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The Dislocation Is So Widespread It’s Almost Like The Entire Country’s For Sale Right Now

A report from Forbes. “What surprised Brian Carberry, Apartmentguide’s managing editor who crunched the numbers was, ‘some of the areas with significant rent decreases were located near more expensive major cities.’ Apartmentguide looked at annual average price declines on one-bedroom nationwide. Cities included in the top 25 rankings are Virginia Beach, Virginia, West Hartford, Connecticut, Santa Rosa, California, Huntington Beach, California, and Montgomery, Alabama. Take the Boston suburb of Peabody. Located 13 miles north of Boston, Peabody saw an 18 percent decline to an average monthly rent of $2,276. That was a $512 price drop.”

“Heading west to California it is surprising to see five cities made the top 25. Santa Rosa, about an hour drive north of San Francisco, posted a 19 percent decrease with the average rent at $1,980. Consider West Sacramento one of California’s fastest-growing cities was at number one with a hefty rent decrease of almost 44 percent. The average price for a one-bedroom there fell by $1,628 to $2,115. In Southern California, Huntington Beach long known for surfing and casual living saw a 22 percent decline with the average one-bedroom renting for $2,194.”

“The east bay city of Berkeley also saw a dip in rental prices. Berkeley ranked number twelve with a 22 percent decrease. Oceanside, California a beachside city about 38 miles north of San Diego is at number six. A hefty 26 percent rent decline brings the average one-bedroom down to $1,958.”

“Carberry’s advice for renters, ‘Even some higher-priced areas are seeing declines and becoming more affordable. There was a construction boom in luxury rental properties around the country. Today they might have trouble filling those units. You may be able to negotiate a better rent because of that.'”

“Well, that’s good news for renters and not so good for multi-family owners.”

The Seattle Times in Washington. “The coronavirus pandemic has caused most rents in the Seattle area to stagnate, though they’re falling for the least-expensive apartments, according to data from RealPage. One neighborhood — West Seattle — is seeing especially sharp cuts, according to landlords and property managers, though not just from the pandemic. Essex Property Trust, which owns 10,343 apartments in the Seattle metro area, is offering two to four weeks of free rent across its properties.”

“Equity Residential, which owns 8,442 apartments around Seattle, saw traffic and leads fall 50% in March and 20% in April, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Equity is offering $99 security deposits and is allowing new tenants to end leases in the first three months without penalty if they lose their jobs. The amount tenants actually pay could be even less than the advertised deals. Average rents on newly-executed leases around Seattle fell 4.5% in May from a year earlier, as apartment managers offered unadvertised concessions and negotiated down rents to fill vacancies, according to RealPage.”

“In West Seattle, landlords and tenants say the biggest pressure on rents isn’t the pandemic, but a concurrent crisis: The closure of the West Seattle bridge. ‘In my 30 years of owning buildings, I’ve never experienced what I’m experiencing in West Seattle,’ said landlord Morris Groberman, who owns four buildings in West Seattle and several dozen other apartments across the region. ‘It’s absolutely bleak.'”

From Real Estate Business Online. “Unfortunately, Dallas multifamily investors aren’t out of the woods yet. The RED Research team expects 2020 job losses to exceed 100,000. Enhanced unemployment benefits notwithstanding, net absorption is likely to be deeply negative, with net move-outs totaling 10,000 units, perhaps more, from April to September, according to our historically specified models. At the same time, supply will be substantial. Currently, approximately 45,000 units are under construction, and about 12,000 to 15,000 units are likely to be delivered between April and December.”

“Consequently, metro occupancy rates will decline materially, perhaps testing the 90 percent level before year end, using the Reis baseline, from about 94 percent in March. Rents will come under a degree of pressure as well. Investment returns will suffer accordingly. After enjoying average annual unlevered returns of about 14 percent over the course of the last five years, total returns may be deeply negative this year. Property values could plunge 10 percent or more unless cap rates on current income decrease commensurately.”

From Community Impact in Texas. “Houston-area apartments saw another month of declining average rents in May, a month that is usually in the midst of an annual upswing in the industry, driven by an exodus of renters. ‘The months of March-April-May and into July, those are the months where we see more demand. And so rents rise year after year, but this is a drastic change from that and understandably so,’ said Bruce McClenny, president of ApartmentData.”

“One key factor is that for the first time in over a decade, more people are leaving apartments than signing up for new leases, leading to negative absorption, an indicator of supply and demand. In May, Houston typically sees around 1,800 net leases; this May it was minus 200. Occupancy rates dipped below 89% as well, according to ApartmentData. ‘More people moving out than moving in, so there’s less people living in apartments,’ he said.”

