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We Wish That New Owner The Best Of Luck

A report from Mansion Global on New York. “Last week, 30 high-end contracts asking $4 million or more entered into contract in Manhattan, according to Olshan Realty. The strong totals in the last two weeks ‘continued a trend that started after the November election—a cocktail stirred with ingredients ranging from the Covid-19 vaccine to low interest rates, a robust stock market and meaningful discounts,’ according to Donna Olshan.”

“The rental market is also showing signs of rebounding, according to the UrbanDigs. Landlords removed 835 listings from the market last week—a sharp increase over 399 the week prior. ‘This is likely due to landlords holding back inventory for the busier spring and summer months (‘warehousing’), and means renters (like buyers) are facing a tighter market’ according to UrbanDigs.”

The Oregonian. “Oregon lawmakers passed a bill extending the state’s eviction moratorium for renters until the end of June during a December special session, but opted not to take up legislation to extend the state’s foreclosure moratorium. That left homeowners struggling to make their payments in a state of uncertainty. Not all lenders are making an effort to work with homeowners. One 60-year-old homeowner in Troutdale who lost her job as a human resources director last year due to the pandemic received a letter from her lender on Feb. 3 informing her that she was now in default because of the expiration of Oregon’s foreclosure moratorium.”

“The letter said that she had to pay off all outstanding charges and late fees by Feb. 6 to avoid foreclosure. The woman, who requested that her name not be used, has a loan that is not covered by the federal moratoriums. She said her lender claims she owes $75,000 between missed payments and late fees. ‘It’s just turned my life upside down,’ she said. ‘I’m going to lose everything and I’ll be homeless. I don’t have a lot of resources. My house is everything to me.'”

From Arlington Now. “Recent articles have shed light onto just how much COVID-19 has hurt the apartment rental market in the D.C. metro area, including an article about rents dropping by 14% in Arlington and an article on rents in D.C.’s Class-A high-rise buildings dropping approximately 18%.”

“I have certainly experienced the difficult rental market in the past 10 months with clients who have struggled to find new tenants for their condos for months, even after significant price reductions. In some buildings, there are double-digit numbers of condos being offered for rent, with little interest. I have also spoken to many condo owners who are turning to selling units after months of vacancy trying to rent them out, which is one of the reasons for last year’s explosion in condos listed for sale.”

From Bisnow Boston. “As Simon Property Group reels from the coronavirus pandemic’s gut punch to retail, the REIT continues to let smaller and worse-performing malls fall by the wayside. Last week, Simon relinquished its ownership of an Atlanta mall in a foreclosure auction that saw no bids. In November, the REIT ceded control of at least four other mall properties it controlled. This week, according to Fitch Ratings, the mall operator is over 60 days delinquent on an $85.6M loan backing a Boston-area mall for the second time in four months.”

“‘In some cases, they’ll be restructured, mutually agreed to; and if not, and the special servicer would like to own the real estate, we’re more than happy to cooperate and do it in a professional manner,’ Simon said. ‘It’s absolutely in the best interest of Simon Property Group shareholders those decisions that we’re making on that front … [We] hope to make deals in some — if not, then they’ll no longer be part of our portfolio, and we wish that new owner the best of luck.'”

From Blog TO in Canada. “The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly shifted the trends in Toronto’s housing market since it first arrived last March, and it seems condos in the city’s most luxurious neighbourhoods are among some of the hardest hit. In The Annex, according to the report, the condo market saw a 29.96 per cent drop in value, while Bloor-Yonge decreased by 11.98 per cent, Yorkville by 11.79 per cent, Casa Loma by 11.13 per cent and Bay St. Corridor by 6.31 per cent.”

“Findings show that condo inventory levels in all of these neighbourhoods aside from The Annex are also currently nearly double what they were during the same time last year. Rental values in these neighbourhoods have also taken a plunge.”

“Sam Massoudi, a real estate agent with Strata who has investor clients in hard-hit luxury neighbourhoods, says many of them relied on wealthier international students as tenants for years, but have since been forced to sell. ‘I have investor clients who were once so proud to own a property in a luxury neighbourhood. But they had no idea a pandemic like this was going to hit and drive immigration out of the city,’ Massoudi said. ‘So now some of them have sold. For those who didn’t, they’re renting these places out for very cheap. That’s why we’re seeing such low rents in some luxury areas.'”

The Vancouver Sun. “Vancouver condo developer Mark John Chandler is ‘a financial predator,’ a U.S. Federal Court judge said Monday while handing down a six-year sentence for a real estate investment fraud. Chandler swindled 12 U.S. investors out of $1.7 million more than a decade ago, taking their money for a purported Los Angeles condo project that never materialized, and instead using it to buy himself a Mercedes-Benz, chartering a private yacht, luxury purchases and high-end dining, and vacations in Hawaii and Las Vegas.”

