thehousingbubble@gmail.com
Blog

It’s A Common Conversation

A report from WTOP. “Bright MLS reports new listings of condos and co-ops in the D.C. metro in October were up 49.2% from a year ago, a 10-year high for the second month straight. That does not mean there is a glut of condos and co-ops languishing on the market.”

The Washington Post. “Anybody with even the flimsiest grasp on the concept of supply and demand could tell you what was coming: All over the city, a glut of rentals are sitting pretty and empty, their stainless-steel appliances gleaming for no one. D.C. luxury rentals, which make up about 89 percent of the city’s offerings, have taken a major hit, according to data from Delta Associates, a Mid-Atlantic commercial real estate research firm: From September 2019 to September 2020, the rate of stabilized vacancies — apartments that should be occupied but aren’t — went from 4.4 to 7.8 percent.”

“Rentals aren’t moving and rents are falling. According to Delta, the three submarkets in which Class A rents have fallen the most during the pandemic are the area that includes Dupont Circle, downtown, Mount Vernon Triangle and a bit of Foggy Bottom and Logan Circle, which saw rents fall 12.7 percent since September 2019; Capitol Hill and the Southwest Riverfront, where rents dropped 12 percent; and upper Georgia Avenue, where rents are down by 11.7 percent. Overall, D.C. rents for high-rise luxury units decreased by 10.7 percent from September 2019 to September 2020.”

“Philippe Lanier is a principal at EastBanc, whose real estate development branch is behind a handful of luxury D.C. buildings. The Residences at Eastern Market, where, Lanier says, ‘we put in a lot of three-bedrooms’ that they’re having trouble filling. He says that other unit classes are 85 to 90 percent occupied, but the large apartments are ‘where we’re feeling the vacancies.'”

From Curbed New York. “Year-over-year rents in October for a studio in Manhattan are down a record 21.6 percent when you factor in concessions, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel. For one bedrooms, the drop is a record 19.1 percent, and two bedrooms are down a record 12.5 percent. Landlords gave concessions — a rent drop, a free month’s rent, etc. — on a whopping 60.4 percent of new Manhattan leases, up from 36.9 percent a year ago.”

“The free-falling rents have caught the attention of tenants, as leasing activity in Manhattan was up by a third in October. (Similar, albeit less dramatic, trends are taking place in Brooklyn as well.) Things have not been this good for renters in Manhattan since the financial crisis in 2008 — and the decline shows no signs of stopping.”

From Mansion Global on New York. “The seller of a penthouse on Billionaires’ Row, home to some of Manhattan’s most outrageously luxurious and pricey properties, is trying a new tactic in a slow market: He is putting his unit on the auction block next month. The auction is slated to take place online in December. There is no reserve price, although the seller can back out 72 hours before the auction if he is dissatisfied with the initial interest levels and the pre-bidding.”

“Chad Roffers, chairman of Concierge, said his company is seeing more sellers look to the auction market in New York amid an oversupply of inventory at high-end price points in Manhattan. He said he believes auctions are a good option when the market is ‘inefficient’ and when sellers and buyers are at odds over values. Luxury home sales in Manhattan were down by almost 47% in the third quarter of 2020, according to a report by Douglas Elliman.”

The Commercial Observer. “The Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue department store at 9600 Wilshire Boulevard is set to be sold at foreclosure, Commercial Observer has learned. Wilmington Trust filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the property owners — a joint venture of Hudson’s Bay, which is Saks Fifth’s parent company, and Simon Property Group — for missed mortgage payments. Marketing materials obtained by CO show Wilmington tapped Eastdil Secured to solicit offers for the asset.”

“In a statement sent to CO, a spokesperson for the joint venture (HBS) said ‘this simply a next step by the lenders to exert pressure on (the owner of the properties).’ ‘HBS is disappointed that in the context of a global health crisis the lenders would choose litigation over cooperation,’ the statement read. ‘With that said, HBS remains committed to resolving issues with the lenders in an amicable way.'”

“Many CMBS loans have been in hot water due to the struggles over coronavirus shutdowns. About seven percent of the CMBS world — good for more than $40 billion in outstanding debt — was transferred to special servicing in the first half of this year.”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “Truckee resident Scott Ehlert was plotting a return to San Francisco, scouring the internet for spacious live-work lofts on Potrero Hill and in Dogpatch, places that would have been out of his price range were it not for the mass exodus of people whose jobs dried up because of the pandemic. Suddenly, lofts that were listed for $5,000 a month before the coronavirus hit were going for $3,200 or $3,500 and rents were continuing to tumble.”

“Ehlert has become increasingly optimistic. Every time he checks real estate listings rents are lower. ‘We left San Francisco in 2009 and we have been chasing that urban, walkable feel ever since,’ said Ehlert. ‘Everything is negotiable in San Francisco right now.'”

“Meanwhile the city’s workforce seems likely to shrink. Data from the jobs site Indeed.com found postings in San Francisco dropped by 38.5% from last year, more than New York City, which decreased 36.4%. From April to June, the city’s sales tax revenue dropped to $30.8 million, down 43% from the previous year, according to the city. Restaurant and bar sales were down 65% as indoor dining was prohibited, while food and drug store sales were down 8%.”

From CBS Boston in Massachusetts. “Former Harvard fencing coach Peter Brand and a wealthy Maryland businessman were arrested Monday on accusations that Brand accepted $1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping the businessman get his two sons into Harvard. Federal prosecutors said Brand, 67, conspired with Jie Zhao, 61, a Maryland businessman, to get Zhao’s two sons into Harvard by recruiting them to join the fencing team in exchange for money.”

“Back in 2016, Brand sold his home in Needham for almost twice what a tax document said it was worth. Zhao bought Brand’s home for $989,500, according to the deed. Questions about the relationship between Brand and Zhao first surfaced last year when The Globe reported on the sale of Brand’s home. Zhao never lived in the house and sold it for a steep loss 17 months later, the newspaper reported.”

