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People Started Saying, Where Is My House’s Appreciation?

A report from the Bradenton Herald in Florida. “The median sales price for existing single-family homes in Manatee County hit $325,000 in July, the highest median price since the housing crisis and Great Recession more than a decade ago — and near a historic all-time high. The median sales price for a single-family home in the Bradenton area in November 2005 was $327,000, according to Herald archives. It was a time when the market was moving at a seemingly never-ending feverish rate.”

“Craig Cerreta, managing broker for Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, said his analysis of the market from Palmetto to Nokomis shows a market in transition. Since the Great Recession, homeowners have seen significant appreciation in the value of their property, but the rate of appreciation has begun to slow. ‘Somewhere around a year and a half ago, it slowed. People started saying, ‘Where is my house’s appreciation?’ Cerreta said.”

The Daily Republic in California. “The Solano County home market continues to be challenged by the lack of inventory – creating a sellers market that the president of the Northern Solano County Association of Realtors said has some interesting twists. Patty Hopkins said any home priced below $450,000 is being gobbled up ‘like hot cakes.’ As the price goes up, the pace of sale slows considerably.”

“Hopkins said she has had to tell many of her clients that their original asking prices, despite the lack of inventory, have been too high for the buyers’ market view. ‘I think sellers were coming in too aggressive on their price, that they have wanted too much,’ Hopkins said.”

From Curbed Atlanta in Georgia. “With 1,893 square feet, this 1930 bungalow on brings four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Originally listed August 1 for $719,000, it received a price cut just eight days later, bringing the current ask down to $700,000. Overlooking Buckhead from The Borghese, this 2001 condo comes with three bedrooms and four bathrooms in 2,475 square feet. This listing first appeared on the market in June at $725,000, but the price has been slashed twice and now sits at $699,000.”

“A new addition to Clay Street in Kirkwood, this 2,362-square-foot home features four bedrooms and five bathrooms, plus a full basement and two-car garage. This listing originally appeared on the market in March for $779,000, but has undergone numerous price cuts and now stands at $699,900.

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This Post Has 147 Comments

  1. ‘Somewhere around a year and a half ago, it slowed. People started saying, ‘Where is my house’s appreciation?’

    A year and a half ago? Why the media has been saying the whole time it’s to the Moon Alice!

    Maybe they weren’t paying attention?

    1. The greedheads asking about their shack’s lack of appreciation should be more concerned about the coming reverse wealth effect.

    2. ‘Somewhere around a year and a half ago, it slowed. People started saying, ‘Where is my house’s appreciation?’

      That sounds like the kind of thing people carefully watch when they need that appreciation just to pay the bills.

  2. ‘Hopkins said she has had to tell many of her clients that their original asking prices, despite the lack of inventory, have been too high for the buyers’ market view. ‘I think sellers were coming in too aggressive on their price, that they have wanted too much’

    But Patty Hot Cakes, if prices are up, all they have to do is wait?

      1. Two >$2M houses with serious location problems aren’t budging on their prices either.

  4. Latin America Hangs On to Its Economic Gloom

    Region is becoming relatively poorer with each passing year compared with rest of world

    ‘South America, which still relies heavily on exporting raw materials such as oil, soybeans and metals, is suffering the hangover from the China-driven commodity boom during the 2000s, when growth and incomes rose.’

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/latin-america-hangs-on-to-its-economic-gloom-11566738002

    The global/China QE disaster rolls on.

    1. Relatives in Mexico tell me that the honeymoon with the new leftist president is over. AMLO hasn’t made a dent in the crime wave and is having to cut public spending while raising taxes. Women in Mexico City went on a rampage over the endless crime wave, defacing national monuments in protest over the utter lack of public safety. Meanwhile, private sector investment is shriveling up as confidence evaporates.

      And Mexico is well off compared to most LatAm countries.

    2. “Countries such as Chile, Peru and Colombia managed their finances prudently during the boom, and have managed to grow as China slowed and the boom ended. Populist governments in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela didn’t save any of the windfall. And they spent even more by printing money or taking on debt or both—the equivalent of a fiscal fiesta. All three have been mired in recession or crisis.”

      I’m pretty sure the Wall Street banks arranged these last three’s borrowing fully knowing that hardship would follow.

    3. “Today, Latin American average income has fallen to below 30% of the U.S. average. Southern Europe’s has grown to more than 50%, and Southeast Asia has risen to roughly 45%.”

      Hence, the crisis at our southern border.

  5. I guess no more love letter ?

    “Hopkins said she has had to tell many of her clients that their original asking prices, despite the lack of inventory, have been too high for the buyers’ market view. ‘I think sellers were coming in too aggressive on their price, that they have wanted too much,’ Hopkins said.”

