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A Long, Flatulent Sound Of Air Being Let Out Of A Big Party Balloon

A report from the Santa Fe New Mexican. “‘So, what do you make of this housing bubble?’ I am occasionally asked. In 2007, I obtained a ‘no doc’ loan. Then came the crash of October 2008. Almost overnight, the value of the home dropped $150,000 less than what I paid the year before, meaning a $200,000 drop in the illusion of equity. The bubble holding me up definitely popped. I was underwater and sinking fast. I’d bought high and sold low.”

“Eventually, rising prices will decrease the pool of eligible buyers. Strong market demand will continue to stimulate supply. Credit rules might ease. National down payment assistance programs are contemplated. A market equilibrium could be on the horizon. But it’s a far horizon. It’s unlikely we’ll hear a pop like the deafening bang of 2008. More likely, it’ll be a long, flatulent sound of air being let out of a big party balloon.”

From Business Insider. “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued new rules to facilitate a smooth transition once the ban on foreclosures expires. Two weeks ago, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced new calculations to determine mortgage assistance that would make it easier for people with student debt to buy a home – especially people of color. ‘For people of color, especially Black people, homeownership is wealth,’ HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said. ‘It’s not only wealth to us, but it’s generational wealth.'”

The Review Journal in Nevada. “Locally and nationally, the heated housing market has shown some signs of cooling down during the normally busy spring buying season. In Southern Nevada, sales have fallen in the past few months, customer traffic to homebuilders’ subdivisions has dropped, and the tally of available listings has climbed.”

“Some 30 miles northwest of the Strip, a cluster of homes sit in the middle of the desert off U.S. Highway 95 with hardly anything around them. But that hasn’t stopped the pint-sized community off Corn Creek Road from cashing in on the housing craze. Advertised as being off the grid, a nearly 2-acre property there — featuring a two-story house, a private well, a 500-gallon propane tank, and electrical power supplied by 32 solar panels and a 24-battery bank — was put up for sale May 17 at $365,000.”

“It went under contract with a buyer just several days later, May 23. The sale closed this week at $400,000 — a full $35,000 over the asking price, its listing history shows.”

From Fox Business. “‘Buyers found that they could purchase with very low-interest rates and lock in these rates for a long term,’ Kristin Ehrgott, founding broker of the Live Here Property Group at Compass, New Jersey, told FOX Business. ‘This means that their budget can stretch higher on the purchase price of the home while still keeping their mortgage payments low for up to 30 years.'”

“Ehrgott cautioned that even when the price declines in the near future, homeowners benefitting from low mortgage payments for the long term ‘will likely wait out the market and not sell until they gain equity back.'”

The Chicago Tribune in Illinois. “A 10-room Gold Coast mansion — one of just seven mansions remaining on North Lake Shore Drive — sold Friday for $4.25 million, almost six years after it was listed for $17 million. The sale brings to a close the International College of Surgeons’ long effort to sell the four-story mansion at 1516 N. Lake Shore Drive, which it purchased in 1947 for $85,000 and which it long had used as office and meeting space.”

“The group previously tried to develop the mansion and an adjacent property it owns in the 1990s, but was stymied by the mansion’s landmark status. It then placed the mansion on the market for $17 million in 2015, eventually cutting the asking price to $6 million in 2019. The group made its final price reduction to $5.75 million in April, striking a deal in June.”

The Real Deal on New York. “Kevin Clayton paid $11.5 million for a condo unit at Extell Development’s Central Park Tower on Billionaires’ Row. Clayton and his wife bought the 2,500-square-foot unit at the world’s tallest residential tower at 217 57th Street. Property records show the couple got a 15% discount from the last listed price. A glut of luxury condos in the city has driven down the price of units lingering on the market. Extell’s Gary Barnett has said he expects to lose money on half of his current projects.”

From Bisnow Los Angeles in California. “The SEC this week announced it has filed charges against a Santa Clarita man and five entities he owns and controls, alleging that between 2015 and 2020, he orchestrated four unregistered and fraudulent real estate investment offerings, raising more than $9M from more than 100 investors. Matthew J. Skinner, who marketed himself as a successful real estate investor and ‘dealmaker,’ offered tips on a number of online platforms about real estate investing.”

“Skinner and Bayside Equity LP raised $3.1M from investors who were told they would receive an interest in two to-be-developed waterfront residences in Newport Beach. Skinner and entities he controls ‘misrepresented the extent of Skinner’s interest in this project, inflated the projected returns, and sent only $2M to the project, spending the remaining $1.1M on unrelated things, including substantial personal expenses,’ such as vacations and payments on a Maserati, the SEC wrote in the complaint.”

“Through Simple Growth LLC, Skinner raised more than $1.3M, ‘telling investors he would invest their money in multifamily real estate and guaranteeing double-digit returns ‘no matter what.’ Instead, the money went to payroll, personal expenses and ‘Ponzi-like payments,’ the SEC charges.”

