thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

Sellers Who Want To Do Deals Need To Add On Another Layer Of Discount

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Mortgage delinquencies showed their sharpest rise in the history of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s delinquency survey. ‘There is no way to sugarcoat a 32.9 percent drop in GDP during the second quarter,’ said Marina Walsh, vice president of industry analysis at the Mortgage Bankers Association. ‘Certain homeowners, particularly those with FHA loans, will continue to be impacted by this crisis, and delinquencies are likely to stay at elevated levels for the foreseeable future.'”

“There is a much smaller pool of lenders willing to offer jumbo loans. Craig Turley, owner of AZ Mortgage Broker in Phoenix, said his stable of jumbo-loan wholesalers has shrunk to one-third the size it was in February. Anthony Bird, owner of Riverbank Finance, a mortgage broker in Grand Rapids, Mich. said his roster of jumbo lenders is down by 80%. The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index, a formula designed to gauge access to a variety of mortgage products, shows consumer access to jumbo loans was 60% lower in July than it was the year prior.”

“The private equity firm behind a $1 billion real estate portfolio in Brooklyn and Miami said its investments in two big projects have been wiped out — and one critic is blaming a pair of 20-somethings who were trusted with the company checkbook. JZ Capital Partners recently wrote down to zero its stakes on a Downtown Brooklyn development site and a portfolio of properties in Miami’s Design District, the company’s annual report shows.”

“‘In the case of two substantial investments, Fulton Mall and Design District, the markdowns at the property level were sufficient to extinguish the company’s entire equity in these properties,’ the report disclosed last month.”

“The Covid-19 crisis has delivered a stunning gut-punch to the New York City luxury real-estate market, applying downward pressure at a rate that surpasses both the 2008 financial crisis and the period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the West Chelsea district, a recently built ultra high-end boutique condominium known as the Getty slashed prices for its remaining units by as much as 46%.”

“The crisis comes at a time when sales and prices in the luxury market were already under pressure. ‘It’s not like New York City is all of a sudden on sale. New York has been on sale for the past 24 months,’ said Tal Alexander, a luxury agent with Douglas Elliman. ‘Sellers who are motivated and want to do deals need to add on another layer of discount.'”

“A Seattle condo located at Four Seasons Private Residences just sold for nearly $4M less than its 2019 price of $9.995M.”

“One sector of Dallas housing that’s seeing a recent rise in listings is downtown-area condominiums. Almost five dozen luxury condo units — mostly in high-rise buildings — have hit the market in the last few months in downtown and Uptown. Real estate agents say the surge in condo tower listings is due to everything from potential high resale values to worries about the pandemic. ‘Some people who thought they needed a second or third home have changed their minds and put them on the market,’ said agent Kyle Crews of Allie Beth Allman & Associates.”

“This corner of downtown Houston, once a thriving hub of commerce and culture, has become a shadow of its former self. The food hall crowds are gone. The taxis are nowhere to be found. And the restaurants that are still open are struggling to hang on. Occupancy in downtown’s luxury apartment buildings has fallen as new properties open, and those landlords are trying to lure tenants with virtual showings, self-guided tours and rent specials.”

“‘You’ve got to understand,’ said Tilman Fertitta, who owns Vic & Anthony’s, the high-end steakhouse near Minute Maid Park, ‘downtown is dead. There’s nobody in the buildings.'”

“If the economy takes a further beating, the real estate market could as well. Jeff Anderson, a Long Beach real estate agent, said he’s starting to see the market go in different directions, with rising inventory and falling prices in the downtown Long Beach condo market, as well as expensive neighborhoods by the beach in the eastern part of the city. Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, wonders how long the current upswing can continue because, with the economy the way it is, ‘we are going to run out of people who still have jobs who can buy houses.'”

“Heather Presha, a real estate agent who specializes in South Los Angeles, said she’s now getting more inquiries from homeowners wondering if they should cash out now, fearful the market will tank and they’ll lose their sizable equity. One of those owners, she said, is expecting to get laid off from his job in the film industry. ‘He wants to liquidate and move to the mountains,’ Presha said.”

“With as many as one in five homeowners deferring mortgage payments due to COVID-19, banks need to act now to avoid a crisis among borrowers in Canada, says a mortgage industry spokesperson. Paul Taylor, CEO of Mortgage Professionals Canada, added there have been warnings the percentage of homeowners seeking deferrals could climb to 20%. Many homeowners may find themselves perched precariously on a financial cliff. ‘The general expectation is that these families will be forced to sell their homes, and that this influx of housing inventory to the market will create price softening as more housing options are made available to buyers,’ Taylor said.”

“The Lagos State Government has asked allottees of the various public housing estates who are yet to complete the payments on their allocated homes to do so or forfeit their rights over the housing units as stipulated in their letters of allocation. ‘Government’s revenue has been greatly affected by defaulters in some of our existing estates. Many have failed to pay up their outstanding in spite of government’s magnanimity in extending the period of grace beyond the statutory 90 days,’ said Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Mr Wasiu Akewusola.”

“Ho Chi Minh City landlords have been forced to lower rents further with the second wave of Covid-19 hitting demand. Minh in District 1 has so far lowered the rents for her two apartments by 30 percent to $900 a month each. In July, when foreigners could not come to Vietnam due to the pandemic, she had to lease it to locals who pay even less. ‘The longer the pandemic goes on, the more damage it will cause to me because I have bank debts to pay.'”

“Another landlord, Trieu in District 7, cut rents for his three properties by 15 percent after the first wave, and by another 10 percent this month. ‘I myself have to repay banks VND25 million ($1,080) a month.’ Tai, a broker, said rents in District 4 have dropped by 30-35 percent since the beginning of the year, explaining that many people renting properties there were tourists or businessmen with short-term needs who have left.”

“Vo Huynh Tuan Kiet, associate director of residential project marketing at real estate firm CBRE, forecast rents would continue to fall until the end of the year since there is also an abundance of supply.”

“Price cuts were recorded in local property market, with a luxury residential site at 20 Perkins Road in Jardine’s Lookout changing hands for HK$850 million, a 40 percent drop from a recent peak. The average price totaled over HK$82,000 if calculated based on a gross floor area of 10,256 sq ft. In comparison, a house on the same road in 2018 changed hands at an average price of HK$145,000 per sq ft.”

