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Supply Outstrips Demand And Sellers Have Yet To Acknowledge That Fact

A report from the Reno Gazette Journal in Nevada. “Although turning over houses at a profit was a popular strategy during Reno-Sparks’ housing rebound, flipping activity has cooled as home prices reached record highs. Since peaking at $420,500 in May, the median price for an existing single-family home in the city of Reno has hovered steadily just above that $400,000.”

“Realtor Stacey Berger used to work a lot with investors who would flip properties within a month after doing renovations. With the thinner margins and higher cost for labor and materials, however, flipping has seen a significant decrease. In a way, Berger says it’s reminiscent of the early 2000s when the area had its previous housing boom. The main difference is that there isn’t a huge influx of the speculative homebuying seen during the housing bubble years, she added.”

“‘The flippers have definitely slowed down,’ Berger said.”

From Miami Agent Magazine in Florida. “Is Miami’s condo market positioned for growth or will developers struggle to deliver new projects amid a crowded market? Michael Koval [ONE Sotheby’s International Realty: It’s the latter unfortunately. The fact is, there is still lots of inventory and prices are still astronomically high. The market is influenced a lot by what happens with foreign investment and foreign buyers have retreated significantly. That said, there are always going be people interested in property down here. Right now, supply outstrips demand and sellers have yet to acknowledge that fact.”

From Houston Agent Magazine in Texas. “Will 2020 be a buyer’s market? Why or why not? Julie Brann [Bernstein Realty]: I think 2020 will continue to be a buyer’s market, since there is currently a lot of inventory. I also think a lot of that depends on the oil and gas industry. That industry seems to drive a lot of home purchases. I’m noticing a lot of relocating employees are looking to rent my listings; a few years ago, these might have been buyers. I think companies appear to be taking less risk than they used to.”

“Chance Brown [CB & A Realtors]: It depends on how you look at it. From an economist’s view, one to four months of inventory is a seller’s market. From that standpoint, I don’t believe it will be a seller’s market. I believe two camps will emerge: those who prepare and price their homes to sell and those who think it’s still 2017 and they can put their home on the market and three days later it will sell even though they left their underwear on the floor. That last group will have a tougher time selling.”

The Voice of Orange County in California. “For many Orange County homeowners living near fire hazard areas, obtaining reasonably-priced home insurance is becoming just as much of a disaster as the wildfires themselves. Racquel Hernandez, a Rancho Santa Margarita homeowner, was insured with Travelers, until her rates increased from $1,200 to $2,200 this year.”

“Guy McIntire, another resident of Rancho Santa Margarita, was insured with AAA for 20 years until his policy was cancelled recently due to ‘proximity to brush.’ There is no brush near his house, he said, but portions of his neighborhood are included in a high fire area. ‘There won’t be any progress in fair regulation until there is genuine outrage among the public and the media that will drive change,’ McIntire said.”

The Park Record in Utah. “Much of the attention at the recent event appeared to center on the first phase of Woodside Park, a municipal project on the 1300 blocks of ark Avenue and Woodside Avenue. The seven-unit project is expected to draw broad interest as a Dec. 6 pre-application deadline nears. The houses in the first phase of Woodside Park are priced at between $205,000 and $565,000 while the townhouse prices are set at $359,000. The prices are well below those in surrounding Old Town, where residential real estate regularly reaches past $1 million.”

“Scott Loomis, of the Mountainlands Community Housing Trust, said a household earning the median income of $109,800 annually for a household of four in Summit County can afford to purchase an approximately $500,000 house, a figure that is significantly below the typical real estate sale. ‘There’s no product for anybody earning less than a couple hundred thousand dollars a year,’ he said about the real estate market in Park City and surrounding Summit County.”

From Vail Daily in Colorado. “In simplest terms, the Missing Middle is comprised of people who make too much money to qualify for housing assistance programs and too little money to purchase homes on the free market. In an area such as Eagle County, that’s a big group. ‘You have different segments of the market competing for the same product,’ said Community Builders Executive Director Clark Anderson. ‘One segment is the high-end, luxury market and it’s really hard for everyone else to compete. A lot the housing stock goes to the high-end buyer.'”