“‘What’s galling is that the defendant had opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing, and yet he continued to defraud anyone who would listen,’ U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson in his reasons for sentencing. ‘This defendant was, and is, a financial predator. The evidence showed that he’d rob, victimize and exploit anyone for his own personal gain, and it’s no coincidence that this defendant has more than 77 civil cases filed against him, where there have been numerous accusations of fraudulent conduct.'”

“Chandler’s ‘brazen criminal conduct financially and emotionally devastated his victims,’ and ’caused his victims to suffer depleted retirement accounts, bankruptcies, and lost homes,’ prosecutors wrote. One of Chandler’s victims, a California-based doctor, spoke by phone at the hearing, saying Chandler ‘fully expected to get away with it, because he was going to go back to Canada and he never thought he’d be extradited. … He was just going to do whatever he wanted and hightail it back to Canada thinking he was safe there.'”

“In B.C., Chandler has also been the target of enforcement action from regulators, before and after his time in L.A., including accusations he mishandled more than $10 million of homebuyers’ deposits after returning from California for a Langley condo project called Murrayville House. The Murrayville fiasco caused serious hardship for dozens of hopeful homebuyers, as one B.C. Supreme Court judge noted in a 2018 judgment in one civil lawsuit, calling the situation a ‘house of cards’ that left behind ‘no winners.'”

“Gary Janzen of Langley and his wife suffered significant financial losses and emotional distress after they signed a presale agreement in 2016 for a Murrayville home. After Monday’s sentence was handed down, Janzen said: ‘We’re glad that justice has been done. … But we’re very disappointed and discouraged there’s no justice here.'”

“When the judge offered Chandler a chance to speak, he read from a prepared statement and apologized to his investors and his family. Chandler’s time in jail, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been ‘the toughest experience I’ve been through during the 57 years of my life,’ he said. Chandler contracted the COVID in prison, he said, and was ‘locked up 24 hours a day, being fed peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch and dinner.'”

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This Post Has 95 Comments

  1. ‘Gary Janzen of Langley and his wife suffered significant financial losses and emotional distress after they signed a presale agreement in 2016 for a Murrayville home. After Monday’s sentence was handed down, Janzen said: ‘We’re glad that justice has been done. … But we’re very disappointed and discouraged there’s no justice here’

    Well, it was cheaper than renting Gary.

  2. ‘In The Annex, according to the report, the condo market saw a 29.96 per cent drop in value’

    Wa? But Canadiana UHS say Toronto airbox red-hotcakes?

  3. ‘[We] hope to make deals in some’

    You loaned us money, and we’re gonna fook YOU!

    ‘ — if not, then they’ll no longer be part of our portfolio, and we wish that new owner the best of luck’

    Note these guys are cherry picking the malls they can skin some money off for a while, and throwing the rest under the bus. How do those non-recourse loans look now?

  4. ‘her lender claims she owes $75,000 between missed payments and late fees. ‘It’s just turned my life upside down…I’m going to lose everything and I’ll be homeless. I don’t have a lot of resources. My house is everything to me’

    We’re all in this together.

      1. In Oil City, you still can. It might not be a nice house, but it’s doable.

        How did she rack up $75,000 payments in less than a year? Typical house in Troutdale run $500K, so mortgage payments should be around $25K/year. Luckily Oregon is a non-recourse state. Mail in the keys, sell everything for pocket money, and go live in a trailer park.

    2. From the same article:

      —————-
      “…Dave Hall has lived in the same house in Lake Oswego [5 miles south of Portland] for the last 24 years [what did you do with the cash-out HELOC munny, Dave?].
      … business dried up at the consumer finance company he runs.
      …With no income coming in, Hall, 75, sought to temporarily halt his mortgage payments through his lender’s forbearance program. He said he feels fortunate that his lender has allowed him to extend his forbearance period several times since last summer.
      …he has grown increasingly worried about the possibility of losing his home.
      “I think the government needs to help us,” Hall said. ”
      ————-

      Government help? Did this guy apply for free cheese $600/mo unemployment? PPP loan? And after 24 years, he didn’t have enough in savings to cover a year of mortgage payments?

      1. He’s also 75, meaning he should also be collecting social security.

        His house should be almost paid for and since he bought it 24 years ago the monthly nut should be small. Why do I suspect that there is a high end luxury car in the garage, paid for with a HELOC?

        I get that some people just don’t want to retire and continue working into their 70’s. Somehow, I don’t think retirement is an option for him.

