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Homeowners Are Selling Up Like Never Before

A report from Patterson Press on New Jersey. “Burned-out and abandoned, the Victorian house at the corner of Auburn and Fair streets symbolized Paterson’s drug scourge so much that three years ago someone sprayed-painted ‘Crackadopia’ across its side wall. Brian White, a novice real estate investor, decided to buy the building. White bought the property for $80,000 in 2017 and originally estimated the renovations would run him about $350,000. He cringed when asked last week what the work ended up costing him, putting the expense at more than $1 million. ‘I overspent massively,’ he said.”

“Paterson narcotics detectives have raided the house across the street multiple times in recent years, including one bust in November 2018 in which they arrested 82 people. That building at 83-85 Auburn St. remains a busy spot for drug sales. Just ask its owner, prominent Paterson developer Charles Florio. ‘It’s worse than it’s ever been,’ the landlord said of the narcotics trade at his property. ‘When a junkie throws a rock through one of his windows, he won’t be able to replace it,’ Florio said.”

The Real Deal on New York. “A luxury condo at Related Companies’ 35 Hudson Yards has sold for just under $7 million in an all-cash deal. Sales at 35 Hudson Yards launched last March. Since then, Manhattan’s already soft luxury market has been battered even further by the pandemic. In a June letter to EB-5 investors, Related cited ‘extremely challenging conditions for the sale of residential condominiums’ as one of several obstacles it was contending with.”

“In July, new contracts for Manhattan condos priced between $4 million and $5 million were down 77 percent from the same month last year, according to a recent market report from Douglas Elliman. In the $5 million to $10 million bracket, contracts were down 39 percent. Above $20 million, there were zero.”

The Boston Globe in Massachusetts. “These are unusual times in Boston’s rental market. You might even call them unprecedented. The coronavirus pandemic, a rapid shift to working from home, and mass confusion at the colleges and universities that drive so much of the city’s housing demand have combined to give tenants a rare upper hand over landlords.”

“Concessions granted to renters are up. But despite the perks, more than 13,000 apartments in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville remain available in advance of the traditional Sept. 1 move-in frenzy. Even in a market with roughly 250,000 rental apartments, that’s a huge number of vacancies, said John Puma, chief operating officer at the rental website Place For Less. And it could spark even better deals in the weeks to come as landlords scramble to fill their empty units. ‘A lot of these apartments have never been vacant on Sept. 1,’ Puma said. ‘Once it sets in that there’s all this vacancy, I don’t know what the limit will be on price reductions.'”

“Since the pandemic started in March, only five other cities have bigger declines, said Apartment List researcher Rob Warnock — all of them, like Boston, pricey job centers with large populations of twentysomethings. ‘Like in San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., you’ve got people adjusting to a new economic reality,’ Warnock said. ‘You’ve got some people asking whether they can continue to afford what they were paying for housing, and others seeing rents going down and hoping to take advantage in some way.'”

From Golf Inc on Florida. “Park Square Homes acquired Hunter’s Creek Golf Course for $2.6 million on August 17, 2020. The 188-acre Orlando course was listed at $3.8 million but the Florida home builder purchased the course at a discount of about $13,962 an acre from the previous owner Tadashi Hattori’s Hunter’s Creek Golf Course Inc., according to the Orlando Business Journal. Hattori bought the property for $4 million in April of 2007 and had listed it several times in the past few years.”

From Law 360 on Illinois. “As the Circuit Court of Cook County stares down an influx of eviction, foreclosure and other debt collection cases, the local legal community is using the calm before the storm to help Chicago residents mitigate their pandemic-era financial crises and potentially save their homes. ‘The idea is to try to use some of the lessons from the foreclosure program and others around the country so we can tackle this thing really upfront and try to see if we can come to an agreement that keeps everybody in place, and if not, what’s the next best solution,’ Chicago Bar Foundation Executive Director Robert Glaves told Law360. ‘If we get anything remotely like we got in 2008 and 2009, we really need to be out in front of this.'”

“At the height of the housing crisis fallout, each Chancery Division judge was juggling an average of 8,000 foreclosure cases, Judge Jacobius said ‘After a while, it could be that the floodgates are going to open,’ the judge said. ‘But we’ve been through that before, so we’re kind of getting ready for that.'”

From Couer d’ Alene Press in Idaho. “Kelsey Hanlon moved into a four-bedroom home near Lancaster Road in January to care for her ailing father. The Bremerton, Wash., native stressed that while she’s enjoyed the area’s scenic beauty and friendly people during her time here, she doesn’t consider herself a transplant, and that she’ll move back when the time comes. ‘I told my dad, ‘I can’t keep the house,’ she said. ‘I could never afford the taxes.'”

“It’s a common song stuck on repeat: The real estate demand in North Idaho drives housing prices higher, which in turn drives assessments higher, which in turn drives taxes higher. But as that desire for natural landscapes swells, those rural areas shrink. Even though Hanlon has only lived near the lake for seven months, she could identify the issue with the simple point of a finger. ‘Just over there,’ she said, pointing to the land just north of Lancaster, across from the English Point parking lot. ‘They’re ready for a hundred new houses, or something like that.'”

“Closer to 150, actually.”

The Arizona Republic. “Driving across Arizona, it’s hard not to notice a surge in California license plates. The reason for this is becoming more apparent every day. California is a failed state. After nearly a decade of one-party rule, the once-Golden State is tarnished, possibly beyond repair. Documentary filmmaker Christopher Rufo’s latest work reveals the tragic failure of the city’s homeless policies. In ‘Chaos by the Bay,’ he shows the results of well-meaning progressive efforts, from decriminalizing homelessness to plying addicts with free drug paraphernalia, alcohol and cannabis. For the most part, rampant mental illness has been left untreated.”

