thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

A Lot Of The Time Homeowners End Up Settling For Less

A report from Wicked Local Brewster in Massachusetts. “Laura Clements, owner/broker of Cove Road Real Estate in Orleans, said high end shoppers have more to choose from at the moment. Clements noted the list price isn’t the sale price. ‘A lot of the time homeowners want to try out a higher price and end up settling for less than they’re hoping to get. We’re up to 92.5 percent of the original list price (in Orleans). In Eastham it’s 91 percent. In Brewster 92.5 percent,’ she said.”

From Newsday on New York. “Brookhaven houses whose owners have fallen behind on mortgage payments will be required to be registered with the town starting next year. The mortgage-in-default registry is Brookhaven’s latest effort to deal with the proliferation of abandoned and foreclosed houses — known as zombie houses — that has plagued Long Island for the past decade. The town board voted 7-0 on Sept. 12 to establish the registry, which goes into effect on Jan. 1.”

“‘The whole purpose is to protect the neighborhoods from becoming blighted properties,’ Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said. ‘This will give us another weapon, another tool to improve the face of Brookhaven Town, because these blighted houses really are a scar that we are trying to put an end to.’ Lenders will be required to pay a fee of about $200 to register, and must re-register and pay the fee every six months as long as the property remains in arrears, Romaine said.”

“Officials across Long Island have said they struggle to identify owners of abandoned properties because real estate records often are out of date or incomplete. Banks sometimes transfer mortgages to other entities without reporting the changes to governmental authorities. ‘ It’s a challenge when they change hands,’ Romaine said. ‘It’s a challenge when they put someone in charge who isn’t the bank. They have an agent or a holding company or something of that nature. It’s not the mortgagee.'”

From My San Antonio in Texas. “Two unique properties in the North Central region of San Antonio are now available at a substantial price drop of more than $7,000 – and present a golden opportunity that no home buyer should want to miss. Located at 2815 Monterey Street, a three-bedroom, one-bath single-family home – 1,160 square feet – situated on nearly one-fifth of an acre beckons to anyone in search of an excellent investment or to flip in future.”

“Listed for only $81,900 – an $8,000 price drop –the home is at an accessible price point and holds an immense amount of promise.”

From Socket Site in California. “With the number of homes newly listed for sale over the past week roughly matching the number of homes sold, the inventory of homes on the market in San Francisco held at an 8-year high of 1,010, which is 6 percent higher than at the same time last year. Overall inventory levels have likely peaked for the year while the share of listings with an official price cut, which currently measures around 7 percent, not including homes which have been formally withdrawn from the MLS and then re-listed with a lower ‘original’ price, should continue to tick up to around 25 percent by the end of the year.”

From Tulsa World in Oklahoma. “A dispute between the University of Oklahoma and its partners in a campus housing development has drawn in two hard-hitting law firms from opposite ends of the country and could have long-term implications for OU, the state of Oklahoma and public financing nationally.”

“It’s a complicated story, one in which lawyers from Los Angeles and New York call each other liars long distance and threaten multimillion-dollar lawsuits because a new residential complex called Cross Village sits mostly empty on the south side of the OU campus.”

“At stake are more than $250 million in bonds issued through a state trust, the Oklahoma Development Financing Authority, or ODFA. Neither the state nor the university are legally responsible for the debt, but OU’s partners argue the university’s — and the state’s — credit and reputations could be significantly damaged if what they call a ‘moral obligation’ to investors, amounting to about $7 million a year, is not met.”

“In mid-September, S&P downgraded the Cross bonds for a second time, to CC negative — meaning S&P considers default ‘a virtual certainty.’ ‘The university has failed to honor its commitments,’ insisted Steve Hicks, whose nonprofit company partnered with OU on the Cross Village project.”

“The apartments, ranging from 300 to 875 square feet and renting for as much as $30,000 (split four ways) per school year, did not find much of a market. Occupancy has never exceeded 35 percent, and the commercial space is almost empty. OU says it brought in only $40,000 from its $7 million investment during the first year of Cross Village’s operation.”

From Forbes. “Masayoshi Son, the CEO and founder of SoftBank said he is ’embarrassed’ by his track record following big bets on loss-making businesses like Uber and WeWork. Son struck a conciliatory tone in the interview with Japan’s Nikkei Business magazine: ‘I’m embarrassed and impatient. After all, looking at the growth of companies in the United States and China, there is a strong feeling that this is not enough.'”