From CBS Denver in Colorado. “Michael Scott Leslie, 57, of Boulder, was sentenced earlier this month to five years in federal prison for engineering a scheme that bilked a single bank out of nearly $32 million in fake residential mortgage loans. Leslie, according to documents in the plea agreement with federal prosecutors, sold 144 fake loans valued at $31,908,806.88 to an FDIC-insured bank in Texas over the course of two years starting in October 2015.”

“Leslie ‘closed’ the fake mortgages using the names of real people obtained by his brokerage, Montage Mortgage. Some of those names were those of clients involved in legitimate business dealings with Montage. Others belonged to people who had asked Leslie’s company to check their credit score in hopes of potential refinancing. According to case documents, Leslie forged their signatures.”

“Prosecutors said the Leslie’s alleged real estate transactions never legally occurred – they were no closings, no liens were ever recorded, and no filings were made in the respective counties in which the properties were located. They described the complex flow of money as ‘Ponzi-like.'”

From Now Toronto in Canada. “The Toronto real estate market may finally cool following month-after-month of unseasonably frantic behaviour. Toronto area realtors Meray Mansour and Odeen Eccleston feel that now is a good time to start looking for real estate deals. Toronto prices continued to rise through October despite the pandemic, which is an indication of the demand. But after months and months of hustling between realtors, buyers and sellers, they say exhaustion is setting in.”

“‘People are getting what I might call a little bit of Toronto real estate fatigue,’ says Eccleston, explaining that it’s a good time for buyers to get a deal from sellers who want to offload remaining listings. ‘It’s more difficult to put deals together because of the collective anxiety,’ explains Mansour, who says she’s working 10 times harder because pandemic fatigue is taking its toll on transactions.”

“‘There are announcements every week from the government telling us numbers are up, numbers are down, we’re locking down, we’re opening up,’ says Mansour, adding the emotional toll COVID-19 is taking on people affects real estate decisions. Nowadays, realtors feel more like therapists. ‘The levels of anxiety are high. People are drinking a lot more. We don’t have the normal things that we do every day, like going to the gym or being with friends and family. There’s a lot more isolation. All that stuff affects us psychologically. And most people are not even aware of that. It’s kind of like this underlying factor.'”

“‘Sometimes when people are anxious, they make bad decisions,’ she adds. ‘I’ve had to really put on my therapist hat and be like, ‘OK, is this something you really need to do or is this something you’re doing because of your anxiety?'”

From Yahoo Canada. “The lowest housing inventory in Fort McMurray in 13 years is a sign the market is stabilizing and that the plummeting home values of the last decade may be coming to an end, realtors say. ‘Homeowners have suffered greatly,’ says Tom Albrecht, a realtor with RE/MAX First in Fort McMurray and Calgary. ‘People either can’t or won’t sell.'”

“For many people the value of their home is less than their mortgage, forcing potential sellers to keep their property off the market, he said. Others are holding off on selling, because they’re optimistic that prices will go back up. Albrecht said he has a list of a few hundred people who looked into selling their homes in the last six years, who wanted to sell their homes but changed their minds after an evaluation. ‘The big picture story is that we had high sales [in 2014] and now we have low sales. It has not recovered.'”

“Katherine Barbour bought a three-bedroom home in 2014 for $610,000. Her most recent valuation was $433,000. ‘It feels like sick to your stomach,’ Barbour said. At some point she would like to get a bigger home to make room for her growing family, but she would need the market to turn around, she said. ‘We may very well be here for 10 more years, because we can’t afford to sell.'”

“Barbour and her husband also own a mobile home, which they’ve tried selling on three occasions, but weren’t able to without losing money. Melanie Galea, real estate agent with Re/Max, has also spoken to many clients who can’t afford to sell because their home valuation is so low. ‘It’s a common conversation,’ Galea said. But ‘there’s no trying in this market. Buyers are not overpaying.'”

“In 2014 the average single-family home sold for $737,000. In 2020, the average home is selling for $501,000. Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Alberta Real Estate Association, said the low inventory is good news for Fort McMurray’s struggling housing market. ‘That’s going to support some at least modest improvement for prices if that continues,’ Lurie said. ‘This market has struggled with too much supply relative to the demand for quite some time.'”

Related Posts
This Post Has 148 Comments

  1. The Mechanics Behind the Electronic Vote Steal Operation

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/OJrljwQFcIvc/

    https://twitter.com/tom2badcat/status/1325126091460268032

    https://archive.vn/KPwUa

    Michigan @ 45:20. And on. 5 out of 5 states.

    Another poster added:

    ‘At 31:30 in the video, he explains how Trump was comfortably ahead in all the 5 key battleground states, and suddenly all 5, AT THE SAME TIME, quit counting and went offline for 3 hours.’

    ‘Then when they came back, suddenly there were massive numbers of found votes and were all for one candidate and one candidate only (Biden). Statistically impossible.’

    Lots of info and links here:

    https://everylegalvote.com/country

    https://hereistheevidence.com/

    1. Smartmatic CEO apologizing in the 2017 Venezuela Election for 1 million vote switch

      https://www.bitchute.com/video/e2Fxswdf1SsG/

      ‘In an interview with the Fox Business Channel, Giuliani, in his capacity as lawyer of reelectionist US President Donald Trump, claimed that the Smartmatic vote-counting machines were “hackable.”

      ‘He said Dominion, the company that provided the automated vote-counting system used during the most recent presidential election, was owned by Smartmatic through an intermediary company referred to as Indra.’

      ‘He claimed that the Smartmatic vote-counting machine was basically developed and designed to commit fraud in the process of vote-counting, particularly for the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.’

      ‘He claimed that Smartmatic had been behind the electoral frauds in many countries, without actually mentioning the Philippines, which has been using its system for over a decade.’

      ‘Giuliani also hinted about the origins of the Dominion- Voting System and the company’s alleged connection with Smartmatic, one of the most questioned automated voting companies, primarily because of the affiliation of the people behind the company to Chávez.’

