thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

This Dwarfs The 2008 Recession

A report from the Denverite in Colorado. “The median rent for an apartment dropped 1.4 percent to $1,454 between the first quarter of this year and the second, according to the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business. The decrease was sharpest for newer apartments, which tend to be more expensive. Drew Hamrick, senior vice president for Apartment Association of Metro Denver, said he could think of only a few reasons for landlords to raise the rent in this climate. Some might have been holding off and have decided now is the time for a correction. Others may need to recoup the costs of recent improvements to their property.”

“‘Or, three, the landlord’s just plain wrong about how much they think their apartment’s worth,’ Hamrick said.”

From Carson Now in Nevada. “A report by the Nevada State Apartment Association: the second quarter of 2020, the average vacancy rate for local apartments was 8.9%. That’s up from 6.3% one year earlier. Reno’s current construction pipeline is massive by local standards, with 3,170 apartment units in the works. In fact, that’s more than the number of units being built in the much larger Las Vegas metro area. This will increase the Reno area apartment inventory by roughly 10%. The local apartment inventory has increased by roughly 17% since 2016.”

The Star Tribune in Minnesota. “The rental market in the Twin Cities remained relatively healthy during the first half of the year, but with thousands of apartments expected to hit the market this year and no plan to replace expanded jobless benefits, vacancies are expected to increase and rents soften by end of the year. During the first half of the year 3,117 rentals opened, and the market absorbed about 1,142 total units compared with 3,690 units during the same time last year.”

“As housing advocates fret about the prospect of a large wave of evictions, property managers in some areas are bracing for an increase in empty units. Some are offering rent concessions, or inducements to rent, including one or two free months’ rent with at least a yearlong lease in some buildings.”

From Market Place. “The New York real estate firm Douglas Elliman’s latest report on New York City rentals for July finds record vacancy rates in some parts of the city — and the most significant year-over-year decline in rent in nine years. Kat O’Brien rents an apartment in Manhattan, a new place that she found during the pandemic. She’s still getting bombarded with ads, mostly for luxury housing. ‘I’ve seen two months free, the most I saw was one on a 24-month lease, up to four months free,’ O’Brien said.”

“‘Landlords are having a much more difficult time filling apartments,’ said Jonathan Miller, who authored the report. In Manhattan, ‘that’s why vacancy is double what it was a year ago — more than double — and it’s the highest that we’ve tracked in 14 years,’ he said.”

The New York Daily News. “It’s a renter’s market all across Manhattan. The month of July brought a record high number of vacant rental apartments in Manhattan, with more than 13,000 residences available to rent, according to real estate experts Daniel Elliman and Miller Samuel. The 4.33% vacancy rate was more than double the figure from one year ago, when the number of vacancies was just below 6,000.”

“‘There was a record amount of listing inventory, a rise in landlord concessions and the vacancy rate jumped for the third consecutive month to a new record,’ read the report as COVID-10 continues to wreak havoc on Manhattan housing. The report, now in its 14th year, offered more bad news for landlords: A significant drop in newly-signed July leases compared to 2019, along with a fall-off of about $350 in rent from this July compared to last July.”

The Real Deal on New York. “‘Forty percent of Manhattanites left the city in March and April, and without clarity on topics like school reopenings, there has not been urgency to return,’ said Jonathan Miller, author of the report. As demand stayed low in July and the number of available units grew, the median rent fell to $3,167, down 7 percent from a year earlier — the largest dip in nearly nine years.”

The Real Deal on California. “Downtown Los Angeles is no stranger to protests, but an unexpected group will be hitting the streets on Saturday to raise their signs: Residential landlords. The event is being organized by Yong Ling Lee, who calls herself a ‘mom-and-pop landlord.’ Lee says she rents out 10 single-family houses in Hawthorne, Redondo and other corners of the county. The protest will focus on two concerns: The statewide eviction ban, and landlords’ mounting mortgage payments, in which they say the government has provided little relief.”

“‘The rental rights people that are saying, ‘housing is a human right,’ they are taking advantage of us,’ Lee said. ‘We work hard for little profit. And the government has not helped us a dime with our mortgages.'”