“In 1993, Harry brought a family home in Singletree. He and his wife are now empty nesters and they want to downsize. They put their home on the market and, naturally, they want to make as much money as possible in the deal to aid with their retirement. ‘Now that home is purchased by someone who is going to take it into the luxury market,’ Anderson said. ‘That’s how you have the working people market competing with the luxury market every day. And as long as we allow these two parts of the community to compete against one another, the luxury market is always going to win.'”

The Telegram in Massachusetts. “High home prices and low inventory have kept home ownership rates in Worcester and Massachusetts on a steady decline. But a recently enhanced MassHousing program seeks to change that by providing low-interest loans – including money for the down payment – for low- to moderate-income residents who may have thought they were shut out of that American dream.”

“Recent enhancements to the program include raising the annual household income eligibility for purchases in Boston and Gateway Cities, including Worcester (up to $128,655); and expanding eligible property types to two-, three- and four-family homes; whereas only single-family and condominium units were originally allowed. The DPA loans also will now cover up to $15,000, or 5% of the purchase price for the down payment, up from the previous limit of $12,000 or 3%. The interest rate for that second loan is 2% fixed for 15 years.”

“Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., with local offices in Holden and Auburn, is MassHousing’s top lender in Central Massachusetts. David Frechette, senior loan officer in the Holden office, said the program ‘enables a significant number of additional borrowers who previously thought they would be shut out of the housing market to now attain home ownership.'”

“‘The zero-down option is really the big feature to it,’ he said, before giving an example. He said if someone was buying a house for $200,000, they would have a $10,000 second mortgage available to them to use as the down payment. The second mortgage would result in a monthly payment of $64.35. Instead of coming up with a 5% down payment, the buyer would pay $64.35 a month toward that, and have a separate payment for the first mortgage.”

“‘The bottom line is this allows someone with sufficient credit and (who) has no or very little savings to get in and buy a home that they previously couldn’t qualify for,’ Frechette said. ‘The program recognizes that a lot of people can live week-to-week, pay their bills and do fine, but they can’t accumulate the savings. They consider this shortfall as their barrier to home ownership. This program eliminates that barrier.'”

“The buyer’s income and FICO credit score are the most important criteria. The FICO score can be as low as 640, depending on the MassHousing program.”

“A recent housing and economic study commissioned by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce revealed that Worcester County leads the state in foreclosure sales. In 2015 and 2016, 25 percent of all foreclosure sales in the state occurred in the county. The city of Worcester had 2,325 foreclosure sales between 2008 and 2018.”

“Mounzer Aylouche, MassHousing’s vice president of Homeownership programs said MassHousing has its own mortgage insurance program, which helps to defer delinquency and ultimately the foreclosure of the home. The program called, MIPlus, is a benefit included as part of the loan agreement. Should a borrower lose their job during the first ten years of the loan, MassHousing pays up to six months of the principal and interest, or up to $2,000 a month for a total of $12,000. The six-month limit does not have to be consecutive. An unemployment filing is required. The borrower is still responsible for paying taxes and insurance.”

“‘By covering the principal and interest, we’re relieving the worry of, ‘How am I going to find the money to pay MassHousing?’ This allows more room to breathe and figure out where the next job is,’ said Aylouche. ‘This is deferring delinquency, the foreclosure and losing the home.'”

“The good economy of Worcester attracts people from the valuation aspect. If they buy today and the economy is still booming in five to six years, there is a greater chance the value of the home will be much higher. ‘Hence, the wealth-building effect of homeownership,’ Aylouche added.”

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This Post Has 82 Comments

  1. ‘a household earning the median income of $109,800 annually for a household of four in Summit County can afford to purchase an approximately $500,000 house, a figure that is significantly below the typical real estate sale. ‘There’s no product for anybody earning less than a couple hundred thousand dollars a year’

    But no housing bubble.

