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The Very Issue That Was Meant To Be Different This Time Around Will Be Repeated

A report from the Real Deal. “Quarters’ U.S. expansion appears to have ended in bankruptcy. Eight properties and two additional limited liability companies tied to the German co-living firm filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday, according to court records. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, companies cease operation and liquidate all eligible assets to repay creditors.”

“Quarters, which is the co-living brand of Berlin-based Medici Living Group, raised $300 million for its push into the U.S. in early 2019. That came on the heels of raising $1.4 billion to expand in Europe. Founded in 2012, the company pitched itself as ‘the WeWork of co-living’ and the largest global operator of the shared living concept, which rents furnished rooms in shared apartments to tenants.”

“The eight Quarters properties owned by LLCs that filed for bankruptcy are located in New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago. Combined, the 10 LLCs estimate between $1 million and $5 million in liabilities and less than $500,000 in assets, according to the Chapter 7 filings.”

The Real Deal on New York. “A former HFZ executive and 11 alleged members of the Gambino crime family pleaded guilty last week in connection to a construction bribery scheme that skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the developer’s luxury condo tower and other projects. John Simonlacaj, HFZ’s former managing director of development, admitted to submitting a false tax return in relation to renovation work at his home. Simonlacaj was accused of accepting free labor and materials for the renovations from CWC Contracting, a carpentry subcontractor that worked on the XI, HFZ’s $2 billion luxury condo and hotel towers along Manhattan’s High Line.”

“The guilty pleas come as HFZ confronts a series of other legal and financial challenges. The Children’s Investment Fund, a London-based hedge fund that provided a $1.25 billion loan for the XI, claims that the developer is behind on its interest payments and is seeking $160 million. The hedge fund’s lawsuit could be a precursor to foreclosure proceedings. Zeckendorf Development and Suffolk Construction are reportedly in talks to take over the XI, though HFZ denies that this is the case. And last month, HFZ lost its equity stake in an industrial portfolio through a UCC foreclosure auction.”

From Bisnow South Florida. “A new law intended to unmask the owners of limited liability corporations in an attempt to crack down on money launderers and slumlords could particularly impact Miami and New York, where shell companies are often used to obscure the owners of high-priced real estate. In Miami after the Great Recession, millions of dollars worth of Miami condos were being purchased through LLCs in all-cash transactions. At one point, corporate entities bought an average of $111M worth of homes per week with cash in Miami-Dade, the Miami Herald reported.”

From WMGD in Maryland. “A former member of the Board of Directors at Hebron Savings Bank who also owned a local business and taught economics and finance at Salisbury University has pled guilty to making a false statement on a loan or credit application. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland said Thursday that 57-year-old Brian Thomas Twilley faces a maximum sentence of 30 years, but actual sentences in these cases are often less than the maximum. He also will be required to pay restitution of more than $163-thousand.”

“Prosecutors say Twilley, who now lives in Virginia, is accused of providing false statements on several occasions. According to his guilty plea, from April 2010 through March 2017, Twilley provided false personal financial statements to Hebron that omitted from his net worth a $200,000 Home Equity Line of Credit due to Bank 2 that should have been paid off and closed with the proceeds of a separate HELOC that Twilley had obtained from Hebron. Twilley also provided false personal financial statements to Bank 3.”

From Bisnow Washington DC. “MakeOffices, a homegrown D.C. coworking provider with nine locations in the region, is closing down. MakeOffices Chief Operating Officer Josh White told Bisnow Wednesday the company was forced to shutter because of the financial difficulties the pandemic has created for the coworking industry and the business world at large. The coworking provider also has locations in Rosslyn, Reston, Tysons, Bethesda, Dupont Circle and K Street, and it expanded to Philadelphia and Chicago with three locations in each city.”

