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Holding On Is A Horrible Thing When The Market Is Going South

It’s Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. “Kootenai County’s housing trend has become a looming menace in the area, but Jennifer Smock of Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty, Inc. believes that it is not a bubble waiting to pop. A sign that this housing boom won’t burst is a new trend of what Smock calls ‘pushback’ from buyers who are refusing to purchase an overpriced property simply because the market is hot. ‘We do see some price reductions,’ she said. ‘That’s a good thing. The price reduction shows that consumers that got greedy couldn’t make it work, and now they’re 10 days on the market and coming down in price. Then people are making offers at a realistic price.'”

“Laconia Development says it’s relaunching sales at Spire, a $350 million, 41-story luxury condominium tower near the Space Needle. About a third of the units have sold, but the developer is looking for a boost after taking a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, which depressed urban condo sales for much of 2020. To that end, Laconia is temporarily lowering asking prices by as much as 10% for the tower’s one- and two-bedroom units. Larger units are also being discounted.”

“‘It’s no secret that the pandemic has impacted the condominium market in major cities across the country. With the end of the pandemic in sight, we want to react to what has happened by offering a significant, limited-time discount on many of the residences at Spire,’ said Paul Menzies, CEO of Laconia.”

“Commit to buy a condo at one of Toll Brothers’ Manhattan towers, and the company will pay to break your apartment lease. Agree to tour a unit at the builder’s Tribeca project, and they’ll send a car to get you. As New York condo developers struggle to attract buyers amid mounting competition, Toll is getting creative. Toll is doing what it can to get to the finish line on some of its longest-running efforts – before thousands more newly constructed units reach Manhattan’s already saturated market. ‘It’s been a long ride for some of these developers,’ said Jonathan Miller, president of New York appraiser Miller Samuel. ‘The lack of certainty might be pushing this drive to exit quickly.'”

“There’s still a lot of inventory coming. Manhattan has an estimated 8,400 unsold new development units – many of which haven’t yet been listed for sale, according to Marketproof. And the borough’s rental market, glutted with nearly 20,000 vacant apartments at the end of last month, is proving a stiff competitor for deal seekers’ attention, as landlords offer record levels of incentives and discounts to attract tenants.”

“I always try to be positive about the future of Calgary’s city centre. Like many urban analysts, I’ve wondered for several years now why builders keep constructing new highrise residential towers when the downtown employment numbers are falling. The west coast contingent was so dominant, I heard Calgary’s downtown referred to as ‘Vancouver East’ a few years ago. However, some Vancouver developers have quietly begun their exodus, as the demand for highrise residential development in our greater downtown declines. If Calgary’s downtown residential market crashes, it will have a major impact on the completion of East Village, which is only half finished.”

“Here we reveal which neighbourhoods saw their prices fall in the year to September 2020. The biggest price drop was in Lincoln Green and St James where the average price fell to £100,487, down by 35.4% on the year to September 2019. Overall, 22 houses changed hands here between October 2019 and September 2020, a drop of 77% in property sales. The second biggest price drop was in New Farnley and Lower Wortley where the average price fell to £158,973, down by 11.1% on the year to September 2019. Overall, 81 houses changed hands here between October 2019 and September 2020, a drop of 40% in property sales.”

“The real estate sector continues to stagnate in Mumbai as a staggering 108,929 housing units remain unsold in the city. From January to March, 6,780 housing units were launched in Mumbai, of which 5,775 houses were sold. As an average of 1,908 housing units is sold every month in Mumbai, it will take at least 57 months to sell its unsold inventory, according to Liases Foras, which pointed out the realty sector’s grim situation, especially amid the second wave of Covid-19 lockdown, where the entire sector has been paralysed.”

“According to Pankaj Kapoor, managing director, Liases Foras, this huge inventory is a cause of worry. ‘The second wave of Covid-19 will only make things difficult for the real estate sector as the sales volume will decrease significantly,’ said Kapoor, adding, ‘In addition, the state government has made things more difficult by withdrawing the stamp duty cut in March-end. The stamp duty cut had helped drive the sales in the past few months.'”

“‘An owner of a real estate asset will not often willingly describe their ownership position as distressed. Instead, a sign of this might be that they are willing to sell the asset at below what they purchased it for, have restructured their mortgage or stopped construction,’ James Hodge, managing director of CBRE Cambodia shared in a brief interview last month. These consequences, though subtle, have been apparent since mid last year.”

“According to Anthony Galliano, CEO of Cambodian Investment Management Co Ltd, the transaction volume in the condominium market fell 15 to 20 per cent over the year whereas sales price contracted by 20 to 30 per cent. This does not include a fire sale of the assets which saw prices retreating further between 40 and 50 per cent. ‘There is a short-term depression or recession in the market, and that has to also do with the [percentage] of foreign ownership,’ said Galliano.”

“Galliano believes that the present situation might provide opportunities to buy properties from foreign investors who are not seeing a return on their investment. ‘Holding on to an inventory without a GRR scheme will cost you money because you are paying maintenance fees and are not getting any return on it. It is a horrible thing especially when the market is going south. I see an opportunity in that area where foreigners who can’t come here would want to get rid of them, willing to take a hit rather than continue to hold on to something that is not giving them returns.'”

“Independent economist Tony Alexander says extending the bright-line test to 10 years and wiping away investors’ ability to use mortgage interest for tax deductibility could lead to a situation where buyers start to question the ability of the residential real estate market to keep rising. ‘Many will worry they are buying at the peak and could be in a falling paper wealth situation in the near future.'”

“Alexander points out this is not the same as saying people are fearing negative equity. This is when a house price falls to below the size of the mortgage. ‘Such a situation is extremely unlikely except for those buyers buying at the peak with a 5% deposit.'”