“In fact, the federal government has provided mortgage relief, but only to landlords with mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a deal with some lending institutions in March for mortgage forbearance. But many landlords said they didn’t see the state’s intervention as an improvement over individual negotiations with mortgage providers.”

“Landlords are also concerned about rental income with the expiration of $600-a-week supplemental federal unemployment benefits. While property owners interviewed said they weathered the storm in August, landlords like Kevin Conway, who owns about 6,000 residential rental properties across the state, said he expects a drop in payments come September.”

From SCV News in California. “By a vote of 19-1 on Thursday, the Judicial Council repealed emergency orders suspending foreclosures and unlawful detainer actions in California’s courts, leaving lawmakers just a few weeks to enact legal protections to avert an impending flood of evictions for unpaid rent when the moratorium is officially lifted on Sept. 1. A study by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley notes that as of June, 1 million renter households in California have suffered a job loss because of the pandemic’s resulting economic downturn. A model developed by the Aspen Institute predicts that 3.6 million Californians will be at risk of eviction by the end of September, more than any other state in the country.”

“Another particularly sobering study by a team of UCLA researchers led by law professor emeritus Gary Blasi estimated that with no income, 365,000 renter households in Los Angeles County alone are in immediate danger of eviction. ‘No one can say when the tsunami of evictions will arrive,’ the researchers wrote. ‘We can say that it is coming.'”

“‘While larger owners may be able to last until 2024, for small owners who have less than 16 units there’s no way they’ll be able to make it until 2024,’ said Debra Carlton, the California Apartment Association’s executive vice president for state public affairs. ‘You lose half of your rent and you’re doomed, especially if you have a mortgage. We’re getting calls from people in their 70s and 80s. This is their retirement. They’re living on this money.'”

“Anti-poverty lawyer and USC Gould School of Law professor Clare Pastore agreed landlords face immense pressure. ‘I’m not unsympathetic to the plight of landlords,’ she said. ‘This is landlords’ income too. Lots of people like to think of big, bad, greedy landlords but there are many mom-and-pop landlords facing desperate times without income from tenants. This dwarfs the 2008 recession.'”

The Turlock Journal in California. “While we are squabbling whether it is safe for kids to return to classrooms a number of students may soon be evicted from their current remote classrooms. A ban on evictions during the pandemic is coming to an end on Sept. 1. The California Legislature has toyed with some fairly creative solutions since March but as usual they can’t come up with a workable plan.”

“It is clear that any attempt by Gov. Gavin Newsom to simply extend the moratorium for more months will be aggressively challenged in court. But whether it would be wise for Newsom to even attempt to do so is a point that even the governor likely sees as a horrible move. That’s because the impact essentially of free rent for five months is doing irreparable monetary damage to landlords, most of whom have one to 10 rentals, and driving them closer to the financial abyss as they have bills and mortgages to pay. Even bigger players that carry debt are getting the squeeze.”

“An example of a ‘little guy’ is Karen Clark who owns a triplex near the University of Southern California campus. She rents the other two units to families for $2,400 a month. That’s below market rates for the area but it is a choice she made as she preferred to rent to families that were more stable tenants than college students.”

“One of her tenants lost his job in March due to the pandemic. Even though she was fortunate enough to still be working at City National Bank, the loss of $10,000 in rent has forced her to dip into her savings to not just pay the mortgage but also the power bill and municipal services for the unit. A couple more months without rent and she’ll have the mortgage lender knocking on her door. She could lose everything including her home because the state forced her to have a tenant living rent free because he lost his job to COVID-19 orders put in place by the state.”

“As for stopping foreclosure against the landlord caught up in the state’s free rent answer to the economic chaos their COVID-19 orders have created, that doesn’t relieve them of the debt or the interest payments that keep accruing because they are being denied by the state the legal ability to evict a tenant — essentially a taking of property by the state — and replace them with someone who can pay the rent.”

“This all circles back to the wisdom of shutting down the economy. Rental housing is just one of many segments of the economy that are cratering due to stay at home orders.”