The Real Deal on California. “The average asking rent in Los Angeles County declined 3.3 percent in May year-over-year, the first major drop in rent since the Great Recession a decade ago. The drop followed April’s 0.8 percent year-over-year decline, the first since 2010. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in a ‘big dropoff in overall demand,’ according to RealPage chief economist Greg Willett.”

“Some landlords may also be offering concessions such as free months of rent in lieu of dropping rents, allowing them to maintain higher asking rents on paper. That was already happening before the pandemic in Downtown L.A. where demand didn’t keep up with supply. The 4.5 percent decline in the Class B segment was the largest decline among the three segments. The company projects that rents will continue to fall on a year-over-year basis throughout the year and could reach 5.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021.”

The Los Angeles Business Journal. “‘This is returning to our roots. We started out by buying distressed opportunities,’ said Reuben Berman, founder of Entrada Partners. Today, Berman added, Entrada is looking at buying defaulting loans and unsold properties that were on the market before the pandemic ‘with a pricing adjustment post-Covid.’ The company has a $300 million portfolio, largely in Texas. Berman said Covid-driven market dislocation is creating ‘opportunities across the country, and we are interested in areas outside of Texas.'”

“‘The dislocation is so widespread it’s almost like the entire country’s for sale right now. The opportunities are everywhere,’ he added.”

“Berman said one of the biggest challenges is making sure not to buy too soon, before prices bottom out. So far, he said, prices are down about 5% to 10%, but buyers want a 10% to 20% reduction in multifamily, industrial and office properties, and even more for retail and hotel properties.”

“MJW Investments has created a $500 million fund to invest in value-add multifamily and student housing, joint ventures, and distressed debt and note sales. Mark Weinstein, MJW’s founder and president, said the company was ‘making lots of offers, but nothing is really in escrow.’ ‘We’re finding there’s a lack of realization on part of the sellers that their income stream is diminishing, rents are declining and vacancies are increasing,’ he said.”

The Commercial Observer on New York. “The $272 million CMBS loan originated by Credit Suisse and backed by Ceruzzi Properties’ ground lease at the 34-story Lipstick Building at 885 Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan has been sent to special servicing, according to servicer data from this month compiled by Trepp. According to remittance commentary from the first week of this month, the loan’s special servicer Aegon USA Realty Advisors — a division of Aegon Asset Management — wrote that the borrower had reached out for relief and that ‘the ground lease tenant has defaulted in the payment of rent under the terms of the ground lease.'”

The Miami Herald in Florida. “How has COVID affected the local commercial market? One transaction tells the market story. Pre-pandemic, Chicago-based First American Bank agreed to buy a former City National Bank location at SW 97th Avenue and Bird Road for $4.2 million. After coronavirus arrived, the buyer re-negotiated. The deal on the 4,278-square-foot former City National Bank location on the 24,650-square-foot corner lot closed at $3.2 million in May, said Bill Kerdyk, Jr., chief executive officer of Kerdyk Real Estate, who brokered the transaction. It was an all-cash deal.”

“‘Cash is a big plus to get deals done quickly. At that time, there were not a lot of buyers looking,’ Kerdyk said. ‘It’s important to the seller that they have a viable buyer.’ The building last sold in 2018 for $3.5 million. ‘There are buyers out there. The question is the pricing. Buyers are looking for a good opportunity,’ Kerdyk said.”

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This Post Has 99 Comments

  1. I said this was going to happen in late 2014. No crystal ball. I simply saw these guys were losing money from day one. They were banking on appreciation and thus speculating with borrowed money, which can only lead to oversupply and default.

    1. This is a lovely collection of rent CR8TR for us beleaguered renters. 🙂

  2. ‘After enjoying average annual unlevered returns of about 14 percent over the course of the last five years, total returns may be deeply negative this year. Property values could plunge 10 percent or more unless cap rates on current income decrease commensurately’

    Deeply negative? But, Toyota!

    ‘One key factor is that for the first time in over a decade, more people are leaving apartments than signing up for new leases, leading to negative absorption, an indicator of supply and demand. In May, Houston typically sees around 1,800 net leases; this May it was minus 200. Occupancy rates dipped below 89% as well…‘More people moving out than moving in’

    Negative absorption? How are those 5% cap rates looking now boys?