“MakeOffices was founded as UberOffices by Raymond Rahbar in 2011. Two of the company’s investors, MRP Realty and former EagleBank CEO Ron Paul, ousted Rahbar in August 2016. Rahbar now says that he has been working with federal investigators on a matter involving Paul, who retired from EagleBank in March 2019. ‘I recently became aware that others destroyed something I had worked hard to create with so many others,’ Rahbar said in a statement to Bisnow. ‘That being said, MakeOffices’ closure does not change our efforts in working with the FBI and Federal Reserve to ensure that Ron Paul and friends are held accountable for their criminal extortion. Not wanting to affect the criminal cases or grand jury deliberations, I’ll have more to say when Ron Paul is in federal prison.'”

The San Francisco Chronicle in California. “San Jose housing rental prices in December were down 13.7% year over year, the nation’s sharpest decline, according to a new report, and San Francisco wasn’t far behind. Rents were down 13.7% in San Jose, New York followed with an 11.7% drop, and San Francisco had the third-biggest decline, 9.4%. San Jose has been at the bottom of the growth list seven consecutive months, with rents down 14.1% since March.”

“The Yardi Matrix report attributes the exodus from big cities to job losses around tourist-centric industries. ‘As gateway markets are some of the most expensive to live in, and with job losses disproportionately impacting service workers, it became impossible for many to pay rent, so the only choice was to move,’ the report said. ‘With most amenities in these urban areas closed, the desirability of living in an urban setting and paying high rents has been lost.'”

“Zumper’s latest national rent report put San Francisco first on the list for year-over-year declines for one-bedrooms in the country’s most expensive and largest rental markets, falling 24%. Oakland was second (22%), followed by Seattle (20.6%), New York (19.7%), Boston (17%) and San Jose (14.7%). Santa Clara’s rental prices also dropped 24% year over year, and Menlo Park and Mountain View were close behind at 23.4% and 23.8%, respectively.”

From Now Toronto in Canada. “The vacancy rate for apartment buildings in Toronto has hit a 50-year high. According to an Urbanation survey of purpose-built rental apartments built since 2005 found the vacancy rate was 5.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020. During the same period a year prior, the vacancy rate was 1.1 per cent. Seven new purpose-built rental apartment buildings were completed in the GTA during 2020, equalling 1,699 additional units. By the end of the year, the new buildings were occupied at an average of 44 per cent.”

From CBC News in Canada. “This time last year, CMHC reported that Toronto vacancy rates had been below two per cent since 2011, with ‘existing renters remaining in their rental properties, likely influenced by the fact that recently the average asking rents charged for vacant units are about 25 per cent higher compared to that of occupied units.'”

From New Civil Engineer in the UK. “London’s 2012 Olympic Park is at risk of becoming a ‘derelict, costly disaster’ as operating the London Stadium continues to haemorrhage money and the construction cost of the East Bank housing scheme soars. The report concludes: ‘Many former Olympic parks across the world have turned into derelict, costly disasters. London 2012 was meant to be different, and this was a lynchpin of the original bid that beat Paris to the trophy of staging the Games. There is now a real threat that the very issue that was meant to be different this time around will be repeated, and that the capital will be bearing the legacy of a costly, taxpayer-funded albatross, hanging around the neck of Londoners for decades to come.'”

From Prague Morning. “The Covid-19 pandemic measures have forced a big decline in rent prices in Prague. This is due to a few factors, namely because of a lack of tourism, and an absence of university students. In pre-lockdown times, thousands of university students were usually expected at the end of summer to come looking for accommodation, but distance-learning has been obliged by governments globally, eradicating the need for students to show up physically.”

“A significant decrease has been documented since August 2020, substantially peaking around that time when it was clear that universities were not going to be open again, and that learning would stay online. Rent prices have been decreasing since then, affecting all parts of Prague. Petr Hlaváček, Prague Deputy Mayor and responsible for territorial development, said that ‘not all of the apartments for short-term rentals are adapted for standard use.'”