    1. love the obvious bias towards sellers in the real estate world

      sellers are just ” a little to aggressive . . ” sniffle sob
      buyers “GET OFF THE FENCE!’ snarl

      sellers “they aren’t giving it away” petulant
      buyers “PULL THE TRIGGER!” status payment overdue

      sellers “prices are tumbling. tumbling wheee- its rOMPER ROOM”
      buyers “DONT YOU DARE INSULT WITH LOWBALL OFFER!”

      RealtorSpeak 101 – hilarious! if only it wasn’t so expensive to learn the game they play. it all just boils down to 3 simple rules:
      1) create fear / greed
      2) always a good time to encourage a fee-making transaction
      3) when in doubt, see rule 1

      1. September 4, 2018

        A report from the Madison Park Times in Washington. “Despite what you may have read or heard, the Seattle real estate market isn’t crashing. The sky isn’t falling. It is, however, a market in transition beyond the usual seasonal slowdown. It’s not the bubble bursting; there’s no need to panic. But all signs point to a normalization of the real estate scene compared to the last few years, and especially the crazy environment of this past spring.”

        “The fact is, there are a number of other major markets around the country that have transitioned from a seller’s market to a heavy buyer’s market. The amount of foreign money pouring into real estate in these places has dried up. Foreign investments are no longer taking up extra inventory in existing housing and new construction.”

        “While the bubble isn’t bursting here, we are shifting to more of a neutral market. A record number of homes entered the market in June — the most since the crash in 2008. So, there is a lot more inventory available to buyers. Some neighborhoods have plateaued in terms of price — home prices can only rise so high before buyers just won’t or can’t buy.”

        “While we saw a record number of homes come on the market in June, we’ve also seen a record number of price reductions. If you’re considering selling your home, or are already on the market, you’ve got to recalibrate your expectations. Especially in terms of pricing strategy: sellers are typically behind the market by several months. Price right for the market now.”

        “As an example, I had buyers looking at a home that had been on the market for 44 days, asking $2.2 million (priced too high), and we went to see it when it was cut to $1.998 million. My buyers made an offer of $1.95 million with contingencies. The listing broker was dismissive and defensive, asking ‘How dare you?’ We withdrew the offer.”

        “The buyers agreed to be patient. We waited two weeks, resubmitted the same offer, and it was accepted. However, the sale didn’t go through — the inspection found significant water damage and resulting rot that had not been listed on the sellers’ disclosure. It would have been an expensive nightmare to remediate.”

        “Last spring, a seller wouldn’t have had to accept a normal offer, with any negotiation and/or contingencies. And a buyer may well have won a bidding war, only to find out much later about the water damage.”

        http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=10599

        1. just checked the Madison Park times 🙂 Article from July 3 of this year. Back to normal as they report it ….

          After a somewhat slow start to the year, the real estate market in Seattle is showing clear signs that things are heating up! In May, median home prices hit their 2019 high point, reaching $775,000. If expected seasonal trendlines follow, we will continue to see favorable outcomes for sellers through the duration of the summer months.

          Our market is much more balanced than we have seen in recent years, and buyers are benefitting from more home choices and the ability to take more time when making home purchase decisions; in May 2019, inventory grew to 1.8 months, and homes sold in an average of three to four weeks.

          As was the case in Seattle as a whole, the Madison Park market experienced an increase in average days on market and inventory in May. Months of inventory more than doubled from this same time last year—to 2.7 months—edging closer to neutral market conditions, which typically fall between 3-6 months. Greater inventory has contributed to lengthier market times, with buyers weighing their decisions and carefully navigating the purchase process. Madison Park homes sold in an average of 41 days in May, a slightly longer market time than seen in Seattle at large, but not uncommon in an area with a higher price point.

          There have been four condominium sales in Madison Park since May 1, and a total of nine for all of 2019, ranging in price from $395,000 to $1.673 million. At the time of this writing, single-family inventory in our community is healthy: there are currently 24 residential listings in Broadmoor, Madison Park, Washington Park and Denny-Blaine, ranging in price from $995,000 to $15 million; there are just two condominium homes for sale. Since the start of 2019, there are have been 24 sales in total, down slightly from last year’s figure of 31, but not unexpected given the slow start to the 2019 sales season.