“A real estate business report published by Chinese social media platform Weibo on Aug. 9 revealed that the poorest city in Sichuan Province is struggling with completing many unfinished projects, leading to the waste of thousands of acres of fertile farmland and loss of billions of funds. According to the report, in Bazhong city alone, 40 percent of local projects ended before the construction took place, like the Andersen Fairy Tale Theme Park; and 50 percent of projects ended half-way, like the Panxing Logistics Industrial Park.”

“Unfinished projects are scattered all over China. Apartment complexes, industrial parks, commercial office buildings, image projects, etc., were abandoned due to debt and lack of funds. Some projects been abandoned for more than a decade, leaving unfinished construction sites in ruin. Some analysts said that in this case, developers will definitely pass on the cost to the housing market, and buyers will eventually pay for it. In other words, the over-reliance on land finances pushes up housing prices, but the real economy is weak and land use efficiency is low. As a consequence, the real estate bubble could burst.”

“It is often forgotten that one of the keys to Scott Morrison’s narrow victory at the last election was his fight against the ALP’s proposed crackdown on negative gearing. Particularly in the key states of Queensland and Western Australia, voters were very keen to hang on to negative gearing – a process by which landlords are able to offset losses on a property against their total income. The old saying of being careful what you wish for applies to the electoral enthusiasm for negative gearing, with the COVID-19 pandemic having a particularly brutal effect on the widely employed strategy.”

“As the name suggests, negative gearing means the landlord/investor has negative cash flow – the cost of providing their rental property in interest, rates and other costs is significantly greater than their rental income. While that all seems on the surface to be an exercise in financial foolishness, the really big upside in negative gearing is that the value of the property is rising over time. Like so many other aspects of society, COVID-19 has turned this exercise in financial sophistry completely on its head – and not in a good way.”

“The latest figures show that Australian taxpayers were claiming $13 billion a year in negative gearing – a number that looks set to keep growing. Nowhere is this being played out more than in the big Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne where vacancy rates on rental properties continue to rise, property valuations are falling and rents are falling fast.”

“Sure, negative gearing landlords are still getting to pay lower tax bills as the gap between what they pay in interest and what they get in rent widens alarmingly as rental income falls but the financial ‘fizz’ provided by rising property prices has also turned negative – and in this exercise, two negatives most definitely do not produce a positive. For those who have had a bad pandemic, the prospect of selling out at a loss to end the pain of rising cash losses might be the only alternative.”

Related Posts
This Post Has 155 Comments

  1. ‘Mortgage delinquencies showed their sharpest rise in the history of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s delinquency survey. ‘There is no way to sugarcoat a 32.9 percent drop in GDP during the second quarter’

    Sugarcoat?

    1. Isn’t that what PowellBux do? Keep the stock market surging against the backdrop of collapsed real economic production?

  2. ‘Craig Turley, owner of AZ Mortgage Broker in Phoenix, said his stable of jumbo-loan wholesalers has shrunk to one-third the size it was in February. Anthony Bird, owner of Riverbank Finance, a mortgage broker in Grand Rapids, Mich. said his roster of jumbo lenders is down by 80%. The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index, a formula designed to gauge access to a variety of mortgage products, shows consumer access to jumbo loans was 60% lower in July than it was the year prior’

    A couple of things about this: If you are in a jumbo market, how can you possibly believe the REIC stuff about red-hot, blah blah?

    Second: the MBA is still bitchin’ and moaning about a half point fee. But when their ass is in the sling, they bail out on making loans entirely! Where’s the cries of “think of the borrowers”? These greedy bashtards want the guberment to back a risk free loan, but will accept no risk at all when it pleases them.

    hy·poc·ri·sy
    /həˈpäkrəsē/
    noun
    noun: hypocrisy; plural noun: hypocrisies

    -the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.

  4. ‘the surge in condo tower listings is due to everything from potential high resale values to worries about the pandemic. ‘Some people who thought they needed a second or third home have changed their minds and put them on the market’

    Nobody needs a 2nd or 3rd airbox Kyle, this is pure speculation. Plus there’s nothing to do down there at night, except get drunk, and that’s probably shut down.

    ‘You’ve got to understand,’ said Tilman Fertitta, who owns Vic & Anthony’s, the high-end steakhouse near Minute Maid Park, ‘downtown is dead. There’s nobody in the buildings’

    The barflys all left?

  5. ‘In the case of two substantial investments, Fulton Mall and Design District, the markdowns at the property level were sufficient to extinguish the company’s entire equity in these properties’

    Wipe-out!

    1. Imagine what Citi, BofA, Wells Fargo etc. (everyone but Goldman) are doing with alternative structured debt instruments etc. Many of the folks running these instruments, defining and selling them are late 20’s / early 30’s MBAs. Does it help for them to be coke’d up

      —————
      “The private equity firm behind a $1 billion real estate portfolio in Brooklyn and Miami said its investments in two big projects have been wiped out — and one critic is blaming a pair of 20-somethings who were trusted with the company checkbook. JZ Capital Partners recently wrote down to zero its stakes on a Downtown Brooklyn development site and a portfolio of properties in Miami’s Design District, the company’s annual report shows.”

    1. On the eighth day, god created welder’s sparks. And the developer just sold that project to the insurance company. Whew!

  7. ‘A Seattle condo located at Four Seasons Private Residences just sold for nearly $4M less than its 2019 price of $9.995M’

    There’s thousands of new, unsold Seattle airboxes waiting on the pride in ownership!

    ‘she’s now getting more inquiries from homeowners wondering if they should cash out now, fearful the market will tank and they’ll lose their sizable equity’

    Tank? But gold nuggets in the dirt driveway (if you have a drive way, I talking to you La Jolla). These Californians and their farking equity. Enjoy the bust!

    ‘The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass all the time.’ – Catfish Hunter

    1. “she’s now getting more inquiries from homeowners wondering if they should cash out now, fearful the market will tank and they’ll lose their sizable equity’

      I don’t get it ? Don’t you have to pay that back ??

      1. “I don’t get it ? Don’t you have to pay that back ??”

        Homeowners are looking at their gains minus what’s owed including all expenses. Usually you have to have been there 10-yrs or more to see anything positive. It’s a risky gamble that wouldn’t exist if interest rates were higher.