“SoftBank’s own shares have slipped more than 30% since April as other key Vision Fund investments like Uber’s share price dropped to below the IPO price as losses-mounted. ‘Companies like WeWork and Uber are criticized for being in the red, but in 10 years they’ll be making substantial profits,’ said Son, according to Reuters.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 81 Comments

  1. ‘the share of listings with an official price cut, which currently measures around 7 percent, not including homes which have been formally withdrawn from the MLS and then re-listed with a lower ‘original’ price, should continue to tick up to around 25 percent by the end of the year’

    Withdrawn and relisted? It’s almost like these UHS are shady!

    1. “Laura Clements, owner/broker of Cove Road Real Estate in Orleans, said high end shoppers have more to choose from at the moment. Clements noted the list price isn’t the sale price. ‘A lot of the time homeowners want to try out a higher price and end up settling for less than they’re hoping to get. We’re up to 92.5 percent of the original list price (in Orleans). In Eastham it’s 91 percent. In Brewster 92.5 percent,’ she said.”

      Time to dust off that resume Laura! Or better yet, come troll at these ‘evil’ blogs!!! They are scaring away your buyers!

      1. #LearnToDoSomethingElse

        I don’t recommend #LearnToCode, because most who try can’t code their way out of a paper bag.

        1. Seriously.. so many sheeple think it’s just ‘something they can pick up’ and expect to make a living at.

    2. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I’ve never read a major California news organization address this issue. Not once. Similarly, when we see these “we’re gonna crack down on zombie homes” reports, they never ask, “hey, didn’t the UHS just tell us how red hot this market is? Why wouldn’t these lenders just sell?”

      Does the media tell the truth about anything?

      “The war in Vietnam is going well.”

      1. “The war in Vietnam is going well.”

        The Vietnamese wanted independence from France, the Soviet Union and the U.S., but nobody would leave ’em alone. We should have supported Ho Chi Minh and kept our military at home.

        1. “We should have supported Ho Chi Minh and kept our military at home.”

          +1

          Who was a bigger traitor: Jane? Or the people who got us into and kept us in that cluster****?

        3. We should have supported Ho Chi Minh

          While our engagement in Vietnam was tragic and I can understand the reasoning behind staying out of it, supporting Ho Chi Minh doesn’t seem like it would have been a preferred alternative. Maybe your statement was meant for effect to illustrate the folly of the war.

          1. Thanks for the information. In the fog of war, the first thing lost from sight is truth. Regardless, of what involvement the US may have had with Ho Chi Min before the war (we always seem to have a hand in creating our own enemies) the communist revolution in Vietnam was not without its own egregious failings. The desire for independence from France does not mean HCM was a virtuous person. Every successful communist revolutionary has a knack for projecting him or herself as a paragon of virtue and a selfless hero of the downtrodden. It’s a critical part of the charade…

            But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.

          2. Hey, guys, why don’t you put on Ho Chin Min T-shirts and go walking around some Vietnamese immigrant communities? You might learn something you are not finding on Wikipedia. I happen to live in one so I can recommend a few spots for you to hang out in your new attire. I can give you a ride there but I won’t be sticking around.

        4. “We should have supported Ho Chi Minh and kept our military at home.”

          At one time we did support Ho Chi Minh. Read the Pentagon Papers for the full story.

          Go here for a taste of the truth …

          “The United States and Vietnam had relations during World War II, though this was with the Viet Minh rebels and not with France’s colony of Vietnam, when a group of American agents of the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, landed in Vietnam and met with the future leader of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, who was the leader of the Viet Minh and fiercely pro-American.[4] The agent group, led by Archimedes Patti, had co-operated together in French Indochina against Japan. The Viet Minh had given shelter to the American agents. The People’s Army of Vietnam, founded at 1944 in mountainous Northwest Vietnam, had been backed and supported by the OSS and trained by American military personnel including Archimedes Patti, a pro-Vietnamese OSS officer. The first commander of the future PAVN was Võ Nguyên Giáp.

          “The surprise relations between the communist-backed Viet Minh and the OSS marked the beginning of US involvement in Vietnam. In those days, the United States, sympathizing with Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh, supported the group in order to overthrow the Japanese rule in Indochina. Later, Ho Chi Minh asked to set up an alliance with the United States, which was approved by U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt with support from U. S. General Dwight Eisenhower. However, following a series of incidents in Vietnam including the killing of A. Peter Dewey, a pro-Vietnamese independence officer of the OSS by the Viet Minh, as well as the sudden death of Roosevelt, which brought Harry S. Truman to power, it was never established.”

