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Forbearance On Terms Which No One Can Accept

A report from the Wall Street Journal. “With interest rates falling to the lowest level on record, this should be a banner time for households in search of a new mortgage. It isn’t. Mortgage availability has tightened sharply as lenders impose tougher income, credit-score and down-payment conditions and drop some loan types altogether, such as home-equity lines of credit. Trouble began in March when pandemic-related shutdowns frightened investors, prompting them to dump nearly all types of financial assets, including mortgage-backed securities. As their prices fell, yields rose, rippling through to mortgage rates.”

“A weak economy puts borrowers at greater risk of losing a job and defaulting, and typically leads to tighter credit—but not this tight. Markets froze for so-called jumbo loans, which are too large for government backing, usually those that exceed $510,400. More surprising, similar problems have hit the market for mortgages guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie.”

“In the past, forbearance was so rare it rarely entered into consideration. They say the fees Fannie and Freddie require to buy certain loans in forbearance force lenders to sell at losses, making them cautious on all new loans. The FHFA ‘has agreed to buy loans in forbearance on terms which no one can accept,’ said Lou Barnes, a third-generation mortgage banker in Boulder, Colo.”

“Another problem is that lenders must keep remitting interest and principal to investors even when a borrower is in arrears, a strain for the many lenders that aren’t banks with deposits or other business lines on which to draw. ‘Congress passes the Cares Act and provides forbearance for borrowers, but not for lenders,’ said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin. Redfin initially increased its minimum credit score to 700 from 650. It has since relaxed the minimum, but Mr. Kelman said the loans for self-employed borrowers and others who have difficulty documenting stable incomes won’t be eligible.”

“‘I don’t think that’s what the federal government intended. We are worried someone is going to ask for forbearance before we can sell the loan to investors,’ Mr. Kelman said.”

From CNN Business. “Amy Offield always dreamed of running a vacation rental in Galveston, Texas. Five years ago, she and her husband Chris got their wish and bought a house there minutes away from the beach. But as coronavirus spread across the United States in March, Offield, who has been a full-time Airbnb host for nearly two years, started seeing a wave of cancellations. After the long dry spell, her husband losing his software sales job and the continued burden of mortgage payments on the home, Offield made the difficult decision to sell the beach bungalow and shut down her Airbnb business.”

“‘It’s been kind of an emotional roller coaster,’ Offield told CNN Business. ‘We’ve lost pretty much all of our income in the last three months.'”

“A number of Airbnb hosts are planning to sell their properties — at an uncertain moment for the broader real estate market — or get rid of some of their rentals as well as the furniture they bought to deck out their homes. These desperate moves come as hosts face the possibility of losing thousands of dollars a month in canceled bookings while bills, maintenance costs and mortgage payments pile up.”

“Christina Zima, an Airbnb host for nine years, has managed 25 homes full-time primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, only one of which she owns herself. ‘I’m scrambling trying to figure out what I’m going to do, and what’s going to happen in the future,’ Zima said. ‘I’m not making money. With the Airbnb business, I am just trying to minimize my losses. Only one of the houses is meeting its expenses, meaning my rent and utilities.'”

“Some hosts who feel the need to sell are waiting just a little bit longer. Cindy Cabrales and her husband decided to sell one of their three Airbnbs — in Boulder, Colorado — but they’re holding out for now because they have one more booking in July that so far hasn’t canceled. ‘The margins are so low, it doesn’t make sense to keep it,’ Cabrales said. ‘The pandemic just pushes it over the edge.'”

The Cape May County Herald on New Jersey. “‘We can’t make plans,’ Mayor Don Cabrera said recently, ‘it’s not good.’ As the Jersey Shore continues under the temporary rental ban, local real estate, hotel/motel owners, and renters brace for a hard economic landing. Although the short term rental ban will lift May 26, the loss of income due to cancellations climbs. Cabrera and his wife, Jeanine, feel the market strain both personally and politically. Owners of Cabrera Property Management, 35 properties from Avalon to Cape May are under their care, along with 10 full-time staff members.”

“‘I am personally affected,’ Cabrera said. Due to cancellations, the mayor has suffered a loss of about $20 to $30 thousand. One property owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said Gov. Phil Murphy is responsible for the economic and personal agony of the state and the Wildwoods.”