“Generally, there are more flats available for long-term rental now, with a documented 97.7% increase (14,738 in comparison to 7,453 in 2019), at the end of the second quarter of 2020. This is an unprecedented number of available long-term flats in the last four years.”

From Domain News in Australia. “In June, just before Melbourne re-entered lockdown, Harshada Shirodkar and her husband moved apartments. But they didn’t move far. With vacancy rates in the inner city rising steadily, they noticed an increasing number of apartments becoming available in their South Melbourne apartment building. ‘We had been in our apartment for two years, so we just started looking at the listings and noticed there were a lot of apartments available and also that they were cheaper than what we were paying,’ the IT professional said.”

“Ms Shirodkar and her husband are among many inner-city residents who have taken advantage of falling rents since March. Melbourne CBD rental prices plummeted 27.3 per cent in the year to December, with the median unit rent dropping to $400 per week – the largest fall of any Melbourne suburb – the Domain Rent Report shows.”

“Landlords have been slashing rents to in order to fill city apartments, some of which have sat empty for months. Dionne Wilson, of Harcourts Melbourne City, said she recently leased an apartment in the CBD for $400 a week less than its previous asking price.”

“‘We had one apartment in Market Street which was rented out for $1000 per week. It then sat vacant from about February last year and we leased it just prior to Christmas for $600 per week,’ she says. ‘I would say that tenant got a pretty good deal. We’re seeing asking prices for apartments being reduced by as much as 20 to 35 per cent, depending on the building and the property itself.'”

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This Post Has 73 Comments

  1. Golly, there sure are a lot of foreclosures, start up poof, convictions, prison sentences, mortgage fraud, money laundering and a$$ poundings going on in the red-hotcakes.

    1. “Golly, there sure are a lot of foreclosures, start up poof, convictions, prison sentences, mortgage fraud, money laundering and a$$ poundings going on in the red-hotcakes.”

      +1

      – IMHO, the global housing industry (REIC) is only a snapshot of the systemic problems in the larger, and encompassing finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) complex, which in turn, is symptomatic of the high levels of corruption, graft, crony-capitalism, and growing wealth concentration in government. The elite, ruling classes, are burying the facts in MSM narratives, and stealing elections in order to maintain and grow their power. There are no limits to their nefarious actions. Populism and rebellion continue to gain ground, but sooner or later, “the wheels come off the bus.” Duct tape and bailing wire, and all of that, when the real issue is that “the emperor has no clothes.”

      – This blog does an excellent job of pointing out what is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer (for those that aren’t useful idiots and with objective, and critical thinking skills) as to the extreme level of bullsh*t in the global RE and globalist sh*tshow. We’re well beyond dumpster fire here.

      – Recall that the global central banks are working synchronously together to enable all of this wealth-sucking, strip-mining of the peasant classes, with the overall objective of neo-feudalism. Things appear to be proceeding according to plan, but the masses have other ideas.

      – Continue to accumulate 2A materials and supplies.

      “And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” – Lord Acton

      “The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.” – Lord Acton

      “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” – Frederic Bastiat

      “People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.” – John Kenneth Galbraith

      “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – George Orwell, Animal Farm

      “Every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”– ‘1984,’ George Orwell

      “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” – Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, January 30, 1787

      1. ‘the extreme level of bullsh*t in the global RE and globalist sh*tshow’

        I think you can see why I put this blog together. For instance, if i wasn’t driven to put out as complete a net as I can every day, I wouldn’t find stuff like vacant Toronto airboxes are asking 25% more than rented ones. It takes a lot of reading. Reading things that never make it onto this blog.

        I know people who will ask me, “so what’s going on in RE?” I say read the blog. “Oh just tell me.” How could I possibly tell someone everything I uncover day after day? I just have to keep a running sense of it in my head, and I hope regular readers can too. The news that US condo financing is falling out was huge the other day. It happened in Toronto too, not that long ago. And it wasn’t just FHA, it was all the GSE’s. What follows: down payments go up, condos can’t trade. People stop paying commons charges, down she goes. We’ve seen this movie before.

