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Someone Got Hosed

A report from the Globe and Mail. “It’s a troubling question that has been echoing through the condo towers in Canada’s largest cities for the past two weeks: Could the disaster in suburban Miami happen here? Existing Canadian condo rules have significant gaps, which have been further exposed by the highly speculative nature of the market in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver. ‘I think there’s a rude awakening coming,’ said Martin Gravel, a civil engineer who is also the president of the condo board of a downtown Toronto building.”

“Condos are directed by boards of unpaid individuals, most of whom have no technical knowledge and may not even live in the building. The speculative nature of the condo market adds another layer of complexity, University of Windsor sociologist Randy Lippert, who wrote extensively about the tangle of competing interests on condo boards, added. ‘It’s of no interest to the owners and boards to ever reveal all of the problems in their buildings,’ he said.”

From Boston Agent Magazine in Massachusetts. “‘The condo market was on fire,’ said Eric Glazer, attorney specializing in condominium and homeowner association law, and host of the weekly Condo Craze and HOAs radio show. ‘There is no question that the condo market is going to take a hit because of the fear factor. I’ve already seen it in closings.'”

“Surprisingly, Florida law only requires disclosure on an individual unit. There is no law that requires disclosure on the common areas of a building or property. With the additional stress oceanfront buildings have from the sun, heat, wind, rain and salt-spray, beating on these structures year after year, the concrete breaks down and leaks and the steel inside the concrete rusts and dissolves inside the walls, balconies, and throughout the property’s infrastructure.”

“‘Condos have always been volatile,’ said Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., a real estate economist. ‘They are the canary in the coal-mine for the real estate market. While the tragedy of a building falling down is new, the market volatility for condos is not. We don’t have specific research on something like this, but after hurricanes and other market pressures like recessions, there are going to be price impacts. It will probably last a year or two.'”

The New York Post. “Bob Ross is worried. Ross lives in Miami Bay Towers, across the marina from Palm Bay Towers, where the report, prepared in December, found ‘structural deficiencies’ in the 26-story, 68-unit building, one of the only ones in the city built over the water. ‘Everybody is petrified, because as we’re looking at this monolith across the marina and if it came down, it would come down on us,’ Ross said.”

“Residents at the complex in Kissimmee, Florida, were advised to enter the buildings at their own risk. ‘Probably everybody in South Florida has become aware of how they may be in the same position,’ Ross said. ‘It’s scaring the hell out of us.'”

From News 4 in Ohio. “Rob Vogt, a managing partner at VSI, says the high-end rental market was booming before the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Low vacancy rates, high rents, a willingness to develop properties, a willingness to lend money, a willingness to get zoning for projects,’ he said, led to a lot of new high-end development that was scheduled to begin leasing in 2020. ‘All this product comes online, they didn’t expect the pandemic to hit,’ Vogt explained. ‘They didn’t expect a lot of – a decline in household formations.'”

“The most startling finding from Vogt’s data, however, is that the availability of high-end rentals is outpacing the availability of affordable housing in Columbus. And soon there will be more luxury units (Class A) than non-luxury apartments (Classes B and C).”

From Fox 4 in Missouri. “Michael Francis Weinberger says for him, it’s not just about being hot during summertime. He says having no air conditioning at Plaza Club City apartments has been detrimental to his physical health. ‘I’ve got the hospital bills, along with the bills collected from the vet, along with collected bills from the hotel I’m staying at,’ he said. Weinberger collapsed in his apartment weeks after residents pleaded with management to fix the air conditioning system. ‘This is a luxury apartment complex and I’m embarrassed to be telling people I’m living here right now.'”

From Globest. “As in other asset classes, lenders have been open to these talks, according to Bonnie Y. Hochman Rothell, partner and chair of the Litigation practice at Morris, Manning & Martin LLP. ‘The majority of my clients on the lender side are working with them [apartment owners] quite extensively to be creative and to work through some of the foreclosure moratoriums,’ Rothell says. ‘On the lender side, for those loans that are technicall in default right now, we’ve tried to be proactive to renegotiate so there aren’t 1,000 foreclosures and bankruptcies at the end of this.'”

“Rothell does think there will be some foreclosures. ‘It won’t be as dire as some of the predictions, but I think that there are definitely going to be some foreclosures,’ she says. ‘Some of my financial institution clients are gearing up for those. I think the reason for that is we’ve had some borrowers take the approach of not communicating with their lenders and not trying to work out the situation. In those instances, I think that the lenders are going to have no choice and, in fact, probably would be better off foreclosing.'”

The Colorado Springs Gazette. “In mostly normal times (which these are not), investing in commercial real estate is an attractive proposition. The investor buys or constructs a building for use in commercial activities — stores, restaurants, offices — using, for the most part, borrowed money. The investor then puts tenants in the building who pay rent and an additional amount to cover operating costs — insurance, maintenance, repairs, real estate taxes, utilities. The investor uses the rent to make the mortgage payments and takes home what’s left as a return on investment.”

“But what happens when a pandemic comes along? The short answer is — legal chaos. Now the investor must try to cover operating expenses previously paid by the tenants. Maintenance gets postponed, repairs are no longer made when needed, and landscaping is neglected and dies. With no rental income, the investor defaults on the mortgage. Then the mortgage holder, no longer receiving payments from its borrower, defaults on its obligations and finds itself fending off multiple creditors. The mortgage holder could, in theory, foreclose on the property, but that would mean taking back a property having no rental income and in a deteriorating condition.”