  8. Sarasota is close to Bradenton I think. Check this first bit out:

    August 11, 2018

    A report from WWSB My Suncoast in Florida. “Are you having trouble selling your home in Sarasota or Bradenton? One Sarasota realtor said she gets hundreds of calls every week from people who can’t sell their homes. Alan Schwambach has lived at the Greyhawk Landing development in Bradenton for 15 years. He said when he listed his home, he didn’t expect to have any problems selling it for more than he bought it for. But here it is now, two months and three price drops later, with still no bites. ‘This whole thing right now is just, it’s just discouraging,’ Schwambach explained.”

    “It was easy to hear the frustration in his voice. He sees the worth in every one of the $749,000 his home is listed for. ‘We paid like $568,000 and then we had $105,000 on the lot, so we’re over almost $700,000,’ Schwambach explained. ‘Well with $700,000 and we can’t even get $600,000? There’s something wrong with that picture.’”

    “But it’s not just him. There are 20 other homes listed for sale in his community. ‘Most of them are $500,000 and $400,000 and they’re not selling,’ said Dawn Cohen. ‘And the last four sales in the last 30 days were all under $400,000.’ Dawn Cohen is the realtor with Premier Plus Realty who has agreed to sell the Schwambach’s home, but she said she isn’t surprised that there hasn’t been any interest.”

    “This is a story she hears hundreds of times a week. ‘All I can say is the supply and demand is causing the pricing to go up and the new construction is more popular,’ Cohen explained. ‘So the more people that want to buy and the more people that choose new construction, choose not to buy resales.’”

    “Cohen said the majority of her calls come from baby boomers who also preferred to buy new without planning ahead. Five years later, their spouse passes away or needs to move to a nursing home and they can no longer afford the brand new home. ‘They can’t even sell it for what they paid for it,’ Cohen explained. Cohen also added that this is the peak of the housing market, so anyone who would like to sell their homes should list it at market value.”

    http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=10534

    See, the REIC has been lying for well over a year. I could post dozens and dozens of examples.

    1. Here’s the rest of the post that day:

      The Spokesman Review in Washington. “Buying a home in Spokane County just got a little more affordable. Average prices dropped about $10,000 between June and July – a cool-down that local Realtors attributed to discouraged buyers choosing to wait out the competitive market. ‘When you have buyers loosing out on three to four homes, and having to fight in multiple situations, they’re getting exhausted and tapping out,’ said Ken Sax, president of the Spokane Association of Realtors.”

      “Sax also attributed the drop in prices to overconfident sellers adjusting their expectations. Some sellers are finding they have to reduce their asking price to generate interest in the property, he said. However, ‘it’s a hiccup, not a bubble bursting,’ Sax said of July’s lower prices. ‘Sellers are being more reasonable and sensible, and buyers will come back into the market when they’ve healed from their wounds.’”

      “When the market is so competitive, buyers are forced into overpaying for houses. Some prospective buyers drop out of the market, Sax said, and others end up with higher mortgage payments.”

      The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. “The red-hot housing market in Pueblo and other Colorado communities shows more signs of leveling or, possibly, starting to cool. ‘An early peak housing season (in April and May) has been met with an earlier than normal seasonal slowdown as buyer and seller behavior is changing amid the latest market conditions,’ the Colorado Association of Realtors said.”

      “In Colorado Springs, sales remained hot but ‘the boots-on-the-ground sentiment from Realtors working in the Pikes Peak market indicate the winds of change, an overall feeling that the buying and selling season is slowing prematurely and pointing to a potential shift in the overall housing demand,’ real estate agent Patrick Muldoon said.”

      “In the Pueblo and Pueblo West area, the market remained robust in July but sales showed ‘a slight down trend,’ said David Anderson, the Pueblo area’s spokesman for the state association and an agent with RE/MAX Pueblo West.”

      The Sacramento Bee in California. “Good news for Sacramento County home shoppers. The median sales price last month dropped by $5,000. In a sign the area’s housing market is softening, the county’s median price dropped to $370,000, one of the few monthly drops during a seven-year run of rising home prices. The number of homes for sale has increased, while the number of sales has dropped in recent months.”

      “‘I really think that is a red flag,’ said Sacramento real estate analyst Ryan Lundquist. It’s not panic-button time for sellers or economy watchers, though, Lundquist said. It will take a few more months to know if the area’s real estate market is headed for a serious slump. ‘We are in this place where it is almost like a dating relationship. You need more time to see how it is going to go.’”

      “Real estate watchers say the summer slowdown is an indication that high home prices and rising mortgage interest rates have forced some would-be buyers to back away, which in turn is forcing home sellers to accept lower prices.”

