thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

It’s Clear There Is Going To Be A Lot Of Distressed Real Estate Over The Next Four To Five Years

A report from Mortgage Professional America. “A survey by Apartment List, an online listing marketplace found that renters and homeowners that were able to make a full payment on their rent or mortgage in the first week of May was around 69%, which is down from 76% in April. In fact, 22% of rent and 22% of mortgage bills went entirely unpaid, compared to just 12% in April. ‘We found that even out of those who paid their rent or mortgage on time in April, 16% of those people made no payment in May so far,’ said Chris Salviati, housing economist with Apartment List. ‘April may not have been as bad as we initially expected but there’s definitely signals that things are worsening in May.'”

“Government assistance also played a less crucial role in helping Americans make their rent and mortgage payments, according to the survey. Among renters who received their stimulus checks, 71% paid their May rent in full, compared to 64% of those who did not receive one. For homeowners, Apartment List found delinquency rates were nearly identical when comparing those who received aid and those who didn’t.”

“In major markets across the country, Salviati said a lot of the new rental inventory is targeted toward the higher end of the market and filling those vacancies may become increasingly difficult as we emerge out of this crisis. The other trend that may come out of the COVID-19 pandemic could be a sprawl from the major downtown cores. ‘Companies coming back might start to question whether or not they need expensive downtown office space and workers may question if they need to be living in that expensive condo just to be close to the office,’ he said.”

From Bloomberg. “U.S. homeowners hurt by coronavirus were told they could delay their mortgage payments without facing consequences. Now, some are learning they’re at risk of being shut out of the housing market. The law didn’t address long-standing policies that restrict consumers from getting new loans for a year after their forbearances end. For instance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the government-controlled companies that facilitate nearly half of U.S. home lending — won’t buy such mortgages.”

“Some borrowers who took advantage of the relief lawmakers provided are now being told that they will have to wait before they can refinance or obtain a fresh mortgage to purchase a home. That’s true even for those who ultimately make their payments on time, as the forbearances are still being noted on some consumers’ credit reports.”

“St. Louis-based lender F&B Financial Group has fielded calls from several customers wanting to refinance their loans who didn’t know their recent forbearance requests had made them ineligible for mortgages backed by Fannie and Freddie, said owner Chris Fox. Fox said he discovered himself that servicers were leaving borrowers in the dark after calling the company that handles his mortgage.”

“‘I went through the process with them, and pointedly asked twice, ‘So there are no negative impacts from doing this?’ and I was told, ‘No, sir, go ahead and do it,’ he said.”

The Real Deal on New York. “Manhattan home buyers and sellers are living in different worlds. The number of contracts signed in the borough last week hit a new low for the pandemic while new listings ticked up for the second consecutive week, a report by data firm UrbanDigs shows. Last week, seven weeks into the shutdown, only 31 contracts were signed in Manhattan, down 87 percent from the same week in 2019. It’s the lowest number since the shutdown order.”

“Noah Rosenblatt, CEO of UrbanDigs and author of the report, said, ‘Buyers, sidelined by stay-at-home orders, remain firmly in a wait-and-see mode.'”

The Houston Chronicle in Texas. “Sales of single-family homes plunged 19 percent in April, ending a nine-month string of year-over-year gains as Houston-area buyers and sellers hunkered down despite real estate transactions being considered an essential part of the economy. ‘We were bracing for a rough report and we got it,’ said John Nugent, chairman of the Houston Association of Realtors.”

“The downward slide is expected to continue. In addition to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Houston is contending with a severe oil bust, which is resulting in thousands of jobs cuts. Pending sales, an indication of futures closings, fell 17.6 percent in April, according to HAR, which tracks property sales handled through its Multiple Listing Service. Homes in every pricing category suffered losses, with the steepest declines at the low and high ends of the market.”