From Realtor.com on California. “On the market in 2016 for $195 million, the legendary Beverly Hills property now known as the Hearst Estate is once again cutting its price. It’s now available for a still stratospheric $69,950,000. The longtime owner purchased the place in the 1970s. After making massive improvements to the estate in the 1990s, and living there for 40 years, he faced mounting debt on the home. He eventually put the property into bankruptcy and the saga of attempted sales efforts commenced.”

“After the initial, aspirational asking price, the mansion bounced back onto the market in 2018 for $135 million. About a year ago, the property had another $10 million slashed from the price.No takers came forward, and in April, with new listing agents, and a new name, the residence came on the market for a significantly lower, yet still hefty price of $89.75 million. This week, the price has been cut by an additional 22%. ‘It’s just cool to see Hollywood at its heyday,’ agent Anthony Marguleas says. ‘That’s the experience you have. It’s really, really special.'”

“Now, it’s even more specially priced.”

From Blog TO in Canada. “The City of Toronto has been mulling over the idea of a vacant home tax to help free up hoarded housing supply for years, and now such a tax on tens of thousands of empty condos and houses could be in place by as soon as Jan. 1, 2022. Even if it doesn’t nudge all wealthy investors into action, council believes it acts as a signal of sorts that ‘housing stock and supply is important for people as homes, and not primarily as a buy-hold speculative commodity without any public regulation.'”

“Preliminary surveys already suggest that such a change will inspire a good proportion of investors — more than two thirds — to sell. Such buyers account for approximately 20 per cent of residential purchases across the country, moreso in urban centres such as Toronto than elsewhere.”

From Unilad. “A Vatican criminal tribunal charged Cardinal Angelo Becciu along with five former Vatican officials and a number of Italian businessmen with crimes including embezzlement, extortion, fraud and abuse of office. The indictments were made following an investigation in the use of Church funds to purchase a €350 million apartment block in Chelsea, west London, in 2018.”

“Over the past two years, investigators have explored how the Vatican’s Secretariat of State managed the Church’s asset portfolio, with the defendants accused of defrauding the Church of millions of dollars, much of which was donated to the Vatican to ostensibly be used for charity work. One of the defendants was charged with embezzling funds intended to pay ransoms for Catholic priests and nuns being held hostage in Africa, instead allegedly using the money to buy luxury goods.”

The New Zealand Herald. “A woman convicted of ‘fraud’ is serving home detention in a luxury $10 million Remuera mansion owned by a Singapore-based businessman linked to Jack Ma’s behemoth Alibaba e-commerce website. The businessman, Yifei Sheng, bought the sprawling property and neighbouring tennis court in September last year for $10.25m without ever stepping foot inside. Sheng, who intends to bowl the 440sq m four-bedroom house, has spent at least $22m buying Auckland properties in the past three years.”

“The Herald can reveal the Remuera property is not the only luxury mansion linking the pair. Property records show Chen, 51, and her separated husband Andrew Shiu sold their former clifftop home on Glendowie’s blue chip Riddell Rd to Sheng in 2019 for $9m – reported as one of the year’s biggest property deals. Just 15 months later Sheng on-sold the home – again for $9m – to Yongming Wu. Both sales were off-market, meaning no licensed real estate agents were involved, and neither deal appears to have required a mortgage. And despite the Glendowie property being bought by both Sheng and Wu for $9m, neither man appears to have taken possession.”

“A former owner who sold the Remuera property to Sheng confirmed the wealthy mansion lover had never personally viewed the house before agreeing to pay $10.25m. She thought it was odd that someone would pay so much money for a house without stepping foot inside. She recalled a representative telling her Sheng ‘hasn’t seen the place because he can’t get a visa.'”

“Chen was charged with obtaining by deceit after telling buyers in a Pokeno property development scheme they needed to pay $100,000 in cash, on top of the purchase price, as commission fees to ensure the deals went through. But a judge found she had illegally pocketed the money, saying her offending was motivated by greed. ‘Your motivation, in effect was to defraud for your own benefit two persons whom you knew socially through the Chinese community in Auckland and that, of course, was not only unfair, it was morally and legally wrong,’ Judge Peter Rollo said.”

The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. “NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler said the most concerning finding from the survey by Fair Trading and the peak body for strata managers was that fewer than a fifth of the buildings with serious defects had been reported to the regulator. ‘What that is telling us is that a large number of body corporates are sitting on known defects and not reporting them,’ he said.”

“Mr Chandler cited a building of about 200 apartments on Sydney’s lower north shore which has defects he describes as ‘scandalous.’ He was alerted to it by a whistleblower, and the building will now be subject to an audit which is expected to lead to public orders for defects to be fixed. ‘My concern is that there are still properties transacting in that building, where there are owners selling and purchasers buying,’ he said.”

“Mr Chandler said he believed the main reason they stayed silent was due to fears that reporting defects to authorities would lower the value of apartments and make them harder to sell. Chris Duggan, the NSW president of the peak body for strata managers, said there was often a challenge with overseas owners who ‘don’t see and feel’ the benefits of spending on maintenance. ‘They only see the additional costs rather than the improvements and the amenity,’ he said.”