“‘I have never seen the level of frustration as high as it is now,’ city Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. ‘I hear daily from people who say they are selling, they are leaving.'”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “When I moved to San Francisco from England in 2007 the city was still a glorious, fun mess. I’d made it to the raucous edge of America that Kerouac called a ‘mad city, inhabited by perfectly insane people.’ For every young Brit watching ‘Bullitt’ under a poster of Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ in their university dorms, San Francisco was the coolest place on earth.”

“By 2007, the first dot-com bubble was mostly just a joke about the brief life of pets.com and boo.com, but the growing disdain for techie culture, often voiced from the artistic community, was real. The Great Recession juxtaposed with the rise of more robust tech giants in the city like Twitter, Facebook and Google (and their moneyed, transplanted employees) forced artists out as landlords cashed in.”

“This year has been an unending s–t tornado, whichever way you look at it. People love speculating and reading about stories of seismic cultural shifts in the city, whether it be hate-clicks from the political right happy to see the final destruction of Nancy Pelosi’s modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, or from native San Franciscans anxious about the move into all things tech. This can often lead to hyperbole around changes to the city, but 2020 is not just any year.”

“Over 100 restaurants and bars have permanently closed in San Francisco this year, and many more are shuttered, for now, temporarily. Rents have plunged in SoMa and downtown by over 20%. Many of the tech companies around mid-Market have told their employees that they can work from home forever, laying waste to any remaining hope for a tech-fueled renewal to the struggling neighborhood. And wealthy homeowners in the city are selling up, like never before.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “California tenants facing financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic would be protected from eviction through January as long as they pay 25% of their rent during that period, under a proposal announced Friday by state officials. The plan, which faces the high hurdle of having to get a two-thirds vote in each house of the Legislature by Monday night, was seen as a compromise with landlord groups that oppose a pending bill that would have kept tenants from being evicted if they did not pay any rent as late as April.”

“‘This will not be the ultimate solution to addressing COVID-19 evictions, but will tide us over for the next five months,’ said Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco), who wrote the bill opposed by landlords. ‘This gives us the time to reconsider our options next legislative session and potentially work with a new federal administration on economic relief for struggling tenants and property owners.'”

“Opponents warned that Chiu‘s measure would be challenged in court because landlords unable to collect rent could lose their properties to foreclosure if they were unable to pay maintenance expenses and mortgages. The proposed measure ‘provides a stopgap,’ said Debra Carlton, executive vice president of the California Apartment Assn. ‘It requires that tenants impacted by COVID-19 start paying at least some of their rent,’ she said.”

The Wall Street Journal. “Argentina’s ‘century bond’ didn’t last long, but its rise and fall holds lessons for investors at a time of market optimism despite widespread economic dislocation. An August restructuring guarantees that foreign creditors will get little more than half of what they were due on $65 billion of debt, including the 100-year bonds the government sold three years ago at the height of a decadelong emerging-markets boom.”

“The century bond—a rarity in markets and almost unseen among issuers whose bonds are rated junk—was openly derided by many investors at the time of its sale, given the South American nation’s poor record of paying off debt, a struggling economy and fractious politics. The idea of a serial defaulter issuing bonds lasting into the next century was ‘preposterous,’ said Martin Schubert, president and chief executive of Eurinam, a company which trades and advises investors on emerging-markets debt. He stayed away from the bond.”

“Yet the $2.75 billion in century bonds were quickly snapped up by investors seeking yield at a time of soft growth and low interest rates, and their appeal was intensified by the promise of regular payments for decades.”

“Some investors say the idea of a century bond is worth revisiting because markets in the U.S. and elsewhere are similarly showing signs of exuberance. Tesla Inc. shares have risen to over $2,200 from around $400 at the start of the year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index have surged to record levels this year despite declining corporate profits and a sharp rise in U.S. unemployment. ‘Treasury yields are so low, it’s forcing investors into risk,’ said Piotr Matys, emerging-markets strategist at Rabobank Group NV. ‘That’s why people are buying crazy stuff.'”

“In the restructuring agreement, the 100-year bond’s maturity will shorten substantially, along with its value. Holders will end up with bonds maturing in 15 and 26 years and can expect to recover something broadly in line with the recovery value of the restructuring, on the order of 54.5 cents on the dollar. That outcome doesn’t surprise many who sat out the century-bond sale, reasoning that even in Argentina there were better risk-reward combinations on offer.”

“‘It made splashy headlines,’ said Kevin Daly, investment manager for emerging-markets debt at Aberdeen Standard Investments Inc. ‘It was one of these classic instruments that hedge funds and nondedicated emerging-market investors were looking at.'”

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This Post Has 127 Comments

  2. I know this is long but I could have posted many times as much, that’s how much crater is out there.

    ‘Yet the $2.75 billion in century bonds were quickly snapped up by investors’

    This is why I ignore the REIC hype. Anyone that thinks shacks aren’t going down is a weak minded fool, like these bond buyers.

    ‘The 188-acre Orlando course was listed at $3.8 million but the Florida home builder purchased the course at a discount of about $13,962 an acre from the previous owner… Hattori bought the property for $4 million in April of 2007’

    But UHS says hotcakes? Why do I keep finding all this a$$-pounding?

    1. “The century bond—a rarity in markets and almost unseen among issuers whose bonds are rated junk—was openly derided by many investors at the time of its sale, given …

      1. The South American nation’s poor record of paying off debt

      2. A struggling economy and …

      3. Fractious politics.

      The idea of a serial defaulter issuing bonds lasting into the next century was ‘preposterous,’ said Martin Schubert, president and chief executive of Eurinam, a company which trades and advises investors on emerging-markets debt.”