From KOAA in Colorado. “Your lender can’t foreclose on you if you are in trouble until May 18. That’s the end of a 60-day moratorium. And even then, you have a right to request a ‘forbearance’ (or suspension of payments) for up to 180 days, and an extension beyond that for another 180-days. So you essentially can get a year off from making payments.”

“And if you don’t have a federally backed mortgage, if you have a conventional loan, you may still have relief options through that lender, although that’s a tougher road. If that fails, Banker Michael Van Norstrand with the Independent Bankers of Colorado said you could attempt to ‘refinance’ with either your current company, or though a ‘community’ bank, a smaller local bank that may give you better terms. ‘Depending on your balance sheet, your employment situation, those kinds of things, I think a community bank is going to be more nimble, more accepting to your situation, because they don’t have to fit your underwriting criteria in a box,’ Norstrand said.”

“And what happens if you can’t find a lender that will help you? Colorado still has a tight housing supply and a growing population. A lot of people have seen a huge run-up in the value of their homes. So you could ‘sell’ to improve your cash position. You will first need to find a place to go. You’ll have to make some concessions, but in this difficult economy, it’s is all about creating options for yourself.”

The Oregonian. “The layoffs Airbnb announced last week hit the company’s Portland office especially hard. The vacation rental listing service laid off 1,900 employees last week, a quarter of its global workforce, to address the steep decline in travel triggered by the coronavirus outbreak. Airbnb said it expects revenue this year to be half what it was in 2019. The Portland layoffs numbered at least 150 and, according to laid-off employees, may have been twice that number. It’s clear Airbnb laid off a far higher share of its Portland workers than its 25% global layoff rate.”

“Oregon has few homegrown tech companies of any size. Economists have worried for years that the state’s outpost economy left it vulnerable in a downturn, when large companies might make more significant cuts to satellite offices than at their core sites. More than 380,000 Oregon workers have filed jobless claims during the coronavirus outbreak, nearly a fifth of the state’s total workforce.”

From WMBB in Florida. “Chris Jennings, realtor, is also a short-term rental owner in Panama City Beach. One question often asked is why short-term rental owners affected by the short-term rental ban don’t change their operations to accommodate long-term residents.”

“‘Most of these beachfront condos have huge mortgage payments and in addition to that, there’s a lot of added costs with that,’ Jennings said. ‘Most of these building don’t include electric in their HOA fees and then they’re HOA fee is anywhere between $400 to $100 a month so it wouldn’t really be affordable for a beachfront condo owner to rent on a long term and it wouldn’t be affordable housing because when you add all those costs together it would be $2000 or $3000 a month, easily.'”

“Jennings owns a studio unit in the Fontainebleau, which he recently renovated for about $20,000. Although it is on the smaller side, he said, ‘I wouldn’t be interested in renting a place like this for less than $1,800 to $2,000.'”

From Honolulu Civil Beat in Hawaii. “A proposed property tax hike on wealthy homes to help balance Hawaii County’s budget during the COVID-19 pandemic has left some people feeling unfairly targeted. They say it shouldn’t be up to owners of second homes or residential investment properties to fill the financial shortfall created by a quarantine that has hampered nearly every industry across the state. But Hawaii County officials are pitching just that. They contend they have no other options during an economically dire time.”

“‘Any passive observer can see the position we’ve been put in,’ Hawaii County Council Chairman Aaron Chung, who proposed the measure along with Mayor Harry Kim’s administration, told Civil Beat. ‘We have to find resources from somewhere.’ A chunk of that ‘somewhere’ is slated to come from luxury class homes.”

“It’s also the only proposed property tax increase in the entire plan, which is partly why opponents say it’s unfair. ‘Almost everyone, even wealthy people, have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 in many ways,’ said Tomoko Matsumoto, owner of Hapuna Realty. ‘You could not choose a worse time for anyone to worry about a tax hike.'”