From Bridge Michigan. “Janice Cutting manages three AirBNBs in Ann Arbor near the University of Michigan. Profits are elusive, she said. Two of her units are leased in a rental arbitrage arrangement that lets her manage them as short-term rentals. She pays a rental rate higher than a long-term occupant would. Faced with little demand, she rented some days ‘at cost or below,’ she said. ‘I figure some money is better than nothing.'”

“Looking ahead, with hotels and short-term rentals still not openly allowed under Michigan’s stay-at-home orders, she sees limited options for turnaround. ‘I have no real future reservations,’ said Cutting.”

The St. Augustine Record in Florida. “Jason Kovach, whose full-time job is running two Airbnb listings in Avondale, said he also has considered turning his guest house into an apartment. But he said he’s spent so much money on high-end furniture that he doesn’t want to give up on renting it out on Airbnb yet. ‘They shot the whole industry in the foot with no short-term rentals,’ said.”

“Kovach said he’s been able to survive the loss of income so far, but he’s had to work with his credit union to suspend payments on a loan he took out to renovate his home. ‘When the panic set in, everything just stopped. Then you start thinking: How am I going to make money? The Airbnb was my full-time job,’ he said.”

The Miami Herald in Florida. “Sales of both condos and single-family homes dropped nearly 40% in Miami-Dade and Broward from the same month in 2019, according to the Miami Association of Realtors April 2020 report. ‘Activity nearly dropped to zero starting in the end of March,’ said Juan Aluma, an agent with One Sotheby’s International Realty. ‘There were almost no calls from buyers. I advised sellers not to list their homes. What I can equate it to is when you go fishing and you have a bait. If you throw a stone into the water, it doesn’t matter how big that bait is, no fishes will come.'”

From Brownstoner in New York. “Another week, another look back at four of our featured listings from six months ago, focusing on homes in Beverly Square West, Fort Greene, Windsor Terrace and Cobble Hill. How did they fare? A large circa 1900 standalone house in Beverly Square West sold in April for $1.9 million, which was $200,000 below the original ask. A four-story brick Italianate townhouse in Fort Greene has been gut renovated and given a designer upgrade. This former House of the Day is still available at a new price of $3.5 million, a price cut of $850,000.”

“Finally, singer-songwriter Norah Jones purchased an extra-wide Greek Revival townhouse in the Cobble Hill Historic District a decade ago and lavishly customized it. The layout is essentially unchanged, but the mechanical and luxury additions are quite significant. This former House of the Day sold in March for $7.5 million, which was $500,000 below the original ask.”

From Variety on California. “While coronavirus woes have financially slammed nearly every industry, real estate has been among the hardest-hit of all. Since the shelter-in-place restrictions took effect in March, property sales in major cities like Los Angeles have mostly ground to a screeching halt that’s only now morphed back into a timid crawl. And the ultra-high-end sector — homes priced above $10 million — has been particularly impacted, with jumbo mortgages all but extinct and buyers reluctant to cut large checks in a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty.”

“Last month, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick paid $43.3 million in cash for his new Bel Air mansion, a whopping 42% discount off the original $75 million list price. And beauty mogul Kylie Jenner recently tossed down $36.5 million for her Holmby Hills compound, a 34% reduction from its initial $55 million ask.”

“Last week, a brand-new mansion in Beverly Hills sold for $23.5 million, the city’s biggest residential transaction since the arrival of COVID-19. But that’s still 36% less than what the seller originally wanted in early 2019, when the house was first offered at $36.5 million. Built on speculation by billionaire Vera Guerin, the Beverly Hills-based heiress to a California real estate empire, the stately two-story structure sits just north of Sunset Boulevard.”

“Despite the still-huge $23.5 million sale price, it remains unclear if Guerin reaped any sort of significant profit on her investment. Records reveal she bought the property in 2014 for $10.1 million, razed the existing house, and subsequently spent untold millions more on plans, permits and construction fees for her lavish spec-project. With realtor commissions, closing costs and taxes factored into the equation, the potential income received from the sale shrinks even further.”

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  1. ‘When the panic set in, everything just stopped. Then you start thinking: How am I going to make money? The Airbnb was my full-time job’

    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

    1. “Jason Kovach, whose full-time job is running two Airbnb listings in Avondale…..How am I going to make money? The Airbnb was my full-time job

      Hahaha. F**k you.

      1. Kovach

        Going off on a tangent here, but I think this dude’s name is an Anglicized version of ‘Kovacs’, which in Hungarian is pronounced Kovach.