“The danger of tightening up lockdowns or even keeping some of the restrictions now in place on what businesses can and can’t reopen even with COVID-19 protocols is creating a massive economic destruction as well as growing homelessness and other mental and physical health related issues that will do far more lasting damage to Californians than the coronavirus.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 95 Comments

  1. ‘One of her tenants lost his job in March due to the pandemic. Even though she was fortunate enough to still be working at City National Bank, the loss of $10,000 in rent has forced her to dip into her savings to not just pay the mortgage but also the power bill and municipal services for the unit. A couple more months without rent and she’ll have the mortgage lender knocking on her door. She could lose everything including her home’

    I’ve said for a while this is worse than last decade.

    2. I’ve said for a while this is worse than last decade.

      Yes, but that bow-tied permabull “housing analyst” on CNBC assures me that Everything is Awesome and I should buy moar stawks! Who am I to believe: a fringe blogger (per the MSM) or our major networks?

    3. “I’ve said for a while this is worse than last decade.”

      Does that imply that the Fed will work harder than ever to keep the bandage in place on the gunshot wound, and to use economic life support measures to maintain the illusion that everything is awesome?

  2. ‘I’ve seen two months free, the most I saw was one on a 24-month lease, up to four months free’

    Does that sound like a $300 a month drop?

    ‘The 4.33% vacancy rate was more than double the figure from one year ago’

    But griz said yesterday it was 1.5%? That’s the thing about numbers, people can just pull em out of their a$$.

    1. Also about NYC always bouncing back: have we ever had a time when the govnah and mayor were actively trying to destroy the economy?

      ‘Forty percent of Manhattanites left the city in March and April, and without clarity on topics like school reopenings, there has not been urgency to return’

      Has this ever happened?

        1. After the plague outbreak of the 14th century, the lives of the serfs and peasants actually improved, because their scarce labor became more valuable.

          This time around, the poor will only be made worse off.

          1. This time around, the poor will only be made worse off.

            Throughout all of recorded history, republics have been rare anomalies. Instead, a feudal system of a landed aristocracy (sometimes with a rump parliament of some sort) presiding over a mass of landless, destitute serfs has been the historic norm. We are headed inexorably back in that direction.

          2. “the lives of the remaining serfs and peasants actually improved.”

            FIFY. And that’s the rub. Wipe out 30% of your labor force and sure, those left over will do quite fine. In comparison, this pandemic, medically, is pretty wimpy.

        2. Yes, it has. The rich fled the cities in 1348.

          Historians tell us the rapacious rich were fleeing vengeful mobs of screwed-over proles carrying pitchforks, torches, and banners declaring “Realtors are liars.”

      2. A friend of mine lived in Manhattan for 48 years and left a little less than 3 years ago and hated to go. Now she says you could not pay her to move back.

        She had some money as I documented she sold her co-op, a cash only building, for almost $4.0 MM

        NYC is a mess.

    2. But griz said yesterday it was 1.5%? That’s the thing about numbers, people can just pull em out of their a$$.

      Griz is a REIC pimp.

      1. I almost never watch the corporate media anymore, and when I do it’s mainly because sometimes a lie reveals its own kind of truth, i.e. the incessant Narrative-propagating, agenda-pushing drek from the corporate media talking heads. Most nights I watch the YouTube updates from Jeremiah Babe and Gregory Mannarino, who between them DESTROY the b.s. being peddled by the Wall Street touts and shills on the major networks.

  3. ‘with thousands of apartments expected to hit the market this year and no plan to replace expanded jobless benefits, vacancies are expected to increase and rents soften by end of the year. During the first half of the year 3,117 rentals opened, and the market absorbed about 1,142 total units compared with 3,690 units during the same time last year’

    ‘As housing advocates fret about the prospect of a large wave of evictions, property managers in some areas are bracing for an increase in empty units. Some are offering rent concessions, or inducements to rent’

    Down comes NOI, down comes the price. Good thing nobody cash out refied year after year.

    Oh…

  4. ‘Rental housing is just one of many segments of the economy that are cratering due to stay at home orders’

    How “safe” do you feel now?

  5. “‘Landlords are having a much more difficult time filling apartments,’ said Jonathan Miller, who authored the report. In Manhattan, ‘that’s why vacancy is double what it was a year ago — more than double — and it’s the highest that we’ve tracked in 14 years,’ he said.”

    Suck it, greedy landlords.