“Hapuna Realty specializes in luxury homes and condos on Hawaii’s Kona-Kohala Coast, the pristine section of western coastline that hosts sprawling estates and multimillion-dollar residences. The secondary home market drives the economy in the area, not only for real estate agents but for everyone in the restaurant and hospitality industry that relies on it, Matsumoto said. She’s concerned that asking those homeowners to pitch in more than they already do could ultimately drive them away.”

“Her worry is one shared by others. Cindy Wild, principal broker and owner of Premiere Island Properties, agrees that the request could prove a tipping point for investors to begin investing elsewhere. Secondary homeowners are still homeowners, she pointed out, who already pay property taxes yet use a fraction of county services compared to primary homeowners. In the case of tourists, she added, they don’t pay property taxes at all yet use plenty of the island’s resources.”

“‘They’re going to have to raise everyone’s taxes at some point, I don’t know why they have to single people out,’ she said.”

From Bisnow. “CoStar Group is acquiring a digital auction platform that was founded during the Great Recession to liquidate distressed assets, just as the economy enters another downturn. The D.C.-based commercial real estate data giant announced Wednesday it reached an agreement to acquire Ten-X in a $190M all-cash deal. CoStar expects the deal to close later this year.”

“CoStar CEO Andy Florance told Bisnow he has known Ten-X’s executives for years, but he called them just two weeks ago to begin discussions for the acquisition. He said his interest in acquiring the company is a direct response to the current economic crisis creating more distressed assets. ‘We are in this COVID recession — hopefully it’s just a recession — and it’s clear there is going to be a lot of distressed real estate over the next four to five years,’ Florance said. ‘The question is: How can we be relevant and how can we help our brokerage customers and banking customers and GSEs deal with the volume of distressed properties that are likely coming?'”

Related Posts
This Post Has 79 Comments

  1. ‘Most of these beachfront condos have huge mortgage payments and in addition to that, there’s a lot of added costs with that,’ Jennings said. ‘Most of these building don’t include electric in their HOA fees and then they’re HOA fee is anywhere between $400 to $100 a month so it wouldn’t really be affordable for a beachfront condo owner to rent on a long term and it wouldn’t be affordable housing because when you add all those costs together it would be $2000 or $3000 a month, easily’

    ‘Jennings owns a studio unit in the Fontainebleau, which he recently renovated for about $20,000. Although it is on the smaller side, he said, ‘I wouldn’t be interested in renting a place like this for less than $1,800 to $2,000.’

    These guys have no clue how fooked they are.

    1. We used to stay at the Fontainebleau @ PCB during spring break about 45 years ago. Back then, it was just a dumpy hotel with average rooms. Can’t imagine anyone staying there long term but you gotta do what you gotta do.

      1. I was at PCB for the MTV Spring Break back in 1996. The beach was lined with ocean facing high rise hotels just waiting for a hurricane. We (friends) had a great time, but yes, it was an expensive trip.

    2. You may find this interesting: JP Morgan put my mortgage app on hold because I had one erroneous Comcast collection from years ago. After I disputed it and had it removed, JP approved me for sub 2% on a 7/1 Jumbo. Strange times.

      1. Wow. 2% on a jumbo.

        Listened to a lender say yesterday he’s still doing good volume but be careful about doing forebearance because it might bite you later.

      3. “A lender AND a debt junkie in one.”

        Back when I was a repo-man I discovered that some of the biggest credit-thieves (id theft) were the credit originators themselves.

    3. ‘Jennings owns a studio unit in the Fontainebleau, which he recently renovated for about $20,000. Although it is on the smaller side, he said, ‘I wouldn’t be interested in renting a place like this for less than $1,800 to $2,000.’

      I care about his interests. So I definitely won’t bother offering him less. Maybe someone else in the same area has other interests and would enjoy renting out their property more.

      1. No f**ks given about his interests. $2000 for a studio unit is highway robbery. I’ll pass. Every month that place sits empty, his interest in getting a tenant is going to increase, meaning he’s going to have to do some sawin’ and slashin’.