      2. My thoughts did not quite go to the same extreme — I was thinking more along the lines of “do those of us who actually do have full time jobs get to laugh out loud at that?” — but, yeah.

  2. ‘Christina Zima, an Airbnb host for nine years, has managed 25 homes full-time primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, only one of which she owns herself. ‘I’m scrambling trying to figure out what I’m going to do, and what’s going to happen in the future,’ Zima said. ‘I’m not making money. With the Airbnb business, I am just trying to minimize my losses. Only one of the houses is meeting its expenses, meaning my rent and utilities’

    Two words Christina: flying cars.

    1. ‘I’m scrambling trying to figure out what I’m going to do, and what’s going to happen in the future,’ Zima said. ‘I’m not making money. With the Airbnb business, I am just trying to minimize my losses. Only one of the houses is meeting its expenses, meaning my rent and utilities’

      Broken arrow!

      Broken arrow?

      That means an American position has been overrun and calls in every combat aircraft for support.

      My God, there’s no hiding it now.

      https://youtu.be/F3v_UfgAisE

    2. What about self-driving ridesharing cars, with robotic passengers?

      No human occupants, no COVID-19 worries!

  3. ‘I don’t think that’s what the federal government intended. We are worried someone is going to ask for forbearance before we can sell the loan to investors’

    See Glenn here, who is a master at losing money flipping shacks, wants the rest of us to eat his bad loans. Looks like the FHFA is sticking to their guns though, so Glenn might have to:

    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

    1. The new FHFA director is a Godsend for saving those of us who want to have no part in harebrained real estate investing experiments like Glenn’s from having to eat his losses for him, after he and the investors got to privately enjoy the fruits of speculation during the boom years.

      1. Triggers abound, but the only actual cause of bankruptcy is debt.

        Expecting that you’ll never experience divorce, illness, weather or job loss in your entire working career is simply magical thinking.

        1. divorce

          One of my husband’s childhood buddies is looking at a divorce from his psycho wife of 10+ years. He’s a 56yo engineer with a 10yo son. He’ll never financially recover. My husband and the best man at the wedding advised him to get a prenup. He told her and she shut him off from his three childhood buddies. She then shut him off from his college buddies because an old girlfriend was part of that group. The three childhood buddies had all been divorced, two with children, by the time they got married. Their first Christmas together they got in a huge fight over a set of sheets because she expecting a ring. We all saw the warning signs.

          1. Sounds like he needed to grow a pair. Now he’ll pay for the rest of his life since he didn’t. I am the only one in my large group of friends who never married. I was always too cynical. Only one couple remains, the rest divorced, many are on their second marriages (of which some are already on shaky ground).

          2. Love can be blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid.

            “He’s a 56yo engineer …”

            Very smart in one sense, very stupid in another, as in right brain/left brain.

            Something I picked up: Skillful women hang around the finish line and do their choosing from the winners.

            A successful engineer is a winner. If he is smart in one area of his life and dumb in another then he can become easy pickings for a skillful woman in search of a human wallet.

          5. Ive always believed women are equal so when i get paid i took you out and when you got paid you took me out. If not then you go find yourself a sugar daddy. You both have to be on the same page when it comes to money or its not going to last. Everything else seems to work itself out just fine.

          6. Engineers are big time targets for gold diggers (silver maybe? engineers don’t make that much, lol). Hoes just looking for a meal ticket. Its amazing to watch them in action especially when the little hamster in their head starts running hard as they try and figure out if a guy has money or not.

            Cant buy me love they sang, and they knew all too well.

          7. I love divorce stories like this.

            And reading article after article about how marriage in the U.S. keeps hitting new all-time lows.

          9. How old

            When it naturally came up at a party, she claimed it was rude to ask a woman her age. Whatever. She’s probably mid-40s now. She definitely had that “need to land this guy sooner than later if I want a kid” and from what I hear his mom was a psycho too.

          11. You both have to be on the same page when it comes to money or its not going to last.

            Totally agree even though I was arguably a sugar momma pre-kid.

          13. his mom was a psycho too Reminds me of lines from that old song, went something like this:

            I want a girl just like the girl
            That married dear old Dad
            She was psycho and the only sicko
            That Daddy ever had
            A good old-fashioned psycho
            With brain so scrambled…

          14. We all saw the warning signs. except for the one who most needed clear vision at that moment but who walked into it like a blind man entering a barroom fight.