    ‘They put their home on the market and, naturally, they want to make as much money as possible in the deal to aid with their retirement. ‘Now that home is purchased by someone who is going to take it into the luxury market’

    See, buy a shack and “take it into the luxury market”! Easy peasy!

    1. Sorry, I’m not funding Harry’s retirement. Folks like him who thought shelter was an investment strategy were the ones who blew up the last bubble.

      1. But its different this time! Housing is now seen as a unicorn stock. speaking of unicorn housing stock, hows that newman guy doing? sipping his mai tais on the beach in hawaii?

    2. And Scott needs to show us the math for that more than half million dollar home’s affordability with that amount of household income spread across a family of four.

      How much left over for food, property maintenance, taxes, transportation, etc. Or do they wait until after they are in over their heads on the mortgage before they get in over their heads on everything else?

    3. That is why Park City residents refer to themselves as “The Independent Republic of Park City.” The wealth in that area is astounding. It’s in another level altogether. Commuting for the worker bees will always be there.

  2. More!, More!, More! … Fa$ter!, Fa$ter, Fa$ter!

    Dec12th & Dec 15th & Jan 31$t … No if$ or but’$!

    Go HongKongian$!

    Chile’$ economy posts bigge$t drop in decade as protest$ bite

    Reuters |

    SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s economy contracted 3.4% in October from the same month a year ago, the central bank said on Monday, posting the single biggest drop in a decade as weeks of violent protests began sending shockwaves through the Chilean economy.

    Riots in Chile began on Oct. 18 over a hike in metro fares but quickly spiraled into mass protests, arson and looting that have left 26 dead and upwards of $1.5 billion in losses for businesses. The peso has plummeted to a historic low, prompting multiple central bank interventions.

    The IMACEC economic activity index, proxy for gross domestic product tallied on a monthly basis, fell 5.4% from September.

    (GRAPHIC: Chile riots slam economy – here)

    Non-mining activity fell 4%, the bank said, marked by a sharp drop in education, transportation, business services and the hotel and restaurant sector.

    The fall-off in activity far exceeded market expectations, said Mauricio Carrasco of consultancy Econsult.

    “Going forward, restoring public order continues to be the biggest challenge,” Carrasco said

    2. And how long until you get enough speeding violations to lose your license?

      I recall my last visit to the UK traveling on the motorway, a large portion of drivers would far exceed the speed limit (like by 20-30+ mph) for a few miles, until they reached the location of the speed cameras. Suddenly everyone slowed down to the speed limit, until they passed the battery of cameras, and then it was pedal to the metal time again, until the next speed trap was reached. What was odd was that there was official signage indicating that cameras were up ahead. Very strange.

      1. LOL, what’s the point in putting up the signs and telling people where the cameras are!?

        1. I’m sure that some British court ruled that they had to put the signs up. I suppose that it at least got people to slow down for a little.

          Also interesting was that they had electronic speed limit signs, one above each lane. And I saw them change. IIRC that is also where the cameras were.

  4. An example:

    ‘Since 1979, the Ai Hoa Market on Hill Street has been a fixture of Downtown Los Angeles’ Chinatown. The market, which specialized in Chinese and Vietnamese imported goods and other items not found in chain stores, was where much of the neighborhood’s immigrant and senior citizen population shopped. After 40 years, it was set to leave Chinatown last month, relocating to South El Monte.’

    “I think it’s a long-term, systematic issue but I have to say that the supermarket, that’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Annie Shaw, a member of the nonprofit Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, which has rallied to support the market. “A lot of the development that’s been happening here, very few of the projects have had the existing community in mind.”

    ‘Some of these changes, including the arrival of more market-rate spaces, will help make Chinatown more sustainable in the long run, according to George Yu, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District.’