“Or the mortgage holder could sue its defaulting borrower for the unpaid balance of the loan, but since the borrower is now insolvent and threatening bankruptcy, this would be another exercise in throwing good money after bad. To further complicate matters, into the mix comes government save-the-economy assistance. This generates additional negotiations as to how the government money will be used. Tenants, for example, want the money to cover their obligation for unpaid rent. Property investors want the money to cover their defaulted loan payments.”

“These negotiations are driven by the reality that trying to enforce legal obligations against parties unable to pay is a waste of resources and hat waiting out the storm is the only viable option. That’s the situation commercial real estate investors now find themselves in, and it will likely take years for something approaching normalcy to return. Along the way, there will continue to be casualties and the survivors will have deep wounds.”

From Penn Live. “Pistachios in California, citrus in Florida, hotels, retail malls and mobile home parks across 18 states. And, let’s not forget, the former site of The Patriot-News in downtown Harrisburg. Pennsylvania taxpayers own all this and more thanks to several decades’ of investments made by the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), the pension fund that safeguards the retirements of some 500,000 educators statewide.”

“The property that drew the attention of federal prosecutors, at least according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, was the long-vacant former Patriot-News headquarters in downtown Harrisburg. ‘Someone got hosed,’ said a former PSERS employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal in their current job. ‘Either PennLive received less than the land was worth or the state of Pennsylvania paid far more than it was.'”

“Nori Gerardo Lietz, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School who’s advised public pension funds, said there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with such direct investments but pension systems must pay close attention to their portfolios to ensure they’re diversified across different economic sectors and geographically across different types of local economies. ‘You wouldn’t want all your portfolio to be in Silicon Valley, Boston and Austin because all of those places are driven by technology right now,’ she said.”

The Times of San Diego. “The rise of the hybrid office poses a headwind to workspace demand in cities like New York and San Francisco, where there have been few big-name office building sales in recent months. Institutional holdings of office assets in the two cities are valued at $231 billion and $128 billion, respectively, according to LaSalle Investment Management. While leasing activity has rebounded since the lows of the pandemic, rental prices are weak and vacancy rates remain high, weighing on the value of office buildings and stymying deal activity.”

“Total sales of office properties in Manhattan, for example, slid by more than half to $5.4 billion last year and were just $41.9 million in the first quarter of 2021, according to Cushman & Wakefield Plc. ‘Prices in those big global gateway cities – New York, San Francisco – they’re the poster child, they’re soft,’ said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.”

The Austin Business Journal in Texas. “Another property once owned by Nate Paul’s World Class Holdings has been sold at auction. The downtown building that houses The Capital Grille at 117 W. Fourth St. was purchased July 6 by the lender for the property. It’s the latest step in an ongoing dispute between the group and World Class. Some might remember the site, near Colorado Street, as the old Spaghetti Warehouse. The Hardeman group, through an entity called Colorado Third Street LLC, submitted the only offer: an $8.76 million credit bid, which includes debt owed on the real estate.”

“World Class rose to prominence in recent years as the firm scooped up valuable properties all over Austin — from downtown sites ripe for redevelopment to a huge corporate campus to shopping centers. But many real estate insiders have raised questions about why he hasn’t sold or developed most of the sites. World Class has been hobbled since federal authorities raided it’s offices in August 2019 for reasons that have still not been made public. The firm has since filed more than 20 bankruptcies, the latest on July 6 for a prominent North Austin shopping center, Arboretum Crossing. This makes three consecutive months when World Class properties have been sold at foreclosure auctions on the back steps of the Travis County Courthouse.”

The New York Real Estate Journal. “Josh Goldflam, principal of Manhattan based commercial real estate firm Highcap Group along with senior broker Charles Chang have arranged the sale of 33 & 35 Howard St. The buildings are located in the SoHo neighborhood and sold for $11.2 million in an all-cash deal. The total sale price of $11.2 million equates to $700 per existing s/f. The seller was the Spitzer Family who has owned the properties for 45 years, and the buyer was landlord and developer Javeri Capital.”

“Goldflam said, ‘This deal was agreed to and signed at a time when COVID was still terrorizing the downtown real estate market, particularly retail properties in Soho. When buyers and brokers look back in the future at distressed COVID sales, this property will be sure to come to mind.'”

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This Post Has 134 Comments

  1. From the Notebook: Eviction is Just Another Word for Extinction

    https://tomluongo.me/2021/07/06/from-the-notebook-eviction-is-just-another-word-for-extinction/

    The Federal Moratorium on evictions is ending at the end of the month. Like last month, it could always be extended again.

    It will be extended until the most opportune moment to do the most damage to the economy. Why? Vandals are in charge in D.C.

    This was always a misguided program but was an integral part of destroying the relationship between lender and lendee, renter and landlord. The government comes in all humanitarian-like to suspend payments on FHA-backed mortgages, which are all of them post-Lehman Bros., after locking people in their homes for a year while blocking access to therapeutics which would have mitigated the worst of COVID-19’s effects on the society.

    1. “It will be extended until the most opportune moment to do the most damage to the economy. Why? Vandals are in charge in D.C.”

      Come on dude it’s just two weeks to flatten the curve. What’s your problem? We’re all in the together.

  2. We used to talk a lot last decade about how condos represented the speculative peak of a mania. It still applies. Especially the pre-construction aspect. It’s just a hole in the ground. When I was in Miami a few years ago I mentioned the wear and tear on these largely empty airboxes.

    ‘Surprisingly, Florida law only requires disclosure on an individual unit. There is no law that requires disclosure on the common areas of a building or property. With the additional stress oceanfront buildings have from the sun, heat, wind, rain and salt-spray, beating on these structures year after year, the concrete breaks down and leaks and the steel inside the concrete rusts and dissolves inside the walls, balconies, and throughout the property’s infrastructure’

    It’s not surprising. South Florida makes mucho dinero off of building and flogging this junk. Has for decades.