      2. I don’t get it ? Don’t you have to pay that back ??

        Sounds like a sure fire way to end up underwater if the prices drop as these borrowers are expecting. Maybe they’re hoping to keep the money (or whatever they buy with it) when they jingle mail.

        1. Isn’t that point of underwaterness when homeowners who blew all their home equity wealth gains on toys and vacations get politicians’ sympathy and qualify for bailouts?

  8. “…Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, wonders how long the current upswing can continue because, with the economy the way it is, ‘we are going to run out of people who still have jobs who can buy houses….’”

    What Richard Green doesn’t realize is that we ran out of people with money to buy homes long ago.

    In my hood, (The OC), so many MLS listings are listed as “contingent”.

    Almost certainly, contingent on selling another home that has been inflated with fake money in the first place.

    MLS “contingent” talk is just a euphemism for yet another Ponzi scheme.

  10. “A Seattle condo located at Four Seasons Private Residences just sold for nearly $4M less than its 2019 price of $9.995M.”

    From that article:

    In 2020 versus 2019 (through August 20th)

    Number of sales over a $1M in 2020 was 60 (3% increase)
    Median sales price is $1,324,975 (5% increase over 2019)
    Average sales price is $1,555,708 (23% decrease from 2019)

    3 years ago, the market in Seattle was already weak and declining. What happened to stop the price declines? Was it the FED’s interest rate cuts? I don’t quite understand how last crash once things got rolling they got steadily worse, but this time there was some sort of reinflation right as markets started declining. Prices should be way down at this point in Seattle.

    1. My only explanation is the skew of condos being sold.

      I have seen more of 2 bed room (say from 950 to 1300 sq ft) units being sold in the past 3 months.

      We were luck and our unit (good building, great location) downtown Seattle closed end-Feb-2020. The unit directly above our went pending 2 weeks ago (still waiting on Redfin for the closing not last ask price) – but it looks like they sold for about 3% above ours. The only difference was california closets in the master walk-in and some better light fixtures.

      Who the heck knows?

        1. It’s a company that does custom closet shelving etc. IMO it’s much cheaper to just ditch 1/2 your clothes, but I’m just a peasant.

          1. “…it’s much cheaper to just ditch 1/2 your clothes..”

            Ditto. <;)

            I *think* that if I search really hard I could find a dress shirt and tie. But I do have a great collection of T-shirts and sandals.

            BTW, being a peasant (with plenty of cash in the bank) isn't such a bad lifestyle.

            No need to keep up with the Johnson's or the REIConplex.

            Just relax, pop a cold one, and read the HBB!

          2. BTW, being a peasant (with plenty of cash in the bank) isn’t such a bad lifestyle.

            No need to keep up with the Johnson’s or the REIConplex.

            I drive a 23 year old truck with paint falling off the hood. I keep it in top mechanical shape. People probably think I’m poor or something. Meanwhile, I could pay cash for a new $75k truck, but I don’t.

          3. It’s a company that does custom closet shelving etc.

            You can buy similar stuff at Home Cheapo, but you have to install it yourself.

  11. ” …wonder$ how long the current up$wing can continue because, with the economy the way it is, ‘we are going to run out of people who $till have job$ who can buy hou$es.’”

    Plain.$peak.edit:
    “we is going to run out of $ucker.folk$ who $till have low.hourly.paid.job$ who can purcha$e our over.priced.$helter.$hack$ with wanker.non.banker.lender.loan$”

  12. I was watching a financial show recently and one of the guests said something like “the FED is playing a psychological game, trying to force people into the markets.” I’ll have to say that as years and years go on, and I am punished as a saver, I start feeling that pressure, though I have no succumbed. I look around and everybody is partying off the proceeds of their high priced stocks, houses, etc., and I have no gains to show for anything, only some savings from working.

    1. I said this during the last crash, will the fed sell millions of foreclosed houses to the Chinese government and they in return a Trillion +++ dollars they own in US debt.

    2. I’m in Westcliffe now and it’s like being on a different planet. No tweakers, no junkies, no graffiti, just prosperous ranches and DJT signs everywhere. I complimented a woman’s sticker on her truck that says “these guns lubricated with liberal tears” and we had a brief chat about the marxist trash in Denver.

      1. Westcliffe is about an hour east of Pueblo, which over the past 20 years has devolved into a drug gang-infested barrio town. When the Great Reset hits, the cholos are going to come barreling down CO-96 when their food and looting raids start. Of course, the route into town goes through terrain that is perfect for ambushes, if the locals decide they’re not on board with involuntary “redistribution of the wealth.”

  14. I signed up so Kelley Blue Book could track a used Toyota Tacoma value for me. It was a 2018 I saw for sale which has of course long ago been sold. It had about 15,000 miles on it. This was back in April. Since that time, I have been getting emails about the changing value, and it has gone up 14% since that time. And here I thought I might find a “deal” on a used car due to everybody going broke. Hah!

    1. I think most of the unemployed have beaters, if they drive at all.

      I recall that when construction comes to a grinding halt, that’s when the market is flooded with cheap, used pickups. $4+ gas also helps.

      So you’ll have to wait. Though cheap used Tacomas might be harder to find, as builder boyz seem to prefer full sized pickups.

  15. I have zero faith that we will ever see a free market in assets again. I believe the government and the FED are going to meddle forever. I fully expect taxpayer funded programs to repay landlords for lost rent, to excuse renters from ever paying, and for that to extend to things like auto loans, school loans, etc.

      1. Everyone who can leave cities is leaving, or planning to leave. Their trophy for “winning” will be a pile of ashes.

      2. Sounds like you’re predicting the Democrats will win in November?

        Does it really matter?

    2. I’m starting to despair myself. I realize I shouldn’t complain; I still have a job and a financial buffer should I need it. But it’s not an easy thing, to realize your country is in decline, to realize that what was once a bustling meritocracy is now a welfare state. I imagine middle-class Romans felt the same thing coming on.

      1. I’m starting to despair myself.

        Don’t despair. The junkies, cry babies and broken debt donkeys will not inherit this country. Get your financial affairs in order. Don’t speculate in shiny baubles.

      2. I’ve been lucky in life in that every time I felt sorry for myself I would see someone who really had it hard. It happened consistently enough that I took it as a sign.

        That said, you have to fight for your right to party. A free people would do well to remember there are those who would take that freedom.