      ‘He accused Smartmatic of manipulating the recent US presidential election in key US states, adding that its Dominion Voting System was using machines designed to allow human intervention.’

      ‘He said Smartmatic was founded by three Venezuelans who were very close to the dictator Hugo Chávez back in 2003, adding that the company was formed to fix elections. “That’s the company that owns Dominion. Dominion is a Canadian company, but all its software is from Smartmatic,” Giuliani was quoted during the interview.’

      https://manilastandard.net/news/national/339587/smartmatic-poll-machines-come-into-question.html

      1. ‘Trump campaign lawyer and former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell released an affidavit on Nov. 16, from an alleged whistleblower who claims to have witnessed how election software secretly manipulates votes without leaving a trace.’

        ‘The whistleblower—who says his or her background is with the Venezuelan military, including the national security guard detail of the Venezuelan president—outlines an alleged conspiracy between Smartmatic software executives, former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and that country’s election officials, to ensure Chavez won reelections and retained power for years. The whistleblower said he was present at multiple meetings.’

        “I was witness to the creation and operation of a sophisticated electronic voting system that permitted the leaders of the Venezuelan government to manipulate the tabulation of votes for national and local elections and select the winner of those elections in order to gain and maintain their power,” the affidavit states.’

        “From that point on, Chavez never lost any election. In fact, he was able to ensure wins for himself, his party, Congress persons and mayors from townships.”

        ‘The whistleblower claimed the “software and fundamental design of the electronic electoral system and software of Dominion and other election tabulating companies relies upon software that is a descendant of the Smartmatic Electoral Management System.”

        “In short, the Smartmatic software is in the DNA of every vote tabulating company’s software and system, “the whistleblower said.’

        ‘The affidavit alleges that Dominion is one of three major companies that tabulates votes in the United States. Powell said in a Nov. 15 interview, “We’re getting ready to overturn election results in multiple states.” She claimed that the U.S. election software switched “millions of votes” from Trump to Biden.’

        https://www.theepochtimes.com/whistleblowers-reveal-how-software-manipulates-votes-to-change-election-results_3581769.html

        1. ‘Charlie is joined by Lt. General Thomas McInerney to detail the shocking allegations surrounding Hammer and Scorecard, weaponized digital tools that allegedly allow our intelligence agencies to alter election results, including those in the United States. Are these tools actually real? Were they deployed in this most recent election? Can we know who is behind these treasonous acts if they did in fact occur?’

          ‘In what might be one of the most important interviews ever conducted on the show, Gen. McInerney lays out an election fraud scheme in extensive detail on a scale never before experienced in America or the world.’

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti3gNXz2F8w

          Watch it before it gets taken down.

          1. “before it gets taken down”

            Taken down by who? And why?

            I’m so sick of Clown World. It’s like being trapped inside the funhouse mirror room of infinite lies.

          2. Looking more and more like FBI anon was telling the truth 4+ years ago and that if the truth – everything – came out there would be war everywhere. The deep state likely manipulated elections worldwide in addition to their drug and human trafficking and who knows what else.

            https://radiopatriot.net/2019/08/04/fbi-anon-part-1/

            Google scrubbed any links to it, instead linking shill written fake news articles about the dangers of qanon. The shylocks must be really busy writing all this fake news, whether it’s about the covid, Trump or even real estate. 1984 is their training manual

          3. Evidently the 3-star general’s warning didn’t get any traction, or else Congress or the States would have disallowed the voting machines. So why would there be any traction now?

            And is there even time for full recounts?

          4. Let’s just hand count all the ballots.

            How do you hand count legal ballots that were destroyed or discarded?

          5. How do you hand count legal ballots that were destroyed or discarded?

            You can’t, which I have pointed out before. However, a hand count eliminates the fraudulent software issue.

          7. Correction: more than one government official.

            Lin Wood has GA’s governor and secretary of state in his crosshairs.

          8. which I have pointed out before

            I lost the broader context of your statement amid oxide’s obsession with futile recounts for the very reason in my question.

          13. OK, so IIUC, we have evidence and reports of manufactured paper ballots, dead people voting, people voting twice, ballots sent indiscriminately, judicial systems extending deadlines instead of the legislature, addresses and signatures being forged, and election observers being shut out. That’s enough to invalidate any kind of hand paper recount.

            Then on top of that we have electronic voting systems which can lose votes and switch votes and be operated from foreign countries with a thumb driver or over the internet. Now we have evidence of salesman basically selling these voting systems using the pitch of “You buy this hundred-million-dollar voting system and we’ll give goodies to your family AND make sure that our voting system keeps re-elects you.” Meanwhile, the press is setting up screens and picks to keep the public out.

            I am not disputing this. What concerns me is that the courts will just throw up their hands and say it’s all one giant crock of BS, and let the Biden win stand. Or, more likely, the court will just say Powell et. al. have run out of time and they have to let the Biden win stand.

            But if the courts and the states believe enough of this that they declare states unable to certify and this goes to the legislatures and Trump retains office, there really IS going to be a war.

          14. warning didn’t get any traction, or else Congress
            Congress??!!! Congress abdicated its proper role – passing and repealing laws – many years ago. Members are only interesting in getting re-elected and in enriching themselves.

          15. there really IS going to be a war

            For following the law?!?!?! We vote for our state representatives so you can’t say the will of the people wasn’t represented in the presidential election.

          16. For following the law?!?!?! We vote for our state representatives so you can’t say the will of the people wasn’t represented in the presidential election.

            So far the left has tried to start a war while their elected representatives look the other way and the right waits to avoid acting prematurely and ending up in prison. If Trump ends up winning this and the antifa types push too far to where civilians are allowed to defend themselves without risking going to prison, order will be re-established very quickly.