    “We did not have enough market-rate residences to help make for a balanced Chinatown,” Yu said.’

    http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/changing-times-in-chinatown/article_ac9ad600-116c-11ea-9adf-bffa263cb8aa.html

    See, we just need to run off these poor people and we become balanced!

        1. In my nabe, all the leaves are gone with the wind, and the sky hasn’t been seen since we went on Darkness Standard Time a few weeks ago.

    2. “The market, which $pecialized in Chine$e and Vietname$e imported good$ and other items not found in chain store$,”

      South El Monte is a section of LA basin that specializes in “low.rider.vehicles”, think Cheech & Chong

      (Ever notice how Asians seldom wear denim coveralls?)

      Is Wrangler jeans made in the USA?:

      VF Corp. has manufacturing plants located in the United States , as well as other parts of the world. So, while it MAY be possible to find a pair of Wrangler or Lee jeans made in USA , it’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. … The label in my Truck Jeans says “Made with American hands in the USA .”

      Are Dickies made in the USA?:

      But it isn’t exactly “Made in the USA.” Dickies is just one of six brands under Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company. … The manufacturer has a worldwide presence of 7,000 employees, and its Dickies operations include facilities in Mexico, Japan, China, the Middle East, and Netherlands.

      Is Levi’s made in the USA?:

      For the large majority of their jeans, Levi’s are not made in the USA. … Levi’s does have a single collection of “Made in the USA” 501 jeans, sourced from a small denim mill called White Oak in Greensboro, NC. If you want to get those Made in the USA Levi’s, it will definitely cost you.

      Are Carhartt clothes made in the USA?:

      The answer is yes, and no. While we know the majority of Carhartt clothing is NOT made here in the USA, some of it is. Carhartt offers a “Union-Made in USA” line of workwear through its retailers.

      Go Pro.Ba$$! … 99.9% U$A product$

  5. M.A.G.A = Make.Argricultural.Great.Again!

    (rumor has it they love this hat in Brazil)

    Trump’s metals tariff tweet roils Brazil, Argentina

    Reuters | Dec 2nd 2019

    Trump’s tweet also urged the Federal Re$erve to lower intere$t rate$ so countries “no longer take advantage of our $trong dollar. Lower Rate$ & Loo$en – Fed!”

    Trump has repeatedly urged the U.S. central bank to lower rates to below zero, but Fed policymakers have been reluctant. Fed policy makers hold their next meeting on Dec 10-11.

    Emerging market stocks and the highly sensitive Mexican peso slid to session lows following Trump’s early morning post on Twitter that gave no details on the plan.

    Representatives for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative could not be reached for comment.

    “Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies, which is not good for our farmers. Therefore, effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the U.S. from those countries,” Trump wrote.

    Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, an avowed Trump fan who has sought closer U.S. ties, said in local radio interview that he would call his U.S. counterpart, who he was confident would listen to Brazil’s concerns.

    “Their economy is not comparable with ours, it’s many times bigger. I don’t see this as retaliation,” Bolsonaro said in a radio interview with Brazil’s Radio Itatiaia.

    “I’m going to call him so that he doesn’t penalize us … Our economy basically comes from commodities, it’s what we’ve got. I hope that he understands …and I’m almost certain he’ll listen to us,” he said.

    Writing by Toby Chopra, Hugh Bronstein, Susan Heavey and Gabriel Stargardter; additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires, Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia, Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio

    1. I’m sure Bolsonaro will just blame it on DiCaprio, just like he blamed the Amazon forest fires on him.

  6. STUDENT LOAN BUBBLE HITS NEW RECORD

    Schiff Gold – DECEMBER 2, 2019

    All we need is a good government program and we can easily solve this $1.64 trillion problem.

    Never mind that government programs caused the problem in the first place.

    Over the last decade, student loan debt has grown by 120%. Student loan balances now equal to 7.6% of GDP. That’s up from 5.1% in 2009. This despite the fact that college enrollment dropped by 7% between 2010 and 2017, with enrollment projected to remain flat.

