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It Is Not A Maybe, It Is When And How Much

A report from Arlington Now in Virginia. “The number of condos listed for sale in Arlington during September (261) ranks as the 2nd most in any month over the last 10+ years, trailing a record-setting April 2016 volume (268) by just seven. Our neighbors in D.C. blew past all-time highs over the last 10+ years with 969 condos listed for sale, well above the record set this past July (863). Three of the four months with 750+ condo listings in D.C. have taken place in the last three months. You have to go back to June 2011 for a month with more active condo inventory in D.C.”

“The number of single-family homes listed for sale in the 3rd Quarter of 2020 is up 42.5% over Q3 2019. September is the first month in 2020 that the median asking price of active single-family listings dropped below $1.5M.”

From Westfair Online. “There is growing anecdotal evidence of a buyer’s market taking shape in New York City. Gail Fattizzi, who is executive director of Westchester Real Estate Inc. told the Business Journal that while real estate professionals are seeing a strong demand for properties north of New York City, in the city itself rental prices are down 20% to 25% with a 50% increase in rental vacancies and a softening of sale prices.”

“”There’s been a little activity since Labor Day but prior to that it’s been pretty darn quiet in the city,’ Fattizzi said. ‘The demand is less, there are no lines at open houses like we have up here, so there’s more negotiability. There’s going to be more inventory and less competition, which bodes well for buyers whether they’re investing or buying for personal use.'”

The Commercial Observer on New York. “As the slowdowns and shutdowns of the COVID-19 era seem likely to last deep into 2021, many analysts and real estate figures see a significant and sustained drop in demand threatening the ecosystem of restaurants, retail and residential developments that has attracted so much energy and so many residents. ‘At the end of the day, it’s all connected,’ James Famularo, president of Meridian Retail Leasing, said. ‘There are three categories — tourists, commercial office workers and residential — that make New York City as diverse as it is. With two components missing, it’s not really the same city anymore.'”

The Wall Street Journal on New York. “Three buildings on Madison Avenue’s main retail corridor have sold for about 80% below peak sales prices in 2014, signaling that depressed Manhattan retail real-estate prices continue to tumble. Retail rents in the premium Madison strip, which stretches from East 57th Street to East 72nd street on Madison, have suffered, too. The average rent dropped to $822 a square foot in the second quarter this year from $1607 in 2015, the year rents reached a high for Madison Avenue, according to Cushman & Wakefield.”

The Associated Press on Massachusetts. “When it comes to sympathetic figures, landlords aren’t exactly at the top of the list. But they, too, have fallen on hard times, demonstrating how the coronavirus outbreak spares almost no one. Take Shad Elia, who owns 24 single-family apartment units in the Boston area. ‘We still have a mortgage. We still have expenses on these properties,’ he said. ‘But there comes a point where we will exhaust whatever reserves we have. At some point, we will fall behind on our payments. They can’t expect landlords to provide subsidized housing.'”

From Bloomberg. “The median monthly rate for a studio in the city tumbled 31% in September from a year earlier to $2,285, compared with a 0.5% decline nationally, according to Realtor.com. One-bedroom rents in San Francisco fell 24% and two-bedrooms were down 21%, to $2,873 and $3,931 a month, respectively. Bargains can be had in other high-cost areas, too. Studio rents dropped 15% to $2,495 a month in Manhattan. In King County, Washington, which includes Seattle, they fell 12% to $1,490.”

The Star Tribune in Minnesota. “Cecil Smith, president of the Minnesota Multi Housing Association and a Minneapolis-based rental property owner, said the recent ‘slippage’ in those figures is the first meaningful decline since the beginning of the pandemic and a likely sign that many of the lowest income renters were relying on expanded federal benefits, which expired in September. ‘That’s all burned off now,’ he said. ‘There’s financial stress.'”

“‘Renters now have the upper hand over landlords in many of the nation’s most expensive cities,’ said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist. ‘As vacant apartments begin to stack up, many landlords are scrambling to lower rents and offer discounts in an effort to entice or keep a shrinking pool of renters.'”

The California Globe. “The average price for a studio apartment in San Francisco fell by 31% to $2,285 a month, a large fall compared to the 0.5% average decline nationwide. Three of the top five counties on the list were from the Bay area, with Santa Clara County and San Mateo County also seeing drops of close to 20%. Alameda County was also in the top 10 with a 12% drop.”