      However …

      “… the $2.75 billion in century bonds were quickly snapped up by investors seeking yield at a time of soft growth and low interest rates, and their appeal was intensified by the promise of regular payments for decades.”

      The promise of regular payments for decades. Go back and read numbers 1, 2, and 3 and ask yourself what the chances are of you getting regular payments for decades.

      People are stupid.

      1. A few years back someone pointed to a 50 year bond issuance from Spain at 3%, and asked, what’s the chance that Spain will have an economic problem within 50 years and stiff their borrowers like they have so many times in history? 3%?

        1. “Because Americans are the dumbest investors around, and there’s lots of liquidity in this market.” – George Economou, CEO of Dryships

      2. With central banks pounding real yields to negative levels worldwide, investments that normally would attract no interest suddenly seem relatively attractive compared to guaranteed losses.

    2. “Anyone that thinks shacks aren’t going down is a weak minded fool, like these bond buyers.”

      Are you assuming the Fed won’t dtep in to backstop housing prices, as they did circa 2012, or that they will, but their efforts will be unsuccessful?

      Just curious…

      1. They’ve already stepped in to backstop housing prices. Hammering rates to near zero is wringing out every last sucker who wants to buy at absolute pinnacle pricing. If that weren’t enough they’ve been jawboning this repeatedly, as evidenced by their comments in Jackson Hole about keeping rates low indefinitely and allowing inflation to take hold.

        They are hell-bent on trying to get runaway inflation so that asset prices don’t fall. That way the collateral for all the BS securities and bonds doesn’t become worthless to render said “financial instruments” worthless.

        1. It almost seems like they are setting themselves up for uncontrolled deflation on an unprecedented scale.

          What will they say if it happens?
          “Nobody could have seen it coming!”?

  3. ‘Like in San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., you’ve got people adjusting to a new economic reality…and others seeing rents going down and hoping to take advantage in some way’

    That’s the spirit!

    1. Here is a test. In 1986, during the FIRST housing bubble, we paid the equivalent to $1,200 per month in today’s money (it was $500 at the time) for a not great 400-square-foot one-bedroom (ground floor front, overlooking an expressway) in a stable, middle class area of Brooklyn.

      Now our child and her finance are trying to pay $1,800 or less for a decent one bedroom in an adjacent, not as expensive area. Like most Millennials they are paid less than we were at the same age, adjusted for inflation. And we are talking about 50 percent more in rent, in a less desirable location.

      So do they get it? They need to move October 1, and vacate a studio. Let’s see if landlords start to crack after September 1. Right now Manhattan is cheaper????

      As you can see, having market rate NYC rents fall 30 to 40 percent in some areas won’t mean NYC is doomed. Quite the contrary. NYC is doomed now BECAUSE of the high rents.

      “Downtown Denver is starving for people. When will they come back?”

      When the rents are lower.

      1. ‘NYC is doomed now’

        Your words mate.

        The transition is where the pain lies, and that’s well underway.

          1. Which would still leave them with more than before DeBlasio took office.

            The extra people were put on the payroll as part of DeBlasio for President.

          1. They want $1.5 million for a little row house. If you have a car, it’s parking on the street.

            That ain’t cratering. Do you think my kids could buy one?

      2. “Downtown Denver is starving for people. When will they come back?”

        When the rents are lower.

        I wouldn’t live there if the rent was free.

      3. “In 1986, during the FIRST housing bubble,…”

        Must have been local to wherever you were based, because the bubble discussed here didn’t show up in national level prices until after 1996.

          1. Interesting!

            I believe those prices are nominal. IIRC Robert Shiller’s Irrational Exuberance book documents that real housing prices in the U.S. didn’t levitate until after 1996.

    2. Falling rents make renting a relatively attractive option to owning, especially if prices are falling in the markets for new and used homes. This sucks demand away from the used and new home purchase markets, causing prices to fall even more.

      This vicious feedback cycle of price declines leads to a deep crater.

  4. The Colorado Sun asks in article published today: Downtown Denver is starving for people. When will they come back?

    “six months into a pandemic that shut down restaurants and shops, and kept employees out of office buildings — and it’s impossible to ignore the similarities to the dead zone of four decades ago.

    “In March, April and May the streets were empty,” said Dee Chirafisi, a downtown real estate broker and resident for the past 26 years. “It felt like the early ’90s.”

    The heart of the city is slowly reopening, but most companies still keep workers at home instead of filling up the high rises. The sandwich and coffee shops that usually bustle with downtown workers are mostly empty, if not boarded up and closed indefinitely. Even the longstanding McDonald’s at the Broadway end of the 16th Street Mall, a hangout for many who are homeless and the site of frequent police calls, has shut down, its windows and doors layered with protective plywood.

    It’s not just the coronavirus that has reduced downtown to a shell of its former self and threatened its character. Regular protests over racial injustice, during which police have fired non-lethal bullets and pepper spray and rioters shattered windows and carried guns, caused some to avoid that part of Denver this spring and summer.”

    https://coloradosun.com/2020/08/31/downtown-denver-during-coronavirus/

    1. It’s not just the coronavirus that has reduced downtown to a shell of its former self and threatened its character. Regular protests over racial injustice, during which police have fired non-lethal bullets and pepper spray and rioters shattered windows and carried guns, caused some to avoid that part of Denver this spring and summer.”

      Get woke, go broke. Fawking idiots.

    2. fine – but after 10 months of working remotely what happens. How many key, competent employees are eager to make the commute downtown. Talking to a lawyer at a GSIB (top 30 global systematic financial banks), the legal and hr departments are so scared that any excuse and the manager will just shut up. I.e. I might be pregnant, i have a pre-existing condition etc. They will not even ask for a dr note.

      wait until this steam rolls

      ———
      Ibotta’s staff will work remotely through at least January, but Leach said he is looking for ways to support local businesses. At its company-wide town hall Thursday, Ibotta purchased tea cakes from Miss Peabody’s Southern Tea Cakes in Denver and had them delivered to every full-time employee’s home.