“In his monthly REINZ & Tony Alexander Real Estate Survey agents around New Zealand are asked which things buyers are most concerned about. In the latest survey a gross 25% of agents said worries about prices falling is the biggest concern for buyers. Alexander says he wouldn’t call it a high degree of fear of over-paying (FOOP) yet. As a result of the Government’s changes targeting property investors, Alexander says he can safely say price expectations are shifting, although the shift in the degree of strength in the housing market was underway beforehand.”

“‘The net per cent of agents noticing more investors in the market has been falling since December, as has the pace of monthly change in house prices before the buying binge to beat the 40% deposit requirement occurred,’ Alexander said.”

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This Post Has 123 Comments

  1. ‘this is not the same as saying people are fearing negative equity. This is when a house price falls to below the size of the mortgage. ‘Such a situation is extremely unlikely except for those buyers buying at the peak with a 5% deposit’

    Oh, that!

    ‘The net per cent of agents noticing more investors in the market has been falling since December, as has the pace of monthly change in house prices before the buying binge to beat the 40% deposit requirement occurred’

    A buying binge right before they pulled the rug from under the market. The winnahs!

    2. “Such a situation is extremely unlikely except for those buyers buying at the peak with a 5% deposit”

      Good thing that the average downpayment for first time buyers is 6%! With a margin of error like that, we are clearly out of the danger zone.

  2. ‘Toll is doing what it can to get to the finish line on some of its longest-running efforts – before thousands more newly constructed units reach Manhattan’s already saturated market’

    This does what to previous buyers? Same with the Seattle airboxes.

    ‘And the borough’s rental market, glutted with nearly 20,000 vacant apartments at the end of last month, is proving a stiff competitor for deal seekers’ attention, as landlords offer record levels of incentives and discounts to attract tenants’

    I see a concerted effort to hype the idea that rental markets in these commie cities is red hotcakes. It’s horsesh$t, as usual. Like SF with a third empty. What’s the NOI on a vacant apartment? Where’s my calculator?

    1. I’d love to buy an airbox in the center of a criminal renaissance and no police presence. Oh yeah gimme that 58% total tax rate also. Where do I sign?

    2. Spire was an ill-conceived property – it is a triangular piece of property on a crowded street. The only reason it got the go-ahead is that it was close to Amazon buildings (both downtown and south lake union). With some work from home – why would you want to buy there. some top floors would have a nice water view?? what else

      “Laconia Development says it’s relaunching sales at Spire, a $350 million, 41-story luxury condominium tower near the Space Needle. About a third of the units have sold, but the developer is looking for a boost after taking a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, which depressed urban condo sales for much of 2020. To that end, Laconia is temporarily lowering asking prices by as much as 10% for the tower’s one- and two-bedroom units. Larger units are also being discounted.”

  3. ‘Like many urban analysts, I’ve wondered for several years now why builders keep constructing new highrise residential towers when the downtown employment numbers are falling’

    QE is deflationary. These idiots are still throwing up towers that no one can afford in London, NYC, Seattle, Mumbai and Phnom Penh. And don’t forget Ho Chi Mien! where the square foot price just went to $18,000 on one box. That’s Dollars, not Dung.

  4. Nothing like @ss pounding the previous buyers!

    You fooked up – you trusted us…

    “About a third of the units have sold, but the developer is looking for a boost after taking a hit during the Covid-19 pandemic, which depressed urban condo sales for much of 2020. To that end, Laconia is temporarily lowering asking prices by as much as 10% for the tower’s one- and two-bedroom units. Larger units are also being discounted.”

  5. But…but…the democrat marxist mayor of NYC sezs the city will be “fully open” on July 1st!!!!!

    “And the borough’s rental market, glutted with nearly 20,000 vacant apartments at the end of last month, is proving a stiff competitor for deal seekers’ attention, as landlords offer record levels of incentives and discounts to attract tenants.”

  7. ‘A sign that this housing boom won’t burst is a new trend of what Smock calls ‘pushback’ from buyers who are refusing to purchase an overpriced property simply because the market is hot. ‘We do see some price reductions,’ she said. ‘That’s a good thing. The price reduction shows that consumers that got greedy couldn’t make it work’

    Ahem…

    November 1, 2020

    “Our fall series on North Idaho price cuts comes to a close with a look at some deals in Coeur d’Alene. Conveniently, all of our featured price cuts are located south of Interstate 90 in the heart of Coeur d’Alene. Being close to downtown and Lake Coeur d’Alene comes at a premium, which definitely explains the prices we’ll see compared to previous price-cut-a-palooza installments.”

    “A bit closer to downtown and near Government Way are two larger homes with enticing price cuts. A four-bedroom, 2,800+ square foot home with a multigenerational layout (an in-law quarters with separate entrance) comes with a 24×24 shop and is priced at $674,000, down $25,000 from mid-October.”

    “Another $25,000 drop nearby comes in the form of a sprawling five-bedroom, four bathroom craftsman with 4,100 square foot, modern amenities and a detached three-car garage. Price: $925,000 – pretty fair once you take a look at the listing, location and comparables. More price cuts can be found east of Tubbs Hill in and around the Sanders Beach neighborhood.”

    “Want new construction near the water in the Sanders Beach neighborhood? Got a million bucks? Well, you can save $60,000 now on a four-bedroom, 4.5 bathroom 2020 home with almost $3,000 square feet and a ton of fancy modern things (including a hot tub!). Price: $1,099,000.”

    “The more money you have, the more you can save… at least in the case of another Sanders Beach property with four bedrooms, 3,300+ square feet and everything fancy. A price cut last month slashed $200,000 to come in at $1,800,000. Folks with that kind of money can buy a few extra cars with that savings.”

    http://housingbubble.blog/?p=4118

    ‘compared to previous price-cut-a-palooza installments’

    Wa?