        Last decade I was out in western AZ and I heard that Fannie/Freddie had stopped financing mobiles/manufactured housing. I didn’t read it, it was word of mouth. I mean stopped. Prices quickly plummeted to 10k or less per unit, basically land prices. It’s all about the financing.

        1. I wouldn’t find stuff like vacant Toronto airboxes are asking 25% more than rented ones

          This is super interesting – the feeling is that landlords have their ears to the ground are a slowly but surely lowering rents.

          do you remember what newspaper you read this in?

          2. [Thanks]
            So people might be staying in older, cheaper rent apts which (might) have been much more impacted by rent control. But less inclined on average to move to newer building asking for higher rent. So trendy areas will get hit more

            This time last year, CMHC reported that Toronto vacancy rates had been below two per cent since 2011, with “existing renters remaining in their rental properties, likely influenced by the fact that recently the average asking rents charged for vacant units are about 25 per cent higher compared to that of occupied units.”

        2. “I know people who will ask me, ‘so what’s going on in RE?’ I say read the blog. “’Oh just tell me.'”

          Bahahahaha … so then do what I do, which is TELL THEM.

          Then, generally, after I tell them I have to argue with them, and to support my arguments I present to them articles at which point they will either:

          1. Refuse to read the articles, or

          2. Will read the articles but will dispute their validity.

          People are stupid, but they are often stupid in an interesting and amusing way.

  2. ‘We had been in our apartment for two years, so we just started looking at the listings and noticed there were a lot of apartments available and also that they were cheaper than what we were paying’

    That’s the spirit!

  3. ‘At one point, corporate entities bought an average of $111M worth of homes per week with cash in Miami-Dade’

    ‘there are more flats available for long-term rental now, with a documented 97.7% increase (14,738 in comparison to 7,453 in 2019), at the end of the second quarter of 2020’

    Is that a lot?

  4. The vacancy rate for apartment buildings in Toronto has hit a 50-year high’

    It’s actually an all time high. Canadia wasn’t a country 50 years ago.

    ‘Seven new purpose-built rental apartment buildings were completed in the GTA during 2020, equalling 1,699 additional units. By the end of the year, the new buildings were occupied at an average of 44 per cent’

    How many buildings can take that? None.

    ‘existing renters remaining in their rental properties, likely influenced by the fact that recently the average asking rents charged for vacant units are about 25 per cent higher compared to that of occupied units’

    So if yer vacant, but priced 25% higher, what’s the total revenue?

    DONG!

  6. ‘We had one apartment in Market Street which was rented out for $1000 per week. It then sat vacant from about February last year and we leased it just prior to Christmas for $600 per week,’ she says. ‘I would say that tenant got a pretty good deal. We’re seeing asking prices for apartments being reduced by as much as 20 to 35 per cent, depending on the building and the property itself’

    That’s 40% Dionne. So it sat vacant for almost 10 months?

    How do those 5% cap rates look now?

  7. ‘As gateway markets are some of the most expensive to live in, and with job losses disproportionately impacting service workers, it became impossible for many to pay rent, so the only choice was to move,’ the report said. ‘With most amenities in these urban areas closed, the desirability of living in an urban setting and paying high rents has been lost’

    Could be viewed as the most expensive not to live in. How the mighty have fallen.

  8. ‘A former member of the Board of Directors at Hebron Savings Bank who also owned a local business and taught economics and finance at Salisbury University has pled guilty to making a false statement on a loan or credit application’

    Wa? Mortgage fraud is unpossible! Sound lending, I tells ya!

  10. And they raised two billion dollars!!!!

    Don’t worry – new Yellen bucks are coming!!!!!