        1. Unless the tenant can walk to work the grocery and is on the bus line so they have no need to own a car, he will get it.

  2. ‘And what happens if you can’t find a lender that will help you? Colorado still has a tight housing supply and a growing population. A lot of people have seen a huge run-up in the value of their homes. So you could ‘sell’ to improve your cash position. You will first need to find a place to go. You’ll have to make some concessions, but in this difficult economy, it’s is all about creating options for yourself’

    Either way, better get some boxes.

    1. Went for a walk the other day. Much to my dismay, I saw a couple of “Under Contract” signs.

      Who would buy a house right now?

      1. I ‘liked’ a couple hundred properties on zillow, and some areas. While I do see more price reductions, I still see about the same number of pendings and sales as I did before this started. Maybe stuff that was already in the pipeline?

        1. I’ve noticed the same thing around the Bay Area and Northern Ca, I can’t imagine who is qualifying for loans or thinking its a great time to buy. Definitely interesting

          1. Maybe there were more people sitting on cash than we thought. I am looking to do an all cash deal when the price is right, but who knows? Maybe with the inevitable government interference and trillions of handouts flying around, this is as good as it will get.

            If so, I guess I’ll just keep renting.

      2. Same thing in my neck of the CO woods. I keep seeing houses with for sale signs then a week or 2 later under contract or sold signs. Lots of Gov employees, loads of military, basically folks getting paid virus or no virus. I don’t see any slowdown.

        I don’t know anyone here who thinks or cares about water rights. They mostly just complain about how expensive their water bill is.

        1. Individuals might not care, but the water works utility does care about water rights. Some 10+ years ago they purchased the old Hewlett Packard campus, not for the land, but for the huge water rights it had. The city kept the water rights and resold the land to a commercial developer (for a song) who was going to redevelop it into a “vibrant” business park. To this day it’s mostly empty.

          When homeowners are told that there isn’t enough water and they can’t water their bluegrass lawns, then they will care,

        2. Lots of Gov employees, loads of military, basically folks getting paid virus or no virus.

          Colorado Springs would shrivel up and turn into Pueblo if not for the Air Force Academy and base. It used to have tech anchors like Hewlett Packard, Apple, Intel, World Com, etc. Many are now gone and the ones still around have been downsized into near oblivion. There’s a reason why so many commute to Denver for work.

          1. There are 3 major bases in CS plus the AF Academy. That is a lot of Uncle Sam provided (tax free) military housing allowances. Look on Zillow, if you see pics with closets and cloths chances are there are military uniforms showing. Seems to me this has lot to do with sustained bubble here.

            And yes a lot of folks commute to Denver. But those are folks who moved here from Denver, drove up prices and priced a lot of folks out of the market.

            People will eventually care about water, I am just saying people moving here don’t think about the water situation.

    2. Colorado still has a tight housing supply and a growing population.

      Colorado also has dwindling water resources. If a multiyear drought hits the area, which is common throughout history, the overpopulation is going to rapidly outstrip the water supply.

      1. A lot of bluegrass lawns will go buh-bye.

        Water rights are a big deal in this part of the country, or as the saying goes: whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.

  3. Adding to AIRBNB’s STR landlords misery, Delta just announced they’re retiring their entire 777 fleet sighting lack of passenger demand over the next 2 to 3 years. Perhaps they can get the GOV to pick up their mortgages for the next 60 mos?

  4. “‘They’re going to have to raise everyone’s taxes at some point, I don’t know why they have to single people out,’ she said.”

    Hmmm maybe the REIC shill and troll in your industry gave them the idea that “rich” folks got so much money that they burn it away. They open the door with AC on while vacationing in Europe. They love wasting money so why not help them waste more on taxes. However, if you read this blog, you’ll know that the rich folks are usually the first to jump ship. Like the article yesterday about an auction of a 7.1 million dollars condo in Florida brought in 2019. You see the rich hate to lose money. They dont become rich that way. When they see big losses coming (no one is perfect), they cut them short and bail quickly. The strategic default or jingle mail behavior. They don’t throw good money after the bad. Poor on the other hands will chase the market down. They listened to false hope and will take bigger losses in the arse.