    1. Another leg down of real estate bubble collapse is underway, and quickly snowballing into an avalanche.

  3. ‘The amount tenants actually pay could be even less than the advertised deals. Average rents on newly-executed leases around Seattle fell 4.5% in May from a year earlier, as apartment managers offered unadvertised concessions and negotiated down rents to fill vacancies’

    Effective rents can be double or triple the “advertised” crater.

    Speaking of crater:

    ‘the Boston suburb of Peabody…saw an 18 percent decline… Santa Rosa posted a 19 percent decrease…West Sacramento was at number one with a hefty rent decrease of almost 44 percent…in Southern California, Huntington Beach saw a 22 percent decline …Berkeley ranked number twelve with a 22 percent decrease. Oceanside, California is at number six. A hefty 26 percent rent decline’

    Whoa Nellie, that’s a lot of crater!

    1. “Oceanside, California is at number six. A hefty 26 percent rent decline.”

      For those unfamiliar with Aan Diego County, as the name suggests, Oceanside is in North County, right near the beach. It’s not upscale like Del Mar or La Jolla, but nonetheless, these newly affordable rents should give a great opening to surfers hoping to find a place near the water that fits their budgets. This is truly great news!

      1. Oceanside neighbors Camp Pendleton USMC. As Prof Bear says, it’s not as tony as it’s nearby neighbors, though it is nicer than south bay communities like Imperial Beach. It also makes for a long commute into San Diego, though you can do far worse.

        1. Oceanside has one of the nicest stretches of beach in SoCal, tons of sand and fun waves rivaling La Jolla/Del Mar but its blue collar/working class and gritty AF. The Marines are there plus a lot of vermin – pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, thugs, bikers, etc. Ive seen multiple 10+ person brawls around the pier area.

          1. All the factors you mentioned help keep housing prices reasonable compared to Solano Beach, Del Mar, La Jolla, etc.

      2. Oceanside is in North County, right near the beach

        As well as south of and adjacent to Camp Pendleton.

        1. Some of the best, most secluded surfing areas in San Diego are due west of Camp Pendleton (e.g. San Onofre State Beach). I’m not a surfer, but camped there with my sons over their growing up years.

  4. ‘MJW Investments has created a $500 million fund to invest in value-add multifamily and student housing, joint ventures, and distressed debt and note sales’

    These distressed buyer things have been gathering for over two years. But the MSM can’t see a bubble.

    1. Will 20 percent off be enough of a drop to avoid catching a falling knife? It seems like the avalanche is still pretty far up the mountain at this point.

    2. I hope value-add crashes and burns to hell. It’s one thing to build luxury housing. It’s quite another to convert the last of the affordable housing to luxe crap. It’s like forcing Cash for Clunkers onto every car less than 3 years old.

  5. ‘net move-outs totaling 10,000 units, perhaps more, from April to September, according to our historically specified models. At the same time, supply will be substantial. Currently, approximately 45,000 units are under construction, and about 12,000 to 15,000 units are likely to be delivered between April and December’

    Worser. As I’ve noted before, these guys never stop in time.

      1. For the last 10 years – cities were seen as the cool and hip places to be…and just put up with the corruption, crime and grime for all the other “cool” stuff.

        Now, after the race riots and BLM thugs taking over city government and entire city blocks (see Seattle) in most larger American democrat run cites.

        Cities are going to be looked at as they were in the 1970s.

        1. They said the same thing after 9/11. Those skyscraper airboxes aren’t kool, they’re targets…who knows when the next nutzoid will set off a dirty bomb in Macy’s… run for the hills and keep your head down. It was like that for 3-4 years. But then cities came back when Millenials ok-boomered the suburban box with a yard and chose to stay in a luxury airbox of their own with a hot yoga studio and an SBUX next door.

          On way or another, COVID will be over in 2-3 years. We’re either all going to get it and recover, get shot up and chipped, or it will disappear. What then? Will GenZ take over while GenX and older Millenials uproot and work from home in (literally) greener pastures?

        2. They moved downtown because they wanted that “gritty urban experience.” You mean it’s possible for the experience to be a little TOO gritty?

      2. $3k for a 1 bedroom. And this is now considered cheap. Lol. But on the upside you get to step in human feces outside the building every day. So there’s that selling point.

        If work from home becomes the new norm long term, no sane person will subject themselves to this. San Francisco is a dead city walking if wfh catches on for real with tech companies. And this is why I think it won’t really happen. Way too many people have way too much to lose to make this happen. There will be tremendous pressure from those people, including the Democrat power base, on Google, Facebook, Salesforce and the rest of them to not do it.