          17. there really IS going to be a war
            “For following the law?!?!?! We vote for our state representatives” and those reps as a group have devolved into worthless leeches and drones.
            The “rule of law” has been in abeyance in the USA for so long that the electorate would be very confused should it somehow start up again. I suppose a civil war could start that way.
            AFAICT there is no constitutional requirement for a state’s members of the Electoral College to be elected by the state’s popular vote, only that the state legislature picks that state’s “electors” who then actually vote for the next President and Vice President. It has only a custom for the winner of the state’s popular vote to have all the state’s electoral votes cast for that winner. Even that is no longer true for all states, Maine & Nebraska being the exceptions.

          18. We vote for our state representatives… … you’re saying this in the middle of a discussion about state officials a buying voting software to rig elections? How do we know our state representatives are our state representatives?

            Is every governing official in every state now suspect? What about other world leaders in every other country? IIRC, some evidence says that the rigging was done other countries. It’s no secret that Trump is not popular with world leaders. What if Trump ultimately wins this election and there’s a massive investigation which implicates certain world leaders? That’s what I mean about a war.

            While I understand what Powell & Giuliani are getting at, it doesn’t mean they will win. Giuliani doesn’t have the greatest reputation, and for all we know Powell is just talking her book like any lawyer. And if there’s potential for hot war, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Supreme Court agrees on a massive cover-up just to keep the peace.

            Right now, the most definitive item I’ve seen is Mike Pompeo pronouncing his transition to a second Trump term. I hope you know something we don’t, Mike.

          19. the electorate would be very confused should it somehow start up again.

            Well said.

            It’s been my impression that we were in a civil war for some years already.

          20. more than an affidavit

            Both Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell have said that they have additional nonpublic information.

          22. Retired Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger might want to start singing.

            I’m hoping to eventually hear the “literal Hitler” defense from a large number of people. As in, “everybody told me he was at least as bad as Hitler, and anyone in this room would break the law to stop Hitler, right?”

          24. state officials a buying voting software to rig elections?

            Likely a governor, lieutenant governor and/or secretary of state. Buying a whole legislature would be costly.

          26. state officials a buying voting software to rig elections?

            Likely a governor, lieutenant governor and/or secretary of state. Buying a whole legislature would be costly.

            True, but it seems like legislatures are similar to controlling markets in stocks or houses. You don’t have to buy them all to get the results you want.

          27. MSM ridicules those who pose a threat. Giuliani hired Comey. He’s been dealing with the swampiest of swamp creatures for DECADES.

          28. You don’t have to buy them all to get the results you want.

            Wouldn’t you have to imagine this scenario to consider that worthwhile?

  2. ‘five years in federal prison for engineering a scheme that bilked a single bank out of nearly $32 million in fake residential mortgage loans. Leslie, according to documents in the plea agreement with federal prosecutors, sold 144 fake loans valued at $31,908,806.88 to an FDIC-insured bank in Texas’

    Eat yer crowz jingle.

  3. ‘Suddenly, lofts that were listed for $5,000 a month before the coronavirus hit were going for $3,200 or $3,500 and rents were continuing to tumble’

    How do those 5% cap rates look now?

  4. ‘Anybody with even the flimsiest grasp on the concept of supply and demand could tell you what was coming: All over the city, a glut of rentals are sitting pretty and empty, their stainless-steel appliances gleaming for no one. D.C. luxury rentals, which make up about 89 percent of the city’s offerings, have taken a major hit’

    Well, the everybody knew thing arrives again!

    The title of that article:

    While construction continues, the D.C. luxury rental market has crashed

    1. “a glut of rentals are sitting pretty and empty, their stainless-steel appliances gleaming for no one”

      Hello, Denver.

      I spent two years building these here and now homelessness is at an all-time high. Thank you, Federal Reserve!

    3. Meanwhile, in the inner shady suburbs of DC, where there are thousands of Cold-War ranches and split-levels:

      3/2 lived-in condition: Lists for $450K, sells for about $400K.
      4/2 full Minimalist Millenial Gray reno with bedroom and bathroom in basement: Lists for $525K, chases market down to about $460K.

    5. “D.C. luxury rentals, which make up about 89 percent of the city’s offerings”

      Staggering admission.

  5. ‘Barbour bought a three-bedroom home in 2014 for $610,000. Her most recent valuation was $433,000. ‘It feels like sick to your stomach,’ Barbour said. At some point she would like to get a bigger home to make room for her growing family, but she would need the market to turn around, she said. ‘We may very well be here for 10 more years, because we can’t afford to sell’

    Well it was cheaper than renting Katherine. But don’t give it away.

    ‘Barbour and her husband also own a mobile home, which they’ve tried selling on three occasions, but weren’t able to without losing money’

    Remember when I would post listings for single-wides up there asking $500,000 Canadian pesos? They’re all fooked now!

    1. its a double whammy.
      1. its real-estate in a pandemic in a single industry town
      2. the o&g business (for relatively expensive production) has just collapsed.

      I feel sorry for the (real workers) that got screwed in buying a family home.
      I of course dont care about the real-estate ‘tycoons’ wanabees that were gambling

  6. ‘In 2014 the average single-family home sold for $737,000. In 2020, the average home is selling for $501,000’

    Before Vancouver, before Toronto, Alberta was the golden child of the housing bubble. How the mighty have fallen.

  7. “Bright MLS reports new listings of condos and co-ops in the D.C. metro in October were up 49.2% from a year ago, a 10-year high for the second month straight. That does not mean there is a glut of condos and co-ops languishing on the market.”

    Wha? How exactly does the REIC shill that wrote this dreck expect me to interpret it in any other way than “there is a glut of condos and co-ops languishing on the market”?

  8. “Anybody with even the flimsiest grasp on the concept of supply and demand could tell you what was coming: All over the city, a glut of rentals are sitting pretty and empty, their stainless-steel appliances gleaming for no one.

    B…b…but all the REIC touts and shills on every financial channel will assure us in unison that no one could’ve seen this coming.

  9. “Year-over-year rents in October for a studio in Manhattan are down a record 21.6 percent when you factor in concessions, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

    Is that a lot?