    3. Even the longstanding McDonald’s at the Broadway end of the 16th Street Mall

      The 16th Street Mall has been steadily turning into a sh!thole. There were stories just a few years ago about thugs accosting people who worked downtown. I used to go eat lunch there when attending the local Comic Con at the convention center, but stopped when I started having to look over my shoulder.

      Of course I stopped attending the convention once it became hopelessly woke. It was cancelled this year due to the beer flu virus. I’m hoping that it will become insolvent and fold, and that maybe its replacement will be less stupid. They recently sent me an email asking if I would like to buy a”humorous” T shirt commemorating the cancelled convention. Good luck with that.

    4. Even the longstanding McDonald’s at the Broadway end of the 16th Street Mall, a hangout for many who are homeless and the site of frequent police calls, has shut down…

      You don’t see a McDonalds close down very often. Practically never. Good barometer for how bad things are.

      1. In Chicago, McDonalds do close. I’ve seen it often and I’ve been in the city since 1995, so at least here it’s not uncommon.

      2. “You don’t see a McDonalds close down very often.”

        A McDonalds closed and sold out to a condo developer in San Jose, CA on Meridian near Foxworthy across the street from Koch Ln.

  6. ‘it could spark even better deals in the weeks to come as landlords scramble to fill their empty units. ‘A lot of these apartments have never been vacant on Sept. 1…Once it sets in that there’s all this vacancy, I don’t know what the limit will be on price reductions’

    ‘California tenants facing financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic would be protected from eviction through January as long as they pay 25% of their rent during that period…‘It requires that tenants impacted by COVID-19 start paying at least some of their rent’

    How do those 5% cap rates look now?

  7. ‘This will not be the ultimate solution to addressing COVID-19 evictions, but will tide us over for the next five months…This gives us the time to reconsider our options next legislative session and potentially work with a new federal administration’

    He he. This has always been their plan. Can kicking extraordinaire. Good luck with that. Go ahead California, sit down with the bums and hold yer hand out. How the mighty have fallen.

    1. and potentially work with a new federal administration

      Clownifornia and others are desperately counting on a Biden admin bailout.

      They should rename it the Tent City State. The only thing Golden are the state employee paychecks and pensions.

      1. The only thing Golden are the state employee paychecks and pensions.’

        now that’s FUNNY . VDH has a piece called California apocalypto he just rips the governor.

      2. The only thing Golden are the state employee paychecks and pensions

        Except the state employees have received pay cuts. And their pensions are underfunded.

        However, CA being CA, they are trading short-term gain for long-term pain: “The program institutes immediate savings but the leave time adds to the state’s long-term liabilities.”

        https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article244128982.html

        My friend retired from the Dept. of Corrections when the pay cuts came up. He calculated if he stayed longer but at a reduced pay rate, his pension payment would end up lower. So he bailed a couple years earlier than planned.

    2. Kicking the can past the Nov elections is the goal. They obviously expect a big sweep of Democrats in office. Well we will see if that happens.

  8. ‘He cringed when asked last week what the work ended up costing him, putting the expense at more than $1 million. ‘I overspent massively’

    REIC: ohh, lookie how much he spent! Hotcakes!!

    ‘It’s worse than it’s ever been,’ the landlord said of the narcotics trade at his property. ‘When a junkie throws a rock through one of his windows, he won’t be able to replace it’

    Oh dear…

    1. ‘It’s worse than it’s ever been,’ the landlord said of the narcotics trade at his property. ‘When a junkie throws a rock through one of his windows, he won’t be able to replace it’

      LMFAO. Have fun with that…

    2. the Victorian house at the corner of Auburn and Fair streets

      … is not worth saving. I google-mapped it, expecting some mansion with stunning architectural details or historical significance worth the effort. Ha. The structures in that intersection, while old, are the mass-produced kind — all crap. None of them are worth $1M to renovate, or $350K to renovate. I don’t even think the house is worth $80K for the land, unless you’re willing to wait 25 years for the area to gentrify.

        3. What do you think of this $6 million “cottage?”

          You’re paying for the view. But realistically, you can only stare at it for so long. And yeah, I would expect more than an oversized hot tub at that price.

          1. From picture #2 it looks like a 70’s tract house. Highly remodeled, of course. The interior is very sterile looking, probably staged, especially since all the wine bottles look the same. Was there a special on Beringer White Zin?

          3. It looks like a standard hot tub and with self-contained wave pool set next to it. It’s practical for us peons, but we’re talking celebrities here. That entire yard should be a pool. And, no, it’s doesn’t look private enough. That’s only a 6-foot fence.

        4. Very nice location, to be sure.

          For my taste, very odd interior design.

          Like whats with the wine bottle rack crawling up to the ceiling?

          Dusting must be easy, just bring in a fire hose.

          Asking price seems detached from any earthly reality.

          2. “…Apparently only one choice and it looks like rose…”

            Leftover prop bottles from the set of ‘Friends’?

        5. Hmmm…. This one is a conundrum. It’s a nice size (3000 sq ft) for a primary residence. But it seems too plain and open for a residence. Surely even the rich and famous have STUFF and need a spot for it. That living room is a great party space, but again, not really. The kitchen can’t really handle a party, and the house is so small that the party would spill over into the private bedrooms.

          But by far the biggest flaw is the back yard. That backyard is just screaming for an infinity pool and some outdoor kitchen and fireplace hardscape. The store-bought hot tub and exercise pool looks like they were bought off the sale rack at some redneck spa store. Maybe the cliff terrain can’t handle a pool? If not, I wouldn’t have bought the house.