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This Post Has 103 Comments

  1. ‘Advertised as being off the grid, a nearly 2-acre property there — featuring a two-story house, a private well, a 500-gallon propane tank, and electrical power supplied by 32 solar panels and a 24-battery bank — was put up for sale May 17 at $365,000…It went under contract with a buyer just several days later, May 23. The sale closed this week at $400,000 — a full $35,000 over the asking price’

    Jeebus, that might just be peak insanity. I can’t imagine anything more miserable than off grid in that sun baked sh$t hole.

    1. On grid might be even more miserable. This is worse than that Bullhead City/Treasure Valley area in Arizona. I’m just grateful that most of the migrating locusts out West are largely leaving the East alone, except for Nashville. They can have their desert.

      I’m seriously considering an Oil City Retirement plan.

      1. Oil City is no longer affordable after this latest most pervasive of all bubble price runups.

        1. Just checked Zillow… OC still looks affordable, but proportionally it’s pretty bubbly. For example, a nice 3/1.5 ranch on an acre has increased from $85K to $120K.

          1. I’m usually fairly quick, but I thought “oil city” was a figure of speech, a concept, an idea… is it a real place? Oil City PA??

          2. Oil City is an inside joke from many years ago. During the last bubble, we had a poster named “ByeFL” who had this goal of moving to Oil City, Pennsylvania, because the housing was so cheap there. Housing IS cheap there, because it’s in sparsely populated Rust Belt.

            At the same time, we at HBB were seeing stories of Supercommuters in CA who would drive 90 minutes each way to work some menial job and still afford a house. Drive until you qualify. And we wondered, if the only job you have is low-pay, why are you in expensive California? Move to a cheap place and buy a cheap house… like the houses in Oil City, PA. Financially you’re better off. That morphed into the “Oil City Plan.”

          4. Oil City is very real. It has a storied past: “After the first oil wells were drilled in 1861, it became central to the petroleum industry while hosting headquarters for the Pennzoil, Quaker State, and Wolf’s Head motor oil companies.”

            I made a pilgrimage to Oil City back in ?2014-2015? and documented it on this site.

            In fact, the first oil well in the country was dug at Drake Well, a stone’s throw from Oil City. The place still retains faded splendor from the finely wrought marble buildings erected there, to house the collective HQs of these former industrial titans.

            It is located in a shallow river valley, well suited for pipeline transport. River’s much to small for barge, tanker. Although I scrutinized, I could find no trace of what had to have been the pipelines.

            It was a real trip down a cultural memory lane. The only other tourists I saw at Drake Well were a family making their livings from offshore drilling in Brazil.

          5. suited for pipeline transport. River’s much to small for barge

            There was no pipeline. Barrels were floated down the Allegheny River in the spring when the river swelled. Destination Pittsburgh.

      2. Senior citizens want lots of infrastructure: good hospitals, prompt response times for emergency responders, food delivery, people to cut the grass and other support staff. I don’t know if Oil City has that.

        1. UMPC hospital is 5 miles away. Maybe not a world-class facility, but it’s something. Pittsburgh is 70 miles away. Oil City itself might not be most ideal, but there are thousands of towns just like it, closer to a major city. Unlike the West, in the Eastern states you’re never really that far from civilization.

    2. “…nearly 2 acres…?”

      Give me a break. That’s like “howdy neighbor” distance. It should be at least 40 acres out in that focking wasteland.

  2. ‘My concern is that there are still properties transacting in that building, where there are owners selling and purchasers buying’

    Don’t be a party pooper Dave, these people are winnahs!

    ‘there was often a challenge with overseas owners who ‘don’t see and feel’ the benefits of spending on maintenance. ‘They only see the additional costs’

    Chinese investors strike again. The NZ article is worth reading in full. The money laundering shenanigans continue, with a Singapore loophole.

  3. ‘A glut of luxury condos in the city has driven down the price of units lingering on the market. Extell’s Gary Barnett has said he expects to lose money on half of his current projects’

    But inventory loans Gary? Wa happened to my frenzy CNBC?

    ‘only $2M to the project, spending the remaining $1.1M on unrelated things, including substantial personal expenses,’ such as vacations and payments on a Maserati…raised more than $1.3M, ‘telling investors he would invest their money in multifamily real estate and guaranteeing double-digit returns ‘no matter what.’ Instead, the money went to payroll, personal expenses and ‘Ponzi-like payments’

    That’s some red hotcakes right there.

    1. Was just in NYC last week. Walked all over. First hand observations.

      Mask use is schizophrenic. Full spectrum of wear everywhere to none at all. No one seems to say anything either way.

      The city is crowded again. Maybe 75% of normal.

      Everywhere are closed shops and restaurants. From highest end shopping to working class neighborhoods. Including many old time places.

      The city is dirtier and less maintained than normal…which is saying something.