      1. If you can w@h full time, then ANY city will have good wages. And maybe that will bring up a new problem. For example, what if 100 six-figure Google employees fan out to four different boondock cities? Will those low-cost areas stay low-cost based on prevailing wages, or will sellers in those cities raise their prices, hoping to score one of the 25 google employees? Imagine this happening all over the country.

          1. The “work from home” charade end is imminent.

            Besides…. if youre “working from home”, you’re not providing much value and everyone who matters is finding that out in a hurry.

  8. Is that alot?

    Gee – I hope no leverage was involved…

    “This does not include a fire sale of the assets which saw prices retreating further between 40 and 50 per cent. ‘There is a short-term depression or recession in the market, and that has to also do with the [percentage] of foreign ownership,’ said Galliano.”

  9. Those poor FB bagholders…

    The “peak” will soon become anything purchased in the last decade.

    “Alexander points out this is not the same as saying people are fearing negative equity. This is when a house price falls to below the size of the mortgage. ‘Such a situation is extremely unlikely except for those buyers buying at the peak with a 5% deposit.’”

  10. “Kootenai County’s housing trend has become a looming menace in the area, but Jennifer Smock of Windermere/Coeur d’Alene Realty, Inc. believes that it is not a bubble waiting to pop.

    Do your “feelings” tell you this, Jennifer?

  11. YOLO!!

    FOMO!!!!

    FOOP??????????????

    “Alexander says he wouldn’t call it a high degree of fear of over-paying (FOOP) yet.”

      1. Inside Jerry Nadler’s pant leg while he penguin walks off the stage.

        “They’re not sending their best”

  13. To that end, Laconia is temporarily lowering asking prices by as much as 10% for the tower’s one- and two-bedroom units. Larger units are also being discounted.”

    “Temporarily,” huh?

    1. She could’ve continued the SEC’s long and inglorious tradition of turning a blind eye to the fraud and swindles committed by Wall Street investment banks. How hard is it to have a well-paying do-nothing job?

  15. ‘It’s been a long ride for some of these developers,’ said Jonathan Miller, president of New York appraiser Miller Samuel. ‘The lack of certainty might be pushing this drive to exit quickly.’”

    One certainty isn’t lacking: whoever buys these skyboxes will be living in a Bolshevik-Democrat malgoverned cesspool where both taxes and crime are soaring.

  16. ‘Many will worry they are buying at the peak and could be in a falling paper wealth situation in the near future.’”

    The bullet train to Schlongville is filling up fast with FBs. Anyone who buys now at the peak of the Fed’s Everything Bubble is a drooling imbecile.

  17. Some NAR sponsored content pretending to be a “news” article.

    “We know the housing market in the Denver metro area has been scorching hot for a few years now, but now, buyer frustrations are at a tipping point just as spring buying season kicks into gear.”

    Scorching? Is that a new one?

    “My clients have now been priced out and are being forced to rent again … They’re not even frustrated anymore. They’re just sad.”

    https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/home-buying-frustrations-worsen-as-colorado-enters-spring-selling-season

    1. “My clients have now been priced out and are being forced to rent again … They’re not even frustrated anymore. They’re just sad.”

      No point in “working hard” right now. Might as well travel a bit.

    2. The strong fundamentals supporting soaring housing prices are clearly evident in my hood. Bed bath and beyond threw in the towel (pun intended) and has a store closing sale. The Souplantation across the street finally gave up the ghost and abandoned their location. Sitting empty for a couple of months with all the signage gone. Another sizable Mexican restaurant I noticed this week took down their signage and moved out with building left empty. The only thing keeping most of the rest of commercial enterprises afloat is bail out money. I suspect we are going to see a string of larger and larger bail out programs until they are ready to pull the plug on the system…which can’t be more than a year or two away. I am expecting any day now to wake up in the morning to a global monetary realignment.

  19. Medical journals are reporting a bizarre new side effect of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination, as the recently vaccinated are blurting out “Realtors are liars.”

    1. Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

      “The so-called stumpage fee, or what lumber companies pay to land owners for trees, for Louisiana pine sawtimber on March 31 was $22.75 per short ton, according to the latest data from price provider TimberMart-South. That’s the lowest since 2011.”

      We’re paying less for materials in all divisions than we were paying 10 years ago.

  22. Article for the free sh*tters:

    “Previously, Senate leaders had been putting pressure on President Asterisk to forgive student loans through executive action, with the justification that Republicans would block any efforts to do so through legislation. With the new door open for Democrats, this case falls flat. The power to cancel student debt is now squarely in the hands of Senate Democrats. This will put to the test support for the effort among Democratic lawmakers.

    This all means that Democrats now have the opportunity to pass student loan cancellation legislation without any support from Republicans. Of course, that would also require unanimous agreement within their party, which is seemingly implied by demands for executive action but likely will be missing when the rubber hits the road and lawmakers are on the hook to bear responsibility for the policy.”

    https://thehill.com/opinion/education/550677-change-in-reconciliation-rules-takes-pressure-off-biden-to-forgive-student

    1. Isn’t the student loan program already effectively in mass default to the tune of $500 billion or so?

        1. Subscriber paywall on that link.

          https://archive.is/gKz1g

          If I was going to subscribe to any major newspaper (and give them my money) I would subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. I used to get their dead tree edition back in the day.

          Here on the HBB, we read the New York Times and the Washington Post for free. They are both globalist sh*trags, and unworthy of even a fractional cent of revenue from a click.

        2. People Owning Overpriced Property

          I thought Biden was going to forgive all student loans! And while he’s at it, he should promise every grad, regardless of major, a 6 figure guberment job.

    2. I feel like a moron for paying off my debts as fast as possible. I should have borrowed to go skiing like the smart kids I went to uni with!

