victoria’s Secret parent company’s stock down as Jeffrey Epstein
        ties emerge
        STEPHEN GANDEL
        July 11, 2019
        CBS News

        “Victoria’s Secret has long lived by the business mantra sex sells. But its corporate parent’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier arrested and charged Monday with the sex trafficking of underage women, could further sink the fortunes of the ailing lingerie retailer, damaging a brand that already had seemed out of touch in the #MeToo era.”

        “L Brands shares are down 10% this week, to around $25, near the lowest they’ve been since 2010, after news accounts detailed the decades-old dealings between Epstein and L Brands CEO Les Wexner, the 81-year-old corporate legend who built his family’s single clothing store outside Columbus, Ohio, into a global retail empire.”

        1. I doubt the pound MeToo ladies are attracted to lingerie unless there’s a profitable blackmail scheme.

          1. Buy the dip then?

            My wife loved Victoria Secret stuff about 10 years ago. Her tastes have changed. She’s more into LuLu Lemon now and athletic-leisure. Fine by me, she looks good in either!

          2. My better half is from Germany, and she shops Italian silk when it’s lingerie time and no nylon either.

  21. Would you pay good money as interest payments for the dubious pleasure of owning junk bonds?

    1. A rising monetary tsunami tide lifts all asset prices.

      The Financial Times
      Sovereign bonds
      Negative bond yields spill into Europe’s emerging markets
      Sovereign debt from Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland now offers sub-zero returns
      Prague: all euro-denominated debt in the Czech Republic, once seen as risky bond-buying territory, now trades at sub-zero yields
      Tommy Stubbington in London July 10, 2019

      In the bizarro world of global debt, even bonds from Europe’s emerging markets are spewing out negative yields.

      Sky-high bond prices — long a fact of life in the core of the eurozone’s debt markets — are increasingly spilling into what was once considered risky territory. All of the Czech Republic’s euro-denominated debt, for example, now trades at sub-zero yields, which means prices are so high that buyers accept a loss to hold them. Short-dated Hungarian bonds and a growing slice of Poland’s debt are following suit, with Warsaw’s 10-year yields just fractionally above zero.

      Emerging market investors, who traditionally viewed these markets as their domain, are being forced to look further afield for returns, fuelling a debt rally from Croatia to Kazakhstan.

      “The rising tide is lifting all boats,” said Viktor Szabo, who manages a portfolio of emerging-market bonds at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

      Bonds across the region have joined in a global rally sparked by expectations of looser policy from the world’s major central banks. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates this month, while the European Central Bank is hinting at rate cuts and a return to its bond-buying in a bid to boost a weakening economy.

      The promise of a flood of new liquidity into markets has driven eurozone bond yields to new lows. As a result, some investors who traditionally stick to more developed markets have become “yield tourists” in central European bonds, fund managers say.

      According to Mr Szabo, Japanese life insurance companies have been spreading into previously unfamiliar markets, such as Poland and Hungary.

      “These markets are not really attractive for emerging-market investors like us any more,” he said. “Either you have to move into some of the smaller markets or take on significant risk and volatility in somewhere like Turkey.”
      …

    1. fastFT
      Corporate earnings
      US second-quarter earnings poised to reveal profit recession
      Wall Street analysts expect first back to back drop in earnings since 2016
      Mamta Badkar in New York yesterday

      Wall Street analysts expect corporate reporting season, which kicks off next week, will confirm that America’s biggest public companies have entered a profit recession as they contend with slowing growth and mounting trade woes.
      …

    2. Farmers “cheese cake delight$” = who$e gonna go out in the sun & gather up the watermellon$?

      “They came in illegally. They have to go out,” Trump added.

      President Trump confirms ICE raids will start Sunday!

    1. When the US broke from England it was in part due to taxes. Fast forward to the income tax being ruled as against the Constitution by the Supreme Court in 1894.

      Fast forward to 1913 when a income tax was enacted under the 16th Amendment, under Woodrow Wilson. This was no doubt the single biggest act that created the assent to ” Big Brother Big Government .”

      The very fact that we hear a platform of president hopefuls pushing Government takeover of industries like health care is evidence of how far we have departed from our Founding Fathers intent. The government picking the winners and losers .

      The high Court ruled that Obama-care was a tax , as if any tax is the right of big government, or any mandate that your ordered to buy something or get a tax penalty.

      The evil that has evolved ,that evolved step by step ,now threatens the US that Communist takeover of Government is the right and just evolvement. That social justice Is the task of government to make all equal.

      Is this any different than the oppression that created the revolution to begin with!

      I don’t think what we are threatened with today was the intent of the Constitution, and the federal income tax was the first leg to “power by tax” for Government to take over.

  25. Ford and VW Agree to Share Costs of Self-Driving and Electric Cars
    New York Times
    12 July 2019
    Neal E. Boudette and Jack Ewing

    “Ford Motor and Volkswagen said Friday that they would team up to develop self-driving cars and share electric-car components. The move broadens an existing alliance and shows how automakers are putting aside rivalries to manage the cost of new technologies.”

    “The agreement calls for Volkswagen to purchase a stake in a Ford-backed start-up that is developing self-driving technologies, and for Ford to use electric-car components developed by Volkswagen.”

    “As auto sales slump around the world, hard-pressed carmakers have little choice but to join forces to fend off Silicon Valley challengers and avoid obsolescence.”

    ““There’s only going to be a few winners who create the platforms for the future,” said Ford’s chief executive, Jim Hackett. “We cannot be late.””

    1. Better late than never. VW has embraced EVs after diesel gate and might not be doomed to irrelevance. I was beginning to fear for Ford, but they seem to be moving in the right direction.

      1. Argo (self-driving spin-off from Ford) gets it right:

        “Argo is trying to develop technology that, within a few years, would allow cars to drive themselves without human help, but only in a contained area where conditions are more predictable. Cars that can drive autonomously anywhere are “way in the future,” Mr. Salesky said.”

        Basically you need something like what Elon Musk is doing with underground loops.

        1. trying to develop technology

          We had the technology when I was a kid. In the ’70s I commuted to college on a (then old) electric train. I usually took a nap.

          1. I took the Amtrak train to Washington state to visit grandparents too. Sleeper car usually. It was awesome.

            But how easy is it to move rail lines and reconfigure them to go anywhere? An autonomous vehicle not tied to rails would be a real innovation because it wouldn’t need to be the same size of a train and it wouldn’t need a conductor. And you can create custom routes to anywhere where you can isolate the “track” (e.g. some form or road where conditions are predictable).

      1. Using the completely inappropriate term “wallet” to describe an imaginary personal crypto vault is a perfectly effective means of deceiving the terminally gullible into believing that their HODLings are safe from going POOF.

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