“‘So rents have been going down since then, and are showing no signs of stopping. A lot of these firms that bought these places up during the boom are now panicking because they aren’t getting the desired return on investment. And as more and more leases end, we’re going to see more apartments for cheaper prices,’ noted San Francisco realtor Patricia Hayes-Faber, to the Globe.”

From Socket Site in California. “Availability at ten of the larger apartment buildings in San Francisco, including buildings in Hayes Valley, Dogpatch, Mid-Market and Downtown, representing over 3,000 units combined, we’re seeing an average vacancy rate approaching 9 percent (which doesn’t include new buildings with even higher vacancy rates that were never fully leased, such as Related’s Hub District tower at 1550 Mission Street).”

“But there’s another wave of vacancies on the horizon as well. In fact, while the current average vacancy rate is approaching 9 percent in the buildings we reviewed, there are an equal number of apartments that are set to be newly vacated over the next two months as leases, which aren’t slated to be renewed, expire. And there is at least one big building in the city, which had been fully occupied, which is facing a vacancy rate of 20 percent by the end of November and another which is on track for a potential vacancy rate of over 30 percent by the end of the year.”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “Prop. 21: Does expanding rent control make sense in a COVID recession? In Los Angeles County, rent for a vacant apartment fell 5.8% on average in September from a year earlier, even without factoring in concessions such as a month without a rent payment. In San Francisco and San Jose, double-digit declines were seen in the fanciest buildings, as well at the lower end. ‘We call this the bankruptcy bill,’ Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles said of Proposition 21. ‘People are just going to get out of the business — they are already getting out of the business.'”

“‘We’ve got to get vacancies up,’ said Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. ‘What is happening in San Francisco right now or downtown L.A. shows what vacancies do. You have these places being vacated and you have rents falling very rapidly.'”

The Coyote Chronicle in California. “The recent events with COVID-19 and the stimulus checks that were given out by the government are one explanation as to why there has not yet been a crash in the housing market, according to real estate experts and faculty members at CSUSB. Although the strong housing market is beneficial, the increased debt from the stimulus checks will have lasting consequences on taxpayers, according to CSUSB faculty member Montgomery Van Wart.”

“Van Wart is a professor of public administration at CSUSB who has a doctorate in public administration. ‘It’s not the housing market that is sustaining the broader market, it is government putting trillions of dollars into the economy and saying to you, ‘you will be paying taxes on this for at least a decade,’ says Van Wart.”

“Though the prices are at record highs and it might be tempting to try and invest in the market now, all the experts agree that a price correction is coming soon and waiting to buy until at least after the election is probably the best course of action. ‘It’s inevitable that the housing market is going to go down,’ says Van Wart. ‘It is not a ‘maybe,’ it is when and how much.'”

From Bankrate. “With their lenient standards for down payments and credit scores, Federal Housing Administration mortgages offer a lifeline to buyers trying to squeeze into an increasingly unaffordable housing market. However, the coronavirus recession has hit FHA borrowers hard — and that has led lenders to tighten the availability of FHA loans. As of mid-2020, a record 15.7 percent of FHA borrowers were behind on their mortgage payments, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. By contrast, the delinquency rate for conventional loans stood at just 6.7 percent.”

“‘It really has to do with the type of borrowers who get FHA loans,’ says Marina Walsh, vice president of industry analysis at the Mortgage Bankers Association. ‘You’re talking about low- to moderate-income workers. They’re more likely to work in leisure and hospitality.'”

“FHA loans allow borrowers to put down as little as 3.5 percent. Borrowers who take conventional loans — those backed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — typically make down payments of 20 percent. And FHA loans are available to borrowers with credit scores as low as 580, although the average credit score for FHA borrowers is about 100 points north of that mark.”

“FHA lenders loosened their lending requirements in 2018 and 2019, perhaps because memories of the last financial crisis had faded. ‘If you have a period where the economy is doing very well, risky mortgages don’t look risky because they’re not being stressed,’ says Joseph Tracy, executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. ‘But the risk shows up when the economy goes through a period of stress.'”

“That reality has led FHA lenders to grow stricter since the pandemic. ‘Credit availability for FHA loans has tightened,’ Walsh says. Scott Frame, a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, says there’s a good reason that FHA lenders have stopped making loans to the riskiest borrowers: If a homeowner goes into default or forbearance soon after a loan is originated, the lender will have to accept a discount when selling the loan to investors.”