  23. The Washington Post is a globalist rag that serves its globalist masters who are bloodsucking nation wreckers.

    Washington Post — The 2020 Census is a clarion call for immigration (4/29/2021):

    “The United States in the past 10 years saw the slowest population growth rate in eight decades, owing both to plummeting fertility and dwindling immigration. Demographic stagnation, and the resulting possibility of anemic economic growth, threaten American vitality.”

    https://archive.is/Zi2Z5

    Archive link because no clicks and no revenue for parasites.

    2. The 2020 Census is a clarion call for immigration

      They tell us that there are too many people, then they tell us that there are too few.

          1. Every time I hear “climate change” I think of Kofi Annan’s son who had a high-ranking position at the Iraq Oil for Food program, or something. Most of the job appeared to involve networking, i.e. partying. They all swore up and down, no corruption, oh no of course not. I can only think the carbon credit thing is just to provide sinecure jobs for diplomat kids.

        2. You’d think that with our huge carbon footprints that they would want to depopulate the US, and not cram it with immigrants who will run out and buy a pickup truck as soon as they can.

          It makes one think that they are insincere.

  24. Lockdown Lovers image file, Florida Is Open edition:

    https://i.redd.it/egywwkudf7w61.jpg

    Meanwhile, Michigan Governor Nurse Ratched is requiring masks for 2 year old children and not re-opening the economy until enough slaves on her plantation infect their brains with prions.

    All those women (people who menstruate, according to your betters) having heavy periods post-vaxx, that’s your ovaries and uterus disintegrating and bleeding out of your body.

    At least your Fauci Ouchie selfie got alot of likes on Instagram…

    1. Alt-Market — Red States Are Fighting Back Against The Reset – What Does This Mean For The Future? (4/29/2021):

      “The past year I have been writing extensively about what I call the “great conservative migration”; a shift in US demographics not seen since the Great Depression. Approximately 8.9 million Americans have relocated since the beginning of the covid lockdowns according to the US Postal service, and a large portion of these people are leaving left-leaning blue states for conservative red states in the west and the south. States like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey were at the top of the list of states people wanted to escape.

      And where are these people going? Places like Idaho, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, etc. ALL red states that are fighting back against draconian covid mandates and other unconstitutional measures.”

      https://alt-market.us/red-states-are-fighting-back-against-the-reset-what-does-this-mean-for-the-future/

      1. More medical tyranny.

        CNBC — Most U.S. companies will require proof of Covid vaccination from employees, survey finds (4/29/2021):

        “A broad majority of U.S. employers, 65%, plan to offer employees incentives to get vaccinated and 63% will require proof of vaccination, according to the survey. Overall, 44% will require all employees to get vaccinated, 31% will just encourage vaccinations and 14% will require some employees to get vaccinated.

        When it comes to consequences for failing to comply with company vaccination policy, 42% of businesses said the employee will not be allowed to return to the physical work environment, and 35% said disciplinary actions are on the table, up to and including possible termination.”

        https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/29/most-us-companies-will-require-proof-of-covid-vaccination-from-employees-survey.html

        Three words: Emergency Use Authorization

        1. Amazing how few people do not know the law. You cannot, I repeat CANNOT be required to have an EUA vaccine to work. They can ask all they want

          1. This is a pearl clutching article.

            NBC News — Pro-Trump web forums are abuzz with directions to forge Covid vaccine cards (4/29/2021):

            “On the extremist forum 4chan, users were told to download a template from Wyoming’s Department of Health website, then given specific directions for the thickness of cardstock needed to replicate the cards. The directions note that some vaccination centers affix stick-on labels on cards to denote the date, so the recommended resolution for the printed labels is also provided.

            Versions of the instructions, which have also been posted to gun forums and QAnon forums, remind users to write the date in a blue ballpoint pen, and not to be too neat with their handwriting, emulating a rushed or tired nurse. Some instructions provide potential batch numbers of the Pfizer or Moderna shots that align with dates they were distributed.”

            https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/covid-vaccination-card-fraud-prompts-cdc-action-rcna802

            Revelation 13:17, King James Version:

            “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

        2. Darn, you mean if I won’t take the vax I’ll be forced to continue to work at home? The horror! I miss having middle aged women demand I create “synergy” by eating donuts with everyone at 10 AM.

        3. Three words: Emergency Use Authorization

          I expect the FDA will conveniently fully approve the vaccines, ending the Emergency Use Authorization.

          1. I’m prepared to die next week after I get my second dose, I’ve lived a full life already and Clown World keeps getting worse every day.

            I didn’t die from: bouncing my head off the inside of a windshield at 40 miles per hour, skiing head on into multiple trees, getting hit on both hands (and through the body) with 277 volts of alternating current, or consuming every drug available in a Grateful Dead concert parking lot.

            This time feels different, driving to my own scheduled potentially botched lethal injection. I’ve already planned for my last meal: Rudy’s Texas BBQ.

            Real Journalists won’t report my death, but my vaxx stats will be reported to the state, which means Governor Polis will allow you to shop at King Soopers without a mask in the year 2025…

          2. In a military deployment to the tropics they pump you full of drugs using these needless injectors designed to inoculate thousands of soldiers herded like cattle into lines with stations of footprints on the floor. You stop on each set of footprints, one takes your paperwork while others inject your arms. But there’s also one they heat-up and inject into one of your buttocks cheeks with a large needle. Then it’s back outside to a formation in the sultry wet bulb heat waiting to see who passes-out.

          3. I’ve already planned for my last meal: Rudy’s Texas BBQ

            Get some extra lean brisket, smoked turkey, and half a hottie. God I miss Texas (bbq)!