        1. How can other companies and political organizations influence whether a company allows/supports WFH or not? I’m not seeing how to create such pressure. I thought the pressure to minimize it in the past was all internal, mostly at the first level manager level.

    2. As I’ve noted before, these guys never stop in time.

      I think you also noted they never stop, period, until the construction loans are cut off. Building being the only thing they know how to do.

      1. April 19, 2018

        “‘Palm Beach is completely on fire,’ said Todd Michael Glaser, a high-end homebuilder who made his name in Miami but has lately been concentrating on Palm Beach County. ‘I’ve never seen the amount of $8M to $70M homes as in the last three and a half, four months. It’s staggering.’ It’s not just single-family homes that are hot, but a new wave of high-end condos and mutifamily apartments, especially in downtown West Palm Beach.”

        “Kolter Urban President Bob Vail, who is developing the Alexander, said that there is something of an arms race for amenities in the new supply of high-end homes. ‘You see that across the U.S. There are [apartment] buildings in Atlanta, Denver and Dallas that are nicer and more fully amenitized than condominium units, because that’s what it’s going to take to get people to choose that building,’ Vail said. ‘It’s just sort of a differential advantage. It’s really become a race in those more in-demand markets.’”

        “Though the market is healthy now, the developers agreed a slowdown is possible as new supply takes time to be absorbed, construction costs rise and actionable sites get harder to find. Low salaries in Palm Beach County mean that not many workers can afford high rents. When an audience member asked whether they were concerned with an economic downturn, Vail responded half-jokingly, ‘Condo developers, we don’t forecast those kind of things, you know what I mean? We’re just go, go go,’ he said. ‘And the faster we go, the faster we get to the closing, and then, I’m not going to say we don’t care, but … ‘ The audience chuckled as he trailed off.”

        http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=10407

        1. ‘I’ve never seen the amount of $8M to $70M homes as in the last three and a half, four months. It’s staggering.’

          On Palm Beach and deep-water access Jupiter I’ve seen some big $ “homes?” going up and condos in West Palm across the bridge from Palm Beach that would have a nice view of the yachts of the rich and famous but Homey needs to expand his horizons, put his bullet proof vest on and drive 4 minutes from those condos and check our Tamarand Ave.

          Palm Beach County is really big and the housing market runs the gamut.

    3. So – and this is just bar talk in Seattle with folks that work in the industry – but not with the execs or strategists. So who knows what the truth is ….

      They were encourage to maintain monthly lease rate – but ok with 4 or 6 or 8 weeks (extreme case) to sign up new tenants for 12 or 15 months lease. The general idea was that they could show the monthly run rate at some point in the future. Concessions could be counted against a ‘sales’ expense.

      i was having a beer in downtown Seattle (Belltown) with a casual friend. His (tall, reasonable hot) cousin joins us (this was in Oct 2019). She had made an extra $4K bonus for the previous month – because of all the leases she signed at a newly constructed building in South Lake Union (Amazon country, and the Google and FB centers in Seattle). Apparently dumb-ass software engineers just listened to her and signed

      ————-
      “Equity Residential, which owns 8,442 apartments around Seattle, saw traffic and leads fall 50% in March and 20% in April, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Equity is offering $99 security deposits and is allowing new tenants to end leases in the first three months without penalty if they lose their jobs. The amount tenants actually pay could be even less than the advertised deals. Average rents on newly-executed leases around Seattle fell 4.5% in May from a year earlier, as apartment managers offered unadvertised concessions and negotiated down rents to fill vacancies, according to RealPage.”

  7. ‘The former chair of Harvard University’s chemistry department was indicted on June 9 on charges of making false statements about funding he received from the Chinese regime, the U.S. Department of Justice said.’

    ‘Charles Lieber, 61, was arrested in January for allegedly lying about his participation in the Chinese state-backed Thousand Talents recruitment program. A federal grand jury on June 9 indicted him on two counts of making false statements to federal authorities.’

    ‘The recruitment plan, which aims to attract top experts around the world to work on projects in China, has drawn scrutiny from U.S. officials, who say it facilitates the transfer of American intellectual property to China.’

    ‘Lieber, a professor specializing in nanoscience, allegedly had years of participation in the Thousand Talents program while working on sensitive U.S. research, prosecutors said. He has received more than $15 million of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense since 2008, according to the department.’

    ‘Disclosure of foreign funding and collaboration is required when receiving such federal funding.’