    1. “Year-over-year rents in October for a studio in Manhattan are down a record 21.6 percent when you factor in concessions, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

      And still grotesquely overpriced.

      1. true but when you factor in so people never drove in their lifetime or since their 20’s a couple hundred a month saved on car expenses/ garage can got to the rent.

  10. Things have not been this good for renters in Manhattan since the financial crisis in 2008 — and the decline shows no signs of stopping.”

    Renters are going to have ringside seats as the Fed’s Ponzi markets and asset bubbles implode under the weight of their own fraud, debt, and fictitious valuations.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC6Z_kdQoHw

  11. From April to June, the city’s sales tax revenue dropped to $30.8 million, down 43% from the previous year, according to the city.

    Oh dear. Guess San Francisco’s Bolshevik “leadership” is going to have to soak homeowners to make up the shortfall, since they’re certainly not going to cut their bloated bureaucracy or entitlements to Democrat dependency voters.

      1. Prop 15 Lost the one that revalued commercial property to present day valuations. Lots of liberal propositions lost this time in CA. Newsome’s going to need some of those Venezuela voting machines its for the children after all.

    2. $31M is a drop in the ocean for San Fran. I cannot see why the property taxes are higher than expected with lower than expected commercial real estate and condo prices falling. What am i missing

      “The two-year general fund budget is about $6 billion per year.”

      “In a report issued Tuesday by city Controller Ben Rosenfield, revenue is forecast to be $144 million less than expected in the adopted budget for the year that began in July, largely due to drops in business and hotel taxes. Still, higher than expected property tax collections are softening the blow and boosting reserves by $21 million.

      “The city already raided reserves to help plug a $1.5 billion deficit over the next two years due to the pandemic. Rosenfield’s update comes a week after city voters approved new business taxes and changes, which will add a net $11 million to the budget.”

  12. “Former Harvard fencing coach Peter Brand and a wealthy Maryland businessman were arrested Monday on accusations that Brand accepted $1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping the businessman get his two sons into Harvard.

    I am shocked, shocked! to discover such endemic corruption at the Ivy League schools that educate our sociopathic future elites.

    2. I am shocked, shocked! to discover such endemic corruption at the Ivy League schools that educate our sociopathic future elites.”

      🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  13. “‘Sometimes when people are anxious, they make bad decisions,’ she adds. ‘I’ve had to really put on my therapist hat and be like, ‘OK, is this something you really need to do or is this something you’re doing because of your anxiety?’”

    If there’s anything worse than Suzanne’s “research,” it’s her idea of “therapy.”

      1. Horrible, horrible ad. Note that the caption for the video reads “The Nastiest Wife on Television.”

        I’ve also seen that ad on YouTube captioned with “Emasculated Mouse Man Henpecked by Hags” or something similar.

        2. I do not understand why any young man would get married these days. The entire deck is stacked against him. With the advent of #metoo and all the associated garbage, it’s a wonder they even want to fool around with women.

          On another note, I’ve heard that young women are quite the hussies these days, and they give it away easily and frequently. That’s even more reason not to get married. Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?

          1. I haven’t lived with a woman in over a decade.

            I like the silence, solitude, and staying rich.

            Social media has poisoned Western women, permanently.

          2. I haven’t lived with a woman in over a decade.

            Well, I can’t say the same, but I think I learned my lesson after the last freeloader.

          3. I do not understand why any young man would get married these days. Socrates said it best: Every man should marry. If it works out, he’ll be happy. If it doesn’t work out, he’ll become a philosopher.

          1. Far less so than being brutalized financially for the remainder of your life.

            She’d recover in a few weeks. Paying a grossly inflated price for a rapidly depreciating asset like a house and then doubling down on those losses follow you to the grave.

  14. Homeowners have suffered greatly,’ says Tom Albrecht, a realtor with RE/MAX First in Fort McMurray and Calgary. ‘People either can’t or won’t sell.’”

    They can certainly walk away from their underwater shacks, Tom. And they will, in their millions in Canada and the U.S.

  16. ‘It’s a common conversation,’ Galea said. But ‘there’s no trying in this market. Buyers are not overpaying.’”

    From Star Wars:

    Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try.

    Yoda: No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.

    1. Bad Apple, bad.

      Joe Rogan was talking about the Light Phone a few months ago:

      “Light was born as an alternative to the tech monopolies that are fighting more and more aggressively for our time & attention. Light creates tools that respect you. Objects that empower you to be your best self. Technology intentionally designed to be used as little as possible. Things that serve, not enslave you.”

      https://www.thelightphone.com/about-us

      1. Trying to find a non-Google and non-Apple alternative that still has the features I need but does not sell your data only confirms the old adage of “if the product is free, you are the product.”

        The Librem 5 phone is priced at $1,999 for U.S. customers. The Light Phone II is $350 and doesn’t have some of the features I want. I’ve never paid more that $150 for a phone before.

        1. I’ve never paid more that $150 for a phone before.

          I paid, I think, $699 cash for my Samsung Galaxy S5. It will be 7 years old in 4 months, and I have no plans to replace it. The battery still works as new. I use it as a hotspot every day.

          I have no reason to upgrade. When I do, I believe it will be an inferior product as now they don’t allow for a battery change and therefore probably make sure the battery only lasts a few years so they can sell you another phone. And they are pushing $1,000+.

          The more expensive something is, the longer I keep it to justify the expense. At $700, this phone has cost me less than $9 per month to own (not including the service and the 2 screen protectors and 1 case). I’m ok with that. What I’m not ok with is the spying.

          2. I paid two S20’s for $800. There’s no need to pay more than $400 for a phone.

            It’s not up to you to decide what is right for myself or anybody to pay for anything. That’s a libtard mindset, where they think they can decide what’s right and wrong for everybody. I don’t want anybody telling me how to spend my hard-earned money.

    2. “More on the globalists’ creepy Orwellian tech companies and their unauthorized spying and surveillance against anyone who uses their products or services.”