        4. Employers have no business being enforcement Entities for another Monopoly being Big Pharmacy.

          If you don’t take the jab you aren’t employable, or when will they dictate you can’t get groceries if you don’t take the jab. This is outrageous and it has nothing to do with public health safety. Its really threatening your life and livelyhood if you don’t comply. In effect this is threatening a persons life if they don’t comply. Cancel culture is similar in silencing opposition to these false narratives.

          These kinds of methods to get compliance is so outrageous and bizarre that its beyond words what they are trying to pull off here.

          There is no way that these Entities in conjunction with corrupted Government isn’t your enemy now .

          And the Big Reset and the 4th big Industrial Revolution, these nuts have planned isn’t anything that people would want. Look, they have already shown they have no real regard for populations of people by their willingness to create the damage and destruction they have already brought on.

          And the fact that a number of these powerful Entities are into depopulation is cause for concern.
          What are they trying to do to the human race for God Sakes. Agenda 21 that was launched about 25 years ago was pretty scary on what they planned for populations of people under the guize of Sustainable Earth.
          The people outnumber them, so that’s why they have to resort to all this sleazy fraud to advance their self serving agendas.
          Reject, reject,reject, that’s all I can say.

      2. Its just like how are they getting away with the 24/7 fake news with censorship of dispute to their narrative. There ought to be a law against this outright fraud.

        I found out that a Court ruling came down that these fake news outlets are considered “Entertainment”, so they can be as fake as they want. And few people have the resources to sue these big outlets for their harm , so they aren’t to afraid of that.

        So, in spite of the occasional case of a lawsuit against their slander or fake news, they just carry on knowing they can get away with it.

        But don’t count on that corrupted Congress to do anything about this fake news because the fake news works for the corrupted fake Politicians.

        Only under these type of conditions can you pull off a insurrection that the Majority didn’t want.

        1. Deplorable,

          You don’t have to take the second shot. I hear a lot of people are cancelling the second shot.

          I have lived a full life also as you say you have, and I have escaped death a couple times also as you say you have. But, you sound kinda depressed about the state of affairs going on in the World. All the more reason for guys like you to be around.

    1. The Financial Times
      Special purpose acquisition companies
      The strange case of the ‘$100m deli’ and the universities that own a slice
      Duke and Vanderbilt have sizeable stakes in a company with one asset: a tiny, small-town eatery
      Hometown International’s delicatessen has struggled during the pandemic, but the company has nonetheless excelled at raising cash from institutional investors
      Mark Vandevelde in Paulsboro, New Jersey yesterday

      Duke and Vanderbilt universities, two of the most prestigious seats of learning in the US, are among the biggest shareholders of a company that owns a single sandwich shop in New Jersey and has a stock market valuation of $100m despite recording just $13,976 in sales last year.

      The delicatessen in Paulsboro, a dusty refinery town abutting the Delaware river near Philadelphia, has attained notoriety on Wall Street after its parent company Hometown International was named by hedge fund manager David Einhorn as an example of the “quasi-anarchy” that he said had taken hold in financial markets.

      “The pastrami must be amazing,” Einhorn quipped in a letter to investors a fortnight ago, citing Hometown’s nine-figure valuation as an example of how toothless financial regulators were permitting a destructive feeding frenzy. “Small investors who get sucked into these situations,” he wrote, “are likely to be harmed.”
      …

      1. i still dont get this. Is it a ponzi scheme? Is it out-and-out fraud? who is the fiduciary recommending this?

        1. This may be of help …

          SPACs: A guide to special purpose acquisition companies | Public.com
          https://public.com/learn/spacs-a-guide-to-special-purpose-acquisition-companies?yay=cabgs6m&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1a6EBhC0ARIsAOiTkrHIO8XLKunPvbTyuQhTBmVMDNP8mcHT0rXBJTyPcZFMl4gv6CA2ot4aAjPhEALw_wcB

          (snip)

          “A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is a shell company that raises public funds to acquire a private company
          SPACs are ‘blank-check companies,’ meaning, investors are contributing funds to a company that has no concrete business plan
          Investors contribute to SPACs because the shell company is often formed by an experienced executive with industry knowledge who is trusted to make a smart acquisition on the shareholders’ behalf
          Given a SPAC unit’s low price, and high potential upside, investors may consider contributing funds if they believe in the leadership team and industry that the SPAC represents.”

          Think P.T. Barnum. Think Theronos. Think how stupid most people are.

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

        4. It’s Powellbucks gone to die, like giving Twiggy a thousand bucks and forcing her to spend it at Lane Bryant.

        5. You do what works.

          And when it stops working, you join the chorus with others who invest other people’s money in the common refrain: “Noone could have seen it coming!”

  26. Ok, so its obvious that the crazy lending is the fuel for the real estate bubble. No reasonable risk assessment on lending.

    Lately on the news in California they are talking about shortages, now they are saying chicken shortages. The day before it was gas shortage talk. Notices by industries of intent to increase prices in June.

    So, when I think about how Monopolized big industry has become, its not capitalism but its price fixing by monopolies.

    Everything is just so artificial, and I can’t help but compare it to times in the US when capitalism was operative. Its easy to discredit capitalism , when we aren’t even operating under capitalism anymore.

    If it was true capitalism, risk in lending would be weighed and you wouldn’t have the Government backing all these shit loans. Its all about rigged markets in every way. And when the bubbles pop its all about the looters by these schemes transferring the loss to the people.

    Regulated capitalism limited the profit margins of the one % and it was just a matter of corruption of Government to tip the scales to Monopoly dictorship. Than keep a populist movement from forming by divide and conquer by the most ridicules false narratives with censorship of dispute.

    The Medical Scam of a unjustified Pandemic where the goal is to vaccinate the globe with experimental vaccines , where big Pharmacy has no liability , has to be one of the biggest crimes against humanity, that I have witnessed in my lifetime.