      I get the lazy vibe everywhere. For example, go into a restuarant. Have to use phone to order. It suggest a 20% as you pay before order is placed. A woked nose ringed “worker” dumps your food without saying a word.

      2. “It suggest a 20% as you pay before order is placed.”

        Ditto for Papa Murphy’s Pizza despite being take-out only. WTF?

  4. From a puddle watcher on the Canadia link:

    ‘A vacant home tax is not a barrier to entry. In Toronto 21% of the new housing is being built for investors…not residents. About half are off shore investors..we need to pull speculators out of the market class by class and return this supply to Cdns who need housing to live in’

    I might start using Cdns instead of Canadia. How do you pronounce that?

    Ka-dns?

    1. You know what also takes care of this?

      Interest rates at 7% and enforcement of money laundering and fraud laws.

      But that could be racist.

    2. In Toronto 21% of the new housing is being built for investors…not residents. About half are off shore investors..

      Globalists gonna globe.

  5. A much stiffer stamp tax would go a long way to push back on non-resident speculation. It still will happen where people with money want to invest – indeed, real estate fund managers usually don’t make money without the investments taking place.

    We have 10% tax on all real estate transactions in the city of Luxembourg – flipping would be completely out of control without that. As it is, prices are merely unaffordable for most people.

  7. It’s unlikely we’ll hear a pop like the deafening bang of 2008. More likely, it’ll be a long, flatulent sound of air being let out of a big party balloon.”

    Um, yeah…and in 2007, when the REIC shills could no longer deny the existence of a bursting bubble, they said air was being let out of the soufflé. And then the bottom dropped out of the market.

    1. realtors are liars, good for just one thing: like a weather vane, they show which way the wind blows.

  8. “A 10-room Gold Coast mansion — one of just seven mansions remaining on North Lake Shore Drive — sold Friday for $4.25 million, almost six years after it was listed for $17 million.

    Not going to give it away, ay, greedheads? And to the new owners: congratulations – mansions and their occupants will be prime targets when the vibrants in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago start organizing “purge nights” on social media.

    1. Gotta wonder what the property tax nut is on that property. My guess… low six figures. Yearly.

  9. Boo Randy
    July 3, 2021 at 10:07 am

    X – Fourth of July

    https://youtu.be/sjka8gRhsgI

    jeff
    July 3, 2021 at 12:13 pm
    Although I liked the song I didn’t get it.

    Boo Randy
    July 3, 2021 at 2:01 pm

    “The subliminal message is “Realtors are liars.”

    Actually could be.

    Could be the couple Suzanne stuck with that house with the big garage. He comes home to an apartment on the Fourth of July years after the foreclosure and eviction, the kids are out partying because they are now 18 and 16 and she sits in the dark and won’t talk to him because he caved to Suzanne’s sales pressure.

    The Nastiest Wife on Television
    https://youtu.be/20n-cD8ERgs

    2. From 2006 …

      The nasty wife in the Century 21 ad.
      https://slate.com/business/2006/04/the-nasty-wife-in-the-century-21-ad.html

      The Spot:A title card reads “The Debate.” We fade in on a couple standing in their kitchen, arguing about whether to buy a new house. The wife is the aggressor; the husband has his doubts. “Suzanne researched this,” says the wife in exasperation. As we’re wondering who Suzanne is, the ad cuts to an image of the couple’s kitchen telephone. “This listing is special, John,” says the voice of their real estate agent over the speakerphone. “You guys can do this.” The husband caves. “This is awesome,” says the wife. We see a picture of the agent’s Century 21 business card.

      This ad shows up at a fearful, uncertain time for real estate agents. It’s not just that the housing market seems poised for a dip. It’s that the real estate agent’s very purpose is coming into question. Home-buyers have discovered they can use the Web to scout out listings on their own. Meanwhile, sellers are demanding flat-rate deals and a la carte services in an attempt to minimize the agent’s cut. People are starting to wonder: Why do I need a real estate agent at all?

      Enter Century 21’s new campaign, titled “Agents of Change.” The initial salvo includes this spot and five others and began airing on television in March. Among the other spots are “Single Mom” (Century 21’s description: “A single mother unpacks boxes in her new home while her real estate agent plays with her daughter nearby”) and “Empty Nest” (“[It] begins with an older couple … talking about the house they are trying to sell and the memories they have made in the house. Their real estate agent tells them that they get to take their memories with them”).

      With the exception of “The Debate,” which I’ll get to in a moment, the ads are basically inoffensive. But they’re also ineffective. We’re still left wondering why a real estate agent is necessary, as the ads fail to show agents providing any useful, specialized services.

      Sure, it’s great when an agent becomes a pal and confidante, consoles you with tender notions about “memories,” or (as happens in the spot titled “First-Time Buyers”) hands over your new house keys, says “Welcome home,” and gives you a big bear hug. But thoughtful gestures and congenial chitchat are not services worth thousands of dollars. Much better would have been a campaign that portrayed these agents as shrewd negotiators, or sharp assessors of a home’s true market value. Those are the skills people might be willing to fork over that 6 percent for.