    1. ‘Probably everybody in South Florida has become aware of how they may be in the same position’

      Is that a lot?

  3. ‘When buyers and brokers look back in the future at distressed COVID sales, this property will be sure to come to mind’

    The buyer got schlonged Josh. NYC is a socialist sh$thole.

  4. ‘Some of my financial institution clients are gearing up for those. I think the reason for that is we’ve had some borrowers take the approach of not communicating with their lenders and not trying to work out the situation’

    Well Bonnie, you loan some guy many millions, that doesn’t mean he’s got a phone or email. Have you tried smoke signals?

    1. I am proud (and hassle-free) to NOT give my personal cell phone number to any bidnezz unless critical for communications.

      same number for over 20 years thru the pac bell, cingular, at&t iterations.

      to all the claims of the checkout clerks ” we don’t telemarket” reply with: “if that’s true then why is it the first piece of information you ask for?”

      (yes, I know, I KNOW they are “just doing their jobs” but the inability to THINK for themselves w/grimace/snotty/sneering faces shows how much they are bluepilled)

      sometimes my phone doesn’t ring for week.
      ahhhh peace n’ quiet.

      priceless.

      liars are realtors

      1. I recall reading an article about an experiment about spam calls. The experiment involved getting a new cell phone and a new number. Per that article the spam calls began the first day.

        1. I’m getting spam calls from India trying to sell me patent services thanks to the USPTO’s website.

        2. I think the spam calls in the article were of the more generic type: selling extended warranties, scammers pretending to be from the IRS, Social Security, etc.

        3. If they’re in my Contacts the phone rings. Otherwise it’s a silent notification showing the Caller ID in a pop-up.

      2. Way to go , I have a 20 year number too , people that need me and I dont know the call number text me, and I leave the phone in the truck,
        I see people at the gym with one hand on the phone ,trying to exercise that way ………

  5. Futures down bigly on fears of resurgence of COVID strains (which will be endless, necessitating ever-more-draconian top-down dictatorial measures). An extension of the CDC’s unconstitutional eviction moratorium is a given, it looks like, as 8 million independent kulak landlords have not been sufficiently pauperized. Forward!

    1. COVID is a fraud.

      The U.S. is not a cuck nation like Canada, Australia, U.K. etc, lockdowns and mask mandates are over, forever, here now. Only cucks and simps wear masks.

      1. John Campbell from the UK believes there’s been a sort of unwritten policy shift in the UK. Even though Delta is ravaging through the young and unvaccinated, they’re sticking to setting July 19 as a re-opening day. Looks like the UK is going to use the hospitalizations and deaths as their metric, not cases. They are expecting tens of thousands of cases — estimates are from 50K as high as 150K cases/day. But the vaccines seem to have decoupled the case rate away from the hospitalization and date rate. So as long as the hospitalization and death rate stays low, I guess they’re going to try the herd-immunity-by-infection model. Those blackhearted devils. 😙

        It looks like the US is going to do the same, more or less by default. We’ve pretty much maxed out the voluntary vaccinations here.

        1. It looks like the US is going to do the same, more or less by default. We’ve pretty much maxed out the voluntary vaccinations here.

          It’s almost like Nature is trying to get this thing over with as quickly as possible too, with the introduction of a hyper-infectious variant. She seems to be saying, “If you don’t get the vaccine, you’re getting the Delta variant, no if’s, and’s or but’s.”

        2. John Campbell

          Is not credible. He’s poses as a doctor but has a PhD “focused on the development of open learning resources for nurses nationally and internationally.”

          1. He’s a nurse.

            Some people here seem to think they are doctors (an let them die judges) having had a year surfing articles on the intertubes while “working from home”. Interesting times.

          2. He’s a nurse.

            Retired. Given his specialty in “open learning resources,” he’s far from qualified to opine on virology or epidemiology.

            I watched one of his YT videos. He and his viewers were “oh so grateful” that he got “his turn” for the “vaccine.” That was all I needed to see.

          3. I was pondering earlier today. The only “anti-vaxxer” I know (meaning someone who absolutely refuses to vaccinate her children, one under 2 and one due in October) was injured by the HPV vaccine and is a registered behavior therapist working with autistic children, some of whom have “vaccine injured” on their case files. My son’s board certified behavioral therapist also spaced out her sons’ vaccine longer than recommended. They’re obviously “moochers.”

    2. Well, you can tell by the MSN in California that Delta variant is the big topic. But the news is void of information on Delta like the following.

      If you took the Covid vaccine, are you immune from Delta.

      Is the Delta less deadly, and to what age groups does that apply.

      How do they determine from a faulty PCR test the difference between Delta and the original Covid strain. PCR test is just positive or not.

      Since mass testing isn’t going on right now, and it just more of a vaccine campaign, how are they coming up with these conclusion on the Delta .

      Do the effective meds also work on Delta and are they being given to prevent death, as opposed to respirator option.

      What is causing Delta variant? Some say vaccine program created variant Delta, others say unvaccinated people are causing variant by not being vaccinated. What is the truth.

      Why are people coming down with Covid after taking the vaccine, and what are the numbers.

      Why are adverse reactions to the vaccine not being reported in the MSN

      I could go on and on, but my point is the news in California is just vague fear mongering without a lot of specific information given .And more specific response from Drs and Scientist are just being censored.
      But, you can’t question this old corrupt creep Fauci, who doesn’t have clean hands in the Covid Saga, because he’s the face of Science.