  7. Colorado –
    From yesterday

    I thought ILL ANNOY was bad in terms of governance – this guy Polis is piloting a clown car of epic proportions.
    Rj not in Chicago

    In Colorado
    May 13, 2020 at 2:28 pm
    The Centennial State is wooing Tesla:

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/polis-suggests-elon-musk-should-“look-no-further”-than-colorado-if-he-wants-to-move-tesla-out-of-california/ar-BB142dX7

    Gov. Jared Polis has thrown Colorado into the running should Tesla decide to move its headquarters out of California — and the company’s bombastic CEO, Elon Musk, mused that the Centennial State could be a great option.

    “We want you @elonmusk in Colorado, we are the best of all worlds,” Polis wrote in a tweet late Tuesday night. “We’re very pro-business, low taxes, also pro immigration, pro-LGBT, globally minded.”

    LOL! A Democrat bragging about low taxes. While he works feverishly to repeal TABOR.

    1. Why would Elon Musk move his production facilities from one Bolshevik-maladministered state to another?

      1. Colorado is a weird place. Socially it can be very liberal. But we have TABOR which keeps taxes in check and spending low, much to the Dem’s chagrin.

        In a way, I could see it appealing to Musk, though I think he’s posturing regarding moving out of California.

        1. I love when people in CO think TABOR will save them. CA has Prop 13 which is the same thing and its done nothing to stop taxes. Oh sure you can’t raise taxes in California without 2/3 majority, BUT you can create fines that are 5x what other states charge for traffic violations, push everything through on bonds your children will pay for. It sure does create a wealth disparity

          1. I love when people in CO think TABOR will save them

            We know its only a question of time until they have the demographics to repeal it. But it has helped keep taxes down. and FWIW, it has worked well for over 20 years. The Dems hate it with a passion.

            As for California, what can you do if voters keep approving new taxes? At least in the Centennial state voters won’t approve new taxes, at least not yet, Last year’s highway bills went down in flames.

            For the time being Colorado is perhaps the most libertarian state in the country. But we know those days are numbered.

  8. you could attempt to ‘refinance’ with either your current company, or though a ‘community’ bank, a smaller local bank that may give you better terms. ‘Depending on your balance sheet, your employment situation, those kinds of things, I think a community bank is going to be more nimble, more accepting to your situation, because they don’t have to fit your underwriting criteria in a box,’

    Not sure I agree. Most community banks sell most of their loans and if they do put some on their balance sheet do they want to put one on already in forbearance?? That would be stupid, for lack of a better term. If they need to refi to make a mortgage payment there may be, just may be, an issue there.
    Obviously if the LTV is 25% then yeah maybe.

  9. Jennings owns a studio unit in the Fontainebleau, which he recently renovated for about $20,000. Although it is on the smaller side, he said, ‘I wouldn’t be interested in renting a place like this for less than $1,800 to $2,000.’”

    Good, because rest assured, I would Not be interested in renting it at anywhere near that price.

    Maybe I’d rent at $900, but a studio would be a bit small for me, a single guy with very few possessions, and my 14 year old Dachshund.

  13. “For homeowners, Apartment List found delinquency rates were nearly identical when comparing those who received aid and those who didn’t.”

    Shelter is covered by the eviction moratorium… people are hanging on to that money because they don’t know when they’ll get more.

  15. Oil prices could go negative again, so be prepared, CFTC warns futures industry
    Published: May 13, 2020 at 4:49 p.m. ET
    By William Watts

    A rerun of the oil market plunge that took the New York Mercantile Exchange’s now expired May crude contract into negative price territory on the eve of its expiration last month can’t be ruled out, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission warned Wednesday, urging the futures industry to be prepared.

