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They’re Very Much Under Water Right Now

A report from Summit Daily in Colorado. “People in the short-term rental business are still looking toward the future with anxiety and trepidation as the county’s ban on short-term lodging looms over their financial stability. Patty Whetham owns Breckenridge Rental, a short-term rental hosting company. She said all of her income comes from her business and that she’s anticipating a 50% decrease in revenue for the year. ‘That’s my business,’ she said. ‘One hundred percent of my Breckenridge Rental income is based on short-term rentals.'”

“Mervyn Davies, who owns two properties in Keystone and one in Frisco, said a little more than one-third of his retirement income relies on those properties. ‘For the first time ever, we’re having negative earnings,’ he said.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer on New Jersey. “As the Shore pushes forward with plans for a Gov. Phil Murphy-blessed reopening, and with some towns allowing short-term rentals as early as May 26, and opening up hotels and motels in June, and people are pouring into Shore towns, others who would never have second-guessed a Shore vacation are, let’s say, still debating. ‘I think people are scared,’ said Kelly Stipa Mull, of Norristown, a Realtor juggling multiple cancellations. She said she has refunded all deposits despite being so far unable to rebook even in typically peak weeks.”

“She’s sympathetic to those who canceled. But she says she needs the $25,000 in rents to pay the mortgages on her two Shore properties. ‘One person feels they can’t take off now because they just took all this time. But the biggest thing is the fear.'”

“Jarred Kessler, CEO of EasyKnock, a firm that buys real estate and leases back to owners, says the high-end second-home market will be fine, especially as people continue to flee cities. It’s the more middle-class destinations, and investors, that get caught in a squeeze. Property owners who may be balking at returning deposits may be coping with their own tight circumstances. ‘The owners not able to deliver the deposit, they’re very much under water right now,’ he said. ‘A lot of people have one or two properties, and that’s how they’re making their living.'”

The New Hampshire Business Review. “New Hampshire housing advocates, landlords and developers told the Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery last week that the coronavirus threatens to wreak havoc on the rental housing market, placing tenants and landlords at risk of financial hardship and further weakening an already staggering economy. Sheridan Lloyd, a landlord in Somersworth, said flatly to the panel: ‘Assure landlords aren’t foreclosed, and therefore, tenants lose housing, housing stock doesn’t get maintained, home prices go down, taxes go down, town goes down.'”

The Tysons Reporter in Virginia. “Plans for an apartment building and office tower in Tysons are on hold as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the economy. Macerich, the operator of Tysons Corner Center, owns half of the Tysons Tower office building and Vita apartment building outside the mall. Macerich’s CEO Tom O’Hern said during earnings calls in late 2019 and early 2020 that Macerich was under contract to sell its 50% interest of Vita for roughly $82 million.”

“But during the first-quarter conference call on Tuesday, O’Hern said that discussions to sell the apartment building stalled when the pandemic hit the U.S.Scott Kingsmore, the CFO, said that Macerich collected about 26% of its billed rent in April and, as of May 8, had received about 18% of the May rent. Macerich, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust, has seen its stock nosedive from $60 per share in December to roughly $6 since March — the same price as its low point during the 2008 recession.”

The Gainesville Sun in Florida. “A luxury student housing complex planned to open in Midtown just across from the University of Florida campus has filed for bankruptcy, citing uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as one reason. Midtown Campus Properties LLC, managed by Oscar Roger, of Miami, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 8, according to court documents from Florida’s Southern District.”

“The company is at the helm of Midtown Apartments, a 310-unit student housing apartment complex currently under construction at 104 NW 17th St. Midtown Campus Properties said the ability to lease out its apartments is uncertain during the pandemic because the agreements would be contingent on whether UF reopens its campus to students.”

From Bloomberg on New York. “The Hilton Times Square occupies a normally busy stretch of 42nd Street. Now, the sidewalks are empty and the hotel’s owner is warning investors it may surrender the property. The global hospitality industry is facing the worst downturn in its history, and New York, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., is poised for a painful recovery. Even when travel resumes, the Manhattan hotel market’s reliance on international travel and large conferences will make it hard for owners to cover debt payments and labor costs.”

“‘There’s too many rooms, the hotels are too dependent on group business, and the union negotiated a wonderful contract for itself,’ said Jonathan Falik, chief executive officer at JF Capital Advisors. ‘It’s tough to think how they can all survive.'”

“Already, the pandemic has forced Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. to write down the value of the Hilton to less than the $77 million mortgage on the property, according to a May 11 filing. The loan matures in November, and Sunstone is exploring options, including handing the hotel over to the lender. Payments were late on about $1 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities used to finance New York hotels in April, according to data firm Trepp. Even before the pandemic, Manhattan hotel owners complained that new development and competition from Airbnb made it difficult to boost prices.”

From Mansion Global. “New York City’s real estate market slowed down significantly in the first quarter, even before the coronavirus fallout, said a leading trade association. In the first three months of 2020, the number of residential sales-including condominiums, cooperatives and one-to-three-family buildings-dropped 16% citywide year-over-year, from 10,382 to 8,702 sales. This marks the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Real Estate Board of New York.”

“As of March 31, the average home price in New York was $1.01 million. The average sales price of a condominium was $1.5 million, down 15% year-over-year. In Manhattan, there were 849 condo sales in the first quarter, down 15% year-over-year. The average condo price was $2.4 million, falling 24% compared to the same period last year. The average sales price saw the steepest decline in Tribeca, where the average dropped from $7.1 million to $3.8 million, representing a 46% decrease year-over-year.”

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  1. ‘In Manhattan, there were 849 condo sales in the first quarter, down 15% year-over-year. The average condo price was $2.4 million, falling 24% compared to the same period last year. The average sales price saw the steepest decline in Tribeca, where the average dropped from $7.1 million to $3.8 million, representing a 46% decrease year-over-year’

    How do you like them apples Tom?