    ‘Lieber began working with the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) as a “strategic scientist” in 2011, and was involved in the Thousand Talents program from 2012 through 2017 as a contractual participant, according to court documents.’

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/former-harvard-professor-indicted-for-allegedly-lying-about-china-funding_3382770.html

        1. Indeed the Lincoln Bedroom scandal is the reason I never entertained voting for Hillary. And I only remember one of the names: Linda Bloodworth Thomison, some TV producer, who had the privilege of staying in that bedroom for the Inauguration. I was very young at the time and didn’t know squat about politics. But the idea of pimping out the name of Lincoln rubbed me the wrong way. And since then Hillary was never able to wipe away that bad taste.

          1. There were plenty of things to hate the Clintons for. My least favorite was the “assault weapon” ban because it was just so stupid while being a giant pain for everyone who wanted one. It perfectly represented the “results don’t matter, just look like you’re doing something and nobody cares who gets hurt” mindset. I find that mindset very dangerous over the long term.

  8. Gresham, OR Housing Prices Crater 15% YOY As Portland Slips Deeper Into Mortgage Defaults And Foreclosures

    https://www.zillow.com/southwest-gresham-or/home-values/

    *Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

    As a Portland broker conceded, “If you’re a buyer, the broker is lying to you. I know a liar when I hear one. I’ve been lying my entire life.”

    1. “Manufacturing company in Minneapolis since 1987 leaving city after violent protests”

      They must be racist and thus followed, protested against, threatened, harassed, shamed, vandalized and put out of business wherever they go!

      1. WalMart is threatening to not rebuild in Chicago, and that got the civic leaders attention.

      2. Manufacturing company in Minneapolis since 1987 leaving city

        If they’re smart, they’ll leave the state.

      3. “They don’t care about my business,” said Wyrobek told the Star Tribune. “They didn’t protect our people. We were all on our own.”

        Remember to “bend thy knee” before leaving.

  10. The average asking rent in Los Angeles County declined 3.3 percent in May year-over-year,

    Is this even newsworthy? I mean on the way up the raise rents 5% plus per year, every year. Rents need to come down more like 30-40% but that’s impossible.. most landlords are on strict 5% caps.
    they need to go bust so new owners lower the rents to get a functional economy… but the new landlords would be greedy too.
    There will always be high housing costs. period.

  11. Got lost in a 70s songs YouTube rabbit hole last night and clicked on a 1975 song that I normally wouldn’t have posted here. The reason I am is to see if anyone who had the time could give their opinion on whether this is a video made of the recording that was actually released. From the vocals to the drums, base etc. it sure looks like it to me.

    https://youtu.be/-KtYgOM62fk

    1. Sounds just like what I heard on the car radio back then.

      I found the video a bit odd, as the four instrumentalists were standing together at the beginning empty handed, while their instruments were playing in the audio.

      1. It’d be interesting to know if the string orchestra sounds were prerecorded or synthesized. I believe multitrack studio recording was well beyond its infancy by 1975, which explains the singers sans instruments with piped in instrumental backup at the beginning.

        1. “It’d be interesting to know if the string orchestra sounds were prerecorded or synthesized”

          I wondered that too, it looks like the string orchestra sounds were being played on the keyboard at 2:21 and coming off at 2:39

          1. After four decades of ignoring advances in electronic music production technology, I am investing some of my COVID-19 stimulus money in some new gadgets. The last time I did anything significant with computer music applications was circa 1985. I can’t wait to try this stuff out!

          2. After four decades of ignoring advances in electronic music production technology, I am investing some of my COVID-19 stimulus money in some new gadgets.

            Such as? I would really like a Universal Audio Apollo x4. I have an old EMU+Sonar system that I would love to upgrade but it continues to get me by. But the Apollo would allow me to ditch guitar amps.

          5. Sonar system

            Unrelated, but I bought a new forward scanning phased array sonar with built in navigation charts and GPS. This replaces three separate 10 year old devices, one of which was a not so waterproof laptop.

            An unfortunate side effect of NY Closed is the locks aren’t operational for me to get out on the Great Lakes yet.

          6. I’m going to claim the boating sonar technology and new music technology are related as part of a flowering of electrical engineering applications over the past century the likes of which the world has never seen and which our ancestors could never have imagined. When historians a few centuries down the road look back on our era, they might view it as a sort of electronic renaissance. And it may even appear in retrospect that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated it.