        1. It’s one thing to help out the poor. It’s another to hand out a potential max $120K/household UBI for doing nothing, a proposal that some Dems have floated.

          1. Sounds like a real economy killer and political timebomb. Who would be dumb enough to work if you could get that much money for free?

            But with nobody working, where would the stuff you’d want to buy for $120K a year come from?

            I’m beginning to suspect that the Democratic party is populated by complete idiots.

      4. “I’m starting to despair myself.”

        I just got a child abduction alert on my phone. Someone is living in hell on earth right now.

          2. Because Fathers get routinely f**ked in family court w

            Correct. I once had to explain to my late mother that almost all those children who used to appear on milk cartons were “abducted” by their fathers. and that there wasn’t a child abduction epidemic.

      5. But it’s not an easy thing, to realize your country is in decline, to realize that what was once a bustling meritocracy is now a welfare state.

        Yes, it’s not easy to be a citizen of an empire in decline.

  16. Something funny happened on the way to the corona crash.

    The Financial Times
    Matthew Rocco 2 hours ago
    US existing home sales surge to highest level since 2006

    Sales of previously owned homes in the US surged to their highest level in more than 13 years in July, as record low mortgage rates and demand for roomier dwellings continued to draw buyers into the market.

    Existing home sales jumped 24.7 per cent against the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.86m, the best pace since December 2006, according to figures published by the National Association of Realtors on Friday.

    It was the second consecutive month of record gains, after existing home sales rose 20.7 per cent month-to-month in June. Sales in July were also up 8.7 per cent from a rate of 5.39m in July 2019.

    “The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

    Home-buying activity has been a bright spot as the US economy battles back from the depths of coronavirus shutdowns, fuelled by low borrowing costs and pent-up demand after lockdowns. Mr Yun noted that the shift to remote work has also contributed to the recovery, as current owners seek out larger homes. “This will lead to a secondary level of demand even into 2021,” he said.

    Some economists have cautioned that higher lumber prices could lead the housing market to lose momentum in the fall, as builders grapple with rising costs.

    All four major regions recorded double-digit sales increases versus June, the NAR said. The northeast was the lone region where sales were down year-on-year.

    The national median existing-home price eclipsed $300,000 for the first time ever, growing 8.5 per cent year-on-year to $304,100. Housing inventory totalled 1.5m units at the end of July, which was down 2.6 per cent from June and 21.1 per cent from one year ago.
    …

  17. “$omething funny happened on the way to the corona cra$h.”

    $helter.$hack.$ucker$.knot.all.dead &/+ 30 yr wanker.non.banker.lender.loans @ 2.86%

      1. So many too-clever-by-half investors have been piling into inflation hedges for so long, you just have to wonder if the inflation flight-to-safety trade won’t reverse itself at some point?

        Market Snapshot
        Here’s how record negative ‘real yields’ are driving a crowded rally in stocks, gold and everything else
        Published: Aug. 10, 2020 at 8:25 a.m. ET
        By Sunny Oh
        Real yields hit a record low of negative 1.1% on Thursday
        AFP/Getty Images

        Deeply negative real yields – bond yields after accounting for inflation – are driving gains in all corners of financial markets.

        That’s the growing view among market participants who say the decline of this key bond market indicator has driven increased risk-taking but also a surge in traditional safe havens like gold among investors who are looking for assets that offer higher returns and also offset the losses arising from inflation.

        The 10-year real yield stood at around a negative 1.05%, derived from trading in Treasury inflation-protected securities. It hit its record low of negative 1.11% on Thursday. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield has swung in a narrow range between 0.50% and 0.90% since March, and now trades at 0.57%, Tradeweb data show. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
        …

        1. Could someone who understands Sir Alan’s comment, made over a decade’s worth of abnormally low risk premiums ago, kindly explain what he meant?

          History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums.

          — Alan Greenspan

          2. I may have misunderstood, but I thought he meant that unless it’s different this time, we are collectively screwed if these abnormally low rates don’t continue forever.

          3. It means that the market stayed irrational longer than people stayed solvent, and the people suffered. Every time.

        1. IIRC, subprime loans are a high margin business. Which perhaps helps explain their prevalence?

      2. Is there an economic equivalent to diabetes?

        Downtown Portland is living it. May have to amputate soon…

  19. The private equity firm behind a $1 billion real estate portfolio in Brooklyn and Miami said its investments in two big projects have been wiped out — and one critic is blaming a pair of 20-somethings who were trusted with the company checkbook.

    It was only Yellen Bux. Easy come, easy go.

  20. ‘Sellers who are motivated and want to do deals need to add on another layer of discount.’”

    And then another. Then another.

    The cratering is going to accelerate, and no, it’s not just due to COVID.

  21. “A Seattle condo located at Four Seasons Private Residences just sold for nearly $4M less than its 2019 price of $9.995M.”

    Gosh, that’s getting perilously close to the 50% discounts we were assured by our dear departed REIC trolls was inconceivable.

  22. “‘You’ve got to understand,’ said Tilman Fertitta, who owns Vic & Anthony’s, the high-end steakhouse near Minute Maid Park, ‘downtown is dead. There’s nobody in the buildings.’”

    Gosh, Tilman, then who’s paying the rent? And what happens when the “investors” who own those buildings can’t cover their mortgages?

    1. And what happens when the “investors” who own those buildings can’t cover their mortgages?

      I think Tilman has his own problems to worry about, like all the empty tables at his overpriced steakhouse, and how is he going to pay the rent.

  23. Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, wonders how long the current upswing can continue because, with the economy the way it is, ‘we are going to run out of people who still have jobs who can buy houses.’”

    You don’t say.

  24. Many have failed to pay up their outstanding in spite of government’s magnanimity in extending the period of grace beyond the statutory 90 days,’ said Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Mr Wasiu Akewusola.”

    Deadbeats gonna deadbeat, Wasiu.

  25. So here is what is happening on the ground here in Brooklyn. Despite all the high-end crater documented here, and all the young adults leaving the city and returning to their parents basement after losing their jobs, landlords are still advertising at least $2,000 for a one-bedroom apartment within 2 miles of where I live.

    I know this because my daughter is getting married next year, and is looking to move out of a studio where she is being charged $1,800 (and had to negotiate like a banshee to get it down to that).