    Why are you canceled if you don’t chant that vaccines are safe and just take the jab and don’t ask questions. How insulting that your suppose to suspend all critical thinking and just take the experimental jab, that they really don’t know what the results will be.
    I am mortified that they are moving toward wanting to vaccinate young people, babies, pregnant women, and people who are not at risk of getting some respiratory disease that is fatal. And they are moving toward FDA approval of these vaccines, as if 4 months of roll out of the jab constitutes long term trials.

    There might of been some justification to give the high risk group the vaccine , but vaccination of the entire globe or 70% is outrageous.

    I consider Big Pharmacy as one of the biggest Monopolies and special interest groups around ,along with the Medical system that Big Pharmacy dominates.
    A populist movement was forming to get rid of Obama care and, the mandate that you had to have insurance.I suspect that Big Pharmacy was one of the biggest opposition forces against the Trump agenda. Not surprising that that Big Pharmacy asserted this medical tyranny, as being one of the biggest advertiser for fake news, at this exact timing.
    Doctors that oppose this outrageous medical tyranny, that are being censored, are the real heroes. People have no clue how much Drs in general have been under the tyranny of Big Pharmacy for a long time now. Dr discretion was taken away in favor of Standard of care Big Pharmacy dictates. If your a Dr and your at risk of the medical board taking your job, than what are you going to do?

    So, the insanity of the real estate market is just another example of a artificial market that will crash eventually. I don’t know how long they can keep this insanity going.

    The next area they are going to mess with is Climate Change to justify messing with energy, and no doubt messing with food, as Bill Gates buys up farmland in the US.
    Only a populist movement can combat all these areas where the one % insurrection plans to take over can stop it. The sooner the better, because every inch of control they get makes them go faster and farther.
    Don’t comply, don’t buy a overpriced shack, don’t buy into any of their fake narratives. The fact that they stole the election and put their creep Puppet Biden in, gives you grounds to reject anything they are pushing. Its already obvious they are fraudulent liars.

    1. Lately on the news in California they are talking about shortages, now they are saying chicken shortages. The day before it was gas shortage talk. Notices by industries of intent to increase prices in June.

      That seems to be the drum they are beating. We are also being told that there are no cars to buy. The local Ford stealership has over 100 new cars on the lot. The GM dealer has almost 140. Some shortage.

  27. Ooo, Kaplan says he’s worried that we are in a housing bubble. No s.hit you caused it

    1. Ok, I have good friends that have taken the jab, so for their sake I hope these vaccines turn out to be ok for them.
      At the same time I’m pissed that these people were fear mongered into taking the shots along with the censorship of news making it not really informed consent. Denial of weighting risk by fake news censorship of all information to weight risk.

      My one friend was just told that he was getting the best vaccine to not get Covid. The couple that lives next door to me both got sick taking the first jab and they aren’t looking forward to the second jab.

      I have always been against what the Medical cartel and FDA has deemed acceptable adverse reactions to Big Pharmacy, and even death being rationalized as a side effect.No risk being weighed and just to bad if your one of the victims of the Pharmacy Standard of Care.

      But, I’m just crossing my fingers that people aren’t going to get harmed by these vaccines, but the evidence is showing that some have been harmed by adverse reactions and death.

    2. “Ooo, Kaplan says he’s worried that we are in a housing bubble. No s.hit you caused it”

      https://themarket.ch/interview/the-world-wide-suppression-of-interest-rates-has-been-something-very-near-to-a-crime-ld.85
      Das Interview
      «The World-Wide Suppression of Interest Rates Has Been Something Very Near to a Crime»
      James Grant, editor of the renowned investment newsletter «Grant’s Interest Rate Observer», warns about the growing herd of corporate «zombies» and other fatal market distortions caused by modern monetary policy.
      Christoph Gisiger 03.04.2019, 22.00 Uhr

      “For quite some time, you have been warning that extreme measures like negative interest rates and quantitative easing will get us into trouble. But so far, the central banks remain confident that their policies are working.
”

      “What we see is an attempt to make things smooth and to forestall crises through keeping interest rates very low. But central banks are arsonists and firemen. They are arsonists because they strike the matches which set off the fire. It’s like an underground fire in a coal mine: You can see the smoke seeping up out of the ground and the ground is warm under foot, but you can’t see the flames. Then, time passes and the fire spreads and becomes more fierce and hotter. Finally, it bursts out of the ground. That’s in some way what happens in the credit markets.”

      “What do you mean by that?
”

      “Robert Kaplan, the President of the Dallas Federal Reserve for instance, recently came out and said he is worried about the buildup of corporate debt, especially the lower rated portions of that debt. He’s concerned about the risk that this debt is coming on the market in great waves during a recession. Therefore, the Fed should be very careful with raising rates, he argues. So basically, what he is saying is that the Fed must keep rates low to perpetuate the debt cycle which has given us an excess of debt about which he is worried. This is crazy, right?“

      “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble!” – William Shakespeare, Macbeth

      1. It is a crime. QE is also a crime. People at the Fed used to say so straight out years ago, when discussing monetizing US guberment debt. Now it happens every day.

        1. People at the Fed used to say so straight out years ago, when discussing monetizing US guberment debt.

          They now conjure trillions into existence, which is mostly borrowed by the guberment. No one even bats an eye at the numbers, it’s now “Party on, Garth”

          1. Since they don’t release M1, M2, or M3 anymore we really don’t how much they printing. They could be working on a quadrillion by now.

        2. It’s because they’re changing the rules of the game as they go. Whatever it takes to guarantee that they and their rich buddies don’t lose. Anything goes, society and the rule of law be damned. The question is: When does somebody finally start shooting these people?