“The FHA program also is known for allowing high debt-to-income ratios. A significant minority of FHA borrowers devote more than half their income to debt payments, Tracy and Frame say. All of those factors, combined with this year’s spike in unemployment, set the stage for a potential wave of foreclosures if the U.S. economy continues to struggle. ‘This could become a problem,’ Tracy says. ‘Certainly, the conditions are ripe for a large set of these FHA borrowers.'”

The Denverite in Colorado. “A Denver-based hotline for Coloradans who need rental assistance and other housing help has doubled its staff and is working with new partners to meet needs created by the pandemic. ‘Our call volume spiked through the roof in March,’ said Patrick Noonan, who manages the Colorado Housing Connects hotline run by the nonprofit Brothers Redevelopment.”

“The Colorado state housing division turned to Brothers Redevelopment to start what became Colorado Housing Connects in 2006 in response to what was then a growing foreclosure crisis. The program was expanded to address rental assistance and other housing issues in 2014. As the pandemic hit, Noonan said daily calls to Colorado Housing Connects doubled to about 200 in March. While the pace has slowed somewhat, the hotline has been averaging 3,000 calls a month recently, compared to about 2,000 monthly before the pandemic, Noonan said.”

“‘We’re hearing from a lot of folks who’ve found themselves unemployed and facing eviction or foreclosure,’ Noonan said.”

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This Post Has 82 Comments

  1. ‘FHA lenders loosened their lending requirements in 2018 and 2019, perhaps because memories of the last financial crisis had faded’

    March 26, 2020

    “As America heads into a deep recession, the $11 trillion residential-mortgage market is in crisis. Investors who buy home loans packaged into bonds are dumping even those with federal backing because of panic that millions might not make their payments. Yet one risky sector had started to show cracks long before the coronavirus pandemic sparked the worst financial meltdown in 12 years: the federal government’s largest affordable-housing program, whose lenient terms are geared toward marginal borrowers.”

    “As real estate prices soared in recent years, working-class adults everywhere have increasingly relied on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — and U.S. taxpayers. Since 2007, the FHA’s portfolio has tripled in value to more than $1.2 trillion, almost 11% of the market. While private lenders make these loans, they are packaged into Ginnie Mae bonds, common in mutual funds and pensions.”

    “Before Covid-19 started roiling China, a November FHA report found that 27% of borrowers last year spent more than half their incomes on debt, a level it describes as ‘unprecedented.’ The share of FHA loans souring in their first six months has doubled over the last three years to almost 1%.”

    “Not long ago, Alex Castillo drove his shiny black Infiniti SUV through an office park north of the San Antonio airport, along a busy seven-mile stretch of highway that loan officers call ‘Mortgage Row’ because of its abundance of small independent mortgage companies that dominate FHA lending. Castillo, who has the words ‘The Dream Starts Here’ stitched into his jacket, works for Pennsylvania-based American Residential Lending. Oddly, amid the pandemic, his business is booming. His customers locked in FHA mortgages after interest rates plunged this month — adding to federally backed mortgage debt.”

    “‘If the government tells me you’re good enough to get a loan, I have to trust and believe in the government,’ Castillo said. ‘Then we just hope and pray that the client doesn’t get foreclosed on.’”

    “In downtown San Antonio, scores of investors stood on a parched lawn beside the city’s historic granite-and-red-sandstone courthouse. It was the first Tuesday of February, the day of the foreclosure auction. Matt Badders, a San Antonio lawyer who represents lenders, auctioned off two houses. The failed mortgages remind him of the run-up to the financial crisis 12 years ago, when lending to customers with spotty credit nearly brought down the world’s financial system. ‘We’re almost back to 2007, when mortgage originators are waking people up on park benches, saying sign here,’ Badders said.”

    “At the auction, the crowd bid on 338 homes, a third with FHA mortgages, according to Roddy’s Foreclosure Listing Service. One house had dual master bedrooms, a game room and granite kitchen counters. It sold for $202,000 — $52,000 less than the homeowner borrowed only two years ago. The taxpayer-backed FHA insurance fund will take a loss.”