          15. Love can be blind, deaf, dumb, and stupid. That was me until I was 50. I grew too soon old and too late smart, except for that one key bit of self-knowledge.

  5. ‘A number of Airbnb hosts are planning to sell their properties — at an uncertain moment for the broader real estate market — or get rid of some of their rentals as well as the furniture they bought to deck out their homes. These desperate moves come as hosts face the possibility of losing thousands of dollars a month in canceled bookings while bills, maintenance costs and mortgage payments pile up’

    via GIPHY

    1. This is clearly a blessing in disguise, as legitimate hotel owners may regain their market share after the economy comes back, while homes that were taken out of circulation by AirBnB mini-moguls may now return to local markets, helping to restore affordability.

      It’s clearly a win-win!

      1. How was this scam ever allowed in the first place? Another case of our “betters” asleep at the switch, or worse…

        1. This scam, like every other scam, happened because money changed hands. Local party machines are overwhelmingly of an affiliation that is on the make and on the take, and always looking for corrupt and lucrative arrangements.

    2. “Amy Offield always dreamed of running a vacation rental in Galveston, Texas”

      Her life’s dream was to buy an overpriced stick-built shack in hurricane alley?

    1. The Geurin house is dull. So is the Kalanik house.
      I like Kylie’s house more than I want to admit. At least it’s unique. It’s, I dunno, neon Egyptian?

    2. I like the Guerin house the best of the 3, but none of them are really singing to me. It’s why I didn’t make an offer.

  7. A report from the Wall Street Journal.

    “Trouble began in March when pandemic-related shutdowns frightened investors, prompting them to dump nearly all types of financial assets, including mortgage-backed securities. As their prices fell, yields rose, rippling through to mortgage rates.”

    “In the past, forbearance was so rare it rarely entered into consideration. They say the fees Fannie and Freddie require to buy certain loans in forbearance force lenders to sell at losses, making them cautious on all new loans. The FHFA ‘has agreed to buy loans in forbearance on terms which no one can accept,’ said Lou Barnes, a third-generation mortgage banker in Boulder, Colo.”

    On Forbearance:
    1) The majority of Americans were never in worse financial shape before a recession; most had less than $1000 saved for a rainy day. Then the lockdowns largely killed employment. This was a huge mistake, and one which we’ll all be paying for over the next several years as the economy gets back on its feet in an “L”-shaped recovery vs. the widely anticipated “V”-shaped recovery. Just to keep perspective here though: The pandemic only accelerated the economic contraction, which was “baked into the cake” and already beginning, by loose and easy Fed monetary and other unconventional policies after the GFC in 2008-2009.
    2) Lenders, esp. non-bank, assumed GSEs and related housing agencies (read taxpayer-backed) would “bail them out” if things got bad. This is a) other people’s money + b) moral hazard, pure and simple, and has been driving housing and stock markets after the GFC of 2008-2009. This is the Fed’s “wealth effect.” Cuts both ways.
    3) Recall that the gov’t. nationalized the housing markets after the GFC by taking over the GSEs, and so, no wonder lenders were expecting a bailout. Why would it be different this time?
    4) Forbearance isn’t forgiveness. After 90 days in most cases, loan-owners will be required to make the missed payments. In full. All at once. This is the case as I understood it. Maybe things have changed (?).
    5) It’s entirely normal in this part of the business credit cycle for lenders to tighten credit and lending standards in general. This isn’t surprising, it’s just that the pandemic caught everyone off-guard and brought events forward in time. No one should have been speculating (on virtually every asset class), but 10+ years of easy money encouraged it. Musical chairs seems like fun, but not when you’re playing with real money. Now the music has stopped; some found a chair, and some didn’t.
    6) It looks like MBS (i.e. bundling mortgages and selling them off to investors with “exaggerated” ratings) is a “thing” again, just like last time around, along with relaxed lending standards. While it’s not exactly the same as last time, there are some striking parallels, but “it’s different this time.”
    7) This is a “Force Majeure” event. It will be difficult to fill the vacuum left in mortgage and rent payments and all of the downstream effects to lenders and banks without forgiveness. ‘You can’t get blood from a turnip.” It will be interesting to see how this plays out after end of the forbearance period. Not many can come up with three months rent or mortgage payments, esp. if unemployed. Interesting times indeed.

    “It’s déjà vu all over again.” – Yogi Berra

    “What we have learned from history is that we haven’t learned from history.” – British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli

    “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein (misattributed) – Narcotics Anonymous

    1. most had less than $1000 saved for a rainy day

      But many had a $30K SUV in the driveway.