          So, too empty and echo-y for a private residence, too small to hold parties at home. The best use for this house would be to spend $75K on the back yard and make it into an AirBnB or a second home for parties only.

          1. Ah, everyone else saw the same things I saw. The house is a nice idea but there are some flaws. Like the hillbilly hot tub. 👙

          2. One of my problems with the house is the low roofline and lack of tall windows on the view side. This was an epic fail by the builder. I know it’s old, but still.

    3. Throwing good money after bad at a rapidly depreciating asset like a house is a fools errand.

  9. Fort Greene Brooklyn Housing Prices Crater 17% YOY As Excess Housing Inventory Hammers NYC

    https://www.zillow.com/fort-greene-new-york-ny/home-values/

    *Select price from dropdown menu on first chart

    One distinguished economist shared, “Housing is becoming increasingly worthless as the trend of housing being an aspirational item ends. And there are some who get very emotional about it.”

  11. ‘San Francisco Proposition I would double the city’s real estate transfer tax on deals of $10M or more, making those types of deals in S.F. the most heavily taxed in the nation. Rates for property transactions between $10M and $24.99M would rise from 2.75% to 5.5%, while deals at $25M or greater would see rates go from 3% to 6%.’

    ‘Prop. I is sponsored by San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and supported by four other supervisors who expect it to address San Francisco’s pandemic-induced $1.7B projected budget deficit. CRE organizations like the Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco have come out against it, calling the hike and newly proposed rates too large and unfair.’

    ‘Proposition F Supported by every San Francisco supervisor and Mayor London Breed, Prop. F would make sweeping changes to the city’s business tax structure, including breaks for small businesses, increases to gross receipts business tax rates across the board and repealing the city’s payroll tax. The city controller estimates Prop. F would result in additional annual revenue of about $97M per year.’

    https://www.bisnow.com/san-francisco/news/commercial-real-estate/big-california-election-items-for-cre-to-watch-105772

    1. People bitch about taxes everywhere. San Francisco! Big government!

      Assuming the burden of state taxes is distributed among counties in proportion to personal income, San Francisco’s total state and local tax burden was 10.8% of its residents’ personal income in FY 2017, according to the Census of Governments.

      The national average 9.8%, but that includes rural areas with few services, and Sunbelt areas where many services are provided by private developments and paid for separately.

      New York City? It was at 15.2%.

      https://larrylittlefield.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/state-local-taxes-2017-census-of-governments-finance-data/

    2. – More taxes! That’ll fix everything! Oh, wait…

      https://www.ocregister.com/2020/08/21/californias-proposed-income-tax-hike-is-anything-but-golden/
      Opinion
      California’s proposed income tax hike is anything but golden
      By Ross Marchand |
      PUBLISHED: August 21, 2020 at 8:37 a.m. | UPDATED: August 21, 2020 at 8:37 a.m.

      “Introduced by California Assembly member Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, Assembly Bill 1253 would not only increase the tax rate on income over $1 million, but it would do so retroactively for income earned January 1, 2020.

      The bill would impose a 1 percent increase on annual, adjusted gross income more than $1 million, a 3 percent increase on income more than $2 million, and a 3.5 percent increase on income more than $5 million.

      Overall, the tax hike would increase the state’s tax rate on income above $1 million from 13.3 to 14.3 percent and levy a staggering 16.8 percent rate on those in the $5 million plus income bracket.

      California already has the highest personal income tax rates in the country and state residents hardly get a break post-paycheck.

      In 2019, National Review contributor Victor Hanson noted, “California recently raised gas taxes by 40 percent and now has the second-highest gas taxes in the United States. California has the ninth-highest combined state and local sales taxes in the country, but its state sales tax of 7.3 percent is America’s highest.” And now, at the worst possible time, California lawmakers have decided that the tax burden needs to be higher.

      As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, California faces high unemployment and continued shutdowns. The push to increase taxes is a startling move, given the ample risk of the state losing business revenue and jobs. The retroactive nature of AB1253 could also leave many residents reeling.”

      – Socialism is Western Civ. in retrograde. Just check any Socialist country, past or present, or any Democrat-controlled U.S. city or state. Regulated Capitalism with checks and balances works, but we haven’t had that for a while now, because there are too few opportunities for graft and corruption. The blue state implosion of budgets and pensions isn’t going to get better. BK is coming. CA, IL, NY, NJ are high on the list.

      “Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.” (Every country has the government it deserves.) Lettres et Opuscules Inédits (1851) (letter of August 15, 1811). – Joseph de Maistre

      “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” – Thomas Jefferson

      “A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society.” – Ludwig von Mises

      “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money [to spend].” – Margaret Thatcher

      “The enduring lesson of the 20th century is that socialism is a failure, and free markets are a success. But the politicians keep advocating just a little more socialism.” – Milton Friedman

      1. Entire Europe is socialist more or less. Not sure who you are talking about? France?Sweden? Germany? Norway? Spain?
        Last time I checked most of Europe was doing tons better than US, have a lot less taxes that US, much much higher standard of living. ETC
        On taxes: in US you pay income state tax, income federal and property tax. Last time I checked, those can easily be north of 40% of someone income which is more that most European pay, except they pay one tax only, property tax being mostly insignificant. I pay 100$ for one of my properties.
        They spend those taxes to provide housing for those who want to live in a state provided one, and a lot do, free education for those who earn it with good grades and good passing exams, and free health care.
        If you add what you need to pay for education and healthcare, I’d say that US taxes are about 60-70% of one’s income which brings it close to outright slavery. Welcome to the land of the free, where you’re free to do as you’re told and slave for life.

        1. Swedish Tax Rates

          Local taxes in Sweden range from around 29.2% (Österåker municipality) to almost 35.2% (Dorotea municipality).