    1. I dont – who the @#)*$ were buying condos for a average of $7M in Tribeca.

      is this overpaid bankers or foreign funneled $s

      1. These insane asset bubbles are fallout from the confetti parade of Yellen Bux lavished on the Fed’s New York banker and hedge fund accomplices since 2008.

        1. You said it correctly. What I love about REITs is that I can use stop-loss orders. I protect my profits. There are no stop-loss orders for physical real estate.

      2. “Descartes Labs used anonymized smartphone location data to find a large sample of New York City residents — not commuters or tourists — based on where they lived during a two-week period in February. They then analyzed their aggregate movements as the pandemic hit and whether they had left the city. The sample was about 140,000 residents, including residents from nearly every populated census tract in the city.”

        Welcome to the Borg. You have been assimilated.

    3. Am I right in saying, the housing market in New York was sinking fast before coronavirus torpedoed it and sent it to the bottom?

  2. ‘Macerich, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust, has seen its stock nosedive from $60 per share in December to roughly $6 since March — the same price as its low point during the 2008 recession’

    Since March. Is that a lot?

  3. “She said all of her income comes from her business and that she’s anticipating a 50% decrease in revenue for the year. ‘That’s my business,’ she said. ‘One hundred percent of my Breckenridge Rental income is based on short-term rentals”

    Get a job you f*cking parasite.

    2. Stayed at a Breckenridge BnB in 2012 when I was hiking the Colrado Trail. It was a bunk space in an oddly shaped room, kind of triangular with not much space. Rate was $90. Mind you, this was late September. Breakfast was included though. Was marketed as a hostel. Wish I had just decided to stay in Frisco instead. Would have gotten a much cheaper room at a motel. Impressions of these ski and playground towns for the city stiffs is that they are ok to visit. Living there year round? Where would the novelty be then being there? I can’t afford them anyway.

      1. Frisco is pricy, but I do like staying at the Frisco Inn when I go skiing at Copper Mountain with the fam. Not cheap, but always enjoyed my stay there and the communal dinners with other guests. Leadville has cheaper hostels when I go by myself.

  4. ‘Mervyn Davies, who owns two properties in Keystone and one in Frisco, said a little more than one-third of his retirement income relies on those properties. ‘For the first time ever, we’re having negative earnings’

    Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Sha na na na, sha na na na na
    Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
    Mum mum mum mum mum mum
    Get a job, sha na na na, sha na na na na

  5. ‘Housing values plummeted in the Great Recession of 2007-09. Perhaps this third scenario has not been lost on Gov. Gavin Newsom. His goal was to create more affordable housing. Locking down the economy may certainly impact real estate values. As if this universal coronavirus-caused depression were not cruel enough, recently proposed political remedies would make this thing even worse.’

    ‘Which is why I hope my colleagues in the Legislature step back and reconsider Assembly Bill 828, by Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco.’

    ‘Among other things, the bill would force most property owners to cut residential rents by 25 percent, even for tenants who didn’t lose jobs because of the economic disaster. Supposedly it would be “temporary” for 12 months. But “temporary” government actions commonly are extended. The Proposition 30 tax increase from 2012 even included “temporary” in its title, but was extended to 2030 by Proposition 55 in 2016, despite surplus revenues that year.’

    ‘Any industry forced to make 25 percent cuts in prices would be devastated. Ting should ask such high-tech companies in his city as Uber and Twitter what would happen if they were forced to cut prices by 25 percent.’

    ‘If AB 828 becomes law, many apartment owners would flood into already anticipated, overcrowded bankruptcy courts due to an inability to pay their own expenses, including mortgages, maintenance and staff. Their filings would compete with other businesses, especially restaurants forced to permanently close.’

    https://voiceofoc.org/2020/05/moorlach-ab-828-would-make-californias-housing-crisis-worse/

    1. Why not just deport all the illegals from Clownifornia and let the rental market settle to its new level of reduced demand?

      This country doesn’t have a future.

      1. Governor Newsom Announces $125 Million Immigrant Disaster Relief Fund

        Gov. Gavin Newsom said the fund will benefit undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for unemployment benefits and will not receive federal stimulus checks from the IRS.

        “California is the most diverse state in the nation,” Newsom said. “Our diversity makes us stronger and more resilient. Every Californian, including our undocumented neighbors and friends, should know that California is here to support them during this crisis. We are all in this together.”

        https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/national-international/governor-newsom-announces-125-million-immigrant-disaster-relief-fund/2326385/

        1. “our undocumented neighbors and friends, should know that California is here to support them during this crisis.”

          My undocumented neighbors drive drunk and run into my vehicles while not having a drivers licence, legal tag or insurance which is why I now carry uninsured motorist coverage because when one of them rear ended my wife four years ago there was no one to support us during the crisis.

          1. Downtown Lake Worth, Florida looked like a barrio in El Salvador the last time I was there in 2004, when I had family living several miles inland from there.

            I got hit and run in Denver two years ago, fortunately no injuries. I didn’t bother reporting it to the Denver police, I just called Denver City Council and thanked the rep who answered the phone for creating the culture of lawlessness by declaring itself a sanctuary city.

          2. thanked the rep who answered the phone for creating the culture of lawlessness by declaring itself a sanctuary city

            A few years ago, during the local comic con which is said to draw 100,000, there was a gang shoot out just one block away from the Denver convention center.

          4. About 20 years ago, my mother-in-law’s car was hit in a parking lot and the driver fled. Someone got the license plate, so she called the police, who then tracked down the driver.

            Turned out the guy worked in construction nearby and was illegal. The police said because of that, there wasn’t anything they could do.