    2. My late father-in-law loved Frankie Vali & the Four Seasons, and made sure I learned to love them too (or at least their big hits).

    3. I have this song on a k-tel album. Sounds like the same version to me. It’s awesome.

  12. Sounds like the “giant sucking sound” we hear in the New York area in every recession. People and firms that had been priced out of Manhattan and areas nearby find they can afford it. Areas where rents had soared from the spillover find demand collapses.

    1. Hertz gets delisting notice from NYSE, will remain listed pending appeal
      Published: June 10, 2020 at 7:29 a.m. ET
      By Tomi Kilgore
      Referenced Symbols
      HTZ
      -32.51%

      Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (HTZ, -32.53%) disclosed Wednesday that it received on May 26 a delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange, which cited the car rental company’s filing for bankruptcy on May 22. Hertz said it has appealed the delisting, and has requested a hearing. The stock will remain listed on the NYSE until the appeal is resolved. “There can be no assurance that the NYSE will grant the company’s request for continued listing at the hearing and whether there will be equity value in the company’s common stock,” Hertz said in statement. The stock, which dropped 7.7% in premarket trading, had tumbled 24.4% on Tuesday, after more than doubling on Monday.
      …

      1. Show your solidarity with the COVID-19 Stay at Home governor’s executive order by taking it to the street, breaking every storefront window in your neighborhood and running off with everything you can grab.

        Oh wait…

    2. White high school graduation rate: 86% (2012)
      Black high school graduation rate: 69%
      White college graduation rate: 62% (2019)
      Black college graduation rate: 42%
      “Most important, blacks who complete a four-year college education have a median income that is near parity with similarly educated whites.”

      In other words,
      of 100 random whites, 53 will graduate college.
      of 100 random blacks, 23 will graduate college.

      So, if blacks are graduating college at half the rate of whites (being loose with the numbers here), then blacks STEMs should be about half the population of blacks as a whole. (this is assuming that all races major equally in STEM, which is a big assumption)

      From the article:
      STEM is 9% black
      Population is 14% black

      Which is more than half. In other words, statistically, blacks are doing BETTER in STEM than whites. So, the systemic racism is… well I guess it’s in high school.

      http://www.jbhe.com/features/50_blackstudent_gradrates.html#:~:text=Most%20important%2C%20blacks%20who%20complete,low%20rate%20of%2042%20percent.

      https://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-high-school-graduation-rates-by-race-ethnicity.html

  15. Precious metals are surging as the Keynesian counterfeiters and racketeers at the Fed have signaled no let-up in their War on Savers and “No Billionaire Left Behind” monetary policies. The writing is on the wall for the U.S. dollar and its end as the global reserve currency. We had a long good run as a sovereign republic unique among the nations until the globalists completed their takeover.

    1. They can start by demolishing the Dome of the Rock mosque.

      Yeah, I know, that will never happen.

  17. Sawant and protesters — briefly — occupy Seattle City Hall as Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone grows

    Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 – 8:11 am
    by Jake Goldstein-Street

    Several hundred demonstrators, led by Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, occupied City Hall downtown Tuesday night for just over an hour, calling for the resignation of Mayor Jenny Durkan and the defunding of the Seattle Police Department after a march from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.

    Protesters entered chanting “Whose City Hall? Our City Hall” before listening to a number of speakers at the “people’s mic,” as Sawant called it, on a range of issues, from the importance of Black LGBTQIA+ women in recent protests to taxing the council member’s familiar foe.

    Protesters left City Hall chanting “Defund SPD” and headed back east to Cal Anderson Park and the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, where protesters watched 13th, a documentary on mass incarceration, on a projector. A new sign hung outside the East Precinct that said “this space is now property of the Seattle people.”

    https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/06/sawant-and-protesters-briefly-occupy-seattle-city-hall-as-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-grows/

    2. It’s funny how communists always seem to see capital as stuff that just happens to be lying around waiting to be claimed/liberated. It’s a child-like view of the world. Zero acknowledgement (understanding?) of how it got there.

      Oh wait, nevermind. It got there because some oppressed person was forced to produce it. I forgot.

    3. ANTIFA RELEASES LIST OF DEMANDS AFTER CAPTURING 6 BLOCKS OF DOWNTOWN SEATTLE

      Jamie White | Infowars.com – JUNE 10, 2020

      Additionally, Antifa also demands the implementation of all its far-left policy proposals using the funds from Seattle PD.