          United States–Vietnam relations – Wikipedia
          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Vietnam_relations

          1. Some more information …

            “During World War II Ho Chi Minh helped to rescue downed American pilots and gathered intelligence on the Japanese for the American OSS. Ho worked closely with the American intelligence community during WWII and his views were well known to them. They knew that his primary concern was Vietnamese independence.

            “During and after World War II the issue of Indochina, the region which contained Vietnam, was a matter of question.FDR sided with Chiang Kai-Shek and Stalin in stating that the region of Indochina should be turned over to a trusteeship and set on the road to independence rather than be returned to its position as a colonial territory of the French. Churchill rejected this idea because it was an issue that could set president on the matter of colonialism, which the British certainly hoped to maintain.

            “Eventually, even under FDR, American support was given to the French and Indochina was returned to a state of French colonial rule much to the chagrin of the Vietnamese people. When this happened the French instituted even more repressive control in Vietnam, and millions died of starvation while Vietnamese rice was exported to France.

            “Throughout the 1940s Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese leaders made repeated appeals to Truman and other American officials to help them gain independence from French colonial rule. These appeals were generally ignored.

            On February 16th, 1945 Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to President Truman asking for American assistance in gaining Vietnamese freedom. The letter closed with the remarks:

            “We ask what has been graciously granted to the Philippines. Like the Philippines our goal is full independence and full cooperation with the UNITED STATES. We will do our best to make this independence and cooperation profitable to the whole world.”

            “I am dear Mr. PRESIDENT,

            Respectfully Yours,

            Ho Chi Minh”

            “The letter was not declassified until 1972.”

            The American involvement in Vietnam
            http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_involvement_in_vietnam.htm

          2. Here’s some information about Archamedes Patti …

            “During his career in China and Southeast Asia, Patti met Hồ Chí Minh, the leader of the Việt Minh and future leader and national hero of North Vietnam.[2] In later interviews Patti explained that his mission in Vietnam was to establish an intelligence network but not to assist the French in any way as they attempted to re-gain control over their former colony, a policy choice he believed to be linked to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s belief in the self-determination of all peoples.[5]

            “Archimedes, did, from a distance, help organize, train and equip the fledgling Vietnamese forces Ho was uniting and marshaling against the Japanese, which in the future would be known as the People’s Army of Vietnam, and worked closely with Ho Chi Minh and, indeed, commented on his early drafts of a Vietnamese constitution.[2]

            “‘In my opinion the Vietnam War was a great waste. There was no need for it to happen in the first place. At all. None whatsoever. During all the years of the Vietnam War no one ever approached me to find out what had happened in 1945 or in ’44. In all the years that I spent in The Pentagon, Department of State in the White House, never was I approached by anyone in authority. However, I did prepare a large number, and I mean about, oh, well over fifteen position papers on our position in Vietnam. But I never knew what happened to them. Those things just disappeared, they just went down the dry well.’

            — From an interview with Archimedes Patti in 1981[5]
            Patti stated that when he arrived in Kunming in March 1945, the French colonials were either unwilling or unable to assist him in establishing an American intelligence network in Indochina and he therefore turned to “the only source [available]”, the Việt Minh.

            “Patti was introduced to Ho Chi Minh by Colonel Austin Glass, the OSS expert in Indochina. Patti met Ho Chi Minh on the Indochina-China border at the end of April 1945, and he agreed to provide intelligence to the allies provided that he could have “a line of communication with the allies.”[5]

            “Patti later helped coordinate some small attacks against the Japanese Imperial Army using a small group of operatives known as the OSS Deer Team under the command of Major Allison K. Thomas, who worked directly with Ho Chi Minh during the August, 1945.[6]

            “On August 22, 1945, Patti arrived in Hanoi on a mercy mission with OSS agent Carleton B. Swift, and a French government official, Jean Sainteny.[7] His mission primarily was to assist in the repatriation of allied prisoners of war as the U.S. government feared reprisals against them by the Japanese following the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, secondly, to gather intelligence.[5]

            “Patti met with Ho Chi Minh on August 26, 1945, over lunch at his residence in Hanoi and several days later Ho Chi Minh read a draft of the Vietnamese Proclamation of Independence to him and Patti offered several corrections on what he perceived to be a near exact copy of the American Declaration of Independence.[5]

            “Indeed, Ho Chi Minh had requested an actual copy of the American Declaration of Independence from Col Austin Glass. Soon afterwards, on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared independence and some hours later Patti had dinner with him. In the fall of 1945 French Colonial forces had returned to Indochina on U.S. manned Liberty ships.[5]

            “Patti left Hanoi at the end of September 1945, following French allegations that the Americans had been fomenting a revolution there.[7]”

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes_Patti

      2. But, in California, this happens!

        BAHAHAHAAHAHA!