      – So, pray tell, what, exactly are our duly elected representatives doing all day if not protect our Constitutional rights? (rhetorical, and yes, sarcasm intended). They seem preoccupied with self-enrichment at the moment as well as getting reelected for the same purpose. I’m also still waiting for some serious Sherman anti-trust act charges to come forth against these very seedy tech firms. (Crickets). Bueller? Anyone? Hello?

      – See, all of this BS going on right now could be stopped pretty quickly if a) there were actual consequences, b) the rule of law was applied equally to all, c) Congress actually did their job that we elected them to do, instead of focusing on themselves and how much $ they can scam from the system at our expense. I’m not feeling very represented. “Taxation without representation” comes to mind. Tar and feathers would be too good for most of them. Just saying…

      https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment

      Fourth Amendment
      “The Fourth Amendment originally enforced the notion that “each man’s home is his castle”, secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by the government. It protects against arbitrary arrests, and is the basis of the law regarding search warrants, stop-and-frisk, safety inspections, wiretaps, and other forms of surveillance, as well as being central to many other criminal law topics and to privacy law.“

      Amendment IV
      “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

  20. “Toronto area realtors Meray Mansour and Odeen Eccleston feel that now is a good time to start looking for real estate deals.”

    Now is the best time to buy!

  21. “Katherine Barbour bought a three-bedroom home in 2014 for $610,000. Her most recent valuation was $433,000. ‘It feels like sick to your stomach,’

    Don’t feel bad Kat. Tens of millions of other DebtDonkeys who bought a house in the last 15 years are right there with you.

    Now eet your CraterTaters…… eeeet!

    1. Don’t feel bad Kat. Tens of millions of other DebtDonkeys who bought a house in the last 15 years are right there with you.

      Somebody who bought 15 years ago should already have it paid off.

      1. paid off

        When someone “buys” at 6, 8, or 10 times their income, it’s never going to get paid off. Never. It’s get rich quick and cash out or go bust.

    1. I just saw a headline where Ray Dalio said on Twitter that he “might be missing something about Bitcoin.” This is entirely due to the fact that the price has, once again, gone parabolic. If it was down in the dumps again, we would not be hearing anything, but in today’s age of rapacious greed and hyperinflating asset prices, anything is justified by its rising price. Fundamentals do not matter. So, it’s time for everybody to jump on the Sh!tcoin bandwagon, because, you know, just because….

      1. Does Dalio mean that he should have bought Bitcoin, or he already bought it and shouldn’t have? I thought Dalio was pro-bitcoin.

        Meanwhile Raoul Pal … … I’ve been watching Raoul at Real Vision for about 18 months, and I’ve never seen him so enamored of anything as he is for bitcoin. He has a three-pronged justification for going all-in:
        1. hard limit of 21 million Bitcoin
        2. Financial reset based on crypto
        3. “All the cool kids are buying bitcoin,” as if the powers that be HAVE TO pay attention to bitcoin now.

        I’m not confident on any of those three.

        1. the powers that be

          If the Powers want a digital currency, do you think they’ll give you anything of value for the one you made up?

          LOL.

    1. And that dangerous cladding is still covering 249 housing blocks in the UK (according to the Guardian – other sources say up to 2,000 buildings still have the cladding.) At the current rate removing it will take until 2929.

      https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/08/post-grenfell-cladding-work-could-take-until-2029-at-current-rate-says-labour

      Go Green for Grenfell every year is a lovely protest & commemoration:
      https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/14/grenfell-anniversary-when-was-fire-what-go-green-grenfell-12850009/

  25. The lies, omissions, and distortions of the MSM spinmeisters tell their own kind of truth, much like Pravda articles in the twilight era of the USSR, when the masses saw right through the BS they were being fed.

    Nets Spin Brutal Attacks on Trump Supporters: ‘Relatively,’ ‘Largely’ Peaceful’

    https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2020/11/16/nets-spin-brutal-attacks-trump-supporters-relatively-largely

    Rather than focus on the brutal attacks on Trump supporters in Washington D.C. over the weekend (including sucker punches and the harassment of the elderly), the partisan hacks at the network morning shows instead spun them as “relatively,” “mostly peaceful.”

    On the Today show, Geoff Bennett blamed Trump fans: “Violent clashes in the nation’s capital over the election results. Trump supporters rejecting the outcome of the race, echoing the President’s false claims of fraud.”

  28. “In 2014 the average single-family home sold for $737,000. In 2020, the average home is selling for $501,000. Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Alberta Real Estate Association, said the low inventory is good news for Fort McMurray’s struggling housing market. ‘That’s going to support some at least modest improvement for prices if that continues,’ Lurie said. ‘This market has struggled with too much supply relative to the demand for quite some time.’”

    A, now is the right time to buy Anne-Marie?

    1. 700 Grand for a shack on the Canadian Prairie, a place which has below freezing temps every month of the year. A place that makes Denver look tropical by comparison. How will its inhabitants heat their homes after the Davos crowds succeeds in banning fossil fuels in North America?

  29. Matt Bracken (who often publishes on Western Rifle Shooters) shared this yesterday, it is a six part series published in 2019:

    “I discovered this series titled “What the Progressive Socialist Liberals Have in Store for Conservatives” only yesterday, and I read all six parts in a row non-stop. This is a masters-degree-level course on the history and lessons of government-sponsored genocide. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Some of the many embedded images are gut-wrenching, but this lecture series does not hold back any punches.”

    https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/11/what-the-progressive-socialist-liberals-have-in-store-for-conservatives-a-master-course-in-government-sponsored-genocide/

    1. +1. Matt Bracken published a bestseller 15 years ago, “Enemies Foreign and Domestic” that has turned out to be extremely prophetic.

      I’ll give the Marxists credit: they’ve been open and specific about their plans and agenda for overthrowing the last vestiges of heritage America, liquidating the kulaks, expropriating their wealth and property, and what they intend to install in its stead. Once they’ve purged the last of the elderly white corporate Democrats from Capital Hill via the Free Sh*t Army voters, the transformation of the Democrat Party into the Bolshevik Party will be complete in all but name.