      Just saying that the one narrative news in California has some objective, but what is it?
      And why are all the figure heads of the County 80 year olds ,incompetent, unclean hands , take us to new heights of insanity , arrogant and dismissive, like Pelosi, Biden , Fauci.
      Just saying.

          1. alternative facts

            Alternative facts are not lies as promulgated by MSM. To attorneys, they are facts more favorable to and found in filings by the opposing party. Kellyanne Conway and her husband are attorneys.

      2. From the current existing data, Covid-19 (all forms) cases (ICU) and deaths are still going down in California. The same pattern exists nationally. It doesn’t matter what variant is infecting people if none of them get seriously ill or die.

        There is absolutely no evidence of a new “wave” of Covid-19 caused by any variant. This is simply fear porn–governments and the MSM have turned the pandemic into a political tool.

        1. Now the narrative is “unvaxed people are bad, driving the ‘delta variant wave.'”

          ‘Those deaths were preventable’: Unvaccinated parts of country are driving the pandemic now

          WASHINGTON — Virtually all deaths from COVID-19 in the United States are now among people who have not received their coronavirus vaccine. And those deaths are highly concentrated in counties — many of them in the Midwest and Southeast — where vaccination rates are precariously low.

          Widespread vaccination is what will truly turn the corner on this pandemic,” Walensky said on Thursday.

          Billionaires are behind this rhetoric. Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and the like should be on death row for crimes against humanity. No needle in my arm, you globalist focks.

          1. And let’s not forget the role of central banker globalist focks. Die, filthy scvm.

            Minneapolis Fed to require COVID-19 vaccinations for staff

            All staff will need to be vaccinated to continue their employment, he said, with exceptions allowed for those prevented by medical conditions or “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

            Translation: No needle in your arm, we fire you and ruin your life. Canceled.

            It’s my opinion these bankers are evil SOBs who need to be culled.

          2. By the way, you can copy and paste my quotes and find the links. No need to include them to make more work for Ben in moderation, or contribute to the clicks for these globalist scvm.

          3. Virtually all deaths from COVID-19 in the United States are now among people who have not received their coronavirus vaccine.

            Deaths from Covid have never been recorded, only deaths “with” Covid.

          4. Does anyone have any news on the court cases against mandatory vaccines? IIUC they can’t require a vaccine that doesn’t have full FDA approval.

            I was saying to a friend that they should make a vaccine exemption for people who can prove that they have already had COVID — perhaps an antibody test. Having COVID is certainly as good as a vaccine.

          5. These are the legally mandated vaccinations for daycare, pre-school and grade school children in California:

            “Immunizations required to enter 7th grade:
            Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis booster (Tdap)
            Varicella (Chickenpox)

            Immunizations required to enter Kindergarten:
            Polio
            Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP)
            Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)
            Hepatitis B
            Varicella (Chickenpox)

            Immunizations required to enter Child Care (depends on age when enrolling):
            Polio
            Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTaP)
            Haemophilus influenzae type b
            Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR)
            Hepatitis B
            Varicella (Chickenpox)”

            Covid-19 is most certainly not a legally mandated vaccination–it’s not even an approved vaccine. These employment requirements will have to be sorted out in court, but to mandate that a person be given any drug that is only under EUA, would be an enormous mistake. Legislation will be written to forbid the mandatory vaccination of Covid-19 and other Covid like vaccines I predict.

          7. Notice how they are not disclosing how many deaths, what age group, etc etc, in the article.

            In Summary, Dr Malone who had a hand in inventing the gene therapy is giving interviews now. He in essence is saying the vaccines should be pulled because of the safety factor, and they have never had this many adverse events with a vaccine.
            He said, ” They are trying to fake it until they make it. ” Basically said they are trying to ignore the adverse effects. When a older person get a heart attack directly following getting the jab, they are just racking it off to it must of been because they are older and isn’t vaccine related
            He also said that this whole Covid response thing has the potential of totally discrediting the Medical system because they are being reckless. He also talked about how those Scientist vie for a Nobel Prize. He used the word unethical and criminal regarding the vaccines. This Dr has been involved with other vaccine roll outs during his long career, and he knows all the people associated with this one ,even Dr. Fauci. Maybe someone can find the interviews if they haven’t been banned yet.

          1. India got over the Delta (India) variant quite well without vaccinations, so it’s not of much interest. I want to hear more about the scary Epsilon variant.

          2. scary Epsilon variant

            What nomenclature will be used after the Omega variant?

      3. I could go on and on, but my point is the news in California is just vague fear mongering without a lot of specific information given

        Which is why I believe there sinister motive behind “a needle in every arm”.

      4. There are answers to all your questions, but good luck getting anything specific out of the MSM. They have to write to a 4th grade level; i.e. they think we can’t handle much more than “safe and effective.” That’s why people are running directly to the fully scientific papers.

        1. safe and effective

          Safety data is lacking and effectiveness is being gamed.

          2. I just learned this new today:
            Efficacy — refers to results in placebo-controlled trials
            Effectiveness — refers to Real World results from collecting case and vaccine data from the population.

            At least those are the official terms. I don’t expect the MSM to get it right. They still think that Senators voted to impeach Trump. 🙄

      5. How do they determine from a faulty PCR test the difference between Delta and the original Covid strain.

        Sequencing, probably Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS).

        1. I’m guessing they sequence only samples with low CT values; i.e. a lot of virus. PCR (and almost any test) becomes less reliable nearer to the detection limit.