          5. “Downtown Lake Worth, Florida looked like a barrio in El Salvador the last time I was there in 2004”

            That’s where my F-250 got it in 2011, my wife got hit and run in Jupiter.

        2. I want to puke every time this puke Newsom talks. In my book these Governors have no right to give public funds to non Citizens.

          These people were talking a chance by crossing the border illegally, so they demand the cheese, as if they are entitled.

          Who voted on a mandate of diversity anyway, and what proof is there that diversity makes us stronger. It just seems like a buying off ilegals to vote. This might make the Dems stronger but it has nothing to do with the welfare of legal Citizens.

          I never bought into the welfare problems of another Country like Mexico. We have laws about coming in legally and I can’t imagine USA Citizens actually being in favor of open borders .

          I can understand how people want to improve their lives, but do it lawfully. The USA has the right to control immigration, otherwise we are at the mercy of unsustainable welfare.

          The Globalists don’t care about borders because cheap labor is what they are after.
          So, we live in this strange World of the Politicians never being able to enforce the standing immigration laws because they are in bed with the Globalist. And boy do they hate Trump for wanting Border Control. .
          The Globalist have no loyalty to any Country, because the World is their oyster.

          USA Citizens have been betrayed by Washington DC Politicians and that is why it’s so difficult getting the will of the people. The rich lobbyist rule.
          It was such a crack up when Trump got in because it went against money buying elections. The corrupted system has been trying to take Trump out from day one.

          It was really a Black Swan event in Politics that a outsider like Trump could win.
          One thing I can say is all the power factions are showing their true colors like never before.

          1. “…what proof is there that diversity makes us stronger.”

            It’s a popular opinion among California’s liberal elite. I don’t think the facts support the liberal platitude.

        3. This is a subsidy to the builders and uber-wealthy Central Valley farm owners who love the cheap and subsidized Mexican coolie labor. Remember that next time the politicians tell us that there are Jobs That Americans Just Won’t Do (TM).

          1. Look, if Americans won’t do the jobs that immigrants will, than it’s likely more legal immigration will be approved.

            The immigrants that work the farms have a move up system because they don’t like being stuck in low paid slave labor either. Who really does want to be exploited by the greedheads who want slave labor.

          3. Yes, other countries have guest worker programs, why can’t we have that? Instead of the current ridiculous situation of illegals, sanctuary cities, etc.

            Perhaps my memory is faulty, but I thought this was all supposed to be sorted out after the Reagan-era amnesty.

          4. We DO have “guest worker” programs and have had for some time. That’s how a large portion of hand-picked crops get harvested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guest_worker_program

            Those workers are monitored pretty closely. It’s the other others that come in via the prompting of the more liberal elements that we’re talking about.

            Look, there’s supposed to be some give-and-take between countries…families know no boundaries as I’ve found out being married to a Mexican National (who is now a naturalized US citizen). This rush to “free” services in the US is disgusting to anyone who worked for their citizenship. People on both sides of the border look down on those who try to game systems, as most rational people would.

        5. “We are all in this together.”

          Can we agree that illegal aliens are here in violation of the law and subject to deportation if caught?

        6. “Our diversity makes us stronger and more resilient. Every Californian, including our undocumented neighbors and friends, should know that California is here to support them during this crisis.

          Comrade Newsom just gave the green light for every would-be south-of-the-border Democrat-on-Arrival benefits-seeker to come flooding in.

      2. Why not just deport all the illegals from Clownifornia

        You expect the Dems to deport their most loyal demographic?

        1. Most illegals are hard-working and quite literally do jobs Americans won’t do. Step into a factory farm or the kitchen of a restaurant if you don’t believe me. Illegals generate a lot of wealth but generally get treated like sh*t. The Democrats’ true constituents are those who have never done an honest days work in their life and don’t intend to as long as they can sponge off the system.

          1. Americans won’t do those jobs for that pay and with that treatment. But that doesn’t mean they won’t do them.

          2. Who did these jobs in 1995? Last I checked, we still had McDonald’s and lettuce back then. And prices were not exorbitant.

          3. Who did these jobs in 1995?

            Illegals. You gotta go a lot farther back than that to get a different answer. In the 80s in my hometown the restaurant jobs were done by single moms and the occasional Vietnamese refugee or ski bum with help from the local teens during tourist season. But the farmers had people coming in from Mexico.

          4. Illegals. You gotta go a lot farther back than that to get a different answer.

            Especially in the southwest. I think that for many on the east coast the Mexodus was invisible for a long time.

          1. Of course immigrants are hard working, so stand in line and come in the legal way.

          2. The jobs should go to Americans at a decent wage. What is our unemployment rate again? Sure, the wealthy like cheap labor. That’s how they got rich. I don’t care. I really don’t. Close the borders!

      3. This country doesn’t have a future.

        “Forget it Jake, it’s clownworld.”

        BTW, I can join the club here: in Albuquerque in 2017, I was hit by a driver who never showed me a driver’s license, or proof of insurance, and left quickly when I informed him I was calling the police. Hmm…

    3. Among other things, the bill would force most property owners to cut residential rents by 25 percent, even for tenants who didn’t lose jobs because of the economic disaster. Supposedly it would be “temporary” for 12 months.

      In the spirit of St. Emmanuel Rahm, the Comrades of Proven Worth in the Democratic Party are using the pandemic as a pretext to push the boundaries on imposing their collectivist diktats on society. Once they’ve created a precedent that is not successfully challenged, they will escalate and move on to the next obstacle to a full collectivist takeover of the economy and means of production. The ultimate goal, once they’ve removed the 2nd Amendment as the ultimate check on tyranny, is the unfettered looting of the wealth and assets of their political opponents, with draconian punishments for Les Deplorables who resist. Forward, Soviet!