          National income taxes
          None on yearly income up to SEK 490,700
          20% on 490,700 to 689,300
          25% on income over 689,300

          Income from capital
          30% (state tax, the rate varies)

          Corporate income tax
          21.4%

          Inheritance tax was abolished in 2005.

          https://sweden.se/society/why-swedes-are-okay-with-paying-taxes/

          1. Well, a third of their income is not a whole lot to pay considering what they get back for it. They get education, housing and healthcare. If you add all that here it adds up to 99.99% of your income is actually a tax.

        2. have a lot less taxes that US

          Allow me to introduce you to my European acquaintances:

          VAT: What we call “sales tax”. Averages around 20%, as high as 27%.
          $6+ gasoline prices: and you thought it was expensive in California.
          Lower salaries
          High prices: every time I shopped at a department store or ate out at a decent restaurant in western Europe I was floored by the prices.

          1. Of all the people here, I’m the only one to have lived under a communist regime, under a western European type of society and economy, and then USA. I have broad experience in all of them, and of them all European type socialism is the best by far. All those vats and underfunded are propaganda by the big money type of capitalist who want to enslave all of them just like around here. Please don’t buy that cr..p. Go there and live there for 10 years. Please do yourself a favor. You’ll never forget that experience, and it will enrich your life tenfold!

          2. yes, six for gas, as far as I’m concerned it should be more like 20. My only family car was parked in the garage 5 days a week. Only weekend saw some family trips. You get anywhere in a big city like Hamburg or Milan, Madrid or Vienna, bu the vast public transportation system. A tram, a bus, underground coming by with high frequency, every five minutes or so. You get anywhere faster by public transportation that by using a car. And you ride them with you lawyer, doctor, financial director, or a mechanic, or whoever. Only around here people are so “exceptional” that they need seven cars, huge homes. well, you’re so special, stop complaining and pay. Pay for education, healthcare, live like a slave and pay your taxes as high as they are!

          3. on lower salaries and higher prices. Since most of big expenses are take care of by the system, whatever you earn is pocket money to have fun with. You don’t need to worry about your kids education, your family’s healthcare, or even housing. It’s all provided. You don’t need to worry about old age. you’ll have you own home with very low taxes, or you can apply for a state one with a rent adjusted to your income.
            With whatever r you ear, you go on a there-four weeks vacation around the Mediterranean every summer, and two weeks skiing in the alps. And it does not cost a fraction of what it costs around here. They have more vacation and more fun, that most Americans will ever dream of.

          4. Only around here people are so “exceptional” that they need seven cars, huge homes

            You seem to be admitting that the standard of living in the US is much higher, since we all have seven cars.

          5. I’m the only one to have lived under a communist regime

            Many of us have personal friends who escaped that to live here.

          6. It’s all provided. You don’t need to worry about old age. you’ll have you own home with very low taxes, or you can apply for a state one with a rent adjusted to your income.

            Funny, I saw a Deutsche Welle documentary about old age pensioners in Germany picking bottles and cans out of the trash, or working a part time job to make ends meet or just doing without.

            Everything is provided. Uh huh, sure:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDveK6oWN5w

            Here’s one about German food banks.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xgPBb1xHYI

          7. @ Colorado and skies are blue, Well, there was a time when a lot of people fell for the propaganda and moved here, and every country has it’s own set of disturbed people, even Germany, but I never in my life saw the massive poverty and homelessness that you see every day around here.
            I believe the best indicator for quality of life life expectancy. And it’s embracing how low it is around here. And I’m not talking about the privileged ones with good jobs etc, but the normal people who live on the streets here, but in Germany they live on a small pension in a decent apartment.
            I’m not complaining myself. I lived a quality life under all systems. In the end, you can make it anywhere. I’m just shocked at the amount of poverty in the “wealthiest” and “greatest” ever. By the way, USA barely makes top ten, and if you consider the amount of inequality, and subtract the wealth of the 1%s, I’m pretty sure it does not qualify even in the top 50.

        4. In Europe, at least until you recently started importing them, you have never had a vast, intractable, criminally-inclined underclass. Have you ever taken public transportation in the U.S? The last time I took a city bus I was made quite nervous by the sea of hostile faces I encountered upon entering, and I sat up front near the bus driver. A couple of years ago some Latin American friends intended to take a Greyhound bus to a neighboring state for a visit, but they cancelled their journey after seeing the people who filled the bus station. They were visibly shaken as they told me about all these menacing people who looked like gang members.

          1. Yes, that’s the difference. Pretty classy people use public in Europe, here is like a big no/no!
            @ Colorado. Yes, I travel all the time back and forth. The reason I’m around here is family and other obligation. It’s definitely not a personal choice. With that being said, there is good and bad everywhere. I’m not saying that I don’t like living here. In the end, there are a lot of good things here, and a lot of nice, decent and honest people. There is just something putrid about the system. that’s all. I hope for the sake of all the sake of your children and the future generation that it will get fixed. Young people in this country deserve to live in a better world. Good luck!!

      2. They don’t intend any of these bills to pass, especially that new reparations bill. I think it’s just a ploy to bring out the African American vote. After the election, those bills will be tabled and disappear.

        IIRC Republicans something similar in 2004. They put a bunch of anti-gay referendums on various state ballots to get out the vote for Bush. Dirty trick? Maybe, but I blame the people who fall for this nonsense.

      3. “California recently raised gas taxes by 40 percent and now has the second-highest gas taxes in the United States.”

        Since my car is mostly sitting in the garage these daze, who cares?

        1. The people who were expecting to get your money probably care a lot and are beside themselves wondering how they are going to pay their bills.

    3. I miss-read the following. It is for gross receipts in the city of San Fran.
      But still – way to punish business that create jobs in San Fran

      ———–
      increases to gross receipts business tax rates across the board and repealing the city’s payroll tax.