        1. “…paid for with a HELOC?”

          Yeah, more flaky news reporting here. “There are still marks on the wall where he tracked their heights as they grew.” I’m tearing-up reading this…sniff. 🙂

    3. My house is everything to me.’”
      I wish people would understand that a house is an expense/liability. Not saying buying houses are a bad thing, just that there are downsides to owning one. A big downside is lack of flexibility with finances and lifestyle.

  5. ‘This is likely due to landlords holding back inventory for the busier spring and summer months (‘warehousing’)

    Openly discussing market manipulation – check!

  6. Suggested HBB discussion topic: is anyone else considering relocating because of CCP Flu restrictions?

    I am going to renew my lease in the South Denver suburbs for another year this spring, but if the economy and social climate is not 100% open soon I’m planning to leave.

    I’m sick of the unscientific medical tyranny, and beyond that, I am disgusted with the unquestioning acceptance of this tyranny where I live. I’ve been here over a decade now.

    COVID is the greatest fraud of my lifetime.

    1. The largest scam in human. Government corporations news media all in cahoots. Thousands of doctors around the world including virologists and epidemiologist have been silenced. So much more to tell, not enough time.

      1. The Thirty Tyrants

        The deal that the American elite chose to make with China has a precedent in the history of Athens and Sparta

        https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-thirty-tyrants

        ‘By 2019, the grim fate of China’s Uyghurs had become a matter of concern—whether heartfelt or simply public relations-oriented—even among many who profited hugely from their forced labor.’

        ‘The country’s 13.5 million Uyghurs are concentrated in Xinjiang, or East Turkestan, a region in northwestern China roughly the size of Iran, rich in coal, oil, and natural gas. Bordering Pakistan, Xinjiang is a terminus point for critical supply routes of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s $1 trillion project to create a global Chinese sphere of interest. Any potential disruptions of the BRI constitute a threat to vital Chinese interests. Xi saw an April 2014 attack in which Uyghur fighters stabbed more than 150 people at a train station as an opportunity to crack down.’

        ‘Prepare for a “smashing, obliterating offensive,” Xi told police officers and troops. His deputies issued sweeping orders: “Round up everyone who should be rounded up.” Officials who showed mercy were themselves detained, humiliated and held up as an example for disobeying “the party central leadership’s strategy for Xinjiang.”

        ‘According to a November 2019, New York Times report, Chinese authorities were most worried about Uyghur students returning home from school outside the province. The students had “widespread social ties across the entire country” and used social media whose “impact,” officials feared, was “widespread and difficult to eradicate.” The task was to quarantine news of what was really happening inside the detention camps. When the students asked where their loved ones were and what happened to them, officials were advised to tell “students that their relatives had been ‘infected’ by the ‘virus’ of Islamic radicalism and must be quarantined and cured.”

        ‘But it wasn’t just those most likely to carry out terrorist attacks—young men—who were subject to China’s lockdown policy. According to the documents, officials were told that “even grandparents and family members who seemed too old to carry out violence could not be spared.”

        ‘When a real virus hit in the fall of 2019, Chinese authorities followed the same protocol, quarantining not just prospective troublemakers but everyone in Wuhan in the hope of avoiding an even larger public outcry than the one they’d quelled in the same city just months before.’

        ‘There is a good reason why lockdowns—quarantining those who are not sick—had never been previously employed as a public health measure. The leading members of a city, state, or nation do not imprison its own unless they mean to signal that they are imposing collective punishment on the population at large. It had never been used before as a public health measure because it is a widely recognized instrument of political repression.’

        ‘At the end of December 2019, Chinese authorities began locking down social media accounts mentioning the new virus, doctors who warned of it or spoke about it with their colleagues were reprimanded and another, allegedly infected by COVID-19, died. All domestic travel in and out of Wuhan was stopped. If the purpose of the lockdowns was really to prevent spread of the contagion, it’s worth noting that international flights continued. Rather, it appears that the domestic travel ban, like the social media censorship, was to keep news of the government’s blunder from spreading throughout China and leading to massive, perhaps uncontrollable, unrest.’

        1. ‘All domestic travel in and out of Wuhan was stopped. If the purpose of the lockdowns was really to prevent spread of the contagion, it’s worth noting that international flights continued’

          This was on purpose. Thousands of people flew out around the world.

      1. If metro Denver continues under medical tyranny but Colorado Springs re-opens 100% I’ll probably move down there. If the whole state stays under medical tyranny, I’ll probably move to Texas.

        Despite being a rich renter (redundant, I know) some of us aren’t ready to retire yet.