  6. “People in the short-term rental business are still looking toward the future with anxiety and trepidation as the county’s ban on short-term lodging looms over their financial stability. Patty Whetham owns Breckenridge Rental, a short-term rental hosting company. She said all of her income comes from her business and that she’s anticipating a 50% decrease in revenue for the year. ‘That’s my business,’ she said. ‘One hundred percent of my Breckenridge Rental income is based on short-term rentals.’”

    Are those things even legal? I don’t understand how they can operate, even in the absence of a deadly disease outbreak, oblivious to the local hotel code.

      1. Easy peasy solution: Fannie/Freddie buy ONE loan per person.
        Whenever a bank tries to sell a loan to Fannie, just check the SS number. If there’s already a mortgage in the system, say no. That would wipe out second homes overnight, not to mention AirBnB. Ditto for those VA loans.

          2. That was the thought. It would drag all recent mortgage takers towards underwaterness. Not that it isn’t going on already.

          3. I don’t know for sure, Blue. If the gov decides to only fund primary residences, that would limit the supply of new builds (which might not matter now, since so much overhang just came online). I suppose all AirBnB and vacation home would take a hit, but the ones in the resort areas wouldn’t affect my comps.

            But anyway, personally it would be difficult for my house to go underwater at this point. I’ve been there 8 years and paid down a lot of principle.

  7. Student housing collapse is just the tip of the iceberg:
    Hagens Berman: Student Sues Washington University in St. Louis Seeking Payback for COVID-19 Campus Closure-Related Losses

    Class-action lawsuit accuses Washington University in St. Louis of failing to adequately remedy tuition-payers in light of coronavirus outbreak, and loss of access to university amenities
    https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200512005980/en/Hagens-Berman-Student-Sues-Washington-University-St.

    1. ‘University of Colorado Boulder will begin furloughing employees in an effort to avoid layoffs, including most employees who cannot work on campus because of coronavirus and are unable to work remotely. CU Boulder is facing a budget shortfall ranging from $121 million to $651 million next year due to reduced state funding, increased costs related to coronavirus and loss of revenue from on-campus events, housing, dining and more.’

      ‘Most employees who have not been able to work on campus because of the pandemic and cannot work from home will no longer be paid through critical service pay or paid administrative leave, according to an announcement from Chancellor Phil DiStefano. Their pay will end by May 31.’

      https://www.timescall.com/2020/05/14/cu-boulder-furloughs-on-the-horizon/

      1. ‘facing a budget shortfall ranging from $121 million to $651 million next year’

        That’s the sort of accuracy one would expect from governmental accounting.

        1. -121M is what they’re hoping for, -651M is what they know it’s going to be if the campus remains closed and enough students don’t register for the online Fall semester, especially the out of state students who pay full freight.

          I have a friend in SoCal whose son was going to attend CU Boulder some years ago. When they arrived for orientation they found out that out of state tuition was being raised quite a bit. They left orientation, went back to the airport and flew home. His son eventually enrolled in Cal Poly.

          1. CU Boulder spends a tremendous amount of its ever-growing budget on pushing diversity, multiculturalism, feminism, LGBQT promotion, and all the other fruits of globalism run amok. Unsurprisingly, its quality of education, as at most universities run by cultural Marxists, gets worse every year.

          2. Out of state tuition is a scam. When I was in grad school 20-25 years ago, we all knew who the smart kids were because they had an out-of-state social security number. It was very hard to get in out of state.

            Now it’s very easy to get in out of state because you gotta pay. Someone in MD won’t get into UMD but they’ll get into UVA. Someone in VA won’t get into UVA but they’ll get into UMD. End result is the identical amount of education, except the schools get fancy new buildings and the kids (and ultimately the taxpayer) are stuck with unnecessary student loans.

  9. ‘Does a pandemic demand the strong medicine of censorship? Social-media companies seem to think so. They’re taking steps to control speech in the name of combating the spread of medical misinformation. Facebook employs “fact checkers” to review posts, makes those that don’t pass their test harder to find, and directs users to purportedly reliable sources like the World Health Organization. YouTube has taken down videos it deems inconsistent with science. Twitter plans to add warning labels to tweets that don’t pass muster with “subject-matter experts, such as public health authorities.”

    ‘Aaron Ginn’s story is a cautionary tale that even well-intended censorship can overreach, suppressing the search for truth. Mr. Ginn, 32, is the Silicon Valley technologist who posted an essay on March 20 titled “Evidence over hysteria—COVID-19” on the Medium website. Citing academic research and government data, Mr. Ginn argued that public-health experts were focusing too much on “flattening the curve . . . while ignoring the economic shock to our system” of shuttering businesses and schools and ordering Americans to stay home.’

    “When 13% of Americans believe they are currently infected with COVID-19 (mathematically impossible),” he wrote, “full-on panic is blocking our ability to think clearly and determine how to deploy our resources to stop this virus.” The message was well-timed—the day he posted it, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered “nonessential” New York businesses to close.’

    ‘Mr. Ginn’s essay drew 2.6 million page views in 24 hours—and a barrage of liberal criticism. Carl T. Bergstrom, a University of Washington biologist, called it “Shakespeare run through google translate into Japanese, then translated back to English by someone who’d never heard of Shakespeare.” Then Medium took it down, saying it violated rules under a “risk analysis framework we use for ‘Controversial, Suspect and Extreme content.’ ”

    ‘Yet if Medium meant to stifle debate, its action backfired. Mr. Ginn has since become an informal organizer of a small battalion of well-credentialed dissenters.’