    In a staff advisory, the regulator reminded exchanges, futures brokers and clearing houses that “they are expected to prepare for the possibility that certain contracts may continue to experience extreme market volatility, low liquidity and possibly negative pricing.”

    The rare warning comes after the May contract for West Texas Intermediate crude made history on April 20, with prices tumbling below zero and settling in negative territory. The move came in thin trading as holders of long positions scrambled to exit amid a lack of available storage for delivering the crude a day ahead of the contract’s expiration.
    …

  16. Does it seem odd that Wall Street almost always cheers bad unemployment data release$? Why is this form of bad news considered bullish?

    1. I’m not aware of any exceptions. I think it’s because fundamentals haven’t mattered for a long time. There is only the Fed. Bad news means more Fed action.

      1. As long as QE is truly Unlimited, I guess that logic will hold up.

        Still, I am curious why the Fed hasn’t electronically printed us all to millionaire status by now, given the availability of UQE?

        1. Still, I am curious why the Fed hasn’t electronically printed us all to millionaire status by now, given the availability of UQE?

          They’re trying. It just isn’t being evenly administered.

    2. Governor Newsom reported today that the number receiving CA unemployment benefits since March is 4.6 million, verses 2.2 million at the 2010 peak of the Great Recession.

      I guess it’s pretty obvious why the stock market is up today?

      1. Maybe the hope is that unemployed Californians will move elsewhere and actually be productive?

      2. States like New York, Illinois, and California have been on a collision course with a fiscal reckoning for years. These governors see COVID as an opportunity to bankrupt their states and cry poor mouth for a federal bail out to remedy their decades of fiscal mismanagement and corruption.

          1. There is no amount of money that will accomplish it. No matter how much money you give them, they will piss it away and be back in the same situation before anyone even knows where the money went.

  17. “Some borrowers who took advantage of the relief lawmakers provided are now being told that they will have to wait before they can refinance or obtain a fresh mortgage to purchase a home.

    They’ve already established that they’re not credit-worthy. Why would any lender want to deal with them?

  18. “Noah Rosenblatt, CEO of UrbanDigs and author of the report, said, ‘Buyers, sidelined by stay-at-home orders, remain firmly in a wait-and-see mode.’”

    It isn’t just the stay-at-home orders. No one knows what the world is going to look like when we eventually come out on the other side of the pandemic, whenever that is. People who don’t know if they’ll have a job by the time this all plays out certainly aren’t going to be in the market for overpriced shacks or luxury apartments. Frugality is going to replace the fiscal profligacy and credit-fueled consumption that we’ve seen for the past eleven years.

    1. Frugality is going to replace the fiscal profligacy and credit-fueled consumption that we’ve seen for the past eleven years.

      Does this mean people will start bragging at social gatherings that their cars are paid for and have 100K on the odometer?

    2. People who don’t know if they’ll have a job by the time this all plays out certainly aren’t going to be in the market for overpriced shacks or luxury apartments.

      In thinking more about this, I think part of the population is trained to try to make a living by holding property no matter what is going on in the economy and markets. Therefore if they can get credit they will try to buy. The only way we can stop this madness is to stop the credit.

      1. I think part of the population is trained to try to make a living by holding property no matter what is going on

        Sounds more like a sure fire plan to lose one’s azz.

  19. So you essentially can get a year off from making payments.”

    Deadbeats are going to take full advantage. This is when we get to see how precipitous America’s moral decline has become over the last generation. Parasitism may be the supreme virtue for Democrats, but with the old virtues that made for a healthy society practically extinct in ‘Murica, it’s going to be a long downward spiral from here.

  20. The Portland layoffs numbered at least 150 and, according to laid-off employees, may have been twice that number. It’s clear Airbnb laid off a far higher share of its Portland workers than its 25% global layoff rate.”