    Any advice? Clearly there must be some building facing vacancy that is willing to settle for less, but not advertising it (lest existing tenants demand less also).

        1. There is a saying in Mexico: El que quiera azul celeste, que le cueste.”

          Literally translated it means “He who wants sky blue, it will cost him.” What it really means is, if you’re picky, it’ll cost you. It rhymes, hence the wording.

          2. I was under the impression that many people believe the sky in NYC is not quite as blue as they thought, but no one seems to have told the real estate industry.

            I was told the real deals are sublets on Craigslist for those who have left but are stuck in leases, but those leases will expire in a few months.

    1. She had me at “gold standard.” I can see why the counterfeiters and racketeers at the Fed are yelping like the pack of hyenas they are at the prospect of an honest banker joining their cabal.

  28. I’m calling bullsh!t on this whole eCONomy right now. The idea that 50 million job losses, over 50% of restaurants permanently closed and more bad news than we’ve ever seen in history somehow justifies the highest asset prices ever and more people than ever buying new cars, houses etc. is absolutely absurd.

    1. There’s never been a better time to buy a house than right now. Suzanne’s research confirms this no matter what day, week, month, or year it happens to be.

    2. It could be true, the problem is you’re reading percentages which without proper framing are meaningless. Add to that, sales in upmarket and luxury housing are not reflective of anything most of us are experiencing in daily lives. So why combine them with housing that the average person seeks.

      This distorts. It’s not a lie but it’s like when you have apples and oranges and fruit sales go up, but you fail to designate which are which.

      Add to that, things like 50% of restaurants are failing is also meaningless without frame. One large urban restaurant failing can equal 10 small mom and pop operations (or more).

      In the long term if the 50% failing were marginal businesses it COULD (not must be, but could be) a good thing, as it weeds out the decaying businesses.

      It’s all about framing your perspective correctly. There’s an old saying, “When you bend over backwards to get answers, you often see the questions upside down.”

    3. I’m pretty sure there were times in history when we’ve had more bad news. But yeah, Americans are just doing themselves proud in many ways, aren’t they? Everything from refusing masks to buying corporate debt out of thin air to deliberately suppressing successful drugs.

      1. Which successful drugs are being suppressed, and why? Is the American medical establishment so clueless that they are somehow overlooking widely known insights about what medicines work best?

        It’s such an incredible story, I’m surprised the MSM is missing it.

          3. Bear, you’re not going to get an MSM source.

            The MSM is being paid to suppress it. In fact, they were paid to repeat over and over again how The Drug That Shall Not Be Named was ineffective and deadly, and it is slowly being turned into a joke. I’ve even seen it in comments on the WaPo or even marketwatch. It’s now being uttered in the same breath as drinking bleach. Patients are asking for it and being turned down because “they shouldn’t listen to what they hear on the internet.”
            How many lives could have been saved? How many long-haulers didn’t have to suffer the long haul? How much sooner could we have opened?

            Trump is wisely keeping his mouth shut on Ivermectin. If he says anything about that, then even MORE people will die.

          4. MSM source

            Ever notice how many drug commercials there are? Do you honestly think MSM would run any story that portrayed their paid advertisers in a negative light?

          5. Good luck with trying to convince me that conspiracy theory websites are better information sources than the MSM.

          8. I posted a link to a long Quillette (IIRC) story about the politics of HCl (including medical politics). I can repost the link again.

            Just like politicians, a lot of “experts” do what’s best for them, rather than what might be best overall for society.

          9. Good luck with trying to convince me that conspiracy theory websites are better information sources than the MSM.

            This. Also, I don’t get why other countries are denying their citizens a supposed miracle drug. To make Trump look bad?

    4. more people than ever buying new cars

      From what I have read, that isn’t the case. Yeah, July sales were better than April, May or June, but yoy they are down.

      A good metric is to see what rebates are like, and from what I’ve seen they are still pretty generous. Still plenty of $5000+ rebates out there.

      1. It must be real easy to buy a new pickup truck right now because there’s a stampede of shiny new 4x4s, and my area is not tall cotton by any stretch of the imagination.

      2. I see lots of vehicles with temporary tags on them, driving around Las Vegas these days.

    5. Central banking is the fifth plank of the Communist Manifesto:

      5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

      The Federal Reserve System, created by the Federal Reserve Act of Congress in 1913, is indeed such a “national bank” and it politically manipulates interest rates and holds a monopoly on legal counterfeiting in the United States. This is exactly what Marx had in mind and completely fulfills this plank, another major socialist objective. Yet most Americans naively believe the U.S. of A. is far from a Marxist or socialist nation.

      1. The “coin shortage” globalist whores are pushing #TheNarrative really hard these days. Hyper-inflation is coming, you already know it when your own government is telling you the future value of their paper dollars will be worth less than the melt value of coins.

        NO COINS ALLOWED. All bills will be rounded up with the change being directed to pedophile billionaires and their Democrat Party candidates. And if you dissent, the Portland beatdown crew will be at your house, tonight.

        LOL

    6. It seems most of the lost jobs were low wage service industry jobs. People who are not buying houses or new cars. Most other industries saw a downturn but the food service industry seems to have taken the blunt of clobbering.

    1. It would be a pity if Uncle Charlie’s Summer Camp (go banana slugs!) were to burn to the ground.

  31. This…

    VIDEO: LIBERALS TRIGGERED OVER ENGAGEMENT PROPOSAL WITH SPECIAL MAGA TWIST

    Pro-Trump couple trolls liberal social media users
    Infowars.com – AUGUST 21, 2020

    https://www.infowars.com/video-liberals-triggered-over-engagement-proposal-with-special-maga-twist/

    Will lead to more of this…

    Black Lives Matter protesters angrily take to Portland neighborhood in dead of night: ‘Wake up, motherf***er!’

    AUGUST 21, 2020

    Black Lives Matter protesters and activists swarmed residential streets in Portland, Oregon, late Thursday night in an attempt to violently rouse people from their slumber.

    Journalist Andy Ngo tweeted video footage of the incident, describing the scene, “‘Wake up, mother f—ker wake up!’ chant BLM in Portland tonight as they go through residential areas and shut down the streets.”