          1. Ok. Has the thought occurred to anyone that the death rate is dropping like a rock because people 70 and over got vaccinated in large numbers , and Doctors also started using meds to treat cases ?
            So, the unvaccinated younger crowd aren’t really ending up in the ICU, because they never were a high risk group.
            My point being that it was this older group that needed a vaccine, not the whole darn globe, including children, if you believe in vaccines that is. I like the results they were getting with the meds verses the risk of the new technology vaccines.
            Just saying .

          4. You seem to have this bizarre misconception, as evidenced by your inoculation theory as well as here, that a priori the presence or level of nucleic acids in a sample is generally known such that you can safely expose yourself or set a PCR cycle number.

          5. From the Association of Public Health Laboratories:

            What is a Ct value?

            Many nucleic acid amplification tests generate a number as part of the test result. For real-time PCR, this is called the Ct or “cycle threshold” value. A Ct value is defined as the number of amplification cycles required to reach a fixed background level of fluorescence at which the diagnostic result of the real-time PCR changes from negative (not detectable) to positive (detectable). The total number of cycles required to exceed the established threshold to call a result positive is specific to that test platform, and generally ranges from about 15 to 45 cycles. Different tests calculate the Ct values differently, and different tests also count the number of cycles differently. Some tests generate the Ct value through software installed on the instrument itself, some require the operator to interpret and define the Ct value based on parameters set by the test manufacturer, while others do not generate a Ct value that is available or visible to the operator and simply provide a positive or negative test result. In addition, some tests have an established Ct “cutoff” beyond which the test result is considered negative; for others, the “cutoff” is the last cycle of the test. These parameters are determined by the test manufacturer and cannot be altered by the laboratory performing the test.

  6. ‘You wouldn’t want all your portfolio to be in Silicon Valley, Boston and Austin because all of those places are driven by technology right now’

    Nori, are you saying delivering sandwiches and selling time shares isn’t a sure path to real estate riches?

    Sacré Bleu!

  7. ‘This is a luxury apartment complex and I’m embarrassed to be telling people I’m living here right now’

    It’s important to make a profit. I’ve been saying for years these guys are losing money day one and every day after.

    1. ‘And soon there will be more luxury units (Class A) than non-luxury apartments (Classes B and C)’

      In Columbus!

      ‘a willingness to lend money…led to a lot of new high-end development that was scheduled to begin leasing in 2020’

      QE is deflationary.

      ‘All this product comes online, they didn’t expect the pandemic to hit…They didn’t expect a lot of – a decline in household formations’

      You ask, so how much profit? Enough to pay for the risk’s you are taking. With a cushion. This multi-trillion peso industry hasn’t been covering their interest and maintenance costs for over a decade.

      1. “This multi-trillion peso industry hasn’t been covering their interest and maintenance costs for over a decade.”

        Depreciation is a bitch. It never goes away no matter how much braying goes on.

  8. “With the additional stress oceanfront buildings have from the sun, heat, wind, rain and salt-spray, beating on these structures year after year, the concrete breaks down and leaks and the steel inside the concrete rusts and dissolves inside the walls, balconies, and throughout the property’s infrastructure.”

    Perhaps using Roman concrete is the solution to such a problem. Check this out …

    “The strength and longevity of Roman marine concrete is understood to benefit from a reaction of seawater with a mixture of volcanic ash and quicklime to create a rare crystal called tobermorite, which may resist fracturing. As seawater percolated within the tiny cracks in the Roman concrete, it reacted with phillipsite naturally found in the volcanic rock and created aluminous tobermorite crystals. The result is a candidate for ‘the most durable building material in human history’. In contrast, modern concrete exposed to saltwater deteriorates within decades.”

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

    Or perhaps they should have used Mayan concrete. Check this out …

    “The Mayan people had taken advantage of mortar on most structural projects. The Mayans used a very difficult process of limestone under large amounts of heat to create their mortar. The mortar was so widely used, the Mayans even used it for sculptures, facades, and floor layers. Their mortar was very effective on a large building lifetime, but humid climates can have a negative effect on the mortar.”

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

    Gigantic stone structures using cement were created by the Romans and the Mayans two thousand years ago and are still standing. One may want to ask himself the question of just how this can be?

    Also, one may ask himself why two similar ancient construction processes occurred simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean well before Columbus’ voyage of discovery.

    1. “Roman concrete”

      Battered 10′ walls with no reinforcing isn’t a bright idea but get your wallet out and someone elses drawings and I’ll gladly build it for you.

      1. could have reached Brazil 17 centuries before

        The Chinese explored and mapped the globe before that.

  9. ‘Condos are directed by boards of unpaid individuals, most of whom have no technical knowledge and may not even live in the building’

    What could go wrong?

    ‘The speculative nature of the condo market adds another layer of complexity…‘It’s of no interest to the owners and boards to ever reveal all of the problems in their buildings’

    Sounds kinda fraudi.

    1. I was on the finance committee for our condo building (>200 units) in Seattle. It was a constant fight between us, and the actual elected board members — we kept trying to allocate appropriate funds (in advance) for maintenance both smaller and large ticket workitems).

      They were reflecting the ownership – and were more concerned about the concierge service, amenities, fit & polish of the building etc. while keeping the HOA fees lower. Many owners whether investor types or living in the building, expected to be selling within X (say 5 years) and would prefer not to take the longer term view.

  11. “‘Condos have always been volatile,’ said Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., a real estate economist. ‘They are the canary in the coal-mine for the real estate market.”

    Which should serve as a warning for buyers to stay away, but no …

    “While the tragedy of a building falling down is new, the market volatility for condos is not.”

    Translation: Stay away!

    “We don’t have specific research on something like this, but after hurricanes and other market pressures like recessions, there are going to be price impacts.”