  6. ‘the second quarter of 2020, the average vacancy rate for local apartments was 8.9%. That’s up from 6.3% one year earlier. Reno’s current construction pipeline is massive by local standards, with 3,170 apartment units in the works. In fact, that’s more than the number of units being built in the much larger Las Vegas metro area. This will increase the Reno area apartment inventory by roughly 10%’

    So how can apartment builders misjudge demand so badly? They are building a commodity, to be flipped to a greater fool.

    1. They’re banking on those rich Californicators:

      Reno’s business-friendly environment, proximity to Silicon Valley and relatively low cost of living made the area an attractive destination for new residents and companies in recent years and helped the local economy become increasingly diversified.

      Uh-oh!

      Still, the report noted that the leisure, hospitality and retail trade sectors continue to account for an outsized portion of the workforce.

  7. “‘There was a record amount of listing inventory, a rise in landlord concessions and the vacancy rate jumped for the third consecutive month to a new record,’ read the report as COVID-10 continues to wreak havoc on Manhattan housing.

    What if these trends continue to increase? What if “social unrest” and a breakdown of law and order overtakes COVID as a prime impetus driving taxpaying residents and creditworthy renters and buyers out of Manhattan and NYC?

    1. “social unrest” and a breakdown of law and order

      This is _the_ housing topic of 2020, and going forward for the indefinite future. As much as we throw the term Real Journalists around on this blog, it is an abject failure of the corporate media to not report this. Yes, I understand that by reporting it it could become a self-reinforcing feedback loop, and they could lose advertisers.

      Our humble blog host digs deep to bring us our daily crater. But why am I getting more information about urban crime from Reddit and 4chan than I can from the New York Times or CNN?

      1. It’s quiet in my area. Nobody even mentions the bring out yer dead cart anymore. I read that in Seattle people are demanding shacks. Give em an inch…

          1. PS – I think this has less to do with George Floyd, BLM and Democrats than people think, and more to do with the insane increase in the cost of living. If Dems win the White House, it’s not going away by any stretch, and ol’ creepy Joe will have the same thing to deal with.

          2. PS – I think this has less to do with George Floyd, BLM and Democrats than people think, and more to do with the insane increase in the cost of living.

            Young people have no future under our current system. That is going to have profound negative implications for societal stability going forward.

          1. I might have to organize a scuba expedition to recover the guns and ammo I lost overboard in my recent tragic boating accident.

        3. Maybe a municipal police force isn’t such a bad idea, after all. Can a city even survive without one?

          Why even live near members of other cultural groups who don’t respect or believe in private property, when the internet offers vocational mobility?

          1. Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure
            What is it like when a city abandons a neighborhood and the police vanish? Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone.
            Faizel Khan, who owns a coffee shop, is part of a lawsuit that says Seattle let occupying protesters damage property and stifle revenue in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
            Credit…Grant Hindsley for The New York Times
            By Nellie Bowles
            Published Aug. 7, 2020
            Updated Aug. 10, 2020

            SEATTLE — Faizel Khan was being told by the news media and his own mayor that the protests in his hometown were peaceful, with “a block party atmosphere.”

            But that was not what he saw through the windows of his Seattle coffee shop. He saw encampments overtaking the sidewalks. He saw roving bands of masked protesters smashing windows and looting.

            Young white men wielding guns would harangue customers as well as Mr. Khan, a gay man of Middle Eastern descent who moved here from Texas so he could more comfortably be out. To get into his coffee shop, he sometimes had to seek the permission of self-appointed armed guards to cross a border they had erected.

            “They barricaded us all in here,” Mr. Khan said. “And they were sitting in lawn chairs with guns.”
            …

      2. But why am I getting more information about urban crime from Reddit and 4chan than I can from the New York Times or CNN?

        Do you actually look at MSM sources? Or are you simply making assumptions about what they are or are not reporting?

        https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/us/philadelphia-shootings-homicides-2020/index.html

        https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/08/14/us/ap-us-chicago-violence.html?searchResultPosition=5

        Furthermore, are you certain that nothing reported by people on reddit, etc. could be exaggerated or fabricated? If the MSM can create fake news, or ignore things, can’t others (who are likely hiding behind monikers) do the same?