      From KRON 4 in California. “The number of people in California that can afford to buy a home continues to fall. According to California’s Association of Realtors, high home prices and rising interest rates are to blame. But there are undiscovered areas where Century 21 Realtor Janella Anguiano says you can get a deal in the heart of Castro Valley. A three-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home is listed at $769,000. Just three weeks ago, a house across the street with two bedrooms, smaller in square footage, just sold for $11,000 more.”

      “‘I want to get people in the door,’ Anguiano said. ‘I don’t want to be priced at that price where people think, ‘Oh, we have to overbid that.’ That’s what causing the overbid and overbid or pricing it too high to start with and then having to reduce it.’”

      “‘I try to cue my sellers to price their homes lower than the neighborhood sales because when you price your home at the last sale, that’s what that buyer was willing to pay for that home and that’s why we’re starting to see price reductions here and there because we are starting it at where the last home sold for,’ Anguiano said.”

      1. ‘I want to get people in the door,’ Anguiano said.

        a 6-pack of Coors says realtors will soon use facial recog tech to ID/ pester buyers both during & after a visit.

        (of course, its all in the name of “safety” during open house showings)

      2. FWIW, there were quite a few sales in my nabe and on my street this summer. What has caught my eye is that a few houses that are not on the golf course side of the street have sold for 550K or more. These were houses that would have sold for 450K last year. Perhaps the driver is that smaller, new houses (on postage stamp lots) are going for 450K. Sales aren’t torrid, no bidding wars and it’s taking a few weeks to sell, but they are still selling … for now.

        I know a guy who bought an ancient split level in a dumpy nabe for 100K after the previous crash and he’s looking to trade up. He told me that the realtor says she can get him $300K for the dump (he has fixed it up a little over the years). My advice to him is finish paying it off and staying put, but he is itching to trade up.

      3. “The red-hot housing market in Pueblo”

        That has to be an oxymoron. Pueblo is an impoverished town with nothing going for it. Unless you’re commuting to a job in Colorado Springs I don’t see how you can earn a middle class standard of living there.

      4. “When the market is so competitive, buyers are forced into overpaying for houses. Some prospective buyers drop out of the market, Sax said, and others end up with higher mortgage payments.”

        Translation: The highest bidder is the stupidest bidder and it is this stupidest of the bidders that ends up with the house and the stupidly high mortgage payments that go with it.

        The less-than-stupidest prospective buyers get tired of the stupid prices and end up dropping out of the stupid game. This leaves the stupidest buyers stranded with a stupid monthly mortgage payment on a stupidly priced house.

    2. “It was easy to hear the frustration in his voice. He sees the worth in every one of the $749,000 his home is listed for. ‘We paid like $568,000 and then we had $105,000 on the lot, so we’re over almost $700,000,’ Schwambach explained. ‘Well with $700,000 and we can’t even get $600,000? There’s something wrong with that picture.’”

      Well…. He’s right. There’s something wrong….. with his skull.

      Paying a half million plus for $90k in material, labor and profit and another $100k for a lot which is typically maxed out at $1000 per acre is what’s wrong.

      1. Yeah, we get numb to the numbers. How many people in Atlanta can afford a $700k shack? Much less an old one that needs constant maintenance.

        1. Used to be that only the very highly compensated would have 700K houses: surgeons, law and accounting firm partners, upper management types, etc. And those 700K houses were not mass produced tract homes or ancient, rickety “bungalows”

          1. Pre-bubble, even the doctors didn’t pay $700k for houses. They bought houses more in the $300k-$500k range. There weren’t even that many $700k houses. Those were reserved for millionaires.

          3. “Now, if those walls could talk.”

            At Epstein’s crib there’s alleged audio/video tape, but I don’t see the young ladies gaining any coin unless they can get a confession from Prince Andrew, Clinton, Derschowitz, et al.

          4. reserved for millionaires.

            The millionaire of the past was one with a million saved. Now it is one with a million $ line of credit. Honest money can’t compete with cheap easy credit, and it shouldn’t want to.

          5. Honest money can’t compete with cheap easy credit, and it shouldn’t want to.

            But then what is honest money to do? There’s no true way to “opt out” of the current state of the system

        2. But Jeff assured us yesterday that people in Florida are making more money than ever, so surely these $700k houses are selling like hotcakes.

          3. now now you two. unless one of you is a realtor or an MSM REIC troll, you should be on the same side. let it go.

          4. “Jeff – did you just roll out of bed and mainline another round? Assumptions are fun, right?”

            I was at work, making money. Around a lot of other people who were at work, making money.

            Didn’t see one homeless person either.

        3. Anchoring

          From Wikipedia:

          nchoring or focalism is a cognitive bias where an individual depends too heavily on an initial piece of information offered (considered to be the “anchor”) when making decisions.