    “Price impacts” from such things as hurricanes which come around every single year. And what eventually happens to one of these “price impacts”?

    “It will probably last a year or two.’”

    Bahahahahaha … People are so stupid, it burns.

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

    ― Frédéric Bastiat

  13. “World Class rose to prominence in recent years as the firm scooped up valuable properties all over Austin — from downtown sites ripe for redevelopment to a huge corporate campus to shopping centers. But many real estate insiders have raised questions about why he hasn’t sold or developed most of the sites. World Class has been hobbled since federal authorities raided it’s offices in August 2019 for reasons that have still not been made public.”

    Check this out …

    “Nate Paul, President and CEO of World Class, was listed in the 2016 edition of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Finance for having built a $1 billion real estate portfolio across the United States by the age of 28.

    “In late 2016, World Class expanded the firm’s debt strategy by hiring five former high-level Credit Suisse real estate bankers, marking a strategic expansion of the World Class real estate investment business. At least two of those bankers left within six months of joining the firm.

    “In July 2018, Nate Paul and his company acquired several properties in downtown Austin containing various live music venues and locked out the tenants despite current leases, effectively stealing all of these business’ equipment.

    “Paul was previously embroiled in a wage theft scandal from 2014, where he was accused of stealing over $500,000 in tips from bar staff at Rio. Around that time, while renovating the former iconic Katz’s Deli, a steel support beam was severed causing the floor of the upstairs music venue to buckle. The owners of that venue were in talks with Paul to stay until the end of their 10-year lease option. Unable to pay for outside contractors to fix the damage, they settled out of court and vacated the premises early. In early 2016, investor Michael Macs sued Nate Paul and World Class Capital accusing Paul of fraud, breach of contract and misrepresentation in connection with investments of nearly $15 million in several real estate ventures.”

    World Class Capital Group – Wikipedia
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Class_Capital_Group

    1. I saw a curious listing recently — purchased in April 2021, currently torn up and mid-renovation, the seller promised the construction would be completed within 6 weeks. It also noted “no bidding wars, first acceptable offer will be accepted”.

      Why not hold out for those sweet 10-30% annual equity gains and the bidding wars where $100k over asking is the norm?

    2. Most people aren’t connecting the dots. Wells is one of the largest retail banks in the US and almost half of the states just stopped making deposits into peoples accounts each week. Not only do they lose a huge amount of money coming in but people are turning to their credit lines to fill in the gap. That sure escalated quickly! Who’s next?

      1. Who’s next?

        Credit cards? Maybe not cancel them, but lower the maximum balance so they can’t charge any more on them.

        Once this all starts to unravel, will more stim checks be coming? Or will they let the house of cards to finally come crashing down?

        1. They’re using COVID and an excuse of “no fault of their own” as they flood the landscape with free gibs. It’s just causing runaway inflation and will destroy the dollar.

  19. Any thoughts on why Mr Market is so glum lately? It doesn’t seem like the stock market is always going up any more.

    All the visibly cratering assets remind me that housing is relatively invisible, thanks to the long time delay in reporting on current market conditions. But given all the other cratering that is happening, I can’t help wonder if the crater pandemic might already be infecting housing prices.

    1. The drastic plunge in long-term Treasury yields seem puzzling, in light of the Fed’s recent discussion of moving up the time when they will taper their Treasury bond purchases.

      Wouldn’t fewer bond purchases sooner be expected to lead to an increase in long-term Treasury yields, not a plunge?

      1. The Financial Times
        Markets
        Plunge in Treasury yields reverberates around markets
        Equities are churning and borrowing costs for corporations are tumbling
        Colby Smith, Joe Rennison and Eric Platt in New York 4 hours ago

        A furious plunge in Treasury yields is reverberating through global financial markets, propelling shares of fast-growing tech companies to new records and driving down corporate borrowing costs, but raising fresh concern about the outlook for financial returns.

        An investor consensus that took months to build, namely that robust economic growth and elevated inflation would bring about substantially higher interest rates, has been coming apart, and the pain for those caught in that trade has heightened with moves in the past couple of days.

        Across Wall Street, investors are suddenly being forced to think how to reposition against the backdrop of what Jim Caron, a portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, has described as a “peak in growth, a peak in inflation and a peak in policy stimulus”.

        The market has taken its cue from signals that the Federal Reserve is considering cutting its monetary support sooner than previously expected and looks likely to raise rates in plenty of time to keep inflation from running away. Meanwhile, with the US having thrown off most of its coronavirus pandemic restrictions — and with the more transmissible Delta variant now prevalent in the country — strategists see less scope for growth to surprise on the upside.

        The 10-year Treasury bond yield, which peaked at 1.77 per cent in March, fell by 0.11 percentage points in just two trading sessions this week and slid below 1.3 per cent early on Thursday.

        “The cost of cash is decreasing and people are looking for places to deploy that cash,” Caron said. “This is supportive of broader asset markets.”
        …

    2. Aren’t lower interest rates supposed to be good for stonks, as people prefer to gamble instead of getting negative real return on savings?

      1. Trillions in fake wealth created by fake money. It’s all a chimera, and it’s not going to end well.

      1. I really don’t get all the stonk market consternation. Don’t people know that it’s all contained?

        1. The Financial Times
          Markets Briefing Equities
          Global stocks drop as investors focus on slowing growth
          US government bonds set for sharpest weekly advance in more than a year
          European stock markets, which are stacked with companies in cyclical industries that benefit from economic growth, also fell on Thursday in a broad pullback
          Naomi Rovnick in London and Colby Smith in New York
          55 minutes ago

          Stock markets dropped on Thursday on rising concerns about prospects for the global economy, following days of sharp moves in government bonds that hinted at slower growth and inflation than previously expected.