        1. Either way they can’t afford it.

          It’s so nice each month when I look at my budget in Excel and I don’t see a car payment anywhere on it.

          2. I look at my budget in Excel

            I’ve been doing a budget on a spreadsheet since way before that meant pencil and a special pad of paper (with grid lines).

            With no debts and no co-spenders in the house I don’t need to look at it hardly at all.

    2. Just read that the local library will be a curbside pickup location for free kids meals.

      I wonder what the impoverished in the 3rd world think of Americans, driving up in cars they could only dream about owning and that cost more than their entire lifetime incomes, getting free premade lunches for their children, because they’re broke.

      1. I honestly want to have compassion ….. but:

        How man then drive home to watch their CABLE TV.

        1. Sorry meant to say “How many than drive home to watch TV on a platform that they pay MONEY for” said by a man who watches FREE over the air Antenna TV.

          1. One of the reasons I cut the cord over 10 years ago was because I came to the conclusion that there was nothing worth watching, even if it was free, nevermind paying $80 a month for it. I have an indoor antenna, which I rarely use.

            Comcast is constantly sending me love letters with deals to upgrade my internet package with cable. When I see what people watch on TV, I feel like an alien from another planet.

          2. When I see what people watch on TV, I feel like an alien from another planet.

            +1. I haven’t had a TV (or similar service) since 2005.

          3. “…cut the cord…”

            That reminds me of a funny story from my wife’s childhood that got retold over the weekend. My MIL didn’t care much for my wife’s and her siblings’ viewing choices. The penalty for disagreement with my MIL’s ratings systems was for her to cut the TV chord with a scissors. Once cooler heads prevailed, my FIL would come to the children’s rescue by splicing the chord at the cut point.

            After many repetitions of the cycle of filial rebellion maternal retribution, and paternal repair, the chord reportedly became quite short.

          4. “cut the cord” I once knew an engineer who would fiddle with the innards of the TV when he tired of the kids wasting time watching it. Kids got pretty good at fixing dad’s fiddling, a couple of them later became engineers also.

    3. the widely anticipated “V”-shaped recovery

      We’re going to have a “VL” shaped recovery. Or, depending on the Fed, a “squareroot-L” shaped recovery.

  8. DOW is up ~600, S&P over 3000. I’m gonna sell me a little more stock, among other things. I think in two weeks the DOW is going to dive again when the Memorial Day cases shoot up.

    1. “DOW is up ~600, S&P over 3000.”

      – The “markets” are now largely Fed-driven. Check out their never-to-be-normalized balance sheet. Buying U.S. Treas. (debt monetization), Corp. bonds, MBS, etc. “Whatever it takes.” That worked out well for Europe too.
      – Bear markets are characterized by strong rallies on some days.
      – Corp. earnings used to matter. At some point they will again, at least until the Fed starts buying stocks a la Japan. We’re on the road to completely nationalized financial markets. Recall that a centrally-planned, command and control economy never worked out based on the historical record.
      – The stock indices are now the Fed/Gov’t. chosen indicators of economic “health.”
      – They accurately depict the economic health of Main St. and the overall U.S. economy as a whole, including the “low” unemployment rate and negative GDP. /s
      – Recall that long-term returns in the stock market depend on the level of the entry point valuations. While stocks may be the fav. Fed barometer (because it’s easy to manipulate), this says that returns over the next several years will be negative due to historically extreme valuations. This is crazy stuff! Buy high and sell low! Yeah, that’s worked out well over history…
      – I’d be surprised if the S&P 500 exceeds 3100 in this relief/bear market rally. If correct assessment, then we’re going much lower from here, with the next leg lower by Q3, ’20, if not before, IMHO.
      – Not investment advice. Good luck trading!

      2. It seems to all depend now on the rate of Fed balance sheet expansion.

        Will they be able to continue their recent rate of expansion indefinitely?

        Probably not.

        And look out below when they break the news to Wall Street.

        1. Will they be able to continue their recent rate of expansion indefinitely?

          Probably not.

          They can do whatever they want. They operate unchecked.

          1. There will be long term consequences, but as long as we remain in a deflationary environment they can print away with wild abandon.

          2. I wasn’t talking about permissions. We already know they have carte blanche to print any amount or purchase whatever assets they choose at will.