    “Dave Stevens, FHA commissioner under President Barack Obama and former chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said a recession will expose hidden risks in home lending. ‘This should be an alarm bell to policymakers,’ Stevens said. ‘Sometimes you get blinded by a good economy and suddenly look at it and see a bubble of defaults coming.’”

    “The federal government has decided it doesn’t want to pursue — and has asked a judge to dismiss — a lawsuit against Utah-based Academy Mortgage Corp. The judge refused. The suit claims the company’s staff would repeatedly feed information into an automated federal underwriting system, manipulating it until the computer gave the green light. ‘Decline is a curse word,’ Plaintiff Gwen Thrower, a former underwriter, quoted a manager as saying. ‘We don’t use it.’”

    http://housingbubble.blog/?p=3070

  2. ‘The number of condos listed for sale in Arlington during September (261) ranks as the 2nd most in any month over the last 10+ years, trailing a record-setting April 2016 volume (268) by just seven. Our neighbors in D.C. blew past all-time highs over the last 10+ years with 969 condos listed for sale, well above the record set this past July (863). Three of the four months with 750+ condo listings in D.C. have taken place in the last three months. You have to go back to June 2011 for a month with more active condo inventory in D.C.’

    Wa happened to my shortage? Were these just built? No. So they were there all along, hmmm.

    ‘The number of single-family homes listed for sale in the 3rd Quarter of 2020 is up 42.5% over Q3 2019. September is the first month in 2020 that the median asking price of active single-family listings dropped below $1.5M’

    Look at the graph. Down around half a million since the beginning of 2020.

    Eat yer crowz taxpayer.

  3. Arlington, Va Housing Prices Crater 34% YOY As Double Digit Price Declines And Soaring Mortgage Defaults Envelop Northern Virginia

    https://www.movoto.com/arlington-va/market-trends/

    As one Arlington County broker lamented, “How can we possibly sell a resale house when builders are selling new houses on the same street for 20% and sometimes 30% less?”

  4. The title to the Bloomberg piece:

    San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

    ‘Three buildings on Madison Avenue’s main retail corridor have sold for about 80% below peak sales prices in 2014’

    Where’s Larry the sword catcher?

    1. Larry went to take a bath. I will speak for him. This is not a crater. Just a mere drop in the bucket. Oh the horror! Just a 80% drop? Call me when it’s closer to 90%.

      1. “The average rent dropped to $822 a square foot in the second quarter this year from $1607 in 2015, the year rents reached a high for Madison Avenue, according to Cushman & Wakefield.”

        Gee, only $822 per square foot? Anyone want to open a store and make that rent?

        It has to be lower. Don’t compare with 2014. Compare with 1995/96, adjusted for inflation.

        1. Maybe if you sell something tall, narrow, and expensive on 3 square feet…. high end fishing poles or something.

      2. “80% drop?” a normal cyclical adjustment right realtwhores and REIC shills! this doesnt end well for any involved in RE investments or sales. What company makes the most fire resistant trash cans these days? if they are publicly traded on the stawk market i think i know my next investment. keep warm real-turds its going to get really cold!

          1. i think when one results to keeping warm via trash can fire, they may be ok with the potential “danger”.

  5. I know this post is too long, but the crater overfloweth. I got some international devastation lined up too.

  6. Archive dot is link to the New York Times — Subways Are Less Busy and Less Safe, published October 12, 2020:

    “As subway ridership plunged to 30 percent of its pre-pandemic level, petty crime dropped, too. Many New Yorkers ditched the subway as the pandemic worsened, fearful of catching the coronavirus on packed train cars.

    But those who rely on the subway to commute as the city reopens may have more to fear than the virus: There has been an uptick in violent crimes, including robberies and homicides.

    While the subway is nowhere near as dangerous as it was in the crime-ridden 1970s and 1980s, attacks and vandalism have spiked compared with recent years.

    So far, six people have been killed in the subway, compared with two up to this point in 2019, one in 2018 and none in 2017. After two rapes last year, five have been reported this year. Robberies have risen by 16 percent. There have been 22 burglaries this year, after five in the same period last year.”

    http://archive.is/PGUxM

    1. So far, six people have been killed in the subway, compared with two up to this point in 2019, one in 2018 and none in 2017.

      And leftists wonder why people are leaving the rotten apple?

      1. “…How can you have a burglary…?”

        Perhaps statistics are referring to MTA owned storage/ticketing areas?