        +++++

        HGTV’s ‘Flip Or Flop’ Stars Tarek El Moussa, Christina Anstead Named In FTC Complaint On “Bogus” Real Estate Seminars

        A court has ordered a temporary stop on real estate seminars endorsed by HGTV stars Tarek El Moussa and Christina Anstead, with the Federal Trade Commission claiming the promotion efforts on the classes were “misleading.”

        In its complaint Friday, the FTC said that Utah-based Zurixx LLC advertised “free” real estate seminars that used endorsements by the popular El Moussa and Anstead to lure attendees. However, at the events, the attendees were urged to sign up for a three-day class costing $1,997.

        That class instructed attendees to apply for new credit cards and increase the credit limits on existing cards. Once that was accomplished, the FTC claimed instructors would try to get signups using the enlarged credit to pay for additional training costing more than $41,000.

        HGTV has not yet commented.

        Christina Anstead (then El Moussa) told ABC News that she and Tarek were proud of their program.

        “I stand by our product,” she said. “It’s our tools, it’s our system. It’s what Tarek and I do. I’ve only heard very minimal complaints.”

        https://deadline.com/2019/10/hgtv-flip-or-flop-stars-tarek-el-moussa-christina-anstead-named-ftc-complaint-1202752855/

        1. A comment:

          ‘My husband and I bought into the Success Path program. We were told we could apply for many credit cards or up limits. The person we worked with assured us we could get an equity loan on our home and pay the cards off. He knew exactly what we owned for a home (manufactured) and that we were selling it. After the training After the training we tried several loan companies/banks and were told we couldn’t get equity on a house which was listed for sale. We couldn’t make the payments and ended up getting a debt relief program. So our good credit is destroyed and we are still trying to pay off our debt. We tried writing to Tarek and Christine for help but never got a response. We contacted the program for help and was set up with a man to help us to figure out how to invest and flip. It was just another “way” of making money in a completely different way, and of course it cost more money. We are so frustrated. I would like to get refunded by them and Success Path as we were misled from the start.’

      3. Zombie homes are littered all over 48009 (Birmingham). Many are no longer in the MLS. Most are higher priced speculative flips that never found a buyer. Some have sat unoccupied for three to four years now. The smaller bungalows torn down to make way for them might have made good starter homes or rental properties, if there weren’t any structural issues with them (in which case teardown and new construction is probably the only viable option.

        But they’re “not going to give them away”.

    3. Wouldn’t it be more honest and forthright to simply keep the home on the market, but plaster a “Price Reduction” sticker to the “For Sale” sign?

  2. ‘Officials across Long Island have said they struggle to identify owners of abandoned properties because real estate records often are out of date or incomplete. Banks sometimes transfer mortgages to other entities without reporting the changes to governmental authorities. ‘ It’s a challenge when they change hands,’ Romaine said. ‘It’s a challenge when they put someone in charge who isn’t the bank. They have an agent or a holding company or something of that nature. It’s not the mortgagee.’

    Zombie shacks are a REIC statistic. Shadow inventory is a conspiracy theory.

    1. Gosh, how could we fix that?

      Hmmm. Oh I know! Pass a law that says that after 24 months of delinquent fees or unclear ownership, then title reverts to the city who can resell for their own benefit.

      Watch how fast those records become crystal clear.

  3. ‘OU’s partners argue the university’s — and the state’s — credit and reputations could be significantly damaged if what they call a ‘moral obligation’ to investors, amounting to about $7 million a year, is not met. In mid-September, S&P downgraded the Cross bonds for a second time, to CC negative — meaning S&P considers default ‘a virtual certainty.’

    ‘The university has failed to honor its commitments’

    Have you tried stamping your little feet Steve?

    Recession proof!

  5. Lenders will be required to pay a fee of about $200 to register, and must re-register and pay the fee every six months as long as the property remains in arrears,

    Why do lenders (whose loans aren’t being paid) have to pay this? Why would they ever lend in this area again?