  29. What is this gender thing where they are trying to get rid of gender it appears. Male and female have been around since the dawn of man , but somehow these nuts are questioning that fact.
    But they must think that they gain something by this denial of reality.

    1. Imagine your trans-boss wearing an airy summer dress over his leopard print banana sling to the office?

    2. “What is this gender thing where they are trying to get rid of gender it appears. ”

      I ran across this …

      “The Gender identity is how a person feels and who they know them self to be when it comes to their gender. There are more than two genders, even though in our society the genders that are most recognized are male and female (called the gender binary) and usually is based on someone’s anatomy (the genitals they were born with). This is gender assignment and it is based on an assumption that someone’s genitals match their gender. However, gender isn’t about someone’s anatomy, it is about who they know them self to be. There are many different gender identities, including male, female, transgender, gender neutral, non-binary, agender, pangender, genderqueer, two-spirit, third gender, and all, none or a combination of these.

      “There are many more gender identities then we’ve listed. Gender can be complex and people are defining themselves in new and different ways as we gain a deeper understanding of identities. Some terms may mean different things to different people. There are certain terms some folks may not like to use or call themselves and some terms that they may like to use or call themselves. If you’re not sure what to call a person, it’s best to ask the person what they would like to be called. It is always up to us to decide how we identify, and how we express our gender. However you decide or identify deserves to be respected and supported.”

      https://teentalk.ca/learn-about/gender-identity/

      😁

    3. But they must think that they gain something by this denial of reality.

      I believe it’s called “power”, or “control” if you prefer. Recall the scene in 1984 where Winston is forced to say he sees 5 fingers when there are only four.

      1. When I was an undergrad in the 80’s, the school had a student org called LAGO (Lesbian and Gay Organization). I recall another student telling me, in breathless tone, about how much power LAGO had.

        It’s all about power. The belief is that once you have it, you can then take anything you want.

        1. But, this is something more than a small percentage of people rejecting the sex they were born into and being accepted by Society.
          IMHO, this is some kind of movement to have a genderless Society somehow. They are trying to confuse young children for God Sakes and change their sex .
          Males are being attacked as toxic males for just kinda doing what comes natural. Women are being subjected to competition and privacy invaded by people who are males who just say they
          feel female.
          There has got to be something going on here that is bigger than simply assuring some civil rights of transgenders.
          Some kind of a power thing like In Colorado said.

          Its just like this attack on the White race as being a terrorist threat to the US according to that nitwit Biden. Everything seems to be a attack on what you might call normal bell curve culture.
          I don’t know if its a form of gaslighting or making everything adnormal , even the basic two sexes that have been around for thousands of years.
          I’m just saying they are doing this for a reason other than the reasons on the surface.

          Just like the Defund the Police thing unless you do what we want. Like the different treatment for summer rioters verses the Jan 6 lawbreakers.
          Everything just bat shit crazy in every way.

          This attack on normal is pretty aggressive and obviously threatening to even being comfortable in your own home land, just waiting for the next assault on sanity. These Globalist want to tear down everything I think.

  31. Lockdown Lovers image file(s), Friday Bonus Content edition.

    Office Space:

    https://i.redd.it/bvzvzwt3qcw61.jpg

    This is Reddit:

    https://i.redd.it/iq5q8x0kgbw61.jpg

    Note that the second one is from Reddit and is wholly representative of what 99.9% of Reddit is. This is Real Journalists. This is all corporate media. This is who you are giving money to when you click on a link to the New York Times or Washington Post.

    Globalists gonna globe.

    1. I love how they think there would be increased prosperity if all the producers were to die.

      1. In Colorado,

        They have already said in those stupid Agenda 21 documents that 500 million World wide was the objective for sustainable earth. I guess they think robots will pick up the slack .

        But the first time I read Agenda 21, that they openingly passed out about 17 years ago , my first thought was how do you expect to eliminate about 7 billion people . And than they were talking about moving populations to 5 major City Centers in the US. They were talking about people like they were cattle . Everything they were talking about was social engineering and crazy stuff.

        The justification was “Sustainable Earth” pursuant to their vision of what that is, whoever they are. Nothing about urging populations to reduce offspring voluntarily to obtain a more sustainable earth, just this number of 500 million.

        So , I don’t know what agendas have morphed out of the Agenda 21 , but I guess now its Great Reset/4 th big Industrial Revolution/ Climate Change , whatever they are up to. They weren’t elected and they are trying to be God. And after hearing a bunch of these creeps talk, they can’t hide how psychopathic they are. Unreal.

        1. I’m sure the agenda 21 people want the producers to survive. Victims Studies majors won’t keep the lights on nor the Gulfstreams flying.

          I referring to the ding dong on reddit who wants all the “worst people” (you know, the ones who do real work and pay taxes) to die.

          1. Do they want the producers to survive? Some kind of slave like existence for compliant producers.

            And its hard to tell what they mean by the “Great Reset” and “4th industrial Revolution .” I have to take it serious that they are planning some kind of big change that they control everything, all resources, money, what you get to eat etc.

            Whatever this is they need to fail.

      1. The Financial Times
        Opinion On Wall Street
        Hedge funds confused by turns in markets
        Many are struggling to cope with asset prices moving in ways they would not normally expect
        Laurence Fletcher
        Gains on GameStop trades boosted Senvest but other hedge funds have posted more mundane performances
        Laurence Fletcher 2 hours ago

        Hedge funds have posted their best start to a calendar year since before the financial crisis. But, behind the strong headline numbers, managers are struggling to cope with some confusing moves in markets.

        Funds gained a tidy 6 per cent in the first quarter, according to data group HFR, helped by rising stock markets and a sharp rally in beaten-down so-called “value” areas of the equity and credit markets that some funds favour.