    In a nutshell, we have fewer students borrowing more money to finance their educations.

    Before the government got involved, college wasn’t all that expensive. It was government policy that made it unaffordable. And not only did it manage to dramatically drive up the cost of a college education, but it also succeeded in destroying the value of that degree. Peter Schiff summed it up perfectly:

    “Before the government tried to solve this ‘problem,’ it really didn’t exist.”

    1. “Before the government tried to $olve this ‘problem,’ it really didn’t exist.”

      $ame can bee said of the $5+ Trillion$$$$$ $pent bye U$A Taxpayer$ for foreign oil $and & poppy field$ … “Nation.Building!”

      1. 5 years wasted and the rise of OPEC……..The pipeline was built between 1975 and 1977, after the 1973 oil crisis caused a sharp rise in oil prices in the United States. This rise made exploration of the Prudhoe Bay oil field economically feasible. Environmental, legal, and political debates followed the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1968, and the pipeline was built only after the oil crisis provoked the passage of legislation designed to remove legal challenges to the project.

  7. “Guy McIntire, another resident of Rancho Santa Margarita, was insured with AAA for 20 years until his policy was cancelled recently due to ‘proximity to brush.’ There is no brush near his house, he said, but portions of his neighborhood are included in a high fire area. ‘There won’t be any progress in fair regulation until there is genuine outrage among the public and the media that will drive change,’ McIntire said.”

    So, Guy is pissed because he can’t get cheap insurance anymore living in a fire prone area and now wants the taxpayers to subsidize him? It’s just going to cost a bit more to live in “paradise”, Guy.

    2. My insurance company sent out a questionnaire to its policyholders inquiring about the insured’s property. They used this to get a current and detailed description of potential hazards (such as dogs) and higher-risk amenities (such as pools) for each property. I filled it out fast – “no, no, no, no, no, none, no.”

      Result: I got an 8% reduction in my annual premium.

      1. Rumor has it the poor, poor in$urance companie$ use drone$ to $can your properties feature$, like roof/deck condition$, land$caping, outdoor Pizza oven … Etc.

        1. “in$urance companie$ use drone$ to $can your properties feature$,”

          A friend of mine recently had his homeowners insurance canceled for a bad roof. He has a good 6 year old asphalt shingle roof which can be seen from the road, he also has a flat deck over his back porch which is probably close to needing replacement,

          Only way to see that flat roof is on a ladder around back or drone.

          By ladder they would have to knock on the door to say they were there to look at it (which he says they didn’t) or through a locked gate when nobody is home.

        2. Why bother with drones, there’s plenty of current satellite imagery out there they can get access to.

          2. “there’s plenty of current satellite imagery out there they can get access to.”

            True enough.

            I guess google earth is gonna make or save ywH’s insurance companies some green.

          3. “Why bother with drones…”

            ArcGIS slaved orthoimagery, photogrammetry and aerial LiDAR from fixed wing aircraft and helicopter is how much of civil engineer planning is done these days. Most counties have these aerial surveys performed every five years or less depending on the situation. The county’s assessors study these data, and software can spot changes more accurately than humans.

  8. I also think a lot of that depends on the oil and gas industry. That industry seems to drive a lot of home purchases. I’m noticing a lot of relocating employees are looking to rent my listings; a few years ago, these might have been buyers. I think companies appear to be taking less risk than they used to

    Sounds more like the relocating employees are taking less risks, as they understand well that they might have to relocate again in a just a few years, and they don’t want to get stuck having to bring a check to closing (which they probably know they can’t, since they have no non retirement savings) when they have to sell the shack. Also they are likely balking at the cost to buy, realizing they will be under financial duress if they buy.

  9. “Although turning over houses at a profit was a popular strategy during Reno-Sparks’ housing rebound, flipping activity has cooled as home prices reached record highs. Since peaking at $420,500 in May, the median price for an existing single-family home in the city of Reno has hovered steadily just above that $400,000.”