      “We demand that the funding previously used for Seattle Police be redirected into: A) Socialized Health and Medicine for the City of Seattle. B) Free public housing, because housing is a right, not a privilege. C) Public education, to decrease the average class size in city schools and increase teacher salary. D) Naturalization services for immigrants to the United States living here undocumented. (We demand they be called ‘undocumented’ because no person is illegal.) E) General community development. Parks, etc.”

      1. The mayor and city council should resign and let antifa take over the city. Then we can set up a pool on how long until Seattle collapses and the lights go out.

      2. CAPTURING

        That’s funny. Kind of like how insects temporarily capture a corner in your house. They are just there until somebody gets annoyed enough to get past the ickiness factor of what needs to be done.

  18. “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.
    — George Orwell

    “Gone With the Wind” now joins the list of verboten historic movies and books that our Commissars of Political Correctness have deemed to be ideologically tainted and offensive. Enjoying “Blazing Saddles” is probably a federal offense by now.

  19. Bizarro world continues. Thinking of taking a trip down the blue ridge parkway with ma wife. To do some research, I checked out what’s available on airbnb tonight.

    There are a couple hundred crappy apartments, all asking $150 a night. Well, like $50 a night and then they tack on $100 in cleaning fees.

    If all these places are going empty tonight, why does no one lower their price?

    Was going to say I would never pay $150 when I could stay at a fancy hotel for that price, but then I guess I have to admit some people might pay a premium not to be in a hotel right now. Maybe.

    Still, $150 for podunk seems pretty damn steep.

    1. Two summers ago I took a cross country trip. No destination just drove around no plan no reservations. I just went. I stayed at a combination of Airbnba hotels, motels and a few nights camping. Losing is not cheap anywhere. Even Motel 6 type stuff was pushing $100 when taxes were included in the middle of nowhere towns. So $150 for an apartment Airbnb is not that much relatively speaking.

      I also read Airbnb is back to 100% of where they were at this time last year. There are a lot fewer empty spaces than you think.

    2. You might want to tell this guy:

      ‘I also read Airbnb is back to 100% of where they were at this time last year’

      Sure.

      1. F__k the b_llsh_t.

        704 views | June 9, 2020, 09:49am EDT
        How Bad Are Covid-19 Pandemic Effects On Airbnb Guests, Hosts?
        Lea Lane, Contributor
        Travel
        Award-winning travel writer, 100-plus countries
        Airbnb
        Business is way off. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

        The travel industry has been clobbered, from flights, to cruises, to lodging. And Airbnb and short-term rental property owners have felt the devastating effects of Americans putting travel on hold due to Covid-19.

        Americans have been choosing to limit travel, and some states and local governments have put restrictions on short-term rentals. Airbnb hosts have had to adjust both short-term and long-term revenue estimates.

        IPX 1031 recently surveyed part-time and full-time Airbnb hosts as well as guests who have used the platform. Here’s a summary of the current situation:
        – 47% of hosts don’t feel safe renting to guests while 70% of guests are fearful to stay at an Airbnb.
        – 64% of guests either have cancelled or plan to cancel an Airbnb booking since the pandemic started.
        – Airbnb hosts expect a 44% decrease in revenue June-August. Hosts have dropped their daily rates as much as $90 on average.
        – 45% of hosts won’t be able to sustain operating costs if the pandemic lasts another 6 months (16% have already missed or delayed a mortgage payment on one or more of their properties).
        – On average, hosts have lost $4,036 since Covid-19 began to spread in the US.
        …

      2. Well if everything is fine and dandy, then I guess the Dems in Congress don’t need to extend those $600 extra freebies, or start up a UBI anytime soon, right?

        1. I hope there is no extension of anything. But we all know politicians can’t help themselves spending other people’s money. UBI was already starting up in some cities pre Covid, that will continue gaining steam. The yuuutes want them some free money paid for by Boomers. And Democrats will happily make that a reality with the help of Republicans (wink wink) like Romney.

      3. I’m on my phone and posting links always gets messed up. But google Airbnb recovery and there are a couple of articles about it. One at cnn one at kpix.

        Memorial Day this year had more bookings than last year.

        1. Oh, so now it’s more bookings on memorial day.

          ‘I also read Airbnb is back to 100% of where they were at this time last year’

          I read those fairy tales. (Also read a dozen or 3 dozen articles on these frauds a day.) It wasn’t clear who came up with it, was it airbnb or Bloomberg? Same day they said they still hope to do an IPO this year, no coincidence I’m sure.