    4. ‘San Francisco Proposition I would double the city’s real estate transfer tax on deals of $10M or more,’

      All that money where does it go ??

  12. ‘The morning after protesters vandalized his home, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo thanked neighbors who turned out to clean up the mess.’

    “I’m tremendously heartened by the response of dozens of my neighbors who dropped everything late last night to spend a couple of hours scrubbing graffiti from Jessica’s and my home,” Liccardo said in a statement Saturday.’

    ‘The mayor’s home was targeted about 10:30 p.m. Friday by protestors who spray-painted expletives, fired paintballs, and burned a flag in front of his house.’

    https://patch.com/california/campbell/protestors-vandalize-san-jose-mayors-home-neighbors-help-clean

    The summer of luv continues.

    2. You talk like you prefer a grafitti splattered $hithole, a grafitti splattered $hithole is what you will get.

      I expected these braindead imbecile public executives to cry uncle by now. It seems their removal from office is what they really want…. and it’s what they’ll get.

    3. ‘The mayor’s home was targeted about 10:30 p.m. Friday by protestors who spray-painted expletives, fired paintballs, and burned a flag in front of his house.’

      Beautiful. I can only hope they took a few dumps and left some used syringes as well. Fawk you, mayor.

      1. It amazes me that the blow back hasn’t been greater. My Bay Aryan colleagues all seem to have a “grin and bear it” attitude towards everything that makes life there unbearable.

        Power outages: shrug
        Gas that costs $1 more than the national average: shrug.
        Huge income tax bill: shrug
        Widespread civil unrest: shrug

        It seems that as long as the shack they paid $300K for is worth $1M on paper, then it’s all good.

        1. In-C,
          i am not sure the professions of your colleagues. The youngsters that i work with there (think under 35 yo) want to put in their 10 years and then head back home.

          The feeling is — that — unless you are a super talented engineer or marketer, you will be isolated and de-facto pushed out in your late 30’s. They are grabbing as much $s as possible – and not concerned about long term consequences

          I am not sure about your conversations with co-workers …

          1. They are older, since they bought when it was much cheaper. Many can already see the retirement finish line in the distance, though none talk about leaving when they retire.

    4. So let’s talk about San Jose. It is basically broke, as a result of massive pension increases for — wait for it — Republican-supporting police and fire unions.

      https://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-san-jose-election-pensions.html

      A reform Mayor took over and tried to reverse some of the retroactive pension increases, so the unions stopped preventing crime as taxes soared. And using propaganda to give the impression of a crime wave, as in NYC.

      “In 2012, holding together a Democratic majority on the city council, Reed abandoned negotiation with public employee unions and pushed through a pension-cutting ballot measure. Voters approved the referendum with 69 percent of the vote.”

      The unions later go it reversed by the courts. With regard to the big pension increase they got in a political deal, they stole it fair and square.

      “During Silicon Valley’s dot-com boom in the late 1990s, the California Legislature and then-Gov. Gray Davis enacted a law that lowered the retirement age for all state workers and elevated the maximum possible benefit for state public safety workers. Under the new law, a retired highway patrol officer as young as 50 could collect a lifetime of annual payments equal to 90 percent of his final year’s salary.”

      “Legislators believed the state could afford to pay more expensive retirement benefits because they used optimistic forecasts of how much their pension fund investments would yield in returns each year. “They thought the stock market would keep going up forever,” Reed told a state commission in 2010. “It’s the greatest financial blunder in the history of California.”

      I’ll bet those officers don’t live in the “urban hellhole.” Those who work for the NYPD certainly don’t.

      1. As long as housing prices continue cratering, all is well.

        Culver City, CA Housing Prices Crater 21% YOY As Los Angeles Area Mortgage Defaults Balloon

        https://www.movoto.com/culver-city-ca/market-trends/

        As a noted economist said, “I can $50k for my run down Chevy truck but where is the buyer at that price? So it is with all depreciating assets like houses and cars.”

      2. For those who believe this is socialism, I have some new. It’s actually a kleptocracy sucking the public dry any way they can. Europe has one rule, one law, one pension package, one tax for all. You get you pension regardless if you were or not in a union, pensions are calculated uniformly for everyone, and that’s where your taxes go to.

    5. “Many of these same neighbors’ homes bear “Black Lives Matter” signs, and they represent the true spirit of the movement, and of our San Jose community,” Liccardo said.

      Displaying a BLM marquee in an upper middle-class suburb is a disgusting act of cowardice.

          3. Not sure how considering theres only $160k of material and labor there.

            Unless you mean by way of appraisal fraud.

          4. $160k of material and labor

            At $1.25M, the buyer doesn’t give a $hit about the existing house.

          5. At $1.25M, the buyer doesn’t give a $hit about the existing house.

            Exactly. It would be a tear down.

            It would be nice to live that close to the beach, I just couldn’t see myself paying a million for the perk of being that close.

          6. “At $1.25M, the buyer doesn’t give a $hit about the existing house.”

            More to the point. Appraisal fraud x2.

  13. ‘The rush of S-1 filings made landfall as hundreds of deadly and destructive fires raged around California and turned the Bay Area into a smoky hellscape.’

    ‘Notably, embedded in Palantir’s going-public filing was a missive from Karp that set Silicon Valley’s tongues wagging. “The engineering elite of Silicon Valley may know more than most about building software. But they do not know more about how society should be organized or what justice requires,” Karp said as Palantir announced that it has officially moved its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Denver.’

    “Our company was founded in Silicon Valley,” Karp wrote. “But we seem to share fewer and fewer of the technology sector’s values and commitments.”