    2. Hadn’t seen that before. Read all the sections…started strong but then got really repetitive. Condenses down to “the same thing happens every time the marxists take over, stay away from cities when things get dicey, and never give up your guns”. Oh yeah…and don’t be fooled by the SJW clown show so far, when they get serious they will be better equipped than you thanks to donations from their sponsors. Which is probably a good thing to think about, it hadn’t occurred to me before.

  31. When can we expect the Trump Data Dump? All the democommunists and half the GOP are going to head for the hills, never to be seen again once it happens.

      2. Is there enough time to flip states for Trump? There clearly isn’t time to conduct full investigations on any of this.

        1. Is there enough time to flip states for Trump?

          I don’t think that’s the kind of flipping she’s talking about…

  33. Whoa, lots of postings today. Thought everyone would be goners thanks to the ‘rona – MSM says its killin’ peeps like no tomorrow. Just read theres soooo many cases in some cities they cant count them all, but for some reason they can count the # of people who voted thats 5 or more orders of magnitude larger and they know, absolutely without a doubt, that orange man lost.

    Brought to you by the same people that drive/walk alone with a mask on. College edumacated, no doubt.

    1. “the same people that drive/walk alone with a mask on”

      Welcome to Denver. The Branch Covidians are out in force here.

  34. I talked to my brother in the Boston area yesterday. His home mostly burned up October 2019 & he too late learned his fire insurance didn’t cover as much of the repairs as he thought. In addition ownership of the house is fractionated, with a trust dividing ownership of the house between him, his wife and her sister — an extremely poor setup in his particular case. Now he realizes he should have sold the lot and the wreckage outright & divided the proceeds among trust members, since his rental expenses and personal aggravation have been pretty bad over the past year. Now he plans to sell the restored property as soon as he gets an occupancy permit. For decades he has been making his living restoring old houses in that area, and he can do a very good job on the finishing touches. I hope he can get out from under this burden.

  35. Bloomberg — America’s Zombie Companies Have Racked Up $1.4 Trillion of Debt (11/17/2020):

    “Almost 200 corporations have joined the ranks of so-called zombie firms since the onset of the pandemic, according to a Bloomberg analysis of financial data from 3,000 of the country’s largest publicly-traded companies. In fact, zombies now account for nearly 20% of those firms. Even more stark, they’ve added almost $1 trillion of debt to their balance sheets in the span, bringing total obligations to $1.36 trillion. That’s more than double the roughly $500 billion zombie companies owed at the peak of the financial crisis.

    The consequences for America’s economic recovery are profound. The Federal Reserve’s effort to stave off a rash of bankruptcies by purchasing corporate bonds might very well have prevented another depression. But in helping hundreds of ailing companies gain virtually unfettered access to credit markets, policy makers may inadvertently be directing the flow of capital to unproductive firms, depressing employment and growth for years to come, according to economists.”

    https://archive.fo/1YxNs

    1. That’s almost the same amount of debt racked up by zombie students. No wonder we were living the good life.

    1. A bit down on that link:

      It’s Tuesday

      !⃝ 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱

      1. On second thought… That Twitter thread is full of other statements that the Republican legislature will still either certify Wayne County, or select Biden electors anyway. So I’m not sure what’s going on here.

        1. And on third thought, the word now is that failing to certify Wayne County is disenfranchising Black voters. Awesome.

        2. other statements

          It’s Twitter. I wouldn’t give much credence to responses. Plenty of idiots and trolls.

    3. Ain’t gonna happen. ($ad)

      (Bee.ute.tea.full day golfing🏌️⛳ maskless & rambling barefoot 👣 on thee beach sands.)

      Most of the elderly woman👵 & men 👴 had masks 😷on, reckon they was “Hoax”.deeth.virus 👾 worried it might affect their near.term “long.term” relationship with children & grand.children … or having to “suddenly” knot be any longer & “forever.more” able to enjoy their life’$.long $avings.

      (You might say they were being very “CoN$ervative!”)

  37. This is a Real Journalists bedwetting article.

    Huffington Post — The Historic Number Of GOP Women Elected To Congress Has Left Some Feminists Torn (11/17/2020):

    “For feminists, women winning office isn’t a victory on its own. Those women need to back policies that help other women, too.

    “It is important to elect more women ― on face value, I agree with that. But I think the reason it’s important is because of women’s lived experiences,” said Amanda Litman, co-founder and executive director at Run For Something, a national nonprofit that recruits and supports young progressives of diverse backgrounds running for office. “If the women we’re electing are not going to govern with that lived experience ― where does the value add come from?”

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republican-women-congress_n_5fb2fd42c5b6a4664670248c

    Um, no. The elected Congresswomen need to represent the interests of the constituents that elected them. The interests of the constituents that elected them. The interests of the constituents that elected them.

    Lauren Boebert is a firebrand. She represents the real Colorado.

    1. Lauren Boebert is a firebrand. She represents the real Colorado.

      Lauren, an avowed populist-conservative, unseated Establishment GOP Congressman Scott Tipton, who ran as a conservative but once in office was a craven toady for the corporate statists. Boebert’s upstart campaign and overthrow of the Establishment status quo should be a shot across the bow to the GOP, as Colorado Republicans are increasingly fed up with RINOs and corporate stooges in bed with the oligarchy “representing” them.

  38. Regarding the use of archive links, many of the articles there are not available until hours, or even a day, after their time of initial publication. The readers / posters of the HBB do not engage in plagiarism, misquoting, or not identifying an original source.

    Using the archive site presents a Real Journalist media article in its original form, but does not generate advertising revenue for its original source.

    It’s not 1995 or 2005 anymore. Your business model has died. And your readers appear to have moved on, according to your clicks and ad sales. But we’re still reading, we’re just not giving you clicks or ad sales.