        A healthy dose of skepticism and some perspective is always worth having, no matter what source is pushing information at you.

        1. Do you actually look at MSM sources? Or are you simply making assumptions about what they are or are not reporting?

          I do monitor MSM sources, primarily to note their lies and omissions. Some of them, like Vice News, occasionally do some good reporting albeit with a globalist slant.

          Apt 401, my brother from another mother, is among the red-pilled who have noted the huge discrepancy between the “news” as reported by the corporate media, and what’s really happening on the streets of America, as conveyed by those who are experiencing it first-hand.

          https://americandigest.org/the-cities-reports-from-those-on-the-ground/

        2. “Peaceful protestors”

          Yes, I read any and all commercial news sources that don’t block readers using ad-block, and they are more than happy to blather on about the peaceful protesters.

          They RELUCTANTLY report the violence, as if it’s some incidental side story to be ignored in the greater narrative of whatever virtue signal they are promoting.

          Orange Man Bad.
          Capitalism Bad.
          Whitey Be Racist.

          That’s what I learned from CNN and the New York Times.

          1. I follow COVID-19 info as a hobby in my retirement. The MSM has covered itself in shame due to their misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and dumbfeasance. Here’ some info I dug out this week from CDC sources, which one might (erroneously) think would be front page news and repeated daily: 2019-2020 influenza deaths in kids < 18 years old, as of late June: about 180. COVID-19 influenza deaths in the same demographic up to about 2 weeks ago: 73.

          2. I’ll say this about the MSM. I used to do some writing. Last gig it always had to be third person. For decades I noticed AP always wrote in third person. Starting in 2016 I noticed AP writers would throw in first person opinions in political reports, always about one individual. I saw it again this morning, but I didn’t save it. The AP was previously the gold standard of objective reporting. Something has fundamentally changed.

      3. Our humble blog host digs deep to bring us our daily crater.

        I think it’s paramount for those seeking real news and real truth to provide tangible support for the relative handful of credible citizen bloggers who are digging up real news and real truth for the benefit of their readers. The corporate media is massively funded by its advertisers and patrons, and profits greatly from purveying globalist propaganda and misinformation. If you derive value from this site, then please do the right thing and become of active financial supporter of this site and its host, who is putting in the hard work required to make the HBB a bastion of truth and knowledge for those inclined to seek it out.

        1. Yeah Ben I remember that. I went to J school for a couple years and that’s what they preached, neutrality, like a wire service.

          But that was a “green eyeshades” school 20 yrs ago. Probably all woke now.

      4. “social unrest” and a breakdown of law and order

        This is _the_ housing topic of 2020, and going forward for the indefinite future.

        https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/08/12/downtown-overnight-access-restrictions-to-persist-until-next-monday-morning-in-wake-of-looting/

        CHICAGO (CBS) — Restricted access rules for Chicago’s Central Business District will remain in place for overnight periods until 6 a.m. Monday.

        The restrictions will begin at 9 p.m. each night. They come in the wake of looting and unrest downtown, on the Magnificent Mile, and in Streeterville, River North, and the area near North and Sheffield avenues early Monday morning.

        A Neighborhood Protection Plan also remains in effect throughout Chicago communities to keep the public safe, and Chicago Police citywide teams will be used to supplement staffing for police districts – including the downtown area.

        As to downtown access, the OEMC emphasized that the restrictions do not amount to a curfew. All residents, essential workers, and employees whose businesses are downtown may come and go at will.

        1. The real issue with the restrictions is, they aren’t telling people, and they change. I felt awful on Monday for all those people taking the red line south. They stopped at Fullerton and were basically told, get off. No one helped those people, who were stranded.

          Yesterday Friday night there were NO restrictions on Trains at 7pm. I logged into CTA at 8:00pm there were restrictions on the trains. No come on, they KNEW these were going to be there. Why not announce them ASAP?

          What to confuse looters? I saw a lot of looters on TV with van, but didn’t see any of them taking the subway, but maybe they did?

  8. Lee says she rents out 10 single-family houses in Hawthorne, Redondo and other corners of the county.

    Sounds more like a wanna-be real estate mogul who probably levered up on debt to fund her “acquisitions” and nickel and dimes her tenants to squeeze every last penny of profit out of “her” properties.