    “the company pitched itself as ‘the WeWork of co-living’ and the largest global operator of the shared living concept, which rents furnished rooms in shared apartments to tenants.”

  11. No….not that Ron Paul.

    A WeWork knock-off full of fraud. Oh wait, that is the business model.

    Working with the Federal Reserve? You printing money and bailing out wall street too?

    “‘That being said, MakeOffices’ closure does not change our efforts in working with the FBI and Federal Reserve to ensure that Ron Paul and friends are held accountable for their criminal extortion. Not wanting to affect the criminal cases or grand jury deliberations, I’ll have more to say when Ron Paul is in federal prison.’”

  12. BAHAHAHAHAHA.

    Clueless wankers.

    “The Yardi Matrix report attributes the exodus from big cities to job losses around tourist-centric industries. ‘

  13. But…but…everyone wanted to live there.

    And shortages!

    “From Now Toronto in Canada. “The vacancy rate for apartment buildings in Toronto has hit a 50-year high.”

  14. Mission accomplished.

    Not too long ago…Olympics were held at already built local HS and college athletic facilities. Athletes slepted in dorms.

    Cheap and easy money…

    “and that the capital will be bearing the legacy of a costly, taxpayer-funded albatross, hanging around the neck of Londoners for decades to come.’”

  16. Hey speculators…you overpaid.

    By at least 40%. But this ain’t over….

    ““We had one apartment in Market Street which was rented out for $1000 per week. It then sat vacant from about February last year and we leased it just prior to Christmas for $600 per week,’

        1. But give the Leftists time, not unlike that California Liberal who was highlighted here recently griping about high taxes and no police in protection in his hood, they will soon reach day 322 and see what you see and describe her or him just like the dude in the video above.

        2. If it wasn’t for all the damage this deranged man will do, I would burst out laughing (think Youtube’s Critical Drinker)

    3. The dude that killed thousands in nursing homes when, at the same time, pulled his mother out of one.

    5. Look at the bright side: they are the ship of fools who will go down with the asset-price bubble Titanic. Pedocrats will be in control of all branches of government and take all the blame.

      1. No, they will rewrite history, kind of like the 1619 project. They will be the valiant saviors. They make up phony articles about a flu daily. The presstitutes deal in a world of lies, exclusively.

        1. No, they will rewrite history

          Winston Smith is going to have to put in some serious overtime at the Ministry of Truth.

  18. After a four year hiatus, your regularly scheduled government sponsored mass shootings will now continue.

      1. There are rumors of over 100 pardons to be granted tonight or tomorrow morning. But what if the deep state refuses to honor those pardons, because “reasons”? What if the Justice Department tells the UK to hang onto Assange, until “we sort things out”?

        1. over 100 pardons

          Obama issued almost 2000 commutations and pardons. Now 100 is an outrage. Reality is inside out.

    2. After a four year hiatus, your regularly scheduled government sponsored mass shootings will now continue.

      I’ve never bought into the narrative that all these mass shootings are “false flags.” I believe they’re actual atrocities. But FedGov and the Democrats will exploit each and every one to disarm potential resisters on the flimsiest of reasons, with no due process or recourse.

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/tragic-federal-government-bans-conservative-laura-loomer-owning-guns/

  20. They want more than half the Country to not be represented. Taxes without having representation. Policies that benefit a hijacking of Government and USA for a One World Order of Commie/Corporate Globalist Monopolies with their fake news.
    Unreal

  22. The local Colorado media is turning up the rhetoric on Congresswoman Lauren Boebert. They are doing everything they can to paint her as a seditionist and extremist.

    From 9News website:

    In December 2019, fresh into her campaign to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, Lauren Boebert posed for a photo with a group of gun rights advocates in front of the Colorado state Capitol. Behind her, four men flashed gestures with three fingers, a hand signal associated with the Three Percenters, an extremist militia group.

    I’m certain that the goal is to get her to resign (good luck with that) or arrested and removed from office.