    ‘His ambivalence toward California precedes the current disasters, but between the pandemic, wildfires, the threat of rolling electricity blackouts, a housing crisis that’s been only slightly dampened by the downturn, and a sudden shift to remote work, others are also wondering aloud whether Silicon Valley’s heyday has passed.’

    “What is California’s fundamental trouble?” The New York Times opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo asked. “Neither socialism nor Trumpian neglect and incompetence, but something more elemental to life in the Golden State: A refusal by many Californians to live sustainably and inclusively, to give up a little bit of their own convenience for the collective good.”

    ‘Angel investor Balaji Srinivasan declared that “San Francisco as the de facto capital of tech is done. That time and place is over. There’s no point in moving there for tech, the businesses are shut down and people aren’t meeting up. It’s all internet now, for a while. And relocation to towns and cities around the world.”

    https://news.crunchbase.com/news/silicon-valley-epicenter-startups/

    1. Karp said as Palantir announced that it has officially moved its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Denver.’

      All they accomplished was setting the clock back a few years. They could have chosen a better place. I suppose Denver is woke enough for them to feel comfortable, and the cost of living is much lower. Just wait until Cindi CdeBaca sends an angry mob to extort money from them; assuming they will moving to downtown Denver, and not one of the suburbs.

  14. California is a failed state. After nearly a decade of one-party rule, the once-Golden State is tarnished, possibly beyond repair.

    But, but reparations…that’s going to fix it!

  16. And now from the No sh#t Sherlock page.

    New CDC report shows 94% of COVID-19 deaths in US had contributing conditions

    by: Natasha Anderson and Nexstar Media Wire
    Posted: Aug 30, 2020

    ATLANTA, Ga. (WJW) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data last week that depicts how many Americans who have died from COVID-19 also had contributing conditions.

    According to the report, only 6% of deaths have COVID-19 as the only cause mentioned, revealing that 94% of patients who died from coronavirus also had other “health conditions and contributing causes.”

    The report reads in part:

    Table 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death.

    The CDC explains that their data uses provisional death counts to “deliver the most complete and accurate picture of lives lost to COVID-19.”

    These numbers are based on death certificates, which the organization says are the most reliable source of data. Death certificates reportedly contain information that is not available anywhere else and includes comorbid conditions, race and ethnicity and place of death.

    https://www.abc4.com/news/national/new-cdc-report-shows-94-of-covid-19-deaths-in-us-had-underlying-medical-conditions/

    1. Meanwhile, 10% of symptomatic cases are long-haulers with potential permanent damage. And long-haulers tend to be young and very healthy, without a single co-morbidity. Nobody knows why long-haulers are long-haulers while their equally young and healthy friends barely have a symptom. It’s not all about the death.

      I’ll wait at home, thanks.

    2. “New CDC report shows 94% of COVID-19 deaths in US had contributing conditions”

      Interesting!

      Are most deaths due to a single identifiable cause in isolation?

      How does this compare to the share of flu deaths with contributing conditions?

      Or the share of automobile accidents, for that matter?

      1. Or the share of automobile accidents

        It doesn’t matter. There is only one contributing factor that is mandated by the government to be listed as the primary cause of death, even if the person isn’t sick. As far as I know there is only one diagnosis that is massively subsidized at the hospital by the government.

  17. Nobody interested in this house in VA:

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/303-Hill-St-Pearisburg-VA-24134/117572457_zpid/

    Price drop recently. You get 2 acres with it. Imagine it might be less a money pit than a mobile home? Anyway, looking for Oil City type locales someday to move to. Virginia beckons me but there is a lot of things that go into living somewhere other than a low mortgage. Photo taken back in autumn or early spring, not updated it seems. Maybe get a few millennials who want to buy the block up?

  18. Why NYC restaurants owners are frustrated with Mayor De Blasio

    Landry’s Chairman & CEO Tilman Fertitta has called out NYC Mayor De Blasio for failing to communicate plans for reopening restaurants. Melba Wilson, owner of Melba’s in Harlem, and Nate Adler, founder of Gertie’s in Brooklyn, join ‘Power Lunch’ to weigh in on the debate.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5GN14l7BrA

  19. Ahh the solution for San Fran is to raise taxes on the companies that do business there (apparently prop F) and then when business do less biz within the San Fran city limits, to increase other taxes.

    Not sure why you are concerned Supervisor

    —
    “‘I have never seen the level of frustration as high as it is now,’ city Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. ‘I hear daily from people who say they are selling, they are leaving.’”

    1. “‘I have never seen the level of frustration as high as it is now,’ city Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. ‘I hear daily from people who say they are selling, they are leaving.’”

      I would never, no matter how much money I had, buy a house in that gotforsaken armpit, or even consider being a CA resident, but if I were interested I would love seeing this exodus because that’s when the prices are going to crater so hard that there will be epic deals.

      People are, by and large, stupid. They all want to buy when prices are high, and they all want to sell when they’re low. It’s backwards.

      1. When prices are rising there is fear of selling too soon and leaving cash on the table.

        When prices start to fall, then it’s time to stampede to the exits.

  20. I talked to my brother in the Boston area yesterday. He & wife were sharing a home with her sister, all co-owners, horrible idea. Place burned up end of last October. They moved into adjacent but separate apartments nearby. Rebuilding still not done, so they must continue renting. Landlord wants to raise their rent Nov 1, even though several amenities there have been closed due to COVID-19. Apartments are just 2 years old, already have roof leaks, failing water heaters, stuff that shouldn’t be going bad this soon.

    1. Apartments are just 2 years old, already have roof leaks, failing water heaters, stuff that shouldn’t be going bad this soon.

      This is what happens when you use substandard building products and unskilled labor for skilled labor jobs.

      1. This is what happens when you use substandard I can only assume that “you” here refers to general & subcontractors, who stood to make a great deal more money by slashing the quality of the materials and labor.

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