    Good riddance. The sooner these STR companies crash and burn, the better for all concerned. Except, of course, the hosts who counted on endless streams of “guests” to cover their mortgages.

  21. “‘Most of these beachfront condos have huge mortgage payments and in addition to that, there’s a lot of added costs with that,’ Jennings said. ‘Most of these building don’t include electric in their HOA fees and then they’re HOA fee is anywhere between $400 to $100 a month so it wouldn’t really be affordable for a beachfront condo owner to rent on a long term and it wouldn’t be affordable housing because when you add all those costs together it would be $2000 or $3000 a month, easily.’”

    So what the hell were you thinking when you bought this money pit, Chris?

  22. “A proposed property tax hike on wealthy homes to help balance Hawaii County’s budget during the COVID-19 pandemic has left some people feeling unfairly targeted. They say it shouldn’t be up to owners of second homes or residential investment properties to fill the financial shortfall created by a quarantine that has hampered nearly every industry across the state.

    Houses are for shelter. Anyone who isn’t using their shack or skybox as a primary residence should be taxed out the wazoo. Municipalities need to protect themselves and their citizens by actively discouraging housing-related speculation, especially with borrowed money.

    1. Probably 1/2 of many of the beach communities in Hawaii are STRs. Another chunk are trophy properties of the super wealthy. Very few locals as the wages in no way support the prices. I can ride my bike around the north shore of any island and 80% of the cars in the driveways are rentals. Property tax near the ocean can easily run 30K+ and it doesn’t matter if you live in a shack, you will get taxed as though you have a 3k sq. ft. mansion used as a STR if you have neighbors that do. That is how many locals who had beachfront or adjacent property lost them over the previous decades – they were taxed out of them. Without those taxes the pension problem would be much much worse.

      Its clear the scum politicians in this state have decided to kill tourism for most of the rest of this year and I think many of those same scumbags will be looking to pick up foreclosures for pennies on the dollar, kind of like the fake greenies who preach crisis and then come up with phony solutions to harvest lots of subsidies. Even that dunce Moore has figured it out in his latest movie.

  23. Secondary homeowners are still homeowners, she pointed out, who already pay property taxes yet use a fraction of county services compared to primary homeowners.

    They’re depriving someone of a home and pricing out locals.

    1. They are also inflicting economic harm on local industry by pricing workers out of the housing market. There are plenty of reasons to disproportionately target property tax collection on absentee specuvestors.

  24. ‘We have to find resources from somewhere.’ A chunk of that ‘somewhere’ is slated to come from luxury class homes.”

    Democrat patronage and graft rackets are not self-funding, and the inexorable expansion of the party’s ever-growing voting bloc of dependency voters and social parasites means ever-growing spending. “Finding resources somewhere” translates into large, illiquid assets like shacks being low-hanging fruit for the tax man. And the definition of “luxury” housing will soon encompass SFH, because Democrats have already told us SFH is rayciss, yo…so ante up, crackers!!

  26. New York: Woman Handcuffed by Police For “Not Fully Wearing Mask”

    Published 1 min ago on 14 May, 2020
    Paul Joseph Watson

    A woman was dragged to the floor and handcuffed by police at a subway station in Brooklyn during an altercation over her “not fully wearing” her face mask.

    The video clip shows the woman, who was with her child, having an argument with NYPD officers as they follow her up the stairs.

    https://summit.news/2020/05/14/new-york-woman-handcuffed-by-police-for-not-fully-wearing-mask/

    1. This pugnacious woman escalated the situation by not listening to instructions. Likely has some cuck at home who obeys her orders.

      2. Nope, whoever hit that is long gone . . . probably in jail.
        Kid will end up going down the same path. Moms’ parents were probably train wrecks too. We get to pay for all the crime and dysfunction – herd needs thinning, badly.

    1. Hmmm she should have not allowed a drug dealer friend to use her address as a drug drop off.. Of course the media forgets to report these details and will always base it on race.