          “Anchoring occurs when, during decision making, an individual depends on an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments. Those objects near the anchor tend to be assimilated toward it and those further away tend to be displaced in the other direction. Once the value of this anchor is set, all future negotiations, arguments, estimates, etc. are discussed in relation to the anchor. This bias occurs when interpreting future information using this anchor. For example, the initial price offered for a used car, set either before or at the start of negotiations, sets an arbitrary focal point for all following discussions. Prices discussed in negotiations that are lower than the anchor may seem reasonable, perhaps even cheap to the buyer, even if said prices are still relatively higher than the actual market value of the car.[1]”

          So start with a $700k house, then cut it $50k and then weak minds think they are getting a steal of a deal.

          1. They do this alot too in department stores…especially around the holiday “deals”. Look 50% off, what a deal!!!!!!!

      1. Sarasota/manatee is my neck of woods. We are highly seasonal so now is off season. Given that, last summer was very busy, but traditionally the season (Oct through early April) possesses much higher marketabilty.

        Regarding the Manatee County article and median prices reaching last boom pricing, this is a bit misleading. The current boom has resulted in construction of much higher end housing due to exclusive communities in Lakewood Ranch and many smaller high end planned developments. So not oranges for oranges comparison. Market has actually been slowing gradually since late summer as evidence by the Greyhawk Landing example. Some nice properties there but the $700s would be upper end and that guys house may be an overimprovement. I remember his story from last year.

        Many current price reductions even on barrier islands and many properties with ambitious pricing have been taken off market. They normally show back up once the season resumes in October. Not similar to nationwide markets.

    5. Bradenton is the poor step sister to Sarasota. Basically it is working class angry white retirees and Mexicans. Its also a Florida pit stop town meaning you stop and gas and move on

      1. As a white retiree living in East Manatee County, I say you are full of elitist, judgmental bs. Please don’t stop for gas.

  9. So the Atlanta Fed has raised the estimated GDP for the 3rd Quarter to 2.3% at the same time the Washington Post says we are rapidly going into the recession? Under Obama we averaged 1.9% and the 2016 rate was 1.6%. Seems like a Trump economy in a trade war is much better than an Obama economy without one.
    https://www.frbatlanta.org/cqer/research/gdpnow.aspx

      1. Fake news is effective only if it is presented to totally dumbed-down ignorant pukes, which is why we see so much of it.

        1. The only people still subscribing to Oligopoly newspapers and magazines like the WaPo or Newspeak are the sort of folks who can’t read without moving their lips.

        1. He reduced the number of White House visits by Harvey Weinstein. To zero.

          There was that welfare for illegals thing last week.

          1. And also Jamie Dimon, I’d guess. I need to see if I can pull up the White House visitors list under the current administration.

        2. Less government workers —> more contractors, who still live in DC area. It won’t change the number of readers for Wapo.

          Government agencies don’t have to cut. Feds are old. Many are just hanging on for grandkids. If an agency wants to shrink, they need only cut hiring.

  12. Starting to be more listed houses sitting for longer in Folsom and El Dorado Hills. But I saw a guy in our neighborhood do it right this weekend. He did a nice remodel and a nice backyard and very nice pictures and priced it right and sold it in two days. It was nice enough that it caught my wife’s attention and she wanted me to check it out. So as much as I didn’t want to see it happen, you can still sell a house fast here if you do it right. I gotta think that door is almost closed though with what’s going on down the road in SF.

    1. didnt ben recently publish something regarding el dorado county homes not qualifying for insurance or costs for insurance going up due to fire risks? seems like folsom is pretty shielded from fire but el dorado and granite bay / loomis area seem like a smores roasting ground waiting to happen.

    2. Do you know when he bought the house? The longer you have the house, more sense it makes to remodel. First, you’re not spending $50K on a remodel just to sell for $50K more. Second, if you live in the house a while, it actually needs a remodel. It’s surprising how you learn to live with walnut paneling. (wallpaper, on the other hand… 😒 )

          5. The house was built in 2005, it didn’t need much reno. Just the usual Minimalist Millenial Gray treatment.

            If it were a 1960s house, hoo boy…

      2. A chevron mirror with pinkish-brown glass covers half a living room wall in our rental.

        1. On our rental, we have lovely avocado kitchen appliances and sink, whose faucet didn’t even have a spray attachment. Most of the windows are single pane and the massive backyard (for here in LV) is dirt. The idiot cats roll in it before they come in. I’m going to remove one of the ceiling air vent covers to see if it’s not just my imagination that dust is being pumped into the place. All of the medicine cabinets have one shelf each. The interior paint job was done so shoddily that paint is breaking off along the edges of all the doors, which all stick. I made the mistake of taping a note to my husband on a door and when he removed it a whole patch of paint came off.