      As for “The Debate”: It’s terrifying. The problem lies in the performances. That beleaguered husband, dough-faced and weary, seems highly sympathetic as he expresses a few doubts about this major life decision. Meanwhile, the wife (who looks like a more hostile Mary Louise Parker—though she lacks MLP’s patented bone-dry delivery) just knits her eyebrows at the guy like he’s unfathomably dense. Later, she jabs him with an accusatory “What?!”—her eyes wide and wild, her neck muscles flexed, her head twitching in disbelief at what a ninny her husband’s turned out to be.

      The capper comes when their real estate agent, who we discover has been listening in on what should be a private and delicate moment, takes sides with the wife and thereby crumbles the husband’s defenses. Don’t listen to her, John. Of course your agent wants you to buy a house you can’t afford—she gets a bigger commission!

      1. nice summary mr. banker: spot on.
        but since there is no mention of “pukes” anywhere I suspect a kindly niece is ghostwriting for you today.
        or you finally got a decent tee time.

        realtors are liars

      2. “…knits her eyebrows…”

        Awesome prose; totally lacking skill-set in engineering studies.

  10. ‘It’s just cool to see Hollywood at its heyday,’ agent Anthony Marguleas says. ‘That’s the experience you have. It’s really, really special.’”

    Oh, so if I buy this insanely overpriced mansion I’ll be transported back in time to when California was a beautiful, non-diverse Republican-controlled bastion called the Golden State? Gosh, Mr. Banker, bring me my free cup of coffee and the pen I’ll be needing to sign on the line which is dotted.

    1. “Oh, so if I buy this insanely overpriced mansion I’ll be transported back in time to when California was a beautiful, non-diverse Republican-controlled bastion called the Golden State?”

      Most likely you will be transported back in time to Charles Dicken’s London.

      Go here …

      What was it like to live in Charles Dickens’ London?
      https://www.charlesdickenspage.com/charles-dickens-london.html

      (snip snip)

      “Imagine yourself in the London of the early 19th century. The homes of the upper and middle class exist in close proximity to areas of unbelievable poverty and filth. Rich and poor alike are thrown together in the crowded city streets. Street sweepers attempt to keep the streets clean of manure, the result of thousands of horse-drawn vehicles. The city’s thousands of chimney pots are belching coal smoke, resulting in soot which seems to settle everywhere. In many parts of the city raw sewage flows in gutters that empty into the Thames. Street vendors hawking their wares add to the cacophony of street noises. Pick-pockets, prostitutes, drunks, beggars, and vagabonds of every description add to the colorful multitude.

      “Personal cleanliness is not a big priority, nor is clean laundry. In close, crowded rooms the smell of unwashed bodies is stifling.”

    1. Write down what your desire is, meditate on it, then release it into the Universe, and visualize that goal as already being accomplished…the Law of Intention will bring you evidence soon after that will take you closer to your goal being accomplished

      When selling a home, I ask the sellers to visualize taking their next step as if the home has already been sold—whether it be moving to their new home, visiting with family, or taking a well earned vacation…any thought that they can generate forward with passion and emotion will help their home to sell. I tell them to start packing! This energy put into the next step forward in a positive way always brings great results.

      A lot of sellers will use many different spiritual techniques that have been proven to help sell a home—from burying a statue of St. Joseph statue upside down in their front yard, blessing the home through their favorite clergy, planting ti leaves and throwing Hawaiian salt at every corner, and one of the most popular ways is to use Feng Shui—the art of utilizing Chi energy—an ancient form and art using placement and intention.

      Sellers will often organize their home through feng shui and be able to see immediate results. Along with the Law of Intention to sell their home, the art of Feng Shui corrects and enhances the Chi-energy to move more freely, causing the intention of the person to come to fruition.

      Positioning furniture and plants, while also setting your intention will help sell your home through the process of Feng Shui and the Law of Attraction

      Our nation’s capitol was built on the principles of Feng Shui and the Law of Intention in order to channel and focus the ultimate energy to the power of business being directed in these buildings.

      1. Placement and intention? Bah. “Feng Sui” is just the Mandarin translation for “Get rid of your crap.”

  12. ‘Your motivation, in effect was to defraud for your own benefit two persons whom you knew socially through the Chinese community in Auckland and that, of course, was not only unfair, it was morally and legally wrong,’ Judge Peter Rollo said.”

    I hope I live to see tribunals dispensing summary justice to all the globalist Quislings who sold off Australia to the Chinese.

  13. ‘What that is telling us is that a large number of body corporates are sitting on known defects and not reporting them,’ he said.”

    I am shocked, shocked! to learn of such endemic REIC corruption in a nation run by globalist Quislings.

  14. How To Give Your New Home Good Energy | Apartment Therapy
    https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/11-rituals-that-will-give-your-new-home-good-energy-240956

    (here are a few snips from the article)

    Why bring that negative energy into your new home? Not to mention, your new address may have some lingering bad juju of its own. If you want to clear out any toxic vibes and give the home you’re moving to good energy, tap into your inner mystic with these cleansing rituals.