        1. Good luck (I know that’s redundant with being a renter).

          I’ve only been retired a couple of years. I left the Philadelphia area 20 years ago.

    3. See the news from Salesforce below. We are anticipating this sort of thing for many industries. One of you Denver guys seem to indicate Oracle – and the rumor is that they will adopt something similar.

      If so my BIL (who works for Oracle through the JDEdwards acquisistion) will definitely move 1-2 hours away if he only has to come in once a week at most (we were just talking about it this morning).
      —
      https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/salesforce-force-workers-office-post-covid-75790766

    4. Relocate yea probably have to find a place I like . Not the virus as much as the state I live in is failing.

    5. Covid is the biggest fraud in my lifetime also, along with the election stolen by fraud.

      I gave these people the benefit of the doubt when Covid first hit the US. But as the evidence stacked up that it was a fraudulent scam for a power grab, I couldn’t be more pissed.

      Trump was a threat to the Medical Monopoly because he wanted to reduce Pharma costs, got rid of Commie mandate to be overcharged based on your income, and usher in something more affordable and not rigged like Obamacare. Enough of US Citizens paying 50% more for health care than other industrialized Nations. A total gouge and loot job.
      I submit that the Medical Monopoly was one of the Entities that was in collusion with corrupted government , the Media Monopoly, and other Globalist Monopolies and China to steal the election.
      Think about it, China was producing the Lions share of Pharma Drugs sold in this Country. Just follow the Money.

    6. Suggested HBB discussion topic: is anyone else considering relocating because of CCP Flu restrictions?

      Already did (for other reasons too, but that was a factor). Very much enjoying the more reasonable attitudes of folks down here in the South, vs western WA

  7. ‘rents dropping by 14% in Arlington and an article on rents in D.C.’s Class-A high-rise buildings dropping approximately 18%…I have certainly experienced the difficult rental market in the past 10 months with clients who have struggled to find new tenants for their condos for months, even after significant price reductions. In some buildings, there are double-digit numbers of condos being offered for rent, with little interest. I have also spoken to many condo owners who are turning to selling units after months of vacancy trying to rent them out, which is one of the reasons for last year’s explosion in condos listed for sale’

    But Eli says can always sale? How do those 5% cap rates look now?

  8. ‘was ‘locked up 24 hours a day, being fed peanut butter and jelly for breakfast, lunch and dinner’

    I’m pretty sure everybody gets the 24 hours a day treatment. Did they change up the variety of jelly Mark?

  9. Today’s articles for the Lockdown Lovers.

    Jordan Schachtel on Substack — Florida is a beacon of liberty in a nation hijacked by COVID tyranny (2/9/2021):

    “Florida is the largest of the handful of currently-functioning “free states” that has lived up to the American principle as a beacon of liberty, in a nation that has surrendered to tyranny, corruption, & idiocracy. Floridians, along with Americans in only a few other states, live so much more freely than people in New York, California, and the dozens of other lockdown states, that we may as well be living in two different nations. Never in my life would I have imagined that so many Americans would surrender their precious freedoms in the name of a flu-like respiratory virus, but here we are.

    Governor Ron DeSantis is one of those leaders who has shined through challenge and controversy. Through the course of corona hysteria, he has acted admirably and bravely, using his platform and power as an anchor for the battle against the forces that seek to intrude upon our rights.

    Sure, Florida is still far removed from where most of America was in 2019. Most businesses continue to require masks in indoor settings, and power hungry city mayors and county officials enjoy attempting to enforce draconian absurdity on their populations (DeSantis has signed executive orders to make sure these leaders cannot enforce criminal penalties against people who don’t abide by draconian COVID policies). Yet at least inside of Florida’s boundaries, you get the feeling that the momentum is heading in the direction of Team Reason. Restaurants, bars, shops, schools, and most entertainment venues are fully open, without destructive capacity limits or draconian curfews. Citizens are out and about instead of locked down in their homes, and people of all ages don’t often hesitate to have in-person gatherings and meetings. Life is becoming very normal again in Florida.”

    https://dossier.substack.com/p/florida-is-a-beacon-of-liberty-in

    Fox Business — One-third of small businesses say they won’t survive without more COVID aid (2/8/2021):

    https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/one-third-of-small-businesses-say-they-wont-survive-without

    Read the second link carefully. Note that not once, not even once, does the article mention anything about re-opening the economy and people going back to work.