    “I want this to be an open dialogue,” Mr. Ginn says. “But we shouldn’t have public-health people making economic policy. We need to have the policy makers who people vote for make those determinations.” After all, “we’re a democracy—we’re not China.”

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-lockdown-skeptic-they-couldnt-silence-11589566245

    ‘a barrage of liberal criticism’

    What the heck is going on with the political thing?

    2. ALL corporate social media is totalitarian.

      I have a Samsung Android phone, you can’t even delete the Facebook app from it, you can only disable it.

      1. Not true in a S9. I dont use Facebook and checked my apps; It was there and successfully uninstalled it.

      2. I was able to uninstall Fakebook from my Motorola android phone. Not that it matters, as I don’t have an account.

        1. That only works on “rooted” phones, and the nefarious App will reappear when the next Android update is pushed.

          1. Galaxy S20 with CCSWE Pro installed… Not rooted. All bloatware disabled. Well worth the $1.99.

      4. “I have a Samsung Android phone, you can’t even delete the Facebook app from it, you can only disable it.”

        I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus, and scrolling the installed Apps from the Settings gear icon I see Facebook has the status “disabled” to the lower right, but no option for complete deletion when I open its Settings, just Force Stop. Hence, 401 is correct. The phone could be “rooted,” i.e., admin access, but then the Banking Apps won’t work.

        1. How do you like the note 10 plus? I’m going to have to retire my Note 4 soon and do like the pen. But you can get a regular smartphone for a lot less.

          1. It’s a very nice Unlocked, Unbranded U.S. Qualcomm CPU phone, but it’s heavy and a bit too wide with a full Unicorn Beetle Pro case such that I can feel my tendons ache. A narrow tall design would allow easy holding, split screen stacked windows and rotate 90-degrees for full width websites. It has a wonderful battery life, and 512-Gb of lightening fast memory, so plenty of TOPO map storage for the GPS apps. The sensors are top shelf, more accurate GPS than my Garmin cycling and hiking devices, and the accelerometer and barometric altimeter are more sensitive than my hang gliding varometer. Of course the screen resolution and refresh is better than these instruments too. My fingers tend to get in the way of the rear camera due to it being up in the corner, but its photos have crisp color and sharp detail. Funny, I haven’t used the pen yet. I bought it used for $725 shipped on eBay a couple of months ago from someone who wanted a smaller phone.

    3. With this censorship, how are people going to learn about how 5G antenna cause coronavirus, bleach cure recipes, or about Bill Gate’s secret plan to put mind control microchips into the coronavirus vaccine?

      Enquiring minds want to know.

      1. Yeah, I see what you did there.

        ‘Clinton shared a tweet on Friday about protests at the state legislature in Michigan, commenting: “Armed men storming a legislature to disrupt its democratic proceedings is domestic terrorism. It cannot be tolerated.”

        Wait for it:

        ‘The Capitol building was closed because the legislature had been adjourned.’

        https://www.theepochtimes.com/hillary-clinton-denounces-michigan-lockdown-protests-as-domestic-terrorism_3353338.html

        1. The protesters kind of screwed the pooch there. Things are opening up around the country, and the death threats start. Now the governor is in a position where actually opening up looks like giving in to terrorist threats. Therefore she has to close the capitol, get them out of there and out of the media cycle before she can open up.

        2. “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

          — H. L. Mencken

        3. I have to ask an honest question: what does everybody have against masks/face coverings? Asking for a mask is NOT the same as being locked down.

          I’m basing my mask advocacy on the Czech Republic. They demanded masks on March 18, and guess what. Their curve is almost down to 0, with a case count around 50/day (down from 350 at peak), out of population of 11 million. And it’s been ONLY two months. They are gradually reopening, maskless. We could have done the same.

          1. Seems like the masks and social distancing should fall under ‘manners’. People are getting defensive of the right to be rude. I blame the Beastie Boys.

          2. “…the Czech Republic.”

            A great bicycle vacation destination. Lots of gorgeous statuesque eye candy, but it seems like they all smoke, lighting a new one from the butt.

          3. A great bicycle vacation destination

            “My people” (mom’s side) are from the border area with Poland, close to the Slovak border. I love being out there and hanging with the mountain folks/relatives. The city folks look at them similarly to how we look at people from the hollers of WV, but that’s OK :-). They can also hardly understand them even though they are technically all speaking the same language…which is also similar.

          4. Good question. I’ve lived in Asia, and it was common to see people wearing surgical masks, namely during the colder months of the year. And this was not during any notable epidemic, etc.

            Too many Americans now interpret “freedom” to mean “I can do whatever the he** I want, regardless of its impact on others (or even its legality).”

          5. but it seems like they all smoke, lighting a new one from the butt

            Same thing in Budapest. It seemed like everyone smoked.

          6. I have no issues with wearing a mask when I’m around other people. Think it makes good sense and is common courtesy in a time of pandemic.

      2. “We’ll just get rid of all the whites in the United States”

        May 5, 2020

        A complaint has been lodged against Dr. Carol Baker, who in this clip suggests that they should get rid of all whites in the United States.

        https://youtu.be/MsEIQzkcRZk

        Infowars.com – MAY 16, 2020

        Top CDC Official: ‘We’ll Just Get Rid of All Whites in the United States’ Who Refuse Vaccines

        A top Center for Disease Control official was caught on tape in 2016 saying that society should “get rid of of all the whites in the United States” to reduce the number of people who refuse vaccines.

        Dr. Carol Baker made the alarming remarks during the “Achieving Childhood Vaccine Success in the U.S.” panel discussion sponsored by the National Meningitis Association in New York City on May 9, 2016.

        “So I have the solution. Every study published in the last five years, when you look at vaccine refusers,” Baker told the panel. “I’m not talking about…hesitance, most of them we can talk into coming to terms. But refusers. We’ll just get rid of all the whites in the United States…Guess who wants to get vaccinated the most? Immigrants.”