    1. https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2020/08/14/bankruptcies-foreclosures-loom-for-californias-mom-and-pop-landlords/

      ‘Rental housing providers pay their employees, contractors, and utilities to maintain rental housing. The majority must pay mortgage payments and all have to pay for insurance and property taxes. The National Apartment Association reports that ninety-one cents of every rental dollar are used to pay expenses to maintain rental housing. Rental housing owners rely on the balance, nine cents, to support themselves and pay their own bills.’

      ‘The need for direct assistance must be solved now, not tomorrow. If SB 1410 becomes law, it will cost Californians tens of billions of dollars and increase bankruptcies and foreclosures.’

      How the mighty have fallen.

      1. The National Apartment Association reports that ninety-one cents of every rental dollar are used to pay expenses to maintain rental housing.

        The NAA might be on par with the NAR when it comes to fudging data. I think it depends on the individual landlord. Some are highly conscientious about their properties, and others are trying to maximize profits at the expense of their tenants and properties.

        1. others are trying to maximize profits at the expense of their tenants and properties

          I see you’ve met my landlord, then!

      2. ‘How can the state essentially unfreeze eviction cases, which it pledged to do by Sept. 1, while local “moratoriums” such as L.A. County’s continue? In fact, the county’s moratorium has been extended until Sept. 30, while the city of L.A.’s renter protections exist through the duration of the pandemic emergency. But they can only do so much.’

        ‘County officials have also touted its $100 million rental relief fund, which resident can begin applying for on Monday. But they know that fund will run out quickly, and will only last a matter of a few months for some renters. In the end, people were bracing for a crisis.’

        “If they don’t step in and actually pass something that does really look like a moratorium and doesn’t just pay lip service, than we’ll be drowning in evictions by October,” Chiroux said of the Legislature.’

        https://www.dailynews.com/2020/08/15/eviction-moratoriums-can-only-go-so-far-for-renters-amid-pandemic/

        How is this a plan? The guberment doesn’t have any money. Oh, everybody stop paying everything! We’ll say it doesn’t have to be paid. We’ll send you some cheese! Look at DC arguing over a $600 deal. That will last how long? There is no plan.

          1. The central banks have been kicking the can on a grand scale since 2009. At some point they’re going to run out of road for extend-and-pretend, and that’s when the Great Reset is going to begin.

      3. it will cost Californians tens of billions of dollars Any “direct assistance” government launched program will also cost Californians tens of billions of dollars. They should choose wisely LOL

      4. ‘The National Apartment Association reports that ninety-one cents of every rental dollar are used to pay expenses to maintain rental housing. Rental housing owners rely on the balance, nine cents, to support themselves and pay their own bills.’

        How does this high cost, low margin business work when the government steps in to say the business owner has to henceforth continue providing this costly menu of customer services for free, as the customer is henceforth exempt from making payment?

    2. When I first moved to Missoula 45 years ago, rentals were humble abodes. Class C stuff, trailers. Mom and Pop owned them outright, and lived close by. I rented from a few if them.

      Good times.

  9. “As housing advocates fret about the prospect of a large wave of evictions, property managers in some areas are bracing for an increase in empty units. Some are offering rent concessions, or inducements to rent, including one or two free months’ rent with at least a yearlong lease in some buildings.”

    Yer gonna have to do better than that, greedy landlords. You need to price your apartments to be affordable and reasonable to tenants in our oligarch-looted, COVID-ravaged economy as the inflation the Fed says doesn’t exist steadily robs them of their purchasing power. And if that means you can’t cover the monthly mortgage on your “investment,” then you better start the process of divesting yourself of your failed speculative property.

  10. “Even before the pandemic, Amazon considered building more satellite offices outside the city, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company plans to expand its Bellevue offices, which it has had since 2017. Such locations are seen as an amenity for employees tired of commuting to Seattle and as a way to reduce the company’s exposure to the city’s taxes targeting big employers, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

    NYC Developer Silverstein Expands West Coast Bet With Loan Deal

    Two years ago, Amazon helped defeat an effort in Seattle to raise money for homeless services and affordable housing by levying a per-employee tax on large businesses. The “head tax” would have raised about $47 million a year.