  7. ‘there’s a good reason that FHA lenders have stopped making loans to the riskiest borrowers: If a homeowner goes into default or forbearance soon after a loan is originated, the lender will have to accept a discount when selling the loan to investors’

    So these snakes cry like little babies if credit gets barely tightened by FHFA, but run for the hills when their a$$ is in the sling.

    ‘This week’s MBA Chart of the Week highlights the year-over-year growth in purchase applications broken down by loan size tiers from 2018 to 2020…Between June to September, purchase applications with loan amounts higher than $766,000 showed growth that ranged between 49 percent to 74 percent, while loans between $625,000 and $766,000 grew between 38 percent to 55 percent. In contrast, applications for loans between $150,000 and $300,000 climbed from 11 percent to 13 percent, while the smallest loan size tier of $150,000 or less increased no more than 3 percent in each of those months’

    So what does fewer loans at the lower priced shacks and way more at the top mean for the median? It’s been hard to see through the REIC horse-sh$t since the CCP virus. I still see neighbors garages full of toilet paper. But rational people wouldn’t stampede into buying a loan at the onset of a recession/maybe depression. And appraisers certainly shouldn’t be rubber stamping 12-17-or higher % price increases.

    My conclusion then, somebody is a lion.

    1. ‘there’s a good reason that FHA lenders have stopped making loans to the riskiest borrowers: If a homeowner goes into default or forbearance soon after a loan is originated, the lender will have to accept a discount when selling the loan to investors’

      LOLZ. No investor is going to buy a loan that is already in default. That seriously cracked me up.

      1. Up until recently, no landlord would allow tenants to stay for free, but due to government mandate, here we are. Who knows what wonders the future holds?

  8. ‘We’ve got to get vacancies up,’ said Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. ‘What is happening in San Francisco right now or downtown L.A. shows what vacancies do. You have these places being vacated and you have rents falling very rapidly’

    That’s the spirit!

  9. Here’s an example of some genuine dumb-assed thinking …

    “FHA lenders loosened their lending requirements in 2018 and 2019, perhaps because memories of the last financial crisis had faded.

    Those who do not learn from history … oh, never mind.

    “‘If you have a period where the economy is doing very well, risky mortgages don’t look risky because they’re not being stressed,’ says Joseph Tracy, executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.”

    What a dumb sh1t.

    “‘But the risk shows up when the economy goes through a period of stress.’”

    Bahahahahahahaha … what a revelation! And just who is this guy that is making this discovery? An executive vice-president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas?

    Bahahahahahahaha … we are screwed.

    1. FHA started cutting loan standards in late 2014, because the wheels were coming off. Fannie and Freddie too. And they kept at it until the new FHFA guy took over from Mel Watt.

      1. It’s not unlike the FED tripling and quadrupling down on the same failed policies. These hacks are one-trick ponies.

  10. Good blog and nice to read something contrary to what mainstream media and retarded agents keep pushing. I have been wanting to move into a larger place since I take care of my father. Unfortunately, here in northern California, the bay aryan locusts have been fleeing to Sacramento and lower cost areas buying up single family homes. Coupled with low inventory, it makes things difficult for a first time home buyer who is not receiving bay area tech bucks.

  11. Clownifornia can’t keep the electricity on:

    “PG&E posted outage maps Monday to reflect locations around California that may see a deliberate power shutoff as early as Wednesday afternoon with severe fire weather in the forecast.

    The state’s largest utility company is closely monitoring the forecast for dry, offshore winds Wednesday into Thursday and may turn off power to 50,000 customers in 21 counties, including Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama and Yuba.

    The highest probability areas for this forced outage include: the Northern Sierra Nevada foothills; the mid and higher elevations in the Sierra generally north of Yosemite; the North Bay mountains near Mount St. Helena; small pockets in the East Bay near Mount Diablo; the Oakland hills east of Piedmont; the elevated terrain east of Milpitas around the Calaveras Reservoir; and portions of the Santa Cruz and Big Sur mountains.”

    https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/Maps-show-where-PGE-may-turn-off-power-15644099.php

    2. Clownifornia can’t keep the electricity on:

      Newssolini’s got a great idea – force everybody into electric cars that have to plug into the grid everyday.