    Buy a new broom
    Bringing along your old broom means bringing along any bad luck you had at your previous home. By buying a brand new broom, you are symbolically sweeping away toxic vibes and ushering in a fresh start.

    Don’t forget the bread, salt, and honey
    This grocery list isn’t just in case you get hungry from toting furniture into your new home. Rather, these things are rumored to please the domestic gods. Plus, they represent abundance, good luck, and the sweetness of life, respectively.

    Paint your porch ceiling
    In the South, painting your porch ceiling “haint blue” is a tradition passed from generation to generation. Adopted from the Gullah culture of the Lowcountry, this practice is believed to keep any evil spirits from entering the home. I painted the porch ceiling of my home here in Charleston haint blue and, hey, no evil spirits yet!

    Arm your door with fennel
    Who knew fennel could be used as a weapon against the supernatural? Stuff it into your keyhole or hang it over the door to protect your domain from witches.

    Sprinkle salt
    Leave the bread and honey in the grocery bag, pull out the salt, and start sprinkling. According to the Farmers’ Almanac, doing so in front of the door is said to stave off evil spirits.

    Open the windows
    And doors. And drawers, for that matter. Just open up the house as much as you can. Fresh air circulates energy, sunlight revitalizes, and nature in general has healing qualities. Opening drawers ensures dark entities have nowhere to hide.

    Break out the essential oils
    I’m a firm believer in diffusing essential oils in the home all the time, so I’m surprised that I didn’t think to use essential oils to cleanse our home when we first bought it. Oils such as cedar, dragon’s blood, frankincense, lavender, lemon, myrrh, rosemary, and sage (more on this in a minute) all have potent purifying and protective properties.

    Smudge your home
    Arguably one of the most popular ways to give a home good energy, smudging is the ancient technique of burning sage and walking it through your space.

  15. Any time the globalist oligarchs gather for one of their confabs, it means their financial and cultural warfare against what remains of heritage America is going to get dialed up even further.

    Media and tech titans prepare to gather for ‘billionaire summer camp’ at Sun Valley Lodge after conference was cancelled last year due to Covid

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9753995/Media-tech-titans-prepare-gather-billionaire-summer-camp-Sun-Valley-Lodge.html

    Billionaires and titans of the tech and media world are preparing to gather again in Idaho for the annual Sun Valley Lodge conference.

    The annual invite-only conference, thrown by investment bank Allen & Company, brings together leaders of film, technology, design and sports each year.

  16. Heard a new one from my favorite YT realtor yesterday (I actually do trust this guy, somehow he is a bear loaded with facts)…he said he had recently been contacted by several “large banks” for potential work to help them offload properties once the FHA extension concludes.

    I imagine banks want to recover their money as soon as possible – and secondly, know that every day is going to count.

    1. “… my favorite YT realtor yesterday (I actually do trust this guy, somehow he is a bear loaded with facts)”

      Please supply a link. TIA.

        2. Good to know. He’s kinda beatie around the bushie. I’m seeing a lot of emails for REO and property preservation hiring. Santa Barbara was the first to go down hard last decade.

    1. “The Fed Is Accountable to Congress and the Public”

      Congress, the Fed is accountable to Congress.

      “The U.S. Congress determines the goals of monetary policy (maximum employment, price stability, and moderate long-term interest rates), but it has given the Federal Reserve independence to achieve these goals. Along with that independence …”

      “Independece”

      “,… the Federal Reserve is accountable to Congress for meeting its goals. Part of that accountability includes providing information to Congress and the public about its policy actions and the rationale for those decisions.”

      Congress, Congress, Congress. Nothing is said about the Executive branch.

      “Conclusion

      “Central bank independence is desirable because the near-term political goals of elected leaders can conflict with policy consistent with a country’s long-term economic health. Economists generally agree that this is best accomplished by giving the central bank clear policy objectives (such and price stability and maximum employment), the political independence necessary to accomplish those goals, and accountability for meeting the goals.21 Congress included these characteristics when they created the Federal Reserve System as the nation’s central bank.”

      Source …

      Independence, Accountability, and the Federal Reserve System | St. Louis Fed
      https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2020/05/01/independence-accountability-and-the-federal-reserve-system

  18. “It’s unlikely we’ll hear a pop like the deafening bang of 2008. More likely, it’ll be a long, flatulent sound of air being let out of a big party balloon.”

    When exactly was this deafening bang in 2008? What I recall was a massive collapse of subprime in 2007, followed by a bunch of Wall Street-sponsored firms, including the evil GSE twins, Fannie and Freddie, going belly up in 2008. Housing prices commenced sliding in 2007 and didn’t stop until QE3 was targeted specifically at housing, maybe 2012.

    Five years seems like a pretty long period of flatulent air escaping.

    And it happened similarly in California over the 1991 to 1996 period, though the preceding bubble wasn’t as large.