        Some returns have been eye-popping. Senvest, helped by a well-timed position in GameStop, has gained 67 per cent. Crispin Odey’s Odey European fund, one of the sector’s most volatile funds, is up 56 per cent, and Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital, which latched on to the value rally, is up more than 40 per cent.

        But, those figures aside, most investors in hedge funds have not enjoyed such strong gains, and many managers’ returns have been far more mundane. For instance, equity hedge funds gained 7.1 per cent in the first quarter, based on performance averaged by the number of funds. But that figure is skewed by strong gains from smaller funds. When performance is weighted by assets instead, then funds were up a more modest 2.8 per cent on average.

        And for every chart-topping manager, there is a fund languishing deep in the red. HFR data shows the gap between the best and worst-performing funds is higher than at any point in the two years before the coronavirus crisis.

        “Hedge fund performance in the first quarter has been like the [equity] market — the indices are very good, but some underlying strategies, or sectors, have underperformed,” said Cedric Vuignier, head of liquid alternative managed funds and research at Syz Capital.

        A major problem for many managers is that markets are not really functioning in the way they would normally expect them to. Trillions of dollars of central bank stimulus, as well as the surge in retail investor activity during the pandemic, have broken some of the tried and trusted relationships between news and price movements that managers have based their systems on.

        Take London-based Sandbar Asset Management, which has lost 3.9 per cent in its $2.4bn Global Equity Market Neutral fund this year. It highlights the relationship between share prices and changes in earnings expectations. Normally, and intuitively, an improvement in expectations about a company’s earnings should mean that its share price rises, while greater pessimism should send the shares lower.

        Instead, this correlation has dropped sharply in recent months “to levels not seen in the last decade”, Sandbar said in a presentation to investors. And in sectors such as aerospace it has turned negative, meaning that improving earnings expectations have actually pushed share prices lower.
        …

  33. Well worth the 45 minutes: Perspectives on the Pandemic | “Blood Clots and Beyond” | Episode 15

    n February, 2021, Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, M.D. and a number of his colleagues warned the European Medicines Agency about the potential danger of blood clots and cerebral vein thrombosis in millions of people receiving experimental gene-based injections.

    Since then, two of the four injections have been suspended or recalled in Europe and the United States for just that reason.

    In this episode of Perspectives, Professor Bhakdi explains the science behind the problem, why it is not just limited to the products already suspended, and why in the long term we may be creating dangerously overactive immune systems in billions of unwitting subjects.

        1. A relative has a friend who works at an OBGYN practice. The word is that miscarriages are through the roof, in never seen before numbers. Of course this does not get reported in the MSM.

          3. From that CBS News Article: Ten patients [out of nearly 600 hospital patients between March and mid-August who both tested positive for COVID-19 and were pregnant] experienced either a miscarriage or stillbirth, but the report noted that the [sic] it “likely underestimates the percentage of pregnancy losses that occur among women with COVID-19.” Five of the pregnancy losses occurred after 20 weeks into the pregnancy.

          4. Looks like miscarriage is a symptom of COVID too.

            Then why inject a transcript for a portion of the pathogen?!

      2. Correlation is not causation. 🙄

        “Of the 3,544 deaths reported as of April 23, 25% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination, 17% occurred within 24 hours and 40% occurred in people who became ill within 48 hours of being vaccinated.”

    2. Thanks for posting this video. Every new thing I hear about these vaccines makes me less and less likely to get one.

  34. Redpilled,

    What a wonderful Doctor and Professor in that tape you posted.
    One of the things I got out of it is that the vaccine is going to places in the body that normally the battle wouldn’t be going to. The viruses normally come in thru the nose and mouth and than down to the lungs if the battle gets worse.

    So it seem like injecting this gene therapy into the muscle takes the battle to places the fight normally wouldn’t occur, like the brain.

    I heard another Dr. say that they were originally using this type of gene tampering for potential cancer treatments.

    But this Dr recommended that you don’t take more even if you have taken one shot. I know that a lot of people are cancelling the second shot.
    He talked about the booster shot they have already prepared for the so called mutant strains. But another Dr said that the mutants have only altered by .o3 percent which the body easy recognizes.
    In fact same Dr. said they did tests from people who got a Covid virus 17 years ago, which only mutated 20 % in 17 years, and their antibodies still took care of the mutation .
    So this mutant strain need for a booster I think they are just making up this shit.
    Unreal.

    1. What a wonderful Doctor and Professor

      Indeed. He had me LOLing at points with his frankness.

  35. Is a plethora of recent articles about why the housing market will or won’t crash in and of itself a crash indicator?

    2. I’ve been mansplained by people who know squat about how it’s different this time.

      And they are right. For one thing, I lack the patience I had back in 2006 to point out all the reasons they are wrong about why this is not a bubble.

      1. “Experts say this isn’t that — it’s economics.”

        Pretty dumb thinking.

        Home
        Economy
        The housing market is the hottest it’s been since right before the 2008 crash
        Ben Winck , Libertina Brandt , and Hillary Hoffower
        Apr 28, 2021, 10:14 AM
        – Home price growth and construction are the hottest they’ve been since 2006 — the peak of a housing bubble.
        – Despite the similarities of some housing data from 15 years ago to today, experts see two very different markets.
        – Conditions driving this market boom are “fundamentally, radically different,” an economist told Insider.

        Housing data is hitting levels unseen since 2006 in at least three different ways, begging the question of whether this is another bubble. Experts say this isn’t that — it’s economics.

        Another housing bubble 15 years after the last one would be very bad news, as the epic pop of that market in 2008 threatened the stability of the entire global financial system. But while today’s price inflation is similar to then, the drivers behind this market rally look different.
        …

      2. There is one huge difference from last time: multitrillion dollar government budget deficit spending. When will it stop?

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