    1. ” Covid Tyranny .”
      I view this Covid fraud by the Medical Cartel as being a collusion by Big Monopolies working together to criminally steal a election, increase the powers of Big Monopolies, loot the tax coffers by relief packages, destroy small business and political rivals, and control populations by unjustified Lockdowns.
      Just as the Fraudulent Lenders created mass destruction in 2009, they were bailed out by the Obama administration to the tune of 10 trillion, with no correction of their Casino markets. Than Obama gave the Medical Cartel a Commie Monopoly to loot Citizens by overcharging based on income.
      Make no mistake that the Medical Monopoly in collusion with other Monopolies and foreign and domestic enemies criminally rigged the election , while using Covid to accomplish their Fraudulent power grab.
      So, because it’s a medical fraud based on a invisible enemy they can create
      this unjustified Pandemic and Lockdowns and censor any dispute to it by the Media Monopoly .
      So, this is truly a criminal insurrection and steal of Government that’s corrupt, by Globalist Monopolies, Medical Monopoly and foreign and domestic enemies like China and Commie looters, the Monopolies gave billions to reek their havoc.
      This was a collusion effort to stop the Trump popular movement by over half the Country to take back the corrupted Government that was selling out the US to these Entities.
      So, the US Citizen that voted to take back the US government from the treasonous bought off Swamp, got denied a free and fair election by Entries that can only at this point be called enemies of the US.
      Nothing these Entities will do with their Puppets Biden/Harris will benefit the majority in the US, or will it be rational, and it will be justified based on fake news narratives, while any dispute with be censored.
      The unjustified fake kangaroo Court Impeachment begins to not only persecute Trump, but weave a false narrative that Trump Voters are extremist insurrectionist, worthy of punishment and terrorist labels. So, they use to be called racist and white privileged deplorable, so now terrorist insurrectionist is the new false narrative by these criminals that are stealing the USA.
      These Entities have been successful in looting the tax coffers, growing their Monopolies by corrupted bought off Government, getting in bed with Foreign enemies to make more money, while they gutted US jobs and Manufacturing.
      When criminals get away with crimes, there is a perverse psychology tendency to demonize their victims, as if they deserved the crime. This was evident with Stalin, Hitler and Mao.
      The fake narratives of this creation of enemies to defeat is a ploy to divide and conquer, divert from the real criminals,and to falsely justify punishment and even mass murder. Examples if false enemies currently are:

      Racist, white privileged Nation .
      US is bad because at one time they had slavery, as was practiced World wide at the time.
      Trump Voters are terrorist insurrectionist.
      Covid 19 the invisible enemy.
      Everyone not being equal is grounds for a Communist Government that dictates what each will have.
      What’s interesting about the Globalist Monopolies is that they have become Commie like in their interest to control resources and what the populations gets Monopolies aren’t capitalism or free markets. They are Entities that destroy competition to rig prices to give them more profit and power over labor costs.
      So, while Communist usually take all resources and means of production and put it under the control of the State, I can’t envision the
      Monopolies doing this.
      They want to control the wealth and means of production, but they want the Government to pay for the damage, the poverty, the disparity and looting they do by their rigged systems.
      So, it’s some kind of weird system of the Government is the pawn of their monopoly rigged markets, and tax the victim Citizens to pay for damage it causes.
      So, this is how the Monopolies can get in bed with the Communist..
      What they risk is that the real Communist powers like China will want to take them over at some point in their quest to take over the World. Their alliance with China is their stupidity, and it’s very much like the alliance Stalin had with Hitler, until Hilter reneged and attacked Russia.. The Monopolies are actually doing a lot of the work for Communist China in destroying the USA by this takeover of the Gov.
      This has to be stopped somehow.

  10. “One 60-year-old homeowner in Troutdale who lost her job as a human resources director last year due to the pandemic received a letter from her lender on Feb. 3 informing her that she was now in default because of the expiration of Oregon’s foreclosure moratorium.”

    60 years old with “Director” position and no rainy day reserve? Wheres all the money? What happened to the UE checks?

    1. “human resources director”

      Any job with human resources in its title is overpaid busy work for otherwise unemployable females to spend all day pretending to look productive while spending the whole day on their phone.

      #LearnToCode (posting this hashtag on Twitter will get you banned)

    2. Wheres all the money?

      High end luxury cars, expensive clothes, shoes and purses, annual trips overseas, eating out at expensive restaurants, frequent weekend getaways. It adds up.

      I know people with six figure salaries who don’t save one red cent. I will say, their new Audi S7 looks awesome.

      1. “High end luxury cars”

        I have never paid more than $12,000 (plus sales tax) for a vehicle. And the most expensive one I ever bought was a $12,000 used Honda CR-V in 2005 back when 2005 dollars still had purchasing power.

        I would consider buying a new Subaru Crosstrek for $22,000, it’s the same car as my current Impreza but with more ground clearance.