          We have no lease and none has been offered. Last time I pressed the issue, our rent was raised 12%. There’s more, but I am even boring myself.

          In summary, the place has a real “let them eat cake” vibe.

          1. I can’t wait to have an A/C that doesn’t sound like a jet engine, bathrooms that are temperature controlled, and a yard where I don’t have to have the sheriff launch a helicopter to find my kid after he’s bolted. Renting may be financial wiser than owning, but it still sucks.

          2. Tarara, have you eaten at Hash House a go go? I’d wanted to eat at the one at The Linq for a while but they added a 2nd location in St. George. Man, the food is decadent there! So good!

          3. Let’s play can you top this 😁
            How old are the thermostats? They’re so old they have no timers. Two AC’s – no division between the areas (took them down to make the place look more appealing.) We arrived here in July, 2015 and I turned both on – our bill hit $300 halfway through the first month at relatively high setting. Never turned it on again.

          5. RR
            I remember those days – my kid used to bolt and I had to take off like a jackrabbit after her. Not so different than other kids but nerve wracking as hell with autism.

          6. Tore my ATFL two years ago looking for him. Helicopter found him swimming naked in a neighbor’s pool. Wasn’t sure he was water-safe and his preschool classmate had previously drowned. Still having problems from that injury, surgery and recovery. Not too many people can relate, Tarara. Time to tuck in the kiddo. 🙂

          8. Just to be clear, this is not meant as an insult to Tarara as she is one of the people here that I have the utmost respect for. Not to mention knowing that she and her family have been raked over the coals by what I call bubble 1 and 2.

            It is just something that I hope makes her smile after reading her description of her rental.

            But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how do you like the rental?

          10. Hash House a go go
            So funny you bring that place up. A long time ago, when they first opened on Sahara (easily 10+ years ago).
            I don’t know if they still do this, but the food was presented on elevated metal holders (sort of a wiry version of a pizza stand). I have an intense and inexplicable hostility to those things. It puts a barrier in between you and your companions across the table and it comes across, to me, as being gimmicky and stupid.
            Never went there again, and I remember saying “I hate that place” to my relatives as we left. As I said, a little irrational. I’m usually very cool about stuff in restaurants because I know how easily things can go wrong and how hard it is. Maybe I got bonked on the head with one in a past life.

          11. I don’t know if they still do this,

            I get it. There are things about restaurants that we like or dislike. I’ve never eaten at the Vegas location, but I’ll take any good restaurant we can get in St. George as it’s mostly chains here. At this location food just comes out on a regular platter. But man, is it amazing! Not healthy, but worth it!

          12. I looked pictures on yelp. No stands, might have been a thing at that time. As I recall, the food was good. So many good restaurants here. I like Nora’s (Italian) and Ping Pang Pong (in the Gold Coast – one time while waiting we chatted with an old Chinese gentleman who convinced us to try the chicken feet – that was interesting). We mostly keep to the local joints if we eat out.

          13. I’ll have to check those out. I have a property at Palm’s Place that I manage and have friends in Henderson. I drive down there every so often. Maybe will relocate one of these days.

    1. Zerohedge provided a nice background on the expose’s author:

      “Bethany McLean’s reputation proceeds her, with good reason. She’s mostly known for tackling the Enron scandal and the 2008 financial crisis – two of the biggest financial frauds over the last decade or now. She co-authored Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which was later made into a movie.”

      “And now, she’s setting her sights on Elon Musk and Solar City, something we expected was about to happen last week.”

    3. Musk was deposed all day Thursday in the Unsworth (“pedo” cave diver) lawsuit and on Saturday in the Solar City case. He’s had a rough couple of weeks.

    4. “Walmart came out swinging earlier this week in a lawsuit that accused Tesla of breach of contract and gross negligence over problems with rooftop solar panel systems installed at the retail giant’s stores.”

      “Now, just days later, the lawsuit has been placed on hold while the two companies try to reach an agreement that would keep the solar installations in place and put them back in service, according to a joint statement issued late Thursday night.”

      ““Walmart and Tesla look forward to addressing all issues and re-energizing Tesla solar installations at Walmart stores, once all parties are certain that all concerns have been addressed,” the statement read. “Together, we look forward to pursuing our mutual goal of a sustainable energy future. Above all else, both companies want each and every system to operate reliably, efficiently, and safely.””

      https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/23/walmart-and-tesla-are-going-to-try-and-work-things-out/

        2. If you read the article, you would have noticed that the Walmart issue is referenced in the Vanity Fair article.

          2. You’re the one conflating the matters and trying to dismiss them as irrelevant. And, anything short of Walmart withdrawing its lawsuit is optics.