      1. “…allowed a drug dealer friend to use her address as a drug drop off…”

        Haven’t heard that angle, until now.

      2. she should have not allowed a drug dealer friend to use her address as a drug drop off

        Nothing surprises me anymore.

      3. What does race have to do with No-knock warrants being served in the wee hours. You’re not the sharpest tool in the shed, are you?

  28. The shell games played by the bullion banks engaged in selling non-existent (paper) gold to suppress the price of physical precious metals, and artificially prop up the dollar in collusion with the Fed are going to blow up in their faces when customers who thought they were buying actual gold demand delivery.

    https://twitter.com/ronanmanly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1253821194098311176&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Famid-gold-market-turmoil-hsbc-taps-bank-england-gld-bars

  29. There’s a world of pain ahead to be distributed from California’s $54 bn budget crater.

    Coronavirus California
    Gov. Newsom to reveal proposed revisions to California budget amid pandemic
    The governor has estimated a $54 billion hole in his budget proposal caused by the pandemic.
    Updated an hour ago
    Gov. Gavin Newsom to release revised state budget proposal amid COVID-19 pandemic

    FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to announce significant revisions on Thursday to his state budget proposal amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    Just four months ago, Newsom revealed a spending plan that included a $6 billion surplus, but that all changed on March 19 when the governor issued a mandatory stay-at-home order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

    The order closed businesses, prompting more than 4.5 million people in the state to file for unemployment.

    On Wednesday, Newsom said his budget includes over $200 million to increase California’s preparation for wildfires after seeing a 60% increase in wildfires year-over-year.
    …

  30. The Financial Times
    Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
    Coronavirus: free to read
    Opinion Coronavirus
    Covid-19 looks like a hinge in history | Free to read
    The pandemic will be remembered alongside 1914 Archduke assassination and 1938 Munich Conference
    Lawrence Summers
    Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, the interpreter Paul-Otto Schmidt and Neville Chamberlain at the Munich Conference, September 29-30, 1938, Germany, 20th century.
    The Munich Conference of 1938, attended by Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain. The pandemic may prove to be a similarly seminal event
    © De Agostini/Getty
    Lawrence Summers
    9 hours ago
    The writer, a former US Treasury secretary, is a Harvard professor

    The Covid-19 crisis is the third major shock to the global system in the 21st century, following the 2001 terror attacks and the 2008 financial crisis. I suspect it is by far the most significant.

    Although the earlier events will figure in history textbooks, both 9/11 and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy will fade over time from popular memory.

    By contrast, I believe, the coronavirus crisis will still be considered a seminal event generations from now. Students of the future will learn of its direct effects and of the questions it brings into sharp relief much as those of today learn about the 1914 assassination of the Archduke, the 1929 stock market crash, or the 1938 Munich Conference. These events were significant but their ultimate historical importance lies in what followed.

    This crisis is a massive global event in terms of its impact. Take an American perspective. Almost certainly more Americans will die of Covid-19 than have died in all the military conflicts of the past 70 years. Some respectable projections suggest that more may die than in all the wars of the 20th century. This spring’s job losses have come at a far faster rate than at any point in history and many forecasters believe that unemployment will be above its post-Depression high for two years. As I write this from a small town I have not left in two months, I suspect that no event since the civil war has so dramatically changed the lives of so many families.

    A month ago it would have been reasonable to suppose that the deaths, the economic losses and the social disruption would be transitory. This looks much less plausible today. The US has given its best shot (though certainly not the best possible shot) at locking down for two months now and it has not brought daily fatalities below 1,000 a day. Much of the country is now letting up isolation policies. Similar things are happening in much of Europe and new outbreaks have been reported in success-story countries including Singapore, South Korea and Germany. It now looks very plausible that there will not be an enduring improvement on the current situation in the west.
    …

    1. It’s going to look like a wet t-shirt contest when all the top heavy housewives of Granite Bay, California start crying!

Comments are closed.