    Funny thing, I had never heard of these so called Three Percenters. Could it be because unlike the Holy Orders of Antifa and BLM, they have never engaged in rioting and looting?

    1. It’s a total witch hunt unanimous across all local media.

      If they can’t expel her from Congress, my prediction is that when Colorado gets another House seat in 2022 the Dem dominated statehouse will gerrymander her into a race she can’t win.

      1. in 2022 the Dem dominated statehouse will gerrymander her into a race she can’t win

        Like make her little town plus Boulder into one district? Does a district have to be contiguous?

        1. Does a district have to be contiguous?

          Larimer county is contiguous. Ft. Collins could give her opponent the edge.

        2. Unless it includes islands, I think it does.

          In 2019 the courts struck down the mapping of some North Carolina districts that stretched halfway across the state connected by a rather narrow isthmus.

          On the /r/Denver sub-Reddit she’s become the new Cory Gardner. The only difference is that residents of Denver can’t vote against her, they can only seethe.

          1. I think it’s interesting how in a country based on sending representatives to the capital to represent you, so many people don’t want others to have any representation.

            Me personally I don’t like the fringe representatives on either side. But I accept them as representatives of real people who deserve to be represented.

  23. the German co-living firm filed for Chapter 7

    co-living, because the masters of the universe have artificially rigged housing to be utterly unaffordable, so people are expected to share living space with strangers, and pay top dollar/euro for the privilege. I’ll bet everyone does their bit to keep the kitchen spic and span clean, and NEVER pilfer someone else’s stuff from the fridge or cupboard.

  24. If it weren’t for Newsmax I wouldn’t have been able to see any of President Trump/s farewell address.

    Not one other network I get had it on and that includes (but not for long) NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC and although I didn’t check I am relatively sure CNN.

    That is what they think of Donald Trump voters and supporters.

  25. Lady Marmalade
    by Labelle

    In a 1986 interview with NME Patti LaBelle explained: “That song was taboo. I mean, why sing about a hooker? Why not? I had a good friend who was a hooker, and she died. She never took the mike out of my mouth and I never took the mattress from under her. She was a friend, doing her thing. It’d be like discriminating because you’re white and I’m black, or you’re gay and someone’s straight. I don’t believe in separating people. If your job is as a hooker, more power to you.”

    https://www.songfacts.com/facts/labelle/lady-marmalade

      1. I had comments above that were deleted (and rightfully so) the Lady Marmalade song fact was referring to.

  27. OK, this is very confusing:

    This is a property in a strip mall that is anchored by a Scheels sporting goods store.

    Tenants of the building are restaurants Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, Berry Blendz and Honolulu Poke Bar, eyeglasses store Visionworks, a Sprint store and Lux Nail Bar. It has a total of 15,140 square feet of retail space.

    The sale price is a 40.6% premium to the $4.45 million at which county officials last valued the property. The two pad sites to the east and west of the building are still owned by Johnstown Plaza’s developer.

  30. JAMES – BROTHER OF JOHN SULLIVAN

    While John Sullivan’s brother is explaining who and when the DC Stop the Steal rally was infiltrated by Antifa like Soros paid groups, a job that according to him, allowed his brother John Sullivan to buy a house at 25 with no other income and travel around the country planning and participating in social unrest. At 18:10 of this video he points out a girl who is inside at the Capitol “riot” who also appears on CNN Anderson Cooper’s show with John Sullivan. He says she is a CNN investigative reporter.

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

    PS

    Happy Inauguration Day!

    1. 27:47 – 28:20

      Barney Fife could get a conviction.

      What a joke the burying of all this has been. From Hunter’s laptop to election fraud to the Soros sponsored Capitol “riots”.

    1. I have seen all of that before.

      Just not all at the same time.

      That along with every state, territory and the District of Columbia having National Guard troops in DC today just so you know there is an iron boot on your neck if you don’t fall in line.

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