    #LearnToCode

    1. Sweden, having refused to lock down, is now bringing in tougher COVID-19 restrictions as cases and deaths soar. ‘This is the new norm,’ the prime minister said.
      Kate Duffy
      16 hours ago
      Stefan Lofven, the prime minister of Sweden, announced tougher COVID-19 restrictions Monday. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty
      – Sweden — the European country that refused an initial COVID-19 lockdown in March — unveiled tougher coronavirus restrictions Monday.
      – Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told a press conference the country would limit public gatherings to eight people. Previously, the limit was 50.
      – “Don’t go to the gym, don’t go the library, don’t have dinner out, don’t have parties — cancel!” Lofven said. “It’s going to get worse,” he added.
      – Sweden’s tougher restrictions come as COVID-19 cases and deaths in the country surge. On Friday, the country reported its highest increase in cases during the pandemic.
      …

    3. “Did the Wuhan flu go away yet?”

      No the MSM flu is still here and Sen. Rules for Thee but not for Me Dianne Feinstein, Dr. Fauci and the Biden transition team would like you and the rest of Pavlov’s dogs to take your masks off between bites while you are eating your Thanksgiving TV dinner at least 6 feet away from no more than 2 other family members.

      The Recount
      @therecount
      ·
      20h
      Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), without a mask, walks through the corridor before today’s Facebook/Twitter CEO hearing.

      https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1328724072801431553

    4. Thee. “Fake!”.”Hoax!”.Deeth.virus👾 creating low.paying jobs in Texas!

      ($16.00 for an 8 hour shift stackin’.stiff’$, & a chance to 👾die to boot!)

      The Independent

      Inmates paid $2 to ‘move deceased Covid patients to mobile overflow morgues’ as infections soar

      Chris Riotta / Mon, November 16, 2020

      A spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the temporary work assignment was for a group of inmates in low-level custody in a statement to the Texas Tribune.

      He said the “trustees refused to work unless they were compensated” and so the inmates were then provided $2 per hour, as well as personal protective equipment.

      Inmate$ working at the El Paso County detention facilitie$ are not typically paid.

      The newspaper reported that at least 10 mobile morgues were meanwhile being constructed outside of the medical examiner’s office amid the wave of infections.

      At least 45 people in the county have died since Thursday due to complications resulting from Covid-19, according to local tracking data, with over a thousand more people currently in hospital.

      Deeth.virus👾 reports … are … a “lagging.indicator” #

  40. “OMG “cases”?

    86,400 seconds in a day⏳

    1,289.5522388 “Hoax!”.deeth.virus.👾 … per day … (24/7)

    = x1 “FAKE!” & “HOAX!” American Deeth every = 67 seconds! ⌚⌛ 🙈🙉🙊 … 🚑🏥 💀💉🔚🔜! …

    🔍 … 246,086+ China.virus.deeths.👾 (Since March 15, 2020) & going 💥🔼↗↗↗⤴📈📈📈📈📈📈📈 = deeths.is.a.lagging.indicator.#

    👌✌🍷

    1. I think it was proven between 1945 and say 1975 in the US that regulated capitalism with a balance of power between Corporate America and the working stiff uplifted the majority into a standard of living that was the envy of the World.

      So, the Washington DC Swamp started selling out to Globalism, One World Order, Monopolies, rigged markets,and false narratives about the cause of this looting of American opportunity. The rise of Marxism and the hijacking of the education system with all the false narratives of racism, white privilege and word and history destruction to divide and conquer.
      Fake Media paid for by the Power grab of unelected Goldfinger Globalist that want to rule the World .

      This bizarre power grab is no different than a foreign or domestic invasion by enemies of the State . The Government by the people has been invaded by self serving nuts like Klaus Schwab and George Soros who want to define what people get. The Great Reset is the destruction of a free people by these weirdos that are no different than Hilter in wanting to rule the World. This agenda wasn’t voted on, it being forced. Now rigging elections to stop the rejection of this power grab. Using a medical Flu that has a 99.4 %survival rate to lock down people and destroy small business.
      All the major bail outs are going to go to these entities in the final analysis, because they are Looters like their Commie Looters on the streets.
      Nothing good can come out of something based on lies and force compliance. This invasion would be worse than King George rule , the very thing that caused the American Revolution to begin with. Protection of the individual will go out the window in favor of these sinister World Dictators.
      Watch , this is going to morph into mandatory vaccine taking.

      1. I think it was proven between 1945 and say 1975 in the US

        I don’t disagree about the swamp. And I think we benefited from more rule of law back then. But Americans forget that the biggest thing that was proven between 1945 and 1975 is that there are many economic advantages to all of your economic competitors bombing the hell out of each other and not bombing you so much.

        1. Carl Morris,
          The people didn’t want war. The United States and Russia had this stupid Cold War going after World War 2. Vietnam wasn’t popular here in the US, remember the protests.
          It was Globalism, rigged markets, monopolies and the getting rid of regulations that created Casinos and bubbles .
          The crooks in Washington DC created this situation of the looting of America .
          This is a takeover of the US by Big Globalist Corps and Commies.

  43. Clinton Foundation “philanthropy”

    The DELIAN Project: Democracy through Technology

    In 2014, Dominion Voting committed to providing emerging and post-conflict democracies with access to voting technology through its philanthropic support to the DELIAN Project, as many emerging democracies suffer from post-electoral violence due to the delay in the publishing of election results. Over the next three years, Dominion Voting will support election technology pilots with donated Automated Voting Machines (AVM), providing an improved electoral process, and therefore safer elections. As a large number of election staff are women, there will be an emphasis on training women, who will be the first to benefit from the skills transfer training and use of AVMs. It is estimated that 100 women will directly benefit from election technology skills training per pilot election.

  45. The UK has announced that it will ban the sale of new ICE cars starting in 2030. Hybrid sales will be allowed until 2035.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if they also tighten the Ministry Of Transportation car inspection rules to get existing ICE cars off the road ASAP.

    What could possibly go wrong?

Comments are closed.