    The video, on the city’s 85th consecutive night of protests, shows a horde of masked demonstrators marching through the streets, waving Black Lives Matter flags, armed with flashlights, laser pointers, and more, shouting vulgarities at the local residents.

    https://www.theblaze.com/news/blm-protesters-portland-neighborhood-dead-of-night

    1. “Portland police later arrived at the scene and discovered rioters attempting to break into the building and setting fires.”

      Portland still has police?

      1. Portland still has police?

        Watch what happens when they truly don’t. Nobody will march safely through anybody’s neighborhood at night.

  32. Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays

    https://youtu.be/o2I84-A9duY

    Cleveland Elementary School shooting (San Diego)

    The Grover Cleveland Elementary School shooting took place on January 29, 1979, at a public elementary school in San Diego,

    The principal and a custodian were killed; eight children and police officer Robert Robb were injured. A 16-year-old girl, Brenda Spencer, who lived in a house across the street from the school, was convicted of the shootings. Charged as an adult, she pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon, and was given an indefinite sentence. As of August 2020, she remains in prison.

    A reporter reached Spencer by phone while she was still in the house after the shooting, and asked her why she had done it. She reportedly answered: “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day,”[1][2] which inspired Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers to write the Boomtown Rats song “I Don’t Like Mondays”.[3]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)

  34. Will there ever come a point where dismal fundamental economic realities will subsume the everything-is-awesome stock market?

    1. The Financial Times
      Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
      US employment
      Pandemic triggers wave of billion-dollar US bankruptcies
      Record 45 large companies file for Chapter 11 despite trillions in government aid
      Corporate defaults have been led by oil and gas companies this year with 33 filings to date, including Diamond Offshore Drilling
      © FT montage; Bloomberg
      Patrick Mathurin in London and Ortenca Aliaj and James Fontanella-Khan in New York 11 hours ago

      US equity markets might be breaching record highs, but the state of corporate distress in the country has never been worse.

      Large US corporate bankruptcy filings are now running at a record pace and are set to surpass levels reached during the financial crisis in 2009.

      As of August 17, a record 45 companies each with assets of more than $1bn have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — a common way for businesses in financial distress to reorganise themselves — according to BankruptcyData.com of analytics group New Generation Research.

      This compares with 38 for the same period of 2009 during the depths of the financial crisis and is more than double last year’s figure of 18 over the comparable period.

      The numbers only account for lead case bankruptcy filings, which exclude the filings of big corporate subsidiaries and may differ from bankruptcy statistics elsewhere.

      In total, 157 companies with liabilities of more than $50m have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year and many believe a lot more will follow.

      “We are in the first innings of this bankruptcy cycle. It will spread far across industries as we get deeper into the crisis. It’s going to be a bumpy ride,” said Ben Schlafman, chief operating officer at New Generation Research.

      The spike in bankruptcies comes despite trillions of dollars in government aid to mitigate the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses, highlighting the catastrophic and lasting impact Covid-19 is having on the US economy.
      …

    2. Here’s some interesting advice, for anyone who has not decided either to go all into the stock market or to avoid it like the plague.

      FA Center
      Opinion: It’s time for a stock market reality check or the next downturn will surprise us all
      Published: Aug. 11, 2020 at 12:48 p.m. ET
      By Michelle Connell
      Be a smarter investor: watch what institutional money managers are doing with their personal portfolios
      Courtesy Everett Collection

      Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. consumer was weak. Early in 2020, a survey found that 49% of Americans expected to live paycheck to paycheck each month. More strikingly, 53% said that they don’t have an emergency fund that covers at least three months of expenses. With almost 70% of U.S. GDP tied to consumption, less or no extra unemployment benefits means a lot less consumption and lower GDP.

      When the U.S. economic shutdown began in March, we were told to expect a “V- shaped” recovery. The consumer and the economy were originally expected to be fully recovered by the end of 2020 at the latest. Now the grim realities are starting to show. McKinsey Global Institute and Oxford Economics recently released a study on the economy after the pandemic. Their models showed that under two scenarios, it could take five years or longer for all U.S. business sectors to recover. Among the small businesses that were studied, recovery is expected to take longer than five years for some and many fear that they will never reopen.

      While the U.S. economy seems to be sputtering along due to the life support of fiscal and monetary stimulus, the U.S. stock market has bounded back. Since the S&P’ 500’s (SPX, +0.34%) March drawdown of almost 35%, the index has almost retraced the year’s high and is currently 4% up for the year to date. But further analysis finds that only a handful of technology stocks have led this rally.

      The retail investors’ renewed interest and boredom have poured fuel on the government’s fiscal and monetary fire. Investors have focused on the companies that support “shut-in” consumers and workers. The result has been that the top 10 names in the S&P 500 now comprise more than 27% of the index’s market weight and large-cap growth stocks have returned 20% year-to-date. To a large degree, the other 490 names and other investment styles have not participated. For instance, large to small “value” names are still down between 10%-to-16%% year-to-date.

      If you’re sitting in cash, don’t feel dumb. History is on your side — and you are also in good company. Interestingly, over the past 30 years there has been a strong inverse relationship between the unemployment rate and the performance of the S&P 500. This relationship has been upended only over the past five months. Obviously, the $2.44 trillion of fiscal stimulus that has been pumped into the U.S. economy has created an artificial market environment. At some point, this inverse relationship will represent itself and the stock market will correct.

      Whose professional company would you rather be in: your fellow retail investors or an institutional money manager? Go with the pros. You can always determine an institutional money manager’s real opinion on valuations when you ask them what they’re doing with their own money. Currently, many institutions are sitting on cash positions as large as 20% to 25% in their personal accounts.
      …

    3. Editors’ Pick|37,298 views|Aug 18, 2020, 3:09pm EDT
      U.S. Stock Market Hits Record 77% Overvalued
      Mike Patton, Senior Contributor
      Investing
      I cover the intersection of economics, politics and personal finance.

      According to the popular market cap to GDP ratio, the U.S. stock market, collectively, is about 77.0% overvalued. Despite the worst economic backdrop since the Great Depression, stocks have held up reasonably well since the March 23 bottom. While it’s true that the stock market has disconnected from the underlying economy, it has also done so in the past. With such an extreme level of overvaluation, it does beg the question, “Are we witnessing the formation of another bubble?”