    1. It’s not their money.

      I’m sure the LI shack sellers will tell you they have only! a couple weeks of inventory. So why don’t these lenders sell if the market is so hot? It’s a question that been around for, oh, several years now.

      The fact is the lending industry is part of the REIC. Let’s consider the GSE’s. If they make a bad loan (one that goes into default), they will start sending out letters begging the FB to sign up with a new loan at better terms than the one they quit paying on. Just who the fudge does that? If you stop paying your car loan – will you get such a letter? Or will it not be in the driveway tomorrow?

      And if you stop paying again, and again, guess what? They will continue to offer you better deals. And the FB’s that say screw it, like these in Long Island? No problem, we’ll just let the shack sit there for a decade rather than book the loss and compete with the other 1,000 foreclosures around town. They’ll even shift the “control” around every 6 months to avoid a $200 fee.

      Oh but foreclosures are at a 20 year low, doncha know.

  6. “Listed for only $81,900 – an $8,000 price drop”

    It’s not worth an $8000 price drop. It’s worth $8000.

  7. Fears of an upsurge in violence have hit Corsica after balaclava-clad separatists this week called for a ban on foreigners buying property on the Mediterranean island.

    The activists, who pledged only to attack property rather than people, want to outlaw the sale of land or property to “non-Corsicans”. Assets bought over the past ten years should be resold “at their original purchase price”. Only Corsicans should buy them.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/05/corsican-separatists-warn-against-foreigners-buying-homes-take/

    1. Imagine that, the natives resent the idea of foreigners invading their land and pricing them out of their own homes. Didn’t they get the memo from the Globalist Davos Crowd, that there are no nations anymore and that they should welcome the wealthy invaders with open arms? If you play your cards right, you might even get a job scrubbing their their toilets.

  8. More importantly to them.
    How are property taxes being paid?

    “‘ It’s a challenge when they change hands,’ Romaine said. ‘It’s a challenge when they put someone in charge who isn’t the bank. They have an agent or a holding company or something of that nature. It’s not the mortgagee.’”

  9. Who do they think they are?
    obama and the GM bailout where the bond holders are got screwed for the benefit of the UAW…

    ““In mid-September, S&P downgraded the Cross bonds for a second time, to CC negative — meaning S&P considers default ‘a virtual certainty.’ ‘The university has failed to honor its commitments,’ insisted Steve Hicks, whose nonprofit company partnered with OU on the Cross Village project.””

    1. Given all the domestic plant closures and the offshoring to Mexico and China, I would say that the UAW’s goose is cooked.

      1. Or GM could just head-fake the Dems by hiring illegal immigrant scabs to do these semi-skilled jobs. Who’s going to mow your lawn? Who’s going to watch your kids? Who’s going to pick your strawberries? Who’s going to assemble your Impala? Those car parts are rotting in the factories!

        1. Who’s going to assemble your Impala?

          Apparently, no one. 2019 is the last model year for the Impala (which is assembled in Canada), as GM (and others) are moving their portfolio of vehicles to trucks and SUVs.

          A strange choice, as EPA rules for vehicles will be 37 mpg by 2026. Even with those tiny turbocharged engines and CVT’s I don’t see how SUVs are going to get 37 mpg.

          1. I think those rules only apply to sedans? There are MPG rules that are “averages” that apply to an automaker’s entire product line.

          1. Given that dealerships are clogged with expensive, unsold cars that few can afford, I can’t see GM wanting to end the strike anytime soon. Ford and Chrysler and other automakers are probably wishing they had a strike too.

          2. I can’t see GM wanting to end the strike anytime soon.

            True. Except it’s also affecting the models people are willing to buy such as the new Corvette.

      2. The UAW’s biggest problem currently is their corrupt leadership, which has had the effect of their being able to bring nothing to the bargaining table but zero credibility.

  10. I’m embarrassed and impatient’

    Two or three weeks ago a newspaper called this guy a “master-mind”. Things can change fast, huh?

    1. That area is heavy with illegal immigrants and the schools are taken over by anchor babies. But you’re paying for the location — it’s a mile from the Metro and a major mall. I remember shopping at the Target there 8-9 years ago. Target had to install distance locks on the carts to prevent people from stealing them.

  12. Follow up to post a month or two ago from someone claiming Trump changed republican strategy by abandoning diversity and focusing on appeal to frightened older disenfranchised white people. The statistics for the demographics in the 2016 election contradict this claim which was already discussed. I would just like to add these links to the discussion.