        LOL@ people with a $700 a month car payment that also need GAP insurance because they were underwater the minute they drove it off the lot.

      2. I keep teasing my students that ima park in the lot with the other leased German luxury cars once I get ny hands on the $120k MSRP + $50K markup RS6 wagon. So sick. Too bad I can math, or I’d make it happen, cash.

          1. There’s an Audi v8 tdi w/700-ft*lb of torque still available in Europe, but not here because the Big3 want Trux to rule!

    3. “Oregon lawmakers passed a bill extending the state’s eviction moratorium for renters until the end of June”

      These moratoriums cannot possibly stand in the face of any rigorous legal challenges…assuming we still have any laws that are not bent to accommodate the establishment. The fact that there has not been a more concerted effort by the banks to thwart these moratoriums makes me suspect that the banks have already been told by the treasury and the Fed that they will be made whole when all is said done. They’ll get 100 cents all the dollar for every defaulted mortgage and still get to auction off the properties en masse to their partner’s vulture capital firms.

    1. The Financial Times
      Opinion Bitcoin
      Nouriel Roubini: bitcoin is not a hedge against tail risk
      Elon Musk may be buying it, but that doesn’t mean everyone else should follow suit
      Nouriel Roubini
      4 hours ago
      The writer is a professor of economics at the Stern School of Business, NYU, and host of NourielToday.com

      Claims that bitcoin is the new “digital gold” are feeding a new bubble in it and other cryptocurrencies. The last one in 2017-18 saw bitcoin go from $1,000 to $20,000 and then fall back to $3,000 by the end of 2018.

      Since the fundamental value of bitcoin is zero and would be negative if a proper carbon tax was applied to its massive polluting energy-hogging production, I predict that the current bubble will eventually end in another bust.

      Referring to bitcoin or other crypto as “currencies” is a misnomer. They are not a unit of account: virtually nothing is priced in them. They are not a scalable means of payment: with bitcoin you can do five transactions per second while the Visa network does 24,000. Bitcoins are barely used by legitimate companies as payment for goods and services, although Tesla said it planned to start accepting them.
      …

    1. Century 21 Realtor ad captioned “The Nastiest Wife on Television”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n-cD8ERgs

      This ad is about 15 years old now. Add smart phones, social media, and an ever increasing sense of millennial self-entitlement and that brings us to today.

      I skipped the “starter marriage” and “starter house” and as a result have skipped on the starter divorce.

      It’s a nice feeling knowing that there isn’t much out there that I want or need. Some of us don’t pay interest to banks.

      1. “I skipped the “starter marriage” and “starter house” and as a result have skipped on the starter divorce.”

        If you had picked one like Suzanne’s friend you did.

        15 years ago the henpecked dude in the commercial said…”The kids are three and one”

        Undoubtedly 15 years later the man who caved is just finishing his child support payments up for the 3 year-old who will be turning 18 even though his ex-wife is gainfully employed and remarried 8 years ago to a middle class wage earner who helps her use the man with the pecked out eyes child support checks as disposable income for dinning out and weekend getaways.

    2. Yeah…I already posted it a few days ago, but it’s definitely worth a repost now and every so often going forward until Housing Bubble 2.0 has finished collapsing.

    2. Install firefox or chrome on your mac (instead of Safari) and use that.

      Better yet, install Brave (which I’m running on my MBP)

    1. Jeff I opened the link you posted to the Dave Rubin Twitter video taken by some male Karen mask fascist. After reading the comments on there I couldn’t bring myself to actually watch it.

      1. Tarara posted that link.

        I’m glad she did, a spotlight needs to be shined on these whining squealers and their mask shaming power trip at every opportunity.

  15. NPR — Juveniles Part Of A Huge Increase In Carjackings Across The Country (2/10/2021):

    “The FBI does not gather national data for vehicular hijackings, however, but many individual cities do. They say the numbers have exploded since the pandemic and show no signs of letting up.

    Even more critical are the number of young car thieves- some as young as 12 or 13. In Minneapolis, for example, there were 405 carjackings last year – more than triple the number that occurred in 2019. The suspects arrested were often juveniles, between the ages of 11 and 17.

    Other cities saw huge increases too, including New Orleans, Kansas City, Mo., Louisville, Ky., and Washington, D.C. Last year in Chicago, there were 1,400 carjackings. In early December, police released a video of one deadly encounter. A retired firefighter was killed in a shootout with four suspects — one of them 15 years old.

    Chicago police say juveniles were involved in nearly half of the incidents last year, with the largest group a mix of juveniles and young adults between 15 and 20 years old.”

    https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/964609023/juveniles-part-of-a-huge-increase-in-carjackings-across-the-country

    LOL@ people who pay property taxes to live in these cities.