          Equities fell first in Asia before the negative mood spread into Europe and then to Wall Street — a move analysts blamed on expectations that US economic growth is about to peak at the same time as signs emerge of a slowdown in China.

          The US S&P 500 index was down 1 per cent in afternoon trading in New York, while the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.7 per cent. Both indices had set records in recent days.

          In Europe, the continent-wide Stoxx Europe 600 lost 2 per cent after Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended its session 2.9 per cent lower. Spain’s Ibex closed down 2.3 per cent and Italy’s FTSE MIB lost 2.6 per cent. The FTSE 100 in the UK was down 1.7 per cent.

          “We are seeing an asset allocation change with people selling risky assets across the board and buying into the safer returns of government bonds,” said Shaniel Ramjee, senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management.
          …

  20. Need to Know
    Why economists think bond yields are falling, slamming the S&P 500 and the Dow as the likes of Amazon benefit
    Published: July 8, 2021 at 7:18 a.m. ET
    By Jack Denton
    Critical information for the U.S. trading day
    Falling bond yields are pummelling stocks. Andrej Isakovic/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
    Referenced Symbols
    DJIA -0.89%
    SPX -0.80%
    COMP -0.50%
    AMZN 1.37%
    AAPL -0.49%
    TSLA 0.54%
    GOOGL -0.89%
    GOOG -0.40%
    SXXP -1.72%
    UKX -1.68%
    PX1 -2.01%
    DAX -1.73%
    NIK -0.88%
    HSI -2.89%
    SHCOMP -0.79%
    TMUBMUSD10Y 1.296%

    Bond yields continued to fall on Thursday, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note holding well below 1.3%, down dramatically from 1.45% at the beginning of the week and 1.6% just last month.

    This has, in turn, pummeled Dow industrials (DJIA, -0.89%) and the S&P 500 (SPX, -0.80%) index, while the Nasdaq (COMP, -0.50%) and its tech stock favorites, such as Amazon (AMZN, 1.37%), have fared relatively better.

    When bond prices are high — signaling strong demand — yields, the interest paid to a bond holder, fall. Strong demand signals a decline in economic-growth expectations among investors, who wish to lock in future gains by owning bonds.

    This has a knock-on effect for the blue-chip companies with earnings tied to economic growth, which populate the Dow and S&P 500. It’s a better picture for growth and tech stocks — the likes of Amazon, Apple (AAPL, -0.49%) and Tesla (TSLA, 0.54%) — because their share-price performances rely on future earnings expectations, which get discounted as yields rise.

    Our call of the day is from Doug Kass, president of Seabreeze Partners Management, who collected analysis from economists about why yields are falling.

    “The 10-year-note price has defied consensus expectations,” Kass writes. “There has been no stronger consensus view [than] that, with domestic and global economic growth rebounding, U.S. interest rates were supposed to head higher.”

    But the opposite has occurred.
    …

    2. Mr. Market seems to fear that the end of COVID-19 stimulus measures could spell deflation, more than higher long-term Treasury yields.

      Makes sense, in light of how much inflation jumped on COVID-19 stimulus measures.

      1. Is it possible to taper a market that’s soaring due to stimulus? If conventional wisdom attributes the market’s altitude to low interest rates + injected money, and that is in fact true… then reducing the stimulus is going to push people to the exits until they see a new stable equilibrium. Of course, long before that, the Fed will turn the taps back on…. but if there’s inflation… who knows what tricks they’ve got up their sleeves this time. The money bazooka might have met its match.

  21. Remember, the DNC leadership and their FBI Chekists took a knee for these America-hating BLM vermin.

    ‘When we see this flag we know the person flying it is a racist’: Black Lives Matter in Utah sparks outrage with Fourth of July post calling the Stars and Stripes ‘a symbol of hate’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9768929/Black-Lives-Matter-Utah-calls-Stars-Stripes-symbol-hate.html

    The Utah chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement sparked anger on social media during the Fourth of July weekend after it posted a message on Facebook calling the American flag a ‘symbol of hate.’

    The head of the organization defended the post, which the group wrote in response to a white supremacist march that took place in Philadelphia on Saturday.

    1. This goes to show that there is no placating or satisfying them. Concede a position and they will just step it up and ask for more. And worst of all, they know they will get what they want, if they complain enough. I don’t expect Old Glory to be banned anytime soon, but in a few years, who knows?

      1. there is no placating

        They are Marxists. Step by step take away everything you respect and think is normal.

        1. BLM

          Have their demands been met? Because they aren’t nearly as active and destructive now that DJT isn’t sitting in the Oval Office, where he should be. That alone tells you BLM is not an organic uprising.

    2. “The Utah chapter of the Black Lives Matter…”

      I miss the days of Clinton lubing his cigar in Monica’s honeypot.

      1. obviously i didn’t know that the news was that old. i hadn’t seen it before and i thought it was breaking. thanks for the heads up.

        1. Admittedly, it’s hard to keep up with the news cycle and real news amidst the propaganda.

          1. Just read about a 18 year old dying after vaccine, a 45 year old healthy women who was required to take the vaccine for her new job, and a 20 year old healthy male totally disabled by enlarged heart after vaccine.
            Also in summary just read that Pilzer just filed for emergency authorization for third booster shot. FHA didn’t grant authorization yet.

          3. FHA didn’t grant authorization yet.

            Wouldn’t be surprised if the FHA is now involved. The entire system is one big sham.