      Stock Valuation-How it Works

      One of the more popular methods used to determine if U.S. stocks are undervalued or overvalued is the market cap to GDP ratio. This ratio compares the total market cap of all U.S. publicly traded stocks with GDP. More specifically, it calculates the total value of the outstanding shares of all U.S. domiciled, publicly traded companies (the numerator), and divides that number by total GDP. For example, if total market cap was $20 trillion and GDP was the same, stocks would be considered fairly valued (eg; $20 trillion / $20 trillion = 1 {ie; 100%}). During this pandemic, GDP has fallen while stocks (and market cap) have risen, creating the highest level of overvaluation since the ratio began in January 1971. This is another way of saying that stocks are extremely overbought.
      …

    4. Need to Know
      Here’s why stock prices are unsustainable, according to this fund manager
      Published: Aug. 21, 2020 at 8:40 a.m. ET
      By Steve Goldstein
      Terri Donelson, left, and her husband, Stephen, walk up their driveway to see friends and family awaiting him at his home in Midlothian, Texas on June 19, 2020, after his 90-day stay in the Zale Hospital. A pandemic has proven an unusual backdrop to record stock market prices. Associated Press

      In a week in which the S&P 500 set a record in the midst of a pandemic, it’s fair to at least consider the bottom 495 or so components.

      Michael Batnick, the director of research at Ritholtz Wealth Management, points out 94% of the S&P 500 (SPX, +0.34%) components are trading below their 52-week highs, though the median gain is 63% from its 52-week low. This chart really demonstrates how tilted the recovery has been toward the bigger companies.

      Christopher Pavese, chief investment officer at North Carolina boutique investment firm Broyhill Asset Management, posts a similar chart comparing the MSCI All-Country ex-U.S. index to the S&P 500, which itself is just driven by the technology giants.

      Pavese outlines all the uncertainties — including whether there will be a second, or third wave, of coronavirus, how many businesses will fold and whether record stimulus will create rampant inflation or whether the crisis will result in deflation. “What we do know is that we have never seen stock prices at such extremes coincide with this degree of uncertainty. We also know that living in an imaginary world of certainty can create big problems managing money in the real world,” he says in an investment letter.

      Pavese says there are about to be the best opportunities in distressed investing in a decade, as he calls the current market unsustainable.
      …

  35. Does it seem like California has the largest wildfires in history EVERY YEAR anymore?

    At least the red hot real estate market is on fire.

    2. Astronaut spots California wildfires from space, sends ‘thoughts and prayers’ to victims
      By Meghan Bartels
      21 hours ago
      In an image NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy shared on Aug. 21, 2020, smoke billows above California, which is fighting more than 360 fires.
      (Image: © NASA)

      California is on fire, with more than 360 individual blazes scorching across the state.

      Unsurprisingly, the effects are visible from space, as NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy shared images today (Aug. 21) of huge billows of smoke above California as seen from his perch on the International Space Station.

      “Thanks to all of the fire fighters and emergency teams who are working around the clock trying to get these fires contained,” Cassidy said in the tweet. “Thoughts and prayers to all of the people in the impacted areas.”
      …

    3. Perhaps it bears mentioning that fire season in California is traditionally in October or November. We have a ginormous head start in 2020.

  36. How do you like this logic?

    – Deficit hawks have been warning for years on the U.S. national debt growing unsustainably large.

    – This year the national debt has grown to exceed U.S. GDP, and so far nothing bad has happened.

    – Therefore we can grow the national debt as much as we collectively want, and never experience related negative economic effects.

    1. We Have Crossed the Line Debt Hawks Warned Us About for Decades
      The debt of the United States now exceeds the size of its gross domestic product. That was considered a doomsday scenario that would wreck the economy. So far, that hasn’t happened.
      The National Debt Clock in New York, last year. By the end of June this year, the national debt in the United States had surpassed the gross domestic product.
      Credit…Gabby Jones for The New York Times
      By Matt Phillips
      Aug. 21, 2020

      Economists and deficit hawks have warned for decades that the United States was borrowing too much money. The federal debt was ballooning so fast, they said, that economic ruin was inevitable: Interest rates would skyrocket, taxes would rise and inflation would probably run wild.

      The death spiral could be triggered once the debt surpassed the size of the U.S. economy — a turning point that was probably still years in the future.

      It actually happened much sooner: sometime before the end of June.

      The coronavirus pandemic, and the economic collapse that followed, unleashed a historic run of government borrowing: trillions of dollars for stimulus payments, unemployment insurance expansions, and loans to prop up small businesses and to keep big companies afloat.

      But the economy hasn’t drowned in the flood of red ink — and there’s a growing sense that the country could take on even more without any serious consequences.
      …

    2. Try as they might, the alchemists at the Fed have yet to discover a philosopher’s stone capable of turning electrons into gold.

      1. The Financial Times
        Coronavirus business update 30 days complimentary
        The week’s best fund management articles
        FTfm
        Pensions crisis
        US public pension plans face ‘vicious cycle’ as funding gap soars
        Shortfalls spread across retirement funds as coronavirus pandemic batters state finances
        The recession triggered by coronavirus would reduce tax revenue for state and local governments, forcing them to try to reduce pension costs, says Anthony Randazzo
        © Noam Galai/Getty Images
        Chris Flood 3 hours ago

        Coronavirus, disappointing investment returns and declining interest rates, pose a triple threat to the health of the US public pension system, which is haemorrhaging cash and heading for a record funding shortfall.

        The total funding gap for the 143 largest US public pensions plans is on track to reach $1.62tn this year, significantly higher than the $1.16tn recorded in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, according to Equable Institute, a New York-based non-profit think-tank.

        The weak financial condition of the US public pension systems poses severe risks for the living standards of millions of employees and retired workers.

        Equable estimates that returns of US public pension plans averaged -0.4 per cent over the 12 months ended June 30, well below the 7.2 per cent targeted by these schemes.

        This dire performance has contributed to the aggregate funded ratio (assets as a share of liabilities) sinking to 67.9 per cent, sliding towards the historic nadir of 63 per cent registered in 2009.
        …

          1. An internet search will bring up articles about jurisdictions cutting services to pay pension costs.

    3. I believe the US$ status as the global reserve currency is what props up this edifice. When will it lose that status? And what will replace it?