    This is what decades of LBJ’s Great Society has brought you. This is what being financially rewarded for having children outside of marriage and raising them without fathers has brought you.

    This is the “fundamental transformation” that you were promised, and under one party government this what you will get more of.

    “Juveniles” aka “youths” aka “students” per the Associated Press style guide when referring to these products of low-investment parents. Real Journalists, you’re not fooling anybody.

    Enjoy the vibrancy and cultural enrichment 🙂

    1. “This is what decades of LBJ’s Great Society has brought you. This is what being financially rewarded for having children outside of marriage and raising them without fathers has brought you.”

      Are you related to fmr Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan? 🙂

      1. I think the only reason Trump wasn’t taken out JFK style was because they knew he would become a martyr.

  16. Major Price Reduction | Prime Beverly Hills Flats

    NOW OFFERED AT $8,995,000
    615 N. Linden Drive
    BEVERLY HILLS, CA 90210

    I looked it up:

    $8,995,000
    4,658 sqft
    Price cut: $855K (2/9)
    615 N Linden Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

    For saleZestimate®: $7,360,633

    Price history
    Date Event Price
    2/9/2021 Price change $8,995,000 (-8.7%) $1,931/sqft
    1/29/2021 Price change $9,850,000 (-8.8%) $2,115/sqft
    1/13/2021 Listed for sale $10,800,000 (+154.1%)
    12/11/2020 Price change $28,000 (-6.7%)
    10/21/2020 Listed for rent $30,000
    6/27/2012 Sold $4,250,042 $912/sqft

    https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/615-N-Linden-Dr-Beverly-Hills-CA-90210/20521674_zpid/

    1. No year built on either Zillow or Realtor.com. Looks like 1920s, in which case it’s been stripped of all character and no longer matches the exterior.

    2. “$8,995,000
      …
      For saleZestimate®: $7,360,633”

      They obviously don’t want to know if the Zestimate is correct.

  17. Landlords removed 835 listings from the market last week—a sharp increase over 399 the week prior.

    Maybe this is because landlords in commie-run cities would rather have their units sitting empty than rent to deadbeats who are going to squat for free for months on end, thanks to forebearances that keep getting extended.

  19. #ClownWorld called. It wants you to wear TWO masks. Dispensation to crawl out from under your bed just long enough to grab a 2nd mask is granted. Flapping your arms while running in circles en route is optional, but encouraged.

    1. Those look like stonks and debt to me.

      I got my eye on some cool-sounding ag commodity ETFs: MOO, VEGI, and PAWZ. Haven’t pull the trig yet; waiting for a pullback.

      1. I started the year 2021 all cash.

        Doing my 2020 taxes was a messy headache, dealing with paperwork from multiple brokerages that I have since consolidated. Note that the Russell 2000 index fund may contain some meme stonks, but it’s comprised of 2,000 separate equities, limiting my exposure to whatever WallStreetBets given flavor of the day stonk is.

        Going “all in” is for degenerate gamblers. My dollar cost averaging of buying on its current schedule could span to a decade or beyond. All whilst maintaining my lifestyle of zero debt and never being beholden to a financial contract that extends more than 12 months from the present.

        If hyperinflation happens I’ll probably just take the Smith & Wesson retirement plan 🙂

        1. I’m working on a similar plan. I actually started it after the pandemic crash last year, but pulled the plug recently when it seemed like the stonk market was getting a bit frothy.

          I’m trying to muster the enthusiasm to reinitiate…

        2. PS I don’t think hyperinflation is a likely way forward in the US. A more likely model is the period of double digit inflation like developed in the 1970s, followed by a series of Volckeresque rate hikes to snuff out the inflation. The cost of our war debt was first pushed onto anyone on a fixed income (e.g. retirees) in the 1970s, then business owners and households with the double-dip recession and crushinhly high interest rates in the early 1980s.

          It wasn’t pretty, but the inflationary pain was doled out over time and never went much over 10% annually. The end of inflation with steep rate hikes was more painful, but contained to only a couple of years before Ronald Reagan discovered the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

          After the dust cleared, the magnitude of our national debt had magically shrunk as a share of GDP, and we were off to a 40 year bull market of falling interest rates and rising stonk prices (the one that hasn’t quite ended yet).

  22. I predict that there will be Government bailouts regarding the unpaid rents during the Lockdowns. The only question is will the Landlord get the bail out or will the mortgage holder get the bailout.
    The mortgage holder is in the biggest risk position should the Landlord stop paying because the renter stopped paying because they barred eviction during the Lockdowns.
    My guess would be a bail out to the mortgage holder after everything is said and done.And this bail out might come post foreclosure.
    The cost of wrongfully shutting down the economy is going to be really big, but rest assured that the people will be charged by the tax coffers.