  19. “‘For people of color, especially White people, homeownership is wealth,’ HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said. ‘It’s not only wealth to us, but it’s generational wealth.’”

    If you want to know whether a statement is racist, change the race mentioned in the sentence to another race not included in the statement and see how it reads.

    1. I see that working for Asians, siblings working together because there’s only one “baby daddy” siring the kids.

  21. “A 10-room Gold Coast mansion — one of just seven mansions remaining on North Lake Shore Drive — sold Friday for $4.25 million, almost six years after it was listed for $17 million. The sale brings to a close the International College of Surgeons’ long effort to sell the four-story mansion at 1516 N. Lake Shore Drive, which it purchased in 1947 for $85,000 and which it long had used as office and meeting space.”

    1947 through 2021 is a period of 74 years, by my math. You can figure out the annual appreciation rate, x, by solving

    (1+x) ^ 74 = 4,250,000/85,000,

    or x = (4,250,000/85,000)^(1/74)-1 = 5.4%.

    It wasn’t what they had hoped to get, but it was still a pretty high rate of return for a long-term investment.

  24. I’m in La Veta having breakfast at a cafe with a pickup truck with a flag that says “F*ck Biden and F*ck You Too” flying from it.

    It’a a nice feeling when you can leave Denver and go visit the United States of America.

    1. I had the same experience in a food joint in Arlington VA back in April. It was a beautiful thing.

    2. Citizen! Our globalist overlords and their propaganda outlets have decreed that flying the American Flag, or expressing approval of such vulgar displays of “patriotism,” are clear evidence of BadThink. Be advised that your social credit score has been further downgraded and your prioritization for removal to the gulag will be expedited, once the Democrat-Bolsheviks and their packed Supreme Court scrap that obsolete document called the Constitution. Forward!

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/happy-fourth-even-america-flat-hating-ny-times/

    3. “I’m in La Veta having breakfast at a cafe with a pickup truck with a flag that says “F*ck Biden and F*ck You Too” flying from it.”

      Sounds like a great place to have breakfast! 🙂

  25. Oh dear – “woke” Target finds itself the target of organized vibrant shoplifting sprees. Aren’t these “woke” corporations supposed to be FOR the redistribution of the wealth?

    Target Will Close All 6 of its San Francisco Stores Early Because of Huge Spike in Organized Retail Crime

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/target-will-close-6-san-francisco-stores-early-huge-spike-organized-retail-crime/

    Target says it will close all 6 of its stores in San Francisco early because of a huge spike in crime and shoplifting.

    The Democrat hell hole of San Francisco is the ONLY city in the US that Target has decided to close early because of organized retail crime.

    1. To be clear, Target isn’t shuttering the stores entirely. They are just changing their operating hours to be 9 am to 6 pm/ But still, dam. That’s like, 1950’s-era hours.

        1. My cringe reflex is triggered by “sources say”. It is also triggered by the word “triggered”.

          Enough of this disturbing nonsense; Now I must seek out a safe space.

        2. oops. Yeah, I despise the “let me be clear” phrase too.
          I meant — “to avoid confusion.” At first I thought Target was closing the whole store down, like Walgreens. But Target is just changing the hours.

    1. Perspective
      My road to cancellation
      The road to cancellation for Stanford business school educator, successful CEO and entrepreneur Joel Peterson began in 1987. Now it’s time to say enough!
      By Joel Peterson
      Jun 20, 2021, 10:00pm MDT
      Joel Peterson poses for a photo at his home in Cottonwood Heights on Monday, June 7, 2021.
      Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

      “Wokeism,” America’s new civil religion, draws on elements of neo-Marxism, critical race theory, social justice and identity politics. Its adherents believe it will lead to a more just society. Its detractors, on the other hand, believe its “cancel culture” will push civil society to the brink. And, for the “woke,” either will do.

      The roots of my own unlikely cancellation go as far back as 1987, when Jesse Jackson marched Stanford students up Palm Drive to a rhythmic chant of “Hey, hey, ho, ho! Western Civ has got to go!” The next year, I joined the advisory council of its Graduate School of Business where I was soon invited to fill a one-year faculty vacancy. To everyone’s surprise (including my own), I returned every fall for the next three decades to teach four courses to a generation of exceptional MBA candidates.
      …

      1. “With police departments defunded, monuments vandalized and cities torched, Dr. Seuss was soon condemned as racist, Mr. Potato Head scheduled for gender reassignment and free speech restricted by social media oligarchs.”

        I hope the historians are recording this!

  27. These peaceful protesters will not be making the rounds on the network newscasts this weekend.

    This is what woman get who disagree with men who “identify” as who the fuqe knows what being allowed to show their junk to moms and their little girls in the girls locker room.

    Wi Spa Protestor attacked by Antifa

    Jul 3, 2021
    8,127 views

    https://youtu.be/VjcVGxPAwcI

    1. When the MSM says “clashes broke out between rival protesters,” what that means, 100% of the time, is that the Soros scum sought to violently shut down anyone exercising their 1st Amendment rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, when it means opposing globalist agendas.