      1. You’d think that California voters would be in a uproar over the outages and the wrecked state economy, ready to throw the bum out. Even some stalwart supporters, like the Walt Disney Company, are angry with him.

        But just wait. He’ll easily win the primary (The real election) in a landslide.

        Some people just deserve the azz-poundings they get.

        1. California voters would be in a uproar

          There’s a petition to recall. I along with a number of people I know signed it weeks ago.

          1. There’s a petition to recall. I along with a number of people I know signed it weeks ago.

            I seriously doubt it will lead to a recall.

          2. Gray Davis once thought like you, Rip.

            All we need now is some faded action hero to ramp up a run as the replacement. I wonder what Bruce Willis is doing?

          6. I’d rather have Mike Rowe.

            People have been wanting to draft him to run for President for about 8 years now. But his time may already be past since in the last few years he’s gone public with some pretty conservative views. If he ever wanted to be president he should have been more subtle. On an election year like this somebody like him might have been able to pull it off if they played their cards right.

  12. Bloomberg — Airbnb Combats Surge in Party Houses After Covid Shuts Nightclubs, published today:

    “Host Compliance, which gathers data on short-term rental properties in more than 100 cities in the U.S., found a 250% spike in complaints from June to September, compared with the same period last year. Party promoters quickly figured out “they can rent short-term rentals, create one-night nightclubs and make a lot of money from it,” says Ulrik Binzer, chief executive officer of Host Compliance, which helps municipalities navigate home-sharing rules. Selling tickets for house parties on Eventbrite and Instagram is “something we’ve never seen before,” says Binzer, who has worked in the industry for five years.

    Police across the country began fielding calls early in the season about suburban party-goers terrorizing neighborhoods. Complaints included drunk revelers urinating off balconies, setting hillsides alight with fireworks and even spitting at neighbors, claiming they had Covid-19. The Los Angeles Police Department, Hollywood Division, had a 60% increase in radio calls related to party houses this summer compared to last, according to Captain Steven Lurie.

    Airbnb was sued by the Opera Tower condominium in Miami for breaking the city’s short-term rental laws and turning the building into a “de facto, unlicensed hotel.” In a lawsuit, the condo’s association says it’s been forced to hire off-duty police officers to assist with relentless late-night parties. “There have been numerous crimes committed at the property by the transient users, including robberies, assaults and allegations of a rape,” the lawsuit states. Two gunmen exchanged fire inside the building in June, riddling the third floor elevator lobby with bullet holes. The condo’s association didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    Some residents have had enough. “There’s broken bottles, garbage lying around, people coming and going all drunk,” says David Ewing, who is moving out of the building after five years. “This isn’t a residence, it’s a nightclub,” Ewing says. “I can’t even compare when I first moved here to the hell it has descended into during the Covid crisis.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-14/airbnb-combats-surge-in-party-houses-after-covid-shuts-nightclubs?srnd=premium

    1. Bloomberg — Airbnb Combats Surge in Party Houses After Covid Shuts Nightclubs, published today:

      Bullsh!t. They’re collecting the fees and love them.

    2. I wish the gutless media would post some photos of the perps who trashed these airbnbs. I have a funny feeling they share a certain look and its likely to get worse.

  13. I have noticed a large uptick in scam phone calls in the past two months. The latest one is a recording telling me that I will be billed $199 for an unnamed subscription renewal unless I call them back.

    1. New version of COMPUTER THREAT SCAM claims you’ll be charged for subscription you didn’t order
      https://www.wgal.com/article/new-version-of-computer-threat-scam-claims-you-ll-be-charged-for-subscription-you-didn-t-order/26861272

      (snip)

      “How does the scam work?
      Since no one wants a scammer to take their money, many victims targeted by the scam call back to stop the transaction. If you do call, the scammer will pretend to refund your money but only after you allow them to remotely access your computer.”

      1. This guy is hilarious and exacts revenge on those tech scammers often time driving them in to a rage.

        He also shows how they do it. If you know anything about computers you probably wouldn’t fall for their trickery but if you don’t knoq like a Grandma – well watch out!

    2. NBA = National Black A$$holes. These rich fawks stand on their pedestals and try to order the world to cater to their every whim and desire. Oh, and life’s so difficult for them that they decided not to play after what’s his name was killed by the cops. Of course they didn’t take a salary cut for the missed games, or donate it to any worthy cause.