            The question is at what point does the economic damage from an unprecedented rate of balance sheet expansion become unsustainable?

          3. “…but as long as we remain in a deflationary environment…”

            Deflationary?

            Have you been to a grocery store lately?

          4. The question is at what point does the economic damage from an unprecedented rate of balance sheet expansion become unsustainable?

            What kind of damage? As far as I can tell, the FED is the buyer of last resort and merely parks everything on said balance sheet, to rot away for decades.

          6. Deflationary?

            Have you been to a grocery store lately?

            Yeah, I hear deflation mentioned a lot here. But I’m hard-pressed to see it in my daily life.

            Gasoline went down a bit, but not as much as oil did. Rents and shack prices may be going down already, but my lease runs through November so that won’t help me until then. Stawks are off their highs. But things I shop for on a regular basis do not seem to be less expensive.

          8. Deflationary?

            Have you been to a grocery store lately?

            What was it that used to get said around here 12 years ago? Deflation in the things you want, inflation in the things you need?

          9. The question is at what point does the economic damage from an unprecedented rate of balance sheet expansion become unsustainable?

            When every time you go to the supermarket you notice that everything costs more than last week.

            I lived in such an environment once (in Mexico). And when that happens you don’t hang onto cash. I recall that when people would get a windfall, they would immediately try to buy some commodity they could resell later for a higher price: bags of cement, rebar, bricks, bags of granulated plastic (for injection molding), etc. Cars actually appreciated, though not as much as commodities. I knew people who would buy cases of Presidente Brandy and resell it later when they needed cash.

          10. Just purchased 16 gallons of gas for $10 in Mesquite, Nevada. There were some discounts involved with the purchase, but nowhere in California can you buy gas for so low a price.

          11. Deflationary?

            Have you been to a grocery store lately?

            Every week. I read stories about price inflation at the store, but I’m not seeing it, though I’m not seeing deflation there either.

          12. Deflation in the things you want, inflation in the things you need?

            That sounds like a saying from the early 80s. Anyway, high food prices are due to a legitimate shortage, not just the money manipulation. Maybe this weekend I’ll take another trip to the grocery to see what’s going on with the meat supply. I read today that the meat shortages haven’t begun yet; there is still some supply in the pipe from late March. The shortages will start soon when the pipe empties out.

          13. the meat shortages haven’t begun yet

            No they haven’t, and they’re not about to.

            The farmer’s herds are alive and well. I’ve seen them. Cattle are not a myth.

          14. There were some discounts involved

            Gas is over $2/gallon in Las Vegas. So I’m thinking you had some serious discounts!

          15. “When every time you go to the supermarket you notice that everything costs more than last week.”

            That certainly does seem to describe the stock market’s behavior since the March low!

      3. ” We’re on the road to completely nationalized financial markets. Recall that a centrally-planned, command and control economy never worked out based on the historical record.”

        …and this with the republicans in control of the government. Things are going to speed up when they’re ousted this fall.

        1. …. and replaced with communists?

          It’s going to be a long 4 years for you Comrade.

        2. Things are going to speed up when they’re ousted this fall.

          Given that the GOP has been able to win recent special elections and take seats away from Dems, that might not happen. Don’t listen to the MSM. Of course they’re predicting Democrat landslides, it’s what they’re paid to do.

          1. Joe Biden reminds me of my now deceased aunt after she had a stroke. It’s elder abuse what the DNC is doing to him.

          2. I wonder if he has had a stroke myself. One corner of his mouth sags just a bit and the corner of the eye on the same side. If it is the case, them letting him go through with this is indeed cruel.

          3. Joe Biden reminds me of my now deceased aunt after she had a stroke. It’s elder abuse what the DNC is doing to him.

            He’s now calling himself “a transition candidate” though I’m sure it won’t be long until he starts calling himself a transexual.

          4. Hmm… maybe that “transition” is going to be a lot sooner than people think. The VP pick is a back-door to the Oval Office. Harris? Klaubuchar? Or would they risk all the marbles and choose Hillary?

          6. The VP pick is a back-door to the Oval Office. Harris? Klaubuchar? Or would they risk all the marbles and choose Hillary?

            Susan Rice is the ticket…Biden/Rice

          9. Joe Biden missing softball questions on The View

            It’s scary to think this guy could be running the US.

          10. It’s scary to think this guy could be running the US.

            As others have said, I think the real plan is, should he be somehow elected, for him to resign for “reasons” and have the Narrative acceptable VP sworn in.