  37. You have to wade through many paragraphs of REIC fluff in this article to get to anything bordering on substance.

    ‘The housing market is on a sugar high’: Home sales are soaring, but is it a good time to buy? Here’s what the experts say
    Published: Aug. 22, 2020 at 8:12 a.m. ET
    By Jacob Passy
    The domestic property market is fueled by a government stimulus and a COVID-fueled rush to low density housing, economists say
    Thousands of Americans have purchased homes in recent months despite the pandemic — but some people may not want to join the bandwagon.
    MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto

    Americans are rushing to buy homes right now. But should you be one of them?

    Sales of previously-owned homes in the U.S. rose 24.7% between June and July to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.86 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. Not only did the percentage increase represent a record, but the sales volume was the highest the U.S. has seen since 2006.

    It’s a stunning turnaround from just a few months earlier when the coronavirus pandemic caused record-breaking decreases in sales as Americans were staying home to avoid getting sick.
    …
    Falling prices aren’t necessarily something buyers should hold out for. “If prices fall significantly and inventory rises dramatically, that means the economy has taken a hard turn for the worse and you may have other priorities than housing,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
    …

    1. Which would be more a burden to deal with if you had to leave something to your heirs, a house or a cigar box full of gold goins?

  38. Opinion: Want Another Dog, Kids? Let’s ‘Have That Conversation’

    May 25, 2019

    A current candidate for president replied with several iterations of “We should have that conversation” in a recent appearance. The phrase enabled the candidate to avoid answering yes or no to direct questions about convicted felons being able to vote from prison, paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people, lowering the voting age to 16, and forgiving college debt.

    Direct answers might have provoked pointed follow-up questions about fine points and details. Details can sow disagreement. But just saying, “We need to have that conversation” signals sympathy without making any actual commitment.

    https://www.npr.org/2019/05/25/726834410/opinion-want-another-dog-kids-lets-have-that-conversation

    1. Is Kamala Harris too cautious? Let’s have that conversation

      John Diaz
      April 25, 2019

      Sen. Kamala Harris brought one very bold idea to the CNN Town Hall on Monday: a pledge to use her executive authority to toughen an array of gun laws (near-universal background checks, revocation of licenses from dealers and manufacturers who break the law, prohibition of sales to fugitives) if Congress does not act within 100 days of her inauguration. But the California Democrat’s clear positions on guns and impeachment (Congress should take steps toward it) were accompanied by decided waffling on other issues. She invoked version of the phrases “we need to have that conversation” or “we need to study that” on questions about allowing murderers, terrorists and other felons to vote from prison, lowering the voting age to 16, providing reparations for slavery and forgiving student debt (as Sen. Elizabeth Warren has proposed). None of those questions should have been a surprise. The rap on Harris has long been that she tends to be too cautious. Her consultants, who vigorously object to that narrative, prefer to characterize her as thoughtful and deliberative. It’s early, of course, but the Democratic base is going to be demanding more than conversations in sorting through a field of 20 (with ex-veep Joe Biden’s expected entry Thursday). And make no mistake: No matter where she ends up on the issue, Republican strategists are filing away video of her hesitation when asked point blank by CNN’s Don Lemon whether the Boston Marathon bomber and those convicted of sexual assault should have the right to vote from their prison cells.

      https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Is-Kamala-Harris-too-cautious-Let-s-have-that-13793185.php

      1. if Congress does not act within 100 days of her inauguration

        Why do I get the feeling she fancies herself the top executive already?

      2. So let’s have a conversation about having a conservation.

        You can bet if you hear “Let’s have that conversation” or “we need to have that conversation” you are hearing it from some social justice warrior politician or member of the MSM who has been briefed and handed talking points on the subject they are about to bludgeon you with like “allowing murderers, terrorists and other felons to vote from prison, lowering the voting age to 16, providing reparations for slavery and forgiving student debt” etc.

        So being that I have listened to that half of the conversation from the leftist politicians and members of the MSM I would like to add my half of the conversation, which actually makes it a conversation and not a social justice browbeating to do as I say or else.

        You can take your “conversation” and shove it right up your @ss.

        I disrespectfully disagree.

        1. “…which actually makes it a conversation and not a social justice browbeating to do as I say or else.”

          Whenever I am invited to have a ‘conversation’ with cancel culture types, I hit the delete key and move on.

          1. “Whenever I am invited to have a ‘conversation’ with cancel culture types,”

            You’re never invited to have a ‘conversation’ with cancel culture types, that’s the point. If you question any of their ‘conversation’ you are called a racist, conspiracy theorist, ant-science etc.

            “A current candidate for president replied with several iterations of “We should have that conversation” in a recent appearance. The phrase enabled the candidate to avoid answering yes or no to direct questions about convicted felons being able to vote from prison, paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved people, lowering the voting age to 16, and forgiving college debt

          2. Whenever I am invited to have a ‘conversation’ with cancel culture types, I hit the delete key and move on.

            You don’t have to attend every argument you are invited to.

  41. I wonder what Hillary got in return?

    Hillary Clinton Gave Ghislaine Maxwell’s Nephew “Very Powerful” Position At State Department: Report

    2020-08-22
    BY FINANZ.DK

    Alexander Djerassi, the son of Maxwell’s sister Isabel, went from working on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign, to a “very powerful and prestigious position” within the state department, working under Clinton in charge of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He returned to Clinton’s 2016 campaign, according to the Beast.

    https://finanz.dk/hillary-clinton-gave-ghislaine-maxwells-nephew-very-powerful-position-at-state-department-report/

    1. Wow, Fox News is bringing up Hillary again now? Trumpy must be getting desperate over his poll numbers.

  42. Does anyone know how to find out the following details about the Sacramento and Placer county housing market?

    1. Mortgage forberance numbers via CARE handout program
    2. Mortgage delinquincies aka pre-foreclosures
    3. Who is buying the homes and paying over asking price? Foreign Chinese money? Rich tech workers?

    1. It’s probably rich tech workers. Some are moving because they no longer want to live in cramped condos and high rises in crowded SF and nearby areas. Some are moving because they can work from home. If they are required to go to the Bay Area like once a week for meetings etc., they can do it easily. I heard from a friend about some tech workers from India. Their preference is more for Tracy, Mountain House, Stockton, Manteca etc. which are a lot closer to Si Valley than say Rocklin or Roseville is.

      Re: foreclosures, you can find some info on Zillow. I checked it out and I see that there are a lot more of them in Sac county, and fairly smaller numbers in Placer county.

Comments are closed.