    The political climate has since shifted against the company after Amazon’s big spending on a Seattle City Council election backfired last year. In July, the council passed a new levy that will tax large businesses on employees who make at least $150,000 per year. The tax is expected to raise more than $200 million annually and cost Amazon even more than the earlier proposal.”

    1. Get ready for lots of jobs paying $149,990.00 with better bennies. If that’s not enough pay, then move the jobs to place likes Tomball, TX, where $149K lives like a king. Or just ship the whole kit-n-kaboodle to India and be done with it.

  12. From the California (Turlock Journal) article:

    “An example of a ‘little guy’ is Karen Clark who owns a triplex near the University of Southern California campus. She rents the other two units to families for $2,400 a month. That’s below market rates for the area but it is a choice she made as she preferred to rent to families that were more stable tenants than college students.”

    I assume that’s $2,400 for *each* unit in some 100+ year old triplex in a crummy urban neighborhood, nearly half of whose residents were born in Mexico or El Salvador.

    The University of Southern California is located in southwest LA, which, according to Wikipedia, had a median household income of $16,533 in 2008 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Park,_Los_Angeles).

    Lots of crime there, too. Who in this neighborhood can afford $2,400 per month in rent? What is the real story of this woman’s rentals and who lives in them? I would have a lot more sympathy for landlords if they were providing a good product at a good price that working Americans could afford. As it stands, they don’t get much sympathy from me.

    1. landlords if they were providing a good product at a good price that working Americans could afford. I would like to know if such landlords even exist.

    2. Let’s pick this statement apart and take a close look at it …

      “An example of a ‘little guy’ is Karen Clark who owns a triplex near the University of Southern California campus. She rents the other two units to families for $2,400 a month.”

      She owns a triplex near the USC campus. Check. She rents the other two units for $2,400 a month.

      This suggests that the $2,400 a month units are seperate from her USC campus triplex. The article is not clear on this because the writer is just plain stupid or the editor just got carried away. Whatever. Anyway, if the $2,400 a month units are located somewhere else then the rental amounts may be valid. IMO.

  14. And for today’s fun and games, Toyota (or an imposter) just called me up a half-hour ago. I knew what they were after but I decided to humor them. They flattered me how well I was taking care of my 2017 Camry, was it still the mileage they thought, were there any problems, any major dents, etc. Uh-huh. They want it for their used market since it’s evidently in demand. Is the demand really this high?

    1. “…They flattered me how well I was taking care of my 2017 Camry…”

      Welcome to the new world of data mining!

      I’ve gotten those type of calls myself. I *think* my dealership sells my purchase / service info to 3rd parties or (in my case) to Chevrolet sales.

      Toyota (or imposter) could care less about you.

      They just want to sell you a new car and perhaps make a little money on the trade-in.

      1. They just want to sell you a new car and perhaps make a little money on the trade-in.

        This. I’ve also had cold calls saying they would pay me top dollar for my car. No mention of selling you a new replacement car, but you know that’s part of the deal. In my case it was the Kia dealer where my long out of warranty car was serviced for a recall.

  15. I am still waiting for home inventory to rise and prices to drop in nice parts of Sacramento and Placer counties. Homes still selling fast over list price. Plus I don’t want to wear a stinkin mask to view homes either.

  16. Awesome twitter videos of these demanding “protesters”.

    ‘GIVE UP YOUR HOUSE!’ BLM PROTESTERS DEMAND WHITE ‘GENTRIFIERS’ IN SEATTLE HAND OVER THEIR PROPERTY

    BLM demands for reparations reaches fever pitch with help of mainstream media

    Chris Menahan | Information Liberation – AUGUST 15, 2020

    Kitty Shackleford
    @KittyLists
    Replying to @KittyLists
    Harassing people at their houses “Give us your home!” #Seattle

    “Get out of our neighborhood! Pay the fee! Open your purse!” to residents of the neighborhood #Seattle

    The demands have now changed to “we want it all.” #Seattle

    So that wasn’t a mistake yesterday – this is a new chant apparently
    “Who do we protect? Black criminals!” #Seattle

    https://www.infowars.com/give-up-your-house-blm-protesters-demand-white-gentrifiers-in-seattle-hand-over-their-property/

      1. Also reparations.

        Are you white, with ancestors who located to America after the Civil War?