  25. “My house is everything to me.’”

    You got rocks in yer head debt-donkey….. you got rocks in yer head.

  26. Panem Is Very Afraid and No One Knows Why

    Today, a month after Joe Biden was declared to be our president, there are federal troops in Washington, DC. They were originally sent there to provide security during the sparsely attended Biden installation ceremony because those fearless defenders of freedom and eavesdroppers upon GOP presidential candidates named (at least) Trump, the FBI, claimed, without evidence, that there would be protesters in DC and around the nation, see The FBI Claims Armed Protesters Will ‘Storm’ State Capitols on Inauguration Day; Don’t Get Drawn Into This Nonsense.

    1. The Financial Times
      Opinion Markets Insight
      The ‘stonk’ bubble poses significant global risks
      The primary causes of this market dysfunction are the prevalence of passive investing and leverage
      Carson Block
      GameStop illustrates that capital markets are driven by flows and investor positioning, rather than by the underlying fundamentals of businesses © REUTERS
      Carson Block yesterday
      The writer is founder of Muddy Waters Capital

      The recent boom and bust of GameStop shares are a wake-up call to policymakers that world markets and economies are precariously positioned, and pose serious risks to political stability.

      The US is patient zero for this sickness and as the US goes, so too will much of the world. GameStop illustrates clearly that capital markets are driven by flows and investor positioning, rather than by the underlying fundamentals of businesses.

      The primary causes of this market dysfunction are the prevalence of passive investing and leverage enabled by low interest rates. The combination has resulted in grotesque distortions of capital allocation while further bifurcating society into haves and have nots.

      The increasingly obvious fact is we do not know whether the government will be able to perpetually bail out markets. With interest rates already hovering around 0 per cent, the traditional levers of monetary policy may not be able to rescue markets and prevent another depression.

      The effort to squeeze short-sellers took GameStop’s share price well beyond any rational fundamental valuation. It soared by 23 times within 11 trading days as those who had bet the price would fall were forced to buy shares to cover their obligations.

      One factor that made the GameStop squeeze so profound was passive ownership. About one quarter of the available shares were owned by passive investors. These funds run on autopilot. As new money comes in, it is allocated to keep a constant balance among a specific combination of individual stocks or other assets. As GameStop’s price rose to ridiculous heights, those passive funds were almost certainly buying to maintain their balance.

      These same phenomena are a big part of the Tesla stock story. Ever-rising share prices that have no basis in fundamentals have birthed yet another meme, “Stonks!”, which is feeding frenzied retail speculation.
      …

      1. Dumb question of the day:

        So long as the government has a central bank with a printing press technology, what limits their ability to bail out whatever they choose?

        It’s turtles all the way down in the New Era of Modern Monetary Theory.

        1. The only limit is confidence in the US dollar. If the world loses confidence in the dollar, the US dollar will go the way of Weimar. We’re already seeing this happen in the form of noises about Great Resets, gold as a Tier 1 asset, and most importantly, the call for a new Bretton Woods.

          1. I should also add that the decrease in confidence in the US dollar is being reflected by investors themselves. Hence the investment rush into non-dollar trades such as material commodities, agricultural commodities and land, precious metals, emerging markets, and crypto.

  31. The ink isn’t even dry on the fake ballots and the left is already fracturing:

    Anger inside the New York Times as divided newsroom erupts in debate over recent controversies

    The announcement Friday of the departure of two high-profile journalists from The Times has spurred what some staffers have described as unprecedented levels of divisiveness and controversy inside the newsroom, with staffers warring with each other in private, on Facebook, and even in public on Twitter.

    Now that the orange man is gone, they are already turning on each other. Let the purges begin.

    1. It’s not left, it isn’t liberal. Censorship isn’t liberal. Cancelling millions of good paying energy jobs to fit a phony globalist agenda isn’t liberal. A “Paris” treaty that lets India and China open 1,000 coal plants for 30 years while the US has to shut them all down now (again, millions of jobs) isn’t environmentally sustainable nor liberal. You can have open borders or a safety net – not both: open borders isn’t liberal. I could go on. This was all pretty predictable.

      We aren’t bound by a fake election.

      ‘In political philosophy, the phrase consent of the governed refers to the idea that a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is only justified and lawful when consented to by the people or society over which that political power is exercised.’

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed

    2. Infighting… remember, these are the folks who couldn’t keep an anti-Bush radio station together (AirAmerica) even during Bush’s administration.

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