          Here’s one way to know it’s false. Most places that are allowing STR say they have to be empty one day in between visits. There goes the 100%! Many hosts also say they are way down in occupancy, like just about everything, nowhere near 50% even.

          Many tens of thousands of hosts told them to pound sand. Again, no 100% there! How many articles have we seen with thousands of STR “flooding” into the long term market?

          BTW, I’ll have some more STR crater later today. But keep moving the goal posts if it makes you feel better.

    3. I could stay at a fancy hotel

      There are beautiful inexpensive campsites all along the way.

      1. I like it out here in the West. Lots of open public land you can camp on for free. 🙂 Just please don’t make a mess.

  20. One more week and I’ll have to update the handle to “Mike in Dana Point” as I move into a rental. I see all these articles but California coastal Single Family Residences just aren’t dropping in price for the tier most middle class stiffs can “afford”. The Sub 800k tier is still going up, and substantially. I just about choke when I see some of the garbage going pending in Oceanside in this price range. There isn’t much left in other coastal cities in this price range.

    My former boss put his San Clemente home on the market last week and he already has 11 offers. Expected sale somewhere in the 850-900k range Its a Harcourts auction. They price 100-150k under what they think the home is worth to get the bidders in a frenzy, will ask him what offer he accepted today. https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Clemente/5747-Calle-Polvorosa-92673/home/5818107

  21. By National File Wednesday, June 10, 2020

    THE ANARCHO-COMMUNIST “AUTONOMOUS ZONE” NEAR CAPITOL HILL IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON HAS REPORTEDLY EMBRACED THE ANARCHO-CAPITALIST DREAM OF CREATING A PRIVATE VIGILANTE POLICE FORCE TO PATROL THE STREETS OF THE COMMUNE.

    In the autonomous zone, the streets are apparently currently controlled by a hip hop artist-turned-warlord by the name of Raz Simone, who has established an armed private police force that does not hesitate to dole out beatings to communal miscreants.

    Video footage shows Raz and Co. confronting a man for making unauthorized graffiti on Raz’s turf, which results in the “police” stealing the man’s phone, breaking his glasses, and reportedly repeatedly kicking him in the head. “We are the police of this community here now,” the man is told before the beating.

    The full version of the video reveals Raz’s police force telling the man, “For your own safety, you need to go,” and “You might need a little love tap” before assaulting him.

    The vandal is then ordered to hand over his phone as tribute to Raz, under the threat of more violence. “You just broke my glasses! I’m blind! You just broke my glasses and stole my phone!” the man pleads, before being told, “Yeah, we should have broken your face.”

    “Don’t be making no threats n*gga, I’ll blow your brains out,” Raz says.

    https://www.newswars.com/seattle-autonomous-zone-warlord-creates-private-police-force-gets-dubbed-black-george-zimmerman/

    1. The residents there will soon begin to feel like the single women did in Occupy Wall Street. They’re all in Lord of the Flies and don’t yet know it.

      1. Yeah… they would have to have read something in school to know about LoTF. Clearly, that is not the case with these fools.

        1. You mean that book hasn’t been banned yet?

          Just checked Amazon. It’s still for sale. I read it in sixth grade.

          1. I used to believe that nothing could coerce the USA to ever allow book burning. It was considered a representation of evil. Now it’s all on the table again. Unbelievable.

    2. armed private police force that does not hesitate to dole out beatings to communal miscreants.

      Weren’t we *just* talking about warlords and roving gangs?

    1. Seattle is dead.

      I can WFH until 10/2. I can’t imagine going back into the city to work with any of this crap going on.

      It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. So many businesses in the city are dependent on us tech workers who aren’t going to be willing to put up with this stuff.

  23. The number of new CoronaScam cases on the planet reported for the most recent day (2 days ago)has collapsed to 6,500.

    Where is that little lying bastard pinnochio Fraudci now? Why the silence on this? And that burkha wearing bimbo Birx?

    How bout it liars? Why the silence?

    1. How bout it liars?

      We have a very short attention span in general. I commented to a young employee at the hardware store that the epidemic never came here. His immediate response was that he heard we had 30 “cases”. People are afraid of reported “cases” now. Back in March they were afraid of dying.

      We were told 2.5 million would die in the US. Instead we got 2 million “cases” with 100,000 supposed related deaths. The country would not have shut down to prevent 100,000 deaths. 3 million of us die here every year +/- a few hundred thousand.

      1. Mafia Blocks and BlueSkye

        What did you say?

        I’m sorry I was too busy running in circles flapping my arms and screaming to hear you.

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