        Too bad. You are nonetheless held responsible, due to the color of your skin, and get to help pay for them.

          1. That’ll be interesting. Her father admitted that their ancestors owned slaves.

            It will be considered irrelevant by the MSM and consigned to the memory hole. If the Dems take the Senate and WH, they will vote in lock step for reparations, and authorize borrowing who knows how many trillions to fund them.

            If you need to buy a car, do it before President Harris signs the reparations bill, because dealerships will be picked clean. Also, you might want to make sure your liquor cabinet is restocked.

    2. I always thought that those moving into the “city” were nuts. Did they really think the race wars were over? That they could gentrify neighborhoods without creating resentment?

      And I never understood the fuss. What was so special about living there? The quaint Ethiopian restaurant? The fusion taqueria?

      It was all too predictable that the “vibrancy” would become a liability. I’ll bet those people in that gentrified Seattle neighborhood must really enjoy having angry mobs parading down their streets, yelling at them to GTFO. “But we’re on your side!” No you’re not, whitey, now turn your property over to us and go back to wherever your ancestors came from.

  17. Many western cities, especially Nevada, they can just keep building out it seems. And people show up. Heck, I’d not mind living in Reno if it wasn’t for the probable crime and transient vibe I get with cities. Sunshine and proximity to the Sierra Nevada. Colorado hiking would not be far away either. Listen to me, I am interested, lol.

    1. Heck, I’d not mind living in Reno if it wasn’t for the probable crime and transient vibe I get with cities.

      I think all cities have a lot of transients. I am told by the local library staff that they get waves of transients who get a library card so they can use the computer lab to search for jobs on craigslist. Am told that the transients will hang around the library for about two weeks, then they never set foot in the library again, because the ones who can’t find work move on to the next city. l am also seeing a lot more people in grocery store parking lots, panhandling while holding a “looking for work” sign, often standing next to a sandwich board sign from The House of Neighborly Service, which offers to help them get back on their feet. Most have a dog with them.

  18. Meanwhile, Boston continues it’s upward trajectory!

    https://realestate.boston.com/buying/2020/08/12/report-boston-is-leading-the-us-housing-market-comeback/

    “Housing tends to be immune from economic downturns and slowdowns,” said Javier Vivas, Realtor.com’s director of economic research. That’s excluding the past recession, which was caused by a housing bubble. “Right now we’re seeing markets recover faster where they’re able to contain the virus better. Markets with strong technology sectors have been more resilient.”

    1. “Housing tends to be immune from economic downturns and slowdowns,”

      LMFAO. Some of these quotes are richer than those of the 2007 era. What an aszhat.

    2. “Meanwhile, Boston continues it’s upward trajectory!”

      And Boston’s weather is always pleasant and sunny!

        1. Agreed. The RE syndicates that specialize in student housing as well as their bond investors such as public pension funds are in serious trouble.

          1. RE syndicates

            Lots of mom-and-pop landlords too. Because I had a dog, I had to go with them.

        2. I just read that only 25% of the student body is expected to return to Harvard University. You would think that Cambridge real estate might take a hit but most people/owners or loan owners I know in this city maintain that their property values will only level off, never go down. What do I know, I’m a lowly renter.

      2. Well, this summer it’s been sunny and rather hot in the Boston area. We finally got some much needed rain today. As to the weather, there is a saying attributed to Mark Twain: “if you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

        1. Mark Twain: “if you don’t like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

          Awesome. Stolen!

  19. The event is being organized by Yong Ling Lee, who calls herself a ‘mom-and-pop landlord.’

    Nothing Mom and Pop about owning and renting 10 So Cal properties. That’s being a slumlord millionaire.

    2. “Veteran publicist Ed Lozzi says: ‘The city was changing before coronavirus brought us to our knees. The homeless problem has been escalating for years, exacerbated by weak politicians making bad decisions.”

      Agreed.

    3. “‘When the real-life Iron Man moves out of Hollywood, you know it’s all over,’ says a source at one of the major studios.”

      I won’t be back?

Comments are closed.