  23. Another TDS-afflicted fockstain goes down, reduced to a crying little b!tch:

    Michael Avenatti, the attorney who represented Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against former President Donald Trump, has been sentenced to over two years in prison for attempting to extort Nike.

    A judge sentenced Avenatti to 30 months in prison on Thursday after he was convicted in an extortion scheme against Nike. The attorney “openly wept” in court as he spoke, CNN reports.

    “I and I alone have destroyed my career, my relationships, my life, and there is no doubt that I deserve to pay, have paid, and will pay a further price for what I have done,” Avenatti said, CBS News reports. He also told the judge, “I’ve learned that all the fame, notoriety and money in the world is meaningless. TV and Twitter, your honor, mean nothing,” per The Associated Press.

    Sit down, punk.

  24. I was hoping to take a politician with me when I die but it might be better for those left behind if I took a realtor.

  25. Interesting, albeit higher level, discussion. July 6, 2021

    Dr. Robert Malone, mRNA Vaccine Inventor, on the Bioethics of Experimental Vaccines and the ‘Ultimate Gaslighting’

    “What would happen to the entire vaccine enterprise—I’m talking about pediatric vaccines, the fundamental bedrocks of public health—if we basically validate the criticisms of those that have been labeled anti-vaxxers?”

    In this episode, we sit down with mRNA vaccine pioneer Dr. Robert Malone to discuss questions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines and repurposed drugs, as well as the bioethics of experimental vaccines.

    1. Philosophical rather than practical/scientific discussion that can easily be watched at 1.5x speed.

      1. That’s the Dr Malone I’m talking about. 2 other tapes I saw by him have already been taken down. He got into some nitty gritty details in those ones.
        But I like his philosophical discussions , as you noted.

        1. nitty gritty

          Dr. Malone is privy to inside FDA information and is raising the philosophical questions, but he doesn’t point fingers at those ultimately responsible like Dr. McCullough.

          1. In a now banned tape I saw with Dr. Malone, he was saying in summary that he is being asked to be expert witness in some lawsuits filed.
            In same tape that was banned he exposed that the higher up group all know about the problems associated with Covid vaccines. His discussions on benefit/ risk ratio of mass vaccination, especially with the younger was pretty good.
            He went into details on how they didn’t expect the manufactured spike to travel because they put this substance in vaccine to keep it from traveling. Its not working and they know it because with a certain percentage of people the manufactured spike is traveling all over to places it shouldn’t.
            He said he even called friends he has in high places in the FDA to inform on this matter.
            I think there will be a big Campaign to destroy Dr Malone which is already starting.

          2. Oh, he’s definitely got the goods on what the FDA knows. I’m not surprised he’s being asked to serve as an expert witness. He doesn’t seem to go beyond the FDA and NIH though.

      2. RR,
        I don’t care what anyone says, I think the skyrocking increase in autism is due to the vaccine program. Big Pharmacy denial of this, because no doubt because they don’t have liability on vaccines, has just been a unacceptable risk/benefit ratio.
        And even with the Covid vaccine roll out they are in denial, and are basically trying to cover up the adverse reactions . Benefit/ risk ratios has become so much covered up that its criminal in my view.
        Even when Big Pharmacy has liability on a drug, there is this acceptance on the side effects that I don’t find acceptable.

        To tell you the truth, one of the best things that could come out of the Covid saga, after everything is said and done, is that Big Pharmacy is exposed for the do much harm entity it is.

        1. skyrocking increase in autism is due to the vaccine program

          I do too. Pharma likes to focus the discussion on mercury but aluminum adjuvants are equally concerning. Coupled with heavy metals in baby formulas/foods, including so-called organic, you get a generation of heavy metal poisoned children. Heavy metal toxicity is conveniently difficult to test and treat.

          3. Breastfeeding wasn’t an option for me. I take medication that’s lipophilic. Going off of it, given my history, wasn’t an option either.

  26. Dumb question of the day:

    How come Wall Street traders have their panties in a knot over the delta strain of COVID-19?

    Haven’t they figured out by now that the pandemic is the best thing to happen to the stonk market in years, due to providing justification for central bankers to unleash Unlimited Quantitative Easing? How good do they have to have it to feel good about life!?

    1. The US and possibly the UK and Israel are doing OK, but Delta is locking down the rest of the world. There go your international supply chains. And the Fed knows full well that we can’t eat vibrating electrons.

    2. Wall Street traders must suffer a lot of whiplash trying to guess not only the uncertain timeline to when the pandemic will end, but also the knock-on effect of the Fed’s taper timing.

    1. Are we including the underlying technologies and techniques? Because we’re talking decades for both.

      1. My big question is what are the stats on Delta resulting in actual deaths, and what age group is that in. If they are just talking about cases that don’t result in ICU emergency than why the alarm.
        And why not use the meds for any new Delta cases for God Sakes, that end up in ICU.
        In the USA a high percentage of the over 70 group did get vaccinated .

        You watch, I think they are sitting up for more lockdowns pursuant to Delta, or its fear mongering to get more shots in arms, or its the set up for the booster shot that Pfizer already applied for a emergency use authorization.

        This is really great having private party monopolies running the County -NOT

        1. Why don’t you go look this sh!t up yourself for once. I’m tired of getting clammed.

          2. Hard to find sometimes because of censored news oxide. Also a delay in reporting stats. They aren’t saying what age group in California , but they are just saying they were unvaccinated. Frankly ,I’m not trusting stats that much anymore because they are prejudiced toward the narratives and other stats seem to be totally censored.

          3. Hard to find

            You can follow @alexberenson on Twitter without an account. He suffers from TDS but on COVID he’s solid.

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