          3. I agree that the SolarCity acquisition has not panned out. In retrospect, it looks like an expensive bailout of SolarCity by Tesla though I’m sure that Musk really believes in the solar roof.

            But the new solar rental panels starting at $50/month looks interesting, so I’m curious to see how that starts. I’m not a homeowner, so I can’t put solar on my home. But I have quite a few cousins from Texas who are doing solar sales in CA.

            SolarCity’s business model was bad and not sustainable before the acquisition. It looks like Tesla has paid a big price for the cleanup.

            But I still love my model 3. Almost 10k miles and I love it more and more every day. Everyone who drives in it wants one. I don’t know what the right price for Tesla stock is, nor do I care since I’m not a shareholder (or a short, like you appear to be). But the cars are amazing. Will be getting the wife a white one in the next year.

          4. And, anything short of Walmart withdrawing its lawsuit is optics.

            Filing a lawsuit and wining a lawsuit are very different things. Filing a lawsuit often times is merely optics. For instance, USA today shows that DJT has been sued 4095 times. He has been sued personally 135 times since taking office. The Walmart suit was about getting Tesla to take action and fix the problem. It looks like they are doing so. Yawn.

    5. Ok he is a little nuts…..he even admitted it on Joe Rogan his mind is always on almost like he is manic all the time……..but he is doing something worthwhile……and is way ahead of everyone else…so he is bound to fail, get up and go again….. Just like Gates and Jobs…the first computers were EXPENSIVE and practical for only a few people but 10 years and a few generations later and its almost in everyone’s homes……..

      1. I agree. I think that everybody who is skeptical is right to be, and he may be pulling some major financial scams to stay in business. But in a world of talk it is nice to see somebody DO stuff.

  17. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says U.S. must ‘burn down the Republican Party’

    By Douglas Ernst – The Washington Times – Monday, August 26, 2019

    Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says President Trump can be defeated if Americans “collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party.”

    A panel on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” agreed Sunday with the premise that Mr. Trump leads “an extreme administration” that is “dangerous.”

    Ms. Rubin’s solution is to extinguish the Republican Party from existence.

    “It’s not only that Trump has to lose, but that all his enablers have to lose,” Ms. Rubin said Sunday as multiple guests nodded in agreement. “We have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party. We have to level them because if there are survivors, if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again. They will take this as confirmation that, ‘Hey, it just pays to ride the waves — look at me, I’ve made it through.’”

    Host Joy Reid told the panel that living in America in 2019 is so frightening that she knows Latinos who carry their birth certificate.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/26/jennifer-rubin-says-us-must-burn-down-the-republic/

    1. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin says U.S. must ‘burn down the Republican Party’

      Ms. Rubin’s ideological guiding light, Pol Pot, certainly showed the way on how to deal with Les Deplorables.

    2. I understand her frustration, but her failure to recognize that the other side probably feels the same about her is kind of comical. Reasonable self-aware people basically have no choice but to make her worst nightmares come true because she is showing that she very dangerously thinks that nobody should be allowed to think differently than her. Which is what real Nazis are made of. Making sure people like that don’t get power should be priority 1 for everyone. We can work out our other differences later.

      1. These globalist propagandists are starting to drop the mask more frequently these days and show their true intentions. And then they wonder why their gun control laws in places like Connecticut are being greeted with massive non-compliance from the people they would love to herd into gulags.

        F**k you, globalist scum. We have no intention of going quietly into that Long Goodnight you have planned for us.

      2. I understand her frustration, but her failure to recognize that the other side probably feels the same about her is kind of comical.

        I’m on the other side, but I don’t feel the same way about her. Anyone who has taken an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution is honor-bound to respect the rights it confers to Ms. Rubin and her ilk, as well as every other American citizen, even those holding opposing views.

    3. Campaign on:

      Free healthcare for illegals
      Confiscate all the gunz
      Open borders
      Abolish the Electoral College
      Drag queen story hour at your local library (and confiscation of your children if you refuse to participate)

      This is going to work out well for Rubin, William Kristol, and all the other never-Trumpers who want a Democrat Uniparty victory in 2020.