        Notably, Baker was appointed Chair of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization by Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in 2009.

        1. The globalists and collectivists have gotten a bit too unguarded in their public statements when recording devices are around. They’re starting to drop the mask and show their true totalitarian nature. Imagine what they say when they think no one is listening. And these would-be Pol Pots think the heritage Americans they so despise are going to meekly give up their means of self-defense?

  10. citing uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as one reason.

    The other one being that “luxury student housing” was conceptually brain-dead stupid from the get go.

    1. moving to DC is more like moving closer to the politicians you need to bribe

      Makes it easier to deliver the brown envelopes.

      1. The USA is nothing but a Oligarchy at this point.

        Everything the Founders of this Country tried to protect us from has gone up in smoke.

        The founders didn’t like Corporations for instance ,so they didn’t let them put money into a election. Fast forward and the traitors in the Gov overturned that limit on Corps, so money buys elections.

        The high Court In their dumb logic ruled that a Corp cant be denied the right of a individuals. A corporation is not a individual , but rather a legal structure for commerce. So big money can influence election’s.

        Now some Big Corporations want to control what your allowed to hear or see on the web if it doesn’t fit into the narratives condoned by them. Same with Universities. Brainwashing with no counter argument.

        I really have never seen this level of attempt to control information in the USA before and it reminds me of Hilter, or China ,or Stalin.

        1. None of us are represented by the government anymore. The game is overrun by cheaters. Time to knock the table over and make a new game.

          1. None of us are represented by the government anymore. The game is overrun by cheaters. Time to knock the table over and make a new game.

            It’s a proven fact that we’re no longer represented. But sadly if you just knock the table over a lot of people die while all the people who want to set the rules for the new game fight it out. It would be nice if we could just clean off the table and go back to rule of law with the constitution.

          2. The Politicians turned their backs on what we use to call “the Silent Majority.* Basically it was the lower to slightly upper working class here in the USA. I will never forget how much better life was when the working stiff was represented.

            I don’t know what we have now because I have never seen anything like it.
            It’s 101 ways on how to take the control of life out of the hands of the individual.

            We are all sitting around thinking about what are they going to do next.

          3. “We are *all* sitting around thinking about what are they going to do next.”

            If you’re in debt then you’ll just have to turn around and “take one for the team” when ordered.

          5. …go back to rule of law with the constitution.

            It’s actually that simple. But I fear I will only see it continue going the other way.

    1. Even when they knew a half century ago that vitiamin D was vital to your immune function, and they did more than enough studies to confirm this,it’s treated like some new data worth testing they say now.

      The truth is medical industry discouraged spending time in the Sun, as well as supplements. Eggs were bad to eat , and only a magic pill or vaccine from big Pharma can save you. Big Pharma controls disease, bit never cures it, with a whole lot of side effects with the magic pills– just watch the commercials. –
      I’m just interested in a cure.im sure there are some illiness that does require long term medications , but I’m not talking about those.

      I know so many seniors that are on about 5 to 10 medications.

      I’m not going to take some rushed vaccine for Covid-19, so I hope they don’t make it mandatory.

      1. Nonfat yogurt with tons of sugar is the one that gets me. No wonder 80% of the broads over 30 that eat that junk are land whales. And don’t get me started on the Greek stuff.

        1. Not saying that Medical science doesn’t have some good stuff.
          Medical science is really good with injury, where they can stich you up and stop you from bleeding to death
          And the antibiotic was one of the greatest medical breakthru of all times, being a big lifesaver.

          And let’s face it, the medical industry has the dope for pain relief, as long as you don’t get hooked on it like a bunch of people did. If you get there in time they can stop a heart attack.

          I just down like the agenda of big Pharma .

          1. The GREATEST benefit to public health has been the installation of Sanitary Sewers, hand down. And almost ALWAYS taken for granted in Real Estate “looking” ….. then it backs up on the new owner! — Spoken by someone in a Guberment Office which is the first stop they come to when complaining about the “Suff” backing up.

      2. I’m just interested in a cure

        Well, there’s always HCQ. But you need to start the regimen at the beginning of symptoms (don’t even wait for a test), and you need to couple it with zinc. Azithromycin optional. It seems to work in France and South Korea and Costa Rica, but I guess Americans somehow don’t respond, right?

        I just heard that the NIH is going to start an HCQ study, IN OCTOBER, with results a year from now. And no zinc. They *want* this to fail, so they can storm in like white knights and save the world with some $$$ vaccine.

        2. Usually the cure is your own darn immune system killing the bug. I heard a doctor say last night that about 70 percent of the population is deficient in vitiamin D. 98% of the elderly is deficient from nursing homes.

          I know zinc and vitamin c are important, but vitiamin D is the big star . If you get a bad case your going to need some of that stuff your talking about. I guess I’m talking more about prevention of a bad case of C19.Im hoping they will come up with a effective drug for a bad case , which is more like emergency medicine.

          1. “Usually the cure is your own darn immune system killing the bug.”

            If you’re lucky. I walked past someone at Walmart who I used to work with and who is also retired, but he didn’t recognize me behind my mask. He looked awful, bloated with that red waxy skin…like Prednisone did to Hillary’s face.

          3. If you get a bad case your going to need some of that stuff your talking about.

            I understand what you’re saying, but if you wait until you know you have “bad case,” you’re too late for HCQ to work (it can still work, but not as well). If it’s any help, quercetin has a similar (but much weaker) effect as HCQ. And it’s OTC.

    1. There’s so much crime and fraud involved with these Realtors, inspectors and mortgage salesman, it’s difficult to make heads or tails of this stuff.