    That’s over 8x median income. I’d say Reno might just be ground zero for the next bubble pop, crash and burn.

    1. That Reno-Sparks drone video by Jason Hidalgo depicts lots of really huge houses. Little wonder that the average concrete worker and his pole dancing wife are priced-out.

  10. Phew! This will fix the housing market!

    Builders are coming to the housing market’s rescue

    https://www.housingwire.com/articles/builders-are-coming-to-the-housing-markets-rescue/

    “This housing cycle is definitely unique in the sense that it’s been a decade and we’re not back to normal in terms of home building,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Many small-time builders are still out of the game. It was small-time builders in the aggregate that built many more homes than the big builders, and they’ve hesitated to get back in, even though it appears there is a money-making opportunity.”

    Yun predicts the median U.S. price for a new home will drop 4% to $313,500 in 2019 and remain almost flat in 2020, rising just 0.02% to $314,200. Existing home medians will climb 4.3% in 2019 and 3.6% in 2020, the NAR forecast said.

    While price declines wouldn’t be seen as a positive in the existing-home market, they can be good in the new-home segment if caused by a shift toward building smaller, more affordable houses. Yun said that’s what he thinks is happening.

    Pending home sales fell 1.7% in October after two months of gains because of a shortage of entry-level properties on the market, NAR said last week.

    “All the factors that contribute to higher home sales like the job situation are terrific, and of course mortgage rates are critical to buying a home and those are favorable,” Yun said.

    “All the factors are lined up in a way that means we should be having gangbuster homes sales,” if not for the inventory shortage at the lower end of the market, he said.

    The so-called “months supply” of properties on the market, measuring the amount of time it would take to sell off existing inventory, fell to 3.9 in October, Yun said. That matched the October 2017 reading that was the lowest level since the data series began in 1999, he said.

    1. Yun predicts the median U.S. price for a new home will drop 4% to $313,500 in 2019 and remain almost flat in 2020, rising just 0.02% to $314,200. Existing home medians will climb 4.3% in 2019 and 3.6% in 2020, the NAR forecast said.

      While price declines wouldn’t be seen as a positive in the existing-home market, they can be good in the new-home segment if caused by a shift toward building smaller, more affordable houses. Yun said that’s what he thinks is happening.

      The prices of homes simultaneously go up or down, depending on whether we need context to favor buyers, or favor sellers.

      This guy is a piece of work.

  11. I don’t get it? I’m pretty sure you have to have insurance on your home if you have a mortgage. So what are these people who can’t get insurance going to do?!

    I suppose some of them may own their home outright. But many or most do not, and thus MUST have insurance.

    1. Iffin’ you don’t acquire it, yer benevolent wanker.lender will purcha$e it for you, from his brother.in.law’$ company, what a deal you will have handed to you!

    2. “So what are these people who can’t get insurance going to do?!”

      Force-Placed Insurance

      The lender for a mortgaged home sets requirements for homeowners insurance. When homeowners insurance lapses, the insurance company usually sends a letter to the lien holder listed on the policy. The mortgage company has the right to purchase a policy for the home to protect the company’s interest and pay for it with the homeowner’s escrow. This force-placed insurance typically comes at a higher rate than a policy the homeowner buys on his own. You have no choice in the policy and will likely have worse coverage than your original policy.

      https://finance.zacks.com/happens-homeowners-insurance-lapses-2081.html

  13. “From an economist’s view, one to four months of inventory is a seller’s market. From that standpoint, I don’t believe it will be a seller’s market. I believe two camps will emerge: those who prepare and price their homes to sell and those who think it’s still 2017 and they can put their home on the market and three days later it will sell even though they left their underwear on the floor. That last group will have a tougher time selling.”

    Nice way to throw recent buyers under the bus. Please Pablo, I need my commission checks to buy food. What happened to lets roll with it?