    Trump approval with African Americans surges in Rasmussen poll to 36% highest on record for a republican, summarized by Bill Still:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=359bBm77b4w

    There is a particularly compelling moment in this video that starts 45 minutes in.
    White House. Young Black Leaders Meeting
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gTDoC9VqIWs

    It would be great to see a competitive race in the 2020 election. It would be good for the country. But if all the other side can come up with is race baiting nonsense and fictitious malfeasance this is going to end up being the biggest electoral vote wipe out in history. It’s detrimental to everyone to propagate these fake race based narratives. And I think people are growing weary of it.

    1. Thank you, John. I was called a troll for pointing this out and providing ample evidence that this was happening.

          1. “And induced some needed cognitive dissonance.”

            On a related note I ran across this …

            “According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior.

            “Two factors affect the strength of the dissonance: the number of dissonant beliefs, and the importance attached to each belief. There are three ways to eliminate dissonance: (1) reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs, (2) add more consonant beliefs that outweigh the dissonant beliefs, or (3) change the dissonant beliefs so that they are no longer inconsistent.”

            Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger) – InstructionalDesign.org
            https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/cognitive-dissonance/

    2. appeal to frightened older disenfranchised white people

      Trump’s enemies like to tell it that way. But his enemies make themselves really easy to oppose for all sorts of people, not just old disenfranchised white people. Lots of people like the bill of rights. There was a time when everyone liked it at least for themselves…not SO long ago.

      1. I think that a lot of people are content with losing those rights if it means that the people they hate get majorly screwed in the process. They don’t stop to think about how that can come back to bite them in the keister.

      1. But it sounds so sophisticated. Rasmussen

        Does that mean “JD Power” is another complete raft of $hit in the same vein as Realtor press releases and data?

  14. McConnell Urges Trump to Keep U.S. Troops in Northern Syria

    ‘Mr. Trump, in tweets on Monday, defended his decision and laid out a warning to Turkey. He said it was time for the U.S. “to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars…Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to…figure the situation out.”

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-move-on-northern-syria-is-met-with-bipartisan-criticism-11570467760?mod=hp_lead_pos1

      1. How will the globalists swamp Europe with Syrian refugees if the latter are able to return to their home country? This is a calamity for Soros and his ilk.

  15. Neither the state nor the university are legally responsible for the debt, but OU’s partners argue the university’s — and the state’s — credit and reputations could be significantly damaged if what they call a ‘moral obligation’ to investors, amounting to about $7 million a year, is not met.”

    No legal responsibility? End of story. Anyone idiotic enough to “invest” in luxury student housing deserves to get their head handed to them. If OU’s “partners” don’t like it, they can feel free to stamp their little feet.

  16. ‘Companies like WeWork and Uber are criticized for being in the red, but in 10 years they’ll be making substantial profits,’ said Son, according to Reuters.”

    Um, yeah. That’s what genius “investors” said about Pets.com and a bunch of other “high flying” tech companies, right up to the time they imploded along with Tech Bubble 1.0.

    1. How did online retailers get labelled as “tech companies”? They don’t sell any tech whatsoever. Amazon can at least claim that AWS is tech, but how does selling dog food online qualify as technology?

    1. I wonder what she flipped first her husband or the houses in Arizona and New Mexico?

      “The biggest way she saves money is by not having a mortgage on her home: She bought the four-bedroom, three-bath home that sits on an acre of land for $240,000, using a combination of savings, her divorce settlement and proceeds from homes she bought and flipped in Arizona and New Mexico, she says”

      2. She “combined” all those money sources and only added up to $240K? She must have married a loser.

    2. “…despite having pricey hobbies like owning two horses …”

      Unless you’re wealthy never marry a horsey girl.

      1. Unless you’re wealthy never marry a horsey girl.

        Yup. I grew up in Wyoming. The cowgirls on farms with access to old trucks and trailers who wanted to barrel race in the local rodeo or ride around a little for fun were no problem.

        But the wannabe upper middle class ones who really wanted to ride English if they could just find the right instructor and were planning to go to an expensive college and “needed” a high end tow vehicle and trailer to get to competitions were bad news. Hormones being what they are they would sometimes get mixed up with a local cowboy and their parents would have a fit and nothing good ever came of it.

        1. And then there was Adam Carolla’s take on girls that love animals in general:

          “Did you ever notice that girls who LOOOOVE animals generally hate people”?

Comments are closed.