    3. Oddly enough, I used to live just a few blocks up the hill from that place almost 30 years ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if the previous owner went back home to meheeco. Has to be fraud to have such a value, not worth a quarter of the ask given freeway noise and the general area. Airport noise is much worse in point Loma.

    4. Ben, did your foreclosure company take off wallpaper too? That goes a REALLY long way. I’m still convinced that the reason nobody bought my house was the screaming wallpaper. I was the only one willing to steam it off and separately wash the glue.

  15. ‘For the first time ever, we’re having negative earnings,’ he said.”

    Better divest yourself of those money-bleeding alligators, Mervyn.

  16. “She’s sympathetic to those who canceled. But she says she needs the $25,000 in rents to pay the mortgages on her two Shore properties.

    Sounds like you overpaid, Kelly, and have a fundamentally flawed plan for covering your costs.

      1. Nice :-). Doesn’t matter though. The real money is in the appreciation. Just gotta keep your head above water long enough to rake it in later.

  17. Property owners who may be balking at returning deposits may be coping with their own tight circumstances. ‘The owners not able to deliver the deposit, they’re very much under water right now,’ he said.

    So greedy speculators bought massively overpriced shacks assuming a steady flow of “guests” would cover their costs. Who’d have thunk such a genius plan would prove to be non-viable.

  18. Scott Kingsmore, the CFO, said that Macerich collected about 26% of its billed rent in April and, as of May 8, had received about 18% of the May rent.

    The Tysons Corner area is in the heart of McLean, VA. Probably 80% of those apartment dwellers work for FedGov. A substantial percentage of Federal employees are Democrats, who would freeload on general principle, but if that well-compensated cohort isn’t paying their rent, the downward spiral is worse than I thought.

    1. Most of the Fedgov is working at home and still collecting paychecks. I don’t think those apartment buildings are full of fedgov, or even fedcontractor.

      1. Oxide,

        To continue our talk about bad cases of this virus.
        Don’t you smell hidden agendas with Dr Fauci, the Dr of Doom?

        1. https://defyccc.com/covid-19-panel-gilead-ties/

          “Nine members of the Panel tasked with determining acceptable COVID-19 treatments have disclosed financial ties to Gilead, the manufacturer of Remdesivir. However, at least 7 other members failed to disclose their financial ties to Gilead and a number of other panel members appear to have links to Gilead that require no disclosure. Together, Gilead-linked individuals made up a majority of this panel.”

    2. collected about 26% of its billed rent in April and, as of May 8, had received about 18% of the May rent.

      Wowser!

      I’d love to know how many people in my relatively low-cost rental community here in Las Vegas are not paying.

  19. “A luxury student housing complex planned to open in Midtown just across from the University of Florida campus has filed for bankruptcy, citing uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as one reason.

    Add luxury student housing to the long list of things that simply couldn’t exist if the Fed and its deranged money printing hadn’t caused every type of speculative malinvestment to flourish unchecked.

  20. The loan matures in November, and Sunstone is exploring options, including handing the hotel over to the lender.

    Handing off underwater properties to lenders is going to happen on an epic scale, and there’s nothing the Fed or Congress can do to stop a financial collapse of Biblical proportions, given all the rot that’s built up in the system.

  21. The average sales price saw the steepest decline in Tribeca, where the average dropped from $7.1 million to $3.8 million, representing a 46% decrease year-over-year.”

    Is that a lot?

    1. I doubt 5% of Americans have any understanding of the Fed, it’s policies, and how those policies are making the uber rich richer and nearly everyone else poorer.

    2. From that article: “The dirty little secret is that America’s economy implodes once debt stops expanding.”

      AKA the “everything bubble.”

    3. “Under the tender care of the Federal Reserve, America’s wealth inequality has skyrocketed to new heights of obscenity as America’s billionaires feasted off the Fed’s recent stock market rally. By some accounts, billionaire Jeff Bezos added $24 billion to his personal wealth in the past week or two as the Fed’s master game plan–push stocks higher, no matter what–has further enriched the few who own most of America’s wealth.”

      You have to wonder if the situation might not look a lot different if the Fed had left its hands off the financial markets and aimed their Quarantinive Easing firehose at Main Street. Everyone’s ma and pa could be a millionaire by now! Instead Bezos and the other wealthy elite are raking it in while Ma and Pa stand in the unemployment line.

  24. Do you take requests, Ben? You have spoken often of your first hand experiences with the Texas bust in the 80’s. It seems to me this bust should be far deeper for Texas this time around. Almost a perfect storm. It would be interesting to see an occasional special report series that tracks their plunge over the cliff. I would think Midland/Odessa would become craters as well as a number of other cities to north of them that really have nothing to offer. Houston should become a special kind of mess as well. Perhaps thousands of formerly literally underwater homes sitting vacant in the heat. Is anyone going to want to touch those? I sure wouldn’t. How about you?

    1. It’s a long complicated story. The 80’s bust was largely commercial real estate made terrible by the S&L debacle. Lots of people lost shacks too but that was because of job loss. Fast forward to 2005 and DFW had around 50k foreclosures. They had de-coupled from the rest of US. Now they are in a full housing and CRE bubble with everybody else. The federal loan caps made that possible. What used to buy you a ranch now gets you a mcmansion on a tiny lot north of Dallas.

      Dallas isn’t that oil reliant, it’s real estate. The thing that makes DFW seem more vulnerable to me is scale. It’s magnitudes larger than in the 80’s. Along with the other metros, their boom has been hyper-extended way past what an ordinary cycle would last. Unfortunately Texas embraced the ludicrous shack prices formerly seen in states like California, and they will pay for it. So yeah, I think DFW is set up for whopper of a collapse. And I plan to get in the foreclosure business there. Houston and Austin are similarly doomed. West Texas doesn’t matter because it’s so small population wise and they crash and burn regularly. I wouldn’t mind picking up some apartments out there in foreclosure because I believe in the long term job prospects of shale.