  14. “‘The bottom line is this allows someone with sufficient credit and (who) has no or very little savings to get in and buy a home that they previously couldn’t qualify for,’ Frechette said. ‘The program recognizes that a lot of people can live week-to-week, pay their bills and do fine, but they can’t accumulate the savings. They consider this shortfall as their barrier to home ownership. This program eliminates that barrier.’”

    This is umpossible! Do fine but can’t save any money? Drop the avocado toasts Millennial!

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-24/small-time-bankers-make-millions-peddling-mortgages-to-the-poor

    All these loans are air tight! No “subprime” here!!!

  15. ‘There won’t be any progress in fair regulation until there is genuine outrage among the public and the media that will drive change,’ McIntire said.”

    Trying to work up some outrage for ya, Guy, but I’m just not feeling it. Nothing “fair” about me having to subsidize the cost of you living in a fire zone. But if you stamp your little feet, maybe the outrage will become contagious. Probably not, though.

  16. They put their home on the market and, naturally, they want to make as much money as possible in the deal to aid with their retirement. ‘Now that home is purchased by someone who is going to take it into the luxury market,’ Anderson said.

    I don’t think so, Anderson. Harry can sit on his greedhead wish prices ’till hell freezes over. If some clown feels the need to fund Harry’s retirement by overpaying for his shack, all power to him – once it gets foreclosed on and goes under the auctioneer’s hammer, along with millions of others as Housing Bubble 2.0 implodes, then and only then I might be interested.

    1. And where is Harry going to live, and how is he going to fund that, once he has sold his “retirement nest egg”? Luxury senior housing at $4,000-$5,000 or more a month?

  17. The program recognizes that a lot of people can live week-to-week, pay their bills and do fine, but they can’t accumulate the savings. They consider this shortfall as their barrier to home ownership. This program eliminates that barrier.’”

    The stupid, it burns. I won’t feel one iota of pity for the idiots who use programs like this to buy overpriced shacks they can’t afford, only to walk away once they find themselves underwater. And I hope every single one of their lenders goes bankrupt.

    1. Winning streak… when you have the fed endlessly printing monopoly money and the main buyer for these mortgage “securities”, its no wonder they think they are “winning”. All good things must come to an end and this wont end well.

  20. Stop giving your money to Real Journalists.

    They wanted that title so badly? Good. Now use the blue Twitter checkmark as a reason to deprive them of an income.

    Cancel all cable/subscription TeeVee.
    Cancel all newspapers/magazines.
    Don’t buy sh*t from Amazon.
    Keep it local.
    Buy local.

  21. “All too often, the people making the biggest fuss over supposed crime issues in any area are people who’ve never been there, don’t live or work there. They just read inflammatory articles, fall for them, and mindlessly repeat the claims.” —Homoaner

    Crime statistics for the state of Minnesota per 100,000

    1960: murder, 1.2; rape, 2.4; violent, 42; assault, 10.6; robbery, 27.8

    2018: murder, 1.9; rape, 43.9; violent, 220.4; assault, 122.2; robbery, 52.5

    http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/mncrime.htm

    A 12 fold increase in the rate of violent assaults and an 18 fold increase in rape. Are these the “supposed crime issues” to which you refer? These are likely very low estimates of the per capita increases because it is divided by the population of the whole state. Don’t have the geographic data to prove it but I think it is reasonable to assume most of the increases are happening in urban areas like…THE TWIN CITIES. Maybe not so mindless after all?

    1. Sadly, rapes are historically very under-reported, so the historical numbers are most likely too low.

      But all of the current crime numbers are still very low in most areas of the metro. You can check that out for any location using communitycrimemap.com
      For most people the risk of being a victim of a crime is much smaller than the fear-mongers want them to believe. Location is a risk factor, but the major one is who you associate with. People who routinely associate with lowlifes, voluntarily or otherwise, are far more likely to end up being crime victims than those who can and do avoid hanging with criminal types.