          11. I think HRC will swoop in claiming she “won” the 2016 DNC primary and “won” the 2016 general election popular vote.

          12. swoop in

            The zombie apocalypse that is playing out is the most entertaining national politics ever.

        3. Nah. Conservatives mess things up leaving liberals clean up the mess. This was true in the 1930s — it was true on a smaller scale in Saskatchewan when I was young — it was true last recession — and its going to be true again.

          1. Conservatives mess things up leaving liberals clean up the mess.

            Allow me to introduce you to my long time acquaintance, the State of California, which hasn’t been run by conservatives in decades.

          2. Conservatives aren’t truly conservatives. They just pretend to be conservative to get money for themselves. When Bill Clinton balanced the budget in 2000, a truly conservative President would have started paying the debt back. Instead, when Bush got into office, it was more corporate tax cuts, not to mention trying to raid Social Security for Wall Street fees. And that doesn’t even touch the wars to “secure the realm.”

          4. Gotta love how conservatives focus on the small crimes of the liberals only to ignore the crimes against humanity they commit. California has the 7th largest economy in the world. It’s got warts to be sure, but it has the largest ag sector/tech sector/education sector, entertainment sector. Oh wait what’s Texas got? Oil.

          5. Oh wait what’s Texas got? Oil.

            Are you serious? The weather is Texas is awful, but its economy is diverse.

            As for crimes against humanity, I recall that the previous prez bragged about being good at killing people. Dems are not doves.

        4. Susan Rice is the ticket…Biden/Rice

          Oh, joy, another Obama retread. How refreshing – said nobody ever. Is RuPaul available? That would really click a lot of boxes. Tranny, black – the LGBTQ peeps would be creaming themselves.

          2. RuPaul

            A gay drag queen rather than transgender. A not insignificant distinction.

          3. A gay drag queen rather than transgender. A not insignificant distinction.

            “Tranny” was used for transvestite back in the day. Now it encompasses transgender and transsexual, too.

          4. I always thought of Susan Rice as twice as smart as Bill and Hillary combined, but later during Obama’s administration I wasn’t sure how to access her performance regarding the 2012 Benghazi attacks since the region is such a mess.

      2. OK boomer, I suppose I could buy buy buy, cuz stawks are goin up.

        Not all of us had the luck to be hit with a pandemic AFTER we’ve finished building up our pile. And I’m in much better shape than most.

        1. Not with that mortgaged used house in an El Salvadoran ghetto you’re not.

          Your property taxes will be three times my rent after you’ve allegedly paid it off.

        2. Not all of us had the luck

          Oh, maybe you mean my three decades with a spendthrift Bipolar spouse and subsequently a single dad of four hungry teenagers, on the bloody edge of being able to get groceries every month. That luck?

          The first thing I did was to dump the big old mortgaged house. Second thing was to get completely out of debt and live way below my means. The kids didn’t mind one bit. When the last one graduated I got rid of the rental and lived on the boat and saved. That luck?

          Still living modestly and I don’t need much. Helping the youngest just now finish college without loans. Debt was the biggest obstacle to a safe and happy life, second only to getting hitched to the beauty queen.

          1. That’s a tough story, and it’s much to your credit how you came out better off at the end of it.

            I’m especially impressed by this part:

            “Second thing was to get completely out of debt and live way below my means. The kids didn’t mind one bit.”

            Living a life of indentured servitude while shouldering a massive burden of self-inflicted debt is not worth it. Put the ink pen down and simply refuse to sign on the dotted line.

          2. much to your credit

            Thanks. Not better off by society standards, but I gotta say Freedom is precious.

          3. Blue Skye, the timing *was* luck. I’m not knocking that you clawed your way out of financial vulnerability. But what if COVID had hit when your sons were still teenagers and your mortgaged house was dropping in value and the bipolar spouse was still milking you? Would have been able to recover as well as you did?

            I often wonder what would have happened if we had a COVID epidemic even 20 years ago. No skype, no zoom, not even cell phones. Nobody would have worked from home. I think we simply would have dealt with the deaths.

          4. But what if

            I was considering building a log cabin back then. The spouse would have left earlier!

          5. I was considering building a log cabin back then. The spouse would have left earlier!

            Probably best you didn’t. You’d never be able to sell that boat anchor. Lenders like financing log cabins less than a single wide in a flood plain.