      2. “Unfortunately Texas embraced the ludicrous shack prices formerly seen in states like California, and they will pay for it.”

        It can’t have helped that swarms of Californians migrated to Texas in recent years, exporting their bubble by outbidding the locals on housing purchased using the proceeds of a California home sale.

    1. As a noted economist stated, “Get what you can get for your house today because it’s going to be less tomorrow for decades to come.”

      Earlier this evening, my friend in Clownifornia called me. He and his brother inherited a house in Redlands (San Bernardino County) after their dad died last summer.

      I nagged him to get that thing fixed up and sold ASAP, because I was sure the bubble was gonna burst soon.

      Well, they dragged their feet and are still sitting on it. Apparently planning to ride it all the way down. He said someone has expressed interest or actually offered $400K for it. But, he insists, “We’re not going to give it away!” Yes, he actually said it.

      1. “We’re not going to give it away!”

        A guy in Jupiter Fl. was asking $400k for his house in 2007, he turned down $370k.

        He sold it, in 2009 for $190k.

        “Apparently planning to ride it all the way down.”

        https://youtu.be/mJ4ffTLdSZU

      2. I still remember, with great dismay, how quickly the bubble reinflated last time. People who had been foreclosed or BK’d just a few years before were able to get new loans, while we watched in disbelief (and a few of us even stamped our little feet)

    1. The good part is in NYC if you did this and you had a rent controlled or stabilized apartment that is grounds for permanent termination of your lease. You cant profit off your apartment. There are no defenses in court for this.

  27. We got our own Mouth Merkin Army on the blog….. go hide in your shanties for the rest of your lives.

  31. Stupidity can be deadly.

    Feds warn of attacks related to bogus COVID-19 conspiracy theory
    DHS document says threats against telecom “will probably increase.”
    By
    Josh Margolin
    May 16, 2020, 9:04 AM
    7 min read

    What started as a bizarre and bogus conspiracy theory involving the novel coronavirus in Britain has apparently crossed the Atlantic Ocean, U.S. law enforcement officials believe, and they are now increasingly worried about the possibility for real-world violence.

    “We assess conspiracy theories linking the spread of COVID-19 to the expansion of the 5G cellular network are inciting attacks against the communications infrastructure globally and that these threats probably will increase as the disease continues to spread, including calls for violence against telecommunications workers,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported Wednesday in an intelligence report obtained by ABC News.

    “Violent extremists have drawn from misinformation campaigns online that claim wireless infrastructure is deleterious to human health and helps spread COVID-19, resulting in a global effort by like-minded individuals to share operational guidance and justification for conducting attacks against 5G infrastructure, some of which have already prompted arson and physical attacks against cell towers in several US states,” the report concluded.
    …

      1. The entire goddamn thing is a scam….. and they destroyed millions of lives over it.

      2. outrageous death rates

        And they are telling us like it was proven fact that they saved us all with the quasi quarantine.

  32. Narrative to underpin next week’s planned Wall Street rally:
    – The economy is bad, but it’s already hit bottom.
    – Things can only get better from here on out.

    Too bad that Mr Market is thus far vastly overvalued compared with “worse than expected” fundamentals which “nobody could have foreseen”.

    It’s hard to rise off overvalued levels without creating a ginormous, unstable bubble.

    1. The economy can only start to recover from its coronavirus meltdown once it hits rock bottom. Are we there yet?
      Published: May 16, 2020 at 2:15 p.m. ET
      By Jeffry Bartash
      The U.S. faces a long road to recovery. Is it already starting?

      Investors will largely get a break this coming week from all the awful U.S. economic news before the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but not because things are getting better. They’re not.

      Last week brought news of a record 16.4% plunge in retail sales, another 2.6 million layoffs, and a huge drop in inflation. Lower inflation is usually a good thing, but not in the current environment when businesses have to slash prices to stay alive and keep workers on the job.

      Economic data due for publication in the upcoming week is sparse. On tap: A few million additional jobless claims or layoffs — unthinkable just a few months ago — and more evidence the housing market has taken a hit like every other major part of the U.S. economy.

      The best that can be hoped for is the economy has finally hit rock bottom. A few scattered reports suggest it might be the case.
      …

  33. The globalists and their collectivist minions are watching enviously as China shows how to deal with Les Deplorables and challengers of The Narrative. It’s telling how Orwellian Chinese mass surveillance and control schemes like face-reading cameras everywhere and social credit scores on everyone are being promoted by progressives in the U.S.

    https://summit.news/2020/05/15/report-china-has-jailed-hundreds-of-people-for-questioning-official-coronavirus-narrative/

    1. The reply tweets are pretty good. Next up, Great provides her expertise on the NFL draft.

  35. “Beneath the fetishization of the mask is obedience training. Watching people walking in the great outdoors masked and re-inhaling their own respiratory effluent is a real through the looking glass moment.”

    — Martin McPhillips

  37. My worse nightmare is playing out with what is taking place.

    Could you have a bigger display of who wants to control this Country?

    It’s just unnerving that the suppression of information
    Is occurring. Reminds me of the book burning in Nazi Germany.

    I think the seeds of this nightmare started with Agenda 21 in the 90s. Agenda 21 was a sustainable earth plan of a one Word order. They wanted to move people to dense City centers.
    It wasn’t voted on or anything like that. The Agenda 21 was very Commie under the guise of saving the Earth.
    So, it doesn’t surprise me that the Climate Change narrative came about, and other trends of control of the population, while the power brokers have been stealing the wealth from regular people.

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