      “This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush, 2008

      1. Rubin and Kristol, have something in common, I think, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…

    1. I have so much money left after “throwing money away on rent” every month that I don’t know where to throw it.

      Loanowner, just admit that you gambled, and you lost 🙁

  19. Fracking boom promises good times ahead for America

    In the first of a series on shale’s transformation of the US economy, James Dean drills down into the Permian Basin

    ‘The Permian, which began producing in the 1920s, was thought to have run dry only 20 years ago. Since then, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the recovery of the oil price have fuelled a boom that is still in its infancy.’

    ‘There are an estimated 75 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil in the Permian but fewer than 5 billion had been produced by the end of last year, figures from S&P Global Platts, a research company, suggest. Shale oilfields in the US hold about 190 billion barrels of recoverable oil altogether, of which 94 per cent has yet to be produced. Globally, there are thought to be 800 billion barrels.’

    ‘Saudi Arabia excepted, by 2023 the Permian alone will be producing more oil than any member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, IHS Markit, another research company, estimates. There are more active drilling rigs in the Permian than any oilfield in the world, as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, respectively the No 1 and No 2 American oil companies, go all-in on the region.’

    ‘The resurgence of the Permian is the main reason that the US overtook Saudi Arabia to become the world’s top oil producer last year. From being a considerable net importer of oil a decade ago, the US is on course to become a net exporter. By most estimates, the US will be producing enough oil to quench its own great thirst by the middle of the next decade, with significant ramifications for global politics.’

    ‘A well in the Permian costs about $7 million. Two fifths of that is drilling costs and the rest is completion — the fracking team, sand, water, chemicals and clean-up. To break even a shale well must pump oil at about $39 a barrel, according to S&P Global Platts. In the Eagle Ford, in south Texas, field the breakeven cost is about $42, and $43 in the Bakken.’

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fracking-boom-promises-good-times-ahead-for-america-qzblgpgx3

    1. Sort of puts all of the recent BDS insanity into perspective, doesn’t it?

      It will get to a point where the Middle East becomes geopolitically irrelevant, along with “the squad”.

      1. It will get to a point where the Middle East becomes geopolitically irrelevant, along with “the squad”.

        That dirty-blonde, tall white guy with beautiful straight teeth who is secretly planning a return to the Mount of Olives is surely worthy of squandering what’s left of our prosperity despite our current economic situation.

  20. Primate researchers have confirmed that Koko the gorilla repeatedly signed “realtors are liars” followed by numerous exclamation points.

    1. “Home prices in major cities across the country lost about a third of their value during the recession but national prices have since recovered and even surpassed pre-crisis levels.”

      Why not say national prices were re-inflated with QE? This was the story’s first sentence, and they lost this reader right there.

  26. Are you enjoying the global Japanification of sovereign bond yields?

    The Financial Times
    Global Economy
    Japanification: investors fear malaise is spreading globally
    Rise in negative-yielding debt accelerates over summer
    © AP
    Robin Wigglesworth yesterday

    Fears over recession are once again stalking markets, but many investors and analysts are more worried about a deeper, more structural shift: that the world economy is succumbing to a phenomenon dubbed “Japanification”.

    Japanification, or Japanisation, is the term economists use to describe the country’s nearly 30-year battle against deflation and anaemic growth, characterised by extraordinary but ineffective monetary stimulus propelling bond yields lower even as debt burdens balloon.

    Analysts have long been concerned that Europe is succumbing to a similar malaise, but were hopeful that the US — with its better demographics, more dynamic economy and stronger post-crisis recovery — would avoid that fate.

    But with US inflation stubbornly low, the tax-cut stimulus fading and the Federal Reserve now having cut interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, even America is starting to look a little Japanese. Throw in the debilitating effect of ongoing trade tensions and some fear that Japanification could go global.

    “You can get addicted to low or negative rates,” said Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in New York. “It’s very scary. Japan still hasn’t gotten away from it . . . The world is in a very precarious spot.”

    The primary symptom of spreading Japanification: the rise of negative-yielding debt, which has accelerated over the summer. There is now more than $16tn worth of bonds trading with sub-zero yields, or more than 30 per cent of the global total.
    …

  29. TDS, causes Trump’s enemies to drop their masks. The Fed is not an independent agency, it is controlled by the globalists and used to promote globalism. Very loose under Obama and then severe tightening under Trump was dictated by economics but by politics. This one former governor was very important his former position is considered one of the most important in the Fed system. He came right out and omitted that the Fed should interfere in the Presidential election. He argued for a sabotage of the policies of a duly elected president. Was Trump wrong to believe that the Fed was actively trying to sabotage him? No increases in the Fed rates under Obama until after the presidential election and then eight rate increases after the Trump election, fifty billion a month reductions in the balance sheets. A rate increase just prior to the 2018 elections. It was done to undermine a non-globalist president.

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