  15. They can’t expect landlords to provide subsidized housing.’”

    They can, and you will. Don’t like it? Start electing libertarian-conservatives instead of corporate statists and collectivists.

  16. “The median monthly rate for a studio in the city tumbled 31% in September from a year earlier to $2,285, compared with a 0.5% decline nationally, according to Realtor.com.

    Is that a lot?

    1. $2,285

      $2,285 for a studio is ludicrous – and that’s after falling over 30%. Somebody needs to earn $90,000 just to afford a studio.

      1. I was paying 2600 for a one bedroom in SF. Hated to pay that, but I was making enough that I could still bank 3-4k a month.

        It’s a whole new ballgame post covid though.

  17. ‘There are three categories — tourists, commercial office workers and residential — that make New York City as diverse as it is.

    You seem to be overlooking the criminal underclass that adds “vibrant cultural enrichment” to the mix.

  18. ‘We call this the bankruptcy bill,’ Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles said of Proposition 21. ‘People are just going to get out of the business — they are already getting out of the business.’”

    Buh-bye, speculators. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

  19. A lot of these firms that bought these places up during the boom are now panicking because they aren’t getting the desired return on investment.

    Die, speculator scum.

  20. “But there’s another wave of vacancies on the horizon as well.

    Wha? – More cratering ahead?!! B…b…but “V-shaped recovery!”

  22. “The San Francisco resident saw her income of $6,000 a month as an event planner evaporate when COVID-19 hit. Supplemental aid from the federal government and the city helped her pay her monthly rent of $2,400 through September. But all that has dried up, except for the unemployment checks that total less than $2,000 a month.”

    Single mom making $6k in SF? She living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic. Time to look for the rich, techie husband or wife

    1. She probably had side gigs too. I knew a lady in similar circumstances that had an office job, did uber, under the table catering, and whatever else she could get going. With that and a little child support she had a decent, if busy life.

  23. “There aren’t a lot of Republican here,” said San Francisco apartment renovator Joel Rourke to the Globe. “But a lot of business we’ve had since COVID-19 has been people who said they were Republican or implied that they voted that way. Five years ago, it was all Democrats who were calling me. But many of them have been leaving. And the people who have been staying are generally wealthier and more Republican. A lot of real estate agents and apartment owners I work with mentioned this too.

    “I mean, the city is still very much Democratic. But wouldn’t it be wild if the city starts to go the other way?”

    What does politics got anything to do with the 31% drop? It’s a bubble idiot!

    2. Falling prices may seem good for consumers, but they won’t be appealing if they translate into lower revenues for businesses and lower incomes for workers and investors.

      1. I accidentally hit “post comment” before I was done. That was a quote that was supposed to be italicized. I wanted to bold the “lower incomes for workers” bullsh!t.

  28. “Our neighbors in D.C. blew past all-time highs over the last 10+ years with 969 condos listed for sale, well above the record set this past July (863). Three of the four months with 750+ condo listings in D.C. have taken place in the last three months. You have to go back to June 2011 for a month with more active condo inventory in D.C.”

    Investors are dumping inventory in D.C., the land where some posters used to claim that prices and rents always go up.

    1. I’ve been wrong about almost everything so I am far from an expert, but wouldn’t government jobs shrink during the 2nd coming of the Great Depression? I wouldn’t want to own a shack there at such time.

      1. Fedgov jobs, likely not. They’ll cut their contractors and do work in-house before cutting fedgov employees. As for total jobs doing fedgov work, also likely not. The tasks government does don’t really depend on change with the business cycle.

        1. don’t really depend on change

          There is no such thing as a natural stop on FedGov employees and their pay. Changes will come that many think are unimaginable. This isn’t your business cycle. It’s a gargantuan credit event.

  29. Off topic, Facebook and Twitter are censoring the New York Post expose of Hunter Biden as a crackhead selling his family name’s influence.

    This isn’t a “youthful indiscretion” he’s in his 40s smoking crack and banging hookers.

    1. This isn’t a “youthful indiscretion” he’s in his 40s smoking crack and banging hookers.

      The guy looks like a crackhead.

    2. selling his family name’s influence

      Use what you’ve got! Now add, Clinton, Pelosi, Kerry and Romney.

  30. “‘We’ve got to get vacancies up,’ said Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

    Just wait until the eviction moratoria expire. Vacancies out the wazoo.

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