      As I mentioned, I work in what has been claimed by some kooks to be a virtual “no-go” zone in Minneapolis. It does have one of the highest crime rates in the city. As a result, I’m always nervous walking outside here. But the reality is, in nearly twelve years I’ve never had an incident – not a confrontation, not an attack, not a crime. Actually, the majority of incidents in this area take place late at night, and the majority of victims are students. There are two colleges in the neighborhood, and students tend to be out walking late at night, they’re young and inexperienced enough to be too trusting of strangers approaching, and they tend to carry phone and laptops. All of that makes them preferred prey.

      In my previous job, I worked for two decades in a semi-rural setting on the edge of a suburb. I felt very, very safe due to the surroundings, but actually I had three significant incidents occur to me there.
      One was random, but the other two involved people I worked with and/or had had a relationship with. It’s that personal association risk factor again, the reality that we’re more likely to be victims of people we know than people we don’t.

      1. You hit on a very important point which is the data and the statistics themselves. Often times when something is poorly tracked, the data itself is suspect. You can see a statistical uptick in crime and it may not actually mean that crime is increasing but rather than reporting is getting the crime that was always there. It’s a bit like when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that there were no gay people in Iran. Yeah, of course there are no gay people when doing so is punishable by death. So the statistics are not valid. As the saying goes, “Figures lie, and liars figure.” You have to be wise with what data you use.

  22. “Racquel Hernandez, a Rancho Santa Margarita homeowner, was insured with Travelers, until her rates increased from $1,200 to $2,200 this year.”

    $2,200 is still only 0.22% of the value of a $1,000,000 home. Tis a mere flesh wound!

  23. TVIX and precious metals both surging as grim economic fundamentals are starting to catch up with the central bankers’ Ponzi markets.

    1. Have been buying back options written on mining companies profitably and rewriting further out. I was expecting a bounce but I am not convinced we will make a major move until I see silver above $20 an ounce. I am not convinced this is anything more than an oversold bounce.

      1. It’s a darn shame I lost my precious metals in the same tragic boating accident that claimed my AR-15.

    1. “The demand once again arrived as the Fed added temporary liquidity to financial markets Monday. All together the central bank pumped in $97.9 billion in two parts. One was via overnight repurchase agreements, or repos, that totaled $72.9 billion. The other was via 42-day repos.” —wsj

      1. China is in a cage and does not know how to get out. Any action it takes will be met with a more effective countermeasure from Trump. Xi probably was plenty mad at Trump’s Hong Kong decision. However, he was not able to force any new trade concessions from Trump. New tariffs will more than pay for more aid to the farmers. Soybeans are a commodity. Brazilian farmers are not getting $14 a bushel for soybeans. They are getting pretty much the same price as US farmers. When the US put a unilateral oil embargo on Iran, it had virtually no impact. That is a barrel of oil not sent to the US could be sent to Europe. Only when we forced other people not to buy Iranian oil were sanctions effective. If you look at a map, Brazilian beans should go to Europe ideally and US beans best serve the Chinese market. Now Brazilian beans are virtually all going to China. There is some inefficiency in the markets caused by the embargo. Thus, the US gets slightly lower soybean prices and China gets slightly higher prices. But it is not a big deal. It is swine fever which has lowered the price of soybeans. The Chinese feed soybeans to pigs. When your pigs are dead you do not need soybeans. Of course, since the farmers are told on a daily basis by the MSM that the problem is the imposition of tariffs, Trump, politically, has to provide subsidies. However, the truth is the farmers are better off with the subsidies than they would be until the swine fever epidemic runs its course. I saw pictures today with rivers running red in Korea due to the mass slaughter of hogs since the fever has spread there.

    1. “Can’t tell these guys to learn to code – they already know how.”

      Some people at Boeing may differ but I agree with your major point.

    3. “After the Trump administration tightened its visa norms, the number of rejections of H-1B visa applicants has risen four-fold from 6% in 2015 to nearly 24% this year. The denial rate for H-1B visas for initial as well as continuing employment was higher among major Indian IT companies than their US counterparts.”

      Any correlation to recent data breaches?

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