        1. If there is such a thing as karma, these nasty little pricks smashing distracted people in the head with their skateboards are going to end up having their skulls stove-in.

    2. Honestly, does antifa do anything other than act like a street thug? They wear face masks. Do they ever let themselve become identified and maybe even subject to doxxing by corporations?

    3. My kidz’ high school was ground zero for the locker room wars a few years ago, which broke out when a girl who “identified” as a boy asserted the right to dress out in the boys’ locker room.

      Sorry, cutie, but it’s a club, and you weren’t in it…

        1. The resolution was simple

          “After hearing public comment at a packed board meeting in February, the school proposed private changing stalls in an effort to accommodate transgender students and others who wish to dress separately.”

          This is actually a very good solution. My son has no concept of modesty and starts middle school next year where he’ll be required to change for PE. A private changing stall is better than the closet that was mentioned to me at his last IEP meeting.

        2. “The resolution was simple, and paid for by the public, not the parents of the sexually confused child.”

          “We’re all in this together.” —cliché

  29. This makes for a good read:

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle

    (a rather humorous snip)

    “The term Doodle first appeared in English in the early 17th century and is thought to be derived from the Low German dudel, meaning ‘playing music badly’, or Dödel, meaning ‘fool’ or ‘simpleton’. The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became slang for being a fop. Dandies were men who placed particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisure hobbies. A self-made dandy was a British middle-class man who impersonated an aristocratic lifestyle. They notably wore silk strip cloth, stuck feathers in their hats, and carried two pocket watches with chains—’one to tell what time it was and the other to tell what time it was not.'”

  30. Have the Fed’s negative real interest rates resulted in weightless risk assets?

  31. 1-Month-Old Baby Among 130+ Shot in Chicago This Week As DHS & FBI Stay Focused On ‘White Extremists’

    by Chris Menahan | Information Liberation
    July 4th 2021, 5:57 am

    On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security under Alejandro Mayorkas leaked yet another “internal bulletin” fearmongering about how “white extremists” may be planning to carry out mass shootings in the run up to July 4th.

    “Federal authorities are deeply concerned about the possibility of domestic terror and violence, including mass shootings, as the Fourth of July holiday approaches and the summer season gets fully underway,” ABC News said.

    If you managed to read past ABC News’ headline, you’d see the feds admit there’s “no specific threat” and their only evidence of a possible threat is some online chatter (that was probably put out by their own agents working to entrap gullible saps and the mentally disabled).

    The bulletin came out just days after a black extremist shot a Daytona Beach police officer in the head.

    Mayorkas has issued multiple of these fearmongering bulletins warning of imminent mass death and always leaks them to ABC News who reports on it every time as though it was the first time and never points out how their past leaks were total bulls**t.

    ABC News together with Mayorkas hyped the hell out of the notion that “Q-Anon extremists” were going to attack the Capitol on March 4 yet literally nothing happened.

    Glenn Greenwald recently detailed how they’re issuing such fearmongering bulletins every few weeks. This appears to be the fifth such bulletin this year.

    Though no “white extremists” carried out any mass shootings as they were predicting, there were multiple mass shootings in Chicago over just the past week.

    From WGN 9, “Baby among 20 shot in Chicago as holiday weekend gets underway”:

    A 1-month-old baby girl was one of seven people shot Thursday night in Englewood. Police said three gunmen got out of a Jeep and started shooting in multiple directions around 8 p.m. on the 6500 block of South Halsted Street.

    The infant was shot in the head and taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition. The other people who were shot ranged in age from 15 to 46. All of them were listed in good condition.

    Hours earlier, a 9-year-old girl was shot in the head in East Chatham in a double shooting around 2:45 p.m. on the 800 block of East 79th Street. A 61-year-old man was shot in the foot. Chicago police Supt. David Brown said they were caught in gang crossfire. The 9-year-old was in critical condition.

    “According to Chicago police, 172 children have been shot and 25 kids have been murdered so far this year,” ABC 7 Chicago reports.

    https://www.infowars.com/posts/1-month-old-baby-among-130-shot-in-chicago-this-week-as-dhs-fbi-stay-focused-on-white-extremists/

    1. As DHS & FBI Stay Focused On ‘White Extremists’

      While a Muslim militia that claims to not need to obey the law almost created a war zone.

  32. This was, perhaps, the most disgusting part of the greatest ripoff in American history.

    Should ‘Bachelor’ Stars Have Received PPP Loans?

    The $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which ended May 31, offered companies forgivable loans of up to $10 million to cover roughly two months of payroll and a handful of other expenses, such as rent. Applicants were not required to demonstrate any financial harm from the pandemic; they simply had to certify that “current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary” to support their continuing operations.

    Last year, most sole proprietorships — companies that employ no one other than the business’s owner — had to be profitable to qualify for a loan. But in late February, the Biden administration changed that rule, making millions of previously excluded businesses eligible for relief money. Recipients are required to use most of the cash to pay workers, including themselves.

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