          6. “I often wonder what would have happened if we had a COVID epidemic even 20 years ago. No skype, no zoom, not even cell phones. Nobody would have worked from home. I think we simply would have dealt with the deaths.”

            There might have been a greater willingness to let individuals choose whether to self-quarantine, rather than forcing it on everyone.

    3. I don’t think there will be an Memorial day spike. Just like in Florida they have been warning of doom and gloom and thousands dead “in 2 weeks” 8 weeks later it has not materialized. The virus is fading.

  10. We are worried someone is going to ask for forbearance before we can sell the loan to investors,’ Mr. Kelman said.”

    Then you’d be stuck with the toxic-waste mortgage you underwrote, Kelman. The horror….

  11. “‘It’s been kind of an emotional roller coaster,’ Offield told CNN Business. ‘We’ve lost pretty much all of our income in the last three months.’”

    A lot of sheeple are getting a rude awakening about the fragility of our financialized economy. Millions are going to come out of this insolvent, but red-pilled for life.

    1. Millions are going to come out of this insolvent, but red-pilled for life.

      Once they start handing out EZ Loans again, they’ll be back. Almost no one learned anything last time.

      1. As long as the lending is available, there’s an endless supply of debt-junkies. I happen to know of a woman who went BK because of crushing credit card debt. The moment it was discharged she started receiving a flood of new credit card offers since, I guess, the lenders though she was a better risk since you can’t go BK again for another 7 years. She turned around and did the same thing and is going BK again.

          1. Or blame the people buying up the paper.

            The pukes floating junk paper don’t necessarily keep the stuff.

      2. PS – The FED’s not stupid. They know exactly what’s going on, they’re just pulling every lever they can to keep the credit bubble flowing. They realize that once lending dries up, the whole Ponzi implodes.

      3. “Once they start handing out EZ Loans again, they’ll be back. Almost no one learned anything last time.”

        100% it will be like it never happened.

  12. “Amy Offield always dreamed of running a vacation rental in Galveston, Texas.

    Dream big, Amy.

    1. When I plan on a vacation, the first place that pops up in my mind is Galveston … said no one ever.

      2. “…the first place that pops up in my mind is Galveston…”

        I can’t shake Key West out of my vacation destination dreams.

  13. But he said he’s spent so much money on high-end furniture that he doesn’t want to give up on renting it out on Airbnb yet.

    Ever hear of a Malaysian monkey trap, Jason?

  14. I advised sellers not to list their homes. What I can equate it to is when you go fishing and you have a bait. If you throw a stone into the water, it doesn’t matter how big that bait is, no fishes will come.’”

    I equate it to a bursting housing bubble. Sell now, greedheads, because this is as good as it gets.

  15. “Finally, singer-songwriter Norah Jones purchased an extra-wide Greek Revival townhouse in the Cobble Hill Historic District a decade ago and lavishly customized it.

    She was touted as the next big thing in the late 1990s. Her career and record sales kind of faded, but her mortgage stayed the same.

  16. Built on speculation by billionaire Vera Guerin, the Beverly Hills-based heiress to a California real estate empire, the stately two-story structure sits just north of Sunset Boulevard.

    Pretty soon Vera’s going to be a millionaire heiress.

      1. They are putting all their chips on a new Prez being elected and writing a big check.

        That brings up an interesting question: say the Dems completely take over and vote to send every individual $2000 a month, and more if you have kidz.

        What would you do with that money? Saving it in the bank will be kind of pointless, as the inevitable hyperinflation will annihilate it.

        So where do you put it? Stawks? PM’s? Buttcoin? Dare I say it … real estate? Or do you just go Yolo and blow it like a drunken sailor? F-350’s for everyone, until the prices shoot up!

        1. What would you do with that money?

          You seem to be ignoring that sending everyone $1200 was enthusiastically bipartisan.

          If we go Collectivist, you probably won’t be able to “own” anything that is worth something in short order, unless you are an “in” person. Ask Cubans or Venezuelans what they would do.

          I’m probably not young enough to join the revolution, so I’d spend the money on single malt, redheads and fast boats. Just waste the rest.

          2. You seem to be ignoring that sending everyone $1200 was enthusiastically bipartisan.

            I was, but AFAIK no one on the GOP side of the aisle is for universal basic income.

          3. so I’d spend the money on single malt, redheads and fast boats. Just waste the rest.

            A George Best fan, I see.

            I once saw a T-shirt that said:

            Maradona Good
            Pele Better
            George Best

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